Chicago Revisited

This weekend was my mom's birthday celebration in Chicago. A blow out girls weekend with a little bro-in-law thrown in. It's hard to keep family away from good food. :) We began the celebration with a trip to Evanston to buy some fabric. There is a humongo fabric store there. I don't remember what it's called, but it's where my mama bought the fabric to MAKE my dress. Yeah, my mama made my wedding dress. Pretty impressive, don't you think? I adore her.

After some one-on-one girly time we picked up my seester and headed over to RL. Shmancy with a little bellini and triple cream cheese something or other. Think brie so good you would sell your white puppy...almost.

Next up Julia & Julie. So cute, but the books were better, especially My Life In France...it was one of my favorite two years ago and still touches my heart...please read it...if you like Julia, food and true love.

The rest of the weekend consisted of a LOT of food...homemade strawberry ice cream, vanilla black tea, Cafe Ba Ba Reeba's (oh my, how I love this tapas restaurant...the atmosphere, the sangria, the itty biddy little tapas), and Bongo Room Sunday morning. I was absolutely stuffed when I went to bed on Saturday. I was determined to get coffee and a piece of wheat toast. Then I woke up and was compelled to get this...




I read about Bongo Room's pancakes and could only hope it was half as good as the internet world told me it was. I wasn't sure whether to play it safe (french toast...eggs....booooring) or live a little. I found what little room I had left in my stomach and went for the gusto. Banana Nestle Crunch pancakes with caramel sauce. This is a HALF order! It was devoured to the best of my ability and thought about for days after. You would think it would be beyond rich, but it was perfectly balanced. I'm not kidding...you should run, not walk, or better yet drive to Wicker Park in Chicago as soon as possible. The weird thing is I've been here before. A few years ago. I had no idea what to order, I guess, because I don't remember the food. Guess I should read foodie reviews more often because this is MEMORABLE. And so is this...


Sister opted for one pancake with ricotta, honey and granola and one slice of french toast with strawberry creme fraise. I'm still drooling.

The weekend was great, and so much fun to catch up with my mama girl-to-girl. Long overdue! I was so full Sunday night that I thought I would bust. Or crawl in a cave and sleep for 20 years.

Tomorrow....the BEST fruit & veggie bread EVER and a sweet surprise from my honey.

Sweet pancake dreams!