What's For Dinner?

Steak House? No! Our House!

Today was one of those days that made me realize how lucky I am to be a part of this wonderful blogging community. Who else can say that they have friends from LITERALLY all over the country, many of whom they’ve never met in person??

I started my day bright and early by meeting up with two of my favorite bloggers, and girls who have been loyal readers and commenters pretty much since day one of this little blog of mine: Jenn and Caroline! We met up with each other at a childhood favorite restaurant of mine, Walker Brothers Pancake House, and as usual, the line was out the door. Luckily, they got us in and seated quickly!

I got a mushroom omelet, fruit, and a side of bacon. I only ate the strawberries out of the fruit cup…

Walker Bros. was the first place I ever remember going that had amazingly fluffy baked omelets, instead of the flat and folded over ones of so many greasy spoon places. The bacon was, well, bacon…so it was awesome! The best part though was the company and conversation. Thanks so much for a great morning!

From left: Me, Jenn, Caroline, and Caroline’s cousin

I’ve made an executive decision: all the bloggers I’ve met need to move to Chicago so that we can hang out on a regular basis.

Since I was so close, I stopped off at my mom’s house to show off the new camera, and of course, the lovely Stella was thrilled to be the subject of an impromptu photo shoot!

She’s been watching Top Model!

I came home and vegged out for a while, because its Sunday…and then set out to the grocery store with my EnviTote for a few days worth of produce and ingredients for dinners. Much to my surprise and delight, 3 lb. bags of baby spinach were on sale, buy one get one free for $3.99! Needless to say, I then needed to stock up on Green Monster ingredients too… I had a very specific dinner in mind, hence the trip to the grocery store.

Last weekend for Valentine’s Day, I bought a bunch of ingredients for broth/bouillon fondue after we ate our cheese, and found that we were too full after the first course. The ingredients went into the freezer, and I wanted to use them today. What were these ingredients? Jumbo shrimp and filet mignon!

The steaks needed a simple preparation: just a sprinkle of salt and fresh ground pepper, then a quick sear in a pan and then a few minutes under the broiler.

The shrimp though, got the royal treatment… they got Scampi-fied!

Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients

1 lb. peeled raw shrimp

2 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 c. dry white wine

juice of 1 lemon

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter and olive oil, then the garlic. Cook a few minutes, then add the white wine. Reduce by half. Add lemon juice and shrimp and cook until shrimp are done, about 6 minutes. Add parsley, stir and serve immediately.

In addition, I made a batch of the same creamed spinach I made recently. In all, this was, as Adam said, like Wildfire at home. Remember Wildfire? We went there at the end of my first week of camp this summer, and it’s one of our very favorite steakhouses! To hear that I successfully recreated at home a similar meal as we enjoy out was one of the best food-related compliments I’ve gotten!

All together now:

So, with a full belly and a sleepy head, and thoughts of snow days lingering in the back of my brain… I bid you good night!

Technorati Tags: bacon, beef, breakfast, Chicago dining, dinner, EnviTote, food, friends, fun, out, seafood, simple recipe

14 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 21st 2010 | Tags: bacon, beef, breakfast, Chicago dining, dinner, EnviTote, food, friends, fun, out, seafood, simple recipe
Posted in beef, fish or seafood, friends, simple recipe

Honeymoon, Take 2 or How We Made it to Jamaica!

After our first attempt at our honeymoon failed miserably, we set out on Thursday (Christmas eve) for our second attempt.

We awoke early at 3 a.m. to catch the cab we’d called for 3:30. When the taxi hadn’t shown up by 3:45, we were both thinking “here we go again!” but soon enough our taxi arrived. Luckily we had no bags to check, as they were already in Jamaica, and we got into the longest line for security I’ve ever seen. Again, we thought “here we go again!” but ended up making it to the gate just in time for boarding. Finally we were on our way!

A mere 2 hours later, we had landed in Charlotte, NC (home of KERF, who I promptly texted a hello!).

Our connecting flight was delayed about an hour, so we set out in search of southern breakfast. We both indulged in something that tastes waaaaay better than it looks: Biscuits and gravy.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the rocking chairs that were all over the Charlotte airport, a far cry from the line-standing and wall-sitting we’d done in the Philadelphia airport. Nothing against my Philadelphia friends, but I don’t think I ever want to fly into that city again!

We boarded our flight to Jamaica and it took off without a hitch… next thing I knew, I was seeing the Caribbean Sea out the window

And we landed on the lush green coast of Montego Bay, Jamaica! FINALLY we’d made it!

Once we went through customs and found our bags that had been on vacation for a few days already, we were whisked off to the Sandals lounge in the Montego Bay airport. There were cold drinks, air conditioned rooms, and lovely people that took care of our bags. I changed into flip flops, and soon we were on our way to Ocho Rios!

Coming tomorrow: Part 2! You’ll see our cottage room and our first meal at the fantastic resort.

Technorati Tags: family, fun, honeymoon, out, travel, Untitled

11 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, January 2nd 2010 | Tags: family, fun, honeymoon, out, travel, Untitled
Posted in family

Wedding Week Recap!

I know, I’ve been gone for a while… getting back to reality after the crazy and amazing week I had last week has been a little difficult, and that includes blogging. But I’m back, and ready with a week-long recap for you! Are you sitting down? Get comfortable, this is going to be a long one, and it may take some time to load, as it’s very photo-heavy…but worth it!

Monday, November 23

I worked a normal school day full of meetings and inservices, and got home to find my dad sitting on our couch! I hadn’t seen my dad since our engagement party in January, and I was so excited to see him! We sat and talked for a while, then headed out for dinner. We went to Sushi Station for a light dinner, and then to Yogen Früz since he’d never had it (with living in Oregon and all). Then, we went to Macy’s to find a tie for him for the wedding, and went our separate ways after that, at least for that day. I had a busy few days ahead of me!

Tuesday, November 24

At about 10 a.m. I left for my mom’s house. Why you might ask? Well, when my mom and dad got married, my mom and her mom spent a day baking a challah for their wedding. I wanted to do the same thing! My sister came over as well, and we got to work. After mixing and kneading the dough, letting it rise an hour, then punching it down and rising again, it was time to braid. In the end we came out with one HUGE challah, two smaller ones, and three mini ones:

Wednesday, November 25

It was a hair day! I met my mom at our favorite hair place for highlights, an eyebrow wax (desperately needed) and a professional blow-dry. The result was fantastic, but of course, I forgot to take a picture! I then spent the remainder of the afternoon dodging “Blackout Wednesday” traffic to get our centerpieces and other supplies to our wedding venue, then picking up Lizz’s bridesmaid’s dress from the tailor. We had sandwiches from Boloney’s for dinner, and I believe I was asleep by 10 p.m.

Thursday, November 26

Thanksgiving day! I debated not being a food blogger and just enjoying the day, but I realized that, down the line, I’d be bummed if I didn’t document the meal. My mom’s best friend put out an amazing spread as usual, and no one was left with an empty stomach. Just a sampling of the eats:

Friday, November 27

Rehearsal day! Adam had to work Black Friday morning at his part-time job, so I spent the morning getting last minute things together and packing my bag for two nights. When he got home, we went for lunch, and then drove down to our wedding venue for a quick rehearsal with everyone involved. The guys left after that, and the girls went to get manicures and pedicures.

Afterwards, we drove like crazy people to the rehearsal dinner at Gino’s East Pizzeria for some Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, salad, and pasta. At that point, I said bye to Adam until the wedding! We still talked later in the night, but it was odd not seeing each other.

Saturday, November 28

Wedding day!!! I’ll let the pictures tell the story… it was truly the happiest and best day of my life so far.

We spent the night dancing, celebrating, and well, it was the best wedding EVER! I’m beyond thrilled with how well it all went, and even MORE thrilled to be married to my amazing HUSBAND (I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of saying that!) We were beyond exhausted by the time the night was over, and made a rather surprising decision for:

Sunday, November 29

Rather than staying in a hotel for Sunday night, Adam and I opted to go home and sleep in our own bed. We had some friends in from out of town we wanted to see before they left, and the measly 4 hours of sleep Saturday night just weren’t cutting it! We both took long naps after brunch, and decided to spend our “hotel money” on a great dinner out to celebrate. We went to Shaw’s Crab House near our house for a fantastic meal.

(I know what you’re thinking…enough with the wedding stuff and get onto some food!)

We started with a spicy crab california roll:

And shared a cup of the amazingly creamy clam chowder:

We decided to really splurge and get what we REALLY wanted, so I got King crab legs, the best I’ve ever had:

Adam (the HUSBAND! Notice his ring?!?!) got these Nantucket scallops with spinach:

Rather than getting dessert at the restaurant, we opted instead to have dessert at home. On Saturday, we didn’t get ONE piece of our wedding cake! Well, we each got a tiny bite when we cut it, but that was IT! So what did we do? We had slices of our top tier! Instead of saving it for a full year, we had one piece Sunday, we’ll have another Saturday (to celebrate one week married) another at one month after the honeymoon, another at 6 months, and the rest at a year.

This cake was alternating chocolate and red velvet with milk chocolate buttercream and white icing:

(Are you still here?)

Thank you for reading the recap of the BEST week of my life… here’s to a hundred more years! Adam, I love you more than anything!

Speaking of honeymoons: We leave for our honeymoon December 19, and obviously, I’ll need guest posters! Send me an email if you’re interested!

Technorati Tags: Chicago dining, dad, dinner out, family, food, friends, fun, out, pizza, sandwich, seafood, wedding

48 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, December 2nd 2009 | Tags: Chicago dining, dad, dinner out, family, food, friends, fun, out, pizza, sandwich, seafood, wedding
Posted in dinner out, family, fish or seafood, friends

I Heart Whole Foods

After work today, I had to drive out to my mom’s office for some wedding related stuff. My mom’s office is in a suburb which is right near the day camp that I work at all summer. This suburb has all sorts of wonderful things in it that we don’t yet have out here in chain-restaurant-ville… but most importantly, it has a HUGE and GORGEOUS Whole Foods!

This specific whole foods has not one, not two, but THREE enormous salad and hot bars, everything is constantly refreshed and it has, by far, the BEST selection of different foods I’ve ever seen at any Whole Foods. I haven’t had Whole Foods hot bar in months, and when I realized that my route home from my mom’s office would take me RIGHT past this mecca of food goodness, I knew what dinner was going to be.

I noticed immediately that the store had been rearranged because just to the left of the door was a wall of bars. Every single kind of bar I’ve ever wanted to try was sitting there, beckoning… I managed to restrain myself:

Snacks for the rest of the week!

Then I perused the hot and cold bars for a while. I thought and thought, and eventually decided on what dinner would be. I didn’t want a ridiculous conglomeration of odd foods, but I wanted some variety.

I decided on a spicy tuna roll from the sushi bar, which I thought was brown rice, but alas, it was not. Still delicious!

I love Whole Foods’ spicy sauce. It’s not too mayo-y.

I also, of course, got a container of some salad randomness:

Romaine, spinach, topped with hummus, cucumbers, marinated mushrooms, baked tofu, and a small spoonful of the best macaroni and cheese

I’m quite satisfied. There’s a little bit of hummus and mushrooms left, and I’m trying to decide whether or not to save it for later or eat it now! there’s some pumpkin ice cream in the freezer calling my name…

You tell me, what’s your biggest Whole Foods/Health food store weakness?

Technorati Tags: dinner out, food, out, salad, seafood, sushi, tofu, tuna, vegetables, vegetarian

16 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, November 16th 2009 | Tags: dinner out, food, out, salad, seafood, sushi, tofu, tuna, vegetables, vegetarian
Posted in dinner out, fish or seafood, tofu, vegetarian

Bachelorette Party Recap!

Only a food blogger… I swear, only a food blogger would do what I did at her bachelorette party.

There was much drinking (as was expected) and a great time was had by all… There were quite a few embarrassing pictures taken of me, mostly involving odd facial expressions and looks of shock while opening gifts. There was one photo, actually, that one Meghan said she’d give me $100 if I put it on the blog. I deleted it. I guess I can share one goofy one with you…

I should rewind a bit. My sister Leigh(my Maid of Honor) did a fantastic job planning a very “Mara” night out. Thanks to some cool chef people my sister knows, she was able to get reservations at The Bristol, a restaurant that does not take reservations. It’s a very cool restaurant with interesting food and a focus on sustainable ingredients.

Lizz and I got there early (a RARE occurrence for us) and went up to the upstairs bar while we waited for the rest of the party to arrive.

While we waited, we ordered drinks. Little did I know that the drinks we ordered would be some of the best I’ve ever had, EVER.

This was called a Dardanian Cocktail. It contained gin, muddled pear, elderflower and sour. It was un-freaking-believable. I drank oh… 4 of these.

This was called a Cu-Cui, which had pear vodka, cucumber puree, and something else I don’t remember. Lizz kept saying it was like someone took a salad and put it in a drink. It was also amazing.

Before we sat down at the table, I made it a point to get a picture with Leigh and Lizz

The rest of the party finally arrived, and we headed downstairs to the table

We perused the menus and decided to share a bunch of appetizers and each get our own entrees. Now, you all knew that I’d take pictures of my food. I actually debated blogging about the night, but then Lizz reminded me that if I didn’t, I’d probably regret it… so, here goes (some of the pics are blurry…I did my best!):

I ordered another pear cocktail, and my friend Erin proceeded to order me drinks.

Another pear cocktail as well as a cocktail with Patrón silver tequila and citrus

Then the appetizers came… duck fat fries (the BEST I’ve ever had, hands down)

These came with homemade ketchup and horseradish cream sauce… SO AMAZING!

And, there was savory monkey bread with dill butter… which luckily, Leigh remembered to take a picture of with one piece remaining while I scolded myself… bad food blogger!

There was an apple and manchengo cheese salad

And Leigh and I split fresh radishes with butter and salt. An amazing combo if you’ve never tried it!

Then the entrees came out. Not only did I take pictures of MY food, but I passed my camera around and made everyone else take pictures of THEIR food. I’m really not positive of what all this stuff was… I’ll label the ones I’m sure of.

Half chicken with mustard spaetzle and apple salad (there were about 5 of these at the table)

Goat meat ravioli type things. Thanks for the great picture Meghan!

Raviolo. A HUGE ravioli filled with fresh ricotta cheese and egg yolk. Still smacking myself for not ordering this myself!

Fresh noodles with something called mojama. It’s a Spanish delicacy of cured tuna, grated over the top

Organic grass-fed beef with sweet potatoes (they’re in the background!)

No idea… greens of some sort?

Leigh and I split this whole roasted Pompano fish. I’ve never had more buttery fish, ever!

There were also desserts that were devoured before a picture could be taken, but I assure you, they were FANTASTIC!

After dinner, the group split up and a bunch of us headed north to a quasi-improv show called Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind. I say quasi-improv because while true improv isn’t rehearsed, this is… it’s 30 plays in 60 minutes, the cost of admission is $9 plus whatever is rolled on a 6-sided die, and if they sell out, they order pizza. We’ve been going to this show for the better part of the last 15 years, and it was the PERFECT thing for us to do. The doors didn’t open for another 45 minutes when we got there, so we went around the corner to a favorite bar, Hopleaf, for another drink. I got a raspberry Lambic.

[source]

We then went back, got in line, and took a final group picture.

From Left: Me, Lizz, Leigh, Leah, Mom, Anna, and Kristin

It was an amazingly fun and perfect night out! Thank you SO MUCH to Leigh,, all who came, and everyone who helped make it a night I’ll never forget! I love you all!

I spent the night at Lizz’s house, and we had the luxury of going to IHOP for brunch… there’s something about breakfast food cooked by someone else that’s just so great! Dinner has yet to be decided…

Technorati Tags: beef, Bristol, cheese, Chicago dining, dinner, dinner out, family, food, friends, fun, noodles, out, red meat, restaurant, salad, seafood, thank you, wedding

19 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, November 15th 2009 | Tags: beef, Bristol, cheese, Chicago dining, dinner, dinner out, family, food, friends, fun, noodles, out, red meat, restaurant, salad, seafood, thank you, wedding
Posted in beef, dinner out, family, friends

Bang Bang

After days and days of not having dinner together, when Adam offered to take us to dinner, I took him up on it! We hadn’t had dinner together since Sunday! We debated back and forth about where to go, and when Adam suggested Bonefish Grill, again, I took him up on it!

We’ve been to Bonefish a couple times, and each time we get something different for our entrees, but we keep one thing the same: our appetizer. They are famous for this one appetizer called Bang Bang Shrimp, and honestly, I don’t care how terrible they are for me, they are SO DELICIOUS it’s worth it! They’re spicy, crispy, slightly sweet, and amazing…

For my entree, I got pan-roasted Norwegian salmon topped with spinach, bacon, and gorgonzola. It was a bit too much gorgonzola for me, but it was definitely delicious. The sauce was just the right level of creaminess, and the mashed potatoes were stellar! The veggies on the side was a succotash with corn, edamame, peppers, and bacon:

Adam got “Lobster Thermidor Mahi-Mahi” which had a sherry-spiked sauce on it. Also quite delicious! It was a grilled mahi filet topped with lobster and crab, and then the sauce had lump crab in it.

We both agreed that the food was delicious, and great for a weeknight date-night out… but it wasn’t “eyes closed” good. I’m never disappointed with Bonefish Grill though, so it was a fantastic Thursday night! Thanks for a fun night Adam!

Thanks to a contest I won from Two Boos Who Eat, my fridge is now stocked with Chobani yogurt for the morning, so I’m actually excited to get to bed so I can eat breakfast in the morning! I got one of the elusive pineapple ones…so I can’t wait!

Have a wonderful night! TGIFF!

Technorati Tags: cheese, Chicago dining, dinner out, giveaway, out, seafood

13 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, November 5th 2009 | Tags: cheese, Chicago dining, dinner out, giveaway, out, seafood
Posted in dinner out, fish or seafood, giveaway

L’Eiffel Creperie

Today was quite an exciting day! First, at 12:07 p.m, my friend Heidi gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Quinlan! He’s 8 lbs and 21 inches, and apparently has a full head of red curly hair! Hopefully I’ll get to meet him tomorrow!! I love babies…can you tell?

Then, after work, I went to the tailor shop to have my first wedding dress fitting! The woman at the shop was wonderful, and while most people would’ve looked at my dress and said it was “fine”, she’s going to make it PERFECT! Sorry I’m not going to post dress pictures here… but I will show you one of my favorite things: my turquoise wedding shoes!

My sister endured insane traffic to come to my fitting, and we decided to go for an early dinner and a mini shopping trip afterward. After a short trip at Sur la Table (where I avoided spending ANY money!), we decided to go to a new area restaurant, L’Eiffel Bistrot & Creperie.

I’d seen this place a few times before, and the curiosity finally got the best of me. We walked in, and it was quite a bit prettier and more classy than I was anticipating (I don’t know what, exactly, I was expecting)

The tables were set with sweet little plates

Which were soon topped with fresh hot bread and sundried tomato tapenade:

We perused the menu and found that, lo and behold, there was a crepe named for our mom, Mimi!

We started with a caramelized onion and black olive tart:

For my entree, I got the Country crepe, which had fresh spinach, brie, pancetta, onions and mushrooms, as well as a delicious side salad topped with beets and a great vinaigrette:

Leigh’s looks almost the same as mine, but hers had chicken, goat cheese, and ratatouille on the inside:

Both of these were amazingly fresh tasting, delicious, and VERY satisfying. The flavor combo of the spinach, pancetta, and brie was something that I’ll be duplicating at some point soon!

We finished off our meal with a delicious sweet crepe filled with nutella:

Now THAT is something that I will NOT be replicating because I could eat however many there were. This was something that I’ll seriously dream about!

Leigh and I then went on to go shoe shopping (one of my favorite pastimes) as well as stopping in a couple other stores, but no purchases were made!

Don’t forget to enter my Blogiversary Giveaway!!! The winner will be announced Sunday!

Have a great night and a happy Hump Day!

Technorati Tags: crepes, dessert, dinner out, family, out, restaurant, wedding

15 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, October 20th 2009 | Tags: crepes, dessert, dinner out, family, out, restaurant, wedding
Posted in dinner out, family

365 Days (Giveaway Post)

359 Posts

6,077 Comments

over 100 recipes

5,930 Tweets

245 Google Reader followers

402 FeedBurner subscribers

715 Twitter followers

ONE YEAR OF WHAT’S FOR DINNER!

Did anyone figure it out? The theme for yesterday’s Cute Food Saturday was “birthday cakes”. Not because any human was having a birthday, but because the blog was! I cannot believe it’s been a year already. I’ve met some of the most amazing people, both virtually and in real life, and had wonderful experiences, fun times, and great food.

I’ve discovered new foods

Indulged addictions:

Drastically improved photos:

Then and Now

Eaten at amazing restaurants:

Tru thanks to FoodBuzz, Frontera Grill

The Publican, and Red Mango/Yogen Fruz

And through all this, we’ve been planning our wedding, which will be in 41 days!

To celebrate my Blogiversary, I’m going to give one lucky What’s For Dinner reader a “favorite things” prize pack including, but not limited to:

One foodie charm of their choice
One coupon for free Oikos yogurt (16 oz)
One 32 oz. jar Tropical Traditions Extra Virgin Coconut OIl
One coupon for free Alouette spreadable cheese
One package of Matt’s Cookies (a Chicago favorite)
Three pieces of Fannie May chocolate (another Chicago fave, individually wrapped of course)
Two Cherry Pie Larabars
A Food-Themed bracelet by my ColorHungry friend
One Chicago-themed travel mug

That’s not all, but I haven’t figured out the rest yet! Due to shipping costs, entry is limited to US residents only. How to enter? The usual!

Leave a comment below for one entry
Link back to this post on your blog, or email me for a second entry, AND leave a second comment that you’ve done so..
Tweet about the contest mentioning @imadedinner AND (this is the key for the third entry) leave a second comment to tell me you’ve done so

Only comments will be counted for entry!! The contest will run the whole week, and the winner will be announced on Sunday, October 25th.

I spent today at the apple orchard with Lizz and Skylar, and then we went to Asian Noodle House…enjoy the pictures!

Thank you all for continuing to read my little blog, and for being such wonderful additions to my life. I’m truly grateful for all of you!

Technorati Tags: alouette, Asian, cheese, Chinese, cute, dinner, dinner out, food, friends, Frontera, frozen yogurt, giveaway, noodles, out, restaurant, Rick Bayless, sushi, thank you, Tropical Traditions, twitter, wedding

151 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, October 18th 2009 | Tags: alouette, Asian, cheese, Chinese, cute, dinner, dinner out, food, friends, Frontera, frozen yogurt, giveaway, noodles, out, restaurant, Rick Bayless, sushi, thank you, Tropical Traditions, twitter, wedding
Posted in Asian, contest/giveaway, dinner out, friends, giveaway

Noodle Wednesday

Apparently, Adam and I have a new tradition… Noodle Wednesdays! Who knows how long this will go on, but it’s two weeks in a row now that we’ve gone to Asian Noodle House on a Wednesday. I had every intent of cooking dinner, and even asked Adam to go to the grocery store to pick up a few ingredients, but alas, after our first meeting with our Rabbi who will be marrying us (in 45 days!!!!!), we were too hungry to go home and wait for dinner to be done.

So now you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for the recipe I was planning! Trust me, it’s a good one!

Tonight, we were adventurous. We started with an appetizer of cuttlefish balls.

Don’t know what a cuttlefish ball is? Well, we didn’t either! A cuttlefish, according to Wikipedia is not a fish, but rather a mollusk. They’re kind of gross looking in all honesty, but man, they’re delicious!

I went with braised noodles with roast duck… a new favorite!

This came with a small bowl of delicious shrimp wonton soup:

It was a satisfying meal as usual… and luckily we ate a bit later than usual, so I won’t get hungry before bed! There are a lot of fun things happening in the next week or so, but you’ll all have to wait and find out what they are…yeah, I’m sneaky like that. And no, I still haven’t quit my job to be a full time blogger. Thats not gonna happen!

Have a wonderful Thursday all!

Technorati Tags: Asian, Chicago dining, dinner, dinner out, noodles, out

15 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, October 14th 2009 | Tags: Asian, Chicago dining, dinner, dinner out, noodles, out
Posted in Asian, dinner out, fish or seafood

YOU Decide!

How was everyone’s Monday?

I had every intent of sleeping in and taking advantage of the free time. Alas, my sleep schedule is significantly different than it used to be!

First year teaching day-off schedule:

2:00 a.m. Go to bed

12:00 p.m. Wake up, roll over, go back to sleep

1:30 p.m. Wake up, get out of bed

2:30 (or so): Brunch out with my other teacher friends who had the random holiday off

4:00 p.m. Begin shopping trip for random unneeded items (pink shearling purse? Check!)

7:00 p.m. Order pizza dinner with other teacher friends

9:00 p.m. grade small stack of papers

10:30 p.m. head to bed to watch a movie

12:00 a.m. finally get to sleep

7th year of teaching day-off schedule

7:00 a.m. Wake up to cat sitting on my head

7:15 a.m. get out of bed

7:30 a.m. brew cup of coffee #1

7:45 a.m. Choose On-Demand movie, read blogs

10:00 a.m. Watch pilot episode of 90210 while eating breakfast

11:30 a.m. shower

11:45 a.m. Go with fiance to pick out new glasses

2:00 p.m Eat lunch out while waiting for glasses

3:00 p.m. pick up glasses

3:30 arrive back home, nap

5:30 p.m. wake up, head out to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner

6:00 p.m. Eat big salad

6:25 p.m. eat small bowl of soup (ok, half a bowl of soup) with crackers and 2 pieces focaccia

6:40 p.m. eat half a “Caramel Delight Sundae” (my name, not theirs. Chocolate fro-yo with toasted coconut and caramel.

6:50 p.m. Eat 2 bites of warm carrot cake

6:55 p.m. Leave Sweet Tomatoes, head towards GameStop for video game trades

7:15 p.m. Arrive home, take out contacts, commence veg-out

9:00 p.m. Head to bed

Quite a different schedule, huh? Definitely better eats now!!

Speaking of eats… you may notice over there ——–> that there’s a poll in the sidebar. I’m at a loss as to what to cook next, so I’d like for YOU ALL to help me out! By choosing your favorite option from the poll on the right, What should I make next?

Whatever option gets the most votes will be dinner tomorrow night! Thanks for helping out!

Technorati Tags: Chicago dining, dinner, dinner out, food, friends, fun, out, poll, salad, vegetables

21 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, October 12th 2009 | Tags: Chicago dining, dinner, dinner out, food, friends, fun, out, poll, salad, vegetables
Posted in dinner out, friends

What's For Dinner?

Steak House? No! Our House!

14 Comments

Honeymoon, Take 2 or How We Made it to Jamaica!

11 Comments

Wedding Week Recap!

48 Comments

I Heart Whole Foods

16 Comments

Bachelorette Party Recap!

19 Comments

Bang Bang

13 Comments

L’Eiffel Creperie

15 Comments

365 Days (Giveaway Post)

151 Comments

Noodle Wednesday

15 Comments

YOU Decide!

21 Comments

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