Brat's, Wine, Steak, Bloggers and Football!

Most people believe the weekend starts on Friday but last weekend mine started on Thursday.

After work Patrick met me at the Berghoff Oktoberfest to grab some tasty food and listen to the band, Sixteen Candles. As you can tell by the name they are an 80's cover band. It was great to hear the 80's tunes again:

The menu:

I opted for the Bratwurst with Kraut and old style mustard:

I'm not a big fan of bratwurst but this was good. Probably because it had a ton of kraut, love the kraut!

Oktoberfest is usually a big beer drinking event. I sorta took part. I had a rootbeer:

Friday night I went to the South Loop Wine Cellar:

They have wine tastings every Friday and the cost is only $5 (unless otherwise specified):

The decor inside the shop is so cool. Exposed brick walls, wine barrel details and lots of happy people sipping away at some delicious wine!

This tasting was all about Italian wines. I loved that the owner hung up pictures of Italy for the event:

I tasted 5 different wines which all cost under $20 a bottle:

Amy Garman, the owner, is very knowledgeable about all things wine. She was very helpful when it came time to buying a bottle (or three;))

Tasted some white wine:

and some red wine:

Yum!

After all the wine we needed to get some food in our stomachs so we stopped at The Chicago Firehouse:

I started with a bowl of Sweet Potato Soup. My first ever sweet potato to pass my lips.

P and I split the Garlic Whipped Potatoes:

and the Macaroni and Cheese:

My entree was the Filet Mignon with a blackened crust:

Verdict: The food was good. Nothing spectacular but my taste buds were happy. The service was fantastic! Our waiter was very personable and he made sure we had everything we needed.

Saturday at 11:00 am I met up with 6 other ladies for the Chicago Blogger Brunch at Yolk. Yolk is a very popular place to brunch it up in Chicago. They are known for their creative twists on traditional breakfast dishes.

Once the food was delivered to our table the blogger photo shoot began. I have many reason why I enjoy dining with food bloggers and one of them is the fact that I will never be the only one taking photos of my meal;)

Everything on the menu looked fantastic but I was able to narrow it down to the perfect dish. Bacon Waffle & Eggs - Crisp bacon mixed throughout the batter and topped with 2 eggs:

Great food with a great group of bloggers!

Back Row L-R: Me, Kelly (blog reader!), Megan and Amy

Front Row L-R: Katie, Katie and Heba

(thanks Amy for the photo)

After leaving Yolk I headed home to watch some Nebraska football. Unfortunately the game was not on TV in Chicago (boo!!!) so I got creative and watched the game on my laptop:)

The boys aren't so interested in football. They would much rather cuddle and sleep.

And give me dirty looks when I jump up to celebrate a touchdown! Go Huskers!!!

I woke up on Sunday to find an entire box of ear plugs gone. The little tan guy (above) decided to make a midnight snack out of them.

Let's just say, walking the dog later in the day wasn't the most pleasant experience.

Project Food Blog

Thanks to everyone who voted for me, it really does mean a lot to me!

Voting ends Thursday, September 23. For those of you who would like to check out my post submission click here!

Question:

Have you ever been to a blogger meet-up?

Time flies when the weather is warm!

I've been so busy organizing and enjoying life. Just living in the moment. No pictures of everything I'm doing just taking time to live my life!

I do miss (as does my husband) my chronicles on this blog so I'm ready to blog away!


Brunch

Patrick and I decided to treat ourselves to a delicious breakfast at the Bongo room. We waited about 30 minutes for a table and during that time I had a vanilla latte at the coffee bar. Whoever thought of the idea to have a coffee bar in the waiting area of this popular restaurant is a genius. It made our wait time fly by!

The star of my breakfast was the Banana Bacon Pancakes!



Yep, pieces of crispy bacon were the star of this dish:




The flavors of the banana, the sweet praline sauce and the salty bacon mixed better than you could ever imagine!



These were 1000% better than my attempt at making bacon pancakes. But I'm up to the challenge!

Dinner

I made a very fresh salad packed full of veggies!

In the mix:

• Red pepper
• Yellow pepper
• Orange pepper
• Cucumber
• Red onion
• Lettuce
• Parmesan cheese
• Newman's Own Dressing (My favorite!!!)
  

Patrick grilled us some spicy turkey burgers. They were good and even better topped with some spicy A1 Sauce!

In the mix:

• Ground turkey
• Cayenne pepper
• Black pepper
• White pepper
• Salt
• Garlic Powder
• Cubed garlic cheddar cheese
  

July Tid-Bits

Over the last month I've been exploring this wonderful city I live in. The parks are great to walk around and take in all the scenery as well as people watch (one of my favorite past times!).

We've had a few big storms come through the city and the sky is always so beautiful once the storm rolls through.

Great sunsets:

My first rainbow in the city:

Glowing sky's:

On the food front 1 dish was definitely repeated. A salad with tons of good stuff in it. My husband not only liked this salad but he even put in a request that I make it, unheard of!!!
In the mix:

• Mixed greens
• Romain lettuce
• Red pepper
• Yellow pepper
• Orange pepper
• Cucumber
• Black olives
• Red onion
• Grilled corn
• Fresh black pepper
• White pepper
• Garlic powder
• Oregano
• Salt
• Newman's Own dressing
  

The mixture was perfect and the grilled corn was the perfect touch!



I hope this post finds everyone doing fantastic and having a GREAT summer! Now I'm off to catch up on all my blog friends!

Blog atcha latter!

Presidents Day = Lou Mitchell's

Did everyone have a happy presidents day? I know I did because I had the day off work and was able to hang with my husband and dogs!

I'm so happy to say that my little Capster is feeling much better today. He is able to move without whimpering and that makes me 100% happy:)

Breakfast

For awhile now Patrick and I have wanted to try breakfast at Lou Mitchell's. Lou Mitchell's was founded in 1923 and is an old school diner. We never new when to go because we heard on the weekends they are packed and I don't like waiting in lines;) So we thought we would take advantage of presidents day and try out this Chicago landmark!

A view from the inside:

I started off with a cup of coffee with a splash of fresh pure cream. I also received a box of Milk Duds which are handed out to children and ladies.

I ordered a fluffy ham and cheese omelet made with farm fresh eggs! This omelet was seriously A-mazing. It really makes a big difference when fresh ingredients are used when preparing a meal.

The omelet came with a side of freshly made bread. I chose rye and it was really good. I love that they make all their bread and pastries on-site fresh everyday.

Lou Mitchell's is known for pancakes. We very well couldn't leave without trying them so we ordered a plate to share. One word will explain = Wonderful!

The pancakes were topped with Lou Mitchell's own maple syrup. Love the jug it comes in;)

After the meal each person gets a free scoop of ice cream. Now, I'm not used to eating ice cream after breakfast but who am I to mess with tradition?!?

After eating our huge breakfast we decided we needed to "walk it off" - or - at least attempt to. We took a stroll through Chicago's Union Station. It's so cool to imagine all the people who have passed through this space and the lives each one of them lived.

It's a really beautiful space with tons of history!

Dinner

I made some chicken soup for dinner. I won't say it was homemade but it didn't come out of a can:)

Started off by boiling some celery and carrots for about 15 minutes.

I made some homemade dumplings.

Cooked up some barilla pasta. Little tiny bow-tie noodles that are fun and perfect for soup.

Put all ingredients in a pot with chicken broth and let it heat up.

Once it was heated up I made myself a bowl.

So good! The spices I put into the soup were really flavorful. I used cayenne pepper, salt and white pepper. White pepper is something new to my spice cabinet and I definitely have a crush on it. The flavor it gives food is amazing!

I had a piece of buttered Italian bread, on the side, to dip into the broth.

My beverage of choice was a Shirley temple. I used to love these as a kid. And guess what, I love them as an adult too!

This was a day filled with great food and bonding time with my husband.

Question:

What was your favorite beverage as a child?

Mine was a Shirley temple because it always made me feel all grown up. Now I like it because it makes me feel like a kid again. Go figure!