Yesterday was my birthday and H and I had a great time celebrating in Chicago (and a little bit in Woodstock). I started the day with some yoga at the Woodstock Recreation Center; I am trying to be more consistent about going to yoga. Then H and I went to the farmers market to watch a demonstration by Leslie from Expressly Leslie.
She explained what an Israeli breakfast is and how to make Jerusalem salad.
(the vegan part of the Israeli breakfast display)
She gave some good cutting tips.
Beautiful fresh veggies from the farmers market
After the demonstration, we went over to Expressly Leslie for breakfast. I had the vegan version of the Ful Plate. Delicious!
We caught the 1:48 train to Chicago. H mentioned it was my birthday when he made our hotel reservation at Trump Tower, so we got a free upgrade. Our room was huge! There was a kitchen, dining area, living room, amazing bathroom (a TV built into the mirror? not necessary but nice for watching college football while you get ready to go out) and bedroom.
A fireplace (not real)
The incredible view
H ordered an exotic fruit platter and champagne to be delivered to the room. They also brought a free birthday cake, but I could only eat the raspberry.
For dinner we went to Green Zebra, a fancy vegetarian restaurant. It has a menu of small plates and recommends 3-4 plates per person. We ordered 6 in hopes of saving room for dessert. It’s hard to pick a favorite, because it was all so good, but the black bean dumplings and country flat bread would be at the top of my list.
Amuse-bouche
Chilled Somen Noodles, Hawaiian Hearts of Palm, papaya, edamame, shiso, ginger-soy
Caramelized Onion Soup, Vidalia onion, sauteed ramp bulbs, leeks, sherry
Slow Roasted Shittake Mushrooms, crispy potato, savoy cabbage
Black Bean Dumplings, chimichurri, roasted tomato puree
Roasted Eggplant, braised artichokes, olives, Romesco, toasted almonds
Country Flatbread, smoked white bean puree, tropea onion, broccoli florets, chili oil, sesame
We ordered a dessert and a “small bite” cupcake, which was actually full-sized, so we took part of it home (I finished it this morning while H ate my Trump birthday cake).
Blueberry Moelleux, lemon fondant, crystallized ginger, blueberry-banana “ice cream
Chocolate Ganache Cupcake
After dinner, we stopped at our hotel room to put away the cupcake and catch the Navy Pier fireworks from our bedroom window. Then we went to Rebar at Trump Tower and met up with some friends for drinks (and olives, Rebar serves great olives). We snagged a table by the window overlooking the river.
Today I slept in, had coffee in the living room, and went to the gym. The cardio room has an amazing view (of course). After checking out, we met my friend Kristin at Karyn’s on Green, who was in town from DC. I finally tried something besides the crab cake sliders.
Sweet corn soup (delicious!)
Portobello burger cheddar, tomato, red onion, spring greens, sweet BBQ sauce
