bright lights, big city

as a last hurrah before baby and a little break from the daily grind, i spent a weekend in new york city with some of my favorite chicago girlfriends. only one of us still lives in chitown (!) so it was fun to all meet up and eat our way through the city, with some walking waddling (in my case), a few shows, and lots of late night chats thrown in too. i left nyc feeling beyond grateful for these friends. i love that we can always pick up right where we left off, and that they will all gladly hunt down a food truck at midnight any day.

we brunched at sarabeth's (where viola davis sat behind us), noshed at westville, tasted at sockerbit, pit stopped at the waffles and dingues truck, pizza'ed at bleeker street, tested out the meatball shop, ice creamed at big gay, food trucked at the halal guys, cookied at levain, dined at luke's for lobster rolls, and grabbed cheesecake at junior's too. also, a trip to shake shack was a given. when in new york...

my favorite thing we did was getting blowouts at the dry bar. having good hair, if only for a few minutes before we stepped out into the wind, made my hugely pregnant self feel pretty good. i'd take a shampoo head massage any day.

ky and hannah were our food experts.

we spent a gorgeous afternoon walking the high line, and witnessed a pop-up wedding.

and then, we had to go home and like, take care of our families or something. this trip was so good for the soul! i am definitely past the "cute" stage of pregnancy and well into the swollen, large, and in charge part, but i want to remember this perfect weekend break.

calories don't count on vacation

of paris, harriet beecher stowe once said, "at last i have come into a dreamland..."

and that is how we feel about french cuisine.

our chef friend recommended we try lunch at l'hotel, so we made a reservation and hoped that sage would be perfectly behaved. as luck would have it, she fell asleep for all but the petit fours at the end of the experience. we had the most relaxing, happy lunch date sitting in a quaint, sun-dappled courtyard. the weather was perfect, the food even more perfect. 

i can't even remember exactly what we ate, but it was all presented beautifully with greenery--that grew in the garden next to our table--incorporated into every dish.

we went back to a little bistro we loved last time, and the restaurant had changed names and owners. however, we recognized one of the waiters--the one with impeccable manners who took his role very seriously. he told us he'd been working as a waiter at that address for thirty years, through every name change and every owner change.

the perk of eating out ridiculously early (7pm is ridiculously early) is personalized service. for sage, the waiters brought out markers and paper on a platter. they also offered to make a custom off-menu entrée of roast chicken and mashed potatoes just for her.

we tasted lots of onion soup. we made sure to pick up macarons at ladurée, and browsed restaurant menus in one area until we found chocolate mousse.

my foodie friend just sent me a woman's description of her experience at a famously chic restaurant. at the end of her epiphany, the woman says, "i was in love with the world because of food. i have never known anything like it in my life."

while my life wasn't changed in quite such a dramatic way, i was feeling pretty in love with the world after our week of indulging. i love that cooking is an art form and a serious sport for the french.

alinea

i gave myself an early birthday present this year...

in my most spontaneous moment since having a child, i booked a ticket with points the day before and flew to chicago for 24 hours while we were in the U.S.
the thing that sparked it all? alinea.
one thing i do miss about our former life in chitown is the foodie scene. when some of my favorite girlfriends told me they suddenly had an open spot in their alinea reservation made months and months ago, i couldn't pass it up. i left sage for the first time ever and relished my short time with my fun friends.

i want to remember the menu...

steelhead roe with coconut, curry, yuzu + anjou pear with onion, brie, smoking cinnamon


oyster leaf mignonette

king crab with passionfruit, heart of palm,  allspice

lobster with carrot, chamomile

razor clam with shiso, soy, daikon

woolly pig with fennel, orange, squid

scallop acting like agedashi tofu

otoro with thai banana, sea salt, kaffir lime


burn morels with rampls, fiddlehead fern, miner's lettuce

hot potato with cold potato, black truffle, butter


lamb with whatever pairings you want


black truffle explosion with romaine, parmesan


squab inspired by miro


ginger with five other flavors



blueberry with buttermilk, sorrel, macadamia


balloon made of green taffy and helium
this is when carol said, "jess, eat the balloon for this picture!" and i did. and then the taffy stuck to my face and hair. and then i inhaled the helium and squeaked, "ah! it's stuck in my hair!" in a helium voice for all the people around us to hear. not classy, not classy at all.

white chocolate with strawberry, english pea, lemon, vanilla cream 

it was definitely a night to remember.

korean bbq

this was a tasty meal and we only had a phone to document it...
ate barbequed eel and kimchi for the first time.
love korean bbq

girl & the goat

i can't even put into words how grateful i am to have made such amazing friends in this city. seriously! they are the best. two such friends had a reservation for months at girl and the goat, a restaurant that i've been dying to try. i tried to make us a reservation awhile ago before the move, but the soonest date was in august! they gave up their reservation and even watched little sage for us so we could have one last date just the two of us. wonderful!

the food was to die for.

fried east beach oysters


confit goat belly with lobster and crab

go there!

the cureall

this winter has really gotten to me, like way more than last winter. i feel like the cold and gloom are never ending. and i just found out that i can't go on maternity leave as soon as i'd hoped to. so obviously, the best cure for all of this is food + friends. chicago is a food mecca, so why not take advantage?

this weekend, we tasted:
papousas
tapas (favorite: bacon wrapped dates)
paella
homemade guac made by nate



i also made nate be my model -- while he was reading up on jimmer facts i'm sure. i'm trying to figure out a new lens well enough to take good pictures of baby girl. i have a long way to go, but it's fun to mess around.