Weekend Recap and Menu Plan

We enjoyed our long weekend at home this weekend recovering from our trip. It was also our six year anniversary, and to celebrate, we went to see the Avengers. It was awesome! We also played some SWTOR, because we're dorks. It's awesome that we can do that stuff together. We actually spend a lot of time together. When we started dating, we spent a lot of time together (as most new couples do), but somehow we never got tired of that. I kind of assumed we would eventually, but we never did. I like it  =)

Menu Plan for the week
Tuesday: Hot dogs, refried beans, salad
Wednesday: Turkey burgers, cucumber and tomato salad
Thursday: Turkey burgers
Friday: Pork tenderloin, black beans and corn
Saturday: Out
Sunday: Leftover pork
Monday: Fish, mushrooms

Weekend Recap

This past weekend, we went to NC to visit V's family. It was V's mom's birthday, and we hadn't seen them in a while, so off we went! Friday evening after we got there, we went to a tiny little festival. We only ended up riding the ferris wheel, where I managed to take a pretty decent picture.

We also walked around the livestock tents, where V's mom decided she needed a baby potbelly pig. The piglets were so cute, but the full-grown pigs not so much. If only they'd stay tiny and cute! Then we went home and played BezzerWizzer and Cranium. We spend a lot of time with them playing silly games, it's a great way to spend time together that everyone (including the teenagers, although they're a bit reluctant sometimes) enjoys.

Saturday we went for pedicures while the boys went to a gun show, and we went to Cajun Queen for dinner. Their food is really good, and very authentic. I had the same thing I always have, the creole dinner, extra spicy! Yum. And they had a seasonal peach bread pudding on the dessert menu, which was just divine. After dinner, we went back to their house and played Dicecapades (which wasn't the most fun game ever) and The Logo Board Game (which V and I have, it's a lot more fun). 

Sunday before our flight, we had lunch with V's dad and his family. As always, it's good to catch up with them. V's dad is coming to visit in a few weeks, so we didn't spend a whole lot of time at their place before it was off to catch our flight home. Lately I'm a really nervous flyer, so I had checked the weather, and wasn't too happy when I saw that there were high winds in Chicago, but fortunately it was a pretty smooth flight and I didn't have to freak out. Sometime soon I need to write a post about flying, since we fly probably more than average (V definitely, me less than him, but still probably more than most people) and right now it's probably my number one cause of anxiety. A few people lately have asked me what I do to stay calm, distract myself, and even manage to sleep, so that will be coming up soon!

Life Recap

Things have been so crazy lately that I haven't had much time to blog! Work has been pretty busy, and our weekends have been busy too, so I've been neglecting this a little bit. But that's ok because things are starting to quiet down, so I should have some good posts coming up soon! My job is basically a two year contract, which is over at the end of June this year, so things are winding down at work. We're also trying to plan a move in July (we figured my job ending would be the perfect excuse to check out a new city, but that's another post) and another big trip before that, in May (that's also another post). Both of those plans are finally starting to fall into place, so things should be exciting but hopefully not overwhelming between now and our move!

Last weekend, we went to see my family in Michigan. For Christmas we got my parents tickets to the Redwings/Blackhawks hockey game that was this weekend. It was good timing, because we got to spend Easter with them too! The hockey game was a lot of fun because we would've been happy no matter who won. The first two periods were kind of quiet, we think because both teams are already in the playoffs and nobody wanted to get hurt. The third period was a lot more exciting, and ended with a 2 - 2 score. So we got to see extra time! Neither team scored, so the game went to a shootout. The Blackhawks hadn't done so great in their last few shootouts, so we weren't too hopeful, but they ended up winning!

The weekend before that, my friend Annie came out for a visit. I really miss our coffee dates, so it was so good to get to spend the weekend together! We did a food tour through one of my favorite tour companies, Tastebud tours. This is actually the third tour I've done with them, and the weird thing is I've had the same guide every time! Their tours are really good, they feed you a ton of tasty Chicago food and you get a good dose of history and information about the city as well. We walked around the Mag Mile area, had dinner at Gino's, brunch at Glenn's Diner, went to the Museum of Science and Industry, ate at Julius Meinl, and overall had a great time. I can't wait to see her again!

Weekend Recap

So, somehow last week slipped away from me, and we're back to a weekend recap again! Oops!

Our weekend was spent mainly 2 ways: trying to spend as much time out in the awesome weather as possible, and trying to stay out of the St. Patrick's Day crazy. We were supposed to go up to WI on Saturday to hang out with some friends, but V had a long week and neither one of us was really feeling it. So instead we went to Julius Meinl for brunch and hit up the store so we could have corned beef and cabbage for dinner. Then we spent pretty much the rest of the day walking the dog and sitting on the front porch drinking cider. We found a new cider at the store, Julian Hard Cider, and bought the regular and the Cherry Bomb. The regular cider was good, but a bit too tart for me. The Cherry Bomb, however, was so amazing! It tasted like cherry pie filling, only not quite so sweet. But it definitely wasn't as tart as the plain cider. I'd definitely get it again!

We also spent some time playing the new Mario Party 9 (pretty much the only reason we still have our Wii. Well, that and Zelda). The main change is that all of the characters ride in one car together, so you go through the board a lot faster. Also, you can't play as a team anymore. I used to make V play on a team with me because he's a lot better at video games than I am and I was afraid he'd always win. But it turns out I can do just fine on my own! We played 2 rounds and each won one, so I thought that was pretty good.

Weekend Recap

I feel so lame, because we had another pretty boring weekend. But that's ok because we have some crazy ones coming up! We did manage to use a Groupon that was about to expire at Fontana Grill. I'm so glad we did, too! Our last Groupon was kind of a disappointment, but this time the food was so good! Our Groupon was for a TON of food, and we'd totally go back there. We had grilled calamari, Mediterranean salad, chicken rolatta, eggplant marinara, and caramel cake. See, a ton of food, huh? The grilled calamari was really good, we were both worried that it would be tough, but it was so tender. And the sauce it was plated with was just right, salty, but not too much. Our entrees were good, I think they were pretty much what we expected. The one weird thing we noticed at this point was that all of the food was pretty sweet. The really funny part was that when we got our dessert, we noticed it was pretty much the same level of sweet and salty as the other food. We thought it might be, since we knowingly ordered a salty caramel cake!

Other than dinner, we just hung out. We've been neglecting Rock Band lately, so we played for a little while Friday. That was after we walked down to the Irish place, O'Shaughnessy's, for a couple drinks to unwind  ;-) We also spent a lot of time walking the dog, because it was actually warm!

Weekend Recap

I'm getting to this a little late this week because I worked from home yesterday. V was home too, and we thought it would be nice to get to spend a little extra time together!

Friday was a pretty typical Friday. We started the evening off right by making our monthly trip to Costco. Fun times! We were about 2 weeks behind (we usually try to go the second weekend of the month), so it was extra fun! The weather was kind of icky on Friday, so we stayed at home for the rest of the evening, playing Lego Harry Potter and drinking mulled wine.

Saturday, as I think I mentioned, we went to our friends' for dinner. J&M, the couple that hosted, has a "wild game" dinner every year. Yes, that means all kinds of weird meats. M is a really wonderful cook, and she made so many good dishes with rabbit, duck, venison, and all kinds of other meats and sausages. It was so good! I think probably the best thing we had was venison sausage stuffed into dates wrapped in prosciutto. Oh man, they were perfectly spicy and sweet! A lot of people contributed by bringing alcohol, but I made (at M's request) a Pavlova. This time, to switch things up, I made a lemon curd instead of the normal custard and topped it with mixed berry sauce instead of the traditional kiwis and strawberries. I think it was a nice switch to make it feel like more of a winter dessert. And boy, did it feel like winter Saturday night! J&M put up a tent for us to eat in since their house is pretty small and there were about 20 people at the dinner. They had a pretty good sized heater out there, but we ended up at the far end of one of the tables, and man was it cold! Fortunately, we survived and it definitely didn't keep us from enjoying our food.

It was really good that we had already planned on leaving the house Saturday night, because as it turns out, our noisy upstairs neighbors were having a party. These people are pretty noisy to begin with (for example, every time the guy walks across their apartment it makes the stuff on our walls rattle, and every night while they're cooking dinner they play music. And let's just say they don't have the best taste in music ever), and when we got home at 12:30 Saturday night, there were still plenty of people around. Luckily by the time we were ready to go to bed pretty much everyone was gone and things were quiet. Now I have nothing against them having a party, but I sure do miss having our landlord live in the apartment upstairs. He was out of town a lot, and super quiet when he was at home. Oh well!

Sunday we were planning on watching the Daytona 500, but that didn't really work out since it got rained out and postponed until last night. Another "Oh well" moment I suppose! We did usual Sunday things like laundry, playing some Star Wars, and making a delicious chili dinner. 

Weekend Recap

This weekend was kind of a crazy one because we went to Indiana to my cousin M's wedding! Friday night was pretty quiet since we had to get up early Saturday to get on the road. It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive to the city that most of my extended family lives in from here, and we had 4 hours. Thankfully there wasn't any crazy traffic or construction or anything, so we made it with perfect timing! The wedding was really sweet, and it was great to see my extended family. After the wedding, my parents, brother (B), V and I went to BW3's for dinner, which is always yummy. Then we went to my grandparents' house for a little bit to spend some time with them.

Sunday we celebrated my grandma's 80th birthday. I'm glad we got to do both in one weekend! I've pretty much always liked living in different cities and having the opportunity to move around, but I do miss my family sometimes. On my dad's side of the family, he's the only one out of him, his 2 sisters, and brother to move away from the city they grew up in. My dad and all of his siblings each have 2 kids (my youngest cousin on that side is 20), and up until recently my brother and I were the only ones who also don't live in that same city. One of my cousins who recently graduated college ended up taking a job outside of Atlanta, and M is moving to Colorado because her new husband has an awesome job out there (his family is also from IN, and they're talking about moving back someday so their possible future kids can grow up around their extended families). But B and I are the only ones to live most of our lives outside of this same city. I think sometimes it makes it hard for our cousins to relate to us (and vice versa), but it's still always nice to see them.

V had off work Monday for Presidents Day, so I worked from home. It was really nice to have a day at home after we were gone Saturday and Sunday!

Weekend Recap

We had another pretty quiet weekend, mostly because our internet was out! All weekend. We are total internet addicts, so it was really annoying that we couldn't get online. We were forced to do other things, like play Lego Harry Potter on our Xbox, go out for dinner and coffee, and watch Food Network. Oh, the horror!

Friday night instead of our planned meal of turkey burgers, I decided to try my hand at making my take on a great dish I had at Gravity Bar and Grill when we were in Michigan a few weeks ago. I have no idea what it was called, and it's not on their menu anymore, but it was a homemade cumin pasta with a spicy, cheesy sauce. And oh man, was it good! The pasta especially was amazing, but the sauce was way too cheesy for my taste, so I thought I'd try my hand at a version with tomato-based sauce instead. It turned out soooo good! I'm going to post the recipe soon, I promise!

Saturday night for dinner, we decided we were in the mood for Mexican food, so we went to Los Nopales. Los Nopales has been on the Bib Gourmand list for several years, and it's easy to see why. Their food is really good, and you can't beat the prices! This was our second time eating here. Like your typical Mexican restaurant, they bring you chips and salsa right away. They actually have two salsas, and they aren't your typical tomato-onion-pepper-cilantro concoctions. I have no idea what's in either one, but I do know they're good! Last time, we started with guacamole, which was your standard fare, and we had the Carne Asada and Enchiladas de Mole for entrees. V had the Carne Asada, which I think he also felt was pretty middle of the road. I had the enchiladas, and I would say they are my second favorite mole in Chicago (behind only Mixteco Grill, also on the Bib Gourmand list). This time, V had the chicken Tortas, and I had the chicken Burrito Dinner. V's tortas were really good. Really, really good. The flavor was awesome, and there was a ton of melty cheese on top. My burrito, however, was kind of meh. It didn't have any sauce or cheese on top, which surprised me, and the chicken was kind of bland. Some sort of sauce or something to give it some more flavor would have rescued it.

After dinner, we went to our favorite place to sit and have a cup of coffee, Julius Meinl. This place is seriously the best place to hang out after dinner. Their coffee is good (reasonably priced and better than Starbucks) and the desserts are the best. They're very European in that they're not overly sweet, and they're always fresh. They also have a full menu, and have a mean brunch! But back to Saturday. We usually stick with the biscotti as it's really good and just the right amount of dessert, but they had some peanut butter sandwich cookies that V just couldn't resist, and let me tell you, if they have them again, neither one of us will be resisting them! They were sweet, but not too sweet. They were crispy, but not too crispy. And it turned out they had chocolate hiding on the inside with the peanut butter buttercream! I about died.

Sunday night we were excited because one of our favorite shows, Worst Cooks in America, was coming back to Food Network. Let me tell you, those people make me feel like a genius in the kitchen!

Weekend Recap and Menu Plan

It's Monday! We survived the weekend, Superbowl and all (Go Giants!). We didn't end up doing much this weekend because V hurt his knee a few days ago and is still recovering. Friday night we played SWTOR (yeah, I warned you that we're dorks!). Saturday we tried to go to Hot Doug's for lunch, but it was closed as they were on vacation. Then, we tried to go to Kuma's Corner, but the wait was about 2 hours. Sorry, but I'm not waiting for 2 hours for a burger! Even if it is the best burger ever. It's just not worth it, especially since you pretty much have to wait outside, V's knee was hurting, and we hadn't eaten yet that day. We actually thought we had a pretty good shot at getting in, it was about 2:30 in the afternoon when we got there. Oh well! We ended up at City Provisions, where V got their sandwich special (turkey ruben) and I got siracha egg salad with one of their soups of the day, chicken and sausage gumbo. The food was really good, so I think it's just as well that we ended up there.

Sunday we lazed around the house, doing usual Sunday things, like laundry. We watched the Superbowl, which ended exactly the way we wanted it to! A very close friend of ours, LM, is a Giants fan, so we were pulling for them to win, and they did! Yay! I love the Superbowl, but it does make me a little sad that there's no more football on until the college season starts up again in the fall.

Here's the meal lineup for this week:
Monday: New England Fish Chowder from Cook's Illustrated
Tuesday: Pork Lo Mein from Food.com
Wednesday: Pork Lo Mein leftovers
Thursday: Turkey Burgers from Annie's Eats
Friday: Turkey Burger leftovers
Saturday: Date night! Or takeout/delivery, depending on what we're in the mood for, and the weather
Sunday: German Goulash from Food.com
Monday: German Goulash leftovers