I Spoke Too Soon!

Just Friday I was posting about the lovely sunshine and sure enough it went away over the weekend. We did get some more snow last night. For most of the time I have lived in Chicago, I worked downtown. Several years ago, I changed careers and took a job in the suburbs. I don't love having to drive to work, but I absolutely adore my job, so I do it. However my drive is rather lovely. I drive up Sheridan Rd. through the city and into the North Shore. I drive along the lake and pass my favorite park. I drive through the great campus of Northwestern and onto the cutest part of Wilmette, Lake Ave.

This is the street I drive every weekday. It has old fashioned lamps, that are delightful when turned on. During the summer, the leaves are full and the trees make a tunnel to drive under. The snow is quite lovely and peaceful.

Two of the cute houses I drive by. P.S. Cute is very expensive in this neck of the woods.

And since I have to do some walking, this year I purchased these:

Let the Sun Shine In...

Today, I had an appointment downtown and took the opportunity to walk around and soak up the sunshine. It was also about 30 degrees, which is practically summer to me at this point.

The Sunshine:


I walked right by Millennium Park, a Chicago favorite and snapped this photo of the Park Grill. This is where you can ice skate at night. It gets very crowded though. During the summer, I like to sit outside and have a burger and beer. The Park Grill has some of the best burgers. Oh, summer I am ready now!!!!

The Park Grill:


I also snapped a lovely view of the building.
The Smurfit-Stone Building:



Do you recognize this building from one of the greatest 80's movies of all time? Yes, Adventures in Babysitting, starring Elizabeth Shue. This is the building Sara climbs out of after being chased.
Which brings me to my favorite part of the movie, the beginning. I love this song by The Crystals. I used to dance around the room just the same way after seeing the movie. I even a dress super similar to that one. There is a good chance, I would still wear that dress today if it fit.



TGIF!

Kickin' It Old School

Randomly, I was in a going-out-of-business Lady Foot Locker. All the shoes were 50% off. It was pretty picked over, but I did find one pair that I felt compelled to take home. They are not really "me", but I couldn't help it.
The Adidas Superstar:

A little history on why I liked this shoe. When I worked for The Walt Disney Company, I had to wear all white leather tennis shoes with my costume (all uniforms are called costumes). I wore an all white version of this shoe and loved them. Once I saw this show with the pink stipes and the pink/green/yellow logo on the heel, I just had to have it. Although, if it wasn't 50% off, it would probably still be in the store.

Showtune Thursday

I know, I know. It's supposed to be Showtune Tuesday. I had to spend some time in Ohio and couldn't post on Tuesday. So for this week, we are doing Showtune Thursday. Since I was home, I decided to post Marian the Librarian from The Music Man. My father sang this song to my mother, who was a librarian at the University that daddy attended. I like it when she says, "What do you want to take out?" and Harold responds with "The Librarian".

Bistro Marget

A few weekends ago, the JLC (Junior League Chicago) girls and I ventured into Old Town for a little lunch. Old Town is a small area, just north of the city. It is very cute and even a little quaint.
The entrance to Old Town:


For lunch we went to Bistro Margot. Bistro Margot is a little french/parisian eatery.
The outside sign:

The inside is very warm and cozy, decorated in red velvet, marble floors and lovely little pictures.
The inspiration for the sign and my favorite picture:

I had a traditional french lunch. A cup of French Onion Soup and then Kim and I shared a Croque Madame with Pommes Frites. T'was delish! It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon with the girls.

Apple Fest in Long Grove

This past Autumn, the girls and I ventured to Long Grove, IL. Long Grove is about 35 miles outside of the city. Each October they celebrate Apple Fest. Everything is apples, apple cider, apple donuts (Yum!), caramel apples, apple butter, apple cocktails, apple beer, brown bag apple pies, the list goes on and on. In addition to a wonderful festival, Long Grove is seriously adorable. There are cute shops, cute restaurants and cute buildings. I love the coziness of LG and how perfectly cute the little town is. It was still warm in October, that the flowers were still in bloom.

The Long Grove Time Piece:



The Long Grove Apple Haus, where we enjoyed apple cider and hot, fresh baked apple donuts. Delish!

The 'town square'. All the shoppes surrounded this area. It was bustling with people the entire weekend. The sidewalks are brick and beautiful flower plantings are everywhere. It was so nice to be there with the crisp, fall air and the smell of warm donuts.

One of my favorite shoppes, Within Reach. I purchased a black and white polka-dot wristlet with a pink S on the front. I also purchased a lilac tea for one set and some apple tea sachets. This is the back entrance and was all decked out for Autumn.

After a little shopping and snacking, we decided to rest by listening to the music. The stage was in the covered bridge. So picturesque:

A little resting spot:

And my favorite photo of the day, a cowboy right in the middle of suburban Chicago. He was the real deal too.

Pumpkin White Chocolate Cheesecake

Back before Thanksgiving, I decided to make my very first cheesecake from scratch! I decided to experiment with pumpkin. I have not always loved pumpkin for about the last year I have grown to adore the flavor. Since we were close to Turkey Day, I decided pumpkin would be a great flavor, but I wanted to make it just a little more decadent, so I added white chocolate to the mix. I started with the "Almost Famous Pumpkin Cheesecake" from foodtv.com. One of the liberties I took was using cinnamon graham crackers as the base. Mixed with the butter the crust is completely luxurious and the cinnamon elevates a simple graham cracker crust. Then I melted the white chocolate and poured a nice layer on the crust.

As that cooled, I mixed the batter leaving out the pumpkin. Be sure to set aside a little of the plain cheesecake decoration later. I also mixed in tiny white chocolate chips. To make the swirl on top, I used a spoon to put several lines of the white on top of the cheesecake. Then I ran the point of a knife perpendicular to the lines and made the swirl.



This is a great dessert for a party or a pot luck. It is very rich, so it's better to share. Since then, I have made this cheesecake about 6 times. It is a sure fire hit.