Jean and Dick Visit - Oct 2020

Chicago Botanic Garden

Keith's parents drove up to Chicago to visit with us and to explore the UP in Michigan for a week.  They originally were going to visit back in March but had to cancel as the city had just shut down due to Covid. They stayed with us for two weekends and for the week between, they drove up to Mackinaw City to explore that area.  They arrived around 9pm on Thursday night and after a quick tour of the house, we had some wine and cheese before they retired to bed for some much needed rest after a 16 hour drive!  While they stayed with us, we ventured out to do outdoor activities (thankfully the weather cooperated) and we had some yummy meals.

On Friday, Keith's parents went for a walk on the 606 while we were working and after Shawna finished with her calls, she took them for a walk around the neighborhood. For lunch, Shawna made a chicken chopped salad.  That evening, we walked to our favorite restaurant in our area - The Bristol - and had a wonderful dinner.

Chicago Electric Boat

On Saturday, Shawna made avocado toast for breakfast. We then ventured downtown where we rented an electric boat with Chicago Electric Boat Company and rode along the Chicago river for about two hours.  We brought wine and cheese and had that on the boat for lunch while looking at all of the buildings.  Afterwards, we walked along the riverfront to get some exercise and then headed back home for a nap and to clean up for dinner.  That evening, we went to Everest, a Michelin starred restaurants downtown located on the 40th floor of one of the buildings.  The food was quite good but the temperature was cold in the restaurant and the wine pours (we had the wine pairing with dinner) were a bit chintzy.   

Everest

On Sunday, Shawna made egg white frittata with bacon for breakfast.  Keith and Dick went to Home Depot to get a few things to complete a few jobs on Shawna's To Do List - one was to hang some lanterns outside on our patio and the other was to attempt to paint over water stains on our ceiling in our kitchen to avoid paying over $1K to have it professionally done! The good news is that they managed to do a great job with the paint!  That afternoon, we walked around the Morton Arboretum which has huge wooden troll statues placed throughout the grounds.  That evening, Shawna made Indian for dinner - chicken tikka, chickpea curry, basmati rice and raita.

Morton Arboretum

Keith's parents left on Monday to head up to Michigan and they returned on Friday afternoon, in time for a quick shower, some wine and then dinner at Michelin starred Topolobampo owned by Rick Bayless who we met during dinner!  This was our favorite dinner of the two weekends.  We started out in a room where they served us drinks and appetizers and then we retreated to the library where we had a six course tasting menu paired with wine.  Every dish was so flavorful!

Topolobampo

On Saturday, Shawna once again made avocado toast for breakfast.  We then went to the Chicago Botanic Garden and walked around for about two hours.  The gardens were beautiful with lots of lakes and a few themed islands to walk around.  The trees were changing colors and they had colorful fall flowers and pumpkins throughout the garden.  We decided to sign up to become members.  We then drove over to the Northwestern campus in Evanston to walk around that area.  That evening, we had another yummy meal at the trendy Indian restaurant, Rooh, located in the West Loop.  We ordered several appetizers to share for the table and then Keith and Shawna shared an entree.

Chicago Botanic Garden

On Sunday, Shawna made egg white frittata with spicy chicken sausage for breakfast.  For lunch, we had cheese and crackers and then we went over to the lake to walk around for a couple of hours - we walked through Lincoln Park and then along the lake.  That evening, we decided to enjoy the patio with drinks and bruschetta.  For dinner, Shawna made arugula salad and rigatoni which we enjoyed with a nice bottle of red that had been gifted to Keith from his former boss at Livcor.  We then had dessert outside on the patio so we could enjoy the lanterns - we had pie that we had bought at the Botanic gardens.  

Walk along the lake

Keith's parents left on Monday morning at 5am to drive back to Texas.  While it was a long trip for them to drive, it was so nice to have them visit and be able to explore the area with them!

Dinner at our house

Graham and Amy Visit - March 2020

Capturing the essence of the visit - dinner at Elske

We had our last visitors for a while due to Coranovirus - Graham and Amy flew into Chicago for St Patrick's Day weekend.  We originally had planned on various activities but since all events and tours were canceled and all museums closed, we resorted to lots of eating and drinking.  Graham called it his food inspiration tour!

Amy flew in on Thursday and stayed with a friend and then joined us on Friday.  Graham flew in on Friday and took the train where Keith met him at one of the stops and then came to the house.  After giving them the tour and letting them get settled, we began the food extravaganza - we went to dinner at Smyth, partaking in the Omaha tasting (which included 20 courses) and the wine pairing.  The restaurant is nice and the food was quite good - although some courses were better than others.

Keith waiting for food!

Razor claims at Smyth

After dinner, we stopped at Lottie's for one beer - well at least most of us - Graham pretended to drink his but really got rid of it in the bathroom!

Lottie's

On Saturday, we slept in and then continued the tour de food.  Our first stop was to see the new Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Michigan Avenue.  The store has five floors and includes a shop, restaurant and bar.  Very cool digs.

Starbucks Roastery

We then went to the Purple Pig where we shared several dishes that were all very tasty - ricotta gnocchi, pork tongue, meatballs, artichokes and pate.  While the food was good, we did not like the location - in a lobby of a high rise.  Continuing on Graham's memory tour of favorite places, we stopped at Bandera for cornbread which was quite good.

Pork tongue at Purple Pig

Cornbread at Bandera

We then had to walk off some calories so we walked along the river over to West Loop where we went to Time Out Market to show Graham the new spot (we didn't eat anything here).  We tried to then get into Au Cheval to try the famous burger but the wait was too long so instead we had ice cream at Jeni's Ice Cream - yum!

Back at home, we took a nap and then showered to head out for more food! For dinner, we went to Elske which is a very cute restaurant in West Loop (very near Smyth).  We did not do the tasting menu but instead ordered a la carte and we shared several dishes that were all very yummy - bread, hamachi, risotto, chicken, wagyu flat iron and all four desserts!

Scrambled eggs and chicken at Elske

We were stuffed....well, so we thought because we then went to Cabra for a night cap and ended up ordering two tasty appetizers - snapper ceviche and goat empanadas.

Nightcap at Cabra

On Sunday, we chilled in the morning and then headed out for the final food extravaganza.  We went to Tzuco for lunch where we had some very flavorful Mexican dishes - duck waffles, chilaquiles, papadzule crepe, pork pabil (our favorite of them all) and chile rellenos.

Pork pabil at Tzuco

 Of course, we needed dessert so we went to Bang Bang Pie in Logan Square and shared the berry, honey, lemon and chocolate turtle pies - so good.  We then drove Amy to the airport and on the way back, we walked around Pilsen to see the colorful murals.

Pie at Bang Bang Pie

Murals in Pilsen

Back at the house, we relaxed a bit and then Graham packed up for us to take him to the airport.  We had to stop once more for food to try the fondue at Quartino that he could not stop talking about.  The restaurant serves Italian food and is located in Streeterville.  We tried the fondue, bacon wrapped dates and white bean dip.  The fondue is Italian style so not what we expected.  While we didn't like it near as much as Graham, Graham was quite happy to have had it again and even better, he scored the recipe from the waitress.  We then drove Graham to the airport and vowed not to eat for at last three days!

John and JoAnna Visit - Feb 2020

Duck Duck Goat

Our first visitors in our new home in Chicago were John and JoAnna who came for a short weekend.  We were lucky that it was not too cold and we packed the weekend in with food and drinking!

Time Out Market

They arrived on Sat morning at 7am - we picked them up at Midway and then went back to the house to get settled and catch up.  We then set out for an afternoon of food/beer tasting in West Loop, organized by Shawna.  We stopped at the following places:

• Monteverde - tried the hamachi and cacio whey pepper pasta.  Both very yummy.  This is a nice, modern Italian restaurant.
• La Josie - lively Mexican restaurant.  We tried the chili relenos and carnitas tacos - both quite good.
• Ballast Point Brewery - took a break from food and tried a beer here.  Lots of good beer choices on tap.
• Gus' Fried Chicken - casual place serving spicy and crispy fried chicken.
• Duck Duck Goat - lively Chinese restaurant.  We tried the duck and goat dumplings and the crispy duck noodles - very tasty!
• Time Out Market - food hall with lots of food stalls and three bars.  We tried the chicken katsu from Brian Fisher (yum) and the chili cavatelli from Band of Bohemia.

Monteverde

We polled the group and the favorite dishes were the two items from Monteverde, the carnitas tacos from La Josie and the crispy duck noodles from Duck Duck Goat.

Ballast Point

We went back to the house for a nap to rest up for the evening activities.  We then stopped at Lottie's for a beer before heading to dinner at The Vig which is a gastropub in Old Town.  We shared the shishito peppers, corn fritters, brussel sprouts salad and peri peri chicken pasta.  Food was OK.  After dinner, we went to Second City for the 11pm improv show - it was interesting to see the comedians think quickly on their feet but we didn't find them to be very funny.  Back at the house, we had some popcorn before retreating to bed at 1am!

Second City

On Sunday, we slept in and relaxed and then went for a walk on the 606.  It was a nice sunny day but a bit windy.  We then grazed for lunch at a few spots in Wicker Park, stopping at the following places:

• Piece Brewery - really good pizza and beer.  We shared a jalapeño and italian sausage red pizza.
• Big Star - cute taco place.  We tried the guacamole, queso fundido and carne asado taco.  Pretty good.
• Links Taproom - lots of beer choices.  We had a beer and a chorizo hotdog which was tasty.

Happy JoAnna

We went back to the house for a nap and then watched the Super Bowl and had gumbo before we had to drive them back to the airport for their 9:40pm flight!

And Happy Shawna!