I hope that you aren't tired of good food yet. Because there is plenty more to be had. The last post that you read, we were standing at the bean sculpture taking pictures of the city and our reflections and were pretty entertained by it I must say. From there, we headed to the shops around the area including H&M and Anthropologie of course. After once again working up at appetite (surprise surprise), we headed to The Gage, where we sipped Prosecco, and split pub-style fried pickles (one of my southern favorites jazzed up), fish and chips, and because we needed something lighter a delicious scallop salad with grapefruit and butter lettuce.
I have been dying to tell you more about my girl's weekend in Chicago since I have been back. Partly because I have been missing it quite a bit and talking about it with you always brings me right back to the trip! There is a reason I named this post Scrumptious Chicago, and it's because I mean it. Literally. My friend Rachel and I ate our way through the city one restaurant at a time until we had our fill of all things delicious!
Here's the deal, we shopped, we ate, we shopped some more, we laughed hard, slept in, and drank loads of bubbles and wine. It couldn't have been more perfect honestly. Rachel is a great traveling buddy and that could be because we are very much on the same page when it comes to traveling. Experience the city through the food, have no agenda, and see what the day brings! We just went with the flow and walked where our boots took us.
Let's start with the most amazing croissant that these lips have ever tasted. An almond croissant to be exact. If I haven't told you before I'm telling you now, I sort of have an obsession with almond desserts. And this croissant could be considered breakfast or dessert in my book. We inhaled it within the first hour of being there at the cutest French bakery called La Fournette. From there we immediately began shopping. Naturally.
Last week you got the deets on all of the yummy food from the first ever Satsuma Supper Club, and this week I am so excited to share with you all of the DIY décor from the party! Who says that dinner parties have to be costly? We sure don't!
Carol and I wanted to ensure that everything we used for the party would be super easy for you at home to recreate and also be cost effective so that anyone can host a fabulous supper club!
We decided to go with disposable plates, napkins, utensils, glasses, and tablecloths (easy clean up...hello). The task was to make them still feel special, so we added a touch of hand to each and voila...they were transformed into something really beautiful!
On top of that, we added easy handmade garland, lots of flowers, and details like tiny toothpick flags that said things like "yum" and "pick me".
I am going to share with you the how-to's for the champagne glasses, toothpick flags, and napkins here so make sure you head over to Carol's blog to get the how-to's for the garland, tablecloth, and plates!
Whether you are throwing a dinner party and making breakfast the main event or you are just wanting to cook for yourself and your peeps an amazing brunch, these recipes from the first Satsuma Supper Club, Brinner, are perfect! I am so excited to finally get to share them with you!
As I mentioned before, I was responsible for cocktails and the savory, while Carol handled all things sweet. So make sure that you head over to Carol's blog to check out the sweet goodness...literally. It was a great mix of salty and sweet and there was really something for everyone. And of course there was a refreshing bubbly cocktail to help wash it all down.
First let's talk frittatas. Who doesn't love a good egg for breakfast? It is sort of a staple right? Well what I love about frittatas is that they can be made in advance and can feed a crowd and it's really easy on the cook. So for Brinner I decided to go with one veggie frittata and one that had some meat.
Here's the scoop:
Ok, so I am just going to throw this out there. This girl loves her bacon. There is nothing better than the smell of bacon cooking is there? It's just the ultimate comfort smell to me. One of my favorite dinners/brunch/lunch/breakfast (you get the idea) is a good BLT. There is something about the combination of flavors that just really does it for me. I am always looking for new ways to amp up the regular BLT (not that there is anything at all wrong with the regular), but just to give myself some variety since we have BLT's for dinner in the Spring and Summer almost weekly. Enter this delicious BLT with Oven Fried Green Tomatoes, Arugula and Caramelized Onion "Mayo".
Holy moly guys, this one is going to send your taste buds into over drive! It is absolutely to die for. The first time I made this for Canean, I am pretty sure he fell in love with me all over again. I might have fallen in love too a little...with the BLT.
It's one of those sandwiches where you go "mmm" and "oh my gosh" and "this is so good" and "isn't this so good" the whole time you are eating it. And it's ok, because the other people eating it with you are doing the same thing. And of course you know I had to make it to where it was somewhat healthy so I could still pile on the bacon. So instead of frying the tomatoes, I baked them in the oven and instead of using real mayonnaise, I mixed in some nonfat Greek yogurt to reduce the fat. It's sounding better and better right?
The flavor combinations of the smoky bacon mixed with the green tomato, peppery arugula, and the sweet onion mayo squished in between two pieces of your favorite whole grain toast are perfection.
Take me back. I am not ready to be back in reality yet. I want to be back in Chicago with one of my best girlfriends (Rachel) and be experiencing all that Chicago has to offer. We didn't have enough time. Is there ever enough time on vacation? Not really, so I don't know why I think it would be any different this go around. So here I am doing a little Monday wishing, and thinking about how great of a weekend I just had.
Sometimes us gals just need a weekend away together being silly, eating girlie food (like big juicy hamburgers and fries) and drinking lots of bubbly together. It's good for the soul, to be with your soul sisters. Don't you think?
