October recap

Is it really the 30th of October? It feels like I was just celebrating the arrival of my favorite month yesterday. It has certainly flown by but here are a few of the things I've been up to this month.

I celebrated the end of September at my friend Brittany's annual fall party where we imbibed on sangria and warm apple cider and completed this DIY rope vase project.

I made this delicious pumpkin cheesecake pie with a secret ingredient passed down from my grandmother that shall remain unnamed.

Here is the finished product with fresh whipped cream with a touch of maple syrup.

Made a Sunday roast - my famous Simon & Garfunkel chicken. Bet you can figure out why I call it that.

Went to Sonny Acres farm with my family. I've been coming here since I can remember. Fall isn't fall without a trip to this place.

My niece got her face painted.

Got spooked.

Enjoyed an apple cider donut.

And took this picture because no trip to Sonny Acres is complete without it.

I went to a Chicago Ideas Week event and got to see Cat Cora, Graham Elliott, and the Fabulous Beekman Boys.

Speaking of the Fabulous Beekman Boys, I went to their book signing the following night at Williams Sonoma in Lincoln Park. They recently published their second cookbook: The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Dessert Cookbook. The desserts look divine and they were the sweetest people. I discovered them over the summer after I picked up Josh Kilmer-Purcell's memoir, The Bucolic Plague (Josh is on the right), and I immediately fell in love as soon as I started reading. I am so inspired by these two and I highly recommend the memoir and their cookbooks and everything they do! I ended up meeting this awesome girl in line who'd driven there from Grand Rapids and we decided to grab dinner together at Girl and the Goat. I have no pictures from Girl and the Goat because it was so dark, but it was pretty damn delicious.

Then Brittany had an impromptu bonfire one Friday night and we roasted s'mores.

Stay tuned for the upcoming post about the costume party I hosted last Saturday. It was a spoooooooooooky good time!

Honey Butter Fried Chicken

In the first three days that Honey Butter Fried Chicken was open, they went through 2,350 pieces of chicken. Started by the underground dinners of Chicago's Sunday Dinner Club and inspired by one of their meals, Honey Butter's main draw is the fried chicken, which is boneless (see why and what they do with those bones here) and pretty damn juicy. Avondale is quickly becoming a go-to neighborhood for good food - Honey Butter joins the ranks of Chicago institutions such as Hot Dougs and Kuma's Corner - so it's in good company.

Hence the name, each piece of chicken comes with a side of honey butter that they encourage you to spread on the hot chicken when it arrives. Once you do that, smother it in the Coop rum barrel hot sauce and when you cut into it the juice literally splatters in every direction. This is the best and juiciest piece of chicken that I've ever encountered (as well as my memory serves). On the right is a side of pimento mac and cheese (sinfully delicious) and the top right is a side of house made pickles (I've had better).

Go big or go home!

Highlights of 2013

Okay, I know, it's been just under a year since my last post. I totally suck at this thing but I am resolving to try and be better, I swear! I'm making my reentry into this poor, sad blog with a highlights reel of the last year. We'll start with Christmas...yes, Christmas 2012.

I celebrated Christmas like it was my last one ever by participating in as many activities as I could.

American Theater Company presents It's a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play

Music Box presents the 29th Annual Christmas Show: White Christmas

White Christmas (my favorite Christmas movie of all time and this may be the best Christmas event I've ever gone to).

Caroling at the Bean (Millennium Park).

A night at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee.

Late night eats at Elsa's on the Park. This tree was made out of thousands of paper clips suspended with fish line!

Visiting the Fonz in downtown Milwaukee.

In April, Chicago was flooded for a few days.

I threw my best friend a bridesmaids tea in April, a few weeks before her wedding.

And then, at the end of April, I officiated their wedding - one of the most exhilarating and anxiety-inducing moments of my life.

At the beginning of the summer I checked out the new Logan Square restaurant, Parsons Chicken & Fish, and Adam Rapoport, editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit was there signing his new grilling book.

At the beginning of June, one of the biggest outdoor parties of the year, took place: Maifest.

I turned 30 a little more than halfway through June and celebrated with a special request - dirt cake. I love to indulge my inner 8 year old.

I celebrated on my actual birthday with a trip to Willis Tower and to the Ledge (my knees went weak).

With two of my favorite people on Earth - who were not scared at all.

My inner adult rang in 30 with a luau at my apartment at the end of June, wearing my grandmother's Hawaiian dress from the 60s, and surrounded by my beloved friends. A friend came with a saber for a ceremonious sabrage, my first, and created a memory I won't soon forget.

The luau was complete with photo booth.

In July, I volunteered at Pitchfork Music Festival.

And met some other awesome volunteers from the organization I work with - Open Books.

My wonderful friends all convened on a Saturday in July for an all day picnic in Logan Square's Palmer Square Park.

I added this burger to my top 5 burger list (Little Goat kimchi burger).

Drank some beer.

And some more beer.

And a ginger hibiscus margarita from Rodan.

And introduced one of my best friends from London to the mint julep (and old fashioned) at The Southern.

At the end of July I went to Door County.

Enjoyed a beautiful view of the bay (and a glass of wine).

Did a wine tour and tasting of Stone's Throw Winery at 10:30 in the morning (though, according to this clock, it is always 5:00).

I looked yonder at Ellison Bay Bluff.

I imbibed in a signature vacation cocktail: the brandy old fashioned, Wisconsin's favorite drink.

I went on the first ghost tour of my life and loved every minute of it.

In mid-August my girlfriends and I went camping and were miserable - I got more than 30 insect bites all over my body.

 

I made my obligatory Superdawg trip at the end of August.

 

At the beginning of September, I went to Glazed and Infused for a maple bacon long john, which ruined me for all other donuts.

And then went thrift shopping all over creation with one of my gal pals.

  There was a LOT of this.

And I got to spend ridiculous amounts of time with the most awesome people on Earth. 

See you soon, dear readers!