Entries Tagged as 'ed'

The Packers Won On My Birthday

September 9th, 2011 · 2 Comments


…with Alden


…with Jess


…with Danny & Caroline


…with Ed

The Packers kicked off the NFL season this year by taking on the Saints at Lambeau Field on my birthday. A few friends and I met up at Logan Bar & Grill to watch the game. This is probably the sportiest of the bars in Logan Square. We don’t really have sports bars here. The weather was on the cooler side, but nice, and it started raining. Logan Bar & Grill had their doors/windows wide open and it felt really nice, without having to actually be outdoors.

The game was the first time since 2000 that the last two Super Bowl winners were matched up. Also, it’s the third time in four seasons that the Packers opened the season on national TV at prime time at home. No pressure, guys! The game was exciting and high-scoring. And, though I was a little scared on the last drive, the Packers ended up winning 42-34.

Also, Dallas flew to Las Vegas yesterday. I gave him $20 to put on the Packers at the sports bet. He added $30 and so we had $50 riding. If the Packers won by 4 points then we’d win $100. This was the first time I ever was cheering for the spread as well as a win! Kind of stressful!

Thanks to everyone who came out for drinks on my birthday! It was an exciting, but laid back night. … Just what I wanted.

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Roundarch Team Dinner at Prosecco

August 29th, 2011 · No Comments

Last week we had a Roundarch team dinner at Prosecco, an Italian restaurant on the Near North Side. Prosecco has a huge selection of wine and one of the largest selections of Italian sparkling wine in Chicago.

I’d never been to Prosecco before and the menu online looked good, so I was excited to try this place. Upstairs the dining room was really pretty and brightly lit. Our private party was taking place downstairs in the private room/wine cellar.


Claire, Mark, Stella, Tony, Ryan, Adam, Marlena, Anjum


Wa-Jiw, Garrett, Bill, Ed, Doug


Ed, Doug

Before dinner we enjoyed some Italian wines, prosecco (of course), and Italian beer.


Claire, Bill, Tony, Adam, Anjum, Marlena

For dinner we were all seated at four tables. There were menus at the table and each course had several things listed.

Primi

  • Mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, carrots, red wine vinaigrette

Secondi

  • Rigatoni, pancetta, italian sausage, light tomato cream sauce
  • Risotto, sauteed beef tenderloin, diced tomatoes, fresh herbs, Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • Orecchiette, wild mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus, black truffle cream, shaved Grana Padano, white truffle oil

Terzi

  • Sauteed monk fish medallions, sauteed spinach, lobster sauce drizzle
  • Scaloppine of pork, cremini mushrooms, Prosciutto di Parma, Marsala wine reduction
  • Balsamic-marinated chicken breast, basil-bread crumbs, portabello mushrooms, fresh mozarella, Dolcetto d’Alba reduction, asparagus
  • Grilled egplant, fresh and smoked mozarella, tomato sauce

Quarti

  • Baked apple tart, caramel drizzle
  • Chocolate flourless cake, crema inglese, mixed berry sauce
  • Peach gelato and lemon-basil sorbet

I thought we would be choosing what we wanted from each course, but it ended up that they served everything family style.


Josh, David


Andrew, David


Wa-Jiw


Ben, Andrew


David, Ed

At my table was Josh, David, Wa-Jiw, Ben, Andrew and another David.


Stella, Charlie, Mark, Kelly, Doug, Garrett


Adam, Tony, Bill, Claire, Marlena, Anjum


Adam, Sean, Ryan, Eric, Scott, Ashanth, Teal

At one point I went and took a photo of the other tables.

Back at our table, our candles were really melting down! I guess we’d been there a while.


Josh


Josh


Josh

For some reason people at our table were discussing the things that should never be discussed at work outings: Politics and Religion.


Mark, Tony, Teal

The big bosses said a few words of thanks and appreciation.

Oh, and a few behind the scenes photos from a secret team project taken earlier in the evening:

Shhhhhhh!

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Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival

August 1st, 2011 · 1 Comment

The first year we lived in Logan Square we missed the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival because we had conflicting plans. Last year I took my niece Jess through and it was alright, but not great. This year it has finally all come together. The fest seemed really improved and we were able to invite some friends over and make an evening of it. Here is what I liked:

Revolution Brewing sponsored the festival and all of the beer there was brewed by them. I drank only the Bottom Up Wit (Refreshing Belgian-style wheat beer spiced with coriander and orange peel. Made with organic malt and wheat.), but there was also the Rosa (Tart summer ale infused with 20 lbs of Hibiscus flowers and touch of orange peel. Elegantly refreshing and defiantly delicious.), Anti-Hero IPA (An American hop assault for all the ambivalent warriors who get the girl in the end. “Look, I ain’t in this for your revolution, and I’m not in it for you, Princess.”) and Coup d’ Etat (Dry, spicy French-style saison dry hopped with German Select hops.).

In addition, sangria was provided by Lula, the popular Logan Square restaurant and wine was provided by Telegraph, Logan Square’s brand new wine bar. I loved how all the drinks were sponsored by bars and restaurants that were only a block or two away. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this at a Chicago festival before. I mean, the beer was made right there. Now, maybe next year we can get the food to be more local.

Another thing I liked was that we were on the square, which means grass and shade. Many times you go to a Chicago festival and there’s nowhere to stand or sit except in the hot sun on the burning hot asphalt. At this festival we got our drinks and walked across the street to the shaded, grassy park. So much more comfortable.

Thirdly: Art. It was an art fest, afterall. Along Milwaukee Avenue there were curated art exhibits and pop-up galleries in empty storefronts and sponsoring establishments. There were also all kinds of different art activities that featured more than 200 artists in over 30 exhibits. The only exhibit I went to was located in the Logan Square Comfort Station, which was conveniently located directly behind the beer tent. The exhibit was Folding Time: Explorations of Surface Reality, a showing of mixed media paintings by Chicago artist Jason Brammer. Pretty interesting.

We spent all of our time at time nearby the main stage at Milwaukee and Kedzie and the music there was pretty good. We enjoyed a mostly all-girl band (only the drummer was a guy) called Hollows. There was also a stage at Milwaukee and Kimball and one closer to our condo, the Cole’s stage at Milwaukee & Belden.


I bought this hat for Dallas. Do you like it?
Jessica

Killian
Alden

Ed (and me!)
My friend, Bottom Up Wit

Finally, and probably the best part, our awesome friends who came to the fest with us. In addition to the people above, we also saw Andy and Katie, who just got engaged about a week ago. And Dallas and I also talked to Jack for a while. Jack cuts our hair and his salon, Mops, was a fest sponsor.

Alden and I were standing in line to get a taco when we saw Dallas purchase and drink a pina colada served in a pineapple. What the heck!? I have no idea what he was thinking since he is never one to order a fruity drink. Must have been the new hat I bought him!

We left shortly after and everyone came back to our house. We had been slow cooking pork all day while we were away. Dallas also made blue cheese coleslaw and I made a caprese couscous salad ahead of time, so we all feasted and sat out on our roof deck, where it was a perfect summer night.

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Tour de Fat

July 20th, 2011 · 2 Comments


Slow Ride


Slow Ride


Slow Ride


Bike Pit


Rules of the Bike Pit


Handsome Little Devils: This guy juggles a chainsaw, raw egg, and bowling ball at the same time.


Crazy kaleidoscope.


Beer socks! Playing urban horseshoes.


Art Bike


Rows and rows of bike racks!

After the Tour de Fat bike parade, Jess and I headed over to Palmer Square for the Tour de Fat festival. We watched the end of the Handsome Little Devils vaudville-like show. In the finale, a man juggled a chainsaw, a raw egg and a 12-pound bowling ball all at the same time! We also watched the slow ride competition. This is a bike race where the loser is the winner. The goal is to ride the slowest and cross the finish line last, which is harder than you think. It’s hard to balance a bike while riding slow, and if you tip over or touch the ground, you’re out.

By this time it was about 12:45 p.m. and Jess and I were getting hungry. We walked all around the festival grounds, but there were NO food tents, as there were previous years. Finally I spotted two food trucks on the north side of the park. Gaztro Wagon was selling naanwiches but they were running out fast. The other truck was 5411 Empanadas. Both trucks had most of their menu crossed out and had a very limited selection. We went to stand in the empanada line. We were about 30 deep. Gaztro Wagon sold out while we were in the empanada line. I was SO hoping the empanadas didn’t sell out because then we’d have to leave to find food. Luckily, we were able to get our empanadas. They were tasty, but we only got 1 each, so as not to hog the limited supply, and they were tiny. Like 3 bites big. The truck sold out just after we ate our tiny bites. That was it. The fest was out of food by 1 p.m. NUTS.

When we were in the line, we saw Dallas, Kristin and Adam, so they came over and hung out by us. They were all expecting to eat too, but did not. Adam left to get some grub shortly after that. Jess and I went in the bike coral to ride some bikes but she was a bit too small for most of them. When we came out Todd and Kelly had joined our group, but they’d come expecting to eat and there was no food, so everyone wanted to leave to go eat somewhere. Everyone gave their beer tokens away (no one could drink all that beer on an empty stomach). It was Alden’s lucky day because just then he walked up and he got some of our beer tokens. By the way, Alden said later on there were more trucks, but really poor planning. Food trucks are awesome in theory, but if they are not abundant and the ones that are there run out of food right away? No bueno. How do you have a fest with a ton of kids and people drinking and not have food? This was obviously my biggest issue with the fest this year.

Other than that the fest was fun. It was HOT and sweaty, but that was ok. The thing is, all the acts are all exactly the same every year, though. And this is the 3rd year. They need to get some different things, because as much as I like it, I can only watch the slow ride and the same acts so many times!

Anyway, we headed to Revolution Brewing and ate lunch there. Then Jess and Kristin and I went to Heavenly for gelato. Then Ed met us there and he and Kristin went off for the night. Jess and I hung around Heavenly for a bit longer, then went to the Logan Theatre to see Kung Fu Panda 2. Back home, played some Wii and went to bed.

- Tour de Fat 2010
- Tour de Fat 2009: Festival, Costumes, Crazy Bikes

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Food From Jen’s 40 Years

June 16th, 2011 · No Comments

Bucking the Reid family tradition of having elaborate games at 40th birthday parties (see Brian, Jill, Chad), Jen opted for a food and drink extravaganza in the backyard. Chad and Jen chose 4 different periods of Jen’s life and prepared food and drinks from each of those phases. What an awesome idea! Luckily the weather cooperated, because there were probably 30+ people there to celebrate with Jen. It was a little chilly, but overall good. I had so much fun stuffing my face on all of Jen’s favorite food and drinks! Plus, so many of our good friends were there. And it was sunny. Sunny! What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon/night.

Here’s what we had:

First course: Belgium, where Jen was born
Food: Cheese plate
Drinks: Leffe & Jupiler beer, white wine, or gimlets

- – - –

Second course: Newport, where Jen grew up
Food: Grilled shrimp, steamed clams & mussels
Drinks: Sam Adams Summer Ale, white wine, or more gimlets

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Third course: Virginia, where Jen went to college
Food: Assorted chips. Premade guacamole, salsa and taco dip.
Drinks: Cheap beer – Bud Light, MGD, cheap red wine, or more gimlets

- – - –

Fourth Course: Chicago, where Jen lives now
Food: Grilled sausages (assorted from Paulina Meat Market), baked beans
Drinks: Goose Island Summertime, red wine, or more gimlets

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Fifth Course: Kristin’s Homemade Cake

- – - –

Surprise Sixth Course, courtesy of beer. .. much beer.

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