Entries Tagged as 'wine'

Crust

August 5th, 2011 · No Comments

I had a coupon for Crust so Jess and Sara and I went out for dinner one night. I’d never been there before but Jess and Sara had. To start, we split the baby beet salad (organic poached baby beets, avocado, pink grapefruit, extra virgin olive oil). Then we split two pizzas: The Forestierre had bechemel, woodland mushrooms, roasted peppers and fontina cheese. The Basilico had tomato sauce, bechamel, mozzarella, fontina, provolone, parmigiano reggiano, and fresh basil.

Oh, and we also tried the Lambrusco, which was a sparkling red. I’d never had a sparkling red before and I liked that too. It wasn’t like it was bubbling all over the place like a champagne, it just had a slight, light fizz to it.

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Hall and Oates at Ravinia

July 8th, 2011 · No Comments

A couple Sundays ago Dallas and I headed up to Highland Park to see Hall and Oates at Ravinia, the oldest outdoor music festival in the United States. Hall & Oates is one of Dallas’s favorite bands OF ALL TIME and we have listened to them together for as long as we’ve known each other. We even had one of their songs at our wedding reception. You Make My Dreams was the last song played that night.

Originally we’d planned to go with a whole big group of friends and sit out on the lawn at Ravinia. Lawn seats are seats where you can’t see the band, but you just sit around and relax and pack a picnic and drinks and listen to the music. Ravinia is one of the very few concert venues in the country to allow people to bring full meals and alcoholic beverages to shows. Reserved seats (in the pavilion) were something like $80, but lawn seats were only $26. Well, none of our friends followed up when we emailled them and all tickets sold out, reserved and lawn! So, it ended up being a date night for us, which was fine too.

We arrived a little later than we expected and ended up having to park in overflow parking. Then we had to carry all of our things over to the Highland Park Metra stop and take a bus to the Ravinia grounds. Once there, the whole lawn was already so packed! We ended up walking around with all of our stuff (chair, sheet, picnic, drinks) trying to find a spot to sit. By this time Dallas was freaking out. He’d never been to Ravinia before, he didn’t know what to expect. And if there are three things he can’t stand they’re 1) traffic, 2) waiting in lines, and 3) crowds of people. We were dealing with all of that! As a side note, I”ve been to Ravinia before, but it was years ago. I went once in 2004 for Ben Fold and Rufus Wainwright. And I went once in 2006 for a FeedBurner outing. Buddy Guy was playing that night.

Once we found a place to sit and settled in, we were all good. No one was going to be leaving for hours. We didn’t need to worry about people and getting back to the car or driving for a while. We busted out our food and drinks. Dallas had beer, I had wine. I brought cheese and crackers from Provenance, a small Logan Square wine and specialty food store. We had the best caramelized onion Potter’s Crackers and paired them with some with both a blue cheese and Otter Creek pesto cheddar. Originally, I’d planned to get sandwiches from Cooking Fools, but when I stopped in, their selection of cold sandwiches was severely limited, so I just picked up some penne with lemon basil pesto and cherry tomatoes. Then I went over to Red Hen Bread and got a couple sandwiches – Turkey on a Bollo (House roasted turkey breast, provolone, red onion, tomato, arugula, mayo, and whole grain mustard served on a rosemary bollo) for me and a Knuckle Sandwich (Honey roasted ham, salami, prosciutto, provolone, red onions, tomato, romaine, and our red hen vinaigrette served on a ciabatta panino bun) for Dallas. Everything was so delicious!

Intense Angry Birds session during the opening act.

The first band was called Company of Thieves. They were a band local to Chicago who had been touring with Hall and Oates. We both liked them. The singer’s voice reminded me of Adele.

When Hall and Oates came on it was so awesome. We knew the words to every song they played. They were all old favorites. We sang along, ate our snacks, enjoyed our drinks. It was such a great time. I can never understand how Ravinia can be so calm and relaxing when you’re surrounded by thousands of people in close quarters. The mix of people there is so crazy. Young people, old people, families, of all races and backgrounds. The mom and dad next to us were playing Uno with their son while he jammed out to Maneater. It was so fun!

At the end of Hall and Oates’ set, we decided to leave. It was during the encore that we had a short wait for the bus. We could still hear the music very clearly so the line was still a party. But we ended up getting on the bus fast, got to our lot fast, and actually drove right out of there and onto the highway without any traffic at all… and we only missed maybe 2 songs. Awesome.

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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

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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

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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

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

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Benefit Beauty Bash

June 3rd, 2011 · No Comments


Benefit Boutique


Benefit Boutique


Benefit Cosmetics


We had red wine, white wine, cheese, crackers, and fruit.


Benefit Cosmetics


Janice getting her makeover.


I took a photo of myself in the bathroom after my makeover.


Memory Aid: Some of the products used in my makeover.


Memory Aid: Some of the products used in my makeover.


Jessica after her makeover.


Maria, Jamie, Janice


Maria, Jamie, Rachelle, Jen, Jessica

Quinn’s school had a big fundraiser and Jen “won” a Benefit “Beauty Bash” in the online auction. She got to invite a dozen guests to be treated to an after-hours private party at the Benefit Cosmetics Boutique on Southport Avenue. Benefit served us red and white wine and Jen also brought cheese, crackers, and fruit for us to snack on. Everyone was treated to a complimentary brow shape and lash tint and then the “Beauty Artists” made each of us over.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this party. I was having flashbacks to when I was a teenager and went to Mary Kay or Avon parties. I think they used to give you like teeny, tiny sample packs of things and then everyone just had to try to follow along to the instruction. At Benefit, we all kind of mingled around drinking and eating until it was our turn for the lash or brow services or our turn to personally get our makeup done by someone else. It was so much fun. And I was impressed that so many people were free to attend, given that it was Memorial Day weekend. We had Jen, Caroline, Jamie, Jessica, Janice, another Jen, Maria, Jill, Lynn, Kristin, Abby and me.

I got the brow shaping with threading, not wax. And I loved how my makeup looked after they redid it. I bought a few Benefit products, but definitely not everything. We’ll see if I go on to buy more. I thought the products were of a good quality, I loved the store’s vibe and the product packaging. The prices were not cheap, but also not the most expensive I’ve seen either. One funny thing was that they didn’t use any blush on me because they said I was already perfectly flushed. I think what they were really telling me is that I should drink 3 glasses of wine before leaving the house every day.


Tank Sushi extravaganza!

After we got all dolled up, we all headed to dinner at Tank Sushi in Lincoln Square. Sushi extravaganza! Also, some people kept on with the wine but a lot of us switched to lychee martinis. Multiple lychee martinis!

After dinner, everyone kind of went their separate ways. Jess, Kristin, Lynn, Abby, Caroline and I headed for Tiny Lounge for more cocktails. I was feeling sleepy so I had the espresso cocktail made with handmade vodka, kahlua, tia maria (Jamaican coffee liqueur), espresso and cream. Delicious drink, but I had two and was still sleepy. Maybe it was the fact that the makeup party started at 4, so wine drinking started at 4, and by then it was 10 or 11 pm. Yeh, that’s a lot of cocktails. We ended up calling it a night after 2 rounds, but what a fun time!

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Wine Tasting at WineStyles

May 31st, 2011 · No Comments

Last week I went to a wine tasting at WineStyles in Lakeview. Limey Dave won the tasting at a charity raffle and invited me to go. It just so happens that this is Limey’s regular go-to wine shop and that he’s good friends with Matt, who is a wine specialist there. One thing I really liked about the WineStyles store was that they split up the wines by different styles – crisp, silky, rich, bubbly, fruity, mellow, bold, nectar – that I can actually understand. I tended to like the crisp and mellow styles the best.

Matt chose the wines for us and poured. We tried each one and then at the end we had seconds on the ones we liked. They also had cheese and crackers for us, which was good because I hadn’t eaten for like 7 hours and when I did, it was just a salad. I didn’t think our pours were large, but I was feeling the wine quickly!

WineStyles was also running a special on their wine club. You had to sign up for 3 months, but the first month would only cost $1. It was a great deal, but the store is not that convenient for me, so I didn’t sign up. Check out the notes Matt printed on our tasting sheet. Sorry Dave. And Go Heat! Matt is a huge Miami Heat fan, which we found out later when we went to Beckett’s to watch the game and eat dinner. Bulls lost, but Jill and I were big winners with the delicious burger we ordered and split. Get this, the Oui Oui burger was a french onion soup infused patty topped with truffled mushrooms, cognac onions and melted brie and served on a French baguette. So good. I really liked that place, too: Beckett’s. I hadn’t been there since it had been the bar called Belly’s, which I didn’t really like.

Also, I may not have joined the wine club, but I did buy two of my favorite wines from the tasting:

Skouras Chardonnay – Greece. Tasting Notes: Crisp. Only a touch of oak in this lean, refreshing Chardonnay. The pineapple, peach and vanilla scents are bright. Tropical and orchard fruit flavors, but crisp with the acid to focus the flavors.

Maryhill Winery Winemaker’s Red – Columbia Valley, Washington. Tasting Notes: Mellow. An easy-drinking wine with complex notes that make this wine a favorite! The caramel, cherry and smoke aromas lead into a palate of black pepper and nutmeg, followed by cherries, berries, and oak.

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