Chicago trip food recap

Whenever we pick a travel destination, one of the first things we think about is food.  Croissants in St Martin, conch salad in Provo, dim sum in San Francisco, falafels in NYC...  So of course, when we made it to Chicago, we headed for Giordanos for some deep dish pizza.

We went to the location off Michigan Avenue which was packed with tourists.  There is a 40 minute wait for your pizza and fortunately they let you order it while you're waiting for a table. So after you wait 30 minutes  for your table, you only have 10 minutes after that before you're digging into your food. 

We went with a canadian bacon, mushroom and olive pizza (this is a small...really!)

After one and a half pieces I was done in.  It was good though we walked around for an hour afterward to try to get that ball of cheese in our stomachs to dissipate.  Final verdict: a must try when in Chicago, but otherwise I'll be sticking to NY style thin crust pizza.

Another highly anticipated food visit was Garrett Popcorn.  We went three times and there was a huge line each time.  And let me tell you, it's really worth it.  I highly recommend the Chicago mix which is a blend of caramel and cheesy popcorn (that'll turn your fingers neon orange).  Amazing.

Sorry there aren't any pictures of the actual popcorn. Once we got a bag, our hands were too full with popcorn to care about the camera.

Another Chicago food favorite is the infamous hot dog, and this simply must be eaten at a ball game.  We watched the Royals take on the White Sox at Cellular Field and it was a pretty good game.  The Sox fans are pretty vocal and I was a little afraid for B's well being seeing as he was wearing the only Royals t shirt in the whole stadium.

Sorry no pictures of the food there again because we were too busy wolfing it down.  I do have a little fireworks video though.  Everytime the Sox scored, they would set off fireworks.  Every time the Royals scored it was dead silent in the stadium--except for me going "wait what happened?  did we score?"




I did manage to capture a picture of the chicken gouda hot dog we had at Chicago Renegade however.  It was really awesome with the poppy seed bun.  Where can we get poppy seed buns here in Austin??

So there you have it, a quick Chicago food highlights post.  I have more pictures from the amazing buffet at the Signature Room and the architectural boat tour that I'll be putting up soon.  I really enjoy writing these recaps and am toying around with the idea of compiling these little travel guides for must see, must shop, must eat places on this blog.

Favorite Friday Recipe: Homemade Pizza

Make your own pizza night is becoming a popular meal at our home lately.  It's quick, easy and fun to make especially when you have company visiting.  What makes it so great is this Basic Pizza Crust recipe by none other than the Pioneer Woman.  And she's right, letting this dough sit at least 24 hours in advance really helps, and if you're baking it 48 to 72 hours later, the dough is miraculously even better! 

In our household, fresh mozarella cheese is a must, then we load on all our ingredients--for me: mushrooms and olives, and for B: some sort of meat (bacon, pepperoni, Canadian bacon).  The trick to making pizza is to really pile on the ingredients, don't be shy!

After a nice little baking in the oven:

Favorite Friday Recipe: Shrimp and Scallop pizza

Once a month or so, B and I schedule "date night", where we take turns planning a date for each other. A night for me might include sushi and watching "The Proposal", a night for B--Mexican or some other cheese laden food. Last friday, B surprised me with all the ingredients for a DIY date night. He remembered a fantastic pizza we shared while on vacation in St Martin at a wonderful little restaurant called Rancho Del Sol. The pizza was fabulous--a thin crust with fresh shrimp and scallops and drowned in some sort of herb oil.

Here's their version:
And ours:

We had french bread and butter to start (in St Martin tradition) and polished it all off with a bottle of Riesling. A perfect recreation of our St Martin meal. Except for the fact that I had to watch "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" afterwards...


The recipe can be found here