The last 2 months

 

Wow where does the time go? It's been 2 months since I updated, so this one's gonna be a doozy of a post. I'll keep it simple though. I'm sitting out on our back porch right now, and it's so nice to sit outside with my laptop! I'm actually pretty chilly cause it's shady and the wind is blowing. Of course this summer hadn't been hot at all, so I've not been a big fan. 

We've been traveling every other weekend to Indiana this summer, so if there is a weekend we are in Chicago, I usually use it to catch up on laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, and vegging on the couch with some Weeds or Breaking Bad. 

Yesterday morning, I woke up and drove all the way to Bang Bang Pie Shop in Logan Square, which is has the BEST biscuits ever. I picked us up 2 biscuits with cheddar rosemary butter and blackberry preserves. They were gone before I could take a picture, but I got a slice of Smores pie for later, and it was soooo yummy. 

I will definitely miss that place once we move back to Indiana next year. That's another exciting thing happening, well not yet, but we are definitely moving back by the end of next year, when B will graduate. I'll start looking for jobs next summer so hopefully I can find something easily!

 

I got a filling in my tooth last week, and so they numb that side of your mouth. Well this is what I looked like when I tried to smile for the next 2 hours, and I even went back to work! I tried not to talk to anybody, or they would think I'm quasimoto.

 

Brandon's step-mom gave us some of her eggs from their chickens when we visited last weekend, and the first one I used to make cookies with was a double yolk! Would it have been twin chicks? I've heard that's good luck, too! The picture looks gross, sorry!

B was the best man in his friend's wedding, and it was so much fun, I love dancing at weddings! I love dancing period. I need to do it more often.

 

We took the bride-to-be out for a few drinks the night before their wedding, while the boys did their thing.  We did these shots called Astropops or something, cause it was red, white and blue like the frozen popcicles. They were soooooooo good, and got me nice and buzzed. It makes me miss going out in Muncie with all my friends :(

 

This is a doughssant. And it was not that good. I was SO excited when I heard about cronuts, also called doughssants. What a perfect combination! But the one I had from West Town Bakery was so greasy and deep fried oily tasting. I'll just eat them separate from now on. 

 

My friend Sharyn and I tried to go to Lollapalooza, and thought we could just walk around the gates and buy cheaper tickets from people that want to get rid of them last minute. But nope, the only ones we saw were still $200 or more, and that just wasn't worth it. So instead, we walked all the way to North Avenue beach and sat up on the bar with some fancy drinks.

 

 It was fun, and a little chilly too! Where is the warmth!??!?!

 

I'm trying to take advantage of this lake we have next to us, so I did a yoga on the beach class! It was really cloudy that day, but it was still fun to do it. 

 

On one of our drives back to Chicago, I REALLY wanted to try the Sonic pretzel bun hot dog. I'm kind of obsessesd with pretzel buns, and all things pretzel. There are not a lot of Sonic's around, so we found one in Lafayette. It was a really good hot dog! I'd eat another. They also have crazy sounding shakes, like Banana Creme Pie, and Peanut Butter and Jelly. We got the Chocolate Covered Banana, and it was just a basic chocolate banana shake. Those creative names get me every time.

My mom and I took my niece to Holiday World! It was so fun, and I want to go back next summer! The lines aren't that long there, they have unlimited soft drinks, and the water park has so many slides! I love it.

 

I went to a rooftop happy hour with some ladies from work, and we had fun for only $2! We bought some kind of Two Buck Duck deal, so it was definitely worth it for all the beer we could drink. 

Then we went to Little Goat after to get some grub. We actually tried going to Au Cheval, because their burger is supposed to be amazing, but there was a 45 minute wait! So we went to Little Goat instead. I'm really happy we did because I've been wanting to try it, and the food was great! Even better than Girl and the Goat I might say...

 

I wanted everything on the menu, but decided on the Bacon, Eggs, Pancake and Kimchi Thing. I loved the kimchi at G&TG, so I wanted to get something with it again.

 

This is a Goat Burger that Sharyn ordered. We all shared the mac and cheese, which was awesome.We also ordered Smoked Fries to share, and they were sooooooo good. I would get these again next time.

 

Whew this is getting long. But I need to tell you about my summer before it's too late! 

 

My friend Amy and her bf Marc are moving to LA, so we all went to a last dinner at La Scarola, a little Italian place west of the loop. I'm so glad she took us here, because I probably never would've heard or tried it otherwise. It was some of the best pasta I've ever had. Seriously! I got the vodka pasta, which had mushrooms, artichokes, arugula, and shrimp. It was amazing. I want to go to Italy right now if food there tastes this good! I might even say it's competing with Buca di Beppo as my favorite Italian restaurant.....

 

One bad thing about Chicago is that I have this list, and I keep adding new places to it when I read about it or see the food they offer. My list never ends! So anyway, my friend Emily and I went to Endgrain for brunch cause I heard they have really good donuts, and awesome fried chicken biscuits. This one was a winner. The donuts were good, just normal donuts, but the biscuit was so tasty, with really good fried chicken and an amazing mustardy sauce on top. Yum.

 

Bacon Butterscotch donut and Jelly-filled donut. Mmm.

 

Another Indiana weekend was for camping. These guys and their hammocks. Only one of them actually ended up sleeping in it. I was actually sick for this camping trip, but we were right next to the bathrooms, which was so lucky. And they were clean! I'm glad I went, but I was so sick looking back, I can't believe I went.

 

Skyline Chili dogs. An Indiana favorite.

 

I made some Pistachio White Chocolate Chip cookies for a family picnic using my mom's oven, and they were so much better than when I made them at my apartment.

I'm so glad I've gotten to spend so much time with Presley this summer! Even though she can be demanding most of the time, she is sweet and funny so it all makes up for it!

Summertime (finally!)

Woohoo! It's finally summer in Chicago. It's about time since it's the middle of June and everything. B and I decided to take advantage of the warmer weather last weekend and went camping for one night. I used to go camping all the time growing up, so I was pretty pumped to go. 

We had to drive 1 1/2 hours outside of Chicago to get to Gebhard Woods State Park, and we were excited to go hiking, but it was pretty tiny and didn't have many trails. So next time I think we'll try Starved Rock, which has pretty neat waterfalls I've heard. I also want to go canoeing, so we'll probably go down to the Hoosier National Forrest and make a weekend out of it. 

Oh and I didn't get a pictures, but I made us some campfire banana boats! It was the best part of the trip. You split a banana longways with the peel on, and stuff chocolate chips and marshmallows inside. Then wrap it in foil and put it on the campfire until it gets all melty and hot. Eat it with a fork and it's sooooo good!

We went to a sushi restaurant called Jellyfish for a Bridal lunch at work last week, and it was really tasty! I'm liking sushi more and more everything I eat it. It's so funny how I didn't really like it at first, and I still don't know what to order when I go out for it. I'll usually eat anything, except maybe the ones with eel....

I took out my phone and started taking pictures, and everybody was like, what are you doing? Why are you taking pictures? It was funny. I just like to remember what and where I ate! The desserts were pretty good, and it's funny how we all shared them so each person took like one spoonful of each one. 

One of the places on my Chicago bucket restaurant list was Edzo's Burger Shop. We drove to the one in Lincoln Park on a Saturday around noon, and it was so tiny inside! I was kind of surprised. But the burger was delicious, and the Elvis milkshake was even better. 

I could've done without these loaded cheese fries, just because the cheese made everything so soggy. But it was Merkt's sharp cheddar, so I loved the taste and sharpness of it!

I attempted to make Smores' cookies, which have a graham cracker on the bottom of each one, and the actual cookie part was good, but the graham cracker kind of made them too sweet for me. I think I'd just crumble some graham crackers on top next time.

Time to put in the window air conditioner!