Happy Anniversary to my Grandparents!

My grandparents had their 60th anniversary this summer and we celebrated it this past weekend with a grand pig roast. It was a fun-filled weekend with camping on their lawn and smores and croquet and dogs and family and friends and so much more. We hope to continue to do this every year, not as an anniversary party, but a family reunion. It certainly was fun!

But our travels started several days earlier when we went to Detroit for my student orientation. It was one intense day of information and socialization. I learned a lot and got a little overwhelmed and now just can't wait to get started so I can stopped trying to plan for the un-plannable.

I was glad to get out of Detroit (to get away from the brain overload) and go to Lansing and see my bestest friend Erin.
We had a great time getting to know Lansing and just hanging out with these guys. A yummy breakfast, shopping, golfing, walking around Old Town to watch awesome free theatre shorts. It was perfect and we topped it off with a trip to Dark Horse Brewery. YUM YUM. We tried a few beers and ate pizza. Perfect.

It was a GREAT week and I am really glad it worked out the way it did. I hope we can see everyone again soon.

4 Years and Counting

Yesterday was our anniversary and I must say it was possibly THE. BEST. ANNIVERSARY. EVER.

I kicked off the day by making french toast, not normally my favorite breakfast, but with my cinnamon swirl bread, it was pretty yummy.

Just after noon o'clock we headed downtown to see a matinee of Spring Awakening. IT WAS WONDERFUL!!! I hope that it comes back to Chicago so we can see it again, next time sitting onstage, yes they have on-stage tickets. It looked like it would be a lot of fun!

I have to admit that at first glance I shouldn't love this play, traditionally the mixing of popular music with period-setting musicals really bugs me. Especially in shows like Phantom of the Opera. But in S.P. the modern style of music has a purpose. It is more comparable to like of Romeo + Juliet, remember that movie? It came out in 1996 and did a great job mixing Shakespearean with modern times. Like in R+J, S.P. is using the music to relate the coming of age tale of the period teenagers (in S.P. it was Victorian) to modern teens. This is made ubundantly clear, not only by the style of music but by the lyrics. Which when you listen not only used slang like "junk" (meaning the addictive substance) but referances to things like phone calls. It's kind of an ah-ha moment when you realize this. It certainly made me feel better about liking it!
Anyway, so completely happy we went, but we were equally excited to go home and change for dinner.

Specifically into our wedding clothes (we do vary accessories). I love wearing my wedding dress on our anniversary. It is so nice to slip it on and remember and feel beautiful all over again. Although I do feel self-conscious as times, wondering if people think I am walking around in a wedding dress.

So dinner was WONDERFUL!!!!! We had an 8pm reservation at Spring in Wicker Park. And boy was it great. I really liked the idea of going to a fine dining restaurant that wasn't downtown, which are few and far between. And I wanted to have a tasting menu and the website they said they did by request and the discretion of the chef. Lucky us the chef was willing.

Our waiter took great care of us, helping us pick affordable wine pairings and talking over the food components with us.

We started out with a half bottle of Lucien Crochet Sancerre. Maybe a little smooth for mike , but I loved it. Would love to find and buy this wine. And it went very well with our first few courses:

To start raw oysters with cucumber and wasabi. YUM

Cold App was Sashimi of Pacific Whitetail, it had these great chili-pepper pearls, a gastromony invention that have the appearance and texture of fish eggs, but taste of sweet chili-pepper. loved it.

Hot App was a seared Sea Scallop. Mike LOVED IT. His words, "the best thing I've ever put in my mouth." I loved the bed of fresh chickpeas and tahini sauce, delicious. Never had fresh chickpeas and they were yummy.

Fish Course Atlantic Skatewing. Boy was that good too. It smelled WONDERFUL. A bowl of summer I think was what we called it. Prob becuase it had watermelon in it!

Here is where we decided to share a glass of a Pinot Noir to go with the meat course, again taking the waiter's recommendation.

The meat course was a delicious steak, but what was memorable was the bed of oxtail and mushrooms.

Then we were treated to the most delicious sparkling/effervescent wine I have had. I wish I knew which it was either a Moscato Rosato, or Moscato D'Asti. It was YUM-MY

We had a dessert teaser that was a bite of honey marscopone foam. mmmmmm....

Then fresh made doughnuts with peach ice cream.

Oh it was heaven. I wish we could go every month.

But our night wasn't over it was home to change again before going to the music box to see a friend in a burlesque/vaudville review at midnight. A fun way to end the night, but boy was it late when we got out. And I was glad to splurge on a taxi home, after a day of trains, busses and walking at 2:30am I was ready to take it easy.

MY FIRST TOMATO!!!

This is actually from Saturday August 8th. This tomato fell off in my hand, it actually still needed to ripen a little, so it sits on my kitchen table, slowly turning more red. When I tell people I have 7 potted tomato plants and 5 in the ground, they think I'm crazy "that's a lot of tomatoes" they say. Not really though. Two of the potted plants are sponsored by friends, so they will get all the tomatoes from two plants. And then the potted plants were planted a lot sooner than the garden ones, so they are on different schedule (hopefully). AND I planted two different varieties, one of which isn't doing so well in the container, only growing one to three tomatoes on a plant. It is doing much better in the garden, despite competion with rhubarb and cucumbers and raspberry plants. SOOOOOO....I am learning and expirementing and happy to get any tomatoes at all.

But maybe your should ask me again in a couple weeks when all these ripen...

Over-run by Dogs

Us with our doggie charges for the weekend. Brady (from Lisa and Jason) in the back and Kelly (from Walter and Troy) in Mike's lap. And of course our Stanley right in the middle.


Mike was a little surprised when I aggreed to watch two differant dogs this weekend. In the past having three dogs in the house makes the simple things like taking them out to go to the bathroom difficult. (I am no dog walker and negotiating three leashes is just too much for me.) But our current apartment has a yard and that means it is a relative ease for them to relieve themselves. Just have to keep an eye on all three to find which with all the obstacles in our yard does get dificult at times, but we are all trying to have a good time.

It has been uneventful except for when our charges run up into our neighbors apartment or knock down children and make them cry. Strange people, strange place strange dogs, it is all just a little too much for them sometimes. But we are kinda loving it.