Blown Away

I flew to Chicago on Thursday afternoon to visit my foodie-in-crime Christine for a long weekend. To mirror the pace of all of my past visits there over the years, we had a plan in place to eat our way through what turned out to be a blustery, very windy city this time around. Thinking we would go for a quick run around Wrigleyville and the lake when I arrived, I was easily swayed to head downtown to take advantage of the beautiful weather. The rest of my time there was slated to be grey and cold. As our bus pulled onto Michigan Ave, I was greeted by a crush of elegant tulips along the sidewalks and in planters. My all-time favorite flower! They looked good enough to eat. Crisp long stems, juicily-colorful blooms in an spray of magnificent colors. Perfection. Farther down Michigan Ave surrounding the old water purification plant (or maybe it was a water pump) were packs and packs of white tulips. I was in heaven. Christine and I continued meandering around that area, grabbed some free chocolate from Ghirardelli and then made a visit to clothing store Zara. Described to me as a more upscale version of H&M with Banana Republic prices, I expected similar apparel. I guess I am way behind the fashion times because most of the stuff in there would never grace the inside of my closet. And, I'm OK with that. Leather shorts with a brown-bag cinch wasteline? Terrible idea. I can imagine the challenges that piece of clothing would present amidst the humidity of DC summers. Brings back memories of that Friends episode where Ross was having difficulty getting his leather pants back on after a bathroom visit. Baby powder and lotion everywhere. *shudder*

But that wasn't the worst of it.

After deciding to check out what goodies Zara had in store for us upstairs, we met the epitome of hideous. Like a slap across the face, there it was. An unsightly mannequin donned a flimsy cotton onesie with a horrific flower pattern. An unfortunate shoulder bag and ill-fitting denim shirt tied at the waist completed the look. We need to take a picture of this, I thought. Then Christine suggested we try to find the outfit on the racks instead. And, that we did. We found her an equally-offensive tube-top onesie in what can only be described as a dog-vomit tan color paired with another questionable flower pattern. Fending off the judgmental stares of fellow shoppers, we took the outfits into the changing rooms. It took me a good five minutes to navigate my piece. There was only one way in and one way out, a lot of ties near the top, elastic cinching at the waist and the pant cuffs. Hot. Success.
The evening was capped off by a four-hour viewing of the latest Twilight movie on DVD, New Moon. The movie only runs a hair over two hours, but it took an additional couple hours to get through the scene where Jacob is walking through the rain shirtless in little cut-off shorts. How can a guy that young be so perfectly cut?! After making it through that scene, we IMDB'd the actor, Taylor Lautner, to search for his birthday. Born in 1992. Wow. The 90s! Eleven years our junior. We're not just cougars....we're creepy cougars. And then we skipped back to the start of that sequence and watched the scene again.

The next day our fellow food lover Sheri arrived and we headed out to the Botanic Gardens. Tulips. Everywhere. I was drunk from the beauty of it all. We traversed the grounds and soaked it all in--Japanese gardens, English-walled gardens, a winding pond, elegant crab-apple trees in bloom--nature at it's peak. Then the pangs of hunger took over. It was time for our long-awaited menage a trough. We turned a dainty lunch of crackers and herbed goat cheese, fresh cut fruit, sensible vegetables, and hummus into a mini-gorgefest. Amidst the natural beauty of well-manicured, picturesque scapes, we shoveled it down with "grace." At one point, Christine was wiping hummus from Sheri's forehead while I rescued a piece of goat cheese from my lap. Once we met our fill of food and gardens, we ventured back to the city via the double-decker Metra train. The rest of the evening was filled with a stop in at the The Purple Pig for a quick happy hour followed by an amazing dinner at Devon Seafood.

Saturday began and ended with fog, bone-chilling winds and fat pants. We kicked off the day with a visit to Ann Sather for some of her succulent sticky buns and other brunch fare. Then we headed back to Christine's apartment where I took a nap in preparation for our afternoon chocolate tour. After checking Sheri into the W hotel (she was in town for work) we headed over to meet up with our tour group. It was a small group of seven led by an overly-energetic tour guide. An actress by day, her exaggerated enthusiasm and joyous facial contortions were very distracting. Then along came the champagne truffle from Teuscher's chocolates of Switzerland. Made with a Dom Perignon cream center, this silky bundle of love was surrounded by a dark chocolate ganache, coated in milk chocolate and sprinkled with confectionner's sugar. It had my undivided attention...until I saw the price tag. ShamWOW. A box of 16 was listed at $41. I'm not sure what would taste better...eating 41 dollars or spending $41 on a box of 16 truffles. Well, we had a long afternoon and evening ahead of us, so I decided not to try either. The remainder of the tour involved a trip to More Cupcakes, a tea place with chocolate-infused teas, and some Belgian place with delicious gelatos and other forms of chocolate. We then blew down to the south part of the city for an italian dinner at Gioco where I punished my stomach with some braised octopus. I had tried grilled octopus before, but this time around, I didn't so much enjoy the sensation of little suction cups on my tongue as I chewed on the tentacle. It was part of a spaghetti dish, so not straight octopus on a plate. But, still. My stomach ain't quite right yet.

But you know what is? My wallet. Aside from forgetting my over-burdened credit card at Devon Seafood on Friday, I did not spend one cent shopping this trip. A feat. Using Groupon's for our dinners helped out as well. I am quite satisfied with the April 2010 edition of the Chitown Eating Tour, aside from the fact that there weren't enough meals in a day to squeeze in some of the city's decadent pizza. But that void was filled by the beauty of Spring sprung throughout the city.

Until next time, Chicago. You owe me some deep dish.