I’ve attended a number of blog conferences in the past, both large and small in size. Each time, I go in with the goal of taking away something at the end. It can be new technical knowledge for behind the scenes of my blog (I always want to learn a new skill or hear about a new tool)…it can be new connections with brands and companies…it can simply be inspiration.

Thankfully, I would say I walked away with each of these things after Food Blog Forum. For me, learning a bit more about how to utilize video on my site was incredibly valuable. I’ve spent time in the past thinking about how to begin incorporating video to the blog, and I now have a little more insight (and perhaps the courage) to try it out. I know it won’t be perfect at first, but you have to start somewhere, right? I think back (and look back) to the photos I used to post on the site three years ago when I was still very new to using my camera, and am reminded at how much I’ve progressed in that area. For me at least, it is pretty awesome to look back through time and be able to see a visual representation of improvement…to see how I’ve implemented the tricks and tips I’ve been taught at conferences like Food Blog Forum and moved myself forward. And I’m still learning.

One of the best feelings I think you can get after attending a conference like Food Blog Forum is the sense of energy created by being around like-minded, creative, inspiring individuals. I never want blogging to become a chore for me, because I honestly love everything about it – the friends I’ve made, the opportunities that have crossed my path, the skills I’ve learned, and the confidence I’ve developed in myself as a result. I love how I can return from a conference like Food Blog Forum and immediately walk into my office, take a look at my mess of a closet that I haven’t organized since we moved into our house, and now know EXACTLY what I’m going to do with it.

Why hadn’t I visualized my idea before? I suppose I just needed one little spark to send me in the right direction. So thank you, Food Blog Forum, for rejuvenating my creativity and inspiration. And keep your eyes peeled for the DIY post that will soon follow this one…I am getting started ASAP!

Ok, so I’ll continue on to share some of the fun-filled activities and food I was fortunate enough to experience this weekend. We were at Disney, after all!!! I opted not to bring my DSLR with me on this trip, so my photos were all captured with my iPhone.

On Friday, Justin, my mom, and I headed over to the Magic Kingdom for some Disney magic. We met up with Amy from The Nifty Foodie as well! We’ve been “online friends” since our days blogging for Weddingbee – it was so nice to finally meet in person and spend some time together! Since Justin’s birthday was on Monday, I made sure he wore the “birthday” button that day. He also was picked from the crowd to be a knight in one of the new attractions at Fantasyland. Hilarious.

Later that evening, we enjoyed some small plates (like polenta with fricasseed mushrooms and fennel crusted grouper) at the opening reception for the conference. There were a lot of introductions, in addition to meeting up with old friends.

I met up with Justin and my mom for a mind blowing dinner at Prato later that evening. Can you say – stuffed squash blossoms, the Widowmaker pizza, and hand made pasta? Drool. I am still thinking about how amazing every dish was. I’ll be back again…hopefully sooner than later.

The organizers at Food Blog Forum and Disney really pulled out the stops for the day of the conference. We were greeted in the morning by a breakfast spread featuring fruit cups with light up ice cubes…were treated to lots of Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses on our conference tables thanks to OXO…and enjoyed an expansive lunch spread, including freshly dipped cake pops, jumbo Minnie Mouse cupcakes, and a “paint your own Nemo” dessert plate. Burp.

After grabbing dinner, we headed back into the Magic Kingdom to catch the fireworks…and get a Dole Whip.

On Sunday morning, we gathered at Whole Foods for an incredible brunch spread and to say our goodbyes. We were treated to items like biscuits with roasted apricots, ricotta, and local honey, strawberry caprese…

Mason jar parfaits, key lime shrimp, smoked trout mousse with caviar…

BBQ pork with habanero cornbread (so tasty), and quinoa breakfast salad. Plus, a local gelato food truck, Muse Gelato, pulled up to the parking lot with bananas foster gelato, Biscoff gelato, and my favorite – an affogato: vanilla gelato topped with espresso. I may or may not have had 3 of these…

And then, it was time to drive home and collapse on the couch. Thank you (again) to all the wonderful speakers, organizers (shout out to Julie of The Little Kitchen and Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil), and sponsors of this year’s Food Blog Forum – it was an incredible experience and I’ll be looking back fondly at the memories for quite some time!

I have a dirty little secret. And I bet it might be a dirty little secret that many of you out there share with me. My name is Katie, and a guilty pleasure of mine is watching soap operas. I know I can’t be alone in this. When I was in high school, I became absolutely hooked (I was a General Hospital junkie at that time). My love of soap operas evolved into a daily routine for me. I would return home from school, open up my textbooks to do homework, and turn on the television for my afternoon fix of soap opera drama (I’ve always been one to multitask). I loved it. The plot lines ranged from the plausible to the absolutely ridiculous and sometimes unimaginable (and probably impossible). I remember thinking to myself how fun it must be to be employed as a writer for a soap opera – no character twist would be off limits…you could really stretch your imagination. And as for the actors? I went through a phase in high school and college where I loved acting/performing and I thought it would actually be pretty fun to be on set on a regular basis for a daytime soap opera. But I digress… I don’t know about you, but I remember how surprised I was last year when the announcement was made that two long lived soap operas, One Life To Live and All My Children, were being cancelled. I’ll be honest: I don’t think I’d ever heard of a soap opera being cancelled before, and it was very sad. Had times really changed so much that there was no place for these soap operas? Thankfully, the cancellation did not last for long. One Life to Live & All My Children, two of the most beloved soap operas in history are now going to be back with brand new episodes on Hulu starting on April 29th. For both of these soaps, original cast members are returning (as well as some new additions). Each episode will be 3o minutes long, airing on weekdays. How cool is that? With streaming subscription services (and free services) like Hulu, it really has made watching TV shows and movies a breeze…and allows you to watch at a time that is convenient for you. Even if you happen to be working in the afternoon during the regular time a soap opera airs, you can catch it when you’re available later on! And if you’re like me, you’ll now watch episodes on your computer while blogging, instead of doing statistics homework and watching on TV. Ah, how times change… There are two simple options to watch the latest episodes of One Life to Live and All My Children on Hulu: Hulu.com and Hulu Plus. Hulu.com is absolutely free and allows you to watch the latest episodes on your computer. The other option is through the Hulu Plus subscription service. With Hulu Plus, for a monthly fee of $7.99 you will be able to watch all episodes through select Internet connected devices such as an iPad, iPhone, gaming consoles and set top boxes. Not only will you be able to watch your favorite episodes on-the-go but you will also have full access to the Hulu library which includes complete series episodes of top TV hits. To begin a free week trial, click here. With Hulu.com and Hulu Plus you will be able to watch your favorite episodes of All My Children & One Life to Live anytime, anywhere.

Why are you excited to start watching SOAPs on Hulu?
One randomly selected winner from each participating blog will receive a yearlong subscription to Hulu Plus. AND one grand prize winner will win a Roku!

 

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Just in case you need some crafting or food inspiration…here are some previous thing’s I’ve created, followed by some other fun I’ve found around the net:

Coconut macaroon nests – perfect for springtime

Coconut white chocolate pink crinkle cookies…yum!

DIY Lollipop Flowers

Craft some coffee filter peonies and roses

How about some pink deviled eggs?

Construct a candy house!

Garnish your drink with an orange rind knot

Paint some sugar cookies!

And here are some other awesome finds from around the web…

Dye eggs naturally with Food + Words

Alisa Burke mixed, matched, and decorated plastic eggs that look so awesome!

Fold your napkins into a bunny shape for the dining room table.

Sparkling surprise carrot cupcakes. How gorgeous!

Pink bunny slipper cookies. Oh, Hungry Happenings, how cute is this?

Omiyage has a tutorial for washi tape Easter egg cards. So simple!

What will you be creating in your home for the holiday weekend?

I’ve been visiting the Florida State Fair for a few years now, and I do love the spectacle of it all. There are games galore riddling the midway, with workers beckoning you to try your hand at throwing a ball at a target in order to win an enormously oversized stuffed animal. By the way – if you win one of those, what do you do with it? I am pretty sure I saw some people carrying around stuffed animals that were larger than me. Does it fit in your car???

One of the most important parts of visiting the Florida State Fair is to see (and eat) the strange and delicious new concoctions some of the vendors come up with. As much as I’d like to try everything, Megan and I decided not to overdo it. So – we selected a few unique items to sample and share.

There is one stand at the Florida State Fair that has quite the reputation. They serve various burgers and sandwiches that are definitely unique, including the Krispy Kreme burger, with glazed Krispy Kreme donuts as the bun. Oh boy! They even offer the Krispy Kreme burger with a scoop of ice cream on it. I don’t know if that even sounds appetizing to anyone, but hey – you could try it out!

We didn’t opt for a Krispy Kreme burger though. We decided to try the Redneck Burger, which is a new offering at the Florida State Fair this year. It is a burger topped with a slice of pan fried bologna, baked beans, and shoestring potatoes. Let me tell you – it was pretty fantastic…extremely rich, but fantastic.

To pair with our Redneck Burger, we ordered up some bacon wrapped tater tots from another stand. Oh boy, talk about a tasty treat!

We had to have dessert as well, right? It wouldn’t be the Florida State Fair without a deep fried sweet treat in some form. It was hard to decide, but Megan and I decided to sample two different items: the fried chocolate chip cookie dough…ooey, gooey deliciousness! For me, it’s a favorite over the fried Oreo or Snickers/Milky Way. It’s like a melty, warm chocolate chip cookie.

The other sweet option? Fried butter. I’ve always seen the signs for fried butter at the fair and have thought: EWWW. Oh, how wrong I was. I’m sorry, fried butter. I know how awesome you are now. I take back every bad thought I’ve had about you. The thing about fried butter is that (at least, for this stand) it isn’t just regular salted butter. It is a pat of CINNAMON butter. They take a cold pat of butter, dip it in the batter, and deep fry it. The butter then melts inside of the ball of dough, and when you bite in, there is melty cinnamon butter inside. It tastes kind of like a fluffy cinnamon roll. So, if you are at the Florida State Fair this year and are feeling like a sweet treat, go ahead and order some fried butter. Thank me later.

So – will you be visiting your state’s fair this year? What is your favorite indulgent fair food to eat?

But how about actually making those dishes? As I create more and more recipes in my kitchen, I think it might be fun to look at my “bucket list” and mark some of those off as accomplished. So…let’s get to it – what items do I want to make? Are there any you think I should add? I will try to update this list as I go…maybe one day I can check each and every one off!

Do you have any bucket list items to make in your kitchen as well? What are they?

Breakfast

Huevos Rancheros

Eggs Benedict

Baked Donuts

Poached Eggs

Eggs in Purgatory

Cinnamon Rolls

Breads

Tortillas

Naan

Appetizers

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Eggplant Caponata

Baked Brie

Hummus

Olive tapenade

Egg rolls or spring rolls

Homemade Popcorn – COMPLETE: Popcorn with truffle oil & asiago

Side Dishes

Fried Green Tomatoes

Brussels Sprouts

Risotto – COMPLETE: Spinach and artichoke risotto

Falafel

Homemade Salad Dressing

Soups

Mushroom Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

Main Dishes

Sushi

Beer Can Chicken

Fancy grilled cheese

Bahn Mi

Black Bean or Veggie Burgers

Grilled Pizza

Dessert

Macarons

Bread Pudding

Cheesecake

Zucchini cake

Tiramisu

Churros

Marshmallows

Black & White Cookies

Cocktails

Bellini

French 75

Sangria

Mojito

Gin Fizz

Popsicles in Prosecco

Beer popsicles

We wanted to keep the components of Thanksgiving dinner the same, but jazz it up a bit. One thing that DID stay traditional though was the table – it had to look presentable! And we’ll take any excuse to break out the mercury glass decor in any way. And the paper table runner? We scored a big roll of it at Ballard Designs – you just cut it to fit your table!

Let’s start with the turkey. We decided to go with a turkey breast instead of an entire bird, since there were only four of us at dinner this year. Instead of the traditional preparation of brining or basting…we did a spice rub! We prepared the turkey according to the packaging instructions, but rubbed it with this blackening rub beforehand. It added a nice spice kick to the meat!

Sweet potatoes need to go on the holiday table, and our version for this meal was the Southwestern Style Sweet Potatoes that I’ve showed you before. However, instead of doing them twice baked potato style, we simply scooped them all into a baking dish (and omitted the cheese this time). YUM! And since we already had the chipotles in adobo open for the sweet potatoes, we drizzled a tablespoon or so of the sauce from the can into our gravy to make a little bit of chipotle gravy. Um: that should be an added ingredient every time we make gravy: it was so good.

Mashed potatoes are absolutely necessary during a holiday meal, if you ask me. And these ones…oh the twist on these babies were so ridiculously good. We roasted some poblano peppers on the grill, removed the skin, sliced them open to remove the seeds, and stuffed them with mashed potatoes (mixed with goat cheese). We sprinkled some salt and pepper on top (and some extra goat cheese crumble) and finished them off in the oven.

Oh, and then we realized that we could spice them up even more…with bacon. Because everything is better with bacon. Amazing. The tang of the goat cheese with the smoky flavor of the poblanos and the saltiness of the bacon was heavenly. I HAVE to make these again. Very soon.

And of course, you have to have cranberry sauce. Not just any cranberry sauce though. For this meal, we made a jalapeno tequila cranberry sauce. Yeah. It was barely any extra steps to make than a traditional cranberry sauce, so we loved that. And the kick of jalapeno with the tart cranberries was a nice contrast.

Even though we were full from dinner, we had to make dessert. No pumpkin pie for us this time: we decided apples were what we wanted. My mom whipped up an easy and yummy apple dessert with puff pastry, apples, cinnamon, and sugar. After it was baked, this treat looked so gorgeous! We sprinkled it with some powdered sugar, added a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and even some whipped cream. Yummmm.

And then I was in a food coma for a day or two.

What is your favorite holiday meal item? Do you have any twists on traditional fare that you like to use?

Moving time.

Today (and the rest of this weekend) I’ll be busy finishing up with the packing of boxes, painting of walls, lining of shelves, and all the other fun things that are associated with moving.

I’m really excited to share the progress with you over the course of time. There are quite a few projects I’ll be taking on, from creating some DIY decor to picking out furniture, to replacing floors. Yep…that’s going to have to happen at some point: I’ve got my crowbar ready. It’s not quite as satisfying as the thought of putting a sledgehammer through a wall (which I have always wanted to do) but it might be satisfying. Hopefully you’ll be interested in coming along for the ride with me!

Until I return…have a great weekend everyone!!!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope that all of you east coasters are staying safe from the storm today – and maybe enjoying a day (or two) off from work, perhaps?

I have to admit: Halloween is one of my all-time favorite holidays. I mean, you can’t beat Christmas for all of the hot chocolate, pretty lights, and the like, but there is something special about Halloween.

One of my biggest guilty pleasures is watching horror movies. I will watch any and every scary movie you put in front of me. I love the selection from the late 70s and early 80s – Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis was the very first scary movie I ever watched, and it never fails – I have to watch it again every year on Halloween. You can’t go wrong with movies from around that time – Friday the 13th (hello Kevin Bacon), Nightmare on Elm Street (Johnny Depp!), and oh so many more…

As for recent scary movies, I hate to admit that I kind of love the Paranormal Activity movies – the first one actually succeeded in making me feel paranoid at night for a day or two. Why I want to watch something that makes me feel a little scared, I have no idea!

Anyway, on Saturday we had a little Halloween get together with a few others, and it was a great excuse for my mom and I to set up a slew of creepy and cute Halloween treats…just because it’s fun to get into the spirit!

I love cute little details, and we gathered most of these from places like T.J. Maxx and Home Goods (yes – the Martha Stewart line of products for about $2 a pop? You can’t resist it!). The coasters were too cute, and don’t you love the witch shoes salt and pepper shakers?

As for the food: nothing was too complicated! There were just a few easy twists for a fun presentation that was Halloween themed! Like the skeleton veggie plate, for example. We were already serving up fresh vegetables with dip, so I arranged them in the shape of a skeleton for some creepy and cute fun! It was incredibly easy to create, and fun to look at! You could make your own using different ingredients to your own taste…I was personally a fan of using bell pepper to make the ribs and a placing a piece of kale into the dip bowl for some hair (even though skeletons don’t have hair…whatever) – so cute!

We ladled up roasted tomato soup for a main course, and served it with slices of snake shaped bread, stuffed with goodies like spinach, cheese, and sausage. Again, nothing too complicated…but enough to get into the Halloween spirit!

And we couldn’t leave out dessert. We used a mold (found at Michaels) to form some white chocolate into skeleton pieces, made a chocolate brownie, crumbled some extra brownie pieces on top as “dirt,” and added the bones – easy and perfect for Halloween. Plus, a fudgy brownie never hurts, right? I couldn’t resist the call of this graveyard brownie…

So, our Halloween party was relatively low-key this year, but who knows…next year I MIGHT just have to go all out…since we’ll be living in our own house and can decorate! And yes…you read that correctly – we’re moving! I’ll be sharing more details soon…but suffice it to say that I’m a bit stressed out as I think about packing, decorating, and transferring over to a new address!

What did YOU do this weekend – did you celebrate Halloween at all? What’s your favorite Halloween movie to watch around this time of year?

My parents, Justin, and I were driving in from Chicago, and we picked up my brother at the Grand Rapids airport on Friday afternoon. Then, it was straight to a restaurant for some much needed food! My mom had looked around for a local lunch joint that was popular, and she came up with Marie Catrib’s. Well, I can tell you right now: this place was hopping!!!! We had a bit of a wait to sit down at our table, but once we ordered we were really impressed with the food that was presented. The portions were enormous, and the variety of offerings on the menu was well suited for many different dietary needs. Justin had the Chicken Cranberry: grilled chicken breast with provolone and cream cheese, fresh spinach, and cranberry sauce:

I had a bowl of the tomato basil quinoa soup (why haven’t I put quinoa in my soup before?!?! I need to do this at home), and a split a side of seasoned potatoes with my mom (yum!):

My dad had a Chicken Reuben:

And my brother took the cake for most intimidating order: the Husky-Varna. It is homemade stuffed meatloaf made with local beef and pork, stuffed with cheese, roasted red pepper and spices and served open-face with provolone cheese and marinara sauce on grilled bread. AND it is served with a side of smashed seasoned potatoes. Dang!

Great Harvest. Oh, how I miss this place. When we lived in Wisconsin and Michigan, my mom would get bread from Great Harvest, and I would always want to tag along to get a sample. They slice you an entire, thick slice of the flavor of your choosing to sample, and it is glorious. Their cinnamon swirl bread is to die for…and this time, we picked up their PUMPKIN cinnamon swirl bread! Be still, my heart.

We got some quality time to catch up with the relatives…and also to get a few puppy snuggles from my grandparents’ cockapoo – Maggie! Isn’t she adorable?!?!

After a day filled with wedding celebrations on Saturday, before we returned to Florida on Sunday night, we spent the day in downtown Grand Rapids checking out ArtPrize. ArtPrize is the world’s largest art competition, and it is open to ANYONE over the age 18. 162 venues around downtown Grand Rapids were host to the submitted art, and it was all open to the public. You simply stroll around the city and enjoy the art pieces (both inside and outside of buildings). There was so much to see, and we only got to view a fraction of the total entries…but it was amazing to witness! We did happen to see a number of the top 10 winners in the end…like “Life in Wood” – a fur seal carved from a single black walnut log. The artist has spent approximately 4,000 hours of carving on the piece. The artist actually invited people to touch this piece so that you could fully appreciate the detail…it was absolutely amazing (and won 6th place)!!!

There was a heavy metal rock band made from recycled parts and found objects…the little monsters that surrounded the band as the “crowd” were so cute and funny!

And another really amazing piece was The Dragon – a holographic structure of a dragon created from gold buttons. Seriously – how cool is that?

…and that wraps up our adventures in Michigan!

Have you visited the Grand Rapids, Michigan area before?

Orange

Our flight arrived in Chicago at around 10am, so by the time we entered the city, it was time to grab some brunch! We located Orange based off of a friend’s recommendation, and it did not disappoint! I kicked off my “week of indulgence” with Orange’s weekly pancake special: the Tiramisu Pancakes: coffee infused buttermilk cakes with rum mascarpone cheese, whipped cream, ladyfingers, and cocoa powder

Um…they were worth every single calorie and gram of fat in them. These pancakes were light and fluffy, and the flavoring was to die for. There wasn’t a bite left on the plate.

Justin enjoyed an omelet with apple chicken chardonnay sausage, caramelized onions, sauteed spinach, white cheddar, and spiced pecan sour cream: so tasty!

My mom enjoyed some fresh squeezed juice (you can create your own combination: fun!) and my parents split the Green Eggs and Ham scramble (as well as helped me out with my pancakes). The potatoes served on the side were also ridiculously delish:

Things were off to a great start!

Next stop: Navy Pier to walk around and see the city…

…then it was off to pick up some cupcakes!

More Cupcakes

After seeing More featured on Unique Sweets on the Cooking Channel, I knew we had to stop in for a sweet treat. First, the cupcake display in the shop was gorgeous! I had a hard time deciding which flavor to select.

We ended up with a selection of four flavors, and all were winners, in my opinion!

Clockwise from top left: chocolate coconut, black and white, More, and cookies and cream. Justin selected the cookies and cream – just look at the ratio of frosting to cupcake! YUM!!!

The cake itself is extremely moist, and the cupcakes that feature frosting on top are generously frosted. It’s hard to take a single bite without getting some all over your face, but these cupcakes were wonderful! My personal selection didn’t happen to feature frosting on top: I chose the More cupcake. And it just might remind you of a treat you used to enjoy as a kid…

It is a dark chocolate cupcake (SO moist and rich) with a chocolate ganache top…and a little surprise in the center! Who else loved the chocolate Hostess cupcakes as a kid? I did! And the one at More was 100x better…

BellyQ

Dinner for our first night in Chicago was at a relatively new restaurant: BellyQ. It is a modern Asian barbeque restaurant, and is a concept between Chef Bill Kim and Michael Jordan. The restaurant ambiance itself was lively and cool. There are two types of tables at BellyQ: regular tables and grill tables. I thought it would be fun for us to have a grilling table, so we waited at the bar for a bit until one opened up. We ordered one of their cocktails: the Red Lotus. It was probably one of the prettiest drinks I’ve ever seen, and it contained Sake, yuzu, sesame leaf, cane sugar, and plum basil seeds. It wasn’t sweet and sugary: right up my alley!

I also got the chance to try another new beverage: drinking vinegar! Yes, it does sound strange, but it was wonderful! The bartender poured a small amount of passionfruit drinking vinegar at the bottom of a tall glass, filled it with ice, and then added soda water. You can definitely tell that it is vinegar, but it is so tasty! If you are like me and aren’t a huge fan of sugary soda beverages, this would be a drink for you!

To eat: we enjoyed a double smoked bacon and kimchi Asian pancake:

Some Chinese eggplant with Thai basil:

Bok choy with Chinese black bean:

We grilled BellyQ beef on our grilling table:

Noshed on some lamb ribs:

And enjoyed some spicy lemongrass chicken:

…and then, we were stuffed. What a fun meal with so many different flavors!

The next morning, I finally got to cross an item off of my bucket list: latte art!

I’ve been dying to have a latte with a design in it, and I finally was able to get my hands on one. My mom and I thoroughly enjoyed our time at Intelligentsia – I know that the art is just a little thing, but I have no idea where to get a gorgeous latte like this in my town!

After our lattes, we stopped by to see the bean:

Lunch was at a restaurant I was DYING to try out: Topolobampo!

I couldn’t wait to dine at one of Rick Bayless’ restaurants: it’s been on my wish list for a while now! We ordered a few margaritas, and I had a homemade gin and tonic that was out of this world (better than a margarita, in my opinion)!

Chips and guacamole were a must: I love that they added radishes to the mix: they added a nice zing and crunch!

Justin ordered the Ensalada de Costilla Corta: a 16 hour-braised short rib with cascabel chile, Bayless Garden greens, spice-pickled local plums, roasted market onions, and crispy dried beef. Gorgeous!

My dad’s order was a piece of art on a plate: the Merluza en Pozole Verde. It was a seared Totem Sea Farm black cod with frothy green pozole (tomatillo, pumpkin seeds, herbs, egg), avocado, oregano-dusted crispy chicharron, and pozole corn two ways. The colors were gorgeous, and the flavors were top notch:

My mom and I both ordered the Chilaquiles Verdes: crispy tortillas, roasted tomatillo sauce, frizzled egg, golden-crunchy onions, wilted spinach, crema, anejo cheese. Oh my gosh. Can I say: amazing?!!?!? It was such a simple dish packed with amazing flavor and texture. I could go for another bowl right about now…

We couldn’t pass up on splitting a few desserts! First: the Ante de Higos: local figs from Seedling Farms, brandy-infused almond cake, Mexican cinnamon ice cream, gooey meringue, and Mexican vanilla bean pastry cream.

Followed by the Pay de Manzana: a warm individual caramelized Honeycrisp apple pie with homemade cajeta (goat’s milk caramel), caramelized coriander ice cream, tangy tequila-infused Klug Farm apples, green peppercorn. Absolutely spectacular!

I didn’t think it would be possible to top this meal; it was so memorable and so wonderfully delicious! However, we were a bit full after consuming all of that amazing food…

…so we walked it off at the Lincoln Park Zoo! It was such a nice little zoo (and it’s free, except for parking)!

We met up with my college friend J (and Steve too!) for dinner that evening, but I’m saving that delicious recap for another post. It was that good….

Justin and my dad were off to the Ryder Cup the next morning/afternoon, so my mom and I walked around the city to shop, and we dined at Quartino for some Italian style tapas for lunch!

We had an heirloom tomato salad with arugula:

Broccoli rabe with red chili, onion, garlic and EVOO:

Asparagus risotto:

And zeppoles with chocolate dipping sauce for dessert (we couldn’t resist a half order):

Our last meal in Chicago was at Revolution Brewing. My dad was excited to try out their hand crafted beers, as well as the potentially artery clogging menu (hey, you can indulge every once in a while…it’s vacation, right?).

When there is bacon fat popcorn on the menu (with bacon, crispy sage, and parmesan), you have to order it, right?

I opted for the arugula pizza (with lemon olive oil drizzle) for dinner, and it was an interesting flavor combo!

Justin had the Workingman burger: it was impressive!

My dad’s meal took the prize for most intense: the Smoke Stack pizza was topped with pulled pork, bacon, Italian sausage, and pepperoni. Talk about meat lover’s!

Burp. What a trip! I have to say: I was really glad that we walked a few miles each day, because the food we consumed was oh so decadent! We really did luck out with our restaurant suggestions, in my opinion: I’d recommend checking each of them out if you happen to be in the area!

Do you have a favorite place to eat in Chicago?