Second Trip - December 2010

December 2010 - Chicago, again.

After our November trip to Chicago, Jon and I decided we wanted to go back to experience Christmas in Chicago.  We asked his parents, Mrs. B and Peej, to join us on this trip to visit Linds again.

During this trip, we got to experience all that Chicago had to offer at Christmas time.  The Xmas lights throughout downtown, the horse drawn carriage rides (we didn't go on one...maybe this year), the live bands outside of Macy's playing holiday music, the inside of Macy's with decorations seeming to have exploded all over the store, the Science Museum Christmas Trees of the World display, the Christkindlmarket (German marketplace) and.....the food :)

This was a shorter trip than the one in November, so our eating options were limited.  Linds took us to CPOG (Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Co).  The building CPOG is in has quite a history behind it involving the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, check it out here....http://www.chicagopizzaandovengrinder.com/history.htm.

This restaurant was featured on a Food Network show called "The Best Thing I Ever Ate".  CPOG is famous for their pizza pot pie's.  The Pizza Pot Pie is an individual serving, "made from scratch" with triple-raised Sicilian bread-type dough; a homemade sauce consisting of olive oil, fresh garlic, onions, green peppers, whole plum tomatoes and a special blend of cheeses; sausage made from prime Boston butts; and doorknob-size, whole, fresh mushrooms (as an option).  The waiter brings the pot pie to your table and flips it out of the bowl, turning the pot pie top crust (top right in picture), into the bottom crust of your pizza (bottom left in picture)!

As Linds had already been to CPOG before, at her suggestion, we also ordered the Mediterranean Bread (it's a flat bread that is easy to pull apart, seasoned just right), and the Antipasto platter as an appetizer. Delizioso!

  



Even though Lindsay moved to Miami, FL the next month, we hope to visit Chicago once a year :)

The start - November 2010

November 2010 - Chicago

Jon and I had been watching the food network, Outrageous Foods I think, and saw something that made Jon drool!  The FOSS HOG.  Located at Franks 'N' Dawgs in Chicago, IL the FOSS HOG was a gourmet hot dog.

This creation was made from pork loin breakfast sausage with Cobb smoked bacon, a fried egg, and drizzled with a maple mayo.  The fried egg is what caught Jon's attention.  He is fascinated and needs to try anything and everything that has a fried egg on it. 

We planned a trip with close friends, Matt and Diana Franta (mentioned in about us section), to visit Jon's sister Lindsay in Chicago over my birthday.  I was very excited to go to Chicago for the first time with them and Jon.  We had tickets to see the Blue Man Group, and scheduled our eating around Franks 'N' Dawgs, and restaurants that Lindsay suggested. 

We had an amazing trip.  Linds worked for the Chicago Science Museum, so we went to almost every single Museum for free (didn't make it to the Field), visited several established pizza joints (per Matt's request), and went on a boat skyline tour at dusk.  I think this was one of my most favorite vacations thus far. 

Matt at his requested pizza joint

Jon, Linds, and I on the boat tour

We had such a busy weekend, we ended up going to Franks 'N' Dawgs the day we were departing.  Matt and Diana had to leave Chicago a couple days before we did, so it was just Jon, Linds, and I at F'N'D. 

I got the Franks 'n' Beans hot dog, all beef 1/4 lb frank with JoJo's gourmet baked beans.  Yummo!  Linds got the Sweet Home Chicago dessert "dog".  This consisted of French toast, stuffed with chocolate ice cream, bananas, kiwis, strawberries, freeze dried mango, chopped almonds, and butterscotch sauce. 

...And Jon was completely happy with his Foss Hog.

Starting out

Our story begins with football.  Jon's family room offers three tv's, side by side, for everyone's football viewing pleasure.  Weekends are spent with friends and family watching the OSU and Browns games, food overflowing from the kitchen, and lots of napping :) 

I had told Jon during one of our conversations over a year ago, that I loved watching the Food Network.  Later that week, when he turned on a Sports Center show, he put the Food Network on one of the other tv's for me to watch.  How thoughtful :) 

Saturday rolled around, OSU game time.  Friends and family show up, and on go the tv's.  One with the OSU game, one with another televised game, and...the Food Network on the last tv.  Jokes ensued regarding Jon's "man-card".  I pointed out he was putting it on for the females in the room who didn't care about the games as much as the guys did.  Everyone was hooked that day.  They joked about Jon's "man-card", however, as Saturday afternoon turned into Saturday evening, more comments were made about the current show on the Food Network, than about the football game that was on. 

Ever since that first weekend, the Food Network has remained the choice for the third tv during game time.  As more interests peaked for the Food Network, Jon started to tape my "favorite" shows.  We taped Triple D (Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives), Outrageous Foods, Cupcake Wars, and Chopped.  Those shows were added to the already long list of weekly taped games and shows that Jon loved.  The Food Network has now become a regular channel that is checked frequently, and watched almost every day.

This blog is for those of you who have asked about our travels, who aren't always around when we get home from an adventure to hear our stories, or for the random food lovers out there doing the same thing we are :) 

Enjoy!