The Rundown v. 24

Yesterday I kicked off 18 days of traveling – perhaps the longest stretch of traveling without work or school I have ever experienced. Charles and I took a quick trip to Kansas City, and on Sunday we head to Europe. We will be in Europe for 15 days, dividing our time between Munich, Liechtenstein, Piedmont, Monaco, and Nice. Our plans involve drinking beer at Oktoberfest, admiring castles in Liechtenstein, truffle hunting and wine tasting in Piedmont, hitting the casinos in Monaco, and soaking in the sun in Nice. I will be recapping my adventures on here when I return, but until then, you can follow along in realtime by following me on instagram and snapchat – my username is thekittchen for both. (And you can leave suggestions for us in the comments).

Leading up to this epic trip I have been feverishly scheduling content for this site and emptying my inboxes. The good news it that I have lots of amazing fall content lined up for you and everything will be business as usual while I am away. I have been laying a little low lately so I could focus on work, but I still managed to squeeze in some fun.

Over Labor Day weekend I did the only thing that seemed logical when fall is coming and I need lots of blog content: I cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner. Those recipes will be sprinkled onto the site over the next six weeks.

My friend Samantha from Chicago Food Authority hosted an event with Laughing Cow Cheese, and I left with gift bag full of cheese that I have been quickly eating my way through.

I discovered Osteria Langhe, a Piemontese restaurant in Chicago, and the dining experience made me really excited to go to Italy next week.

Charles and I went to Oyster Fest and had the best time, and we have been listening to St. Lucia since then.

My friend Maya and I went to an event where we were taken to three different restaurants via trolley. We started at Mercadito, then went to Tippling Hall where we had the most delicious watermelon cocktails and bacon wrapped dates, and then ended our night with tacos at Mercadito Counter in the Gold Coast.

And, speaking of Mercadito, did you know that if you spend more than $5 at certain Chicago restaurants between now and the end of the year, Citi will donate $1 to Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign? You can find out which restaurants are participating, and learn how to register your Citi Card here. Mercadito is one of the restaurants participating, which means you can dine on tacos while donating to charity.

I loved sharing posts made with ingredients delivered by Foxtrot this week, and you can shop for the ingredients for my recipes right in the app! And get 15% off when you use promo code KITTCHEN.

Last weekend my friend Lauren taught a little yoga class on the roof terrace at the AC Hotel. She did a wonderful job, and it was just what I needed since I was sore from a challenging Soulcycle class.

After yoga I went to the Foodseum that just opened in Block 37. The first exhibition highlights the history of encased meats – a fitting topic since Chicago is famous for its hot dogs. The museum is interactive and informative and it would be a great place to bring kids.

Later that day I went to the 312 Urban Block Party, an annual event thrown by Goose Island. Lakeshore Beverage was generous to give me tickets to this really fun beer-centric food and music festival. I got to see Jukebox and The Ghost play, a band I discovered a Lollapalooza a few years ago, and they put on a fun show. Then I went to a goodbye party, and a housewarming, before going to Woodies for a late night beer (we end most Saturday nights there).

Sunday I was pretty slow moving after such a busy Saturday night, and I just didn’t feel like cooking, so I ordered delivery from Chicken Shop via Caviar. We ordered chicken, chicken nuggets, an avocado and butter lettuce salad, croquettes, and mac and cheese… and ate almost every bite.

On Tuesday I discovered the $15 express lunch at Ramen-san. It includes a half order of ramen, a rice plate, a small salad, and some marinated cucumbers. It’s an intense amount of food, and you need to try it.

Later that night I went to the book launch for the Grandbaby Cakes Cookbook, and I learned that the best parties have endless amounts of cake and champagne. Jocelyn charmed the crowd with her recipes and her bubbly excited personality. I highly recommend buying this book as a Christmas present for your Mom, it’s all about families and baking, two things most Moms love.

And don’t forget to buy tickets to the Culinary Care Cook-Off! Culinary Cares is a non profit that provides complementary meals to in need cancer patients and their families is hosting their inaugural cook off fundraiser on October 17th. Culinary Care got their start 2 years ago and has already brought 3,600 meals to patients and their families. You can use the discount code WCBCCooks to get $20 off tickets to the event.