The Rundown v 9

I’ve had a great couple of weeks and I’ve been everywhere from Alinea to Aldi. I celebrated my birthday, and I even spent an overnight outside Chicago (I hadn’t left the city limits since Labor Day weekend). Here is what I have been up to!

I finally made it to Green Street Smoked Meats. This West Loop restaurant has amazing barbecue – Charles has already returned to the restaurant because he just couldn’t get enough of the ribs. I had the Frito Pie, which was simply amazing. It consisted of a bag of Fritos, cut open, and filled with chopped brisket, cheese, and jalapeños – clearly it hits all the food groups.

Classic Remix, a great locally owned Chicago boutique asked me, and a handful of other Chicago bloggers, to come in and select items for their holiday gift guide. I picked a mix of entertaining and home decor items.

My friends and I have an annual tradition where we wear pink, eat steak, drink wine, and donate money to breast cancer research in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It all started a few years ago when we found a restaurant with a great prix fixe deal, that donated a significant amount of the proceeds to charity. However, that restaurant (which shall remain nameless) reduced the amount of money from the prix fixe menu was being donated, so we took matters into our own hands. Instead we made a reservation for 24 people at Tango Sur – a fun BYOB steakhouse in Lakeview, and everyone wore pink, drank BYOB wine, ate steaks, and donated money to charity. These annual dinners are a fall highlight.

On Halloween Charles and I avoided the craziness and headed to the Pump Room for a low key dinner. The Meyer Lemon Tagliatelle was just as wonderful as I remembered. I also fell hard for their salted caramel ice cream sundae. The sundae had the most genius presentation, the hot fudge was on the bottom – so that it didn’t melt the ice cream.

Being a blogger isn’t all manicures and blow outs – but I got both this week. Through my role as Director of Events for the Windy City Blogger Collective I get to attend a wide variety of events. On Monday WCBC hosted an event with Pretty Quick at Le Pied, a nail salon in Gold Coast. Pretty Quick makes booking beauty appointments easy with their website. If you are in Chicago you need to check this out. The best part is that Pretty Quick includes tip when they charge your card, so that you don’t have to fumble through your bag with wet nails to tip your manicurist. You also earn rewards which each manicure.

The next night I went to the opening of Blowtique in the Shops at North Bridge. My hair got some much needed attention.

Charles was out of town, and I didn’t really feel like cooking up dinner for one, so I grabbed dinner at Eataly. I had my personal favorite, the Short Rib Tagliatelle, and the man at the bar next to me was clearly jealous. I would like to note that generally I don’t eat so much tagliatelle in a week.

On Sunday we dined at Alinea, The dinner was my birthday gift from my husband, and I will write about it in detail soon. I can say that it exceeded my high expectations and was worth every cent. The famous deconstructed dessert, prepared by Chef Grant Achatz himself, is pictured above.

Mary J Blige’s new album The London Sessions is coming out on November 24th, and I was invited to a sneak preview of the documentary telling the story of how MJB collaborated with Sam Smith and Disclosure to write the record. I have been listening to lots of Sam Smith lately and I thought his collaborations with Mary J Blige were outstanding.

On Wednesday I was lucky to attend A Toast to Charlie Trotter, an event honoring the late Chef Charlie Trotter who forever changed the Chicago dining scene and the culinary arts. After his sudden passing last year his wife Rochelle Trotter took over the foundation Charlie created in 1999, the Charlie Trotter Culinary Education Foundation, which raises money to give need based scholarships to students so they can pursue culinary arts degrees. I will be sharing more about the incredible event soon.

Thursday it was off to Geneva, IL for an overnight food blogging field trip for Aldi. I got to meet the nicest food bloggers and to try the most amazing food and wine. And check out the amazing, and serene, view from my room. I felt so spoiled.

Tonight I am off to Chicago’s Table, an event raising money for the Shedd Aquarium. The Shedd is one of my favorite Chicago organizations, and they just happened to rescue the cutest orphaned sea otter pup, who unfortunately won’t be at the party, but I am thankful that the Shedd is looking out for these amazing creatures.