The Story of K and A: Family

It's been a wild end to spring and start to summer.

3-week trip to Peru? Check!

Andy graduation? Check!

Buy a condo? Check!

Andy work crazy hours? Check!

Now it's back to blogging! Peru photos and stories coming after this!

In April (yes, APRIL, I am that behind), A's sister S and her husband D came to visit. The highlight of the extended weekend was a food tour/cooking class combo. It took place in the Argyle Street area of northern Chicago, which is where you can find delicious Thai and Vietnamese foods. And all the stores to get the appropriate ingredients in for their recipes.

We start the class out by following our instructor up and down Argyle Street. She told us about when the immigrants had come to this area and took us to some great places where we tried delicious food. First stop - bakery.

These were some sort of bun with a paste in the middle.

Next stop: Ba Le, a very contemporary Vietnamese cafe. They serve delicious Banh Mi and a very strong Vietnamese coffee.

We decided to try this aloe vera drink... it was interesting, but not something I'll buy anytime soon.

My favorite part of the tour was when we went to a grocery store. Our instructor took the time to point out the staples of Vietnamese and Thai cooking and her favorite brands. We had her recommend a good fish sauce.

Look at all the curries!

Apparently if we want really fresh fish we have to go here.

These were still alive and trying to escape. Run! Run for your lives!

Really awesome (and huge!) produce.

We trooped back to the kitchen to try our hand at some dishes. On the menu:
- Green Papaya Salad
- Panang Curry with Beef and Jasmine Rice
- Black Sticky Rice Pudding with Coconut Cream
- Thai Iced Tea

Our foursome was assigned to the main dish - Panang Curry. We quickly set the men to cutting the meat.

These are Thai chilies. They're small, very thin, and very hot! The group making the papaya salad was careful to wear latex gloves while they worked with them. They only put about 8 total in a salad for 14 people and it was extremely spicy!

Curry and coconut cream... where can you go wrong?

Yes, we used all of it!

A tried the papaya salad as they were making it... he agreed it was spicy enough! No more peppers!

Green papaya salad.

Thai iced tea. They serve it with cream or half-n-half. It's very thick and on the sweet side.

Dessert - black sticky rice topped with... can you guess... coconut cream! Super delicious.

The full meal. Super delicious. A little too spicy for me (I couldn't eat much), but good all the same. I just couldn't taste any other food for a day or so.

It was a really great cooking class (our favorite so far!) and a really fun thing to do with S & D. Glad you guys could visit!

My mom and sister A came to keep me company while hubby A was doing an away sub-internship rotation in Philadelphia. It was close to their birthdays, so I baked a chocolate rum cake to celebrate. For my first rum cake, it turned out quite delicious!

Mom's birthday gift - a scrapbook of (most of) our Disney memories!

We headed to Sears Tower right after it opened on a Friday morning. There was a manageable amount of tourists. The weather was perfect!

As it wasn't too busy yet, we were able to spend some time out on the Ledges and get pictures without strangers in them. A was scared at first, but quickly conquered the Ledge.

Obligatory foot picture!

103 floors up!

After visiting the SkyDeck, we took the water taxi to the Mag Mile for some shopping. If you can't do a boat tour, the water taxi provides the same views (just less commentary).

For lunch we headed to the Batcave (AKA Lower Wacker/Michigan Aves) to Billy Goat's Tavern, a must-see for my family. (Inside joke!)

They'll tell you what you want ("Double cheese the best!"), but my mom was adamant and pulled of getting a hot dog!

A made me a smiley face ala Johnny Rockets.

We did more window shopping than actual purchasing along the Magnificent Mile. We walked up to the Water Tower and back.

They just opened a brand new Lego store. The display was awesome!

The Tin Man singled her out, so A had no choice but to strike a pose.

I'd told them about the crosswalk cartoon men before, but they finally got to see one! They're all over the city. No idea who put them there or for what purpose. (Amusement, I'm sure!)

One of my favorite buildings: Tribune Tower.

Mandatory tourist stop: The Bean.

A made friends with Orion right away. Orion is a sucker for cuddling!

Friday night we went out for tapas, then on to a comedy show. The restaurant was delicious. We had an order of grilled calamari. Wish Dad was there to eat the ones that were whole! Ick!

We tried out ComedySportz as I had never been and it sounded like Who's Line Is It Anyway. They have two teams who battle it out doing different improv games. It was funny, but different than any improv I've seen before because they keep the show clean. One of the rules they give at the beginning is "nothing dirty". If you break it, cast member or audience member, you get to wear a brown bag over your head. At one point a woman in the audience shouted "penis" as a prompt. She got the bag.

We had the Blue team drinks (to gain them points). They left their mark.

We took a short walk after the show and ended up in Wrigleyville so we stopped to see the stadium.

We were up for more excitement, so we headed to Sluggers for the dueling pianos. The guys were great, and we had a few requests played.

Saturday we took a nice walk around Grant Park. Mom and A were just as perplexed by the headless men. (It's a sculpture called Agora.)

Buckingham Fountain. Very scenic.

That night we went to Gino's East for deep dish. It's such a fun place, and the pizza is yummy! I totally forgot my Sharpie, but thankfully the person who sat in the booth before us left theirs!

Their only rule is to not write on their menus, linens, or bathrooms. People abide by the rules.

A wrote on the seat where there was some blank space.

I like this person's message. :)

Everything is fair game.

I made A choose which museum she wanted to see while she was here. She chose the Art Institute. I hadn't been in a while, so there were new things to see. A couldn't believe how big the building is!

African mask. Can you believe people wear these? I'd never be able to hold my head up!

Special exhibit of armor.

Renoir.

Van Gogh.

One of my favorites by Monet.

This is by Edvard Munch. He's known for The Scream. I like the look of this one - shows his versatility.

Cezanne.

Georgia O'Keefe. I prefer this to her typical skulls and bones.

We moved on to the modern art wing. Definitely modern. Too modern for our tastes.

Art you can (and are encouraged to) eat!

The lights rotated.

Mondrian. (One of those "I could that" paintings.)

Picasso.

Dali.

New outdoor exhibit on the roof.

Chagall windows.

One of the most famous paintings - American Gothic.

Nighthawks. One of those paintings everyone ponders. What are they doing there? Do they know each other?

For lunch Mom really wanted to try a Chicago dog. There's a local chain called America's Dog which has hot dogs from all over the U.S.

She liked it!

Amy had a New Orlean's dog.

That night we had sunset drinks in the Signature Lounge of the Hancock building.

Gorgeous sunset view!

I took them out to Hyde Park to see the University of Chicago. The big adventure was walking by Obama's home. Can you see it? Me neither. They added some nice shrubbery.