Showing Mi the City

Today was Mi's first full day with us.  We let her sleep in a bit, and then this afternoon we headed into Chicago to show her some of the sights.

What's a stop in Chicago without deep dish pizza?!  Mi's teacher at school described deep dish to the kids, but we wanted to be sure she experienced it first-hand.  What better place to take her than where deep dish began:  the Uno and Due franchise.  We landed at Pizzeria Due:

It's almost a requirement that you walk around for awhile after indulging in such heavy fare as deep dish pizza.  We chose Millennium Park and The Bean:

It was totally frigid so we didn't linger long.  The warmth of the Sears Tower was pretty appealing after enduring the bone-chilling wind that was whipping across the lake.

While we were out on the ledge, the sun was blasting its way into our space, masking it easy to forget how cold it really was outside.  Soon enough, the sun began to sink behind the clouds on the horizon, and the view out the windows changed.

A gorgeous sunset over a gorgeous city.  I really, truly, love Chicago.

Jellies at the Shedd

Erin's working on a project that's related to the marine biology trip she's taking this summer, and she needed to take a trip to the Shedd Acquarium today to do some research.

  Drew and I couldn't resist joining her so we could catch the jellyfish exhibit.  The genius of adding different colors to the backgrounds of the exhibits was brilliant.  I could have lingered here all day!

My Kind of Town

The City of Chicago.  I never get tired of looking at the skyline, even after 25 years of living in the area.  This night view from Sox Park is one of my favorite:

Sox win 3-0 over Minnesota on a beautiful late-summer night.  Seeing the city look like this after a game is the cherry on top of the South Side Sundae.

Deconstruction of The Taste

 We had such a good time at The Taste last year, we decided to go again this year. 

The program.  It highlights the good, the bad, and the totally clueless.  Be patient - the 5 Ring Circus Taste of Chicago Awards are later in this post.

The friends.  These two have known each other since kindergarten.

The girl and the goat.  No, not the restaurant.  Goat isn't something I prepare at home, but Kelsey tried it at the Taste last year, and it was the first thing she went for today.

The ham.  We stopped to watch a dance troupe that was performing near Buckingham Fountain.  Drew was picked to be part of their act, and he totally stole the show!

There were 59 restaurants represented at The Taste this year.  I'm not going to lie and tell you we ate at all of them, but we certainly sampled our fair share.  Based on our experience, I present to you the 5 Ring Circus Awards for 2011 Taste of Chicago, Best and Worst.  In each category, these places won their awards by  a landslide:

Most Disorganized:  Starfruit Cafe.  Really?  You have only one person handing out the frozen kefir (it's like yogurt, but with an aftertaste) to seven servers, none of whom know what in the world they're doing?

False Advertising:  Tutto Italiano.  When you charge 9 tickets for something called Steak Burger with Blue Cheese, one assumes there will actually be blue cheese on or in the burger.  Not so.  The burger was slapped with a mustard sauce that had a slight hint of a blue cheese taste.  When Baird complained and asked for actual blue cheese on his burger, they hassled him.

Kelsey's Favorite:  Vee-Vee's African Restaurant.  See The Girl and the Goat picture above.

Baird's and My Favorite:  Vermillion.  We celebrated Valentine's at this place earlier this year, and we were excited to see them at Taste.  Their Grilled Chicken Kabab with Tomatillo, Potatoes and Charred Onion was fantastic, and their Ginger Dusted Crisp Apple Fritter with Mango Cardamom Sauce won the Best Overall Dessert category this year.  We agree.

Best BBQ:  Smoke Daddy.  The Pulled Pork Sandwich had a delicious smoky flavor with BBQ sauce the complemented, rather than competed with, that deep, smoky flavor.

875 North and 100 East

Today I had the pleasure of chaperoning a middle school field trip that was designed to help the kids read a map and find their way around the City of Chicago.  They were given a sheet of clues that included north-south and east-west coordinates using the Chicago numbering system, and then had to answer questions about a specific area, or take pictures of certain places.  It was fun and exhausting, and sometimes a bit challenging, trying to keep my group of five eighth grade girls focused on the task at hand.  They were all good sports and managed to answer more than 20 clues throughout the day.

We ended over by the Picasso, where I smiled when I saw the pond had been changed orange for Halloween.

It was such a fun day!

The Walking Tour

I mentioned yesterday about being in a larger cluster in my Pampered Chef business.  A lot of the out-of-towners only get to Chicago for Conference.  They are often so busy attending meetings and running to and from the hotel that they don't stop and see Chicago.  Our schedule was a little different this year, so we have more evenings free.  With tonight being a free night, I sponsored a walking tour.  We swung by Garrett's for some popcorn (how can you not?!) to cure the munchies while we walked.  Next stop:  the giant eyeball.

Until today I'd only read about the eyeball, I'd not seen it up close.  Frankly, it's as big and ugly as you've heard.  I'm a little surprised it hasn't shown up in any Visine commercials.

Next up:  "The Gardens."  I know that each little garden nook has its own name and personality, but I tend to refer to the whole stretch on the south side of Michigan Avenue, from about 10th Street, north to Millennium Park, as "The Gardens."  

If you've never taken the time to really explore this stretch of the City, please put it at the top of your Summer To Do List. Allow a few hours to meander among the colors and admire the sculptures. Slow down and count the butterflies. Take your shoes off and wade in the water at Crown Fountain. Stand under The Bean and take pictures. Stroll over to Buckingham Fountain as the sun heads to bed, and watch it slip behind the sky scrapers. Then turn north and watch the lights of the city twinkle to life at dusk.

I've lived in Chicagoland since 1986, and I've never gotten over how beautiful the city is.  I just love sharing it with people who don't live around here, because they also get excited about it.  If you live here, don't blow it off just because it's close - it's a world class place.

Summer in the City

We spent today down at Taste of Chicago.  When I mentioned this on Facebook this morning, people thought I was crazy to take my family into the city to mingle with about a million other people.   Truth be told, I've avoided this event for years because I was just too afraid to take the kids down into the chaos when they were small.  Today I realized how much I've missed it.  There is no better way to sample ethnic food in Chicago.  We ate everything from fried chicken and Asian shrimp bundles to sauteed goat.

An added bonus:  Vera Bradley was giving away samples of their products, and the girls walked away with some fun bracelets and wallets.  Erin's friend A said it best when she remarked, "I just love free stuff!"

As if all that wasn't enough, getting to hear the Steve Miller Band live, for free, was amazing.  We were able to score third row, center seats to hear this legend perform.   There is something really special about a free outdoor summer concert on Chicago's front porch. Just when we thought it couldn't possibly get any better,  Gerald Johnson, the bass player, threw his guitar pick into the audience at the end of the concert, and Kelsey wound up with it.

I love summer in the city!