Members Only (Anyone Can Join!)

The past four days or so have been absolutely bonkers. (Sidebar: 'bonkers' is one of my new favorite words to use.) Between Members' Nights at the Field Museum last Thursday/Friday and the Windy Pretties meetup on Saturday and yesterday, I've just had so many exciting events to attend!

Cambridge Tiki Time

Looking back on our trip to Cambridge, I'm astounded by how much we crammed into each and every day. Jeff and I aren't really the lounging-on-a-beach types: as you may have guessed from my first Cambridge post, we go hard on vacation.

On the Road

At this point, I probably don't even need to tell you how much I love the Kelly dress from Bernie Dexter. It may or may not be impossible for me to blog about this style without waxing poetic, but I'll try to keep a lid on my fulsome praise today, and instead focus on the important business: food!

Baby Back Blues

Sometimes, you just need to get the heck outta Dodge, which is why Jeff and I sometimes opt to drive out to a delightful barbecue joint outside even the most generous definition of Chicagoland's borders. Since we're planning to pay a visit to Baby Back Blues BBQ today (and might be there even as you read this!), I figured the time was ripe to post about our last expedition to Joliet, Illinois.

I was heartless enough to make Jeff take this photo in the middle of J.C. Penney's, but not heartless enough to drag him into the mini Sephora boutique behind me.

Fundamental LA

Last weekend, I took a whirlwind trip to my old home city of Los Angeles, and it was absolutely glorious! Jeff left five days earlier than me, and by the time I got off the plane at LAX, I was almost ready to cry out of the overwhelming happiness of 1) being reunited with my husband and 2) setting foot in California for the first time in eleven months.

Birthday Shenanigans 2016

Summer birthdays are a mixed bag. On one hand, I've never had to go to school or take an exam on my birthday, which is a significant plus, and I share my birthday with one of my favorite historical events. On the other hand, it is always approximately eight thousand degrees on my birthday, and generally pretty humid to boot.

This year's birthday was no exception to the rule. It was too hot to dress to the nines (i.e. in a full skirt with epic petticoat underneath, and properly styled hair), but on the bright side, it didn't thunder or rain on me! I'm calling that a win.

Dinner Avec Friends

It's been a while since I posted about food, which is surprising because I have so many food-related posts in mind. A couple of weeks ago, Jeff and I tried a new place in the West Loop with some new friends of ours. Our last culinary expedition to the West Loop was a smashing success, so we had high expectations, but Avec managed to meet those expectations handily!

It was a nice warmish day, at least when we left our apartment, so I wore a new-to-me mint-green dress that I got for a song. This purse is one of my favorites, but because of the move, it's spent far too long stashed in my closet, so I was glad to have a reason to bust it out! This dress was definitely the right call for a big meal, too, as it has an elastic waistband.

Avec is one of those restaurants with an ever-so-fashionable small-plates menu, which was great as it meant we got to try a ton of amazing things. We got there quite early on a Sunday, because we'd heard that it gets quite busy, and sure enough, by around 5:30 or so, the place had completely filled up around us. They have a pretty big wine list and a small selection of fancy cocktails, which we all ordered. I went for a 'Pear Today, Gone Amaro,' and quite liked it. After a little bit, the first of our food arrived:

Bacon-wrapped, chorizo-stuffed dates.

Calamari with hummus and watermelon radishes.

The appetizers all looked amazing, but we settled on the bacon-wrapped dates and the calamari, both of which were excellent. I don't know what was in their hummus that made it so much better than normal hummus, but I wholeheartedly approve. I am still having flashbacks to how good the bacon-wrapped stuffed dates were, too!

For entrees, we went for a duck-egg (!!!) pizza, paella, and a cauliflower tagine (not pictured, because I dug in before remembering to take a photo!), all of which were amazing. I think my favorite of the entrees was the pizza, because the egg made a delicious sauce and went so well with the peppers, greens, and cheese.

Paella

 

Duck-egg pizza

I'm not often up for dessert, since I'm usually too stuffed to eat anything else, but for once, I was totally set on getting dessert, so we got two of the chocolate olive oil cake with hazelnut gelato and each couple split one. This was a great/terrible decision: great because the cake and gelato were out of this world, but terrible because I only had half of one. I probably could've eaten both all by myself.

Dessert: chocolate cake with espresso labneh and hazelnut gelato. YES.

Avec was a lovely place and I would definitely love to go back and try some of the dishes that we didn't get this time. I liked the atmosphere (bright, airy, and relaxed) and loved having so many different dishes in one meal.

By the time we got home, I'd ditched the belt long ago (when will I learn?!?), but my collar clips were still firmly attached, so I'm calling the evening a total victory.

Dress: Forever 21, secondhand

Shoes: Gap

Collar clips: Femme De Bloom

Earrings: Atomic Lucite

Bag: Betseyville

How do you feel about small-plates/tapas menus?

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The Best Burger of My Life

Last week was Jeff's spring break, so we did more than the usual amount of Chicago adventuring. We went back to Navy Pier (post coming soon!), tried out a Chinese restaurant I'd been interested in for a while, went out for dinner in our neighborhood, and had the best burgers I've ever had in my entire life. I'm a hyperbole-prone person, but for once, this is not an exaggeration.

I'll get to the food in a minute, but first, here's what I wore:

The Apple of my Eye

Greetings from the great state of New York! I'm here for a visit because today is my mother's birthday. It's really so much nicer to come East from Chicago, as there's no real jet lag from a one-hour time difference. The flight is only a little longer than the drive from the airport to my parents' house, too! I'm looking forward to sharing my New York doings with all of you, but today's post is a tale of Chicago-based gluttony and amazing food!

My cousin introduced me to Red Apple Polish buffet a few years back, when he and his partner were living in Logan Square and I was in town for a conference. It was so amazing that I dreamed of going back for years. When Jeff and I moved to Chicago and started making our list of restaurants to try, Red Apple was my sole solo contribution. We went there shortly after the move, but back then, this blog didn't exist. However, we recently went back for round two. It was just as good as the previous two times, and I can't wait to go again!

Since Red Apple is a buffet, I picked my outfit with extra care: I needed something especially forgiving and comfortable, but still cute enough to make me happy!

Sometimes my photographer takes photos while I'm getting my hair out of my face and they come out better than the ones I posed for properly.

Bacon Bacchanalia

Today's post was supposed to be my review of the Girl and the Goat, a restaurant that the entire Chicago world seems to be freaking out over, but it's apparently so popular that you have to make reservations a month in advance. Luckily, Jeff called to ask them about a reservation before we left the apartment, or else the sum total of the post would have been "we trekked out there and it was too busy, and then I cried."

Instead, we decided to go back to Paddy Long's and eat All the Bacon Ever. I've talked about this place on my blog before, but it was just as awesome the second time, so I'll talk about it again.

First, though: a photo of the Perfect Dress for Eating Everything!

Adventure Time: Chicago Brauhaus Edition

Happy day-after-Valentine's-Day, everyone! Today's post is brought to you by the letters W-A-Y A-F-T-E-R T-H-E and F-A-C-T. I'm running about a week behind on tales of my Adventures in Chicago Restaurants, but there are just too many things to write about each week. Jeff and I continue to make progress through our list, though. About a week and a half ago, we decided it was time to load up on meat and potatoes, so we headed up to Chicago Brauhaus in Lincoln Square.

Even though everyone is telling me that this has been a mild winter, I'm still VERY ready for spring, so I dressed in seasonally-inappropriate pastels and gingham. 

I do what I want!!

It took about an hour to get there, during which time I pored over the menu online, told Jeff how excited I was over and over, and reveled in the city skyline.

Look, it's the Art Institvte of Chicago!

It was impossible to get a good photo of this archway without standing in the middle of the road, so here is a mediocre photo.

It may be Febraury, but this little promenade outside the restaurant still had lovely lights on their trees!

I'm a sucker for Tudor-style architectural details and brick buildings. Oddly specific, but true.

The inside of the restaurant was just as cute as the exterior, with red chandeliers and rainbow stained-glass windows out in front. We ordered more food than was wise, strictly speaking: a giant Bavarian pretzel and potato pancakes to share, beef Rouladen for me, and the Brauhaus special for Jeff.

Carbs for the win!

Beef Rouladen with Spätzle.

All the meat for Jeff.

Everything was super delicious! The potato pancakes had an herb that I couldn't quite place in them, and it made them stand out from all the latkes we've had at various delis. The smoked pork loin that Jeff got with his meal was approximately a zillion times better than normal pork loin/any pork loin I've ever made, and the gravy on mine was very good and made a nice sauce for the spätzle. On a side note, I'm so proud that I still remember how to do the keyboard shortcut for an umlaut.

We also got boots full of beer, because I'm a total sucker for novelty packaging, including novelty food presentation.

Jeff's reaction to our beer boots was classic Homer: "well, it's pretty big… I guess…"

When we were about halfway through our dinner, something very exciting happened: live music auf Deutsch! I didn't expect this at all, but apparently the regulars there did, because some of them had  rather emphatic requests for the band. They played "Edelweiss" from The Sound of Music, which is probably the best part of the entire movie, and I was utterly charmed.

Was I ready to explode by the time I finished eating? Yes. Are we planning to go back? Yes. I highly recommend this place if you want to 1) eat delicious things and 2) be serenaded in German.

I'm very glad I wore this dress, as it's a bit loose in the waist. I got this dress during the Black Friday  sales for a song, but it's quite well made, with a lovely full skirt, a fully lined bodice, and adjustable straps (!!!). Ordinarily, I'd've thrown on a black cardigan and called it a day, but I've been making a concerted effort to wear more colors, so I paired it with my mint cropped cardigan, blush pink petticoat, and pink sparkly heart brooch. The most exciting thing about this brooch (other than the fact that it's a pink sparkly heart, which is exciting in itself) is that it perfectly matches a pair of heart earrings I got in Japan in 2005. What are the odds?

Dress: Lucky Thirteen from Pinup Girl Clothing (currently sold out in most sizes)

Petticoat: Malco Modes Jennifer in Dusty Rose

Sweater: Le Bomb Shop

Boots: Rieker (oldies but goodies!)

Brooch: Medium sparkle heart from the Sparkle Bakery

What's your favorite type of food to pig out on?

Cake Day!

When I lived in LA, Sundays were 'Cake Day.' In case you couldn't tell from the name, Cake Day was the one day each week that I'd get myself a piece of cake. As a rule, I don't make desserts at home, nor do I typically order them in restaurants. But on Cake Day, I'd go all out: chocolate cheesecake from the French bakery in Westwood Village, a slice of something delightful from Sweet Lady Jane, or an assortment of pastries from the Persian bakery near our apartment. Each week, I'd start looking forward to Cake Day around Tuesday or so.

Since we moved to Chicago, Cake Day has fallen by the wayside. There just aren't any exciting cake bakeries in our neighborhood, and Jeff and I are both trying to eat more vegetables and less junk. But a few weeks ago, Cake Day made a surprise weekday reappearance! Let me start at the beginning…

This particular tale of cake actually starts with hot dogs. One of the places on Jeff's restaurant list is Max's Take Out in the Loop, and on this particular windy, drizzly day, we'd decided to go there. First, I made Jeff take a few pictures of me while we were waiting for the bus.

I decided to take my Pinup Girl Clothing Heidi dress out for a spin (...sorry not sorry), and paired it with a red petticoat and shrug, because red and leopard print is possibly the best thing ever. I even wore heels! This dress is super fabulous. I've found that the Heidi dresses from PUG tend to run a bit bigger than some of the other styles I've tried, and I was actually able to size down to a medium. I don't typically want my petticoat to stick out the bottom of the dress, but because my tea-length red petticoat and shrug match perfectly, I wanted that little hint of ruffle showing at the bottom. 

My outfit made a valiant effort to absorb Jeff into the layers of fluff and skirt on the bus, but he survived.

Bacon Blackout

Yesterday, Jeff and I had a super exciting adventure! Like most of our adventures, this one involved food, the North Side, and public transit. But like the very best of our adventures, this one also involved BACON!