Food – Page 25 – Not Content to Crawl

Christmas

Posted onDecember 27, 2015

Thursday morning we headed to the mall to catch an early matinee of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The theater wasn’t too crowded which was nice. We had watched all six previous films, in release order, leading up to Thursday so the saga was still fresh in our minds. Some people felt the movie was boring and predictable but I thought it was very interesting and I enjoyed all the new characters they introduced. I dare say it was my favorite of all seven episodes.

Before the movie we browsed Kohl’s for a bit and Joe ended up buying a pair of jeans and knitted cap. After a 15% discount and the $5 I earned from spending $100 before Christmas on a pair of shoes for Joe and some bras for myself, the total was only $21.

Christmas Eve was spent at my parents per usual. E was with us and Brother # 1 even got me presents this year! I’m so happy he put an effort into picking out something he thought I’d like too.

Funny books, candy (Sour Patch Kids), and some fuzzy slippers for my perpetually cold feet. I got him a Funko Pop Olaf character and a $30 Netflix card for the whole family (even though I doubt my parents will really use it, but my brothers will more than make up for it). We also brought a couple of gifts for E to open (CDs). There was no crazy BINGO this year but my cousin stopped by with some yummy cookies and we all played a fun game of Aggravation.

By the time we dropped E back off at home and got settled down it was past 1 am, yet we were still up at 7 am on Christmas day. It was a very lazy one with just the two of us. I didn’t even cook since we had leftovers from the night before. My mom made the same Parmesan chicken recipe that I make but hers came out so much better. I think it was the mayo she used; it had olive oil in it which contributed to the flavor.

Here’s all the gifts Joe got me:

Here’s what I got him:

I actually insisted he open the Star Wars t-shirt on the right and the orange hat before Christmas so he could wear them to see the new movie.

Saturday E came over for our Christmas celebration. He arrived at noon and opened the rest of his presents.

Not pictured: a 32″ Samsung Smart HDTV we gave him for his bedroom at home. We wanted to get him one last year but he kept mentioning that his grandma was talking about getting him one. We waited to make sure he hadn’t already gotten a new TV before bringing it downstairs. Funny thing is when he was opening his CDs he’d joke, “it’s a TV”, so when he started unwrapping the actual TV, he made the same joke, and then kinda gasped and exclaimed “it really IS a TV!” It was so funny; I wish I had recorded it.

We had bought a shank ham from Walmart this year and decided to cut it up and heat it in the crockpot. I still made a glaze which I poured over the pieces. It turned out so good! Very moist and flavorful. I think we’ll be doing it that way every year.

Gift Wrapping, Luong-Loi, Game Night

Posted onDecember 20, 2015

I only had one thing on my to do list on Friday, and that was to wrap Joe’s gifts. I’m happy to report that I got through it. I even wrapped E’s gifts even though I don’t love gift wrapping because I stink at it. I put my newest favorite show – It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – on Netflix and got to work. It was a nice relaxing day with a little productivity thrown in.

Saturday we had lunch at Luong-Loi – our favorite Vietnamese restaurant. It was a long time coming. See, sometime over the summer we happened to drive past the restaurant’s location when I noticed the storefront was completely empty. No sign or anything. The place was just gone. I was in shock, and extremely sad. I’m not sure what possessed me to check out their website about a month or so later, but I was excited to learn that they were actually moving the restaurant across the street and would be reopening in October. Except they didn’t. We happened to drive past the old location again and there was a sign in the window that said “we went back to Vietnam”. I was so confused, but I thought that meant they changed their mind and wouldn’t be returning after all. Finally they started communicating via their Facebook page that they were back from vacation and working on the new restaurant. There were some delays thrown in so their reopening date kept getting pushed back until they finally opened this past Friday.

We were so excited we ended up order four dishes – mongolian beef, garlic chicken, sweet & sour chicken, and kung pao chicken. With the exception of the beef, which tasted fishy, everything was as delicious as I remember. I particularly like the kung pao (which I’m eating right now as I type out this entry, in fact). I’m also happy that each dish comes with it’s own side of rice unlike before where they’d bring one plate of rice that wasn’t enough (and not bring out any more so I’d have to make more rice at home to go with the leftovers). I’m bummed that the mongolian beef isn’t good anymore, but happy the kung pao is since they introduced lunch specials for only $8. Much cheaper than just ordering a ton of food like we did.

Saturday night we were invited to a game night at my friend, C’s, house. We go to lunch every so often and trade magazines (I get her People magazines which is awesome since that subscription is expensive) and she’s been to our house a couple of times, including once for a game night with her husband years ago. We brought Uno Attack with us which we played first. Then we played one of their games, Pay Day, which we’ve never played before. It’s fun! I won too. Hehe. Their cat finally came downstairs after we had been there a couple of hours and even let me pet her which they said is unusual so I felt special. She’s such a beautiful cat – grey with green eyes. And she doesn’t shed just from being touched, unlike the two orange kitties I was pet-sitting earlier this month. The time just flew by – we arrived at 6 pm and ended up leaving just after 10:30 pm. It was a fun night!

Thanksgiving

Posted onNovember 30, 2015

Thursday we went to my parents’ and Saturday I made a turkey breast to go along with some of the sides that were leftover.

Our sides were: sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatos, gravy, corn, collard greens (for Joe), cinnamon apples, and crescent rolls.

For dessert I made a Coconut-Pecan German Chocolate Pie.

I cheated and bought a Pillsbury pie crust, but the rest was made from scratch. It was SUPER rich (and ridiculously high in calories), but good. Would I make it again? No. Too expensive and too time-consuming to be worth it. I spent at least $8 on ingredients when I could have purchased a frozen pie for half that. I’m not a big pie fan in general so I’ll stick to brownies, cupcakes, and bars in the future.

Our Anniversary and Lincoln Park Zoo

Posted onOctober 26, 2015November 18, 2015

Friday was our ten year wedding anniversary so Joe took the day off work so we could spend it together. We didn’t have anything too exciting planned – just a relaxing day and then a nice dinner to celebrate. In the morning we participated in a gummy vitamin taste test and a research facility. It was about an hour of our time and we each made $25 so that was nice.

We tried a new Thai restaurant in Wheaton. Well, it was a Thai place before so I’m not sure if it’s new owners and the old owners changing the name and trying to garner new clientele, but it wasn’t that impressive.

After lunch we made a trip to the arboretum to check out the fall foliage.

We also stopped at a forest preserve called Churchill Woods but the weather was turning more grey so I didn’t get any good photos there.

We debated over whether to try a new to us, but expensive steakhouse, or stick with a place we knew. We opted for the latter and had it narrowed down between Claim Jumper and Lonestar, deciding on Lonestar which required us to drive out to Elgin. The meal was disappointing to say the least. My filet was way overcooked so I had to sit there watching Joe eat his (I insisted since I didn’t want it to get cold) while they prepared a new filet for me. The new one was at least cooked like I requested (medium), but I need A1 to make it tasty, which in my mind means the steak sucks (never needed A1 at Claim Jumper). I have no idea if this is a fluke, the location we visited sucks, or if Lonestar in general has gone downhill, but it ruined that chain for me. I’ve always loved their inexpensive food but I’ll think twice before ever eating there again.

We decided to get dessert and went to this Mexican ice cream place that had high ratings on Yelp. I didn’t care for it at all. My chocolate ice cream tasted like Hershey’s syrup. Ick. Needless to say the eating portion of our anniversary sucked.

Saturday we drove down to Oak Lawn to pick up E for lunch. We went to Culvers out in Orland Park. After dropping E off at home we hit the Walmart where I was finally able to find a pair of jeans in my desired size and color so I can wear my Cuddl Duds underneath them at work from now until April.

We had planned to attend a Halloween flea market Saturday night but changed our mind. It’s $7 to get in and all outdoors (for some reason I thought it was indoors) and it was drizzling. A few people online complained about the long lines last year which really discouraged us. So we went home and binge-watched some more Modern Family instead.

Sunday we decided to visit Lincoln Park Zoo. They had been bragging on their social media sites that the two red panda cubs born four months ago had just made their public debut and encouraged everyone to come visit them over the weekend. So we came, but we didn’t see squat!

We arrived to the zoo early and found free parking on Cannon Dr. which was awesome. The zoo gates were open already so we walked over to the red panda exhibit but it was empty. Thinking perhaps they wouldn’t be out until the official 10 am zoo opening, we checked out some other animals, including the lions where I got some great photos.

We made our way back to the red pandas just before 10 am. By then a crowd had formed but we were able to secure a spot in front just to the left of the exhibit. I had just learned that my SLR’s battery was on one bar so I vowed not to use the camera again until the red pandas came out. In the meantime, two cute little Eurasian Lynxs were let into their exhibit to our left. I wanted to get a photo and/or video of them but didn’t want to miss out on the pandas, so I reluctantly waited some more.

At some point after 10 am a zookeeper came into the exhibit to prepare it for the red pandas. Why they didn’t do that before the zoo opened, I don’t know. We waited almost an hour before an employee informed us that one of the panda cubs wasn’t ready to come out yet and they weren’t planning on opening the exhibit until he was and had no idea when that would be (and their indoor habitat is not viewable to the public). By this time the lynxs were back in their non-viewable to the public den so I missed that opportunity as well. To say I was disappointed, not to mentioned pissed off, is an understatement. Sorry, but I think if you’re posting all over social media asking the public to visit your zoo to see the pandas you better damn well put the pandas somewhere they can be seen. Seriously!

We spent another two hours at the zoo checking out the rest of the exhibits and returned to the red panda one several times but they were never out.

Finally we gave up and drove to Rodgers Park to this great Thai place to have lunch.

Monday I had an early doctor appointment to go over some stuff and she sent me for some routine blood work.

Scarecrow Fest

Posted onOctober 12, 2015October 12, 2015

Another fantastic weekend is behind us.

Saturday morning we got together with friends to check out St. Charles’ Scarecrow Festival. It was the perfect day weather-wise. It was cool in the morning but the sun was out so it wasn’t too hot or cold.

First we had breakfast at this fabulous restaurant near the festival. I got the same thing as last time – Hawaiian eggs benedict. Joe and our friends each had a skillet. Both men ordered bloody marys too.

After breakfast we browsed the scarecrows before the festival officially opened. I didn’t bring a camera because I wasn’t sure whether I would take any photos, but I couldn’t resist, so I used my iPhone. The photos with the sun behind me came out fine but the other ones leave a lot to be desired. Ugh, I hate the iPhone camera because it’s so inconsistent in quality!

We left the festival temporarily to check out a Ferret show at the Kane County Fairgrounds (our friends are huge ferret fans and own one). They had some really cute hammocks for sale so we got two for the rats. One is a big Halloween-themed cube hammock which I put in Milo and Gizmo’s cage. They love it.

After seeing everything at the show, we headed back to the festival so we could check out the craft booths. By this time it was close to noon so the parking garage we had used earlier that morning was completely full. We drove around the area for awhile and stumbled upon Delnor park which turns out is only a few blocks walk to the area where the crafts were. Score!

We spent some time checking out all the booths together. I bought a chocolate covered pretzel to snack on since I find them irresistible. We also spent some time checking out their petting zoo from a distance. They had a very interesting collection of exotic animals including a kookaburra and wallaby, but we had difficulty identifying one of the animals hopping around. The first thing that came to mind was jackalope which is funny because they don’t really exist. But this thing looked like a cross between a rabbit and a deer which is why my mind went there.

At this point, a stranger who had apparently been listening to our conversation, stuck his phone in my face to “prove” to me it was a capybara. I told him I’ve seen those at a zoo before and they were way larger than this, but he insisted, claiming it was a baby. Whatever. Mind your own business, dude! Finally, I got the attention of one of the animal handlers to ask her what the creature was and it turns out it was a pantagonian cavy.

We were pretty hungry after all that walking around, but the one thing that is not impressive at this fest is the food, so we went to Beef Shack for lunch. It was such a beautiful day we sat outside to enjoy our food. And we officially ruined Portillo’s beef for our friends by introducing them to Beef Shack, haha! Their beef sandwiches are the best!

On our way back home (we picked up our friends at their house that morning so we could take one car), I pointed out to our friends that Fermilab was nearby if they ever wanted to see the bison, so they asked if we could stop then. Unfortunately, the bison were way out in the field so it was hard to see them. We did see a hawk, though, and some killdeer (which is the only place I’ve yet to see these birds).

When we got back to our friends’ place we went inside for a bit to talk and play with their cute ferret. Overall it was a very long, but fun, day. There are very few people I could spend that much time with but even so, I did have a headache and we used the rest of the evening to decompress by watching tv. It has become very clear to us that while we do enjoy time socializing, we are very much introverts who could not do it two days in a row.

Which is why on Sunday we renewed our Costco membership and did some grocery shopping before the Bears game and spent the rest of the day inside. Since it was what I’m guessing the last warm day of the season, we opened the windows to get some fresh air. It was nice to walk around barefoot in the house; I predict I won’t be able to do that again until spring. For dinner I made beef stroganoff in the crock pot and apple muffins for dessert, both of which were delicious. It was a nice relaxing end to our weekend together.

» Scarecrow Festival photos on Flickr