Sailing Lake Michigan

Last Saturday, the skies threatened rain as we waited to board our sailboat, but the storms went around us and the sun peeked out in time for us to enjoy the early stages of sunset as we sailed back toward the harbor.

Rather than learning to sail, as originally planned, Megan and I decided to charter a sailboat for our July Top 10 event.  It would be less time-consuming, less expensive, and less manual labor for us!  And possibly a bit more fun since it would allow us to invite a few friends and enjoy food and drinks as we sailed.  It was a fantastic afternoon "out to sea" filled with friends, music and laughter.  Not to mention breathtaking views of the Chicago skyline.  I highly recommend it!

city cowgirls and boy

If there was any doubt that I had fun, awesome friends, last night would have wiped it clean.  When Megan and I put line dancing on the Top 10 of 2010, I don't think we had any idea that we were going to get so into character -- cowboy boots, check; cowboy hat, check!  Or that we'd have friends whose boots were ready for a night out!

Megan and I started the night with a trip to Smoque BBQ where we proceeded to consume more brisket, pulled pork and ribs than advisable for two girls.  But, we did it in the most lady-like fashion possible, only briefly considering the bib style "tuck your napkin in your top" option, & thankfully, neither of us got BBQ sauce on our dress!  If you're in Chicago, love BBQ and have never been to Smoque, I highly recommend it.  Be prepared to wait in line.

Bellies sufficiently stuffed, it was time to get those boots scootin'!   Unfortunately, there was a line to get in at Houndstooth and Angie doesn't wait in line.  Alright, clarification - I will absolutely wait in line for food if I think it's worth it (ie - Smoque BBQ); I will almost never wait in line to get into a bar because experience tells me it is usually the opposite of 'worth it'.  Plan B - Carol's Pub.  Megan, Christy, Erica and I walked into "World Famous Karaoke" and pushed the number of people in the bar to just over 20 including the bartenders, waitress and karaoke dj.  Wow.  After a few rounds of video photo hunt, the bar started to fill up a little, Mike arrived and saved us from a leering man, entertained us and got the crowd going with his performance of Sweet Child o' Mine, and we managed a few steps of line dancing back in our corner of the bar.  All in all, fun night filled with lots of laughter.

Not quite what we had envisioned, but it will count for now.  We received a tip that Honky Tonk BBQ has a live band and people get up and dance during dinner.  It's on the "summer fun" list.  I think my cowboy boots and hat need another outing or two anyway!  And last I heard, Mike was on the hunt for a big belt buckle.  Thanks to Christy, Erica and Mike for being fabulous friends ready for a good time!  To be continued ....

Brunch Wars & a Top 10 event

Today was about as perfect of a Sunday as a girl could imagine. I was out of bed before 7 am & out the door for a walk with Olive. Since I had no coffee in the house, we walked up to Peet's, the local coffeeshop, to enjoy a cup. This is where I admit that I LOVE sitting and enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee on Sunday mornings. Coffee tastes better on Sunday. I drink coffee daily, but Sunday should be different. Relaxed, maybe with a newspaper, but absolutely not rushed. This morning was even better. When Olive and I got to Peet's, we ran into a dear friend & began the day sipping coffee and catching up on the bench out front. Ok, fine, maybe I sound like I am 47 instead of 31, but really, there is nothing better than waking up on Sunday and enjoying the moment. Not hungover or groggy from a wild Saturday night.

On this fine Sunday, coffee was only the beginning. Megan and I went to Champagne Brunch at Bespoke, a group cooking "party" (or "brunch wars" depending on who you ask). There were approximately 20 people attending; you split into teams and prepare the dishes that will be enjoyed by all at the end. All the while, enjoying the BYOB of choice. As they pointed out before we got started, cooking is better with drinks. Who am I to argue?!

Megan and I chose the frittata station and had to chop a huge bowl of mushrooms. Such a large bowl that Meggo said she felt like this might be a little like prison.

Once we finished the mushrooms, we cracked many eggs into a bowl and whisked them, which we somehow turned into an event that dissolved us into fits of laughter. Maybe it was the champagne. Regardless, I highly suggest getting your hips into it the next time you are whisking.

Our station was also responsible for maple glazed bacon.  Heaven.  (Note this is bacon's second appearance in my blog.)  It wasn't a competition, there was no judging.  I'm pretty sure we all won when we got to sit down and eat!  The entire brunch was delish!  And I'm supremely envious of the women who run the company.

Capped off the day by icing my ankles with my "dream machine", a post-Boston marathon celebratory glass of wine with Beth, and a Top 10 event with Megan. Yep. April's Top 10 event - drink an expensive bottle of wine. We made a trip to the wine shop yesterday & picked up our chosen bottle. A 2006 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Lewis Cellars in Napa Valley. It was a monumental moment. The most money I've ever spent on a single bottle of wine. When we got back from brunch, we ceremoniously uncorked and decanted the wine. About 3 hours later, we raised our glasses and took the first delightful sip. Ohhh, it was good. Velvety smooth. Perfect ending to an "enjoy the moment" kind of Sunday!

Belgian Beer Junket

March 13 was the chosen date for Megan and I to tackle our second "event" from the Top 10 of 2010. Several weeks prior, I had received a save the date for a Belgian Beer tasting dinner hosted by Perman Wines and X-Marx. (If you are interested in wine, visit Craig at Perman Wines. He is knowledgeable and unpretentious.) We were so eager to attend that before realizing it was only a SAVE THE DATE, I responded with a request for a reservation for 2. Oops! So we jumped the gun a little. Oh well! We wanted to make sure we got a seat, there were only 20 available!

The day before the dinner, we received an email with the address where the dinner would be held. Saturday night, catch cab (total nightmare given that it is the Saturday before St Patrick's Day & apparently the majority of Chicago is out drinking green beer), exchange nervous glances at the several turrets-style outbursts from the cab driver, and find way to designated address. Ring bell. Nothing. Hmmm. Ok. Ring again. Nothing. I don't think this is how this is supposed to go. We most certainly were not given instructions for a secret knock. Crap. Check address. Damn. The accountant wrote it down wrong. Yes, that would be me. So I transposed two numbers and we are standing at the wrong door. Thankfully, I messed up the last two digits, so we were just across the street and a few doors down. Haha!

Once past the rocky start, it was a fabulous evening! The food was absolutely amazing. See menu board in the pics for the menu. I ate every last bite. We started with a before dinner cocktail & an appetizer of fried pig ears. Yes, you read correctly. Fried pig ears. Just before Megan took her first bite, I tried to calm her apprehension (I swear my timing was unintentional!) with "don't worry, it's just fried skin". I thought she might spit it on me. Sorry, Meggo! Can't say I need to eat pigs ears again, but it didn't really taste like anything other than the spices that it was tossed in after frying. The six-course meal that followed was beyond words. See the pictures. And visit X-marx website for future events. I HIGHLY recommend attending one of their dinners; they have various themes. But ONLY if you are open-minded about food & not afraid of a little spice.

The beers that were paired with each course were yummy & 2 of them were inaugural pours in the U.S.!!!! HOW AWESOME!! All in all, wonderful evening, and interesting conversation. We were seated at the table with the husband and wife whose company imports the Belgian beers that were on the menu, and who were partly responsible for the creation of one of the beers that was making it's U.S. debut that night. Also with the editor of a Chicago foodie blog/website and long-term girlfriend of a very famous Chicago chef. Let me just put this out there -- as much of a foodie as I sometimes feel that I am, and as much as I know about Chicago restaurants, sitting at the table with these folks made me out to be a completely uninformed novice of a consumer. Way out of my league!

Enjoy the pics and broaden your horizons with an underground dinner. So much fun!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Lobster Thermidor

I'm not really sure where to begin. How about lessons learned on Valentine's Day: 1) don't go to Whole Foods in Lincoln Park, the mecca of grocery stores, it's an absolute nightmare; 400 parking spots & the parking lot was still FULL of cars circling like buzzards looking for a kill. For the record, I live next door, it's more of an effort for me to go somewhere else. It would have been worth it yesterday. 2) If you want to buy a live lobster for your un-romantic dinner, place your order in advance. Who knew there were so many Chicagoans with no qualms about throwing a live lobster in a pot of boiling water or plunging a knife between its eyes?! (Apparently, if you are opposed to steaming live lobster, you'll be more comfortable stabbing it to death. Personally, the rather passive act of dropping it into the pot wouldn't phase me. The whole plunging knife scenario is more than a little on the violent side for me.)

It must have been the scotch talking when Megan and I decided to tackle Lobster Thermidor as our first Top 10 event. I'm certain it's the most daunting item on the list. In the world of "go big or go home", we went big. And I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed. I first read the recipe last Monday, figuring I should probably know what we had gotten ourselves into & possibly start mentally preparing. Oh. My. Mental preparation definitely in order. I immediately notified Megan that this could take us most of Sunday. Not because of lengthy cooking times or overly complicated steps, but because I was certain we would a) be disgusted at certain points, b) need to pause for gagging, pep talks, more champagne, (in actuality, all of the above) and c) have to take breaks for laughter and photos. Take, for instance, my favorite step in the process:

Split the lobsters in half lengthwise, keeping the shell halves intact. Discard the sand sacks in the heads - (what is a sand sack?!) - and the intestinal tubes. (Right.) Rub lobster coral and green matter (gagging) through a fine sieve into the mixing bowl, and blend it into the mustard, egg yolks, cream and pepper. (Whoa. Coral and green matter. I did not sign up for this. Who eats anything that has something kindly referred to as "MATTER" blended into it?!?)

Easy as pie. Even though it was her idea, Megan had her doubts about our ability to conquer Lobster Thermidor from the beginning. I was confident ... until I read this step. But I had faith, I knew we'd find the strength to pull it out. In hindsight, we are total rockstars. There was no gagging, but plenty of fun and laughter. Not to mention some hilarious pictures. Thanks to Christy and Jamie for joining us for the adventure! J - the pictures wouldn't be the same without your talent for the candid; they truly capture the moments. C - you are either very brave or had no idea what you were agreeing to when you accepted the invite to join us for dinner!

A few other random anecdotes from the evening:

When we arrived at the fish market to buy the live lobster, there was 1 left. Good news! Except for one little thing, he was almost 8 pounds and most definitely bigger in size than Olive (my little black pug). See for yourself. I got to hold him and then kindly left him to wait for a better home. Dropping him into a pot of boiling water is not a fight I would have won. I'm afraid I would have lost an arm, a couple of fingers at the least!

After choosing our 3 small (approx 1.5 lbs each) already steamed lobsters, battling the crowds at Whole Foods & then having to make a trip to another grocery store for whipping cream (not talking about Cool Whip, folks) and cognac, arrived back home just after 4 pm to no electricity. Awesome. Hundreds of dollars worth of perishable food items & no electricity. Not to worry, we kicked into survival mode and made the best of it. I climbed on top of the counter for the wine bucket, took the ice out of the freezer -- had to anyway so I didn't have a pool of water in my freezer! -- and set the champagne to chill. If everything else went to waste, at least we would enjoy the champagne!

While I was dealing with all of the matter, Megan and Christy got the job of getting the lobster meat out of the tails and claws. I wasn't paying much attention, but I know they were using pliers at one point because I had to go dig them out of the closet. Obviously they took their jobs seriously! By the way, Megan, reviews on the lobster juice facial?!

All in all, major success. The food was amazing and the memories will bring laughter for years to come. Can't say I want to see coral or green matter again anytime soon (still makes me cringe to think of it), but when you blend it with enough butter and cream, Y-U-M! Enjoy the pictures! (slideshow included below)

Oh, one last thing -- this claim that French women don't get fat. Complete crap. There was a definite roundness to my stomach when I woke up this morning that was not there yesterday. That's what approx 16 Tbs of butter and a cup of heavy cream will do to you.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Top 10

About a week and a half ago, my dear friend Megan and I met on a Tuesday evening for burgers and scotch tasting at a local Irish restaurant and tavern. This was no typical Tuesday and any old bar and grill with a Tuesday night burger and beer special simply wouldn't do. Our purpose on this particular Tuesday night was to decide on the "Top 10 of 2010". The 10 things we would vow to do together in 2010. One event every month other than January and December. Somehow we reasoned that scotch tasting solidified the seriousness of our mission.

After coming up with the initial idea, we took a few weeks to independently think of possible items for the list. The only stipulations: it had to be something neither of us had done previously, and it had to be FUN. Obviously, it also needed to be something we would both be interested in and willing to do. We started with a list of about 16 possibilities; thankfully we reached agreement with relative ease. Maybe it was the scotch!

So, without further ado, the list ...

Top 10 of 2010

1. take sailing lessons
2. go on an architectural walking tour of downtown Chicago
3. go to the Kentucky Derby (note: this may have to be swapped out due to a potential conflict; maybe we'll go to a NASCAR event or something equally classy for two single thirty-something women!)
4. Master the Art of French Cooking with Julia Child and make Lobster Thermidor. No messing around with the "easy" stuff, we're going for gold.
5. go line dancing in Chicago. why not?! She's from the South and I'm from Kansas, isn't this what we're supposed to do?!
6. take a class at Kendall College (a college in downtown Chicago with a culinary arts program)
7. drink an expensive bottle of wine (yes, just to see what all the fuss is about)
8. pick a supper club event around Chicago to attend
9. spend the Thanksgiving holiday helping the less fortunate
10. long weekend trip somewhere neither of us has been (i know, i know, very vague; 3 potentials: 1) camping, 2) wine-tasting, 3) pick the weekend & book whatever last-minute travel deal is available 3-5 days prior)

We haven't even begun & I already feel like I want to make a Top 10 list every year. Kinda makes it more exciting!

I'll provide post-game commentary & pictures as we complete each item on the list. We invite everyone to stay tuned and track our progress, or join us on one of our adventures! Hint, hint, we're tackling our first one tomorrow and I can't wait .... stay tuned!