InstaEats August 2014

August was another busy month. Now that I live in Chicago, I try to squeeze as much productivity (fun) out of my summer as possible! I didn't dine out as much, but the meals I had were just fantastic.

I kicked off the month with a night with one of my friends in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. This area is booming with new restaurants and it's a part of town I don't get to nearly enough. We started off the evening with some drinks and food at The Radler. I started with a grapefruit radler (a mix of beer and German-style lemonade) and my friend got the blood orange. Both were equally refreshing on the warm night.

There was a lot to drool over on the menu, but we kept things simple with the German onion pie with bacon, garlic puree, and marinated tomatoes and the grilled knockwurst with rice, bread and butter pickles, and herbs. Though both sounded rich, it was the perfect combination for a light summer meal.

We couldn't resist leaving without dessert (and another drink) so we got the chocolate mousse and I had an Americano (campari, vermouth, and soda)

We then trekked over to Parson's Chicken and Fish for negroni slushies. Read my rave here.

And finished the evening with old fashioneds and boozy grapefruit sodas at Billy Sunday.

I mentioned in my last post that I have lost some weight recently. Clearly, I'm not dieting, especially as evidenced by my frequent lunch favorite Hannah's Bretzel. I'm actually on an all-carb diet.

A few weeks ago, I finally made my first trip to the Ravinia festival to see ABBA! It was such a fun night of music, dancing, and food. I made peanut butter and jelly blondies to share with my friends and our spread was really fantastic, complete with Swedish fish and Swedish meatballs.

A couple of months ago, I made a reservation at The Girl and the Goat. It is still one of the most popular reservations in Chicago so I made a promise to myself to keep it. It was definitely worth the wait. Highlights for me were the grilled octopus salad with guanciale, fava beans, and pistachios, the best of three cocktail with Pimm's, cucumber, and vodka, and the bittersweet chocolate cake with thai basil gelato.

We finished the night with a few negroni sorbets at Lone Wolf...can you tell I love negronis?

Last week, I traveled to NY again for work. We had a couple of great meals out, but the first night at The Wayfarer was my favorite. The lobster roll is so great and worthy of recognition, as was the maple braised bacon.

 I'm excited about what is to come in September!