Bring on the Maker's Mark

Last night, Matt, John and I went to Bespoke Cuisine for another of their Mix It Up cooking parties. This one was called "Best of Bourbon" and all of the foods we cooked had Maker's Mark in them.

Here's what was on the menu:
- Appetizers: Bourbon Profiteroles and Fall Mushroom Bourbon Crostini
- Salad: Greens and Bourbon-Glazed Root Vegetables in Cider-Bourbon Vinaigrette
- Entree: Bourbon-Brined Pork Chops accompanied by Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon-Herb Butter and Garlic-Almond Swiss Chard
- Dessert: Chocolate-Bourbon Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Whipped Cream

We first stopped off at Dominick's to pick up some wine and Maker's Mark (of course!) for the party.

John got this nifty "Rock the Vote" special edition bottle of Maker's to take with us to the cooking party


We drew for which cooking group/chef we would be working with - Matt got entrees (after he switched with me), I got appetizers/side dishes and John got the salad (which was good because Calvin was the chef for that).

Here's Matt getting ready to chop up some spices... he is already starting off with a Maker's


Chopping up garlic... he gets this job every time we go and his hands still smell like garlic the next morning!


I was in the group that made the twice-baked sweet potatoes... very good!


Matt getting the pork chops ready for grilling


I think he singed off quite a bit of arm hair doing this... but look at those grill marks - excellent job!


Here Ryne showed us how to cook up the caramelized Bourbon sauce for the pork - the alcohol is burning off


I forgot to get a picture of the final product on the plate. I think I was just really hungry! The guys finished off more than half the bottle of Maker's... and I had some red wine. The food was really good, except for the dessert. I'm not sure what happened at that station, but it didn't turn out right. As Matt said, it tasted like a bunch of croutons with whipped cream on it... the bread pudding got a little dried out!

Next cooking class on the agenda:
November 16 - Braising with Da Bears (from 11:30 am through game end)
Description:Bespoke turns into Bear Down central as we watch the Bears take on the Packers on the flatscreen and cook up a buffet spread including two delicious braised entrees with all the fixins

Menu:
Appetizers: Spicy Sriracha Chicken Wings -AND- Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
Salad: Harvest Salad with Candied Pecans and Maple-Balsamic Dressing
Entrees: Hard Cider-Braised Chicken Thighs -AND- Porter Ale-Braised Short Ribs
Sides: Individually Baked Homemade Macaroni and Cheese, Celery Root and Sweet Potatoes
Dessert: Autumn Apple Crisp with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

I think this sounds awesome! Plus, the chef that's running the party is Calvin, who is a lot of fun! Matt is definitely going... but if it's all dudes, I'll probably pass. I can make my Kraft mac-n-cheese and watch the game at home.

Lazy Sundays are the best!

This was the first Sunday in a while that Matt and I were in Chicago and didn't have something planned. It was so awesome!

We went to brunch at Le Peep. Then, we logged in a few hours on the couch watching football and some shows we'd recorded on the DVR. Matt got some napping in, but kept waking himself up with his LOUD snoring. : ) I finally finished up the work I had been putting off for most of the weekend. We managed to pull ourselves off the couch temporarily and go workout later in the afternoon. We did venture outside to the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner and holy cow... it was SO windy. When we got back, Matt had to weigh down the grill cover so it wouldn't blow away!

Then, more couch time and tv watching. Great day!

Sink the Biz + Chinese Buffet

Saturday morning was a rough one for me. I may have had a drink too many on Friday night.

I had barely recovered when Andy and Clint showed up to start the drinking all over again around 2:30pm. Matt and the two of them played Sink the Biz (that game we first played in Bloomington at Nick's). I bought the bucket/glass combo from Nick's website.

I eventually joined in the game when Kathryn and Michelle showed up. I started off good, but I think the more beer I drank, the worse I got. We went through a lot of beer in the few hours we played.

Matt and Andy perfected the "One-two-punch" and Kathryn ended up drinking a few times


Michelle, Matt, Clint, Andy and Kathryn (aka The Firewall)


We even got "Chuck" in on the action, while Michelle napped (or at least, tried to... a bunch of drunk people aren't very quiet) in the background


After finishing up Sink the Biz, we all headed up north to the Jumbo House Buffet for the Chinese buffet, which actually had quite a crazy selection of foods. They even had pizza, garlic bread, chicken nuggets, french fries... you name it!

Jumbo House Buffet


It was like a big Vegas buffet. So many options... I couldn't even figure out what everything was!


A chicken foot... I passed on this one


After dinner, we went bowling at the Lincoln Square lanes... the bowling there has gotten quite expensive. And they were pretty strict about kicking you out when your hour was up. I bailed after the bowling because I was beat. Everyone else went to the Chicago Ale House to catch the end of the Penn State game.

Party at Mars

On Friday night, Matt and I went to a wedding reception for a fellow TP coworker of ours (Michelle). The reception was held at the Mars Gallery in the West Loop. Kind of a loft with funky art and a bar in the elevator. I forgot to get a pic of that, though.

Michelle and TJ got married in Peru after spending over a year and a half touring the world. They went to 30 different countries! I'm sure being back in Chicago is going to be boring after all that!

Colin and Matt


Me and Matt


Brad mimicking the painting on the wall

Trivia at the PO

Last night, since bowling was cancelled, I went to the Purple Otter for their weekly trivia night. I was thinking it would be trivia on a tv screen with the box... I didn't realize it was live trivia with an announcer. It was a fun time. We were tied for first before the final question and we missed it. If only we'd had Brett around... it was a movie question!

I'm like a 5 year old sometimes


It was great to see Hany again after her trip to Malaysia... and she's sportin' some new jewelry courtesy of Grant! They got engaged before she left for Malaysia in September! Congrats to both of them! : )

Here she is with the "I DO" glittery stickers I got her in Utah

Costa Rica here we come!

So, when I was doing the brain dump earlier today, I totally forgot that Matt and I are all booked for our trip to Costa Rica in December!

We leave bright and early on Sat Dec 6th (the morning after our annual work holiday party... ouch!) We are staying for a week and visiting the Arenal Volcano and the beaches at Tamarindo. We have tons of fun stuff planned... hiking through waterfalls and the rain forest, watching a volcano spew out lava, soaking in hot springs, walking on hanging bridges and zip-lining above the rain forest (I'm totally freaked out about this one!), hanging out with monkeys, relaxing on the beach (for me), gambling at the casino (for Matt), taking a sunset boat cruise... 44 days and counting... I CAN'T WAIT!!! : )

Is it the weekend yet???

I'm ready for it to be Friday, preferably around 5pm. I even had half of Monday off work... ok, most of Monday because I was "working from home" and didn't really get much done because I was soooooo tired from my weekend out of town.

Brain dump for the day:

* Last night, our volleball team (DeezNuts) played against a team that was pretty awful. I barely broke a sweat. Of course, when we play teams like that, we kind of slack off and the games end up much closer than they ever should... which is really annoying, but we're all guilty of it. I'd rather play a good team and have a really competitive game and lose than play a crappy team and win with little effort. It's not like it's for money, it's more for the fun of playing and getting a little exercise. Last week, we played a really good team and only won one of the games, but we had a much better time.

* This weekend is the first weekend Matt and I are staying in town without any big plans after a long string of going places / having people visit / etc. I don't even know what I'll do with all that time! I'm sure I'll find some time to veg out on the couch! I can't wait! : )

* My bowling league is canceled this week for some reason. So tonight, I'm heading to the Purple Otter for trivia night. Plus, Hany is back from Malaysia and we get to catch up! Should be a fun time! : )

* It's loud in my office today. Someone that sits near me is totally jamming out to some tunes. It's really annoying. Put on some headphones, please! Newsflash... not everyone has the same taste in music. Also, I sit near a common area that has a coffee machine/fridge/tv/table for people to sit and have lunch. Well, it's like 10am and someone is watching tv really loudly. Get back to work! Geesh!

* Halloween is coming up and I LOVE to dress up. Matt HATES to dress up. We are going to my friend Angie's Halloween party at Witt's on Lincoln in the back room next Friday. Sidenote: If anyone is interested in joining us - it's $30 open bar which includes the tip! - I have no idea what alcohol is included in the open bar, though - half the money goes to charity - and there is a costume contest! Anyway, knowing how much Matt hates dressing up (last year, we forced him to wear part of a Harry Potter costume!), this year we are keeping it simple. The plan as of right now is that I'll be a 50's girl (like the Pink Ladies) and he's going as a 50's greaser dude (like Danny Zucco). Super easy - he gets to wear jeans and a white t-shirt. He had mentioned before that he wanted to go as a stick of dynamite and write "BOOM!" on the front... but I think he was kidding. It would be funny, though!

Next Season on Dancing With the Stars...

(Thanks, Erin!)

Sammy Fund Weekend

This past weekend, we headed to Quincy, IL for the 9th Annual Sammy Fund weekend. It kicks off with a 5k run/2 mile walk on Saturday morning. On Sunday, there is a scramble golf tournament followed by a dinner and silent auction.

The event is in memory of my cousin Samantha who passed away in March 2000 after a liver transplant made necessary by her cystic fibrosis. The money raised at the event is used to give children that might not otherwise be able to, the opportunity to participate in the area's childrens' programs (art, music, theater, swimming, Girl Scouts, Humane Society pet programs, etc... all things that Sammy loved!)

Our family really looks forward to this every year. This year, it was especially great because all of my relatives were able to make the trip back to Quincy. Like a big family reunion! : )

Friends of Chuck and June (fyi, these names may sound familiar... Chuck, June and Chris visited me earlier this year when I was in the Netherlands!) had a party at their house on Friday night. We headed over there after we dropped off our stuff at the hotel.

My mom (she enjoyed the margaritas!), aunt Jean and uncle Chuck at the party


Saturday morning, we got up bright and early and met up with everyone at the park for the 5k run / 2 mile walk. Erin, Ross and Brett did the run and Matt and I walked.

My uncle Chuck and my mom before the race/walk


Me and Matt


Erin, Ross and Brett (my dad and Matt are goofing off behind them)


After the race/walk (which is about 10am), we always head to Jed's Brewhouse for chili dogs and beer.

Matt enjoying in his first (of many) chili dogs of the weekend


A group pic at Jed's


My mom and me


After hanging out at Jed's for a bit, the girls went shopping... the guys went back to the hotel to watch some football. Erin and I met up with Ross and Matt after we were done shopping.

Hanging out at the hotel bar


On Saturday night, we went to another of Chuck and June's friends' house for dinner and to celebrate my uncle Dan's 50th birthday.

Me and my cousin Kelsey


Happy birthday to Dan!


Here he is with all his gag gifts!


After the party, we all headed back to the hotel to play board games. We played Loaded Questions and Would You Rather...? Both are really fun games!

Sunday morning, we were up bright and early again. We had the early tee time (8:30am). Matt, me, Ross and Erin were on a team together. My brother and cousins always play together and they dress up in costumes for fun. They've been superheroes and Elvises before and this year, they dressed as patriotic figures. My cousin's wife dressed as Betsy Ross and also dressed their son up. They are always a big hit! Their team is usually at the bottom of the rankings... they came in 2nd to last place this year. Our team came in the middle somewhere... which we would have been a lot worse off had it not been for Matt's ability, because the rest of us were not a ton of help to him. Sorry, man!

Here's my brother's team plus a few others before teeing off


Ross, Erin, Matt, me and Dad before teeing off


Erin and Ross


Me and Matt


After the golf tournament, there is pork chop dinner and silent auction at the K of C hall. The pork chops are seriously huge! Always tons of great food and drinks!

Banner on the wall with a pic of Sammy


My brother (aka Uncle Sam) and me at the dinner


The patriotic golfers milling about


Looks like we have a man down! Colin takes a much needed nap!


Matt and I were bidding on a few of the silent auction items, but we only ended up with one thing... a metal tub full of awesome stuff to grill out donated by the probation dept where my uncle works. It even included a nice cut-out of my uncle Chuck (and his signature picture look!)

Matt and I with our purchase and Chuck and "Chuck"


After the dinner, we drove back to Springfield and crashed for the night. We were all SOOOOOO tired! Matt, Brett and I drove back to Chi-town on Monday morning. We got back just in time for a nice lunch at Flat Top Grill... followed by an afternoon of pretending to "work from home" while really vegging out on the couch!

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Click here to see all the pics from the weekend.

Fire!

Last night, we were relaxing on the couch when we started hearing all of these fire trucks and police cars in the neighborhood. They all stopped right by Matt's building. I walked out on the balcony and couldn't see a fire, but we could smell smoke. We ended up going outide to check it out (along with a lot of other residents of the Skybridge). The second floor of the building across the street was in flames. Just standing there watching, it was really hot. The firemen were on the roof cutting into the ceiling and dumping water in the second floor. It was crazy how much smoke was coming off that thing. I had my camera (of course) and took a few pics, but they aren't that great. I missed the big flames because we were just standing and watching them.

We rode down the elevator with a guy who's car is parked right over there in front of the burning building. Sucks to be him! The fireman were throwing charred boards out the windows down to the street and there was glass from the windows everywhere.







The crazy thing is that the whole thing happened again at around 11pm... I guess they didn't get the fire totally out the first time and had to come back for round 2 a few hours later.

And the bad part (besides someone's building burning down) was that Matt's building decided to turn off the a/c this past weekend and it was really hot, so we had the windows open. His whole condo smelled like a gross campfire. I ended up closing the window around 11pm because it was so loud with the second round of firetrucks and gross with the stench of smoke.

Go Hawks!

We took a road trip to Bloomington, Indiana this weekend to see the Iowa v. Indiana game and do some tailgating.

Some highlights of the trip:

*Cheap college drinks
I forgot how cheap it would be to drink on a college campus. Compared to Chicago, it was great! These big blue drinks we got at the Upstairs Pub on Friday night were pretty sweet and had like 6 large shots of alcohol in them... all for about $7.

Matt and his typical pose


Now, that's better


A couple of random pics Matt took... Michelle and Lauren at the Upstairs Pub

When we were at Nick's on Saturday night, a group of us drank for 3.5/4 hours and ate two large pizzas all for about $185 with tip.

*Tailgating at the crack of dawn and watching Iowa stomp on Indiana
The tailgate started off with a call to Fubar and the guys all shotgunning beers. It was still dark outside! We were just about the first people in the parking lot.



Matt grilled out our favorite hot dogs (Hebrew National = the best!) and we played bags and tossed around a football. One of the best things about the parking lot we tailgated at was that they opened the Assembly Hall so we could use actual bathrooms (not the typical port-a-potty tailgate I was used to). Very awesome.

Random group shot of everyone


Knowles missed out on the first shotgun, so Reuter did another one with him


Grillin' out the dogs


Tossing the pigskin around


I thought this sign was funny at the exit of the Assembly Hall


We watched the first half of the game in the stadium, but it was SOOOOOO hot. We ended up going back out to the cars at half-time so we could sit in the shade and cool off.

The Iowa Marching Band


Inside the stadium


Matt and me cooking at the game


*Napping after the game
Yep, I'm old. After being in the heat and drinking a little too much vodka, a nap was the perfect way to spend the rest of the afternoon. Even the crappy bed at the Motel 6 couldn't stop me from snoozin' at that point!

*Sink the Biz
April took us to Nick's English Hut on Saturday night for pizza, beer and a few too many games of Sink the Biz for the boys.



I didn't play this game, but it was really entertaining to watch. You have a bucket of beer and a small glass that floats in the bucket. Everyone takes a turn at slowly pouring beer into the glass. Whoever sinks the glass has to drink a glassful of the beer from the bucket like a shot.



There are some rules, though. When you are slowly pouring beer into the glass, it has to be a steady stream, not just drops. You also have to hold the glass up high enough that the handle of the bucket will not hit the glass if flipped from side to side. If the glass does not sink for 3 seconds after you finish your pour, you are safe and the next person has to shoot the beer if the glass sinks before they take their turn. Matt, Andy, Lee, Mike and others played this game for most of the night. It became sort of a science for them.

Round 1


Reuter concentrating


Lee mastered the perfect pour


After a while, it became sort of no-holds-barred and a rule was made that you can do whatever you want to distract a player... as long as there was no touching involved.

Lee trying to distract Reuter


Lee trying to distract Matt by getting in his line of vision


*Double dose of Steak-n-Shake
Matt was in heaven when he heard our hotel (the Motel 6) was right across the street from Steak-n-Shake. This is definitely not part of the healthy diet plan, but so great nonetheless. We went both nights after being out at the bars. The second night, one of the waitresses recognized us and said "man, you just can't get enough of this place, huh!?!" True... so true.