Weekend in Chicago

 

We flew to Chicago this past Friday for the wedding of our friend’s daughter and it was an all around lovely and fun weekend.  I had not been to Chicago in several years after regular visits when I lived in Michigan and I had forgotten how much I loved it there.

We stayed at The Warwick Allerton Hotel, right on Michigan Avenue in the heart of the Magnificent Mile and the location was perfect.  The first night’s welcome party was at a beautiful spot, right on the Chicago River and it was so fun to see all the boats passing by from the terrace at RPM Events.  

We found a great spot for breakfast on the wedding day, then walked Michigan Avenue before taking the highly recommended Architectural Tour.  You travel by boat on the river, getting a unique perspective of the buildings, plus all the history.  Don’t let the news reports scare you away from Chicago - it is a beautiful, clean city worth visiting.

The wedding was an elevator ride away from our room in a historical rooftop ballroom and we had a great time dancing the night away.  Luckily we did not have an early flight on Sunday, so I could leisurely walk to Starbucks in the morning and even find a great place for brunch in the Northwestern University Hospital neighborhood.  

I loved this quick weekend trip to Chicago and hope to get back soon.  And, the whole night of the wedding, I was thinking about Melissa’s wedding in a few short weeks.  I am getting excited for sure.

Happy Wednesday!  

Life Lately

 

It is a few days past Easter and April is already whizzing along for me with a lot on my calendar.  Melissa’s bridal shower is fast approaching and I am hoping for a flurry of rsvp’s to come in this week, so I don’t have to follow up with people.  I am working on menu cards and some table top signs and still need to place a flower order at Trader Joe’s.  Otherwise all is well with that.  3 months until the wedding!

I didn’t take any photos on Easter, but do have a few fun shots of our Good Friday.  As is our tradition, we went to Stations of the Cross and then did a mini bar crawl in the afternoon.  This tradition dates back to our parish friends in Michigan and we see no reason to not continue in Florida.  There was one big change and it was very Florida centric. Instead of stations of the cross in church, there was a procession through downtown Venice.  This was the first year for this and it was really quite special with several hundred participants on a beautiful day under a bright blue Florida sky.

Happy April!

Birthday and July 4th

 

I have always thought it pretty fun to have a birthday during a holiday weekend and this year, we kicked off 4th of July weekend with a fun Friday night including champagne on a balcony overlooking Sarasota Bay, birthday balloons, dinner and a birthday dessert at a lovely Italian restaurant in downtown Sarasota.

With a couple neighbors (friends), we do a regular dinner club where we trade houses, plus go out on a loose rotation.  Since the various schedules happened to fall open on my birthday; lucky me.  I felt really loved the whole night and it is always a treat to try new places in downtown Sarasota.  It’s fun to get away from our beachy vibe, dress up a bit and wander the sidewalks of a beautiful, vibrant main street.  

Our tradition on the 4th of July is low key lately after many years of lake days with big groups.  We swam a bit, barbecued burgers and I made my traditional Mom ‘s Macaroni Salad.  We ended the night on the beach, where the gulf breeze felt great as we waited for sunset, dark and the beautiful fireworks.  What a great way to end a long birthday weekend with fireworks over the Gulf of Mexico.  After all the turmoil in bigger cities this past year, I was feeling especially patriotic and thankful  to see that small town America is holding on to what America means.

A Make Your Momma’s Recipe Party

 

We put an interesting twist on our MSU basketball watch party yesterday.  It was decided that the dish everyone would bring to share would be something our mothers made in the 60’s or 70’s.  It was a stroll down memory lane and the fun part was hearing everyone’s stories. We enjoyed sloppy joe’s, deviled eggs, homemade mac and cheese, strawberry pretzel jello salad, iceberg lettuce salad and three bean salad. Desserts were peanut butter cookies and a decadent chocolate cake.

I brought an appetizer that my mother always made at Christmas using the gold standard of the 70’s - Velvetta cheese.  It is a recipe I had forgotten about, but still delicious.  It was fun to go back in time with some of these classic dishes which may not fit into today’s healthier eating, but have that comfort food factor. When was the last time you had any kind of jello dish?  It’s been awhile for me, but reminded me so much of childhood pot lucks when there was always one or two on the table.  

The basketball game was a loss for MSU, but the party food theme was a win that everyone had fun with.

What would be the dish you would bring?

My Mother’s Party Browns

1 package party rye bread

1 lb ground beef

1/2 lb hot sausage

3/4 lb velvetta cheese, cubed

2 T oregeno

2 T Worcestershire Sauce

Salt and Pepper

Brown ground beef and sausage.  Add cheese and seasonings.  Put bread on a cookie sheet and top with meat mixture.  Bake in 350 degree oven 12-14 minutes or until bread is slightly crispy.  Makes about 3 dozen.

Fall Travels in Northern Michigan

 

Before Hurricane Ian, I had planned a golf trip to Northern Michigan with stops all around the state to visit friends and family.  The timing was because of my nephew’s wedding that would be our first event. Unfortunately, because of flooding and power outages, we were unable to leave in time to make the wedding, but did manage to meet up in Ohio for brunch with my daughter and son in law on the last leg of our drive.  

Then, it was a bit more traveling north to reach our friend’s cabin on the North Branch of the Au Sable River. Once there we were treated to two days of delicious dinners cooked over an open fire, canoeing on the quiet, pristine river, campfire time and lots of catching up over wine.

We headed further north, had a beautiful, sunny day of golf in Gaylord and finally caught the ferry to Mackinac Island.  It really is a place that will take you back in time with only bicycles, horse and carriage and walking to get around.  There is beautiful victorian architecture and cottages, flower gardens, a historic fort and many fun shops and restaurants.  The highlight is renting bikes and the 8.2 mile bike ride around the island along the shores of Lake Huron.  

After a two night stay on the island, we caught the first ferry back to Mackinaw City and drove to the west side of the state for golf in Ludington (with our son in laws’s parents) on the shores of Lake Michigan.  Being Floridians now, the 50 degree weather was quite chilly for golf, but we recalled our Michigan roots and still had fun.  The hot coffee with Bailey’s during the round really hit the spot.

For our final day, we headed to Metro Detroit on the east side of the state and a visit with our younger daughter and her boyfriend.  They treated us to golf and dinner at their golf club.  It was another chilly round, but it is a beautiful old course and clubhouse and we enjoyed every minute.  More hot coffee and Baileys was a necessity.

We don’t normally make the drive and prefer to fly, but it was easier with our golf clubs and the length of our stay.  We traveled many miles, but what a fantastic trip we had.  

Final note: We were not able to drive around Venice very much before we left and the damage we saw when we returned really was painful to see.  I have been doing what I can to help both in my neighborhood where I am Landscape Chair (300 trees are down) and with my volunteer group in the downtown/beach area.  It will be many years of a new normal in Southwest Florida, but the sun is shining, the gulf is still blue and it will get better.

Easter Weekend in Photos

 

It was a lovely, Florida style Easter weekend with a lot of time spent outside in the sunshine.  We had our annual Good Friday with friends, attending Stations of the Cross first, followed by visits to a few outdoor bars. There was a lot of Easter prep on Saturday getting ready for dinner.  Even Easter mass was held on an outdoor patio on a beautiful morning and it was a nice early start to the day.  My mother in law came for dinner and because of all the prep Saturday, it came together nicely and I was happy with my traditional menu including a few twists from new recipes.  The Strawberry Shortcake Trifle I made for dessert was delicious.  After dinner we took a drive to the beach and had a cocktail at Sharky’s with a beautiful view of the Gulf.

I hope you had a sunshiny Easter too!

Boat Day

 

We had a boat day with friends planned for this past Thursday and while the rain held off, it was one of those hazy, low cloud, early fall Florida days.  Not your typical boat day where you keep applying sunscreen, but it was actually kind of nice to put on a sweatshirt and enjoy the gulf breezes without worrying about too much sun.  

The low sky was quite amazing with just a hint of blue here and there and the beaches we anchored at were pretty much deserted.  Now that is something to love, because it is very rare to be the only people at a public beach.  We were able to pick up so many pretty seashells and it was by far, the best shelling day I have had since I moved here.  There are always shells, but many times the prettiest and biggest ones are imperfect and broken.  (To find shells go to Don Pedro Island State Park and Stump Pass Sandbar via boat).  

Highlights also included finding our first really big haul of shark’s teeth and seeing a large group of stingrays swimming right off the shoreline where we were standing.

We stopped for lunch at Palm Island which is private, but has a fabulous restaurant open to all.  You can either arrive by private boat or take a short water taxi ride from the mainland.  The drink I had was quite delicious and per our waiter, is where the restaurant gets it’s name.  (Rum Bay’s Smash = light and dark rum, cream of coconut and tropical juices).

Just another day in paradise :-)