Entries Tagged as 'garrett'

Roundarch Summer Event 2011

September 21st, 2011 · No Comments


Chopped Salad, Filet Mignon, Chicken Paillard, Quiche, Braised Brussels Sprouts, Pommes Puree, Macaroni Gratinee, Raspberry and Almond Tart, Dark Chocolate Mousse


Taylor


While the downstairs of the Paris Club was warm and cozy, the upstairs bar was very lounge-y and the outside area (covered in the cold) was very stark. All cool in their own way.


Garrett, Bill


More food! Chilled seafood bar: Lobster Tails, Shrimp Cocktail, Tuna Tartare, Crab Salad


Garrett, Geoff


Many giveaways! PS3, Slingbox, fancy headphones, a camera, Xbox Kinect, iPad, Google TV, sound dock, and a bunch of $100 gift cards


Tonya was a winner!


Craig’s turn to win!


Jeremy won the Google TV


Christine & Geoff pulling out more names.


Marlena had her eye on the prize.. and later on won the Xbox Kinect.


Wa-jiw, David, Ben, Nick


Mike, Adam


Passed hors d’oeuvres were pommes frites, mini burgers, deviled eggs with bacon and toasted cheese on brioche.

This past month marked my 3 year anniversary at Roundarch and this was my 4th Roundarch Summer Event. How is this possible? I went to the first event before I even started! (2010 Summer Event, 2009 Summer Event, 2008 Summer Event).

This year was a bit different than previous years in that it was smaller and it all took place in one day. Usually everyone from every other office – New York, Denver, Boston, and various other locations – flies into Chicago for a huge 2-day event. There would be practice meetings all day Thursday, a party all that night, and then the next day would be an all-day company meeting. This year we had two meetings on the same day – one in Chicago and one in New York. East Coast people flew into New York and others flew into Chicago. We had the meetings and the party all in one day. And it didn’t go late, which was good for me, because I had things I needed to get done that night!

Overall, it was still a great party. I didn’t win anything, but it was nice to hang out at the Paris Club and eat delicious food and spend time with my coworkers, not working. That’s not to say we didn’t have hours of meetings that day, but it was a good change of pace.

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Hubbard Inn

September 10th, 2011 · No Comments

Hubbard Inn opened in February around the corner from my office and I’ve been there a couple times for lunch now. The first time was in August on a warm day. I went with my coworkers Garrett, Marlena and Bill and we sat outside. I had the nicoise salad and it was delicious. Garrett and Bill had the lamb burger (served with mint, cucumber, red onion, feta, and tzatziki sauce) and Marlena had the gazpazcho. Everyone really liked their food. I thought my salad was great. Very fresh and tasty.

So last week when Greg and I were planning to get together for lunch I suggested Hubbard Inn and he agreed. Funny story – Greg and his wife were planning to go to Hub 51 for dinner one night and Greg remembered that we had gone there for lunch so he looked up my old blog post from that lunch. In that post I wrote “Greg works pretty close to me now, so maybe we’ll be able to meet up more often. The last time I saw him was August of last year!” Yeah. And that was written last August. So, it seems we only get together for lunch on an annual basis!

We went to Hubbard Inn yesterday. It was great to see Greg and catch up after so long! And again, I thought the food was great. I had the caprese sandwich (fresh mozarella, proscuitto di parma, arugula, tomatoes, focaccia). The waiter talked Greg into the fried oyster sandwich (with remoulade and slaw) and he really liked it, although he confessed that he is not really usually an “oyster guy.”

I think Hubbard Inn is a pretty good go-to spot for lunches. Glad that it is so close to our office!

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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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Bon Voyage!

February 12th, 2011 · 3 Comments

Last night Anjum and Aimee (and Garrett and Eric for a while) took me out for some after work drinks to wish me bon voyage and best wishes on the wedding. We were going to get wine and cheese like we did when I got engaged, but the place we wanted to go to didn’t open early enough. So we ended up just going next door to Moe’s Cantina, which is just fine for after-work drinks, but I heard gets extra douchey later at night.

Most people were drinking red sangria, but since I’d just been to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned a few hours earlier, I stuck with the clear liquors and drank caipirinhas and margaritas. We also figured we needed to do a shot. I suggested SoCo and lime, which is my new favorite shot, since Josh got it for us last weekend.

Just a few days to go now. Lots of errands to run this weekend and a few loose ends to tidy up. Packing Monday/Tuesday and then we’re off!

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Roundarch Holiday Party, Take 2

December 13th, 2008 · 3 Comments


Ryan, Rachelle


James, Adam, Dan, Adam, Dan, Jaivin


Karen, Toby, Saurab’s Date, Saurab, Colt


Sushi Chefs


Anjum, James, Rhaz


Ryan +1


Bartender, Blue Water Grill, River North


Paul, Mark, Linda


Ben +1


James, John, Rhaz, Tony


Garrett, Keeley, Adam, Dan, Jaivin


Frank, David, Sanjay


Getting blurry! Kidding. I was messing with John’s external flash.

Thursday night was our Roundarch client team holiday party and Friday night was our company holiday party. The company party was at Blue Water Grill, where Dallas and I went once for my birthday. We thought it was good, but overpriced. But when you’re company is paying for you to eat and drink for free all night, you kind of just concentrate on the yum factor. We had a full dinner, but I really liked the free maki station they had going on. I could have skipped the dinner and just eaten that all night! They also had the largest shrimp cocktail I’ve ever seen. So delicious.

Dallas is in West Palm Beach for work this weekend so I made a pact with my coworker Ryan that we would leave early. He had another party to go to and I wanted to call it a night at about 9:00 p.m. because the cookie party was on Saturday. The pact didn’t really work out. I think we were drinking too much and having too much fun to leave. There were secret ninjas refilling my wine glass when I wasn’t looking and we didn’t end up leaving until 12:30 a.m. I don’t know how long the party went on, but that was 6 1/2 hours of free booze and I had way more than my fair share!

- John’s photos of the Roundarch 2008 Holiday Party
- Dave’s photos of the Roundarch 2008 Holiday Party

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