Holiday Party Shit Show
Ahhh... the fun of December keeps on going.
Following a very busy and shortened week of work, Alex picked me up by the Mart Friday evening and together we drove up to Lincoln Park for dinner. We knew Saturday was going to be overly-social with back-to-back holiday parties, so we decided to have an more intimate evening with just the two of us. After spending 45 minutes grinding through Friday evening Chicago traffic (Friday evening is the absolute worst time for traffic in this city. Every street crawls), we arrived at our destination: Kyoto, our favorite sushi restaurant in the city. This is another one of the restaurants we purchased a Groupon for when I was on a Groupon-buying frenzy in late September. We got a table right away and started with the bottle of Chardonnay we bought just across Lincoln Ave at a liquor store (Kyoto is BYOB). The bottle was called Good Chardonnay, and it was just that: good. We ordered our favorite appetizer, the ahi flatbread, which bursts with an array of different flavors, then each got one of their signature maki rolls, which have wonderful combinations of fish, vegetables, sauce, and spicyness. My mouth is watering just thinking about how good they were. The server was very friendly to boot, so it was another wonderful dining experience there. Following Kyoto, we walked across Lincoln Ave to Cookie Bar, which is basically an independent cookie shop serving an array of desserts (gelato, brownies, cookies obviously) and some drinks (hot cider, coffee, tea), although I didn't see anything alcoholic on the menu, so I'm not sure where the Bar is coming from in their name. In any case, the service person was very friendly and pointed us in the right direction regarding the cookies we ended up ordering. I had a peanut butter chocolate chip and a potato chip chocolate chip cookie, Alex had a mint cookie with a York peppermint patti baked in, and a standard chocolate chip, and we split a brownie. We then took said baked goodies back north to our apartment for consumption and enjoyment. Everything was deliciously salty. Yes, they put a decent amount of salt in their baked goods, but it really enhances the flavor.
The next day, we made a trip to Trader Joes to get some wine and appetizers for the holiday parties we were going to, but that was the extent of going out during the daylight portion of the day. When the evening rolled around, we went out into the bitter cold and caught a Brown Line train back down to the Mart for Dave & Katie's holiday party. Once we entered, I was taken aback by the abundance of food on their counter: tons of cheese, vegetables, dips, hummus, a huge dish of taco dip and hot meatballs! And we added to the display with some potato pancakes. Unfortunately, no one from our circle was there; the entire guestlist consisted of people from Katie's office, so we chatted with Dave in the kitchen while noshing on eats from the appetizer counter, and we were just fine with that. We couldn't stay long, though, because we had party number two to get to back up near us in Roscoe Village. This party was hosted by Tom, the boyfriend of Christopher, one of Alex's coworkers. We met Tom at Alex's office's holiday party and saw him again at Zach's birthday party in November. Anyway, he and his roommates were hosting a holiday party which we were invited to, and again, it consisted of a lot of people we didn't know. Zach was there, so I chatted with him for a bit, and so were a few other coworkers of Alex's I remembered from Zach's party. As far as everyone else was concerned, some were more social than others. One of Christopher's work buddies from a previous job (and quite attractive yet straight) showed me how to open a bottle with a lighter. Later on, Christopher was able to get Alex on the small upright piano to play some holiday tunes. However, there was no holiday sheet music around; the only sheet music available was Lady Gaga, so he played that instead. A clear sign that this holiday party leaned a tad on the gay side: everyone gathered around the piano for some tunes, except that rather than something festive like "O Little Town of Bethlehem", we were singing "Poker Face".
The next day, I was able to wake up without a hangover (success!), probably because I wasn't hanging out with journalists, unlike Dana, who was at her office party the night prior (she works at a newspaper) and thus had to alter her plans with us for Sunday brunch come morning. I understood all too well, but Alex and I made our own hangover brunch nonetheless, consisting of sunny-side up eggs, bacon, toast, and yukon gold potato hash cooked in bacon grease and served with sauteed onion, parsley, and chunks of bacon. It was... bacony, and therefore delicious. Dana eventually made her way over to our apartment at 1:00 in the afternoon for some tea and to dish about the night before. Then she had to go to work (Monday papers don't publish themselves), and we had a leisurely yet productive afternoon followed by some awesome green pizza for dinner.
So that was weekend # 3 for December. Next up: Christmas. Oh boy.
With love,
Salty Bitch
Following a very busy and shortened week of work, Alex picked me up by the Mart Friday evening and together we drove up to Lincoln Park for dinner. We knew Saturday was going to be overly-social with back-to-back holiday parties, so we decided to have an more intimate evening with just the two of us. After spending 45 minutes grinding through Friday evening Chicago traffic (Friday evening is the absolute worst time for traffic in this city. Every street crawls), we arrived at our destination: Kyoto, our favorite sushi restaurant in the city. This is another one of the restaurants we purchased a Groupon for when I was on a Groupon-buying frenzy in late September. We got a table right away and started with the bottle of Chardonnay we bought just across Lincoln Ave at a liquor store (Kyoto is BYOB). The bottle was called Good Chardonnay, and it was just that: good. We ordered our favorite appetizer, the ahi flatbread, which bursts with an array of different flavors, then each got one of their signature maki rolls, which have wonderful combinations of fish, vegetables, sauce, and spicyness. My mouth is watering just thinking about how good they were. The server was very friendly to boot, so it was another wonderful dining experience there. Following Kyoto, we walked across Lincoln Ave to Cookie Bar, which is basically an independent cookie shop serving an array of desserts (gelato, brownies, cookies obviously) and some drinks (hot cider, coffee, tea), although I didn't see anything alcoholic on the menu, so I'm not sure where the Bar is coming from in their name. In any case, the service person was very friendly and pointed us in the right direction regarding the cookies we ended up ordering. I had a peanut butter chocolate chip and a potato chip chocolate chip cookie, Alex had a mint cookie with a York peppermint patti baked in, and a standard chocolate chip, and we split a brownie. We then took said baked goodies back north to our apartment for consumption and enjoyment. Everything was deliciously salty. Yes, they put a decent amount of salt in their baked goods, but it really enhances the flavor.
The next day, we made a trip to Trader Joes to get some wine and appetizers for the holiday parties we were going to, but that was the extent of going out during the daylight portion of the day. When the evening rolled around, we went out into the bitter cold and caught a Brown Line train back down to the Mart for Dave & Katie's holiday party. Once we entered, I was taken aback by the abundance of food on their counter: tons of cheese, vegetables, dips, hummus, a huge dish of taco dip and hot meatballs! And we added to the display with some potato pancakes. Unfortunately, no one from our circle was there; the entire guestlist consisted of people from Katie's office, so we chatted with Dave in the kitchen while noshing on eats from the appetizer counter, and we were just fine with that. We couldn't stay long, though, because we had party number two to get to back up near us in Roscoe Village. This party was hosted by Tom, the boyfriend of Christopher, one of Alex's coworkers. We met Tom at Alex's office's holiday party and saw him again at Zach's birthday party in November. Anyway, he and his roommates were hosting a holiday party which we were invited to, and again, it consisted of a lot of people we didn't know. Zach was there, so I chatted with him for a bit, and so were a few other coworkers of Alex's I remembered from Zach's party. As far as everyone else was concerned, some were more social than others. One of Christopher's work buddies from a previous job (and quite attractive yet straight) showed me how to open a bottle with a lighter. Later on, Christopher was able to get Alex on the small upright piano to play some holiday tunes. However, there was no holiday sheet music around; the only sheet music available was Lady Gaga, so he played that instead. A clear sign that this holiday party leaned a tad on the gay side: everyone gathered around the piano for some tunes, except that rather than something festive like "O Little Town of Bethlehem", we were singing "Poker Face".
The next day, I was able to wake up without a hangover (success!), probably because I wasn't hanging out with journalists, unlike Dana, who was at her office party the night prior (she works at a newspaper) and thus had to alter her plans with us for Sunday brunch come morning. I understood all too well, but Alex and I made our own hangover brunch nonetheless, consisting of sunny-side up eggs, bacon, toast, and yukon gold potato hash cooked in bacon grease and served with sauteed onion, parsley, and chunks of bacon. It was... bacony, and therefore delicious. Dana eventually made her way over to our apartment at 1:00 in the afternoon for some tea and to dish about the night before. Then she had to go to work (Monday papers don't publish themselves), and we had a leisurely yet productive afternoon followed by some awesome green pizza for dinner.
So that was weekend # 3 for December. Next up: Christmas. Oh boy.
With love,
Salty Bitch