Cooking and Family’ing

adminbest friends, Corey Lambert, Family, flatwater, kitchen clambake, luxbar, Magic Hat Brewery, Man Friend, summer cooking, Uncategorized, Volare%s Comments

Exhibit A: Hazel Wegrich.  93. Grandmother. All-Around Amazing Lady.

My 93 year old grandmother got on a place for the first time in years and ventured from Florida to Chicago this past weekend.  A good dinner at Volare (minus the rave that was happening across the street- strobe lights and glow sticks don’t exactly say “welcome to Chicago, let’s have a nice, classy dinner”),  lunch at Luxbar, brunch at Flatwater and a kitchen clambake at our apartment made for a lovely weekend.

I love to cook.  Feeding the people I love is, to me, another way to love them.  With my mom and grandmother in town, it was only fitting that 3 of my best friends came over for dinner.  I am so lucky to have people in Chicago who are every bit as family as those as I am related to by gentics.  It’s also a lot of fun to be in a relationship with someone who loves entertaining as much as I do.  After flipping through The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Man-Friend and I decided on a Kitchen Clambake–potatoes, kielbasa, shrimp, clams, mussels, salmon and crab steamed in white wine and, because Man-Friend got creative, Miller Lite.

Exhibit B: Our pot was not big enough for the mass amounts of seafood we bought.  So we improvised.

Since we have yet to put together our 4th kitchen table chair, we brought over the ottoman and all crowded around the table, digging into the caprese salad, cracking open crab legs, reaching for more mussels, breaking off pieces of delicious crusty bread.

Exhibit C: Finished product.

It was my favorite kind of meal, the kind that are filled with people I adore, tons of food, wine, “remember when” stories and last for hours.  It turns out that exactly 6 years ago, Corey, Amanda, Mike, Linda and I were in car on our way to New York City.  It was an amazing time in our friendship, a time when we were still young enough to have nothing else to do but be together.  That trip will forever be one of my favorite memories.  It was really special to be with those same people (minus Married Mike), celebrating the exciting changes that have happened recently in our adult lives and belly laughing over being 19 and stranded in Long Island at 4am.

There’s a month left of summer and I want it to be filled with nights just like last Saturday- cooking, story sharing, glass toasting and being with family–both the one I was born into and the one I have been lucky enough to have become a part of along the way.

Rock ‘N Roll Half Marathon

adminCARA, Chicago running, Man Friend, Married Mike, Rock 'N Roll Half, running, Uncategorized%s Comments

5:45am–My alarm goes off.

6:05am–I walk out the door.

6:07am–I realize that I can’t make it another step without a copious amount of coffee and bagels.  Maybe donuts too.

6:15am–I arrive at the CARA (Chicago  Area Runners Association) water station for the Rock ‘N Roll Half Marathon with a bag of bagels, donuts AND muffins after a Dunkin Donuts stop.

6:30am–25,000 runners start their race.  Man-Friend ran it, as well as several of my friends and it could not have been a more gorgeous day.  I was absolutely blown away by how courteous these runners were!  I know our water station was at mile 3 and people were still pretty fresh but pretty much every runner who grabbed a cup of water for me said thank you, thank you for volunteering.  I don’t know about you but when I run, my focus is on putting one foot in front of another.  These people had 10 miles ahead of them but still took the time to share some love.

After I was done hydrating some rockin’ runners, I headed to Buckingham Fountain to wait for Man-Friend to finish the race.

I watched as the runners met up with their loved ones, locals had their morning coffee and met a nice little Vizsla named Scout.  Ryan did great–he was out of town all week for work and didn’t get back until Saturday evening but got his butt out there and ran the 13.1.  I’m so proud of him!  I’m absolutely on board now to kick up my marathon training.  I have a little over 2 months and as long as I increase my long runs by 2 miles each week, I will be hitting over 20miles by October.  It’s in the bag.

Congrats on the Half Marathon, Ryan, Mike, Lindsay, Christina, Carina, Bill and Giuliana!  (I had to throw Bill and Giuliana in there because I ran into them while I was running down Michigan Avenue this morning so they’re practically my neighbors, ya know?)

High Five of the Day: Our basil plant is now 4 weeks old and alive and well.  This is a record for me.  I am loving being able to walk over to the window and pluck off leaves to throw in our dinner–definitely made our sun-dried tomato, roasted red pepper and chicken pasta last night oh-so-delicious.

Just a Typical Sunday.

adminCaffe RoM, Edible Chicago, Fox and Obel, Man Friend, Sunday Morning, Transformers 3, Uncategorized%s Comments

On our way to breakfast this morning, Man-Friend and I came across the park we live by taped off and a gathering of people with their dogs, babies and coffee staring at the now empty space of green.  It turns out that “Transformers 3” is filming in Chicago, specifically in our neighborhood, all week.  There were guys with walkie-talkies, coordinating with the helicopters circling above who told us “it” was happening in a few minutes  so we decided to grab coffee at Caffe RoM and watch whatever it was that caused a crowd of our yuppie neighbors to be staring at an empty park.

By the time we walked back outside with our coffee, a helicopter swooped in between the buildings long enough to deposit 5 skydivers, all of whom expertly swooped around the park before landing perfectly in the plot of land sectioned off for them.  It only lasted about 10 seconds, if that, but it was pretty cool.

Having been a little girl in the 80s who always opted for the Barbie in her Happy Meal, I had no idea what a Transformer was.  Even after Ryan’s explanation, I still don’t get why robots mascarading as cars would be patrolling the streets protecting people but I feel obligated to see this film now that it was filmed in my ‘hood.

High Five of the Day: Speaking of yuppies, we got breakfast for the first time at Fox and Obel. It is a foodie’s paradise.  Rows and rows of wine, cheese, meats, wine, bread, pastries and wine.  There’s a little restaurant so we grabbed some breakfast (2 poached eggs with wheat toast, chicken sausage and fruit for me; scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, and potatoes for Man-Friend) and did some Sunday morning reading:

I’m not sure what Man-Friend found in the Wall Street Journal but Edible Chicago provided me with  some great recipes that I can’t wait to try.  Between Edible Chicago and the issue of Cooking Light that I picked up yesterday, I am going to kick cooking in the Gardner-Foley household up a notch.  And yes, I know I just quoted Emeril Lagasse.  And yes, I recognize how cheesy that is.  Stay tuned anyways.

Moving On Up

adminChicago, Chicago apartment search, Luna Bell, Man Friend, moving, Uncategorized%s Comments

Moving on up…literally.  Up to the 41st floor to be more exact.  This is what I wake up to every morning.  Yeah, I’m still not even close to over it–I had about 40 pictures to choose from for this post of the exact same view because I take a picture pretty much every morning, noon and night.  Thank God all those other apartments didn’t work out because apparently 18th time’s a charm.

Luna Bell is thrilled with the move.  She doesn’t know what to do with all the room she has to run and her new favorite past time is watching the lights from cars going by at night.  Her head just whips back and forth.  It’s hilarious.

Ryan feels pretty much the same way.  He has lots of room to run and he likes looking out the window too.

As for me, I’m just livin’ the dream.  When I was young, my family came to Chicago a lot.  I wasn’t allowed to cross the street by myself in my hometown,  but for some reason, when we were in Chicago, my Dad would leave me a $10 on the dresser at the hotel in the morning to get myself a newspaper and Corner Bakery for breakfast and then I would wander around Michigan Avenue and the Gold Coast window shopping for hours.   I remember thinking, “Someday, this is what I’m going to do every day.”  I know that’s super cheesy but if I ever stop squealing on the inside (and let’s be serious, sometimes on the outside) when I cross the river in the morning or see the Navy Pier fireworks happening right outside my window or when my daily run consists of being on the most beautiful lake-shore in the world, well, then it’s time for me to move.  Or stop being such a curmudgeon.

Living with my favorite person and cat in the world in my favorite city in the world…jackpot, baby.  Overwhelmingly grateful for these blessings.

High Five of the Day: I just noticed the reflection in this above picture so the High Five of the Day has got to go to my tank top.  The Scoop Neck Tank is my fav.

Volare

adminbaby cow, Italian, Man Friend, pasta, Signature Lounge on the 96th, Uncategorized, Volare, wine%s Comments

I haven’t done a restaurant review in awhile and after an amazing dinner at Volare last Saturday night, it is high time.

I’ve walked by Volare a dozen times but since it’s not much to look at from the outside (c’mon–you know we all judge books by their covers on occasion), I’ve never pushed to go there.  But after countless recommendations from my parents and from my man friend’s colleagues, we decided to make it the dinner portion of our old school Chicago date.  After drinks at the Signature Lounge on the 96th Floor of the Hancock Tower (best view of the city is out of the women’s restroom, btw), we went a few blocks south to Volare, located at 201 E. Grand Ave.

Walking in, we weren’t so much greeted by the hosts but by waiters running in and out of the busiest kitchen I’ve ever seen.  Waiting for our table was almost painful, watching dish after amazing smelling dish go by.  To say I struggle making decisions about ordering food is an understatement but even my man friend had a hard time at Volare because everything we had seen run by us was just mouth watering.  The veal medallion with porcini risotto (for him) and the frutti di mare (for me) were the final decisions and I’d say we hit the jackpot.  Well, you’ll have to take his word on the veal–even though I was bribed with lots of things I want in exchange for taking a bite, you will never catch me eating baby cow.  No way.  But the calamari was uber tender, the shrimp ginormous, the seabass perfection and the pasta was perfectly al dente (my big pet peeve with Italian restaurants) so we left very full and happy. Topped off with a bottle of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and we were in love.  With Volare.

We always say we want to go back to places just for some wine and to maybe split a dish but with Volare, I know neither of us are going to be willing to share.

High Five of the Day:  http://smittenkitchen.com/ I follow them on Twitter (ninainthechi) and now that the Green City Market is up and going on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, I can’t wait to turn all the fabulous fresh things I buy there into the fabulous fresh recipes Smitten Kitchen gives me.  First on my list is absolutely Homemade Pop Tarts.  Go ahead, start salivating now.

The Zoo

adminleopards, Man Friend, Uncategorized, Zoo%s Comments

I have lived here for over a year and have never made it to the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Lame, I know.  It’s free, it’s super close, it’s free…how did I never find time to do this?  Well, today at 10am, I found time.  After a Starbucks stop, my man friend and I walked over to the zoo.  It was 75 degrees by the time we left the house so we could have been walking to the landfill and been as happy as we were to be outside in weather that didn’t include ice, snow, or sleet.

Lincoln Park Zoo is really something.  Founded in 1868, this place all started with a pair of swans.  Apparently, there was also a bear that used to escape and roam around the nearby neighborhoods.  Today, I saw a lot of animals living happily in their habitats.  The “cat” exhibit kind of made me sad, the leopards seemed way too big to be in such a small area but there was one asleep on its back with its paw in the air that reminded me of Luna Bell.  Cats are cats, I suppose, although this leopard would not have fit in my window sill the way LB is right now.  And I suppose it would also eat more.  Anyways.  We saw lions, leopard, blue frogs, bats, flamingos, zebras, swans, guerrillas, monkeys and snakes. The Zoo was packed with families by the time we left and kids were noshing on cotton candy, popcorn and pretzels.  Such a cool options for kids in the city.  Free, fun, educational and it gave us something different to do.  I will definitely be looping in there on my next run, just to wave hi to my new guerrilla friends.