After a lovely dinner at Brasserie 54, the hubs and I gave each other our Christmas gifts. For the rest of this holiday, I plan to find something small and fun to write about instead of the obvious, “we opened presents!” But since it is our first married Christmas, I’m going to bask for a moment in glow of opening presents, eating cookies and celebrating the first of many lovely holidays together.
If you like wine, parties and cool people and you don’t know Vinejoy, you are sorely missing out on some of the best independently made wines and super fun parties ever. I mean it. Ever. Not only do these two dudes bring the best craft wines of California’s Central Coast to Chicago’s independent wine shops (like In Fine Spirits, City Provisions, A. Vision Chicago, Que Syrah, etc.), but they also do special events, weddings, and tastings throughout the city.
Probably the most fun event they spearhead is their monthly potluck held in various spaces throughout Chicago. I’ve been to a few different ones-in a bakery, an artist’s loft, and the Vinejoy Offices. Each potluck features a food item (goat cheese, leeks, bacon, vegetables, etc.). Every person attending contributes $20 and a dish containing the featured item. (The money goes towards the basically unlimited amount of wine Vinejoy supplies these parties with). Everyone votes (in a creative way-I won’t spoil it) for their favorite food item and that person wins a bottle of wine. If that wasn’t enough, I always meet the most interesting people at these parties. Its like these guys are magnets for talented, cool, smart, groovy people.
Tonight I went to a special potluck for frequent attendees where the food was not a specific item but your “signature dish.” I made pumpkin bars, of course, and the hubs brought mini tuna melts that WON the favorite dish! Other highlights included mini chicken pot pies and mac and cheese. Aside from the good food, fun people and tv playing a VHS of The NeverEnding Story, they also had a photobooth curtesy of Emily Alt Photography. (Hopefully someday I’ll be able to have a whole blog post dedicated to a photobooth). Needless to say, we had a great time.
If any of this sounds fun to you, or you just want to know more about them, sign up for their mailing list here. Maybe I’ll see you at their next fun event?
When December moved from the 8th to the 9th, my dinner party friends and I were in the midst of an almost three hour dance party at our favorite local dive/dance/photo booth bar, the Holiday Club. Located on Irving Park and Sheridan (a mere block from our home), this Uptown gem does not look like the kind of place that has children of the 80’s and 90’s dancing for hours on a Saturday night, but it does just that with a dj that mixes a little nostalgia with a lot of volume. Seriously, the place was packed. And because I technically was there (dancing my heart out) on this day, it is today’s fun thing.
Now we all like to have fun, but we rarely go out to a bar at 11pm and dance until after 1:30am. On the contrary, 11pm is usually a late night for us. I guess we were all feeling a little feisty because everyone was on board and excited for this special and unexpected fun! And yes I do have some pictures but those are probably best left unshared.
So bacon has become really popular. Like it’s everywhere. Or maybe it was always popular but now, due to social media crazes, it’s more acceptable for people with this obsession with meat to share it with the rest of the world. Regardless, you can now find bacon wrapped around other meats, on cupcakes, even made in to a edible salad bowl. Not to mention all the other products–bacon chapstick, bacon band aids, bacon purses–the list goes on and on.
Last night, I participated in this craze by trying bacon flavored vodka, called Bakon. In this picture, these women may be giving the thumbs up, but let me tell you, it was a thumbs down. It smelled terrible and tasted worse. The fun part about it was watching people’s reactions to trying it. I wish I had pictures of that! Dear Bacon Obsessed People, you have gone too far.
Just got home from the much anticipated Sound of Music Singalong! It really was everything I hoped it would be and more. This annual event at the Music Box Theater isn’t just people in a room singing along to a movie. It’s vocal warm-ups, costume parade, gift bag full of interactive items (flashcards, Edelweiss, poppers-for when the Captain and Maria kiss for the first time, etc.) and so much laughing and singing. For the holidays, they do a White Christmas Singalong and I will definitely be back.
year of fun 