Good Morning!

Another great weekend here in Chicago. Here’s a recap for ya -

Friday:

After work I hit up the grocery store. Nothing too exciting there, but it was nice to get it out of the way.

Picked up dinner on the way home. Homemade Pizza Company.

Pear and Blue Cheese Salad.

Pizza – half spinach, half sausage. You can guess which half was mine.

Whole wheat crust. Homemade Pizza Co. isn’t all that cheap, especially for pizza you have to bake yourself, but the fresh, all natural ingredients make up for it.

And to drink – cider beer! I liked this brand a lot because it wasn’t overly sweet like a lot of cider beers tend to be.

After dinner we watched a movie. My pick -

I thought it was pretty funny. Maybe not as funny as I had heard and definitely not as funny as The Hangover, but funny nonetheless.

Saturday:

Mid-morning, my sister, niece, and I went to a food demo at Native Foods Cafe called “Hold the Butter! Veganizing Paula Dean’s Recipes”. I’ll give you a full recap on that in my next post!

After the food demo, I hung out at my sister’s casa for a while, had some coffee, watched a squirrel beg for food on the deck -

Oh my goodness, that little guy is so stickin’ cute! He’s practically taken up residence on their deck, he’s around so often. Pretty sure his name is Gibby.

Mid-afternoon I got a mani/pedi.

Starbucks is a necessary accompaniment to a mani/pedi. I got my usual Grande Soy Latte.

Wish I knew what the name of the color was – it’s like a slate grey with subtle sparkles. Whatever it is, I love it.

And on my fingernails – kind of a khaki color. The fall nail polish colors are awesome this season.

Did some late afternoon lounging around with Maddux and Ryan.

Maddux thinks he’s a cat. He chilled on the arm of the couch. In the sunniest spot.

I told him to get down and he gave me that look – like, “excuse me?!”

PS. That chair in the background? Yeah, that’s Maddux’s chair. After he chewed up half the chair we just deemed it his. Wicker furniture and puppies are a bad combo.

For dinner we went to a restaurant called Rise Sushi and Sake Lounge. Sorry for the craptastic pics, but it was dark.

Warm edamame for an appetizer. Red wine for a beverage.

Ryan ordered some steak teriyaki thing. I don’t really know.

I ordered a cucumber roll, a sweet potato roll, and crispy tofu with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce.

I ate almost everything. All of the tofu for sure. Crispy tofu? Yes, please!

After dinner we met up with some friends at a nearby bar to celebrate a birthday. Stayed for a couple hours and then called it a night.

Sunday:

Yesterday was a pretty chill day involving lots of TV watching and eating. I made a big pot of chili and cornbread. I apologize in advance if half of my meals this week are chili.

I loosely followed Rachael Ray’s recipe for Veg-Head 3 Bean Chili, substituting for what I had on hand.

I made vegan cornbread by following this recipe. I used whole wheat flour instead of white and agave nectar instead of sugar.

Both turned out great – especially the chili. The recipe gives you the option of adding a can of refried beans to thicken the sauce, which I did and highly recommend.

Anyway, that was my weekend. I have to say, one of the best Saturdays I’ve had in a while. I mean – cooking demo, mani/pedi, sushi, wine – can’t get much better than that.

Best meal of your weekend?