Happy 175th Birthday Chicago!

It's been a while since we did something tourist-y so we headed over to the Chicago History Museum last weekend. We had no idea it was the city's 175th birthday and Illinois residents got in free all day, yay!  (and free cake if you felt like standing in line forever...no cake for us) Overall the museum was pretty interesting.  Some of my favorites... 

The ACTUAL bed Lincoln was placed on after getting shot and eventually died here! Is that crazy or what? He had to lie diagonally because he was so tall and this bed was tiny. 

Remnants from the Great Chicago Fire. It's amazing to me to be in the same room with these pieces of history.

 ‘L’ Car No. 1, built in 1892, is the last remaining car from Chicago’s first fleet of elevated rail cars. Originally pulled by a steam locomotive, the car transported passengers from the Loop to the fairgrounds in Jackson Park. Car No. 1 continued to operate until the 1930s. The inside of the cars used to be so beautiful, not like today at all. 

One of the many impressive dioramas, this must be why they made us do all those back in elementary school. 

Next up... I have to talk about our trip to the Museum of Science and Industry! We LOVED this museum so much. If anyone from Vegas remembers going to Lied Discovery Children's Museum on field trips and your memories are as fond as mine multiply that feeling by at least 10. That's how fun this place was. You can tell from this goofy look on my face...

I wish I could remember everything but this was months ago so I'll just share some pictures and urge you to go sometime. (Thanks aunt Katy for the suggestion) 

       One of the infamous U-boats.  The only German sub in the US

Pretending we're tall

It takes hours to get through this place and I'd definitely go back again I'm sure there's plenty more to see. 

Treated LIke Royals at The Portage

Shortly after moving here David found out that a Vegas friend had also ended up here with his lovely wife. They are basically the cutest couple ever. Mostly because he is an executive chef at The Portage and what does she do you ask.... oh she's a pastry chef at MK (another excellent restaurant in Chicago) no big deal. AWESOME right? Well for no particular reason, other than the kindness of his heart, his friend Kris decided to treat us to an amazing meal last night at his restaurant. We showed up knowing he would probably treat us very well, but had no idea what was in store.  He ended up bringing out course after course (6 total) of amazing delicious and unique surprises for our taste buds. I'm sure if you're reading this you know that I live for food and if the world was fair I would weigh 300 pounds. So I was basically in heaven. It was so much fun to be served like that without knowing what would come out next. I tried several things I have never had (octopus) and never would have ordered (pork belly) not knowing if I'd like it or not. Well I loved everything....even the pork belly! When it comes to meat I'm kind of a white meat chicken or occasional steak or burger girl, but I'll try almost anything once especially when it looks like art on your plate. 
The first course was raw scallops marinated in citrus with pancetta, but I inhaled those before thinking about pictures. Don't mind my descriptions,  as he described each dish I was thinking about eating them, but here are the basics...

                                          Octopus with a celery root puree and basil flowers  (I think)

 I think this was mackerel fish with saffron bubbles and some kind of edamame powder, poached carrots and a coconut milk panna cotta ?

                               Kobe beef meatloaf wrapped in bacon with mac and cheese!

                                         Pork two ways- pork belly, pate, cheese grits, apple cider sauce....

             and finally pound cake with orange blossom ice cream and slices of orange mango (it's a hybrid, who knew?)

La Creperie

The best thing about Chicago (besides the summer festivals!) is that you can walk in any direction and find a cute little shop, bar or family owned restaurant that isn't a PT's or Domino's or in a tan strip mall with identical signage as the place next door. La Creperie is all that and more. They have been there, owned by the same French family, for 38 years. You can read about their history if you click on the name above and in this charming article (in case you didn't notice I'll be linking to different sites when I write) The best part is they are two doors down from where I work. We made a last minute lucky decision and had dinner there New Years Eve. It was so romantic and delicious. We recommend the french onion soup! I almost tried to share one with Dave because at $8 a bowl I wasn't convinced, but you'll want your own trust me...even if you don't think you like french onion you'll like it. Oh and I almost forgot how amazing their coffee is. I don't know what they do to it but it works. 

I love boats

One of the first things I would recommend doing here would be to take a boat tour. We got to take the Wendella Architecture Tour for Dave's birthday in August and both loved it. I actually tried to surprise him, but that didn't work out when mother nature decided to pour that day. At least we had a nice meal before the rain started at The Green Door (no not that one Vegas people) an old tavern downtown that used to be a speakeasy! They were able to reschedule us and a few days later we took the sunset cruise which was absolutely perfect because we got to see the beautiful view both in the daylight and when all the lights came on after dark. It was the combined lake and river tour so you really get to see the whole downtown area as well as the Navy Pier. You will also learn so much about the historic buildings and different architects who were involved in making the loop what it is today. None of which I remember now...I told you about my memory problem.

So I moved to Chicago....

I can't believe it's already been eight months since I moved to Chicago. I thought a blog would be a fun way to keep track of all of the fun things we do and great food we eat (okay truth is we mostly sit on the couch watching Hulu with the dogs, but we do eat a lot). If anyone besides my mom reads this I hope you can get some fun ideas for when you come visit us...hint hint... or at the very least enjoy the pictures. I also have the worst memory of anyone I know under 70 so it might be nice to look back on one day. 

So the first thing I want to talk about is PIZZA. I will always will be a NY style pizza lover. There is nothing better than that thin crust, slightly crisp but chewy, and they always have the best sauce yummmm. I could eat it every day, but everyone should make a little room in their hearts for the Chicago deep dish pizza. David actually prefers it, but he likes anything that involves more food on his plate. Until you try it you won't understand. The crust is thick and buttery. It kind of crumbles and flakes in your mouth, and it is full of goodness...there is no way you are folding this in half it's all about a knife and fork here. Oh and the sauce is on top. I know. It's all wrong, but if you love sauce like I do you will realize it's actually the best idea. My favorite pizza place so far is called Giordano's. If you come visit us we will take you and I promise you'll love it as much as my mom did.   Check them out http://www.giordanos.com/ You can even order online, but it's a bajillion dollars and probably won't taste the same. So just come see us instead. 

                                                                      My mom loved it!