Stuff-your-face-apalooza

A few weeks ago my friend Natalie and her husband, Matt, came in to visit for Lollapalooza.  Mattalie, as they are commonly referred to, are big foodies that reside on the great island of Manhattan.  Knowing they were in for a short weekend, I felt like I had to feed them something delicious and Chicago-y.  Somehow I determined that Hot Doug's would be the place that fit the bill.  I've never been to Hot Doug's, but people at work raved about it and it is heralded as a Chicago institution.  It is notorious for the line wrapped around the block, but everything we read mentioned an hour and a half wait time.  Not totally unreasonable.  We showed up at around 1pm all excited about our mini adventure.

We walked ourselves to the end of the line smiling from ear to ear.  I couldn't figure out why the people we passed didn't seem to think this was as roaring of a good time as we did.  Here's our view from the back;

And then we waited.  We placed bets on where we'd be by the time we got to a certain landmark.  For instance, how long would it take us to get to that first tree in the picture.  I believe it was 40 minutes.  We'd been there for an hour and still thought - aw, what the heck, let's do this.  And then two hours rolled around.  The boys took a walk down the alley and almost bought a telescope off of someone.  Nat and I took a break in the car with the AC on.  A passing car even livened things up by throwing a lit firecracker at us.  By the time we got inside, three hours later, we were hungry and ready to make the trip worth our while.  Thankfully, we didn't document our darkest hours.  You'll see that we're back to being all smiles once inside the joint.

The novelty of this place is that Doug offers some crazy hot dog combinations like Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Fleur de Sel or Cognac-Infused Lamb and Pork Sausage with Spinach Raita and Manchego Cheese.  And don't forget the duck fat fries.

Doug takes every order himself and is said to mastermind the waiting process so that by the time your food comes up a table is available.  I would be aok with him moving things along so that we could get our food in under three hours.  I'm just sayin'.

I believe we ordered a total of 11 dogs and two batches of cheese fries, one regular and one duck-fat.  Everything really was delicious and I loved my Saucisson Alsacienne: Bacon Sausage with Creme Fraiche, Caramelized Onions and Tomme de Savoie Cheese.

When we were done mowing our food, we were talking about our favorite dog.  Matt said that far and away his favorite was the Chicago Style Dog.  Ruh Roh.  We could have gotten him a divine Chicago style hot dog at Portillo's in less than 3 minutes.  But what would be the fun in that?  Once fully sated, we headed off to Lolla where we met up with my cousins and brothers.  It was a gorgeous day and it was so fabulous to sit on a blanket and listen to great music.  I was bummed we missed the XXs during our hot dog adventure, but I thought Spoon and The Metric were great.  Halfway through Phoenix, we'd had enough and headed home with the fantastic idea of picking up Lou Malnati's deep dish.   We, very seriously, asked Matt and Natalie if the pizza was as good as we think it is.  (We think it's the perfect food and eat it once a week.  Do you think people in Philly eat cheese steaks once a week?  Or is that gross?  Thereby, making us gross for eating deep dish weekly.)  Anyhooters, they told us they loved it.  And if they were lying - thank you.

After hearing about this "ice-ing" business, Dave had to try it out for himself.  Here's Matt getting iced alongside the 'za.

Not to be overlooked was our breakfast the next morning.  Matt really showed us what he was made of.  In addition to some bizarre combo of breakfast items, he ordered a side of ice cream.  You know what goes really well with ice cream?  Everything.  Pancakes, waffles, corned beef hash.  For real, it was so delicious with my lemon poppy seed waffles.  It was a welcome addition at the breakfast table.  And other non-pregnant people agreed.

It was such a fun weekend and we were so lucky to have them come into town and play with us.  There has been talk of another Midwest trip to see Frank Lloyd Wright's homes in Oak Park and God's country (Wisconsin).  Can't wait to see what we eat then.

Oh Suzani

Since we moved into this house and started tearing down walls and building them back up, I felt I could control the chaos by making lists.  I love lists.  It gets the clutter out of my head and allows me to sleep at night.  For the past seven months, there has been one delinquent item on the list that I could not get rid of.  More accurately, that I could not tackle and complete.  Window treatments.  Those are some sad windows.

HGTV makes it look like you'd have to be a one-armed  drug addict not to be able to "whip" these up.  I didn't think it looked quite so simple.  So I bought fabric and stared at it for a few months.  It was easy to stare at because I love it so.  I got it from Calico Corners, but then found it for a few dollars less at LSFabrics.com.  I love the pattern (the one on the left) and thought it was a good way to break up all of the blue and white.

Then I did what I always do when I have an idea and not a clue how to execute it....I did lots of Internet browsing.  I logged a few hours on YouTube watching the aforementioned confident people creating valance boxes.  Then one day I came home and Dave (surprise, surprise) had whipped some up for me.  Yay!  All I had to do was spray adhesive on the wood, wrap it with batting and then add another layer with the fabric.  Getting the corners to lay flat took some finagling, but it turned out really well.  Oh - and because you can see them outside the house, I had to make sure the inside of the boxes looked perfect, as well.  I made one without documenting it.  Then Dave caught me not working on the second one.  I was tired!

He shamed me into doing the second one.

So much stapling.

We hung them up and they look fabulous. 

I have a ton of extra fabric so I can make pillows for the bay window.   You're probably wondering how I think I'm going to do that.  I bought a sewing machine and I'm taking Sewing 101 next week where we're making a pillow.  My cousin is going to take it with me so it's not quite as daunting.  Blog post to follow!

Nursery Happenings

Over the past few months, we've slowly cleaned out the second bedroom and started in on the nursery.  The first thing that we bought was a dresser from the Land of Nod outlet for $75.  It was white with scuffs everywhere and a cracked base.  I wish I had the before pic, but I couldn't snap one before Dave got his hands on it.  He fixed the base, painted it and put on new hardware.  Here is my handsome handyman;

The color is absolutely perfect.  Picking out paint is harder than it looks and it's been a bumpy road for me.  I went to Buikema's with this color in mind and when they didn't have it, I worked with the paint lady to make a custom color.  She printed out the paint specifications and we crunched numbers (for real) until we came up with the color I liked.  She could not have been nicer about it.  And I must admit that I was/am pretty pleased with myself.  We'll throw a changing pad on it and, voila, we have a functional and pretty piece of furniture.

And then you go and totally redeem yourself!

Dumb and Dumber, anyone?  It's only fair that I follow up the Anti-City post with one about how fabulous New York is.  I went to dinner last night with a good friend from high school at Morandi in the West Village.  The food was delicious, fun atmosphere, and great people watching.  I also got a nice little celebrity sighting there - Steve Buscemi and Stanley Tucci.  I think it was New York's way of saying "this city still kicks ass and don't you forget it".  Noted, New York.  I'll watch my words.

The Anti City

I'm in New York this week for work and I'm so surprised at how much my feelings for this great city have changed in the last few years.  It's fast-paced and exciting and slightly magical....and so not my speed these days.  I don't think I can make claim that I'm an outdoor enthusiast, either, but these places look like little slices of heaven to me;

Image 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Sweet, Flaky Friday

This is how I started my morning.

Well, not quite, but I did my best to channel a fabulous Friday morning the Parisian way.  My friend, Erin, has recently been spending a lot of time in France for work.  She was regaling us with stories of quiet mornings spent at cafes eating croissants, drinking coffee and people watching.  Listening to her set off all kinds of daydreams about fantastical trips to Paris.  My life being not so glamorous, I took these big daydreams and whittled them down to a little treat for myself.

After searching the world wide web, it turns out there is a French Market in the Ogilvie train station, which is on my way to work.  In this French Market is Vanille Patisserie, which boasts the best croissant in the city.  To be accurate, they don't tout this accolade, but a whole lot of Yelpers do.  I figured I'd spice up my week by swinging by to check this joint out and see if it lived up to the hype.  Despite the pictures and reviews online, I was still shocked to see an actual "market" in the train station.  It's a big, open space with counters for various grocers, bakers, coffee shops, and pasta makers.  Vanille Patisserie is the first counter upon entering, so I got myself a $2.70 croissant and a (very strong) iced latte from Lavazza.  I'm not going to pretend to know anything about food, but I do know that I love all things carbs, salt and butter and that's exactly what this was.  I can honestly say that the croissant was amaze-balls.  Eating at my desk didn't have quite the same joie de vivre, but I still enjoyed every last flaky bit of it.  Someday I'd like to experience the real thing, but until then I'll settle for the "on my way to work" version.  Happy Friday!

Kiss and Make Up

It's been a really long time since I've posted anything.  In fact, it was still cold outside.  You know how I know that?  Because that's when the house and I got into a very serious disagreement and stopping talking (i.e. I stopped blogging).  Our super fancy European tankless water heater broke.  Not only was it a bummer that we had no heat, but we had to pay Tim, the heater guy, $125 to tell us that it was broken and could not be fixed.  It was broken due to one teensy, tiny, faulty part.  The aforementioned super fancy European tankless water heater is no longer being made, nor is anyone in the world servicing this item.  Over the course of a week, we sent emails to several non-English speaking countries and Dave placed a late night phone call to Spain.  I have no idea what his plan was if someone actually picked up the phone.  Our parents were gracious enough to take us  (and our little pooch) in while we tried to track down the part.  I'm pretty sure we found the end of the Internet in the process.  Long story short, we had to buy an entirely new tankless water heater and this one is American.  Damn skippy it is.  So, the house and I have made our amends and we're back in business.  FYI, there is a small child living inside of my stomach for the next few months, so it may not be full steam ahead, but I'll do my best to keep things lively!