London 2011

Sheryl and I with her mom and aunt planned for a Europe trip in November 2011 to London and Paris. In addition to us 4 from the US, Sheryl's cousin and her husband and parents from the Philippines met up in London to start this trip. It's always been a dream of mine to visit Europe and this was my opportunity. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this trip and how surreal it was knowing that I was starting to fulfill one of my dreams. Our group was such a pleasure to be with and we had so many laughs. We started the first leg of our trip in London and stayed with Sheryl's dad and her uncle's longtime friend and his family. Just imagine 12 of us in a London townhome..yea, it was cramped, but we definitely managed. The hospitality was amazing and they always prepared a home cooked meal, this family was just amazing and am grateful for their gratitude to take us all in their home. The train was only a 15 min walk and about a 30-40 min to city center. We did all the touristy stuff doing the hop on and off bus tour around London, had a traditional English pub lunch and drove out to Windsor castle for the day. The castle was already closed by the time we got there, so we enjoyed walking around the town and did some shopping. Also visited Notting Hill to experience their markets and freshly prepared sandwiches and sweets. On our last day, we did afternoon tea at Harrod's. Loved it!

Lexington, Kentucky

Visited Sheryl for her birthday weekend in Lexington, KY as she wasn't able to come home. She was out there building an office for her company for a couple of months already and thought, why not visit. Kentucky is a different breed compared to Chicago. The people were nice, but the way of life was at a slower pace that I'm used to, nonetheless it was a nice change of pace for the long weekend. Dabbled in a bit of night life, spent Sunday afternoon at Keeneland to watch the horses and then on Monday, visited Woodford Reserve for a bourbon tour before my flight back home to Chicago. Keeneland was an experience, I've never been to a horse race because I wasn't really interested, but it was an appropriate activity while in Lexington as it's part of the lifestyle. Woodford Reserve was pretty cool. Not a big bourbon drinker, but alas we were in Kentucky, plus it's one of my Kuya Arn's choice of drink.

Ming Hin Cuisine

Visited here twice within 6 months, yes it was that good. Plus I went with two different groups. First was with Mae for a typical Sunday Dim Sum. Ming Hin is in the newer part of Chinatown off Archer ave. The restaurant was very clean and modern and the menu was easy to read and it allowed us to mark which small plates we wanted, so there really was minimal conversation with the staff about the foods. The second time was for my birthday on a Monday with my parents, Chi and my aunt and uncle. Both times I was satisfied and enjoyed our foods, as did my family and Mae.

FishBar

Mae, Ang and I headed to FishBar in the Lakeview neighborhood on a Friday night to try this new spot out, which happens to be on the same block of Kirkwood that we frequent often and where we ended our night. FishBar has a small inside and has outdoor seating and hoped to be outside, but got a booth inside. We ordered to share and the food was delicious. Everything was fresh and the sauces were simple and the drinks were refreshing. I'd come back here if you ever wanted a quick bite of good, fresh seafood. We had the fried calamari, rock shrimp, cup of clam chowder, lobster roll, soft shell crab sandwich, calamari on a wood plank, tater tots, garlic bread and fried lemon, onion and jalapeno. Love fried goodness!

Grahamwich and More

Took the day off and ventured out into the city with Mae. We redeemed our groupons for the Seadog and walked throughout the city. Had lunch at Grahamwich and had minis at More Cupcakes. Grahamwich was pretty good. I had the Southern Bbq sandwich of pulled pork, cole slaw, dill pickles and cornbread crumbles on a kaiser roll with a side g'wich chips. Mae got the roast beef with grainy mustard, baby arugula, shoestring potato and red onions on a pretzel roll.

Frontera Grill

My mom and I had lunch at Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill in the River North area during the week. I describe it as fancy authentic Mexican cuisine in a casual setting. I love Mexican food and learned about Rick Bayless while watching him on Top Chef Masters. The food at Frontera was so good and had so much flavor. I had the pork chop in a mole sauce and the sauce was on point. I was never a big a fan of mole bc of previous experiences that were not so good. We started with classic queso fundido and sweet corn tamales. My mom got the fish of the day and I had the pork chop in a mole sauce. We then headed next door to Rick's Xoco for some coffee and churros. The menu at Frontera changes and I look forward to coming back here and try more tasty food!

Las Vegas 2011

A well deserved get away for me and my friend Mae, wherelse?...Vegas! Left Chicago the week before Memorial Day weekend and stayed at the MGM Grand. Soaked in the sun by the poolside while drinking tasty adult beverages...yea we were one of those with those yardstick glasses hahaha. We decided to do a nice dinner one night at Koi in Planet Hollywood for some delicious sushi and refreshing lychee martini, then after that walked over to Caesar's Palace for Serendipty 2 for some amazing red velvet cake and the famous frozen hot chocolate. Ended our trip with what else....In and Out!

Macku Sushi

Happy Birthday Ang! She wanted a small intimate dinner and sushi to celebrate. D picked Macku Sushi in Lincoln Park. Such a contemporary layout of the place and only had about 40 seats available, so it was a perfect setting that Ang wanted. Had an awesome experience here, though a bit pricey, but the food was soooo good with clean flavors. Started off with a sweet potato soup of lobster broth, pureed sweet potato, black tiger shrimp and chives; then we just order a whole array of sushi and nigri. My fave was the nama sake nigri, it was topped with truffle oil and chives...soooo good! The sushi was so fresh and well presented. Ended the meal with a cheesecake like dessert in a raspberry sauce. Definitely recommend this place!

Shapiro's Delicatessen

I visited my Kuya and his family in Carmel, Indiana to use up some PTO, but also spend quality time with their family. The kids were on spring break so it was perfect timing to hang with kids and give my cousin and his wife a bit of break. Of course before I left, I remember seeing on Food Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate, Marc Summers visiting Shapiro's Delicatessen in Indianapolis, so obviously I had to go there. We visited the Carmel location, which was only 10 min away from the house. The place was set up like cafeteria style, grab a tray and go pick the foods you wanted. I enjoyed the pastrami on white with sides of mac and cheese and potato salad. The kids really enjoyed their sandwiches and hot meals. Didn't get to make it to the bakery for treats, but will definitely come back when I'm back in town, which I hope is really soon :-)

Uncle Mike's Place

You need a good breakfast before the shenanigans of St. Paddy's starts, right? The tripod hit up Uncle Mike's Place in the Ukranian Village for a Filipino breakfast. Uncle Mike's serves your classic and traditional breakfast items, but there's a small special section of Filipino breakfast dishes because of his wife who introduced it. You can order tocino (sweet pork), logonisa (sweet pork sausage), bangus(marinated white milkfish)or spam (yes, spam!) with two eggs and sinangag(garlic fried rice). Man, the portions were huge, but let's just say it lasted me for the day. I brought my parents and brother here a couple months later before a Cubs game and my dad said he could do this for free bwahahahaha. The visit with my family, they also served lugaw which is a Filipino congee style, Arroz caldo.

Yolk

Mae and I decided to meet for breakfast for a nice change of pace on a Sunday morning. Had breakfast at Yolk in the River North area. We both had some fashion of eggs benedict, Mae got the pot roast and I got the chorizo. We also wanted some sweet, so we split the banana nutella crepes. You just can't go wrong with breakfast and Yolk did it right.

#4 Chicago Firehouse

The family and I headed to Chicago Firehouse for a nice steak dinner and the last restaurant on the list. Our family loves our meats haha. Chi and D ordered off the regular dinner menu. Chi got the 22oz Porterhouse with D getting the bone-in ribeye, both enormous pieces of meat. I started with a cup of lobster bisque and a ribeye topped with a herbed blue cheese crust, which was a very small dollop that was just enough as I'm not a big fan of blue cheese. Ended with a brownie a la mode. I really enjoyed my meal and the steak was cooked to my liking very well. D and Chi felt their steaks were a bit overcooked, but nonetheless they both cleaned their plates. I'd definitely come back here.