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therealcherish
Random thoughts from within my brain…
Category Archives: Chicago
Valentine’s Day Recap
I had an amazing Valentine’s Day in Chicago last night!! The day started with a coworker lunch at Uncle Bub‘s BBQ in Westmont where they were giving out carnations to the ladies…
followed by a work place delivery of Garrett’s Popcorn (Chicago Mix – cheese + caramel).
After a horrible bout with traffic, my guy ordered an Uber, who’s amazing driver Mark presented me with a beautiful rose and a note from Uber.
The highlight of the day was the amazing pre-fixe dinner at Bar Pastoral – a cheese and wine bistro in the Lakeview neighborhood. The menu is below, followed by the amazing dishes that were served…
We started with the spiked cupid cocktails and mini pancakes with creme fresh and strawberry jam.
The hand pulled mozzarella was my fav dish, by far! It was amazing…
Proscuitto and cheese curds with arugula…
Beef cheeks and celery root puree…
… everything was topped off with cake pops…
…and they sent us home with some salted chocolate chip cookies for a cab-ride snack!
All in all, it was a great night and I can’t wait to go back!!
We also celebrated this weekend at the Polar Beer Fest at Rock Bottom Brewery in the Loop. While I’m not a cold weather person, I layered on the Nike Pro Hyperwarm and Under Armour Cold Gear to keep me warm. I’m also not a beer drinker so it was more about the friends and festivities for me.
Chicago C2E2 Comic Book Expo (Recap)
My new man is a nerd. And so am I. Which makes for some very mentally stimulating dates… such as last weekend’s outing to the Comic Book Expo. My first, but he’s a regular. The artists were amazing, the costumes were aboslutely awesome and overall it was a great time! Totally inspired, I’m even considering dressing up next year… *wink*
…all badged up and ready to go…
…crazy costumes…
… talented artists…
… the man picking up a few items….
… playing around with some masks…
… and we grabbed this Chicago themed print from @carlationsart
Oh, and I absolutely adored this print from Sarah Satrun! Its on my list of things to order!
Happy 4th of July WEEK!!
Since the Fourth falls on a Wednesday (stupid for work calendars) its only right we celebrate ALL WEEK!!! Since I didn’t get to go back to Detroit and spend it with my family, it was only right that I have an equally appropriate meal in Chicago. Enter “Chicago’s Home of Chicken and Waffles” in Oak Park, IL. (Un)Fortunately I have become a near regular at this place! My wallet forgives me, my waistline cringes unless I get up the energy to walk to two miles there) and my friends love me for bringing them along!
This visit I had my usual Reverend C.E. Robinson’s smothered wings and potatoes with collard greens. It gets NO better. Drool away… Then go check it out for yourself!!
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Another reason I love Zara…
While browsing along Michigan Ave this Saturday (which was nearly deserted thanks to the #NATO warnings everywhere) I ran into this lacy gem at Zara. I have been looking for a lace dress for a while but never found the perfect look and fit… until now!
I paired the dress with a pair of Calvin Klein wedge sandals and a metal belt with “elephant-face hooks” from Anthropologie. The compliments were flying all night!!
Confession: I had to run into Ann Taylor Loft to grab some beige colored Assets (i.e. Spanx) to wear underneath since the beige colored slip dress kept riding up. I’m sure that would have made for an interesting night, but I decide to take the safe route and ensure folks at the dinner party I was attending didn’t think I was wearing a see-thru dress with nothing under it!
*I took a pic with the mirror behind me so you could see the cute, low, criss-cross back!
Waffles (Chicago South Loop)
So, I’m finally in the South Loop about to check out Waffles, one of Chicago’s newer brunch spot!
The menu looks amazing and I had to post a pic of the waffle selection… They also offer a hot chocolate flight as part of the Groupon deal I snatched up weeks ago. Hmmmm… Decisions, decisions!!!
*edited* I ordered the Hot Chocolate flight with the Cheddar and Short Rib Waffle… SOOOOO GOOOD!
New Chicago Fav… Pierrot Gourmet
I know I owe a summer compilation blog of my food fun in Chicago, but this spot deserved its own recognition. Pierrot Gourmet, in The Peninsula Hotel on the corner of Superior and Rush, was such an amazing experience. The ambiance felt like a small European bistro, and the service was great! When we couldn't decide what to order, our waitress recommended sharing two items, and they even split the plates up for us… skimping on nothing (see photo)! The cheese platter was a great touch and while I skipped dessert, the selection was very tempting.
Two thumbs up for one of my new fav spots!
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Topshop comes to the Windy City… My Anticipation
Are you counting down Chicago???? This September the city of Chicago will get the second stateside Topshop store!!! I am so excited, as if H&M and Zara weren’t already super exciting. This will totally round out my summer shopping options. I already browsed the US site to see what’s out and created a nice “set” (new and old items) on Polyvore of the types of items I will be looking for! SecondCityStyle posted images from the preview. I can’t wait!
Summer is here!!!
Chicago is finally getting the summer we’ve all been waiting for! 90 degree days with heat indexes near 100 degrees and humidity levels that would make almost any black girl go hat shopping immediately! This weekend I had the opportunity to check out the Forest Park Summer Fest on Madison Ave. It was a nice, FREE, community-type of festival. Lots of families, groups of friends and fun for all ages. The music was good and the food choices were decent. I didn’t realize that the event started Friday at 5, so when I walked up at 3PM, the tents were just going up. So I took the opportunity to see the neighborhood…
One of the more memorable stops was the Paciugo gelato shop (for the readers over 21, check out the drink recipes on their website). After sampling enough to make the bored sales girl a little testy, I settled on a small cup which, for just under $5, allows you to pick up to 3 flavors. I chose the 3 pictures below: Amarena Black Cherry Swirl (my favorite), Mediterranean Sea Salt Caramel (an unbelievably salty-sweet combination) and Banana Crème Pie (much better than I was initially expecting, I selected it off a recommendation).
The final product:
On a hot summer day, this was a perfect treat to enjoy while I sat on the bench outside and enjoyed the view.
On Saturday I enjoyed a nearly 3 hour bike ride through Oak Park with Bobby. We stopped for lunch at the Prairie Bread Kitchen and then spent the rest of the afternoon watching a hilarious Parking Wars marathon on A&E. That evening I went to the Division Street Fest and decided to start the evening with a celebratory margarita! The only problem – the house special for the festival only came in one size – 32 oz!!!
Needless to say, it was hard waking up this morning, but I made it. We also went over to Moonshine to hang out for a while before heading home. I had a wonderful time at the festival and can’t wait to check out more of the Chicago area festivals this summer! I’ll leave you with one last thought… this Journey song has been stuck in my head since last night, hopefully it sticks in yours. Reminds me of the Detroit Tigers baseball games back home…
“Born and raised in South Detroitttttt…..”
Random Post – New Bracelet
Just thought I’d brag about my new bracelet made from bolts! Picked it up at Muse in Oak Park for only $24!
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therealcherish 