Eating Our Way Through Chicago, Illinois

To celebrate our birthday (27 and 31!) we drove to Chicago for the weekend to eat and watch a few shows! It was freezing, but it was a greattttt trip. LOVED the city! There was so much to do - a very nice change from O-hio.

A picked out an amazingly delicious bagel place on our drive to Chicago - Bagel Fair in Indianapolis. Best bagels... ever?!

Chicago was freezing.... that's 1F not including the wind chill. -20F with the wind chill. And snow! Eek!

Soft pretzels with beer cheese sauce and spicy mustard at Emerald Loop for a quick snack and a soccer match!

One of the many stop at Intelligentsia - best coffee shop in Chicago. 

My Birthday Dinner at Graham Elliott Bistro - Seasonal Pickled Veggies and Almonds, Oysters, Beer and Cheese Risotto, Duck Confit and Fromage Blanc Flat Bread, and...

Diver Scallops in Vietnamense Broth with Sweet Potato dumplings. 10! This place gets at 10! 

The banana split is supposed to be awesome for dessert, but at this point we were much to full!

The Book of Mormon from the creators of South Park was ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS. Good choice, A!

A's Birthday Breakfast - More bagels at NYC Deli in Chicago

Drinking coffee and taking in the view in our awesome window seat @ Hotel Monaco in the Loop

 Before the snow

Had to try the famous deep dish pizza pie in Chicago. We ate at Giordano's, recommended by Ryan, a former Chicago-an. Delicious. Not like any other pizza we'd ever had. But good. Don't think I could eat this type of thing every time I wanted pizza, but good.

More coffee and King Crimson tea @ Intelligentsia

A's Birthday Dinner @ Trencherman - a Restaurant Week Participant. Started: Gnocchi with Ricotta Cream Sauce and Ham

Skate Wing with Yuzu and Bacon & Hake with toasted hazelnuts, melted leeks, and piquillo broth. Both were to die for.

Dessert at Trenchermen - Coffee Cake with Chai Tofu Ice Cream and Smoked Meringue - Different... veryyyy different!

Pig and Fig @ Pastoral - Only sandwiches, but A claimed this his favorite meal of the weekend.

Serrano Ham, Bleu Cheese, Greens, and Figs. Our last meal in Chicago.

Prosciutto Panino - Fresh French Bread, Prosciutto, Greens, Parmesan, and Fresh Cracked Pepper

27 and 31! 

Pastoral - An amazing Artisan Cheese and Wine Shop that also makes the most amazing sandwiches! GO!

Snowy Chicago - 'The Loop' - on our last day

Check it

New blog... not at all related to traveling. I will keep this updated when we go places.. or try!

http://schatzevonraapalje.blogspot.com/

Monroe, Ohio: A Travel Recommendation

Well, you all know how much we looooooooove Ohio (ha..haha!), so really, I'd like to say just skip the state all together. But if you HAVE to go or are in the area to visit family (us?!), you should all go to Monroe, Ohio home to 'Touchdown Jesus,' 'Big Butter Jesus,' 'Super Jesus,' 'Terminator Jesus,' 'Quicksand Jesus,' or whatever you want to call it.

When we found out we were moving to Ohio, my Dad texted me a picture of the original 'Touchdown Jesus' and said, heyyyy look what you have to look forward to. I, of course thought, this thing has got to be photoshopped. There's no way someone built a Jesus statue that big. Not real. No way. And quickly forgot all about the guy.

Well, I was wrong. I have driven back and forth from Beavercreek to Cincinnati many times now. And never, ever, did I see this ridiculous statue. Turns out, it had burnt down. It was struck my lightening. I'm serious. (Watch a video of it on fire here!!). It had not been rebuilt. But recently I was driving back from Cinci and I saw it... from a loooong ways away (yes, it's that's big). I slowed, moved over into the close lane, and like a terrible driver, took a picture of it. I could NOT believe it.

But this thing is just ridiculous. And I had to see it up close. So we went... multiple times... I'm not proud. But here he is...  The newly rebuilt, mega-Jesus.

And if you're in the area, I suggest you check it out. It's only a minute off the interstate. Quite frankly, I think this might be the only thing here worth seeing.

So, I was uploading pictures from the Cincinnati Color Run today when I was informed by google that my space is up... I assume this is picture space (we'll see based on whether I can post this post or not).

Really? Space is up? I thought Google was all about unlimited space. Am I really going to have to start a new blog? Would I even do that? I mean, I like writing a little bit on here, but I don't think I like it enough to start a new blog. What in the world?! Seriously disappointed in Google at this very moment...

Chicago to Glacier National Park

So, I saw this article this morning and was inspired. I think I'm going to plan us a Rail trip from Chicago to Glacier National Park, Montana... seems like it's not THAT long of a train ride, plus comfortable, plus, have you seeeeeeeennnnnn pictures of Glacier National Park?! I mean, wow. We're doing it. Anyone been?!

I have the travel bug. I think it was the sitting in Dayton, Ohio ALL WEEEKEND long doing nothing. Imagine. Yes, we finally have cable so that was nice... we watched football allday/everyday, however, with all the losing that happened, it was only mildly satisfying. We did eat a mean batch of homemade vegetarian chilli, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and homemade skinny pumpkin muffins... so that was yummy. But as for the other 47.5 hours... well... 

pup-friendly

I really miss the dog friendliness of Germany. We took the dogs so many places and were thought highly of by the Germans because of our companions. 

Dogs waiting alone outside the bakery..

...and at the grocery store..

...dogs in the city (even allowed in the stores!)...

...and on a train.

Dogs on the path...

...dogs at restaurants...

...gelato stands...

...and even wine fests!

While they are pictured here with leashes, they were more often than not without their collars and leashes.  That freedom was really good for them.. and us. And now that we're in America, what do we do? Leave them in a fenced in yard when we leave... never take them with us. They still get attention, we play ball 24/7, but we don't walk them nearly as much....or at all. Germany? At least 4x/day. The walk was for them AND us - the scenery was stunning. Here? Umm not really trying to look at the same neighbors' houses and yards everyday. See what I mean? Stunning.

Bagels in Germany

How do you say Bagel auf Deutsch? Bagel. But with a funny accent.

Bagels are not a global phenomenon. Bagels are particularly absent in the great country of GERMANY. Bakeries are another story... you can find one on every corner of every street, but they do not serve bagels.

I love bagels. I blame Mill Mountain for that. Bagels are my fav breakfast. I know they're bad for you. I don't care. Europe was actually good for my bagel habit.. that is until I found Coffee Fellows, a cute little coffee shop that served wonderfully fresh and delicious bagels. On the weekends we weren't traveling (a rare occassion), we'd head over on Saturday morning with the dogs (because it's dog friendly!) for breakfast. I'd also head over to Coffee Fellows after my German class since it was right around the corner. At CF, you can get any kind of bagel with any kind of cream cheese OR a bagel sandwich. Our standard was: 1 everything bagel toasted with cream cheese and 1 Serrano Bagel Sandwich on an Asiago bagel which was topped with cream cheese, prosciutto, arugula, parmesan, and this thick balsalmic cream dressing. We'd split and split - halfsies, sometimes... 

Surprisingly, there's also a second bagel place in Trier called 'the Bagel Sisters.' It is WAY off the beaten path. I made an effort to go there one more and was completely disappointed. Terrible atmosphere and the bagels were just eh. Stick with Coffee Fellows. 

P.S. I just looked at the coffee fellows website below. The seasonal special right now is a big piece of fried pork steak on a bagel topped with sauerkraut and lettuce and mayonnaise... they call it the Bayern Bagel. How very German of them... 

http://www.coffee-fellows.de/