Entries Tagged as 'killian'

A Visit From Fiona

September 29th, 2011 · No Comments

Last Sunday Killian, Liz and Fiona came over for a visit and to watch the Bears take on the Packers. Killian came over at the start of the game and after the first half he and Dallas and I went up on the roof to grill the leftover kalbi ribs from my birthday barbecue. Liz and Fiona arrived just in time for dinner and the second half of the game, although, who could pay attention to the game when we had such and adorable baby to play with. Also, by that time it was clear that the Packers were going to win!

Everyone loved the ribs. Dallas said they were even better than at my birthday party. Fiona even sucked on a rib or two and seemed to like it. I think Killian was a little annoyed when I was trying to make her cheer for the Packers! It was nice to see Fiona again. She’s starting to show her personality more and can scoot around on the carpet. The last time we saw her was on the day we returned from our wedding trip (she was born on our wedding day) and she was only a few weeks old!

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Belated Birthday BBQ

September 20th, 2011 · No Comments


Ed, Cousin, Kristin, Jen


Brian, Limey, Rachelle, Mike (Brian’s dad)


Paul Baker, Rachelle, Kate


Rachelle & Richard (with Guinness, Jameson, and Bailey’s for Irish Car Bombs


Brett, Rachelle


Chad, Rachelle, Quinn


Dallas about to get kissed


Jen


Brett


Rachelle, Danny


Paul Baker, Kate, Rachelle, Alden


Jill, Halle, Rachelle


Todd, Rachelle, Larry, Marty, Josh


Anonymous Passer Outer. Note, he came that way, it didn’t happen at my party.


Rachelle, Trevor, Todd


Rachelle, Amy, Raiden, Steve


Irish Car Bombs!


Guess who won?


Damian, Rachelle, Derek


Rachelle, Derek


Trevor, Damian, Derek, Todd


Cory, Rachelle, Caroline


Marty, Josh, Trevor, Damian, Derek, Todd


Marty, Josh, Trevor, Dallas, Damian, Derek, Quinn, Todd


Chad, Mike (his dad)


Todd, Rachelle, Josh


Rachelle, Brett


Ed


Vanessa, Dylan, Rachelle


Dallas, Rachelle


Jeremiah Weed


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.

Dallas and I prepped food for the barbecue for days ahead of time and it all turned out fabulous, if I do say so myself. We had kalbi ribs on the grill (marinated for 2 days) and braised short ribs that slow cooked for hours in the oven. To go with all this delicious meat, I made crack onion dip, bacon-wrapped pineapple, dill dip with veggies, Asian lettuce salad, pesto pasta salad, macadamia nut brownies, and a fruit plate.

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!

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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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Meeting Fiona

March 31st, 2011 · 1 Comment

When we got to Chicago from Hawaii, we took a cab home, dropped our bags off and immediately walked over to Cozy Corner for breakfast. After filling out bellies we went home… and slept.. and slept. So tired. Long vacation, plus a red eye flight!

When we finally got up we went over to Killian & Liz’s house. They didn’t make it out to Hawaii for the trip because they were expecting their baby to be born.. and guess what? She was born on our wedding day! We will never forget exactly how old Fiona is. Also, we might never make it to her birthday party. haha.

So, it was fun to meet Fiona. She is only about a week old in this photo, although she’s over a month old now.

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Famous Last Words

January 30th, 2011 · No Comments

“…. I’ll just go for one drink, maybe two….”

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.

There’s a section of the Gilt food menu called “On Toast”. I thought these things were going to be wimpy and lame, but when we ordered the triple cream délice de bourgogne cheese with apricot preserve and herb salad, it was awesome. Good-sized slices of thickly cut grilled bread. The cheese was a generous serving, unlike some places where you only get a sliver. The cheese and apricot was a great pairing. I don’t know that I’d really consider a few leaves scattered upon the cutting board it was served on to be a salad, though.

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!

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