On Friday night a bunch of people from my team went out for happy hour at Bull & Bear, a bar around the corner from our office. Aimee, who is officially the PM of HH, called ahead to reserve a tap table for us. I’ve been to Bull & Bear before, but only to the bar area. This table area was new. Here’s how it works:
Each table has two beer taps, one Bud Light and one something else. Ours was Bud Light and Stella. Some of the other tables had different kinds of Goose Island beers. The waitress gets you glasses and starts the meter and then you are free to help yourself to all the beer you want. There’s a computer with a screen that displays how many ounces of each beer that you have poured. It’s a pretty cool concept. Dangerous. We had so many people we were kind of all mingling in front of the table and the table was serving as our own private bar. I can imagine people sitting at the table and just drinking glass after glass without even the delay of wait staff going to get your drinks. Also, we wondered how many people had gotten totally bombed and put their mouths under the taps! I’m sure there’s the obvious reason for this, but just seeing how many ounces you’ve poured without a dollar amount attached is pretty useless. 72 ounces? No idea how much that bill is.
After just about everyone left I somehow thought it was a good idea to go with Ryan and Doug to O’Leary’s Public House. I grabbed some grub and had one more beer. It was a nice surprise to see a Green Bay Packers flag hanging in there!
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Tags:aimee·bull & bear·doug·olearys public house·roundarch·ryan
Kenji
Rachelle & Kenji
Doug, Dallas & Matt
Kenji’s Thank You Note
Before going to Jess’s 30th birthday party on Saturday night, we went to Kenji’s first birthday during the day. How much he has grown since the little peanut I held last year at Christmastime! Kenji is a bit more reserved compared to his big brother Tommy who runs around and is super open with people and outgoing. Kenji’s better one on one and if he sees mommy Naoko, then your gig is probably up!
Naoko, of course, made the most delicious meal. I remember a hot reuben dip that was delicious. Also, she made eggplant parmesan and meatballs for about 30 people. So, so yummy. You can always count on Naoko for super good food! For dessert she made cake – yellow cake with strawberries and bananas in between the layers. She also made a homemade twinkie train where each car of the train is a homemade twinkie cake. Kenji got his own cake to himself. It took him a while to figure out what to do, but soon he was digging in there eating the cake and frosting like it was nobody’s business!
For take-homes we all got these personalized thank you notes (that matched the party invitation) attached to a bag of chocolate chip shortbread cookies and some smores treats. I don’t know how Naoko finds the time to do all of this with two little kids to chase after, but it sure is cute! Martha Stewart, that one!
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Tags:birthday·dallas·doug·kenji·matt·mount prospect·naoko
Schaumburg, IL
Just came across this photo that was taken earlier this year at Doug & Naoko’s Labor Day party (and Aunty Gail’s surprise retirement party. I thought Heather, Dallas’s cousin’s wife, took it, but she’s in the photo, so I’m not sure who did. This is most of the people at the party. You can see me, in the back, tip-toeing and still shorter than the 13-year-old behind me.
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Tags:dallas·doug·labor day·naoko·schaumburg
