We ran away again...

Sorry for the week off of blogging—but I’m not off track for my resolution, I have 5, yes 5 posts lined up on the runway, waiting for picture uploads & takeoff. Totally keeping up with my proposed resolution of an average of 1 post/week so far…

Speaking of runways & plane metaphors, my husband & I ran away again…on a plane.  How about that transition?  While the Super Bowl was gearing up in our fine city, we decided to avoid the crowds & what-not and would head to the crowds & what-not of Vegas.  


[If you don’t want to read a long rehashing of our trip, stop reading now. This post is long, you have been warned. My next post will be a recipe.]

A few days after returning from our trip last October, I got an email from Southwest announcing $59 flights to/from Vegas.  I noticed that the applicable dates of travel lined up with the Super Bowl being in Indy and since we left “sights unseen” the last time we were there, I pitched my idea about “running away” to my hubster (because it’s not like I was going to be able to commute to work downtown during the festivities anyway?)…and he agreed that running away sounded like an excellent idea.

When departing the Las Vegas airport, our cabbie asked us why we were in town.  When we said we were from Indy & were escaping the Super Bowl crowds…he started laughing, a lot.  He then went on to explain that Super Bowl weekend is one of the busiest weekends in Vegas each year. I don’t know why these little facts didn’t make a connection in our brains when we were planning our trip…“one of the biggest sporting events of the year” + “copious amounts of legal gambling on sporting events” = an incredibly busy Las Vegas.  But it wasn’t unbearable. Vegas was meant for crowds.

 We did a Friday-Monday trip, and stayed at Vdara at City Center.  We had stayed at Aria on our previous trip, but thought we would give Vdara a shot this time.  Overall, I prefer the activities & amenities at Aria, but the view of the Bellagio fountains & the strip from our hotel room at Vdara couldn’t be more perfect. Plus I had gotten a pretty good deal at our hotel through mlife (the “players club” for MGM Grand properties…which yields cheaper hotel deals than hotels.com or other sites for MGM hotel rooms, even if you don’t gamble).

We did have a little issue with our first night at Vdara.  Apparently the “signature scent” diffuser for the air system of the building was malfunctioning and our room smelled like a citrus-fig perfume factory the first night…it was ridiculously strong…strong enough that my asthma (which is fairly quiescent) was flaring a bit. A complaint to the front desk & the next day the issue was resolved. [most Vegas hotels have “signature scents” to cover up the smell of booze & cigarettes that permeate the buildings from the casinos—I’m not quite sure why the gambling-free, smoke-free Vdara has a “signature scent” though, except for the novelty of it].

View from our hotel room at Vdara...with the Bellagio fountains off

View from our hotel room at Vdara...with the Bellagio fountains on.

Friday night I took my hubby to see the show Absinthe at Caesar’s Palace.  I had seen a few reviews on this show that made me REALLY want to see it.  One review said “it’s a combination of Borat & Cirque de Soliel.”  Another review said “It’s will be the most amazing, and most offending show you ever see.” We LOVED the show. Yes, the humor was a bit awkward, politically incorrect & uncomfortable at times, but I still don’t think I have laughed that hard in 1 night in a long time. The acrobats were amazing.  The best thing about this show is that instead of being a bazillion feet away from the action like you are at most Cirque-type shows in Vegas, Absinthe is a 300 seat venue that is shaped like an old sideshow tent, where in the very farthest seat you are still 5-6 rows away from the action. We were 3 rows away, and at one point there was a guy flying over our head close enough you could feel the swoosh of air as he swung by. It’s a tiny venue & the show is awesome.  The only thing that distracted from the experience were the 7feet tall European students in front of us that kept holding their cameras above their heads to take pictures. Annoying.  But overall, the show was totally worth the price I paid for discount tickets. Absinthe is General Admission (minus a few VIP seats), so you can easily get a front row spot if you show up early.  But be warned, the “hosts” of the show force crowd participation, whether you want to be involved or not.  3 rows back is advisable if you don’t want to be involved in the antics, but would rather sit back & laugh at those poor souls (watching complete strangers “motorboat” each other = awkward, yet hilarious).

Saturday night my hubby took me to Phantom at the Venetian.  We made a stop by Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery for a mocha & his famous macaroons before the show.  I now know why so many chefs refer to the macaroons from Bouchon as the best.  They were the most amazing macaroons I had ever tasted. The flavoring & textures were nothing short of perfection.  I’ve been tempted to try making macaroons since I got my stand mixer last October…but now that I’ve had the ones from Bouchon Bakery, I don’t know if I can make my own.  I feel like I will forever be disappointed in the outcome.  We had 3 before the show & had the other 3 the next morning for breakfast.

Mmm...a perfect Mocha & perfect Macaroons

Phantom was stellar. Jas scored some amazing seats for us. I have seen the traveling Broadway version of Phantom before…but I was pretty impressed with this version, even though I missed a lot of the material/scenes that were cut out compared to the Broadway version. I can forgive the extra scenes/dialogue being cut out though when considering the pyrotechnics & special effects that the Vegas version of Phantom contains.  It’s amazing to think that the entire venue was specifically designed for that 1 production. It’s also sad to think that Phantom will close down for good in September.  I’m glad we had a chance to see it before it goes dark. If you’re in Vegas before September 2012, I Highly Suggest checking out Phantom.

Allegedly you can’t go to Vegas without going to a buffet.  So Sunday night while the rest of the world (& Vegas) was watching the 2nd half of the Super Bowl, we went to the buffet at the Bellagio.  We had gone there on our prior trip, & when considering the ridiculously high cost of food in Vegas in general…we decided it was worth a repeat visit.  I’m pretty sure I ate the cost of my meal in king crab legs. Seriously, minus some roasted asparagus & a piece of prime rib…all I ate for dinner was king crab legs.

After we stumbled out onto the strip in a food coma…we decided that since it was going to be our last night in Vegas for most likely the next few years, we decided to go see all of the free “Vegas Kitsch” we didn’t see on our last trip. We had already seen the “Old Strip/Downtown Fremont Street” during our last visit [never, ever again], so we could cross that off the list.  The MGM Lions are MIA while the MGM Grand is under renovation, so we’ll have to visit those at some point in the future.  So that basically left the Mirage Volcano show & the Treasure Island Siren show to cross off of the list.  First stop, the Mirage Volcano.  Overall, I enjoyed this more than I was anticipating.  It was not nearly as hokey & foolish than I thought it was…and was an interesting melding of a light show, water show & pyrotechnic show.

Jas watching the Mirage Volcano

Next stop…the TI Siren show.  This can be added to the “never, ever again” column.  I guess I went to the show being jaded due to all of the negative reviews, but those reviews were truly justified in this case.  Considering this is considered to be one of the big “family friendly” things of Vegas, I was majorly disappointed.   Overall it was the worse example of lip-synched, cheesy “entertainment” ever, that was way too over-sexed to be considered family friendly.  I think one particular special effect regarding a ship, plus the pyrotechnics at the end were my favorite part (and perhaps only because they signaled that the atrocity was ending?).  My gut feelings that I would never take a child to view this show were confirmed when we were walking down the strip, and we saw a young boy who was about 7 years old, singing one of the incredibly inappropriate, oversexed songs from the show while shaking his butt and shimmying his chest.  Granted, Absinthe was way more oversexed & “vulgar” by conventional standards than the TI Siren Show, however the difference is that Absinthe was an 18-and-over show, that we researched and paid to see…and it didn’t occur on the side of the street to the general public as a “family event.”  Ok…stepping off of my soapbox.

After catching a couple more up-close Bellagio fountain shows (my favorite)…we headed off to bed.

On both Saturday morning & Monday morning of our trip, Jas and I made the ‘pilgrimage’ to In-n-Out Burger of Las Vegas for lunch. Seriously…they need little markers to designate the pathway for the 1.5 mile each way journey off-strip.  It was so worth the 3 mile round-trip walk + playing a live-game of Frogger to get to though.  We love In-n-Out Burger & dream of the day that they replace McDonald’s nationwide.  We both order off of the not-so-secret “secret menu.”  Jas gets a 2x4 animal style (2 beef patties, 4 slices of cheese, onions grilled in mustard, lettuce, tomato & spread). I get a 2x4 no tomato, onions grilled, light spread, extra toast (2 beef patties, 4 slices of cheese, no tomato, grilled onions, smaller amount of spread, with the bun extra toasted/crunchy). We both get our fries “well done” (their same awesome fries, except cooked longer to be super crunchy).   Deliciousness. It’s the only fast food worth walking 3 miles roundtrip for…

Ah-mazing

After we ventured back to the strip from In-n-Out Burger on Monday, we hopped on the bus & went to Fashion Show Mall to browse around for an hour or so.  It was there that my husband learned just how low-maintenance of a girl I really am.  In browsing through the purses of Neiman Marcus & their house wares section (where Jas made the mistake of looking at the price tag for a mink bed throw)…I like to think that he fully gained appreciation for my budget-friendly decorating style & my hatred of clothes/accessory shopping.  I also think he was thankful I didn’t fall in love with any of the $500-$1000+ bags we saw.  In other news…Fashion Show Mall has a Bloomingdale’s Home Store…which Indianapolis REALLY needs.  It’s like the Macy’s house ware section, except it’s the size of a Macy’s, & had great sales going on...

 Finally, before picking up our luggage & departing for the airport we made a stop by Jean Philippe Patisserie at Aria for a decadent treat.  Jason had the Chocolate Cheesecake (chocolate shortbread cookie, topped with mascarpone cheese mousse, folded with 2 types of chocolate mousse, covered in a thin flexible shell of white chocolate, with a chocolate truffle on top).   I had the Triple Chocolate, which was dark chocolate, milk chocolate & white chocolate mousses swirled on top of a flaky shortbread cookie, covered in dark chocolate ganache and cocoa, and topped with a miniature pistachio & chocolate ganache macaroon. They both were delicious. We also picked up a couple of truffles (Jason a coconut rum one, me a raspberry mascarpone one) & a chunk of chocolate pistachio nougat to take home as our souvenir.

We were so excited about our treats from JP...that we didn't even take the
time to take a good picture of them.

Overall it was an excellent trip.  It will probably be our list trip to Vegas for awhile, as we have other people/places on our to-visit list for our future vacations. Plus, the slot machines were not nearly as friendly this trip, & the free drinks were virtually non-existent with how busy Vegas was for Super Bowl weekend…making the trip a little less exciting.

I’m incredibly thankful for my wonderful parents who were our airport transport (since taxis were so much more expensive due to Super Bowl) & who watched our dogs for us.  I love that our dogs were basically indifferent that we came home…because they love spending time with my parents THAT much.

Back! For real...my resolutions demand it.

Wow...was it really September the last time I blogged?!? One of my resolutions this year was to start back on blogging, and to average 1 post a week. Not many people read this thing, but I personally enjoyed writing the blogs & taking the photos. Life just started getting a little more chaotic towards the end of last year, and my blog was back-burner'ed (or fell behind the stove & started gathering dust bunnies & grime). I was also losing a technology war. I was taking most of the photos with my iPhone & would have to email them to myself, download them to my laptop, & then write the blogs in my free time. It was a recipe for a pile of photos to accumulate & numerous blogs to go unwritten. Now I have my photos backing up to iCloud (thanks iOS 5.0!), which makes them accessible on my laptop, & my brand new iPad. Throw in a blogging app...and maybe this will be the secret to more consistent blogging? We'll see... For now, here's a quick glimpse into the past 4 months... In October we saw the Grand Canyon...

It's amazing.  I couldn't grasp how HUGE it was until I saw it.

and we saw the fountains of the Bellagio in Vegas (in my next life I want to be a fountain programmer...)...

I wasn't prepared for how loud the water was.

In Vegas we enjoyed some amazingly delicious treats from Jean Philipe Patisserie...

Raspberry Rose Tort

November rolled by...I hosted Thanksgiving, and smothered our turkey in bacon...

Definitely not Kosher...

This is my dog standing guard over the bacon turkey while it cooked...

Poor thing didn't even get a bite...

Finished turkey, half of it already sliced & served...

It seemed to be a hit...

Christmas came to our household. Per tradition, we dressed our dogs up in silly outfits. Here they are by one of our trees...

Look at their cute little butts!

My husband got an AirSwimmer shark for Christmas. Here it is circling over Bethlehem like the Goodyear Blimp (ignore the messy couch pillows)

That about catches us up :-). I will have a new recipe up soon!

Back...For Real!

Ok--I'm back...for real.

I let the blog slip by without a post for this past month...but no worries, I have a HUGE backlog of recipes & photos to post over the next couple of weeks.

Brief explanation of a few things that have been going on this month (there's more, these are just the major points):

1.  We had our first garage sale.  My mom joined us for the adventure.  It was 3 fun-filled days of sitting in our garage on lawn chairs, eating takeout & people-watching while people rummaged through our old treasures.  Overall we made pretty decent money, although we still have a few large items we need to Craigslist so we can make room to actually park cars in our garage this winter.  I did think it was highly comical the number of people who were shopping through garage sales simply looking for gold & silver.  My favorite is how sneaky they were trying to be.  But when you break out a magnifying glass…not so sneaky.

My favorite part of the garage sale was our squirrel shopper.  We have a TON of squirrels around our house.  In the late morning, while the garage sale was quiet & patron-free, a skinny little squirrel came to browse.  I have a sneaking suspicion that he plays on our driveway during the day while we are at work.  He casually walked around our driveway, looked over at us sitting in our lawn chairs, and then went back to his browsing. He then saw his reflection in the glass of an entertainment center & his tail puffed up.  After a few seconds of challenging himself in the glass, he walked behind the entertainment center to look for the other squirrel, and then ran off on his merry way.  I’m still disappointed that he didn’t buy anything…

Little Squirrel--Big Tail

2.  I bought a new car!  I have investigated different cars for the past 5 years.  I knew I wanted something new/newer, but I just couldn’t find a vehicle that I was willing to commit to the car payments.  I knew I wanted something in the small SUV/crossover class of vehicles, because it was similar to what I was used to driving.  I thought I had investigated about everything in that class, but when I was in Florida, I saw a commercial for the Mazda CX-7.  I thought, “That’s Cute,” and I liked the financing offers that they were advertising. When we were driving back from Florida, I was passed by a Mazda CX-7 on the interstate, and I thought “Wow, That’s Really Cute and Fast!”  When I got back from Florida, I started investigating the CX-7.  I liked the features & options…and absolutely loved the styling of the vehicle.  July turned to August, and the revised financing deal on the CX-7 became even more enticing.  One test drive and I was sold.  I LOVE my new car.  The funny thing is that until a month ago I had never considered getting a Mazda.  For some reason I thought they only made sporty small cars, sedans, & a minivan…  Apparently I was wrong.

 I still have to name my car though…any suggestions?

My new baby.  I love her.

3.  I sold my old car…  It’s bittersweet.  I got my Jeep Cherokee as a graduation gift from my parents my senior year of high school.  I had a lot of fun in that car.  It carried my piles of stuff to and from college each year.  It carried me on adventures with my friends, like spring breaks, college road trips, and midnight shopping trips.  It was around for my first dates, first loves & first heartbreaks.  It was an excellent vehicle.  However, I had grown to loathe the poor gas mileage & other inconveniences…which was becoming more loathsome with each 30-minute-each-way daily commute.  So after getting my new vehicle, we cleaned up my car & posted it on Craigslist.  Within 7 hours, we had over 28 emails/phonecalls about the Jeep.  We actually ended up selling it that night to the first person who looked at it, and I sold it for only $200 less than my asking price, which was more than the Kelly Blue Book Value for the car.  Not too Shabby…although selling a vehicle on Craigslist is an interesting experience.  We had some “interesting” phone calls & voicemails about the vehicle…my favorite was the male chauvinistic jerk who asked me “Don’t you have a husband I can talk to…”  Fun times, in retrospect, I really should have given that guy a verbal lesson about the year 2011…

I'll miss you my friend...thanks for the memories.

It was sad scraping my sorority sticker & college parking permits off of the windows though.  It was like ripping off the final Band-Aid of my youth.  

My ChiO sticker had seen better days...oh, the symbolism.

I’m now officially an adult.

To help me feel a little younger...

We went to a private party at the zoo...it was a blast.

I dressed my mini schnauzer up like Elliot from ET. Schnauzer Pride = Wounded

Sorry for the Hiatus...I ran away again

I just got back from a great road trip with my mom to Florida.  When I was in college we used to drive to Florida every year for a Mother-Daughter week, but we haven't been able to make a trip in recent years. We had a great week, I got a bit of a tan on my pale self, & we had a blast.  I'm excited to be back at home with my Hubs & our dogs.

I didn't have a steady internet connection on vacation, so I fell behind on blogging.  I have several posts in mind that should go up later this week.

I'll finish this super-short post with a picture of a gorgeous Florida sunset...

Chicago...Day 3

[Continued from Day 1 & Day 2...]

Warning--Super Long Post with No Photos (a post that contains a vent about bizarre parenting strategies & a horrid experience at "Taste of Chicago.")

Sunday morning we slept in a bit, got ready, packed up our stuff & headed out for breakfast.  Since we were on a slight time-crunch to meet the check out deadline at our hotel, we decided to just walk around the corner to Einstein Bros Bagels for breakfast.  It had been >5 years since I had had Einstein’s for breakfast, & the Hubs had never had one of their breakfast sandwiches.  Mission= successful.

After breakfast we walked back to the hotel, checked-out, & meandered back to the Millennium Park Garage to drop our suitcases off at the car.  Then we caught a bus down to the Museum of Science and Industry…because we had a date with some dead people. 

The Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago is my favorite museum, ever.  You know how when you were a little kid & you would dream about getting locked in a zoo, museum, theme park, etc overnight so you could play with everything & not wait in line? MSI was my “lock in” dream, and I still dream about getting to do that at MSI.  Honestly I think they should have “kid free” evening hours, so the adults get more chances to play with all of the things in there (“what do you mean I should give priority for this exhibit to kids?” whatever).  It is seriously awesome.  They had 2 new large exhibits there that were new since the last time we had visited 3 years ago.  The first one—“Science Storms,” was Amazing.  It was all about different storms & natural disasters, the science behind them, with some of the best hands-on demonstration exhibits I have EVER seen in a museum. Plus there was a 3 story tall “tornado” in the middle of the exhibit.  Incredibly fun—and educational. Everyone wins!  The other new exhibit was the “You! The Experience” exhibit, which was all about the human body, our perceptions, our “neat human tricks” & other things along those lines.  It also featured several plasticized human body parts & systems, like what you can see in the Body Worlds exhibit (read below). This is the exhibit I REALLY wished we could have kicked the kids out of so we could have played with everything…

The actual reason we went to MSI this trip was for the Body Worlds exhibit.  The Hubs & I had already been to one of the Body Worlds exhibits when it traveled through St. Louis a few years back.  We loved it.  While it is a really heavy thing to understand that what you are looking at are the physical bodies of people that once walked this Earth…it is still an amazing view into the complexity & artful-being of the human body. These are highly fascinating exhibits that I think most adults should see.

Notice I said “Adults” above…while I think there is a hefty percentage of pre-teens & teens that could handle viewing a Body Worlds Exhibit (& potentially some well-educated upper grade school kids), many younger children are not equipped emotionally/educationally to deal with the heaviness of these exhibits.

Parents, please do not take your kids that are <8 years old into a Body Worlds exhibit, unless you are 100% sure about their abilities to view, understand, & cope with what they are seeing.  

Parents, please do not take your minors that are >8 years old into a Body Worlds exhibit, unless you are 100% sure about their abilities to view, understand & cope with what they are seeing, and if you are 100% sure about your abilities to answer any questions or engage in the conversations that may result from their viewing of the exhibit.  For example, there were 2 parents (presumably doctors by how they were talking & their knowledge base) that took their approximately 7 & 10 year old sons through the exhibit while we were there.  It was obvious by how the kids were talking that the parents had talked about the exhibit with them in advance (& potentially investigated the website first).  It was also obvious that the 2 boys had a very strong understanding of the human body, diseases, & the “facts of life” walking into the exhibit, judging by the questions they were asking, & their speed of identifying organs/organ systems.  Those 2 kids were fine…but…

Parents, if you have a 3 year old in the Body Worlds exhibit with you who is hyper-ventilating, sobbing “no Mommy, no Daddy, no, no”, & trying to hide his face in your legs…take him out of the exhibit. How did these parents respond instead?--they physically forced the child to turn around & look at the plasticized dead people, picking him up so that he was eye level with the sculptures.  Seriously…true story. It was heartbreaking how upset that poor little kid was…and I would argue that those actions are on par with child abuse.

Parents, if you have a 12 year old with you who is isolating herself in the corner saying/screaming “No Dad, I don’t want to know what that is. You can’t make me look at that. No, I don’t want to know what that is! Let’s go” and looking seriously troubled/traumatized, as you are trying to point out cross sections of a human brain or the male genitalia to her…well…you sir are a horrible parent.  She will probably remember that event as she’s making the choice between a high-class or low-budget nursing home for you in the future…  Just saying.

But what if you want to view the Body Worlds exhibit…and you happen to have a kid along with you?  In both situations above, there were 2 parents in the exhibit with the upset children.  What is wrong with 1 parent viewing the exhibit, while the other parent takes the kid(s) to view an exhibit appropriate for their age? Then handoff the kid(s), so the other parent could see the exhibit?  Plus—you would save a good chunk of money that way too…

People amaze me sometimes…but at least their kids will be supporting the field of psychiatry for another generation?...

After we headed out of MSI, we wandered back up to Grant Park to see Buckingham Fountain.  I have been to Chicago several times in the spring/summer…but I haven’t seen the fountain while it was running (renovations, off-timing, etc).  So we thought we would do a quick dash by the fountain on the way back to the car…Wrong.  We found out that “Taste of Chicago” was still going on…Since we needed lunch, & because I know a few people that enjoy journeying up to Chicago to partake in “Taste of Chicago”…we thought that could be a fun thing to do for lunch since we were already at the park...

WRONG.  I’m pretty sure I can chalk “Taste of Chicago” to the top of my “Worst Experiences in Chicago” list (above any amount of time that I’ve spent on the Magnificent Mile).  It. Was. Miserable.  Granted, it was (1) HOT, (2) A Holiday weekend, & (3) The last day of the festival…and I’m pretty sure that those 3 factors align to create the perfect storm of misery for any outdoors festival/fair.  However, Taste of Chicago was a particularly miserable experience for me.

Picture this scenario…it’s hot. You are standing in the middle of a 4 lane road that has been closed down, corralled by tents lining the perimeter, the smell of grease & stale booze, and an endless swarm of sweaty, rude people.  People that are walking in large groups, 8 people wide, embodying the philosophy of a well-tuned NFL Defensive line--“We Shall Not Let You Pass.” Strollers ripping into your ankles & calves, you struggle to walk. You are a person who is not usually a fan of crowds, but you can tolerate them…until you catch the 4^th elbow to your gut. You are like a fish swimming against the current, but everywhere you turn is against the current.  Someone gets a free sample of cranberry juice, & then throws the half full glass at your feet instead of in the trashcan 5 feet away…making for sticky Tevas for the rest of your stay in Hades....

Do you get the picture of why I was not a fan of Taste of Chicago?

For $16.00, the Hubs & I had:  2 slices of sausage patty deep dish pizza from Lou Malnati’s, a taste portion of chicken & vegetable pot stickers from a Vietnamese food vendor, a taste portion of a Chicago-style dog from Vienna Beef, and a taste portion of beignets from a Cajun food vendor.  We also had several free samples of Sierra Mist, Pepsi Max, & Ocean Spray cranberry beverages to wash it all down with…

Oddly—we didn’t get that close to Buckingham Fountain during our “Taste of Chicago” experience (fountain = right next to festival).  By the time we finished the last bite of beignet—I was d-o-n-e with Taste of Chicago.  With the mental reserve of a star NFL running back, I broke the defensive lines of the sweaty mob (utilizing my crowd-parting skills I picked up in the Broad Ripple bars during college)…and high-tailed it back to the car.  Never. Ever. Again.  I’m glad to say I’ve been…but I won’t be back to Taste of Chicago.

We then headed out of downtown & towards Bolingbrook, IL.  Why?---IKEA.

The IKEA in Bolingbrook is the 2^nd closest IKEA to Indianapolis, after the one in West Chester, OH, by Cincinnati (IKEA—please build a store in Indy or offer online shopping?).  Unfortunately we only had an hour to browse IKEA this trip, which anyone reading this that has been to IKEA knows this is a pretty tight timeframe for shopping.  Luckily I had done a careful combing of the website to know what I wanted to look at and their approximate locations in the store.  The other good thing about IKEA right before closing time?—it is Empty.  No swarms of people, no waiting in line…Total Bliss after Taste of Chicago…

I walked out of IKEA $100 poorer…but had cookie cutters, pastry cutters, coasters, pots/pans, a lid, a double broiler, a wok, a sugar shaker, sleek condiment bowls, dishtowels, treats for the office & other fun stuff. (Anyone want some moose & hedgehog shaped cookies? :-P)

After IKEA we began the trek back to Indy.  The weekend before the 4^th of July is a fun day for interstate travel…there were fireworks going up about every mile at night on the way home.  It was a perfect ending to an overall great weekend.

Thanks for reading! 

Chicago...Day 2

[Continued from day 1]

Amazingly, considering we didn’t get to sleep until about 3:00am…we were “up & at em” by 9:00am on Saturday morning.  After getting ready, we took the Red Line up to Belmont Street to Ann Sather’s for breakfast.  Yum.  Ann Sather’s is a Swedish restaurant that has THE BEST Cinnamon Rolls in my opinion.  The rest of their food is fabulous as well.  The great thing is that you don’t have to choose whether you are going to have cinnamon rolls or breakfast food…cinnamon rolls come as a side with most breakfast meals.  Normally, we hit up Ann Sather’s on the last morning of a Chicago trip, so we can take our cinnamon rolls to go (& order more for our offices)…but that wasn’t going to work out this trip.  So for the first time ever, we ate them with our meal…Totally overly indulgent, yet fabulous.  The Hubs chose Steak & Eggs Benedict ($9.95) for his meal…which was 2 English muffins, topped with several slices of grilled beef tenderloin, topped with poached eggs & served with a side of Hollandaise sauce.  He also chose the hash browns as his 2^nd side.  For my breakfast I had the Swedish breakfast sampler ($9.95), which is 1 egg, 1 Swedish pancake with lingonberry sauce, 1 Swedish meatball, & 1 Swedish potato sausage.  For my sides I chose hash browns & cinnamon rolls.   Ann Sather’s also has delicious potato pancakes.  They also make a version of French toast that involves stuffing 2 cinnamon rolls with a mascarpone cheese mixture, & battering & frying them like French toast (this dish was featured on one of Rachael Ray’s shows).  One of these times I WILL try that for breakfast…because it looks delicious.

Gooey, delicious cinnamon rolls...

The place mat menu with their cute logo.

Our table packed with our breakfast fare.

After we had thoroughly stuffed ourselves at breakfast, we ventured over to the Lincoln Park Zoo to go hang out with the animals for the afternoon.  It-was-hot…but we had a fun time hanging out with the gorillas & chimps (something the Indy zoo lacks), laughing at the mountain lion that thinks it’s a giant house cat, & just overall enjoying the zoo.  Lincoln Park Zoo is by far one of my favorite zoos…and it absolutely amazes me that it’s free.  It also surprised me that it wasn’t PACKED with people since it was Saturday.  The heat must have kept a lot of people away.

After the zoo we headed back across town to Goose Island-Clybourn.  The Hubs is a homebrewer and frequently has a keg of some delicious beer in our basement.  Normally when we are road tripping, we try to hit up a brewpub for a tour/tasting.  We have wanted to go to Goose Island for awhile, since we love several of their beers, but it hasn’t worked out in our previous Chicago trips.  This time I made it a priority when planning our weekend.

The tastings during the tour at Goose Island-Clybourn

After a tour & tasting ($10.00 & you get a souvenir glass), we settled into their brewpub for dinner.  During our time at Goose Island we tried a few of their beers that we can’t get on tap in Indy & tried a few of their small plate food items as well.

Beers we tried:

• 312- American Style Wheat Ale- 4.2% alcohol. Goose Island Description: Hazy straw color, light orange hop aroma, fruity ale flavor, creamy body.  Ok…so maybe I can get 312 on tap in Indy.  But it was HOT outside and we had been outside all morning…I knew I loved 312 & that it would be a good “cool down” beer (along with the 2 glasses of water I consumed before drinking it).  312 was my beer of choice to drink during the tour. It’s crisp, refreshing & delicious.
• Smoked Helles- German Style Helles- 5.4% alcohol. Goose Island Description: Golden color, light lemon aroma, slightly acidic fruit flavor, dry body. This was the Hub’s choice of beer for drinking during the tour.  It was the first time I had ever tasted a smoked beer, and overall I was a fan.  I thought it would be a fun beer to pair food with because of its smoky undertones.  However, it’s not something I could ever picture myself drinking more than 1 glass of, because the smoke flavor really builds in the back of your throat while drinking it.
• Sofie- Oak Aged Belgian Style Farmhouse Ale- 6.5% alcohol. Goose Island Description: Champagne color, white pepper aroma, citrus and vanilla flavor, sparkling body.  This was my “dinner beer.”  I love Goose Island’s Matilda…but I know I can get that both on tap & bottled around the Indy area.  I decided to try Sofie because it sounded like an oak-aged version of Matilda, and was served in a chalice. What can I say…drinking beer out of a wine glass is fun.  I loved the flavor of the Sofie Ale. It had the same sparkling, fruity notes that I love in the Matilda, but it also had a deeper, more complex underlying flavor.  It’s kind of like Sofie is Matilda’s twin sister that likes to debate complex ideas & go out and have fun on the weekends…as opposed to her white glove wearing, prim & proper sister… [photo below]
• Fleur- Belgian Style Pale Ale- 5.2% Alcohol. Goose Island Description: Rose color, strawberry and hibiscus aroma, sweet and tart berry flavor, crisp body. This was the Hub’s 2^nd choice for his dinner beer (his first choice, the Maduro- English Style brown ale, blew/ran-out).  This one was also served in a chalice, because real men can drink rose beer out of a girly glass and still be secure in their masculinity. J  Overall, I didn’t see the “rose” color that the description implied, but it was a crisp bodied beer with delightfully complex fruity undertones.  I enjoyed stealing a few sips during dinner. [photo below]
• Honest Stout- English Style Foreign Stout- 6.2% Alcohol. Goose Island Description: Rich mahogany color, dark chocolate aroma, honey, oats and roast malt flavor, medium body.  The Honest Stout was my “dessert beer.”  We got a taste of it during the tour, and I knew I wanted a glass of it that evening.  I love a good stout…and this was a good stout.  It wasn’t overly in your face, & it didn’t sit overly heavy in my stomach.  It had a decent creaminess to it, without being overly bearing. Not to sweet, not too bitter…just good.  The one disappointing thing about this beer, is that I expect stouts to make great “beer animals” on the edge of the glass.  This one’s head didn’t cling as well as other stouts, making the “beer animals” less fun.  

Goose Island Honest Stout

• Patriot Red Wheat- Red Wheat Ale- 5.5% alcohol. Goose Island Description: Auburn color, banana aromatics, peach flavor.  The Patriot Red Wheat was Jason’s “dessert beer.”  This is another ale that we got to dry during the tour/tasting…and it was really good.  I was debating ordering it as my dessert beer, but was afraid the “banana aromatics” would strengthen while drinking it (which frequently can happen).  So the hubs ordered it instead, & we switched beer glasses back & forth.  It worked out well.  Overall, it was an excellent beer.  A little thicker of body than your standard red ale, yet still crisp & refreshing & not heavy.  Surprisingly…this beer made great beer animals.

Patriot Red Wheat

Food we tried:

• Malted Sea Wort Bread- $6.00- honey butter, bacon jam. Yes…you read that correctly, bacon jam.  Let’s begin with the word “wort”…for those of you that don’t live with a homebrewer, wort is the grain, malt slurry that later gets yeast added to it to ferment & become beer.  Apparently this can be used to make bread…which is now on my kitchen to-do list the next time the hubs brews beer.  According to our waitress, the “malted sea wort bread” at the brewpub is ever-evolving, based off what they are currently brewing.  The bread arrived warm, and it was tender, delicately-crusted & flavorful.  It was served with 2 condiment cups.  The first one contained a honey butter that was subtlety sweet, & tasted like it was made with freshly churned butter. Super creamy.  The other condiment cup contained the “bacon jam.”  I don’t know if I would have used the word “jam” to describe this topping, but I do know that the word “delicious” applies.  This description is not going to do the bacon jam justice…but it is a spreadable topping made of finely shredded bacon that has strong undertones of smoky & sweet. Yummy. 

Sea Salt Wort Bread, Honey Butter & Bacon Jam...
shown with a glass of Sofie.

• Spicy Siracha Wings-$9.00- wasabi aioli, scallion. The order came with 8 chicken wings coated with a spicy-sweet Siracha sauce. Overall, this dish was pretty good.  I am curious to experiment with how they might have made their wing sauce…because I think I can replicate it at home.  The wasabi aioli was also very good, and an interesting pairing with the wings.  Normally you expect a wing dipping sauce to cool down the heat of the wing, not add to the heat & the complexity of flavors.

The wings...a couple were missing by the point the photo
was taken...

• Sweet Potato Fries with Curry Catsup- $5.00.  We got these to pair with the chicken wings…overall, they were decent sweet potato fries.  Nothing special, but they did taste like they were fresh-cut, not frozen.  The curry catsup was ok, not the best I’ve had, but not bad.  

Sweet potato fries & curry catsup,
shown with a glass of Fleur.

We had intended on trying a couple more small plates because they sounded delicious…but given the huge breakfast, the heat, & the beer…we were done after the wings & fries.  Bummer…I guess that just gives us a reason to go back. :-P

After dinner we wandered down the block to the Crate & Barrel Outlet store to check it out & walk off part of our dinner…we found a couple of good small finds. Then we headed back downtown.  We decided to stop by the shopping district on Michigan Avenue.  I always forget how much I LOATHE the “Magnificent Mile.”  To me it’s magnificent if I can get out of there without strangling someone.  Over-commercialization & large masses of annoying people…not my idea of a fun time.  That being said, we browsed in a couple of stores in Water Tower Place, & stopped by Wow Bao for a couple of dessert Baos.  We tried the coconut custard bao, the chocolate-ginger bao, & their homemade ginger ale.  The bao were pretty tasty, and the ginger ale was tasty as well but very spicy/gingery.  It’s not something I could drink very much of unless I was severely nauseated (and I love ginger).  I honestly think they should sell it in 4 oz glasses it’s THAT powerful.  

We had the opportunity to go to fireworks Saturday night in Chicago, but decided to forgo the crowds, grab a bottle of wine, & head back to the hotel room just to relax.  I think we made a good decision, especially after the Magnificent Mile consumerism headache.

[To be continued...]

A Review: Hotel Monaco, Chicago, IL

This is an unsolicited, unprovoked, uncompensated review of a hotel we recently visited. If someone wants to solicit, provoke, or compensate me for reviewing their product or facility…that can be arranged. :-)

The hubs & I like to run away to Chicago a few times a year.  Sometimes we just run up for a daytrip, sometimes for 1 night, & sometimes for an extended weekend.  Each time we have gone, we have stayed at a different hotel.  It wasn’t that we disliked previous hotels, they just didn’t have enticing reasons to return for subsequent visits.  That situation has changed…

When I started researching where we were going to stay for this trip (4 months ago…because I’m a spaz with a planning-problem), I ran across information for Hotel Monaco on one of the hotel booking sites.  I was drawn in by the pictures on the site, and the appealing price given the 4-star rating.  I knew I wanted to know more…

Hotel Monaco is owned and operated by the Kimpton Hotel chain.  According to their website Kimpton specializes in boutique hotels that are “carefully selected to show off the unique energy and personality of each destination.”  They also are pet-friendly & eco-friendly…which are major positives in my opinion (even though our furry kids didn’t make this trip with us).  And while most hotel chains & hotel booking sites have member reward programs, I thought the Kimpton InTouch program was especially fun.  After every 7 visits or 20 nights (whichever comes first) that are booked through the Kimpton site, you earn a free nights stay.  That’s pretty standard.  But I love their options to set your preferences in advance, i.e. what type of pillows you want on your bed, if you want turndown service, etc & their reward program gives you free access to wireless internet during your stay (which still surprises me that ALL hotels do not offer this as a baseline? 2011, what?). Also, the first time you stay in a Kimpton hotel as an InTouch member, you get a $10 coupon to raid the mini bar.  Those $5 M&Ms that look so darn tasty at 2:00am could be yours!! Gratis! Not too shabby for a free reward system…

I also think it’s fun that Kimpton hotels give you the option to have a goldfish buddy delivered to your room for the course of your stay…as in an actual, swimming goldfish.  If you were traveling with kids that could be incredibly fun.  You can also get a yoga kit delivered to your room for use during your stay.

Through the Hotel Monaco website, I got a stellar deal on a “Mediterranean Suite” ($199.00/night on a holiday weekend, advance purchase special rate).  Sure, the suite was a splurge…but it had a jacuzzi tub.  Since we moved a year ago, I haven’t had a proper, long-soaking bath (small bathtub + finished improperly/peeling enamel= not a relaxing bath experience…hopefully that will be amended during a future home update).  I was due. It was worth the extra $40/night.

In the days leading up to the trip, I was nervous.  It’s always nerve-wrecking trusting online reviews & photos when it comes to hotel rooms.  In this age of bedbug-mania, traveling is especially scary.  

When we arrived at Hotel Monaco, we were greeted at the front desk by the concierge.  He was slightly aloof, but not unpleasantly/annoyingly so…he was efficient about checking us in, asking if we had questions, supplying our $10 minibar coupon, & directing us to somewhere we could grab a decent & quick late-lunch, and even provided us with an appetizer coupon for lunch.  It was slightly comical because he stated something along the lines of “I’m also the concierge, so if you need anything during your stay let me know.  But you might let me know soon, because it’s going to be really busy around here this weekend.”  No worries Mr. Concierge, you were talking to an OCD, vacation-itinerary-planning fool…I’m sure I could have taught him a few things…

The second we opened the door to the room, I was instantly happy with my selection of hotels & rooms.  It. was. gorgeous.  Apparently, the hotel had been recently decorated, and the room was a fun, eclectic array of colors, prints, fabrics & decorations.  Even though it was so eclectic, it somehow all meshed together.  The Mediterranean Suite featured a small sitting room that had a pull-out couch, a window seat, a working desk & a large flat screen TV.  It then flowed into the bedroom, which was HUGE with very tall ceilings (maybe 14 feet?!). The bedroom featured a king-sized bed in crisp white linens (4 foam pillows, per my request), a fun mirrored headboard, a bench, a chase-lounge style sofa, mirrors, artwork, and AWESOMELY huge window seats.  The bathroom in the suite was decently sized, with a walk-in shower stall, and a huge-normous Jacuzzi tub.  Seriously…it was lap-swimming quality.

Funny story—I didn’t remember requesting turn-down service (maybe I did?)  We got back to the hotel LATE Friday night after a concert, and discovered that someone had been in our room (temporarily freaked us out).  We were pleasantly surprised to find the bathrobes laid out on the bed, chocolates on our pillows, the TV turned to a soothing music/nature channel (unfortunately showing a creepy squirrel at the moment we walked in, adding to our confusion), the curtains drawn & the lights dimmed in our room.  It was a relaxing, peaceful, & Zen-like way to end our evening.

Quick overview of our likes & dislikes about the Hotel Monaco:

Pros:

• HUGE, spacious rooms with tall ceilings.
• Friendly staff
• Gorgeously appointed, large window seats.  Perfect for sipping a glass of wine & watching the city go by at night.
• Very comfortable beds, various firmnesses of foam pillows, with crisp linens.
• Aveda bath products. As someone who basically only uses Aveda products…this made me Very Happy.
• The huge Jacuzzi tub with the large footwell at the bottom.  It took a long time to fill (& I kindof felt bad about using that much water)…but it was sooo worth it.  They also have fizzy bath balls you can use for $7/pop (see con below).
• Easy access to the State & State/Lake rail stations.  Easy access to the numerous bus stops along State & Michigan (easy access to most places in the city).
• We couldn’t hear noise from other guests.  We know the hotel was quite booked…but we didn’t hear another guest during our entire stay.  This has been a problem with other hotels in this Chicago area.  Our bedroom was pretty isolated though, due to the suite layout.
• Fun, animal-print bathrobes to use during our stay.

Cons:

• Bathroom towels—only slightly better than interstate-side Holiday Inn grade towels. Smallish & rough.  At this sort of hotel, I expect plusher, softer towels. The perk to this—extra exfoliation…
• The bathroom shower stall was pretty small.  Thankfully I didn’t have to shave my legs during the course of my stay.  Also, the grout in the shower needed a little bleaching & some caulk needed replacing.
• Regarding the $7 fizzy bath balls…I moved the container to a shelf in the bathroom so I wouldn’t risk getting them wet…and was charged $21 for 3 bath balls upon checkout.  This was quickly removed from the bill upon explanation at the front desk (& informing that I had photo evidence that they were still intact upstairs).
•  Parking = $46.00/night.  This is on par with most hotels downtown Chicago…and we were charged for 2 nights of parking on our check-out bill.  However, we didn’t park at the hotel…problem.  Again, with an explanation at checkout, this was quickly removed from our bill.
• There is some train noise.  We were on the 9^th floor, but we could still hear the squeaky breaks & wheels of the trains as they circumnavigated the Loop. This didn’t bother us…but if you were a super-light sleeper, this may annoy the heck out of you.

There is a restaurant, South Water Kitchen, associated with the hotel…but we didn’t have a chance to eat there during our stay.  So I can’t comment on that establishment…

Overall, we loved our stay in the Mediterranean Suite at Hotel Monaco, and we hope to return for a trip in the near future.  You should check in & check it out on your next trip through Chicago!    

On to the photos:

View 1 of sitting room

View 2 of sitting room. One of the window seats in the back.

View of the bed & another window seat.

View of the sitting area in the bedroom.

The biggest of the window seats. Amazing
place to sit & watch the city go by...

Really fun mirror in the room... ignore my
purse & bag thrown on the bed.

The hubs checking out the view from one of the window seats.

View 1 of the bathroom.

View 2 of bathroom. Kindof a tight squeeze between
the shower door & the bathroom door.

Aveda bath products!  Love it!!

View 3 of the bathroom.  HUGE bathtub!

Look how deep this is!!

The dubious fizzy bath balls...

One giggle from the hotel.  Sometimes the only
options in life AREN'T "up & down."