On Top of the World - Chicago Air & Water Show

I woke up this morning craving eggs so eggs are what I had, the scrambled variety.

In the mix:

• Eggs
• Almond milk
• Cayenne pepper
• White pepper
• Hot sauce

Not the best eggs I've ever made but they were pretty good.

Iced coffee with Almond Milk.

This was my first time adding Almond Milk to coffee and it didn't really mix well:

So freakin' gross! Is that normal?

Around 11:00 am Patrick and I headed to the John Hancock building.

The Signature Room on the 95th floor of the building has great views.

This is the room we were in for the Private Air Show event. We had open bar, unlimited buffet, air conditioned seating and spectacular views of the air show.

Patrick and I shared our plates of food.

First plate of food spinach frittata, eggs benedict, sausage and peppers and salmon.

Only had 1 bite of the eggs benedict. Would have been better with the hollandaise sauce.

Second plate of food with pasta, sausage and peppers, bread, grilled veggies and potato salad.

Grilled carrots - so good.

Our third plate consisted of watermelon, pineapple, strawberries and a yogurt granola fruit cup.

What is a party without cocktails?

The party certainly did not disappoint. A list was provided with a handful of speciality drinks for the Air and Water Show.

My first cocktail was the Chicago 'O' Martini. Baccardi "O" rum, raspberry liqueur and pineapple juice. Twas good!

Second drink - Belvedere dirty martini. Drank half of this one, it was too strong for such warm weather.

The olive pick was so cute - a mini Hancock building.

Third and final martini - Pear martini - Grey Goose LaPoire, Triple Sec, raspberry liqueur, orange juice.

2.5 cocktails over 5 hours. Not all that bad :)

The views in this place were A-mazing.

Really enjoyed watching the planes that "wrote" in the sky. They flew so close together and had amazing skills.

Can you see the heart in the below picture? It was very impressive watching these pilots work the magic!

One of the many planes that flew over Lake Michigan. Little planes, big planes, helicopters (doing things we've never seen before!), sky divers and many more!

Ever heard of the Blue Angels? They were here.

4 Blue Angels flying in formation. The fifth pilot came down with the flu so he wasn't part of the show. I really don't think you want a pilot who is feeling "under the weather" flying fast and close to other planes;)

When we left the party we were each handed a swag bag which Patrick says stands for "Shit We All Get". Haha!

Included in the bag was a signature lounge glass, little Bombay gin bottle, mints and a koozie. Very unexpected but much appreciated!

The event was great and it was SO much better watching the show from and air-conditioned room than in the humid Chicago weather outside!

After the show we headed to the Cheesecake Factory to grab some dinner before we headed home.

Shared some yummy buffalo bites with Patrick.

I was not happy that the Signature buffet didn't have a great selection of veggies. I was craving salad like nobodies business so I ordered a Cesar salad.

Totally hit the veggie spot!

Now I'm back home, doing laundry. One minute I'm on top of the city and the next I'm doing chores. Life is good!!! :)

Molly's Cupcakes

There are few things I like more than a really good cupcake. Cupcakes make me happy, crazy happy! I would be happy spending a Saturday watching Real Housewives, eating cupcakes, drinking milk, Dr. Pepper (for the caffeine) and veg'in out. Of course, I would feel miserable the next day but that is not the point. The point is I LOVE cupcakes!

Earlier this year I was walking around my old hood, Lincoln Park, and came across a place called Molly's. The place was adorable complete with a coffee bar which used wooden swings hanging from the ceiling as seats and board games to enjoy while scarfing down one of their delicious treats.

Molly's is known for cupcakes but they also serve other treats:

• Homemade Ice Cream Bars
• Cookies
• Pies
• Cheesecake
• Eclairs
• Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

For me the cupcakes are the star of this little shop. They use only the freshest ingredients and the cupcakes are made from scratch everyday and throughout the day so your cupcake is guaranteed to be perfection!

They offer the classic cupcake flavors: Chocolate, Vanilla, Carrot and Red Velvet. But the Center-Filled cupcakes are what make my stomach happy.

Check out these flavors:

• Chocolate Mousse
• Tiramisu
• Chocolate Raspberry
• Boston Cream
• Mixed berry
• Cookie Monster
• Cookies-n-Cream
• Peanut Butter Nutella
• Minty mash-up
• Pear Almond

They also offer special winter and summer themed cupcakes plus Vegan cupcakes. Check out Molly's website to see all they have to offer.

On my first visit (yep, I've had multiple visits) I decided to mix things up and order a Peanut Butter cookie.




The cookie was big and moist with chunks of peanuts:





I also ordered 1 Mint cupcake to take home. Looks like a regular cupcake, right?



Oh no, it is topped with an Andes Mint Chocolate:




And filled with yummy mint chip frosting. Genius, after all the frosting is the best part!




Paired with milk in a martini glass and this was one fantastic dessert!




On my second visit I picked up the Center-Filled Cookies-n-Cream cupcake:




Topped with an Oreo:




And filled with nothing but creamy deliciousness!





On my third visit I ordered what is now my favorite Molly's cupcake. It was so good I forgot the name but I do know the theme was Chocolate Chips!




And it was filled with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. I can't even begin to describe how much I loved this cupcake. The cake was moist and perfect (as with all their cupcakes) but the cookie dough in the center was A-mazing!!! If you love cupcakes and cookie dough you MUST try this cupcake:




The last cupcake I had was Chocolate Peanut butter:




This was a good cupcake but not my favorite. I'm not a huge chocolate cake or chocolate frosting fan but I'm a huge peanut butter fan and this filling did not disappoint!





Love everything about Molly's!

P.S. They have a Sprinkle Station so you can decorate your cupcake just the way you like it! Fun for kids and adults too!

Jay Robb = Tasty Protein Powder

The wonderful people at Jay Robb sent me a bag full of goodies:)





Check it out:



2 shaker bottles, bunch of protein powder and bars:

I have tried a lot of protein powders and haven't found one that I actually look forward to drinking. That is, until I met the Jay Robb powders.

These powders don't have that powdery (is that a word) feeling when I drink it. The flavors I've tried have tasted good and I drink one in the morning and am full until lunch time. Love that!

Breakfast

Monday morning I tried the Strawberry powder with some unsweetened Almond Milk:

Good and filling!

The shake was great but I needed some caffeine so I picked up a sugar free red bull. Not the healthiest option but it did the job I needed it to do.

Lunch

Around 12:30 my stomach started growling so it was time to head out to lunch. I picked up a mixture of potato salad and BBQ coleslaw. I wasn't sure what to expect with the coleslaw but it was SO good and I plan to try and recreate it in the near future. Yum!

I also had a bowl of cabbage and white bean soup:

Dinner

Around 6:00 pm we walked the dogs over to Subway and picked up dinner. I got the spicy italian:

Mustard, mayo, pickles, lettuce, olives, vinegar, salt and pepper:

I was SO happy to get the feedback regarding my dairy free august. The recommendations and support I received were much appreciated!

Thanks to everyone!

Question

Have you tried any of the Jay Robb products? If so, what and how did you like it?

Saturday + Sunday = Fun-day!

I've been wanting to go to Manny's Deli for along time now. Saturday was the day when this mission would be complete!

This deli opened more than 35 years ago and has been a place where many a famous person has eaten, including Mr. Obama. The restaurant is very different than any type of restaurant I've been to. I was thrown back to high school due to the cafeteria style serving.

I loved that they were able to serve me both matzo ball and noodles in chicken broth in the same bowl:

The star of my lunch was this knish with gravy:

The flavoring of the meat was delicious and the gravy was salty which I love!

After our lunch at Manny's we stopped at Binny's to grab a drink. I decided to let the bartender pick my sparkling wine of the day. He chose Argyle which is a sparkling from Oregon:

Very good and take a look at those bubbles:

Sunday

Woke up late on Sunday and decided to make the husband and I some spicy noodle soup. I used the noodles I got from Rise'n Roll which is an Amish bakery. Love that the ingredients are so simple: egg yolks, flour and water!

I may have added to much cayenne pepper because my husband could barely eat the soup due to the spiciness!

Patrick decided that 6 o'clock was cocktail hour. He made me a fantastic drink with Ketel One vodka, Lime seltzer and POM wonderful.

I want to thank the people at POM for sending me the samples of this divine juice. POM was definitely the star ingredient of this cocktail:

Perfect summer cocktail. Light, refreshing and tasty!

Saturday night dinner was homemade BBQ pulled pork pita sandwiches made in the slow cooker - delicious:

Weekend Purchases

I've been looking for a Waterbox water bottle for awhile and it appears that these bottles are not sold in Chicago. Since I wasn't able to find the Waterbox bottles I decided to pick up a Klean Kanteen bottle while shopping at Whole Foods.

I really like a lot of things about this bottle. The best part is the spout on top that will make it so much easier to drink water while on the treadmill.

The best purchase of the weekend was this rinky dink dog house for Solera:

One good blow of the wind could knock this house down but it is perfect for indoors. Every once in awhile Solera likes to chill out by himself so we thought this would be perfect for him! The picture above is him checking out his new digs:)

He is so dang cute!