Entries Tagged as 'adam'

Todd’s New Years Eve Party

January 2nd, 2012 · No Comments


Vanessa, Chelsea, Kelly, Todd


Dallas & Marty


Damian & Rachelle


Kelly’s concoctions


We played a lot of Pictionary.


The girls won!


Big man, little dog.


Poor Bella


Larry & Adam


Getting ready to ring in the new year.


Noisy Kelly


One champagne, one sparkling wine.


Lilia & Larry just after midnight


Kelly & Todd


Rachelle & Dallas


Chelsea & Kelly


Marty, Josh & Lynda


Kelly, Brett, Lynda, Rachelle (& Todd)


I don’t know what happened to Steve here.


Adam & Katjie


Adam & Dallas

Around 9:30 we left Jen and Chad’s party and headed down to Wicker Park where Todd was hosting a party. We did this same thing two years ago when Todd hosted a party, and sort of did last year, except the party was at Frasca, not Todd’s house. Dallas brought our Wii over the night before and we all played that. We also played some good, old-fashioned Pictionary. We each put in $10 and the girls won all the money! Kelly made some delicious jello shots with real cherries in them and some fantastic mystery punch.

At midnight we toasted with Dom Perignon and some Sofia by Francis Ford Coppola Winery. A few people have asked me how the Dom was, since it’s known to be expensive and one of the best champagnes. To be honest, it tasted like champagne. Good champagne, but it was the only one at the party so I couldn’t compare and I’m not a huge connoisseur of champagne. Katjie, on the other hand, said she loves champagne and that it was great, so I’ll take her word for it. I also really liked the Sophia sparkling white.

I don’t know what happened after midnight. It’s a bit of a blur. Haha. Someone (ADAM!?) had my camera and took about a thousand photos. Dallas said I took them, but I’m in a lot of the photos, so that can’t be. Anyway, fun party. Great New Years Eve overall.

[Read more →]

Tags:·······················

Christmas Dinner at Aunty Gail’s

December 28th, 2011 · No Comments


Brad, Amanda, Dallas, Aunty Gail


Doug, Tyler, Uncle BB, Eddy, Naoko, Aunty Laura


Brad & Aunty Glenna


Rachelle & Eddy


Heather & Eddy


Tommy & Mitch

On Christmas day we always go to Dallas’s Aunty Gail’s house out in Mount Prospect, IL. Every year Aunty Gail makes beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole and her mom’s lettuce/mayo/crab/pea salad. It never varies. Dessert varies because other people always bring different desserts, but Aunty Gail always makes her signature cookies. This year Naoko made a super light and airy cheesecake (usually it’s so dense and filling!), a chocolate cake and cream puffs. Naoko’s desserts are always fabulous, but Dallas and I both commented together about how great the cream puffs were. The custard was so delicious. Heather and I each brought candy trays. Mine should look familiar, since I’ve been featuring all the candy recipes here last week.


Christmas Dinner


Christmas Desserts


Kenji


Kate & Tommy


Kate, Ben, Tommy, Derek

This year there were relatively few (only 18!) people over for dinner. I think it’s the first year that we could all sit at the long table. The first year that I didn’t sit at a kiddie side table! After dinner, many other family members came over and we had the gift exchange. Every year Aunty Gail tells you a thousand times, “$10 gift bag, no junk, no junk!” Ok. Well, what can you really get for $10 that is not junk? This year she finally increased the limit to “$20 gift bag, no junk, no junk.” To be honest, I think I was already spending $15 on the gift bags anyway. And actually, the price increase helped a lot. There were many good gifts, and no junk, Aunty Gail, no junk.


Back: Uncle Neil, Uncle Peggy, Miko, John, Derek. Front: Winnie, Ben, Kyle, Kate.


Uncle BB, Aunty Glenna, Brad, Amanda, Tyler, Aly, Adam


Back: Jeff, Heather, Aunty Gail, Eddy, Doug, Naoko. Front: Chris, Mitch, Kenji, Tommy.


Back: Eddy, Mitch, Tyler, Chris, Derek, Ben. Front: Kenji, Kate, Tommy.


Eddy, Mitch, Tyler, Chris, Derek, Ben, Kate, Tommy, Kenji


Marty, Uncle Sonny, Brian


Siblings: Uncle Sonny, Aunty Laura, Uncle BB, Aunty Gail, Uncle Neil


Siblings: Uncle Sonny, Aunty Laura, Uncle BB, Aunty Gail, Uncle Neil


Uncle Sonny, Aunty Laura, Uncle BB, Aunty Glenna, Aunty Gail, Aunty Peggy, Uncle Neil


Rachelle, Aunty Laura, Dallas


Brad, Aly, Dallas


Trying to get all the cousins in one shot.


May be more difficult than the kids!


Someone with Heather’s camera got this good shot I snagged. Back: Marty, Winnie, Kyle, Brian, John, Doug, Dallas, Amanda, Brad, Heather, Jeff. Front: Naoko, Miko, Aly, Rachelle.

This year all of the golfers were fighting over a package that they thought were a pair of golf gloves. Dallas ended up with it in the end and guess what? It was a Coach key chain. Score for me! When it was Winnie’s turn to pick a gift she let one of the kids pick and they picked a very large box, which is not ideal because she lives in California and would have to travel home. So when it was my turn to pick I took her big box. It ended up being an amaryllis bulb, which I’ve always wanted to try growing, so score again for me! There were a few boxes and tiny gift bags that people thought were going to be bags of rice. Usually Aunty Gail will put a few pieces of rice in a Ziploc and wrap it and then the gift is 20 pounds of rice. Dallas always wants this gift because it’s something he can actually use. Most of the small, light gifts this year turned out to be gift cards. Aunty Gail’s gift was actually a Shake Weight that Aunty Glenna got. I don’t know how there are no photos of her, or the many people who tried it out, but it was hilarious, as you can imagine.


Aly & Eddy


Gift Exchange


Eddy playing with the Potty Putter.

As always, amazing to see how the family is growing every year. And great to visit with everyone!

Previous Christmases at Aunty Gail’s:

[Read more →]

Tags:································

Roundarch Holiday Party

December 5th, 2011 · No Comments


Roundarch Holiday Party at ZED451

Some highlights from the buffet


Geoff, Jim & Jeff thanking everyone for coming to the party.


Awesome fire!


Kelly, on the right.


Ashanth & Dallas catching up and drinking the mojito bar dry.


Roundarch Holiday Party at ZED451

This year the Roundarch holiday party was at ZED451. I’d never been there, but really liked it. Roundarch basically took over the whole first floor and the second floor was someone else’s holiday party. I really loved the space. It was very warm and inviting. The colors were very rich and the fire was an awesome touch.

ZED451′s main dining room area had this HUGE round buffet. We thought it was one of the biggest buffets we’ve been to, not counting Las Vegas. There was everything on this buffet: shrimp, crab, poke, charcuterie, all the cheeses, duck pastrami. Craziness. It was so good. ZED451 is kind of like an upscale Brazilian steakhouse where they come to your table and offer you all sorts of meats, which they cut off right in front of you. Since this doesn’t scale, they cut all the meat ahead of time and skewered it and there were guys constantly offering you choice cuts of “aged 48 hours blah blah blah.” Point is, it was delicious. There were all kinds of steak, a Mediterranean chicken, fish, etc.

The party was, of course, open bar. And a nice touch was the mojito bar where you could get all kinds of different mojitos: blackberry, pineapple, cucumber, blueberry, cranberry, etc. I had to try hard to keep myself in check, something which Dallas did not do! But that’s ok. I was the one with big plans (cookie party) the next day, not him.

Roundarch never skimps on their holiday parties and this year was no exception. We had a fun time talking to all of my coworkers and their guests. Dallas got to catch up with the people from my office he doesn’t get to see much. Great time! Oh, and here’s a photo my coworker, Rose, took of Adam, Brad and me:


Rachelle, Adam, Brad. Gray is the new black!

[Read more →]

Tags:···············

Foot-Long Grilled Cheese

December 4th, 2011 · 2 Comments

Earlier in the football season we watched some games at The Scout in the South Loop. I ordered a salad for lunch, but several people at our table got the foot-long grilled cheese. There are 3 different varieties: one with bacon, one with Canadian bacon and a side of pickles, and one with bacon and jalepenos. All came with tomato basil soup. It was crazy how big these sandwiches were! No one could finish, of course, so our table just ended up free-for-alling on them. I had a few bites of the sandwich with the bacon and jalepeno and it was really good. Especially dipped in the soup. That’s the grilled cheese everyone agreed was the best, with bacon and jalapeno. It’s called The Wolff. Look for it on the menu.

As a bonus, here’s a glowing photo of Adam:

Oh and behind him Jarrett Payton (son of Walter) was recording an ESPN Radio show.

One more thing. Who is this idiot who not only bought a Vikings Favre jersey, but is still wearing it out in public!??!

[Read more →]

Tags:·········

It’s a Party for Brian’s Birthday

October 17th, 2011 · No Comments

Before you read any of this, know that you have to sing the post title to the tune of Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA,” because that is Brian’s favorite song.


Lynda & Josh


Brett, Todd, Dallas, Rachelle. Dallas trying to make my camera signal closed eyes. He thinks the icon is racist! He’s not the only one.


Kelly (camera not even turned on), Todd, Brett


Adam, Birthday Boy Brian, Sara


Christine and Adam and to the left, Adam’s brother Todd


Larry and Lilia, Ang & Murph


Brian, Sara, Kelly


Larry is a giant.

On Saturday night we went out for Brian’s birthday. Sara, his fiance, arranged for 16 of us to have dinner at Sakura Teppanyaki. This was a Benihana kind of place where they cook the food on a hot grill in front of you and put on a show. Uh, not that I’ve ever been to Benihana, but I went to a similar kind of place on Mauai called Kobe Japanese Steak House way back in 2009. I haven’t been to anything like this since.


Let the show begin! If you want to see big fire, check out my photo from a similar restaurant on Maui!


Lots of shrimp, scallops, lobster, chicken and steak.


Our chef messing with Brett & Kelly.


Setting up the onion volcano.


The volcano.

All of the teppanyaki dinners were served with a grilled shrimp appetizer, miso soup, salad, grilled vegetables and fried rice. Then you got to pick what kind of entree you wanted. There was a selection of different kinds of fish, chicken, steak, filet mignon, shrimp, scallops, lobster, or calamari. Or you could get a combo. I got steak and scallops. And I upgraded my fried rice to chicken fried rice. I liked everything I had, except I wouldn’t recommend the upgrade to chicken fried rice. It’s not worth it. Otherwise it was all good. Dinners range from about $18 – 30. Not too expensive for all of the food you get. I was so stuffed at the end of dinner.

As for our chef, he was pretty funny. He quickly detected which were the people to mess with and playfully teased them while cooking our dinner. He kept saying “No sake bomb, no happy!” so we bought him a sake bomb when we got a round for the table.


Almost all the ladies were drinking these 100-calorie martinis (on the left), sake bombs on the right.


Here’s the set up: Glass of beer, sake balanced on chop sticks.


All set?


Larry showing Brian how it’s done. Everyone pounds the table.


Then the sake falls into the glass. You can see Larry’s chopsticks flying and the sake glass inside the beer glass.

Our table had countless rounds of sake bombs. I think I had 2-3 total, but some people had more. A sake bomb is served with a glass of beer and a shot glass sized serving of sake. The drinker takes their chopsticks and lays them across the top of the beer pint glass. Then they balance the sake on the top of the chopsticks. This can be tricky after a few drinks. Ask Lynda. She accidentally dropped hers in early twice and had to drink her bomb before everyone was ready.

After you have the sake balanced you pound the table and it causes the sake to fall into the beer. The should be drank immediately. To be honest, the sake bombs mostly just tasted like beer to me, but because everyone feels the need to race and chug, and the fact that there is sake in there, it can make you drunk fast. Also, the sake glass falling into the beer can be really messy. I had a lap of beer on the first round. On the second I just dropped the sake in instead of doing the chopsticks and pounding. Not as fun, but definitely less messy!


Kelly, Brett, Lilia, Rachelle. Front: Lynda, Brian, Christine, Sara.


Some out takes!

After dinner we headed over to some really cheesy Lincoln Park bars. Good thing I was drunk because these were not my kind of places! I asked Brian if I was going to feel like an old lady at the bar we were headed to. You know… not old, just too old for the club, but he said just to sit back and watch and laugh, and so I did. So, we headed to Beaumont, which most people seemed to have been to but not for a long time and not proudly. And not so early. It was dead when we arrived. No one else was there. But in no time if was filled with single 20-somethings. It was actually kind of painful to watch.


The Store til Four


Don’t ask. It was late. I get the willies just looking at this photo!

Later on we went down a few buildings to The Store.. ahem… The Store til 4. Any bar with “til 4″ in the name is probably not a good idea. I’m looking at you Tai’s til 4! I learned that lesson a few times many years ago. But Dallas and I didn’t stay out anywhere near 4 a.m. I think we caught a cab home at 2 or so.

I didn’t see Brian on Saturday but I saw him for a while on Sunday at The Scout in the South Loop where we were eating lunch and watching some football (Packers won! Lions lost! We’re the best in the league!) and it seemed like he had a good birthday weekend!

[Read more →]

Tags:·································