Oh, the things we ate...

Friends, Romans, etc.

After leaving Chicago a few weeks ago, I have been thinking a lot about the many wonderful memories I have experienced there and began to notice a common theme that also relates to one of my favorite hobbies: eating. During the three and a half years I spent in Chicago, I have had the pleasure of literally eating my way through the city and in doing so have discovered a number of delectable establishments that will haunt my dreams for years to come. As a farewell of sorts to my most recent home, I wanted to share these with you should you ever happen upon Chicago with an empty stomach.

hands down, my favorite restaurant in Chicago (conveniently located right around the corner from our apartment). Not terribly expensive, Gilt Bar has amazing hand-made pastas and ice cream and a great selection of interesting cocktails. Full disclosure, I have, single-handed, eaten gallons of their mint chocolate chip ice cream. I may or may not have also dreamed about it. Also, the trufflepastaohmygod.

Guys, listen to me, deep dish pizza is disgusting. I'm sorry, it just is. Cheap ingredients, an inch and a half of low-quality mozzarella smothered in tomato sauce from a can. Gross. SO, if you are in Chicago and looking for some amazing pizza (and a variety of other delicious items), La Madia should be your number one destination. They have a bad-ass wood fired oven and out of it comes the most incredible creations (triple pepperoni with TRUFFLE OIL anyone?) Our last night in Chicago, we made our best attempt to eat our way through the entire menu in order to implant it in our minds for all time.

Spectacular Vietnamese food in the gold coast. Good for a fancy date night (you will need reservations, but it's worth it). The atmosphere at Le Colonial is akin to that of a turn of the century hotel, and the dishes are light, fresh and spectacular.

A great place for drinks and small plates after work with friends. Maud's has a dark, moody and very prohibition style atmosphere (among the waitstaff, ironic facial hair and vests abound). You have to try the smoky violet smash. Easily one of the best drinks I have ever had in my life. Warning: more than one smash will leave you kersmashed (but in the most delicious possible way!)

If you have a special occasion to celebrate, Nightwood is your spot. Located in Pilsen (read: you need a cab or a car to get there from downtown), this restaurant serves all locally grown and sourced items with a menu that changes daily depending on what is available. Everything they serve is spectacular. You simply cannot order badly (unless you are vegetarian and order some of their scrumtrulescent pork dishes...). It is pricey and requires travel, so it's better for a special occasion.

Our go-to rainy day lunch spot. This little hole in the wall in downtown Chicago serves a great lunch menu. Ginza is perfect for those frigid winter days where the only thing that will make you forget the sun sets at 4 PM is a bowl of miso soup, green tea and gossip with good friends.

A charming little reasonably priced French restaurant in the gold coast. The lovely menu is filled with savory items that will fit the bill whether you need a quick refuel during a day of errands or a cozy dinner with your loved ones. Bistrot's prices are reasonable, the atmosphere is casual, and it is within spitting distance of great shopping (Anthropologie!)

A classy 30's style hole in the wall (literally, there is no sign out front - only a painted plywood facade) in Wicker Park that serves delectable and mysterious concoctions in a moody, hushed room with high backed chairs and many little nooks and crannies for cuddling up and sharing secrets.

Violet Hour is the perfect place to take friends who come to visit and want to experience something uniquely Chicago. Also, while they have an extensive menu of interesting cocktails, you can also tell your server what kind of flavors you enjoy in your drink and the bartenders will create something unique!

THE place for steak frites. mmmmmmmmm. This Parisian inspired restaurant has a variety of small-to-large plates for you to choose from. They also have a crazy fancy lounge/club type space upstairs that is occasionally visited by celebrities. I can assure you that my lack of suavity has assured that I will never be let up there.

A slightly more affordable (and low-key) alternative to The Nightwood if you are looking for some wonderful local cuisine in Bucktown. Dinner at The Bristol is served at big farm tables and the restaurant has a great communal feel. A great place to take your friend for dinner who has just let you learn to drive stick shift on his car. (You know, in theory and all)

Extremely Honorable Mentions:

-Uncommon Ground (great locally sourced cuisine a killer drink menu and awesome dessert)

-Avec (délectable plates ranging in size from small to large)

-Julius Meinl (delicious coffee and other beverages, as well as great food. A perfect spot for meeting your best friend for brunch)

-Cocoro (incredible japanese food - we'd usually hit up ginza for lunch and cocoro for dinner, never the other way around...not sure why)

-Spacca Napoli (great thin crust pizza and steps away from Architectural Artifacts, one of our favorite rainy day activities)

-Xoco / Frontera Grill (Rick Bayless's restaurants. The food is wonderful but the wait times are INSANITY. Call ahead or go in when they open and get on the list and then go shop Michigan avenue. It is actually worth the wait.)

And there you have it. My surefire way to ensure that you will never visit Chicago without a decent meal.

Getting settled

Home at last, for now.

We moved from our hotel to the temporary apartment - a vintage building not far from our office and have spent the past couple of days doing things that are mundane in everyday life but rather exciting in a foreign country. We keep going into grocery stores and wandering around just looking (and buying chocolate...because it would be weird to leave a grocery store empty handed right?) because everything is just so different. Filling our teeny little fridge for the first time was an adventure as was the first load of laundry in the microscopic washer/dryer (one machine, two long and very noisy jobs).

There was a rather nerve wracking moment as I sat there, anxiously listening to the aforementioned washer/dryer as it made noises implying that it was about to pull away from the wall and rocket into space. It didn't, surprisingly, and a mere 3.5 hours later our clothing was both clean and dry. Lesson learned: leave house to do other things when clothes are being washed or risk being deafened by the whirring and whining of the little raccoon that is obviously trapped inside this small strange device.

Classiest lunch around: Fresh bread, a little cheese and delicious beef jerky. (Stop judging me, Internet.)

For documenting.

This couch is coated in Teflon, I swear to god. It looks so modern and hip, but the last thing it wants you to do is sit on it. In the photo above I have had to wedge one foot between the cushions to avoid being ejected. Heaven help those who fall asleep on it. I hear one guy went missing and was never found.

So we are settled for the time being and have been spending our time apartment hunting and acclimating ourselves to our new surroundings. Work begins in earnest on Monday so I'm grateful to have a little extra time to adjust.

Sidenote: I need to learn French like, tomorrow. It is so frustrating to be surrounded by people and have no idea what any of them are saying (it is putting a major cramp in my love of eavesdropping). Any tips that anyone has for becoming fluent in an entire language in just a few hours, if you could send them my way I will be eternally grateful. In all seriousness, our 'survival' French courses start on Monday, but that is doing nothing to quell my impatience.

The view from here

If you could not tell from the previous post (written under hazy-at-best brain clarity) we have landed in the mountainous, chocolate and skier filled region that is known to the world as Lausanne. Or, as I have now come to know it, The-City-That-Is-Built-On-A-Mountain-Where-The-Coolest-Stuff-Is-On-Top-Of-The-Mountain-And-You-Always-Seem-To-Be-At-The-Bottom-Of-The-Mountain-So-Then-You-Need-To-Climb-The-Mountain. Given my recent tendency to sloth-like behavior, I think that this is probably a very good thing.

The really wonderful thing about hiking up and down though, is that the sights along the way are just spectacular. I'm not talking about grandiose, overdone fanciness here, just hundreds of little things along the way that could have been created without thought or care, but instead were created with an eye for beauty.

The place that I am reminded of the most as I walk around here is Disney World (well, minus the kids). The residences and pedestrian-only cobblestone streets and people strolling arm-in-arm in the evenings seems almost too perfect to be real. Granted, the reality is very present, but right now in the first rosy days of our stay here it is easy to pretend it doesn't.

As the sun set over the city, lights popped on in apartments on every street. As a total stranger here, it gave me such a sense of comfort to see people going on about their daily lives in their tiny, softly lit apartments. It reassures me that someday soon we too will be settled in a tiny apartment of our own and begin to belong here instead of looking at everything through the eyes of visitors.

We were able to see just a bit of the mountains before the sun went down. I hope to be able to photograph the scenery again soon when the weather is more accommodating. We capped off this evening's stroll with dinner at one of the few hotel restaurants open on New Year's Day. In the spirit of trying new things, I opted for the steak tar tare and it was incredible.

Cheers to a new year.

Thoughts from a new land

Post 1 from Lausanne:

Morale: High with a case of narcolepsy

Food: Supplies low, foraging proved both successful and delicious

Odd books spotted being read by strangers: 1, Fondue and Fur (?)

The weeks leading up to The Flight were so jam packed with goodbyes and dwelling on all the unknowns of All This Change, my thoughts on moving constantly flitted back and forth between PANIC! EXCITEMENT! PANIC! COOKIES! (I'm a stress eater) PANICPANICEXCITEMENT! etc. Wine in vast quantities did somewhat alleviate the panic portion of this issue.

The past few days were filled with packing, repacking, unpacking to find the things that we accidentally packed and suddenly needed, ironing, saying final farewells and running errands. When every last sock was stowed away, we headed to the airport and said goodbye to Anthony's parents.

Since we had no idea what traffic would be like on New Year's Eve, we got to the airport with hours to spare and spent it quietly occupied in the airport lounge. Anthony worked diligently on the world's largest crossword puzzle and I attempted to eat all the cheese cubes from the refreshment station (see above re: stress eating).

And then, the time came, our section was called for boarding and with shaking knees (literally) we headed into the unknown.

A mere six hours later...here we are. More to come soon, but for now. Sleep.

Some Wednesday Loveliness

In honor of hump day, I'd like to share some beautiful things with you. (Still working out in my head how those two things are related, but who doesn't want to look at beautiful things regardless of the day?)

Without further ado:

Anthony's dad has been working on sculptures for the past few years and now has a growing collection of his cast pieces. This lovely girl came home with us at Thanksgiving and is now serenely brushing her hair atop my dresser.

Last year he created this ballerina which is one of my favorites. I love the wistful expression on her face and the gesture of her arm. Her dress, the rest of which is not pictured is absolutely beautiful.

This woman was voted a universal favorite by all of us over the holiday. Everything about her is exquisite from her face to her stance to how she is holding her mirror.

I love these pieces because they immediately make me wonder what the figures are thinking. They all have such wonderfully expressive faces - at once calm and a little melancholy. I love all the potential stories they contain.

I hope your hump day is a happy one!