Good Eats in Chicago

Three of every four years we spend the first weekend of December in Chicago at the Illinois Farm Bureau Annual Meeting. We eat, we catch up with old friends, my husband attends meetings, we drink, we eat, we shop, we eat.

This year we were at the Palmer House Hilton on State Street. BEAUTIFUL. I borrowed my friend's nine year old daughter for an afternoon while she attended a meeting. We shopped a bit then sat in the lobby eating Garrett's Chicago Mix and drinking Diet Coke. Dancers from the Joffrey Ballet Nutcracker production were taking pictures in front of the tree with the kids. It was a wonderful, enchanted afternoon.

This year we ate at some unique places. We started with Moe's Cantina on Saturday night. Yummy Margaritas, yummy Queso Fundido, yummy guac and yummy cheese filled, bacon wrapped jalapenos. We also ended up in the middle of a Santa pub crawl. We saw sexy Santas and Elves, pimp Santas, fat Santas, skinny Santas, presents, and reindeer. It gave us lots to talk about!

The next night we ate at The Chicago Cuthouse. It's right on the river and the atmosphere was elegant and festive. I had the best tomato and buffalo mozzarella stack and an unbelievable, melt in your mouth filet. We also had a really good bottle of Malbec. I wish I would of looked at the label but I'm positive it went above my $15 wine limit.

Monday afternoon I spent shopping with some girlfriends. We had lunch at Wow Bao. The tag line drew me in - Hot Asian Buns. I ate the pot stickers because I love them but my friend let me try her Hot Asian Bun (Bao). It was like eating a pillow filled of creamy goodness. Next time I'll choose the buns!

That night we drank more Malbec and ate Sushi at Sushi Wabi. The concierge told us it would set the standard for all future sushi. He was right. It was delicious. My husband and I were more adventurous than usual. We ate salted edamame, the dragon, the caterpillar, the Godzilla, salmon tar tare with chips, and a roll with scallops that I can't pronounce let alone spell. It is not a place we would have just walked into. It looked kind of like an abandoned store front from the outside but the inside was modern, small and quaint. Definitely a place we'll go again.

Every year I say I'll plan ahead and make reservations at some of the trendy places, like Girl and the Goat and every year I forget and we are stuck with the concierge recommendations. It worked out so well this year!

Any recs for next year? I swear I'm going to plan ahead!

Critters

I hate vermin. We once had a rat living in our garage. It ate my car. Twice. Our dog, Frank, was pretty sick at the time so he had a live and let live relationship with the rat. Once I found its nest and disposed of the babies, it went away. Oh, life on the farm. It's so glamorous.

I think that is the one and only time I've been grateful for our detached garage.

Last week my husband left me a message at work. Pete (our current dog) got a rat. He brought it up to the house. It was half grown. It was dead. Thank goodness. I hope Pete got his brothers and sisters, too.

I love having a dog that goes after critters. My kids get pretty mad at him for chasing and being rough with cats. Not me. His job is to get critters. All critters. If he starts letting the cats by, what's next?

I love it so much, I think I may let him in the house to track down the mice that ruined my evening. I know, I live in the country on a farm. Mice come with the territory. But they're really gross.

Tonight as I flew in the house before flying back out to run my son to basketball practice I went to the pantry for a quick snack. I saw that I had caught a furry critter in one of my sticky traps. I cleaned it up then went back for my snack.

Did you know mice can climb? I certainly didn't. They had been on the shelves in my pantry. How they got up there, I do not know. But boy did they make a mess. One that I spent my evening cleaning up.

I think it's time to let Pete in the house.

Happiness is...

1. A completed 25 page paper.
2. The last class of a very difficult semester.
3. My very own Christmas tree.
4. Time to read books that I want to read.
5. An upcoming weekend in the city with friends. Chi town here I come!

My future plans

I've been working, reading, and playing non-stop for the past few days. I know I shouldn't wish away Thanksgiving, but I. can't. wait. for next Monday. I am so ready to be done with this semester. Here's what I plan to do until my class starts mid-January:

1. Read the Twilight series. I got sucked into the second half of the first movie the other day. I fully expect not to shower or leave the couch for at least a week.

2. Make cookies. Jam thumbprints are my favorite.

3. Be a groupie. Two of our good friends have a band. We try to attend as many of their gigs as possible. They let me play the tambourine. It makes me happy. And, it gives me bruises.

4. Run! I have been so busy this fall. I need to start back up and get ready for Tampa in February, (hopefully) Mexico in February and Houston in March.

5. Clean. My cleaning angel is still on leave. Cleaning angel, please come back.

6. Kill. The weather finally turned and the mice are coming in. I started hunting them yesterday. I need to turn up the heat. If there is one thing that make me squirm, it's the thought of mice crawling around my house.

7. Enjoy Christmas with my kiddies! I have two full weeks off. I need to plan some fun things.

Any suggestions?!

Who's making the decisions?

I've spent the weekend working on my final research paper for the semester. I've spent over ten hours reading about Critical Theory (describing what is and what ought to be), Critical Race Theory (Doing the above from perspective of someone of color) and higher education.


One question keeps going through my head. How many important decisions affecting my life have been made by rooms full of only white men?


I'm not a man hater. I don't even consider myself a feminist. However, I do believe that women have unique perspectives as do men of color, women of color, women of faith, men without faith, Midwestern women, east coast men, etc. We all bring something to the table.


My class this semester, however painful, has reinforced that concept.


I suppose I should end my moratorium on volunteer activities, stop complaining and figure out how to make my voice heard.

Unfathomable

This fall my son's football team wore Superman stickers on their helmets. It was to honor a little boy who was an "unofficial" part of their team.

At one of their last games, the little boy was brought on to the field with his grandparents and given a team jersey with Superman printed on the back.

The little boy was laid to rest today.

I didn't know him or his family, but his story is heartbreaking. His mom passed away a few years ago. His step-mom stands accused of the heinous abuse that left him with severe brain damage. Authorities don't believe it was an isolated incident.

I can't even begin to imagine. How do you hurt a child?

So many members of the community have been touched by this little boy's story. To honor him, balloons were released when the funeral procession passed over a bridge on the way to the burial.

I can't imagine.

Christmas Cards: Yes or No?

I had lunch with two of my oldest, dearest friends today. (I love that I have friends that I've known since junior high. They get me.) The topic of whether or not to send Christmas cards came up.

Postage is expensive. The cards are expensive. Writing a short, interesting letter to go along with the card is always a challenge. It seems like one more thing for a busy mom to do during a busy season. But, I love getting them.

Each year we put all of the photo cards in an album. We've been doing it almost nine years now. It's so fun to look back and see how much all of the families have grown and changed. I don't think it would be the same without ours at the start of each new year.

Are you sending cards this year? Why or why not?