Just before Christmas I had the chance to spend a girls' weekend in Chicago with my mom and sister. I never got around to posting about it on here, but it was a trip worth telling about!
Erin had an interview with a company downtown, so our real reason for going was picking her up. My mom and I used it as an excuse to road trip and have a fun weekend. After grabbing her from the airport, we dropped my grandma off at her brother's house as she had joined our little adventure, as well. Julie, his wife from Italy, decided we could not leave without a proper meal and whipped up a home-cooked dinner for us. There was no stopping her, and I really could not complain! She's a great cook, and insisted wine and coffee be included, too. She is so sweet and cracks me up every time I get a chance to talk to her. She has a fascinating story as she came to the US through Ellis Island to marry my uncle after they met in Pisa during WWII.
Once we finally made it into the city, we stayed at the beautiful Warwick Allerton in the loop. A long day of travel had made us all ready for these cozy beds.
The next morning, we had a Sunday Funday starting with brunch at the delightful Beatrix restaurant & coffee bar. It was a lucky gem that we stumbled upon, spotting it from in line at Corner Bakery (a breakfast & coffee chain in the city). We spied the sign and strolled across the street to investigate, and were pleasantly surprised! My green breakfast enchiladas were an unusual pick for me, but nothing I regretted. Erin went with a pulled pork & egg breakfast sandwich and mom steel cut oats. None of the choices were bad ones, and they were all finished off with fresh squeezed glasses of juice.
We had avoided coffee as next up on our agenda was a coffee & hot cocoa tour with Second City. It was so much fun! The tour guide took us around to three different spots for drinks & treats -- L'Appetito, West Town Bakery, and Glazed & Infused.
L'Appetito is just under the Hancock Building and was the first authentic Italian bakery in the city. I was in heaven! We had a caffe latte and crunchy Italian cookies.
The West Town Bakery we went to was actually the satellite location for the full bakery located in West Town, but this one was cool because in the back was a secret speak-easy entrance for a neighborhood bar. Their specialty was Cinnamon Toast Crunch cake balls that were to die for. They were heavy and moist and sweet and crunchy and perfect. We came out of there with a to-go box to bring home as my uncle loves cake balls.
Last up was Glazed & Infused -- a fun donut shop that is open from morning until whenever they run out. Attached to it was an enoteca that we ended up returning to for a delicious dinner that evening!
We did just about everything there is to do at Christmastime in Chicago! We wandered through the Kristkindl Market, shopped on Michigan Avenue (and peeked in the Marshall Field's windows), explored Millenium Park, and admired the Lincoln Park Zoo lights. We went into Eataly for a while, which was a wonderful and bittersweet flashback to living and loving Rome.
I even had a chance to meet up with my friend who lives in Oak Park for dinner! She's actually studying abroad in Milan right now and I'm jealous of every minute she has there. The weekend went by too fast, as most good things seem to do, and we had to head back to the mitten.
After another morning of coffee from Beatrix and a bit more shopping, we grabbed Grandma from Uncle Art's and said goodbye before departing. Our journey home was a safe one, despite being stopped at a stand still for 2 hours due to a car accident on a bridge in Indiana. Thank goodness no one was hurt, but it made for a loooooong car ride. It didn't deter my love for Chi-Town though and I will most definitely return to the city again!
