Category: Food

Anniversary

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Yesterday was our three year anniversary (being married, that is) and even though I was very clear we were not exchanging gifts, I got flowers and some yummy chocolate from Joe anyway. That husband of mine is just too good to me!

Then we gorged ourselves on food because that’s the only way to celebrate. Since the Lonestar by us is closed (*cry*), Wildfire sucked last year, and I’m not that hooked on Red Lobster, we tried a place called Claim Jumper. We hit some really crappy traffic on the way over and I was starting to feel like it was an omen; another crappy dinner that was going to cost far too much. We even considered turning around and hitting Portillo’s instead, but I’m glad we didn’t because we were both pleasantly surprised.

Not only is the atmosphere perfect – low lighting, high ceilings, big comfy booths, attentive service – the food is great too.

We decided instead of spending a fortune on two steaks which is always way too much meat for either of us, we’d share a steak and another dish. This is what we ordered and my personal rating out of five stars, or in this case, asteriks:

French Onion Soup *** (Joe thought it was ok (I don’t like French Onion soup))
Filet *****
Cheese potato-cakes *****
Barbecue chicken salad ** (much better at California Pizza kitchen)
Chocolate Cupcake ***
Cream Cheese Pie **** (so big, we have half a piece in the fridge)

With a $10 off coupon that came in the mail just recently (nice timing, Discovercard!), our bill was only $56 and it was definitely worth it. The only thing I’d do differently next time is get the steak medium rare instead of medium because it was a bit dry near the edges. I was sharing with Joe, though, so I focused on the middle which was fantastic. No steak sauce needed. We’ll definitely be going back.

In all it was a good anniversary. We don’t go all out spending the money to celebrate. Like Joe told his coworkers – marriage is about every day.

Fall Weekend Activities

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We took the kids to the pumpkin farm yesterday. Unlike last year, it actually felt like a Fall day. The weather was quite beautiful – sunny and cool, but not too cold. The kids are getting too old to go on most of the rides offered, although the boy did go on the Fun Slide and another ride. No one was interested in the haunted houses, so we all went on a short wagon ride “through the woods”. It was cute, albeit not very thrilling. And of course we had food. I think we spent just about the same time and money as last year. The girl and I got a walking taco just like last time too.

Cat eyes and mummy

Later in the evening, we all drove around St. Charles Illinois to check out the Gallery of Ghoulish Homes Tour courtesy of the park district. There are far too many homes to see them all, but we spent extra time at our favorites. Before heading home we stopped at Baskin-Robbins for ice cream.

The Fall foliage hasn't quite peaked yet

This morning after dropping off the kids, Joe and I enjoyed breakfast at IKEA. You can’t beat their prices – $2 for scrambled eggs, bacon, potatos, and french toast sticks. We needed to kill time before heading over to Greene Valley Hill in Naperville. I had read about theold landfill that was open to the public as a scenic overlook. Scenic, it was, but it’s terribly windy today and up on that hill it was brutal, so I took a few quick shots and we left.

Sonny Acres photos @ Flickr
Gallery of Ghoulish Homes Tour photos @ Flickr

Chicago Botanic Garden

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Orange Flower with Dew

Yesterday we decided to visit the Chicago Botanic Garden. I didn’t realize it had been three years since our last visit! Of course, the parking price went up from $12 to $15 which kinda stinks, but we got so many beautiful photos it was well worth the visit. The majority of the flowers had dew on them which was really pretty and made many of them shimmer in the sunlight.

We got there right around 7 am so it wasn’t very crowded for a good hour. Then my camera’s low-battery indicator came on, so we went back to the car to grab my little Powershot in case I needed it. Instead of following the normal progression we take through the gardens, we started where we normally end and made our way back to the beginning. This helped keep us away from the most crowded areas, which we had already seen anyway the first hour.

Backlit with Dew

I got a few shots of a chipmunk which was exciting. They aren’t close-ups, however, since those guys are so skittish, but we never seen them anywhere but the Botanic Garden and Brookfield Zoo. I’m sure they exist elsewhere, but I’ve never seen one outside of those two areas.

I also “rescued” a Monarch butterfly. We were walking back toward the entrance when I stopped short of stepping on one in the walkway. I didn’t want to chance someone else squishing him, so I encouraged him to walk onto my hand and then he flew away.

We had a great time and the weather wasn’t terribly warm since we were there so early. The only problem I have with the gardens is they get super crowded quickly which makes taking photos, particularly landscapes, nearly impossible if you don’t want people in them (which I don’t). By the time we left at 10:30 am you could hardly walk through the visitor center it was so packed with people. It reminds me of Brookfield Zoo which is why we rarely go there anymore either.

After all that walking around we were hungry, so we decided to check out Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch. I had gotten a gift card through our Discover and we loved them when we dined in the Florida one on our honeymoon. We got there when they opened so we got a lot of personal attention from our waitress. Too bad she didn’t listen to us when we ordered. We didn’t realize until we got the check that she rang us up as having the sirloin instead of the filet we had both asked for. And I guess we’re dumb because we’re still not sure what was actually served to us. It wasn’t as tender as a filet, so I’m guessing we really did get the sirloin instead. What the hell? I clearly said “I will have the 7 oz Flo’s Filet” to which my husband said he’d have the same. So how the heck did she hear 8 oz Renegade? If it wasn’t for that, I’d have high praises for the place, but that really turned me off to going back there. I still miss Lonestar Steakhouse. All we have left by us is Outback and they suck.

All photos from the Botanic Garden are at Flickr.

The Gray Race and some other stuff

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For the past few months I’ve been bemoaning the fact that my library, or none of the libraries it trades with, has Bad Religion’s album The Gray Race. I even told Joe today, “that’s it, I’m just going to order it from Amazon.com” and then a little later it occurred to me that I made a copy of it before I moved out when my ex and I broke up eight years ago. Can you say duh? I got home from work, ripped the copy, and added it to my iPod. Now I can enjoy the best Bad Religion album ever at work tomorrow.

I’ve been using the Wii Fit almost daily for two weeks now and I like it. I only get about 15 minutes of exercise during each use, but I’m also using the elliptical machine for 20 minutes while watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother, so for now that’s enough. I enjoy teasing Joe because when it measures him, this cute voice says, “that’s overweight”. It’s funny because he’s really not overweight as far as I’m concerned. But I guess he’s just over the normal BMI for his weight and height. I’m in the normal range but I definitely have some excess pudge to tone. We had the kids weigh themselves too and let’s just say the Wii was not kind. Unfortunately that’s typical for kids today and it’s rather sad.

We’re trying to be better role models when the kids are here with us, as small of a percentage of their time that may be. Saturday after we went garage sale hunting, we went to the park and the boys played catch while I helped the girl practice tennis. She wants to try out at school but I don’t think they are going to take her unless she takes real lessons. Most of the time she just stood there expecting the ball to come to her. Granted, I was aiming for her to allow her to practice returning the ball, but I explained to her she needs to run for the ball and move back if it’s too high or forward if it’s coming short. She was doing better by the time we were done but she has a long way to go. I do give Joe’s kids credit – they are way more into extra-curricular activities than I ever was at their age. The only problem is they are bit over-confident in their abilities and don’t necessarily want to put in the work it requires to follow through with whatever activity they are interested in. So that’s something they need to work on.

Tonight I tried a new recipe – Chicken Parm Meatball Subs. They came out much better than I was expecting! I was too hungry to photograph the evidence so you’ll just have to trust me. I burned the first two rolls under the broiler so I’ll need to pick up more so we can finish the leftovers tomorrow.

Speaking of leftovers, yesterday we took the kids to Boston Market for lunch to celebrate Joe’s birthday before taking the kids home. Can you believe it cost $28 for the four of us to eat, and that was with a $5 coupon? At least the food is pretty healthy, even more so since the kids had to get one veggie from their two sides. The boy wanted mac & cheese and mashed potatoes so he wasn’t too happy about that but he got over it. The plan was for us to go to Pepe’s for dinner after dropping them off since it’s right by their house, but their mom called about an hour before we were going to leave to say she was in the area and could pick them up. So we ended up at Red Lobster instead. It’s been a long time since we’ve eaten there and I only ate half my dinner and took the other half for lunch today. Plus I had grilled chicken instead of deep fried shrimp.

I started writing this post earlier but a big storm rolled in so we shut down our computers and played on our DS for awhile. We’ve gotten two new games recently – Left Brain, Right Brain and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? The Left Brian Right Brain one is more like Left Hand Right Hand since that’s all it seems to be testing. My left arm actually hurts from using that hand way more often than I normally do.

Going to go weigh myself on the Wii Fit and then read before bed. I’ve been good getting to sleep by 10 pm every night and getting a solid seven hours of sleep. That with my daily dose of Vitamin D, more exercise, and eating better has made my stress levels quite low. Nothing seems to get me really fired up lately which is nice.

Indiana Beach

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Saturday we took the kids to Indiana Beach. This time we remembered they’re an hour ahead and got there before the rides started at 11 am. We didn’t get our super premium parking, however, because they are building a new rollercoaster right by the entrance and the in-park lot was blocked. We also had to walk further to get into the park.

The first thing I noticed was how they repainted a lot of the rides including the skyride. It used to be all white and now it’s yellow, pink, green, and blue. Not sure how I feel about it to be honest. It’s a bit odd. They also sealed the boardwalk so it is black instead of gray for the time being. Nothing else seemed to have changed.

Boardwalk

The weather was much better than last year; I didn’t sweat nearly as much and I didn’t burn at all because I put on enough sunblock and wore a hat.

Everyone got ride wristbands ($23 each) but Joe and I didn’t go on a lot of rides. The kids went on the swings the most. The lines got a bit long as the day wore on. In fact, even though we were there longer than in the past (10:30 am – 4:30 pm), we seemed to do less. We didn’t play any games or miniature golf.

I dragged the kids on the Shafer Queen for a half hour tour of Lake Shafer after a lunch of yummy tacos. It’s an Indiana Beach tradition. You have to ride the Shafer Queen at least once and they had never been on in the years we’ve been going.

Next year we plan on taking Thursday and Friday off and going for the evening ride time. I think it will be cool with all the lights, plus there’s no sun threatening to cook you.

All Indiana Beach photos.