some great times

 Fell in love tonight. Who wouldn't? She's just as cuddly as she is adorable. A win for her and her new family. ❤️#Brynne❤️

Hard life. Two fabulous pizza places in one week. Here's the thing. This one actually edges out the last. How do they do it? I was not disposed to like this place. It's corporate. It's in the trendy and crowded River North. It's just as hard to get into as the previous pizza joint. But here's the thing. For me, one of my issues with many of the "highly rated" tavern style pizzas is that they don't have enough cheese to make them feel luxurious. This place understands the value of cheese. It is not an overboard cheese bomb, it's creating an unctuous mouth feel and the flavor balance the pizza gets from just the right amount of cheese. So a win for those of us who are cheese aficionados! Worth returning.

While Phil was In STL to visit his mom, I made spagherti sauce and a few other items so we could eat at home a few times this week LOL but we will definitely find itme for some chinese becasue- chinese espcially Sizchuan!

Sometimes things just tickle me. And I got a chuckle out of these sentences today. 

"Last year, Billy had gotten his mother a chest freezer for Christmas, and now as Billy opened it up, he saw that she had stocked it with enough food to keep him going for weeks. Apart from four brick-shaped items that he guessed were meatloaf and a round object that he thought might be chicken pot pie, the rest were mysterious casseroles that he supposed he’d figure out when he defrosted them. “What do you want for dinner?” Billy asked. “A brick, a circle, or a mystery?”

We had a week of mostly eating at home-  then a week later, on Monday night we went for Laotian food nearby. Menu items marked with blue X in the photos. Lovely service and tasty food. My personal fave was the Lao Der Jerky.

Wednesday night Osteria Langhe:  Well, it was an excellent meal even if it wasn't what I had in mind... My favorite rabbit dish is an "always on the menu" item. Except tonight, due to the heat waves, the supplier (from one of the Carolinas) is having problems with cold chain shipping. So, no coniglio tonight  However, the pasta here is outstanding so it wasn't like we really suffered.  We've known Aldo since the year Phil broke his shoulder (1999) and Aldo was working at Savarin in River North. He told us tonight that his place, Osteria Langhe, has now been open for 12 years. Which means I have ordered the coniglio for more than a decade. And honestly, it isn't my lack of imagination it's just that an excellent rabbit dish is not that easy to find. So this means we will be returning before I go home to Sevilla in September. No problem with that. Menu items marked.

Thern Thursday night - Dinner with Frank at a local Venezuelan restaurant located between our two places. Excellent summer salad, a decent ceviche and good tostones for Phil's chicharaon fix. I went for a simple arepa and the guys split a Venzuelan parrilla which had PLENTY. A side of maduros and a side of black beans filled in the non existent gaps  The champagne and Pinot both showed really really well. We had no trouble taking down both wines.

Friday night we ate at home and then Saturday we have plans with John & Stephanie to dine ar Bayan Ko.  Time is flying by - I have had appointments with the eye doctor, the internal medicine doctor, and the cardiologist for annual check ups; and am down to Derm, imaging amd dentist for the "season" YAY!