Joy Yee's Noodle

Years ago after a nice Sunday lunch in Chinatown, Ang walked us over to Joy Yee's Noodle for some bubble or boba tea. This iced refreshing drink is tea based of either fruit or milk with tapioca balls. Back then, it was slowly getting its attention and today almost every asian cuisine restaurant has this on their drink menu. Joy Yee's was only in Chinatown, so it was always a treat whenever we were in the area, but now today, they have multiple locations in the city and suburbs. We only used to go here for their boba tea, but while my brother was in college, on the Sundays he would go back to school, we would eat at their Naperville location before he drove off to Rock Island. Nowadays, we would only frequent it after a day of outlet shopping in Aurora, hee hee. Their food menu spans all different dishes of Asia, which makes it a one stop shop if your party is in the mood for different flavors. Our family usually sticks with the Chinese and Thai dishes. The dinner below was after a day in Aurora. We ordered Thai spicy basil shrimp and calamri, string bean salt fish, Korean BBQ short ribs, beef chow fun(which is equivalent to Thai beef pad se ew) and Tom Yum Seafood soup.

Scoozi!

I had received a couple of Lettuce Entertain You gift certificates from a co-worker and Scoozi was one of them. Located in the River North area, Mae, Steph and I had a simple dinner of Italian home and scratch made cooking. We started off with grilled calamri in a pepperoncini aioli and crispy basil and bruschetta. Steph and Mae both got the trio of ravioli. I went with the risotto of the evening of braised short rib and mushrooms. I really had a hard time deciding on the risotto or one of their pasta dishes, alas risotto it was. The food is simply made with such fresh flavors. I'd definitely come back here. Ciao!

Floriole Cafe and Bakery

Spent the afternoon with Therese in the city to help her find wedding accessories for her big day. No purchases, but she did walk away with some ideas of what she really wanted. Ended the afternoon in Lincoln Park at Floriole Cafe and Bakery, where I was first here on my birthday weeks before. I had the BAD of Bacon, Arugula, Almond Date Spread and Goat Cheese on Grilled Yeasted Corn Bread and Therese had the pizzette. I'm glad I was able to enjoy one of their cafe dishes with a nice cup of hot cider, definitely makes me wanting to come back for more. Such simple plates full of flavor....

Fam Jam in Indy

Found a weekend in October to visit my Kuya and his family in Indy in my busy work travels. I flew into Indy from Pittsburgh and met up with Ang, D and my dad on a Friday afternoon. Love visiting the family bc you know it's going to be fun with 5 kids pulling you in different directions, but I have no complaints about that bc the kids are awesome, so well behaved and respectful. Kicked off Friday night with dinner at Bub's in downtown Carmel. Man v. Food featured this family joint by eating the Big Ugly, a pound of fresh ground beef topped with cheese, lettuce, onion, bacon and tomato. If you finish it, your picture gets on the wall. Surprisingly, the walls were filled and Adam Richman from Man v. Food got his own cutout board of himself displayed. My Kuya was successful and got his pic on the wall and Evan tried it one summer and only had 2 bites left and couldn't get himself to finish. It was D's turn to try it this time. Each of us got the "normal" sized burgers and they're really fresh. After dinner, we headed to the next room for their ice cream. It was a great evening. Look to see if D finished his Big Ugly....

My dad and Evan paired up to make some apple pie on Saturday afternoon. Evan loves to eat and make pie, whenever they come up for the holidays, he's always got pies in tow. Evan took care of the crust and my dad cut up the apples. Evan got creative with the excess crust...check it out. The pies were delicious! nom nom nom.

The weekend went by too fast...

Cantina Laredo

Continued my birthday celebration with the some of the girls at Cantina Laredo in the River North area. I heart Mexican food and will try from it being authentic to a modern twist. Cantina Laredo serves authentic Mexican food in a modern sophisticated atmosphere. Started with a mango margarita and chips and guac and salsa. I ordered the enchilidas de camarones of shrimp, monterey jack cheese and roasted peppers in enchiladas on vegetables topped with sour cream poblano sauce. Ang and Therese ordered the Mahi Mahi tacos with marinated vegetables, queso fresco and chipotle aioli. Sheryl ordered the camaron poblano asada of Grilled steak around poblano pepper with shrimp, mushrooms,onions and monterey jack cheese, on chimichurri sauce. Ended dinner on a sweet note of none other than a warm churro with chocolate raspberry dipping sauce. I really enjoyed my meal even though there was a small hiccup with my entree coming out, but service turned it around very quickly and I was able to eat my meal with the rest of the group. Each of us enjoyed our food. The food was full of flavor and I look forward to coming back here.

Thank you to my friends for another memorable birthday! Love ya lots!