I didn’t realize that my visit to Chicago would turn into a foodie’s dream, but I daresay it has.  I woke up today dreaming about the carrots I had last night at the Publican.  Yes, it’s a little strange to dream about carrots, but these weren’t ordinary carrots.  They were magical.  I don’t know exactly how…they were described as carrots with ricotta salada and almonds.  I didn’t take any pictures of the meal though.  We also split beef tartare (OMG), scallops, arugula salad, and radishes.  It was a vegetable heavy meal, and OH so good.  The Publican isn’t Avec, but it’s good.

Speaking of Avec, (and yes, I am) I found an interesting article on epicurious about it.  That focaccia the writer talks about is one of the best things to order there, along with the chorizo stuffed bacon wrapped dates.  (Just writing that…you KNOW there’s no way that can go wrong.)  I think right now my ideal meal would consist of those two things plus the above mentioned carrots.  In fact when Karen and I went to Avec Friday night we had some leftover focaccia and a date, which we TORE into last night when we got back.  And though not as good as originally, still better than most food.

The only thing I’ve been craving lately that I haven’t gotten is cheesecake.  I’ve been denying myself dessert, even when we ate lunch at a french bakery.  The bakery had all manner of ridiculously good looking pastries and such, but we didn’t order anything.  I have learned that is a big part of not gaining weight, not ordering everything you want :(  But many days have gone by, much good food has been eaten, and yet the dessert craving has NOT gone away.  So I think perhaps today is a good dessert day.

Or not.  My brain is torn:  attempt to win Mike’s weight loss competition?  Or lose handsomely, covered in cheesecake crumbs and sauce from the bacon wrapped dates?  It seems those are the two best (only?) options.

No, no, I’m still engaged.  It’s just that Chris is at a music festival for a few weeks so I’m on my own here.

And…I am definitely not on my own.  I’ve been busy every night with friends!  In fact, I think my friends are asking me to hang out much more since they know I’m on my own.  I’m a lucky lady 🙂

Last night I met up with friends at Ernesto’s Wine Bar in Benton Park.  I’m learning that Benton Park is packed with little hidden places.  We were there to partake in the Yelp eats week.

Everything on this menu was 50% off regular price.  I had the shrimp, the flatbread, and the chocolate cake.  We also split a couple bottles of wine.

Adrianne and Kim

Me and Jen

Another woman, Katie, met us, but the picture I took of her didn’t turn out very well.  Next time!

Our wine, very tasty!  The wine was on special as well.  Overall the meal was great.  The restaurant was pretty empty though things were picking up more by the time we left.  I also hear there is a patio, but we sat inside.

So then today:  a day off from work (yes, most days seem to be that lately, don’t hate me.).  Mike wanted to do a workout outside, so we met up at Tilles Park.  He’s been itching to wear his 80’s costume again, and I would totally have done so, but that major parts of my costume were borrowed.

So…today he wore the costume.  At the playground.  There were some children around.  It was only a little awkward.  He also brought a variety of weights, a mat, and a boombox.  Okay, I made that up.  He did bring an ipod speaker system so we’d have music during the workout.  I meant to take a picture, but I completely forgot. *recycled pictures ahead*

He wore those shorts and that top, a different headband, and chuck taylors, or converse all-stars as many call them.  It was delightful.  I simply wore the same outfit I had last time I saw him, which is something I plan to keep up as long as possible.  Or not.  Maybe I’ll see if I can find some leg warmers to keep…anybody have any to donate to the cause?

I feel like so much has been happening in my life and I am QUITE behind on blogging.  I’ll catch up eventually, I’m sure.

I’ve been trying to promote my blog more using twitter, facebook, and also real conversations.  One of the ways to do this is to make connections with other people who have blogs.  Which honestly makes the whole thing just seem like a giant pyramid scheme.

Social media = giant pyramid scheme.  Food for thought?

Maybe a pyramid scheme isn’t the exact way to describe it, but sometimes twitter feels like a playground where some kids belong and others just watch, but we forget that there is a whole group of people out there who are NOT tweeting, NOT on facebook, and still are having great, fun, fulfilling lives.  They aren’t taking pictures of everything, or maybe they are but are having those photos simply put into albums on their computers or (crazy!) actually photo albums to display in their homes.

Which brings us to back to the age old question, if something happens and it isn’t posted on the internet, did it really happen?

That’s a rhetorical question.  Don’t strain yourself thinking about it too much.

Why do I blog?  I like to share.  I like to tell people about my life.  There’s a large amount of narcissism involved.  I also like to write and it’s a great outlet for that.  I’m delighted when people read it.  I’m delighted when people comment.  It’s a fun hobby for me.

And yes, it’s a little hypocritical of me to ponder these things while wanting people to read my blog and using twitter to promote it.  Sue me 😉

Which brings us to last night.  I had the opportunity to attend “will write for wine” which was an event hosted by Angela, also known as stlwinegirl on twitter.  It was an event for food bloggers to learn about wine.  I am not a food blogger, if I had to categorize myself I think of myself MORE as a healthy living blogger, but I think my blog is really beyond categorizing (considered bad by social media standards, but I think good by my standards).

The social media ridiculous came in because everybody (myself included, yes) was tweeting and such from the meeting using the hashtag #willwriteforwine.  That’s right.  While we were all in one room we continued to tweet to one another.  Ridiculous?  A little.  Fun?  YES.

These were people I had never met, but several I follow on twitter so it was fun to meet them in person.  SUCH a blogger thing to do, just so you know. If you recall, this was my second blogger event.  The first was a healthy living blogger meet up at the yogurt place.  Wine…yogurt…hmm…I think we know which I prefer!

Basically Angela talked about wines, how they are made, what they are, etc, and we tasted 6 different kinds of wine.  I learned (which I already knew) that I prefer cabernets and sparkling wines, and I learned how to describe different kinds of wine.  I’m really not going to go into details, because 1) I don’t remember offhand and don’t want to get my notes and 2) I’m not a food blogger.  I’m sure some of the other attendees will do a far better job recapping the event!

One thing she said was NOT to store your wine in the kitchen and also to avoid moving it.  Heat and movement can make wine worse.  The other important thing is to swirl your wine in the glass to open up the flavors (flavours?).

 

And no, I didn’t drink all of that wine.  The purple vase was for dumping.  I loved the sparkling wine and the cab, and the rest I sipped and then dumped out.  Besides, I had to drive home!

All in all it was a great time!  It’s great to meet new people with similar interests (and outside the music world, no less) and hopefully I will get to attend more events like this.  We talked of a cheese tasting, or perhaps a wine and cheese tasting.

Some of the attendees included authors of the following blogs:

www.stlsouptonuts.blogspot.com

http://rhubarbandhoney.com/

http://michelleamarcus.blogspot.com/

www.everylittlethingblog.com

www.eatitstl.com

www.cityinajar.com

www.chairmanstef.blogspot.com

http://www.inebriatedepicurean.com

http://eatlocal52.com

http://www.katiesfeast.com

http://thisishowmomrolls.wordpress.com

http://tonylovesfood.com

http://girlsguidetothegalaxy.com

http://www.bridgetmcguiresfillingstation.blogspot.com

So, after my early morning race, I had a BBQ to prepare for!

Or cookout.  Depending.

In a nutshell:  making dark and stormies (rum and ginger beer), burgers and brats, hanging out in the backyard with friends, playing badminton, and using a badminton birdie retrieval device when the birdie (or shuttlecock) went into the neighbor’s yard by accident.

(it was a pasta spoon taped to a broom.)

I made “chocolate eclair dessert” (link goes to basically my recipe) and Ina Garten’s potato salad.  Both were delicious.  I also made a 7 layer dip (avocadoes, beans, tomatoes, onions, olives, cheese, sour cream, salsa…that’s more than 7 layers already though…).

And now for some of Brad‘s pictures I ripped from his facebook page:

 

Hope you had a great holiday as well!  That will be the last event that I host until my wedding, as far as plans go.