Category Archives: food

Happy Mother’s Day!

dancing

To my mother:

Thank you for the unyielding, unwavering love you’ve shown me, every day since the day you and Dad brought me home from the hospital.  I feel so honored, grateful and blessed to call you my Mom.  I look up to you so much, even more now that I’m older and truly realize all that you’ve done for me, the sacrifices you made and the understanding you bestowed.  Thank you for making me feel beautiful, and telling me so when there were days I felt anything but.  Thank you for holding me up when I fell down, and for dancing next to me when I stood tall.  Thank you for literally helping me learn to walk again, and for holding my hand when I wanted so badly to quit.  There are so many memories that I cherish, and so many more that I know we’ll have.  I love you. 

Even though I wasn’t able to spend the day with my Mom today, we were able to have a nice long chat on the phone and catch up with each other.  I look forward to Sunday afternoons for that very reason; my Mom and I can talk on the phone and an hour will pass before we even know it.  Every time we talk I’m instantly transported back to the couch in my parents’ living room, where we used to curl up with blankets and talk for hours.  Whenever I’m there for a visit, we’re always sure to spend time on that same couch, reminiscing about the past and talking excitedly about the future.

apron

I figured that if I couldn’t physically celebrate Mother’s Day with my Mom today, I could do the next best thing to pay homage to her: bake.  I learned how to bake from my Mom, who no doubt learned from her Mom, and so on.  I have vivid memories of being a young girl with an apron tied around my waist, pouring through the endless kitchen cabinets.  What became known as “glass bowl” involved Mom giving me a dozen different ingredients to measure, mix and make my own creation.  We’d never actually cook or eat whatever concoction I created, but I know that’s where my love for baking first blossomed.  To this day she is the best cook I know.

This afternoon I made banana chocolate chip muffins, with a cream cheese filling.  Some of my favorite things to make with Mom were sweet treats: decorated sugar cookies, cranberry orange scones, and the infamous chocolate ganache praline cake that is somewhat of a legend in our family.

muffins

Banana Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese-Filled Muffins
Makes 15 muffins

    • 2 cups all-purpose flour
    • 3/4 cup brown sugar
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1 egg
    • 2 overripe bananas
    • 1/2 cup milk
    • 1/3 cup butter, softened but not melted
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
    • Spreadable cream cheese, softened

Preheat oven to 350.  Arrange 15 liners in muffins tins.  In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In another bowl, beat together egg, bananas, milk, butter and vanilla extract on a low setting until smooth.  Pour wet mixture into flour mixture and stir until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop a spoonful of the muffin batter into each liner.  Using a teaspoon, drop cream cheese into each of the liners.  Top each with remaining batter.  Bake for 18 minutes.

A {Surprise!} Baby Shower

group

Last Thursday night,  instead of our usual weekly couples’ get-together, we threw Anna and Jami, our resident mommies-to-be, a surprise baby shower.  This little plan had been in the works for a good two months, and I have to give our group of girls a ton of credit for keeping it a secret for that long-I know it was hard for me!  The looks on their faces when they walked into the room and we all shouted “Surprise!” were priceless.

waffle bar

The food spread and decorations were incredible.  When you have two interior designers among your group, you know the party is going to be stunning.  After dinner–which consisted of a waffle bar, fruit platter with dip, breakfast quiche, cake and the world’s best baklava–we decorated onesies and wrote inspirational messages on two canvases that Elle had painted for the girls’ nurseries.  Toward the end of the night, the husbands swooped in (after holing up in a bar for most of the night, far away from the “ooh’s!” and “ahh’s!” that accompany a baby shower) and demolished the leftover waffles and cake.  I think that was the extent of any male participation in the shower.

babyshoes

paintings

The night was absolutely one to remember.  I am beyond grateful that I made friends with such an amazing group of women relatively quickly after moving to Atlanta.  Drew and I talk all the time about how blessed and lucky we are to have been led into fellowship with such an amazing group of couples.  And there goes any resolve I’d had about not writing an overly-mushy, baby-crazed blog post.

My contribution to the breakfast-themed potluck were cinnamon roll cupcakes.  I’d never made such a thing before but used the logic that cinnamon rolls are delicious, and cupcakes are delicious, so together they would be a double dose of deliciousness.  The batter smelled vaguely familiar to my Mom’s homemade cinnamon rolls, and I could have eaten a bowl of the brown sugar cinnamon streusel with a spoon.  Except that I didn’t, because I’ve heard of the cinnamon challenge and it scares me.

cupcakes

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Cinnamon Rolls Cupcakes, adapted from this recipe
Makes 1 dozen

1/3 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup plus brown sugar, packed
1 Tbs cinnamon
3/4 cup plus white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz Cream Cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
5 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line 12 muffins tins with paper liners.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  In another bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, beat butter at medium speed until fluffy.  Add white sugar and beat until combined.  Add egg and vanilla.  Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk into the bowl, continuing to beat at medium speed until everything is incorporated.

Drop a spoonful amount of batter into each muffin tin.  Sprinkle brown sugar cinnamon mixture.  Add another spoonful of batter into each tin and sprinkle the tops with remaining cinnamon mixture.  I took a knife and swirled everything together to make sure the brown sugar cinnamon mixture was evenly dispersed throughout.

Bake cupcakes for 20-22 minutes (I took mine out right at 20).  Allow to cool to room temperature before frosting.  To make the frosting, beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy.  Turn mixer down to low and add powdered sugar, a small amount at a time, until frosting is fluffy and spreadable.  I used the open star decorating tip from Wilton to frost the cupcakes.

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Concerts, Babies & Waffles

Need to Breathe performing at the Fox Theatre!

Need to Breathe performing at the Fox Theatre!

This past weekend was an eventful but fun one.  Friday night we had tickets to the Need to Breathe concert at the Fox Theatre, which I had gotten for Drew’s birthday.  The last time we’d seen a concert at the Fox together was Mumford and Sons a few months before we got married, so it had definitely been a while.  Before the show, we ate dinner at Baraonda, one of our favorite Italian restaurants, with our friends Lance and Shelly.  Several of Drew’s coworkers were also attending the concert.  Drew and I hadn’t heard of the opening band, Drew Holcomb at the Neighbors, but they put on a great performance.  Drew introduced me to Need to Breathe shortly after we got married, and we still listen to their very first CD on every single road trip.

Drew and I at the show

Drew and I at the show

Saturday morning we took Theo for a walk through Piedmont Park.  Every Saturday there is a farmer’s market with dozens of tents-there’s even a vendor who makes wood-fired pizzas!  The beautiful weather brought a large crowd which proved to be too much excitement for Theo; he was wanting to jump in everyone’s laps and be their new best friend.  That afternoon we attended a baby gender reveal party for our friends Andy and Jami.  Neither one of us had been to a gender reveal party before but we were looking forward to celebrating such a special time with all our friends.  All the guests sprayed silly string to find out the gender, and after a count of three, everyone was covered in pink!  Congrats to Andy and Jami, who will be welcoming a little girl come August.

Is it a boy or a girl?? Andy and Jami's friend Lesley Anne took this amazing picture!

Is it a boy or a girl?? Andy and Jami’s friend Lesley Anne took this amazing picture!

Its a girl! Congrats Andy and Jami!

Its a girl! Congrats Andy and Jami!

The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back.  Sunday’s dinner was a new discovery.  Who knew the putting two or three Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in a waffle maker would yield the most delicious waffles ever?  Apparently one of Drew’s coworkers did, as that’s how we found out about it.  I have a feeling these will be making a regular appearance in our kitchen.

waffle

Best discovery ever.

Drew’s 26th Birthday!

Things I like about March:

(1.) College Basketball.  This still makes the list, even though my precious UK Wildcats didn’t make it to the tourney.  Heck, they didn’t even make it to the basketball court most of the season.  Nevertheless, I love March Madness and watching teams surprise everyone and bust brackets nationwide.  FGCU, I’m looking at you.

(2.) The beginning of Spring, Easter Sunday, warmer weather. Welp, you can cross that last one off.  Except for the weekend Mom and Dad came to visit, it’s been downright freezing here.  Considering half the country is covered in snow right now, I suppose I can’t complain too much.  However, I didn’t move to Atlanta to be wearing my winter coat the week before April.

(3.) Drew’s birthday! Which brings me to this post…

Drew turned the big 2-6 this past Sunday.  Before I began writing this, I had to take a trip down memory lane remind myself what exactly we did to celebrate.  We definitely didn’t start the day out with a run like last year, that’s for sure.  We actually ended up sleeping past 10 a.m., which is pretty late for us.  We’d had friends over to the apartment for cake and board games the night before and definitely needed the extra zzzz’s.  Drew loved the mustache cake I’d made for him.  It took us about 10 minutes to figure out the right way to flip the pieces so that both sides turned upward.

photo 1

Tada!

photo 2

We started the day at Starbucks for free coffee (the best kind). Drew’s got a free mocha for it being his birthday, and earlier in the week I had received an email for a free caramel mocchiato.  Win! With our warm coffees in hand, we walked to Flying Biscuit for a spur of the moment brunch.  Funny how we’d gone a year and a half without having been, then we go twice in the span of a week.  And yes, we both ordered the same thing as the time before.  Why mess with perfection?

photo 4

That right there is the best biscuit I’ve ever eaten. But it didn’t fly…

photo 3

After brunch we drove to Canton to spend time with Drew’s grandparents.  Drew has been building himself a bike with CR over the past couple months, completely from scratch.  I haven’t ventured down into the basement mancave to see how it’s coming along, but I’m excited to see the finished product.  Then he can start getting to work on mine ;-)  We finished the night with dinner at Provino’s, a great family-owned Italian restaurant, then headed home to watch Walking Dead.  For his birthday gift, I got tickets for us to see Need to Breathe in concert at the Fox Theatre here in a few weeks, so we have that to look forward to soon!

Mom and Dad Visit Atlanta, Round 2

Since the last time my parents visited Atlanta was over a year ago (not trying to make you two feel bad or anything, I promise!), I was extremely excited to have them in town this past weekend.  So much has changed since their last visit: Drew and I both have new jobs, our apartment is looking at little more homey–it’d only been a few months after the wedding when they came to visit–and, oh yeah, a dog lives in our apartment now.  Coincidentally, they were also visiting during a pretty big weekend-both St. Patrick’s Day and the Georgia marathon were on Sunday.  Their first few minutes in the city were spent experiencing the organized extreme chaos that is Atlanta traffic.

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Reunited at last! Mom may have been more excited to see Theo than us…

Thankfully, Friday night’s dinner was just a short walk away from our apartment.  After stocking our freezer and pantry with some of Mom’s best homemade goodies, we set out for Takorea.  I had been talking up this Korean/Mexican restaurant to Mom and Dad for months and not surprisingly, it didn’t disappoint.  We got two orders of sesame fries for the table-I think those were Mom’s favorite food of the entire weekend.  And trust me, we ate a ton.

Saturday we awoke to absolutely perfect weather.  I’d been watching the forecast all week and the weatherman actually got it right-low 70′s and sunny.  Much, much better than the cold snow back home in Kentucky, right guys?  We went to Flying Biscuit for breakfast, a cafe Drew and I had been meaning to go to since we moved to Atlanta-especially since it’s just a few blocks from the apartment.  After another great meal we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and head to Piedmont Park.  After a quick browse through the farmer’s market, we headed on to the dog park.  We met a bunch of cute dogs and of course Theo was the life of the party, as usual.  One dog in particular would not leave Theo’s side for even a second.  We called him ‘stalker dog’ for the remainder of the visit-he even tried to leave with us and made an escape run for the gate!

photo 1

We spent the rest of the day relaxing until heading back out for our dinner reservation for JCT Kitchen.  Fries apparently were the theme of the weekend.  While browsing our menus, we raved to Mom and Dad about the truffle oil Parmesan fries.  I think those were Dad’s favorite thing.  I’m sure he and Drew could have each polished off their own bowl.  Thankfully, they shared with their wives ;-)

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Enjoying lunch at Brickstore Pub in Decatur

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Sunday was another beautiful day, although a bit chillier with the sun hiding behind clouds most of the day.  After attending church and showing Mom and Dad the new building that Grace Midtown moved into almost a year ago, we headed out to Decatur for lunch.  Drew and I figured we needed to celebrate St. Patty’s Day appropriately, plus we couldn’t skip an excuse to go back to Brickstore Pub.  Once again taking advantage of the nice weather, we dined outside and then browsed the shops along the square.  Before heading back home, we drove through Decatur, showing Mom and Dad where we hope to move next year.  We discovered some really, really nice neighborhoods (and some not-so-nice ones).  We even stumbled upon two little girls running a lemonade stand.  It’s still a ways away yet, but Drew and I get excited thinking and planning for the future.

Cheeeeese.

Cheeeeese.

Just when you think we wouldn’t be able to stuff ourselves with anymore food, we went all out and ordered deep dish for dinner.  Nancy’s is a restaurant that actually originated out of Chicago and makes authentic deep-dish style pizza here in Atlanta.  Soon after, with happy hearts and full bellies, we said our goodbyes.  It was a weekend full of fun, laughter, great food and some much-needed time with family.  Mom and Dad, thank you so much for coming to visit and see our stomping grounds, filling our freezer with enough meals to last us a month, and making us feel so loved.  I know how proud you are of the two of us, but really, I’m just as proud and blessed to have such amazing parents.  Until next time!  And hey, let’s not make it almost a year and a half again, OK?!

Spring is (Almost) Here!

Even though the first day of Spring technically isn’t until March 20, this weekend definitely made it seem like Winter is finally over.  Even though Atlanta weather is definitely milder than a lot of places, like my hometown for example, there were quite a few days when I was downright miserable.  Last year I only had to break out my heavy winter coat a few times; this year I’ve worn some type of coat almost every day since New Year’s.  But no longer!  Unless I’m jinxing myself, it looks like warmer weather is here to stay.

I’ve been meaning to redecorate the wreath hanging on our front door for quite a few weeks now–it seems like dark red foliage is just no longer appropriate.  I finally got the chance to on Saturday when Drew and I were running errands and stopped by Michael’s.  I’m pretty proud of how it turned out!  Hopefully I can keep it up well into the summer months before I get the urge to update it again.

wreath

After running errands, we relaxed for the rest of the afternoon before going to our friend Elle’s house to help celebrate her birthday.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with our house church friends, as well as meet some new people.  We didn’t stay out too late, knowing that the time change would make it extra hard to get up the next morning.  Even though we only lose an hour, I feel like the entire next day is just thrown out of whack.  Thankfully we had a pretty relaxing Sunday, attending church then heading to Piedmont Park for a picnic with friends.  The weather was still a bit chilly, but it was wonderful being able to spend time outside and soak up the sunshine.  Hopefully there will be a lot more picnics in our near future!

park

I spent the rest of Sunday making cake balls for a baby shower/birthday celebration at work.  It wasn’t any easier this time around than the first time I made them.  I don’t know how places like Starbucks make them look so flawless because mine sure didn’t.  Drew is convinced they use an automated machine and that there isn’t some actual person out there cranking out perfect cake ball after perfect cake ball.  I like his thinking.  But if there is, I want to beat them up.  And them make them teach me how to make the perfect cake ball.

cakeballs1 cakeballs2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At least they tasted good. Really good.

Thai Curry Butternut Squash Soup

Several weeks ago, I took a trip to Cost Plus World Market, which has quickly become one of my favorite stores to frequent when I’m feeling daring enough to make the journey up to Buckhead, and have some extra money burning a hole in my pocket.  For those of you who have never been, I’d describe it as a combination of Trader Joes and Pier 1.  There is so much to look at; I could easily spend the majority of an afternoon shopping up and down the aisles.  Drew and I did a bit of our Christmas shopping there and I don’t think I’ve ever had to pull him out of a store like that.  I’m able to find spices, sauces and baking ingredients that I can’t pick up at our local Kroger.  They also have a great selection of unique pillows, throws and home décor that I can definitely see us buying once we move into a house.  On my most recent trip I bought coconut milk and yellow curry sauce.  I’d never cooked with them before, but I love Thai food and was determined to try making my own at home.  And after all, I’m supposed to be broadening my culinary horizons, remember?

After finding a recipe online for a butternut squash soup, I adapted it a bit to fit what I had in the pantry and my personal taste preferences.  The soup was cooking in the crockpot all yesterday afternoon and by the time dinner rolled around, I was ready to attack that pot with a giant spoon.  I’d intended to make a big batch and eat it for my lunches at work all this week, but I couldn’t resist sneaking a spoonful before packing it away.  It was absolutely delicious.  I’m pretty proud of this one.  Granted, it’s pretty hard to screw up when you just throw a bunch of ingredients together and let it cook all day, but I’m glad I stepped out of the box and made something completely new to me.  Not sure if Drew would be a fan of this one, even if he is a fan of Thai food; I can just hear him asking, “But where’s the meat?”

It's not the prettiest soup, but I promise it's delicious!

It’s not the prettiest soup, but I promise it’s delicious!

In addition to the soup, I also made another batch of the banana oatmeal raisin “cookies” that I blogged about in this post. This time, however, I just poured the batter into a baking dish and baked it all together like a casserole.  Even though the smells from the soup and casserole weren’t exactly complimentary, the apartment felt warm and cozy, which was very welcoming after a cold morning run with snow flurries.   Now that it’s March, I’m eager for this winter weather to go away and Spring to arrive.  My flip-flops are reading and waiting.

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Thai Curry Butternut Squash Soup
Makes 1 large batch

Ingredients:1 large butternut squash, peeled and cubed

1 can coconut milk
1/3 cup yellow curry sauce/paste
4 cups water
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp sriracha sauce
1 Tbs. curry powder
1 Tbs. ground ginger

Directions:
Add all ingredients in a large crockpot and stir to combine. Cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-5 hours. You can use and immersion blender if you want a smoother, creamier soup but I liked it a bit thicker. Garnish with crushed peanuts and cilantro, or serve over basmati rice, naan or pita bread.

Cooking My Way Through Pinterest

If you follow me on Pinterest, you know that I have several pinboards dedicated to food and recipes.  If you don’t, you can click the button over to the right to see what I’m talking about.  Since I joined the site almost a year and a half ago, I’ve pinned close to a thousand recipes for everything from fish tacos to homemade Reese’s cups.  In reality, I’ve only actually made a fraction of those recipes.  Like maybe 10 or 12.  Of course it’s easy to go on an online pinning spree and find countless recipes in one sitting.  Going to the store, buying the ingredients and carving out the time to make them all?  Now that’s a different story.

pinterest meme

Drew and I have a list of 5-10 meals that make up our typical dinner rotation.  They’re all tasty, easy to prepare and relatively inexpensive.  We never seem to get tired of them but I’ve been wanting to expand my culinary horizons for a while now.  I don’t need to prepare 5-course, Zagat-rated dinners; our dinners are way too informal for that: using paper napkins and feeding Theo the occasional frequent table scrap while we watch Big Bang Theory re-runs.  Still, it would be fun to consistently be trying new things and throwing in a new dinner or two to change up the same ol’ same ol’.

So, I plan to start trying at least one new recipe, either from Pinterest or one of the countless cookbooks sadly collecting dust on our kitchen shelf, each week.  It shouldn’t be too hard, and it’ll be nice to finally revisit the recipes I pinned or bookmarked way back when–and most likely forgot about.

With that being said, I have two new recipes to share.  One is from Pinterest, the other is a concoction I just kind of came up with in my head.  I say “concoction” because, well, it doesn’t exactly look all that appealing.  But trust me, it is delicious.  I made these banana oatmeal raisin cookies, and although they’re lot chewier than the typical cookie, I wouldn’t really call them a muffin or a biscuit either.  They instantly reminded me of the oatmeal on-the-go cups that my Mom has been making for her and Dad’s breakfasts.  They were quite tasty.  So good in fact that Drew didn’t even get to try a single one.  He may have no even realized, until reading this post, that I’d even made them.

oatmeal breakfast cookies

Lucky for him, he actually got to try the second recipe.  I made these for our dinner this past Sunday night and they’ll definitely be making a repeat appearance at our dinner table.

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BBQ Chicken-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
2 large sweet potatoes
BBQ sauce (I used a hickory flavored one)
Shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
Microwave sweet potatoes for 5-8 minutes or until soft. In a large bowl, mix together the shredded chicken and BBQ sauce until it’s completely coated. Cut a slit in the middle of each sweet potato and fill with the chicken mixture. Top with shredded cheese and bake in the oven at 350F for 10-12 minutes or until cheese has melted.

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See? I said they aren't exactly pretty...

See? I said they aren’t exactly pretty…

Superbowl XLVII

As an avid pro football fan, Sunday afternoons during the months September through February are some of my favorites out of the entire year.  As a loyal Bengals fan, they can also be downright maddening.  Not too surprisingly, the Bengals didn’t make it very far this year, albeit they did play better than the year before.  At this rate, they’ll make it to the Superbowl by the time my 80th birthday rolls around.  Thanks to my husband, at least I’ll have an awesome jersey to wear for when that day comes.

My wonderful birthday present from Drew. Who Dey!

My wonderful birthday present from Drew. Who Dey!

All that being said, I was still very much looking forward to this year’s Superbowl.  Besides March Madness, it is my favorite sporting event to watch.  The good eats, fantastically creative commercials and time spent with friends doesn’t hurt either.  This year more than a dozen of us gathered at our friends Lance and Shelly’s apartment for the festivities.  My mind still wasn’t made up as to who to cheer for, but I figured San Francisco was a safe bet.  It didn’t take long to realize that I’d be the only person in a room of 16 cheering for the men in red.  Fair enough.  At least I hate plenty of salsa and guacamole to hide behind.  And Drew’s infamous homemade garlic buttered rolls.  We’ve quickly learned in our circle of friends, if ever we need to bring a side dish or snack, we better have several dozen of those rolls in tow.

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Drew’s famous garlic rolls and football pumpkin whoopie pies. We’re ready for some football!

Since we had predominantly Packers and Falcons fans in the house, the game itself wasn’t the main focus of the night.  Instead we had more fun filling out a bracket where we had to guess things like “how many times would Psy be featured in a commercial” (only once, thank heavens) or “would Alicia Keys forget a word while singing the National Anthem.”  As someone who works in the advertising industry, I always pay special attention to the commercials.  It was a tough call, but I think my favorite ad of the night was Budweiser’s “Brotherhood” spot.  I’m usually easily won over by the shamelessly funny or ridiculously awkward commercials but the Clydesdale stole my heart this year.

Of course I have to mention the stadium blackout that happened soon into the second half.  Years ago I think we all would have been much more bothered by the pause in the game, and may have even switched the channel.  Or just flocked to the kitchen and loaded up on a third plate of food. Last night, the majority of us took to our smartphones and began scrolling through our Twitter feeds.  Not surprisingly, in freakishly fast social media fashion, a Twitter account @superbowllights was created and had over 15,000 followers within minutes.  Even more notable was a tweet from @Oreo:

superbowl

Drew and I, the arguably biggest social media enthusiasts in the room (and not just because it’s our livelihood), weren’t the only ones talking about it.  I think the entire room was impressed, not to mention wanted a tall glass of milk and a handful of America’s favorite cookie.  Advertisers pay several million dollars for a 30-second spot in the Superbowl commercial lineup; Oreo paid nothing for that tweet and got just arguably as much, if not more, exposure.

With another football season come and gone, it’s time to get ready for March Madness in the Hawkins household.  Unfortunately, I think it’s safe to say that Drew and I won’t be making a repeat appearance to see our Wildcats play in the Elite Eight, but stranger things have happened.  And with a guy rocking a flat top ala Fresh Prince or Bel Air on your team, all bets are off.

One Year Anniversary Trip to Chicago

It’s hard to believe that almost one year ago, Drew and I were preparing to exchange vows at Lakeside Church.  It seems like just yesterday that I was standing in front of the large church doors, waiting for them to open and walk down the aisle toward my future husband.  Time really does fly!  That being said, we have already done and experienced so much in this first year of marriage, I can only imagine what the coming years will hold.  To celebrate our first year, Drew planned for us a long weekend in Chicago several months back.  It’d been over a year since either one of us had been in the city and it would be the perfect chance—and time of year since it wouldn’t be during the freezing cold winter—to pay a visit.

Our plane landed in the city late Thursday night and after a 30 minute train ride, we arrived at our hotel.  From the outside, it wasn’t much to look at, but our room turned out to be quite nice.  Even better, it put us right in the heart of downtown Chicago, just a 10-minute walk away from Michigan Avenue and The Magnificent Mile.  Too tired to partake in any activities that night, we headed for bed with plans to start the day early Friday morning.  Our first real stop was to Ann Sather, a real institution in Chicago. We’d been together several times before so we knew exactly what to expect: hot, delicious, gooey cinnamon rolls the size of our faces.  With full bellies, we walked hobbled along for the next few hours, visiting Wrigleyville and Drew’s old stomping ground.  We took a few pictures outside his  old apartment; I think he was surprised it hadn’t been deemed unlivable and torn down.

Cinnamon rolls the size of our faces. And yes, we ate every last bite.

We spent the majority of the afternoon window shopping and browsing downtown.  After walking for quite a few hours on our feet, we decided to head back to the hotel for a quick nap before our dinner reservations at Mia Francesca, the Italian restaurant we’d celebrated Valentine’s Day at the two years previous.  Our meal at Mia’s was just as good as we remembered it: Drew had his usual chicken and potatoes dish and I ordered the mussels.  After dinner we headed to a nearby Irish pub for a few after-dinner drinks and to watch the opening ceremonies of the London Olympics.  The bar setting made the experience so much more fun; when it was the United States’ turn to walk the circle, people started cheering and chanting “USA! USA!”  It was such a fun atmosphere to be a part of, and it capped off our first day in Chicago just perfectly.

Saturday morning we had a light breakfast at Starbucks, making sure we had enough room in our bellies for the epic lunch that would ensue later that day: deep dish pizza from Giordano’s.  The next few hours were spent exploring Crate and Barrel, talking about how we would fabulously furnish our house if we had an unlimited budget, and purchasing tickets for a late afternoon architecture boat tour.  We then headed to Giordano’s to put our name in for a table and order our pizza.  I’ve never been to a deep-dish pizza place in Chicago and not seen it packed full with people, so we had a good hour to kill before we were seated and our food arrived.  Thankfully there was a bar to sit and enjoy coverage of the Olympics.  Unfortunately, do to the poor coverage by NBC, we found out via Twitter that our fellow WKU alum, Claire Donahue, advanced to the finals of the women’s 100m butterfly.  Our dismay didn’t last much longer after we had our first few bites of deep dish.  Heaven on a plate platter is the best way to describe it really.  We couldn’t finish a medium pie between the two of us and as sad at it was to forgo our final two pieces, I knew we’d be hurtin’ for certain if we tried to eat them.

We planned our timing quite nicely and enjoyed a drink at the bar next to the tour dock before boarding the boat.  For the next hour we were told all about the history of Chicago’s architecture by an amazing tour guide.  We were able to get a lot of good shot on our cameras and saw buildings from angles we’d never have been able to otherwise.  Definitely one of the highlights of the trip!  That night, since we really couldn’t fathom another meal, we met up with some of Drew’s friends and old co-worker Adam.  We started out at an outdoor festival but the rowdy crowd made that a relatively short venture.  Next we headed to a Thai restaurant for a a few beers, followed by a place called Violet Hour which Drew and I decided is hands-down the best bar we’ve ever been to.  It’s literally a hole in the wall and if you don’t know it’s there, you’d easily miss it.  There’s no sign out front and they don’t do any advertising so their clientele is basically formed from worth of mouth (I guess I’m kind of contradicting that policy by blogging about it, ha).  The drink menu was by far the  most interesting and diverse cocktail list we’d ever come across.  I wish I could have taken a picture of our drinks because they were so artfully crafted but the place was dark, relatively quiet for a bar, and didn’t allow cell phones (another reason we ended up really liking the place).

One of the stunning views from our boat tour.

After sleeping in Sunday morning, we checked out of our hotel and headed out for brunch.  Since our flight wouldn’t leave until that night, we had some time to do some last minute tourism.  We visited the zoo, where we spotted our favorite animals-zebras, lions and monkeys, oh my.  After our visit to the zoo we decided to go ahead and make our way to the airport. It was nice to be able to take our time and enjoy a few drinks and meal before our flight.  With the time change, waiting for our luggage to arrive, and train ride home, we didn’t arrive back at our apartment until just before midnight.  I’m amazed at how much we were able to do in a short amount of time.  It was the perfect weekend getaway, and we had so much fun reliving our previous stays in Chicago.  More importantly, it was great to be able to spend three uninterrupted days together, walking hand in hand through the city.  It really reaffirmed this past year for us, as well as made us even more excited for the trips to come.  We’ve already started daydreaming about where we’ll go for our 5, 10, 15 year anniversaries.  Italy?  London?  Hawaii? The good news is we have many, many years to see it all!