When did the theater on Webster get so fancy!?

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I finally saw the The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies with my brother and Jessica over the weekend. The movie has been out a long time so we only had two locations to pick from. The time that worked best brought us to the theater on Webster, which I haven’t been to for probably close to 2 years. I was surprised to see assigned seating, only 5 rows of seats, seats that recline all the way back at the press of a button, tables with every seat. Also, beer and wine at the concessions. And not crappy beer. My brother got some Ale Syndicate craft beer that’s made in my neighborhood.

The movie was pretty good. A good ending. I enjoyed it. You’ll love it if you love fight scenes. There’s a lot of fighting.

And with that comes the end of an era! My brother and I saw all of the Lord of the Rings movies together (the first one came out in 2001!). Even when I didn’t live nearby, we would see them together when I came home for Christmas because the movies always came out at Christmastime. After the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, then they made the three Hobbit movies. This was the last of those movies. I know they can’t make these movies forever, but I’ll miss the tradition!

Fun Weekend With Friends and Family

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Becky, Chris, Rachelle

Friday: Amanda came down to watch Makai while Dallas and I went out for the night. First we had some happy hour drinks downtown with Jessica, Todd, Adam, Brian and Damien. Then we headed to the Roundarch Isobar holiday party at Siena Tavern. After 11 weeks, it was so nice to see all of my work friends, but it really did drive home the fact that I only have a few weeks left until I go back to work! Still a fun night. As per usual with the Isobar holiday parties: great food, endless open bar, lots of fun. This was the most drinks I’ve had in one night in literally a year. And the longest I stayed up forever (not counting New Years, when Makai was with us). Paired with the fact that I’d been sick the two previous days, I lost my voice for the whole weekend. So worth it, though!

Saturday: Amanda decided to stay over one more night instead of driving home and driving back on Sunday. We ate bacon all day and went to brunch at Revolution Brewing where she met her new favorite beer: Gravedigger Billy, a barrel-aged scotch ale.

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Makai & Jessica & a bunch of beer & a grape soda.

Sunday: Richard, Stephanie and Jessica came down. We had lunch/brunch at the Goose Island Brewpub on Clybourn. Amanda met another new favorite beer: Extremely Naughty Goose, an imperial brown ale with a chocolate and whiskey flavor. I had the London Fog, a milk stout with chocolate and Earl Grey tea, and really liked that. We also both had more bacon in the form of bacon jam! This trip to Goose Island was Makai’s second restaurant outing (not counting Starbucks). I don’t think he even knew he went, though. He slept the whole time!

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After lunch, Jess, Steph, Amanda and Makai went home and Richard and I went and saw The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. We have seen all of the Hobbit and LOTR movies together.

Update: More photos from the holiday party (via the official photographer).

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Pequod’s Pizza

I finally got a chance to try out Pequod’s Pizza over the weekend. Richard, Amanda, and Jess came down to collect Steph and we all went to dinner. Dallas had been here once for a birthday, but I missed it. We made reservations for 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. I was trying to avoid a dinner rush, because I heard it can get packed, and it was not crowded at all. We probably didn’t need the reservation. When we were seated, Dallas suggested we figure out or order quickly because the pizzas take a long time to cook (40 minutes). We ordered the Pequod Salad and two medium deep dish pizzas, one with pepperoni and mushroom and one with sausage, basil and garlic.

I’m no pizza snob, and I really liked both of the pizzas. The thing that differentiates Pequod’s is that they bake their pies in cast iron pans with decades of “seasoning.” They also sprinkle some cheese on the pan and it creates a “halo” of caramelization on the crust. I love it when the cheese gets grilled like this. Like when the cheese oozes out of your grilled cheese and bakes on the pan? So good. This is what the crust is like on these pizzas!

Read more about Pequod’s Pizza on Serious Eats. These guys know pizza!

We hadn’t seen Jessica since before her birthday so we gave her a birthday gift too. A summer outfit, some Nintendo DS accessories and Just Dance 3 for the Wii! Jessica, you are next to come for a visit!

redFLAME

Dallas and I took Stephanie to RedFLAME for pizza when she was visiting us in Chicago. Our friend Marty is the owner of the place and it was about time I finally checked it out! I’d had the pizza there before they opened, in a test run, and I had it one time when another friend brought it to our house, but I never had the pizza in the official restaurant.

Dallas was mostly there just to have a few drinks with other friends who were there too. Stephanie and I ordered and split the Buffalo Chicken Pizza (grilled chicken, buffalo sauce, caramelized onion and crumbled bleu cheese, drizzled with ranch). It was pretty good. I mean, I kind of feel like we should have gotten a basic pizza if we really wanted to compare the redFLAME pizza to other places we’ve been but we didn’t and the buffalo chicken was very good.

redFLAME has a unique way that they cook their pizzas. First they grill the dough – you can see the grill marks on the bottom. Then they pizza is placed under a flame to cook the toppings.

For dessert we got the S’mores Pizza (Flame-cooked dough topped with chocolate spread, graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chips and marshmallows). Steph LOVED this! I thought it was pretty good too. I’d had a version of it one other time, before redFLAME officially opened. I like the improvements they made. Smaller marshmallows, smaller pizza over all. Smaller is actually better, since this is a rich slice!