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!