Dining Delights | Peaches Prattlings

{September 1, 2016} A girls night…we got kinky… we needed that!

We went to see Kinky Boots… what were you thinking!?

I was out with LJ last week and saw the marque for one of the theaters here in Chicago, Kinky Boots! I don’t know if you remember how much GES and I loved it when we went to see it in NYC last year! I looked it up and it was only going to be here for a week… who wants to go!

LJ and DLP both said yes, tickets were purchased and here we are! Then coordination is next. LJ is no longer on the project with us and DLP had been in Springfield and got back today. We all synchronized our watches and off we went!

We met at Vapaianos for dinner, it’s across from my hotel, drop our bags there, eat, it was DLP’s first time there, yum! Then Uber to the theater, didn’t want to take a chance of being late! Up, up, up…in the balcony, almost in the last row, huff, puff, lots of stairs!

Curtsins up and…sigh! I miss the theater! I feel that every time I go. Sometimes I regret not pursing it, but then it is kind of what I do every time I’m in front of a class teaching.

The show was great! And I did my best not to quote everything! I’m sorry girls… it was hard not to! I love the movie!!

The cast was great, Lola was amazing and we had a great time! Walk back to the hotel, said goodnight. I opened the window for the first time, nostalgic for sleeping with the window open as a kid. I guess it’s a NYC evening all the way around.

“Ladies… and gentlemem… and those who have yet to make up their minds”

“We are no longer making a range of shoes for men… are are making shoes for a range of men”

Go see it!

{August 22, 2016} Oh my…delicious!!

A really simple and fabulous meal in Chicago!

After work LJ and I needed some pampering, so mani for her and pedi for me. Let’s just say, I like blue, it’s not my favorite color, but apparently it was today! Fingers…aqua, ring..blue, sunglasses…aqua, sneakers…blue and now…toes, sounds good to me.

After our pampering…food! It was 8pm by now and lunch felt like yesterday! I know I’m exaggerating, just felt like it! So we headed to my hotel, dropped my bags off and went across the street to a place I’ve wanted to try, just haven’t hey, so we went, Viapano.

This was a great place! It’s nice and open, high ceilings, wooden just about everything, slightly rustic, but definitely modern, if that makes sense.

It’s a counter service, so, first, you get a card that you put on a tablet in the counter when you order, the chef puts in a code and you pay at the end from the card. There was pizza, pasta, soup, antipasto, insalata, lots of choices.

You order at the counter and wait, then you load your food on a silver tray to take it to your table. Everything was self service, like a fast food chain or actually, I felt like I was back in school!

This is definitely not fast food as everything is cooked fresh to order. One line for appetizers and salad, another line for pasta, and so on. In got a small salad and bruchetta from one line, then on to the pasta. The pasta is in individual bags behind the chefs, you select what you want and they cook it right there in front of you, it tasted like fresh made pasta, yum! They cooked mine al dente, nice.

While the pasta cooks, they have the giant wok like pans to cook whatever you ordered with the pasta and the chefs check what you want, how spicy you want it. It’s ready in about 7-8 minutes, however long it takes to cook the pasta.

I ordered spaghetti with aglio e olio, garlic and olive oil, which I love and added fresh spinach. I liked the he threw a little salt in with it, cuts the bitterness and I don’t have to add it, very rare! The garlic, oil and salt were the perfect combination.

The presentation is very appealing and the taste…molto delizioso!

http://us.vapiano.com/en/magazine/

{August 7, 2016} A car show and a cookout…pretty good day

I got to sleep in a minute, it was nice.

I got a little work done and headed to GES’. We went to a car museum which happened to have a car show happening today.

The museum is on the Larz Anderson Estate, http://larzanderson.org/. Very interesting history, it’s the home of America’s Oldest Car Collection. There were Electrmobiles, Porsches, BMWs.

Outside there were Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferrari, a McLaren and so many more. It was a lot of fun, especially watching the folks at the exit waiting for cars to leave and gun the engine and take off down the street.

After the car show we went into Brookline for one of ACS’ favorite pizza joints from when he lived there.

Then back to the house to hang out for a bit until we headed across the street for dinner, all sorts of goodies on the grill. Good food, good conversation and lots of laughter.

Now, home, packed, talking to you and ready to head to the airport in a few hours. For another great week!

{July 30, 2016} Good morning, goodbye, hello

I spent the night at SDL’s and got some good morning kisses from Miss A!

Could anything be better? Nope! I woke up to what I thought was a crash, nope…just her hitting the wall and mirror with her legs on the changing table, oh my! I’m up!

I got to catch up with her while she ate breakfast, we both wore a little. Then I helped her get dressed, did her hair, got her loaded in her car seat, kisses and they were off! I’m glad I’ll see her tomorrow for some quality time.

I was hoping to get together with TYL, but today was moving day into their new place, so it didn’t work out.

Fortunately or unfortunately, that left me with some time on my hands…tax free weekend in Georgia…so, first stop…The Children’s Place, guess who benefits from that! Next was Old Navy and Marshall’s, I think I am now officially “dressed” out! I can wear some of them in the fall with leggings and boots..ooh.

Then, off to RJS’ for a visit, dinner and Slimer l slumber party. I did a fashion show for her, like I used to do for my dad and she helped me make the go/no go decision.

Then it was catching up, eventually we got hungry and cooked dinner together for herself, me and KS. Yum! Spaghetti squash, green and yellow zucchini and sautéed Vidalia onions. According to KS, I did alright by the onions, fit not having grown up in the South! Why, thank ya kindly!

Then it was more talking and laughing. Lather, rinse, repeat! Until it was time for bed.

All the while being entertained by their babies, Max and Maddie.

A great afternoon and evening. Especially since PSM and I mark our one year six months today. Happy anniversary. Xoxo

Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings! I’ll keep you posted.

{July 29, 2016} ST>WH>KAB, CS, LB, LS, BA, BE>SDL, CKM>JB

Got your attention, didn’t I?

Well…the day started at ST’s house, I crashed at hours place last night when I got to Atlanta. We motivated and went to Waffle House! Yum!

I worked for a few hours then fought Atlanta traffic to get to Dallas and see KAB, Baby A and his sister Baby E, CS, Lily Bean and her sister, Princess L. It took me almost three hours to get there so I didn’t have a lot of time with them, but the time was well spent! As many hugs, kisses and snuggles as I could get. Oh and the giving of gifts of course!

I left just in time…as the no nap melt downs were about to start. Oh my but I do love those fabulous wee tots! Their mom’s too! And how much do I love my new artwork for our new place in Hawaii!! JJ’s ‘tweet hearts’! Those are Baby A and Baby E’s footprints turned into birds!
I left and headed straight to girls night dinner with two of my besties, SDL and CKM! We had Thai food, lots of laughs and catching up and then on to the movies to see JB…the new Jason Bourne movie! CKM noticed when we were sitting, she was in a J sandwich, ha ha.

After the movie, back to SDL’s, kiss the sleeping Miss A, talk to you and then pass out. Full day, huh? Wonderful day! Let’s see what tomorrow holds!

{June 24, 2016} Sharing the vegan love

I know you know in a vegan, my friends and colleagues know, but it’s not something I push on anyone.

There are jokes about vegans out there “How do you know someone is a vegan? The tell you in the first five minutes of meeting them!” Ha ha, very funny. Well that’s not me. I like being vegan, but I don’t push it on anyone and I would never force anyone to be vegan. But if you have questions or want to know something, I’ll answer as best I can.

Most people find out I’m vegan when they make restaurant suggestions and I have to tell them my criteria. My coworkers have been great at our get togethers, always making sure I can get something when I’m there, I appreciate it so much. Don’t think my friends aren’t the same way!

Sometimes when I am having a conversation about it someone will say “oh, I want to try it, but I don’t think I could do it”, “I want to go vegan cold turkey”, so to speak. I’m happy to share knowledge, even recommendations. Sometimes it’s just, “do to want to taste what I’ve got?”

I’m always honest about what I think is good, I’ll tell you if it’s passable, I don’t think all vegan is awesome. Do you remember me telling you about the cheese that smelled like feet? See, honest!

And that happened at work this week. One of my new coworkers said she wants to go vegan. Ok…Tuesday she went with me and we had vegan for lunch at a place I like, and it’s the only vegan place near the training site. She loved what she tried, she was blown away!

Yesterday, I took two of my new coworkers to the vegan place, they were amazed! So was I! I had a new item on their menu and it was awesome! A kale salad with Seiten “chicken”. Wow! Guess what! My third new coworker wants to join us tomorrow! Suweet!

I’ll let you know how it goes!

{June 18, 2016} Even a vegan needs a steak knife!

Tonight, i had a meal that needed a steak knife.

I had grilled Romain lettuce. It was fabulous! It was a head of Romain, cut in half and grilled with oil and spices and served rug cucumbers and tomatoes. You could have ordered it with meat or shrimp, but as you know…vegan.

The presentation was great and the taste, wow! It was still crisp in some areas and you actually needed a knife, well I did, anyway. Besides, it came with a steak knife, so whu not!

{June 9, 2016} After a rough day…

What do you do to wind down? Everyone does things differently.

Some people go for a run, some purple take a bath, have a drink, take a nap, eat, candy or ice cream. People joke about getting a drink, I’m sure you’ve been there.

Today, during class, a few issues in the training environment people were joking about getting a drink.

What did I do? I don’t drink, the one or two recently was to participate, so…I went to get some dinner.

I went to Red Robin and I ate forbidden food…with my veggie burger…fries and onion rings. Oh my! But they were good! A big smile on my face! But oh my…ouch, what it was doing to my stomach! Smile through the pain!

Worth it? In the moment…you bet your sweet bippie!

What’s your go to?

Doesn’t that look fabulous?!

{June 4, 2016} A celebration for a fabulous woman

My sister.

She’s fabulous.

We celebrated.

The end.

Kidding. My sister has a birthday coming up this week and while dad, LaLa and I were in town this weekend, ACS thought it would be a great excuse to celebrate GES’ special day.

He was right. There were about 14 of us at a fantastic restaurant owned by a friend of hers. Bacco, a great Italian restaurant http://www.bacconorthend.com/

Good food, drinks, good friends, family, atmosphere and the entire upper floor singing happy birthday. What could be better?

Nothing!

{June 1, 2016} I had a grown up drink!

Yes, you heard right. And no, I did not finish it, but I liked it.

I went out for a work meet and greet tonight at Maudes Liquor Bar in Chicago. It was a nice place, nice atmosphere, not much for me to eat, but I made due, not to worry.

What I started with, was a “real drink”. Everyone else was drinking wine and not a wine drinker, I decided on Amaretto, originally, I asked for amaretto and creme, luckily the waiter brought the creme on the side, I don’t really need the aftermath!

I had an Amaretto on the rocks, how cool am I! Turns out, I really liked it! As the ice melted, it watered down the amaretto and it was quite delicious, will definitely have to try that again! [And it went nicely with my shaved veggie salad]

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What was I thinking?