Chicago with friends-long, with pictures
Of course you'd probably already figured it out, but I was one of the people who met Linda (doucanoe) in Chicago where she was visiting family. I'd really hoped to see Peppi again, I miss her, but she had other obligations and could not get free.
So, I packed lightly, knowing I'd only be there one afternoon and evening, and set off for the Amtrak Station in Kalamazoo, where I met Sherry (sheshebop). She'd packed neary as lightly as I did, so I weighed her down a little with this:
No, that is NOT a sample for a medical facility, sheesh. OK, I'll give you a hint.
All right, that was more than a hint, it's the limoncello made with Beachlily's Meyer lemons, and I used Linda's recipe. Fortunately Sherry's husband was there to take it home, or it would have ended up on the train with us and might have never made it back home to Michigan, LOL.
The train got us to Chicago in a couple of hours and we managed to find the Metra which whisked us off to Oak Park. Chicago's "El" is really good at moving people quickly, easily and cheaply.
Second stop was Oak Park, where we met Linda and her granddaughter, Julia. It was cool and drizzling, but the three Grandmas and a baby in a stroller set off down the cobblestone streets of a charming little suburb, home to Frank Lloyd Wright.
Our first stop was the Madison Street Cheese shop. They have a café so we wanted just a little bite to eat, not too much as we had much food related exploring to do, LOL. We got a grilled cheese sandwich (hey, I SAID it was a cheese shop!) and something they called Beet Carpaccio. I don't even like salads and I liked it, thinly sliced raw golden beets, arugula, candied walnuts, dressed with a sweet/tart vinaigrette. We split them three ways and Julia ate some of the cheese and the organic carrots Linda had along in her bag.
There were three display cases of cheese and people who dined "in" got 10% off cheese purchases, so I got Elery a quarter pound of three kinds. He's been losing weight so it seemed unfair and unwise to buy larger amounts. A quarter pound each:
Having no cooler and knowing I'd have to take it back on the train the next day, I lusted after but passed on:
I did buy one dark chocolate habanero truffle, but I haven't tasted it yet, I'm getting up my nerve, although I really bought it for Elery.
We soldiered on, in search of an item that I'd heard of but never tasted, the elusive macaron. A bakery in Oak Park was voted the "Best Macaron in Chicago" and I was going to find it!
And so I did, and I bought a dozen of them, lovely little morsels in strawberry, pistachio, lemon, vanilla and chocolate:
Yes, they even have "feet", the bottom puffy layer, which I'm told is very important.
We each bought a dulce de leche square. I finally ate mine today and enjoyed it a lot, chewy caramel, a tender shortbread layer, dark chocolate. I'd have enjoyed it more if they had not salted the caramel, but I know that's very fashionable.
Sherry got a vanilla cupcake and we continued on, stopped at some little shops, a bread bakery, Trader Joe's, Penzey's. Ah, what a lovely afternoon.
Back at the motel, Linda had a small dulce de leche snack:
We each had a macaroon. Linda had vanilla (I think), Sherry had lemon and I had chocolate, which I shared with Julia. She enjoyed it greatly and so did I, and Sherry said the lemon was amazing, if she'd have known they were so good she'd have bought a dozen lemon ones. Good thing we didn't know, I suppose.
We took Julia home and chatted with Linda's daughter for a while, Linda and Sherry had a glass of wine or two. (grin) Linda's son in law was at a meeting of a non-profit organization started to restore the lovely Chicago bungalows like these:
Whole neighborhoods of those wonderful old brick bungalows with hardwood floors and stained glass windows. Many have been gutted and decorated in "IKEA modern" or worse, and so it is the goal of the organization to save and restore these unique old homes.
We set off to find supper, looking for a Greek restaurant called Papa Spiro's. We never found it, LOL, and ended up settling for Lake Street Grille.
I had an amazing bowl of carrot soup, swirled with crème fraiche and spiked with ginger, very yummy, and a beef and cheddar Panini which was so-so. It came with some Asian slaw which was too heavy with sesame but fresh and crunchy:
Sherry had the best dish of the night, a pan roasted salmon on whole wheat tabbouleh:
Linda had chicken in a cream sauce with a side of spinach. She said the chicken was overcooked and so I don't feel badly about the lousy picture!
It was past 10 pm when we finally went our separate ways, I was sad to see Linda go, we don't get to see each other that often. Sherry and I walked back to the hotel, knowing our alarm would be sounding at 5:15 am. It didn't let us down, and a taxi was waiting at 6 am, our train pulled out of Chicago at 7:20 am and we were on our way back to the real world, but at least we were returning with Trader Joe's Triple Ginger Gingersnaps, Penzey's spices, cheese and macarons, so we returned victorious.
In Kalamazoo Sherry and I went our separate ways, she and Roger headed south and Elery and I headed north, but I reminded myself again that we really need to do this more often.
Annie
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