This past weekend, Claire and I visited Chicago. It was a great time with wonderful food and a lot of cold.
When I arrived there last Wednesday it was 70 and sunny. Reminded me of a great fall day in San Diego...by the time Claire got there Friday night it was in the low 30's and it was dreary...it even snowed on us as we went for our training run on Sunday morning.
One quick note then some pictures...I have said a number of times that Mexican food outside of SoCal or Mexico just did not add up...it is usually bad and often inedible, but a place in Chicago made me rethink this. Claire emailed me late Friday and said that she had surprise dinner plans for me...so I picked her up at the airport, we dropped off her stuff at the hotel and we walked a couple miles to a place called Salpicon.
It was wonderful. We had a flight of tequila to start us off with appetizers of Tostaditas de Tinga (Crispy small tortillas mounded with shredded pork and chorizo in a roasted tomato-chipotle sauce topped with Mexican crema and avocado) and Queso Empanizado (Sliced Panela cheese lightly breaded and fried, seved with a salsa de molcajete and a roasted tomatillo-serrano sauce).
All of that was a GREAT start...we shared a special for dinner, it was a roasted quail served on a chipotle sauce...AMAZING.
We skipped dessert, but a number of them looked great!! If you are in Chicago, I highly recommend this place...now, a couple of shots:
On Saturday night (prior to a great Italian dinner) we visited Millennium Park. There was a lot of cool things there including The Bean, a public area for concerts and a couple colorful walls called the Crown Fountain...
We followed that visit with a drink and snack at the John Hancock observatory...we had front row seats for a great view and had a wonderful time!
On Sunday afternoon we visited the Navy Pier...they had a collection of Tiffany stained glass windows and was a great way to end the trip!
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I did have a chance to give a quick press conference at the request of Pres-Elect Obama and Senator McCain. Being in Chicago, it made sense for a peace maker like me to put those two together and to assure the public that we have to continue to hope for a brighter future for America. As you can see in the pictures, Pres-Elect Obama loved what I had to say and Sen McCain was a little more unsure.
For the record, there is no truth to the rumors that Pres-Elect Obama has offered me a cabinet post. I told him I was not interested.
8 comments:
McCain looks so defeated in that last photo! LOL Then again, it was Chicago!
sounds like TYPICAL chicago weather, nice one minute - crappy the next.
love the pictures, the bean one made me giggle!
Looks like fun...and tell CLaire I like her hair down!
Was that candidate display up before the election?! I know Obama is from Ilinois, but wow, they really took a bit of editorial liberty with McCain's cutout, didn't they?!
Looks like you had a great time! You should come to Texas and try Tex-Mex, it is awesome!
*lol* That McCain cut-out is cracking me up! It instantly reminded me of that giant drawing John Lithgow's character does of "Harry" for his dad's BigFoot HQ in "Harry & the Hendersons."
Perhaps that's too specific a reference, but I'm on the verge of booking a flight to Chicago just to stand next to ole Johnny boy.
Looks like you had fun with Claire! My daughter wants to go to Chicago next year to see the American Girl store. A bunch of dolls that are treated like royalty. Should be fun!
Kimmy
I'm always deep...it's a curse!
Hallie
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