Chicago!

Weekend Recap: AMAZING.

I got into Chicago Thursday evening and Brianna quickly whisked us away to happy hour at Tavernita!! It was great to meet Bri's co-workers, and funny to read their "banker" faces when I said I make my living from Parades & Fireworks :) After a few hours of college stories and too many glasses of Chardonnay & Booty Collins (green tea- infused absolut vodka, passionfruit, lemon, cayenne, yohimbre) we desperately needed some food! We headed to Portillo's and consumed the craziest smorgasbord of food ever, I won't even touch on what we ordered to save our dignity :)

Friday morning, I headed out to meet my former co-worker Elizabeth & Steve for the CWS Opening Day vs. the Tigers! I must say I am completely proud of myself for taking the Red Line alone for the first time, even though it was only a couple block walk from Bri's high rise and only 3 stops to our pre-game meet up, Cavanaughs!

We made it to our seats in right center field just in time for the first few pitches; after, of course, some good natured heckling from White Sox nation (which sadly, needs some extensive lessons in fashion). I actually feel bad for Sox fans in general, having your stadium in the middle of nowhere really puts a damper on the full scale tailgating, bar hopping Opening Day that Detroiters (and probably even Cubs fans) are accustomed to. Sadly, the Tigers lost (CWS 5, Tigers 2).

Post game, Brianna and I met up for dinner at Uncle Julio's; which was so yummy, margarita's & steak enchiladas (I literally just drooled writing that). Feeling beyond full, we made our way to Duffy's to catch the end of the Red Wings game with her bf & friends! Duffy's was totally a hot mess, if it's even possible, it had better people watching than the Sox game!! From there the night gets a little blurry, but I know we made it to a bar in Old Town, and someones apartment, and finally home :)


Bri & I at Duffy's


Somehow, Saturday morning, we pulled ourselves together to go to WERQ, a fitness class based on hip-hop dance. I swear it was like we were 19 years old again, dancing in Canada :) I definitely recommend checking it out, if you like to break a sweat while dancing!

After class, Bri & I discovered what could possibly be the best breakfast restaurant in Chicago, Meli Cafe! It has now become our "spot" and we even went back on Sunday!! I totally recommend the fresh squeezed grapefruit juice & feta-spinach-tomato breakfast sandwich on wheat!! (Again, with drooling).

In the afternoon, we headed out to run some errands & shop! We hit up my fav Francesca's, where I purchased the greatest clutch known to women!! Black Satin. Gold Trim. Glitz Peacock Closure. AMAZE.

Saturday night we met up with our friend Melina (who we've been friends with since Jr. High) for dinner at Quartino's! Another fabulous restaurant! And since it is a small plate style & there were three of us, I have no problem sharing what we ordered :) A liter of Sangria, Romaine Heart Salad, Gnocchi, Sea Scallops, Margherita Pizza and a rib pasta dish I couldn't find on the menu. (Still drooling). It was all delicious and much needed for our night out of drinking & dancing!!


Quartino's

The night took us to my next (new) fav place, The Pump Room at Public Chicago. The moment we walked in, I felt like I was at the Chateau Marmont on Sunset, I actually expected to walk outside after and see palm trees, or my brother :) We each decided to order something new to our taste buds, Melina = Old English Gentlemen (Dewar's White Label, Tobacco Syrup, Fresh Lemon Sour, Sweet Vermouth & Egg Wash), Brianna = Raspberry Lychee Bellini (Prosecco, Raspberry & Lychee Syrup) and I had the Pump & Circumstance (Bombay Sapphire Gin, Earl Grey Tea & Lavender Syrup, Fresh Lemon Juice, Simple Syrup & Egg Wash). Truthfully, my drink tasted like I was drinking from a Bath & Body Works Wallflower, which was a little hard to get past. Our second round we all switched it up, but Melina was still the dare devil, ordering a Passion Whiskey Fizz with Chili... it had a kick. I tried to order Hpnotiq (classy I know) which they did not have but luckily the bartender drinks it as well and tried his best to recreate it using tequila and vodka, he came pretty close!!

Shots from the very sweet bartenders at The Pump Room

When the urge to dance took over, we relocated (in the pouring rain) to a hole in the wall bar, that I don't even remember the name of (yes, the drinks were that good). All I do remember is that Bri somewhere found a beer case to use as an umbrella, we cut in line (yes, we were those girls) and their bathrooms were in the basement, which was flooded. It was a hot mess. But we came to dance, and dance we did, until 3 AM! The walk home was memorable, as was our late night shopping spree at 7-11.

Trendiest Umbrella Ever :)

Sunday came entirely too quickly. I literally had to fight back tears when I hugged Brianna good-bye. It was seriously one of the best weekends I've had in a long time, like I am ready to plan a trip back tomorrow :)

xoxo

Let's hear it for the.... binders?!!

I am living a real exciting life today... you all should be extremely jealous :)

Today at work I literally spent my lunch hour making a poor man's recipe book... don't judge!!
I have mentioned before, in the eating Crisco on my Eggo's post, that recently I have been all about cooking, baking, learning and making mistakes in the kitchen. So I decided that, to do it properly, I needed to stop saving recipes on my Blackberry notepad and actually have them physically on some paper, in a safe place...
Enter.... the best gift ever!!

My office is mainly dominated by women so we tend to treat some of the men in our office like everyone else... women. We buy each other little prizes when we see something that "he or she would just love" and last week, I hit the jackpot!! My coworker was apparently walking home heavily buzzed from dinner one night last week (don't judge him either, lol) and decided that his two children (one only 3) needed some school supplies, so he made a detour to Office Depot. While shopping he saw two items that screamed Jess (another coworker) & CAB, so after a few misspelled BBM's, we learned we would have prizes awaiting our arrival at work the next day!! How exciting!

When I entered work that next morning, I was presented with a shiny Pink & Green (Go Delta Zeta!!!) binder!! WOOO WOOO!! Now to most this seems like an "eh whatever" gift, but to the Queen of Binders & Organization and a Delta Z sister... this was AMAZING!!

Proof that I am the Binder Queen
(and that's just the last two years)

I had been debating the last few days, which program would be the lucky recipient of this lovely new binder... but was having a hard time committing. I didn't want to only use it for a few months, it's far to pretty to be used just for one Parade season :(

Enter.... the poor man's recipe book :) and apparently a photo shoot!!

I think I need to steal this easel for my kitchen, right?!

My google was filled today with "how to organize your recipes" and "recipe tabs for organizing", I even went to Amazon.com to check index's of some of the most popular cookbooks... What I came up with was a list that made me realize I am quite the micro-manager of recipes :) twenty-four tabs grace my pretty pretty princess binder!! A little over the top I am sure, I don't really think I needed a tab separating appetizers from dips but ya know... it felt right.

I am a bit embarrassed to admit that you will see an error in my index... but my filing of "Desserts & Treats" (which is different than Cake, and Candy, and Cookies, oh and Pies & Cobblers) after "Grilling" just shows my excitement level for my new creation!! And I am sure I will be adding more tabs as I become an expert in the kitchen and will be able to fix my alphabet error soon!!

So if anyone has any recipes that aren't top Italian family secrets, I would welcome the opportunity to give them a try :) my future children will thank you I am sure... as no one wants a mom who can't make a mean Birthday DIRT CAKE
xoxox

OH PS... I think all my creativity with my recipe book (I know it still needs some work) came from my new fabulous hair cut!! Okay so it's not any different than before and to the naked eye it may not look like I cut anything off but Lizzie took a whole 4+" off my locks of love!! AND now it curls better and is super wild... which is totally awesome in this heat wave... no blow out for me!!! Woo Woo!!

Thank you bathroom mirror at work for the photo... you know ya'll love the papier-mache heads creeping through plastic bags photo in the background... don't judge :)

If you can't stand the heat...

Over the past year, I have become more into cooking & recipes. I know this, at times, annoys my step mom Andrea because she is my first go to if I have questions regarding ingredients, prep or cooking. I typically call her from one of the million aisles at Meijer; "Where do I find the heavy whipping cream?" "What is processed cheese food?" or "Can you go to All Recipes and tell me what it says for....". The truth is my blackberry clearly has Internet capabilities, but Andrea is an awesome cook and I value her opinions, tips and ideas.

So yesterday was a typically grocery shopping experience. I was frantically searching for vinegar (I really thought it was in the baking aisle) and couldn't find it anywhere. (In these situations I am usually just over looking the product in a frustrated haze). As I was reaching for my BB to call Andrea, I was stopped in my tracks with uncontrollable laughter.........

When I was 22 years old, I had just graduated from Western Michigan and moved home to start my job at The Parade Company. My parents were not yet retired and would leave each weekend for their now home in Rose City. It was a few weeks before our VIP Rooftop Party featuring the Target Fireworks and I had been working 6 days a week in preparation. I woke up one Saturday morning, probably slightly hungover, and starving before heading into work... I found some Eggo's in the freezer (at this time in my life I was still living off my parents grocery shopping, which I am forever grateful for) and tossed them into the toaster... as I gathered everything for my waffles... I began searching the refrigerator for butter.... WHAT?! How could this be, we were out of butter?!! After moving every item, I finally found a clear tub with a stick of butter in it... HOORAY!!! My waffles came out perfect... just slightly bronzed (or burnt as others complain) and I saturated each square with butter & syrup!! YUM!!

Sunday night my parents returned home... I was watching TV while they were unpacking and stocking the refrigerator. I announced to them, that I hoped they bought butter as we were just about out and I had to use a stick (we typically only use tub butter) for my Eggo's... 

Andrea looked puzzled... "You used what for your Eggo's?"

"I used this" as I was now standing in the kitchen holding up my stick of butter in the clear plastic tub!!

"Tell me you didn't CarolAnn, you didn't really use this on your Eggo's did you?" Andrea asked with a shocked look on her face.

"I did, there's not much left because I put some in every square...." I trailed off as her eyes got bigger than I had ever seen.

"CarolAnn... this is NOT butter... this is CRISCO!! You used a stick of Crisco on your Eggo's!!!" She gasped. 

"WHAT?!!!!! The horror!!!"

I honestly didn't know that Crisco came in a stick form, I had only ever seen it in a large can!!! 

Looking back, I probably should be embarrassed that a fresh college graduated didn't know the difference between a stick of Crisco & a stick of butter. One is white the other is yellow. One is wrapped in shiny foil, the other in clear paper. Not too mention I am sure if I would of looked closer, it has a label!! 

So as I was searching for the vinegar to use for a new recipe... this is what caught my eye... and left me with the giggles :)

I hope it's not annoyance Andrea feels when she receives one of my pestering phone calls from Meijer "Where is the vinegar in this joint?!!", instead I hope she is a little bit prouder. I have come a long way from the days of Crisco-ing up my Eggo's :) I may not be a top chef yet, but I am learning and making great stories along the way. 

xoxox