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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
Killian, Rachelle (Killian’s birthday gift was Shake Weight
Learning how to use the Shake Weight
Rachelle & Juan, a.k.a Kwan
Rachelle, Juan/Kwan, Cory
Watching the fight: Dallas, Kristin, Caroline, Danny, Cousin, Anonymous, Alden, Paul Baker, Kate, Juan/Kwan, Cory, Ed
See you in my nightmares!
I think the pictures tell the story! At first I was just trying to take photos of people at the party then somehow it evolved into me having to be in the photos.
It was a fun night. I acted like I was turning 26, not 36, though. Definitely was feeling my true age the next day! Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes, gifts, cards, and for coming to my party and making it a great time!
Ross and his girlfriend Chelsea were in town this weekend. We met up with them at Ribfest, where it was rainy and only about 50 degrees outside. When Ross flew in on Wednesday for work it was 97 degrees. He didn’t even pack a coat. Little did he know how fickle Chicago weather is!
We wandered around Ribfest for a while, drank some beer. Dallas and I stopped to talk to Josh at the Smoke Daddy booth. We also shared some kalbi ribs (and both agreed that when we make them they are better!). To use up some tickets and get out of the rain we had some corndogs and onion rings.
We then met up with some other friends – Todd, Brian, Sara, Brett – at Corner 41, which was kind of a mistake. It was nice to get out of the rain, but the bar had pretty much run out of beer. We bought their last 5 Coors Lights and they were all warm. I hate Coors Light, but I put it on ice and it actually was not that bad. Honestly, it tasted like water.
Chelsea used to live in Chicago and wanted to take Ross to the Green Mill, Chicago’s historic jazz club. I’d never been there and also wanted to go, so I tagged along. It was pretty cool, even if you’re not that into jazz, you should go once. That night’s jazz quartet consisted of drums, bass, and two saxophone’s. The band was called Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things.
We only stayed for a drink and one set, but it was enough to get a feel for the place. Ross and Chelsea went back to their downtown hotel and I went back to Logan Square where I met up with Dallas for a late night beer and slice of pizza at Boiler Room.
It all started with these delicious drinks at Gilt Bar. They were called Le Bar St. Germain and were made from St. Germain (a French liqueur made with elder flowers), lemon and prosecco. Brett, Annie, Jess, Kristin and I were all drinking them. They were so delicious.
Brett, Annie, Dallas
Brett, Annie
Jessica, Rachelle, Killian
Killian, Brett, Annie, Dallas
The drinks were potent too. And as if that wasn’t enough to confuse you, try finding your way to the bathroom in this place.
I’d never been to Gilt before, even though it’s about a block from my office. My coworkers had raved about it, so it was about time I finally got there. In fact, I even ran into some of my coworkers there. ha. The inside decor is gorgeous. Fancy, lots of wood, but still rustic and with a kind of old-timey twist that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The drinks were great and eventually when we ordered food, that was really good too.
Later on we ordered the bouchot mussels with white wine, shallots, herbs & smoked paprika. Very good. Dallas loooved the bread so much, we had to ask for more. It was great dipped in the mussels sauce. We also got an order of the kennebec fries. I asked our waitress Kat (who was awesome) what kennebec was and she said it was a kind of potato that is starchier and makes a better french fry. She was right. These fries were served with garlic aoili and disappeared so fast from our table that we had to order more STAT!
After a while some people left. Brett and Annie had late night dinner reservations but it was still kind of early. Jess and Dallas and I decided to go back with Annie and Brett to Brett’s apartment for a bit, since she lives not that far away at Cityfront Place. Brett just moved to Chicago about a month ago and is subletting this place. The view is great.
In Brett’s fridge there were about 30 of these bad boys:
Grapefruits. Brett got them from her grandma in Arizona. So Brett used her huge guns to make us Greyhounds (freshly squeezed grapefruit and vodka).
Delicious!
And a dance party may have broken out, but after a while, we knew we had to go. Dallas and I dropped Jess off in a cab and then went back to our house. We stopped at Boiler Room and each got a slice of pizza to bring home and eat. I went to the bathroom there and took this photo of the unique bathroom doors.
I know we were drunk last night, but we may have changed our minds about Boiler Room. We weren’t totally sold on it the first time we went and we never went back until last night. But last night’s pizza was SO good. I had just a plain slice and Dallas had a pepperoni slice.
I don’t know what happened after we left. Brett and Annie went back out and some of our other friends met up with them. I can’t imagine how late they were out (we were home by 11 or so) or how drunk they got. I’m so glad we went home when we did! I was feeling rough the next day and had so much to do!
