Chicago: Land of Good Things

At about 8:15 last night we pulled into our driveway happy and satisfied after a quick visit with friends in Chicago. On Saturday afternoon Rhonda picked me up at my department meeting in Waukesha (which I like to say very fast, with emphasis on the S-h-a!), and we headed to Chicago to see some of our closest friends. It was really exciting to catch up with folks from grad school (even briefly, Yang), walk around Millennium park with Lauren, and spend a good 24 hours with Vince and Ji. A lot has changed in the nine months since we left Seattle, and yet it felt as though it had only been a few weeks since we saw each other last.

At the core of our friendship with V & J is a love of good food. In Seattle we would regularly plan big, extravagant meals to cook together at our house. Thanksgiving with them was a must. Another notable event was the time we went in together on a bushel of peaches from the Farmer's Market, and then had a peach-themed meal (including the amazing peach barbeque sauce). So, combine our love of food with Rhonda and my good-food deprivation, and you get a Chicago food fest.

The quick run-down: We chowed down at Little 3 Happiness on Cermak. The meal included salt-n-pepper squid (sorely missed since we left Seattle), pea shoots in garlic sauce,rice noodles with Chinese broccoli and beef, and honey walnut shrimp.

Breakfast the next day was *really good* lattes and pastries at Intelligentsia.

There was a quick driveby of an ethiopian grocery where we purchased injera for a homemade ethiopian feast.

And lunch was an amazing repast of falafel, pita, stuffed grape leaves, and chicken shwarma at the Chicagoland institution, Pita Inn.

All of this foodie-ness was topped off with a routine stop at Woodman's in Green Bay where we bought lot of good food to stock our northwoods pantry.