Around 9:30 we left Jen and Chad’s party and headed down to Wicker Park where Todd was hosting a party. We did this same thing two years ago when Todd hosted a party, and sort of did last year, except the party was at Frasca, not Todd’s house. Dallas brought our Wii over the night before and we all played that. We also played some good, old-fashioned Pictionary. We each put in $10 and the girls won all the money! Kelly made some delicious jello shots with real cherries in them and some fantastic mystery punch.
At midnight we toasted with Dom Perignon and some Sofia by Francis Ford Coppola Winery. A few people have asked me how the Dom was, since it’s known to be expensive and one of the best champagnes. To be honest, it tasted like champagne. Good champagne, but it was the only one at the party so I couldn’t compare and I’m not a huge connoisseur of champagne. Katjie, on the other hand, said she loves champagne and that it was great, so I’ll take her word for it. I also really liked the Sophia sparkling white.
I don’t know what happened after midnight. It’s a bit of a blur. Haha. Someone (ADAM!?) had my camera and took about a thousand photos. Dallas said I took them, but I’m in a lot of the photos, so that can’t be. Anyway, fun party. Great New Years Eve overall.
Before you read any of this, know that you have to sing the post title to the tune of Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA,” because that is Brian’s favorite song.
Christine and Adam and to the left, Adam’s brother Todd
Larry and Lilia, Ang & Murph
Brian, Sara, Kelly
Larry is a giant.
On Saturday night we went out for Brian’s birthday. Sara, his fiance, arranged for 16 of us to have dinner at Sakura Teppanyaki. This was a Benihana kind of place where they cook the food on a hot grill in front of you and put on a show. Uh, not that I’ve ever been to Benihana, but I went to a similar kind of place on Mauai called Kobe Japanese Steak House way back in 2009. I haven’t been to anything like this since.
Lots of shrimp, scallops, lobster, chicken and steak.
Our chef messing with Brett & Kelly.
Setting up the onion volcano.
The volcano.
All of the teppanyaki dinners were served with a grilled shrimp appetizer, miso soup, salad, grilled vegetables and fried rice. Then you got to pick what kind of entree you wanted. There was a selection of different kinds of fish, chicken, steak, filet mignon, shrimp, scallops, lobster, or calamari. Or you could get a combo. I got steak and scallops. And I upgraded my fried rice to chicken fried rice. I liked everything I had, except I wouldn’t recommend the upgrade to chicken fried rice. It’s not worth it. Otherwise it was all good. Dinners range from about $18 – 30. Not too expensive for all of the food you get. I was so stuffed at the end of dinner.
As for our chef, he was pretty funny. He quickly detected which were the people to mess with and playfully teased them while cooking our dinner. He kept saying “No sake bomb, no happy!” so we bought him a sake bomb when we got a round for the table.
Almost all the ladies were drinking these 100-calorie martinis (on the left), sake bombs on the right.
Here’s the set up: Glass of beer, sake balanced on chop sticks.
All set?
Larry showing Brian how it’s done. Everyone pounds the table.
Then the sake falls into the glass. You can see Larry’s chopsticks flying and the sake glass inside the beer glass.
Our table had countless rounds of sake bombs. I think I had 2-3 total, but some people had more. A sake bomb is served with a glass of beer and a shot glass sized serving of sake. The drinker takes their chopsticks and lays them across the top of the beer pint glass. Then they balance the sake on the top of the chopsticks. This can be tricky after a few drinks. Ask Lynda. She accidentally dropped hers in early twice and had to drink her bomb before everyone was ready.
After you have the sake balanced you pound the table and it causes the sake to fall into the beer. The should be drank immediately. To be honest, the sake bombs mostly just tasted like beer to me, but because everyone feels the need to race and chug, and the fact that there is sake in there, it can make you drunk fast. Also, the sake glass falling into the beer can be really messy. I had a lap of beer on the first round. On the second I just dropped the sake in instead of doing the chopsticks and pounding. Not as fun, but definitely less messy!
After dinner we headed over to some really cheesy Lincoln Park bars. Good thing I was drunk because these were not my kind of places! I asked Brian if I was going to feel like an old lady at the bar we were headed to. You know… not old, just too old for the club, but he said just to sit back and watch and laugh, and so I did. So, we headed to Beaumont, which most people seemed to have been to but not for a long time and not proudly. And not so early. It was dead when we arrived. No one else was there. But in no time if was filled with single 20-somethings. It was actually kind of painful to watch.
The Store til Four
Don’t ask. It was late. I get the willies just looking at this photo!
Later on we went down a few buildings to The Store.. ahem… The Store til 4. Any bar with “til 4″ in the name is probably not a good idea. I’m looking at you Tai’s til 4! I learned that lesson a few times many years ago. But Dallas and I didn’t stay out anywhere near 4 a.m. I think we caught a cab home at 2 or so.
I didn’t see Brian on Saturday but I saw him for a while on Sunday at The Scout in the South Loop where we were eating lunch and watching some football (Packers won! Lions lost! We’re the best in the league!) and it seemed like he had a good birthday weekend!
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.
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!
So, we took the boat over from Port of Blarney to Blarney Island. Let me be clear when I say that this is not a bar ON and island, but the bar IS the island. It’s location is a mile off-shore in Green Lake, nearby Antioch, IL, inspiring their slogan “A Mile Away From Reality.”
The story is that in the early 1900s Blarney Island was a houseboat on the Fox River. Jack O’Connor owned this houseboat and across the way he had some big competition from Shorty Shobin’s place, known as Shorty’s. Well, one night in a poker game they each bet their businesses and Shorty lost. Over the years Blarney Island has grown immensely and changed hands many times. IN 1939, a dam was put up in McHenry, which flooded the riverbanks. The dam created what is now Grass Lake and also cut Blarney Island off from dry land access, making it an official island.
Ok. Enough of the history lesson. If you want to read more, go here.
Dallas
When we arrived we all got out of the boat and kind of looked around, wandered around. Dallas bee-lined for the food ordering window, which was the best thing we could have done. (Aside from my bee-line for the bathroom.)
We sat inside at the lower bar for a while and ate and had a beer. Someone (not me) took these photos of our scantily-clad waitresses down there.
Really gross, though. I looked up and saw all this underwear hanging from the ceiling! Ugh! Time to go outside!
Outside it was a gorgeous day. There was a band playing cover songs. Pretty fun. Actually, when they went on a break they were just playing songs on the speakers and I danced with Brian to All the Single Ladies and possibly more songs. When the band came back, I was on the stage talking to them about what to play. I requested Miley Cyrus (inside joke) but they said no.
Front: Rachelle & Christine Back: Dallas, Sara, Todd, Kelly
The deck outside was really nice. It was great to be in the sun, as this summer comes to a close. There were outside bars, outside band, outside dance floor, outside tables and chairs. This is not a place to go in bad weather.
Here’s the outside bar. Blarney Island claims to be “The Key West of the Midwest” and not only that, also “The Greatest Boating Bar in the World.” Key West because it’s decorated with “palm trees, boats, babes, bikinis, booze and more“. The greatest boating bar because it’s an island you can drive your boat right up to.
Mike & Sara
I honestly do not know how long we sat outside drinking beer and listening to the band. Here’s Mikey with my sunglasses on. My busted sunglasses. Adam and I were spinning in circles.. more like he grabbed my arm and spun me… and my sunglasses went flying off and the lenses popped out. No biggie, though. I only get cheapo sunglasses for this reason!
Maybe Blarney Island should also claim to be the best helicopter bar. At one point a helicopter landed there and some guys got out to hang out at the bar. Crazy. I ran over to see what was going on and some bouncer/security stopped me before I could get too close. I think he said one of the owners has a helicopter? I’m not sure now.
Saw this funny sign in the bathroom.
Kelly, Sara, Rachelle
At some point (I have no idea what time it was) we had to go to meet the van we hired to pick us up (no cabs out here). Here we are waiting for the boat to arrive to take us back to the Port of Blarney.
Christine & Adam
Adam & Christine waiting for the boat.
Dallas
Dallas being an idiot on the boat…..
Sara & Brian
… while Sara and Brian enjoy a romantic boat ride.
Brian, Todd, Dallas
At that point we probably should have just gone home, but NO. We ended up going to some townie bars in Antioch. First was The Tavern Depot. If I remember correctly, this was in a strip mall kind of area. And it was empty. Like just us and the band. The bartender was sweet though, and we filled up on free popcorn and some pizza while playing pool.
Todd
Next we walked over to Limerick Lounge, which was really packed. It was a party going on in there!
Todd, Mike, Brian
At some point some of our group left and went to Rugans, which was where we finally met up. There was a guy here playing the guitar and singing. I asked him to play Miley Cyrus and he said NO. I was getting so tired by now. As you can see above, everyone was pretty much DONE! Time to go home.
Here’s a fun fact: I spent an entire evening and night in Antioch and thought I was in Wisconsin! Antioch is about a mile or so south of the Wisconsin and Illinois border, but is on the Illinois side.
Brian, Mike, Adam, Adam
So, why’s the bar called PORT of Blarney? Because it’s where you go to take a boat out to Blarney Island, an island bar known as the Key West of the Midwest…. according to them. I didn’t really understand before we got there. I thought there was an island in Grass Lake and someone built a bar on the island. The fact is that the bar IS the island.
Rachelle, Kelly, Sara, Christine
It was a beautiful day, so we all sat outside and enjoyed some beverages while we waited for the boat to arrive to pick us up. This guy kept getting in our photos.
Kelly, Rachelle, Photobomber
See? It was on purpose, I’m sure!
Sara, Brian, Kelly, Todd
Finally, after about one drink, the boat arrived and took us out to Blarney Island. More on that to come….
