Happy Thanksgiving!
I am of course thankful for all of you! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of turkey (or tofurkey) and warm family fun.
Safe to say I won't be traveling back for Thanksgiving now that I no longer live in CA. It's just too close to Christmas and too costly!
Patrick came to visit for the holiday. He's switching his phone to airplane mode as I type this post. A huge storm is supposed to hit and all flights after his have been cancelled! But while he was here, we had a great week together.
Wednesday we went for a run, which we ended at the grocery store so we could do some last minute Thanksgiving shopping. We then decided to visit the Adler Planetarium because Patrick loves space. From there we went to the Christkindlmarket. You may remember a post around this time last year where Maggie and I spent the day ice-skating, getting hot cocoa, and going to this market. It's an anual tradition and they sell primarily German-made trinkets, as well as spiced wine sold in collectable mugs. I brought my mug from last year (you get 1$ off) and we bought another wine to get this year's mug. It was chilly, so the warmth and spices from the wine were most welcomed!
Thursday we jogged to Lincoln Park (3 miles) to volunteer at the Turkey Trot; we had signed up to give out medals to the 5k and 8k finishers. This involved opening hundreds of medals all individually wrapped in plastic and stapled closed to hang for easy access. NOT an easy task with frozen fingers (yes, we were wearing gloves). But it was all worth it as a we got to greet, congratulate and place medals on the finishers. Folks were generally thankful and nice, but there were a few who refused their medals - "I've got plenty" - which was something I hadn't heard of participants doing before. After a few hours of this merriment, we jogged back home to get ready for some cooking.
From a magazine I found recipes for mushroom/goat cheese/shallots/thyme mini pot pies (baked in muffin tins), potato and winter squash gratin, and blackberry jam cake. We also had canned cranberries, which happen to be a favorite of mine. Patrick made the cake all by 
himself, including making the jam from blackberries and sugar, while I made the other two dishes. My friend Danielle came over with Hero, her dog, and we had a lovely dinner together, taking Hero for a walk as we waited for the cake to cool so we could frost it.
Friday we visited the West Ridge Nature Preserve a few miles west of my place for some easy walking and outdoorsyness.
Saturday I planned a full day of activities in the West Loop neighborhood. This is where the famous Au Cheval burger place is, where Maggie and I went for my birthday last year. The morning began at the Chicago French Market where we tried our first ever macaroons (I know, how did I not try these in Paris??). Because it was our first time, the lady offered them to us for free! We tried the lavender and pistachio: yum!
Next we headed to Union Station to see the main hall with it's high, domed ceiling. Being there made me want to take a train somewhere; there are lots of place to go from Chicago. We then visited the National Hellenic Museum. It was a really neat museum with history of Greek immigration to the US, particularly Chicago; an art exhibit with works by a Greek artist from Chicago; and a contemporary exhibit about Syrian refugees flooding into Greece during the crisis a few years ago. Finally, we enjoyed a deeply discounted dinner at a BBQ restaurant (Patrick's military ID + a complimentary beer from the bar tender because I had to wait a long time for it). Full, but not quite ready to head home, we went to Magnificent Mile to do some window shopping among the crowds.
Sunday (today) we went for a long run before Patrick had to start packing. He made it out just before the storm!
Safe to say I won't be traveling back for Thanksgiving now that I no longer live in CA. It's just too close to Christmas and too costly!
Patrick came to visit for the holiday. He's switching his phone to airplane mode as I type this post. A huge storm is supposed to hit and all flights after his have been cancelled! But while he was here, we had a great week together.
Wednesday we went for a run, which we ended at the grocery store so we could do some last minute Thanksgiving shopping. We then decided to visit the Adler Planetarium because Patrick loves space. From there we went to the Christkindlmarket. You may remember a post around this time last year where Maggie and I spent the day ice-skating, getting hot cocoa, and going to this market. It's an anual tradition and they sell primarily German-made trinkets, as well as spiced wine sold in collectable mugs. I brought my mug from last year (you get 1$ off) and we bought another wine to get this year's mug. It was chilly, so the warmth and spices from the wine were most welcomed!
Thursday we jogged to Lincoln Park (3 miles) to volunteer at the Turkey Trot; we had signed up to give out medals to the 5k and 8k finishers. This involved opening hundreds of medals all individually wrapped in plastic and stapled closed to hang for easy access. NOT an easy task with frozen fingers (yes, we were wearing gloves). But it was all worth it as a we got to greet, congratulate and place medals on the finishers. Folks were generally thankful and nice, but there were a few who refused their medals - "I've got plenty" - which was something I hadn't heard of participants doing before. After a few hours of this merriment, we jogged back home to get ready for some cooking.
himself, including making the jam from blackberries and sugar, while I made the other two dishes. My friend Danielle came over with Hero, her dog, and we had a lovely dinner together, taking Hero for a walk as we waited for the cake to cool so we could frost it.
Saturday I planned a full day of activities in the West Loop neighborhood. This is where the famous Au Cheval burger place is, where Maggie and I went for my birthday last year. The morning began at the Chicago French Market where we tried our first ever macaroons (I know, how did I not try these in Paris??). Because it was our first time, the lady offered them to us for free! We tried the lavender and pistachio: yum!Next we headed to Union Station to see the main hall with it's high, domed ceiling. Being there made me want to take a train somewhere; there are lots of place to go from Chicago. We then visited the National Hellenic Museum. It was a really neat museum with history of Greek immigration to the US, particularly Chicago; an art exhibit with works by a Greek artist from Chicago; and a contemporary exhibit about Syrian refugees flooding into Greece during the crisis a few years ago. Finally, we enjoyed a deeply discounted dinner at a BBQ restaurant (Patrick's military ID + a complimentary beer from the bar tender because I had to wait a long time for it). Full, but not quite ready to head home, we went to Magnificent Mile to do some window shopping among the crowds.
Sunday (today) we went for a long run before Patrick had to start packing. He made it out just before the storm!
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