Little Beans Cafe

We didn’t have anything planned this weekend, so we decided to take Mia to  Little Beans Cafe on Saturday. Ok, so I was really scoping the place out to see if it’ll be the venue for her 2^nd birthday party. Haha, I know you think I’m crazy. But I’m ok with that. Everyone knows what a crazy planning family we are. J But seriously, the earlier you plan, the less stressful and cheaper it’ll be!

Since some of you come here looking for pictures of Mia, here you go! She didn’t particularly look like she was having a ton of fun, maybe because there were a lot of bigger kids running around. But I’m sure she enjoyed getting out of the house for a bit.

The play space is way bigger than Family Grounds Cafe and the prices are equivalent. The parking is way easier at Little Beans also. There were a ton of different play areas: crawlers only space; dollhouses; a firehouse complete with slide, firetruck and dress up props; a grocery store; a play house; tons of props to play dress up; an auto shop, desks/books, and train table.

I loved all the little details…the grocery store had an ATM outside; the play house had a mini piano, oriental rug, and mantle complete with fireplace and mirror on top; and the autoshop had cars, tools and a gas pumping station!Check out Mia with a tutu from the dress up stash on her Beamer outside the auto shop! This place would be great when your kids get cabin fever on a cold or rainy day and need to run around to let all that energy out.

On a photography note, when shooting toddlers with adults everywhere, it's easy to get a lot of crotches in your shot when you're down at a toddler level. Be careful of what's in the background of your frame!

Spring Is Around the Corner

The birds are chirping, the days are getting longer and the breeze isn't so cold.  Flowers have even popped up in Mia's room! J To my delight, I was able to get some art projecting done this weekend. I ordered decals from this etsy shop (for $3 each!) back in December, and just finally got them up. Mia's room is almost ready for a reveal...a year later, ha. I just need to find the perfect scrapbook paper for her shelves...

There will be a little of something for everyone this week - pictures of Mia, DIY art projects and recipes...

White Chocolate Coconut Bars Recipe

{pictured on the plate in back}

I was looking for a basic brownie recipe for Mia’s birthday party and came across Eagle Brand’s Magic Cookie Bars.  I adapted the recipe by:

1. Using white chocolate chips (because of my white/winter party)

2. Not using nuts (since there were kids at the party) and

3. Using a 9 x 9 pan (to have a thicker crust)

They’re super easy to make. But consider yourself warned, they are very sweet. But I love white chocolate, condensed milk, coconut, and have a sweet tooth, so I’m ok with it J

Ingredients

No Stick Cooking Spray

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs

I don’t like cleaning my food processor/blender, so I stick a bunch of crackers in a sandwich bag, and smash away with a mallet or pan

½ cup butter, melted

1 (14oz) can Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk          

2 cups (12 oz. pkg.) white chocolate chips

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Line a 9 x 9 inch baking pan with foil and cover with no-stick cooking spray.
3. Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter in small bowl. Press into bottom of prepared pan. I use the bottom of a measuring cup to smush the crumbs down.
4. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture.
5. Layer evenly with chocolate chips and coconut.
6. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
7. Loosen from sides of pan while still warm; cool on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Groomsmen Gifts

We have a few friends getting married this year and one of them asked me for some inspiration on not so ordinary groomsmen gifts. You know…the standard engraved flask, mug, moneyclip etc.  As usual, I was giddy with the request! They’re going to Vegas for the bachelor party, so immediately I thought of some fun Hangover ideas, with this and this in mind from Hostess with the Mostess.

♦ Travel tote – Every traveling business man needs one. And it’s perfect for housing all your Hangover necessities...

♦ Small bottle of Jager – To get the night started…

♦ Two Tylenol pills - In a little baggie with an "X" label.  They'll come in handy when the hangovers kick in.

♦ Little plastic/toy wolf - Accompanied by a speech about why you ♥ them and they're your groomsmen. 

♦ Pocket knife – Obviously needed so you can become blood brothers.

♦ $$ bills - C’mon, it’s a bachelor party. In Vegas.

♦ Hospital bracelet – Used to label each groomsmen’s tote.

Other ideas that could be incorporated:

♦ tooth ♦ deck of cards ♦ casino chips ♦ chicken ♦ baby ♦ sunblock ♦ Mike Tyson ♦ tiger ♦ Chinese guy ♦

With Doug going to Vegas for the first time ever, let alone for a bachelor party…I’m concerned he’s going to end up missing like Doug or physically injured like Stu. Kinda like our college days.  Let’s hope he comes home in one piece.

linked up at

As Seen On {Prudent Baby}

eeeeeee! The yarn bowl I made for Mia's first birthday party was featured on Prudent Baby's Project Round Up!

As a fairly new blogger, this is very exciting for me! J Check out all the details of Mia's Winter One-derland...

Sneak Peek

Inspiration Board

Part ONE - Decorations

Part TWO - Sweets Table & Doljabi

Also, with two new babies joining the family this month and friends with baby birthday party/baptisms/showers to help with, I have LOTS of crafting on the to-do list!
Check back later this month for my latest art projects!

Restaurant Week 2011 Recap

Chicago Restaurant Week just ended and here’s my 2011 recap and reviews for you.  I love being able to try an entire meal at new restaurants for a decent price. You get an appetizer, entrée and dessert for $33 (dinner, lunch is $22), usually from a prix fixe menu (although Zapatista’s wasn’t).  

Terzo Piano

Tues and I took a long lunch at Terzo Piano in the Modern Wing of the Art Institute. Meh. Despite the buzz about this fresh, local, organic, “Italian with a modern perspective” hot spot, we were not impressed. I mean, we definitely enjoyed the Chicago views from the floor to ceiling windows all around.  And the piazza overlooking Millenium Park on the sunny day was wonderful. I imagine it’d be gorgeous when the flowers in the gardens are in full bloom. I could wander around the city for hours on days like that and just take it all in J  Anyway, back to the restaurant…

We appeared to be the youngest people there, other than the very well poised children who were with their well cultured mothers. To start, there was foccacia. Which wasn’t even good! And neither was the EVOO!  Bleh, not a good sign when the bread isn’t good at an Italian restaurant.  For our appetizer, we both had the {Pea shoot and fennel salad with fresh goat's milk cheese and creamy tarragon dressing}. It wasn’t my thing - kinda resembled grass and the goat cheese wasn’t well complemented with the other stuff. Maybe I should’ve tried the beet soup instead. Moving onto my entrée, I had {sesame crusted white fish with cucumber salad}. It was fine, nothing special. Tues had the {hand crafted pappardelle with beef Bolognese and parmesan} which was good, but not good enough to leave her wanting more. For dessert, I had the {blueberry cobbler with buttermilk ice cream} which was again fine, nothing special. Tues had the {ten year aged cheddar with sugared bacon walnuts} - the cheese case when you walk in convinced her. The walnuts were delish, but again, not impressed with the entire dish.

Lunch at Terzo Piano wasn’t anything that we hoped for, wah wah. At least my dinner at Perennial was outstanding!

Perennial

Doug and I haven’t had a date night since October! It’s important to me to have uninterrupted time alone where we can actually have a conversation with undivided attention. Despite this priority of mine, he tried cancelling.  But as with most things, I forced him to go, and in the end he loved it. As usual. Wife is always right J I’ve been to Perennial once before (with Tues) for Chef’s week, and we loved it. So Doug and I were definitely excited for our dinner. It’s a perfect date night spot although the tables are a little close to my liking as I prefer not to hear the entire conversation the couple next to us is having.

To start, we had the {sweet potato soup, honey, smoked chilies, perennial trail mix} and {confit duck croquettes, garlic aioli, thyme}. I didn’t know what to expect from a sweet potato soup, but it was SO GOOD! The smoked chilies made it so subtly tasty and the trail mix was perfect for a little bit of crunch.

We had {grilled berkshire pork belly, braised red cabbage, mustard spaetzle, apple purée, apple gastrique} and {scallops, thumbelina carrots, turnips, spinach, smoked pearl onions, sweet onion broth} for entrees. Loved the pork belly - nice and fatty and tender. On the menu they had a {short rib ravioli, mushrooms, apples, mushroom broth} for an extra $10 which we initially passed on. But since Doug was already planning what he was going to eat when he got home to fill the rest of his belly, we decided we should get it. And turns out Doug thought it was the best part of the meal! It was light, delicious and the mushrooms were a perfect accompaniment.

To top off the night, we had the {cheesecake with raspberry custard, cream cheese foam, graham cracker ice cream} and the {crispy hazelnut bar with milk chocolate, crème fraiche, and pistachio ice cream}.  They are just as good as they sound! mmMMM! This meal was a perfect way to end Restaurant Week! We're going to miss all the food when we move onto suburban life a few years from now L

Date Night - Zapatista and Les Miserables

With my momma J Since Doug wasn’t interested in seeing Les Mis, I took my mom instead. It was nice to be able to sit down and actually talk to my mom. I mean, I see her at least three times a week.  But the five minutes before and after she comes and goes from my place doesn’t exactly count as quality bonding time.

Dinner…I had a year old gift certificate for Zapatista from Agatha and figured I better use it.  Apparently Emilio’s Tapas closed and now it’s Zapatista's Lincoln Park location. It was Chicago Restaurant Week still, so for $30 each, we were both able to get any appetizer, entrée and dessert from the regular menu. We. were. stuffed. Here's my review...

We started with mini beef tostadas and shrimp ceviche. The five mini tostadas were delicious and could’ve been my meal! On the other hand, I didn’t care for the itty bitty shrimp in the ceviche. For entrées, my mom had red snapper and I had Corona battered Mahi Mahi tacos topped with spicy citrus slaw. The tacos took me right back to the beach at Cozumel where I enjoyed a Sol in the sun four years ago *aahhh* To end our meal, my mom ordered the orange flan (meh) and I had the Tres Leches cake. The cake was sooo good. A huge dollop of light whip cream with toasted coconut shavings over a light, moist cake sitting atop a delicious sauce. Yum yum yum!

I seriously wanted to unbutton my jeans, I was so full. And I couldn’t even button my coat when we left! On the way out, my lightweight mother said the Cadillac margarita was “the best margarita of my life!” I tasted it, and it was pretty smooth. But she also followed that comment up with “I’m used to getting margaritas from Red Lobster and Chili’s.” haha she’s silly J

And a show…Admittedly, I didn’t really know what the storyline was. So I read the story for Act I and Act II and was so confused! But when it came to the show (which was longer than most), I understood just fine. The solos, duets and trios were amazing, as was the frequently changing set. And I was impressed with the child performer!  I kept trying to picture what this little boy’s life doing Broadway shows must be like. 

My favorite show is still Rent, but this one was a contender. Other shows I’ve seen are Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Producers, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Stomp, Jersey Boys, Chicago and Lion King. I wonder what next year’s will be!  What’s your favorite show?