The Big D

My team headed to Dallas for the week....a nice break from the Chicago temperatures despite a cool March for Dallas.  On Monday night I got to go over to the Talley's house and hang out with Anne and Matt for a few hours.  Unfortunately I had to work a little late, so I didn't get to meet Lilah and Luke, but got to see lots of pictures.  

 For lunch on Tuesday, Balint and I headed over to the food trucks in the park.

 I highly recommend The Butcher's Son.

Wednesday was Ash Wednesday so Paul (my relational partner at the firm) and I went to The Cathedral of the Virgin Guadalupe for mass.  It was a beautiful service and a gorgeous cathedral.

Then it was back to the food trucks for lunch!

 The new park built over the highway.

I wish I had felt comfortable photographing every course of dinner on Wednesday night.  We went to Stephen Pyles and it was fantastic.  It was an excellent meal that started with a ceviche sampler, followed by pear and kale salad, then halibut with baby grilled octopus, and finished off with beigets and espresso creme brulee.

Thursday it was back to The Butcher's Son food truck.  I went with the Sante Fe chicken sausage again, but also got 2 sliders - Mac&Beefy (Brisket with a cube of mac and cheese) and Southern Hospitality (southern fried chicken and mashed potatoes).

Chris got the famous lime tots....and shared his tots....

 And no trip to Texas is complete without Blue Bell ice cream which Carol got us a pint of.  So clearly I ate my way through Dallas....good thing I hit the gym twice on my trip.

Stadium Series

There is nothing like outdoor hockey in the middle of a snowstorm!  Sean and I went to the Stadium Series at Soldier Field to watch the Blackhawks beat the Penguins 5-1.  What a great night!

Elese was nice enough to give us a parking pass for her South Loop neighborhood so after a great dinner at Kurah with her, we walked over to Soldier Field. 

The color guard coming out.

 The Hawks take the ice.

 Arches at Soldier Field

 About every 5 minutes they had to shovel the snow off the rink....it was snowing SO hard!

 Let's go Hawks!

 Just a little snow, right?

 Fantastic night with a great guy!

Authentic Japanese

I met up with a former work colleague, Mukai san, for dinner this week.  My only requests were that we go to an authentic Japanese restaurant and that he do all the ordering.  Success!  We went to Cocoro and it was fantastic.

Mukai ordered a bunch of "tapas style" food....which I failed to photograph...that included eggplant, bamboo root, fried chicken, oyster stew, and dumplings.  Then we had a beef hot pot - delicious!

I had to photograph the great origami skills of Mukai who made a "chop stick pillow" out of the paper that had held the chop sticks.

The craziest thing about the evening was that there was a big party at the table behind us and I looked over and said "that guy looks a lot like Nishina san (another former colleague)" and it was!  So great to see him too!

And who doesn't love a restaurant where green tea ice cream is included in the meal :-)

My chubby Valentine :-)

It doesn't get much better than having this little guy as your valentine :-)  I headed to Ann Arbor this weekend to visit Melissa and Elias and had a fantastic time!

We had a great dinner watching the Olympics (main purpose of the trip!)

 The cafeteria at the UBS building was making personalized cookies and I couldn't resist having one made for Melissa...thankfully she shared!

After Melissa and I went to an amazing spinning class at Ryde Cycling, we came back to have breakfast with Elias.  He's already taking shots of water in his Michigan shot glass.

 We then headed to Zingerman's - a classic spot - in Ann Arbor for lunch.  It was incredible!

 We were a little too late for the Farmer's Market.

 And then Melissa took me to two amazing card shops...and I went a little crazy (like my Eastern Market days in DC)....I swear I won't have to buy cards for 5 years!

Saturday night was another fantastic meal eaten while watching the Olympics.  Melissa seriously missed her calling in life to be an Olympics announcer...she knew all the facts and stories.

After a great church service at 242, we went for a little pampering :-)

 A wonderful way to spend Valentine's Day weekend...I miss my Valentine already!

Happy Birthday Ashley!!!

You only turn 30 once and Ashley celebrated in style at La Madia!

Sharon, Kyley, Tahani, Molly, Lynne, Shannon, Ester, and Caroline were all able to join in the celebration making it a wonderful night of celebrating the birthday girl and catching up with each other.

Happy Birthday Ashley - we love you!!

A fun night in the kitchen!

My lovely friend Elese had a dinner party last night where her friend Suresh joined a bunch of ladies to cook for us.  Roast chicken was on the menu.

Bridget was Suresh's student in the kitchen.  

We were also celebrating Stephanie's new job!!  Congrats!

While we were waiting for the chicken to cook, we enjoyed an amazing cheese plate.

Cheers to the chef!

 Carving the bird - it was delicious, roasted with lemon, garlic, and thyme.

And Bridget did a great job on the brussels sprouts.

Thanks for a great night Elese!! 

G.T. Fish & Oyster

On the first day of my new project for work I was walking around and ran into Cliff, who had been in my training class.  He'd been on this project since October and hadn't made it to the city once.  This had to change obviously, and restaurant week was the perfect occasion.  Cliff said he liked seafood, so G.T. Fish and Oyster was the natural choice....and it was amazing!

Our appetizers were tuna poke and a shrimp bruschetta.

Soup and salad course was clam chowder and seared tuna nicoise salad.  

We both got the mahi mahi with black rice for our main.

And topping it off for desert we devils food cake and a coconut cake with pineapple reduction.

Definitely a night of great company and great food!