upstate, Illinois part 2

Sister city Chicago!

My sister and I love meeting up in cities and, let's be real, mostly eating food. As someone who loves the culinary arts but lives in a very rural place, food is all I tend to focus on when I am in an urban setting. But I am not made about that at all.

Actually, Leah and I really went to Chicago to see Hamilton for my 30th birthday. AND IT WAS EVERYTHING. I will never recover. Leah and I loved it so much that we wished we could've seen it twice. There were so many layers to pay attention to that we couldn't take it all in. That Lin-Manuel Miranda is a genius. (Side note: Chris Lee, who played Lafayette/Jefferson had just finished his Jr year of college. WHAT?! For real, what have I been doing with my life?)

The city was very rainy and extremely humid when we were there, but that did not stop us. On Tuesday, we started our time off at Sugar Fixe in Oak park for coffee and cream puffs before going to Leah's friends' home for dinner (I became best friends with their cat). Before dinner, we walked down our high school memory lane (from the American Cultural Studies class we both took) by visiting Frank Lloyd Wright's home.

um that weird naked human statue is so weird

Wednesday was the day of rain (and Hamilton). We got soaked on our way to breakfast at La Fournette Bakery and Cafe but quickly lost our rain drenched grumpiness for coffee and french pastries. People were even speaking French around us. It was lovely. 

Since the weather was still iffy, we took an uber downtown to hang out at the Chicago Athletic Association hotel lounge, which Leah's friends recommend to us. It was a magical experience with excellent tea. 

After our tea, the weather cleared up a bit, long enough for us to walk around Millennial Park, grab a quick bite to eat the the Goddess and the Baker before heading to the Private Bank Theatre for the show. 

Our original plan on Wednesday night was to go on a twilight architecture boat tour, but because of the chance of storms, we filled the evening with our favorite activity: eating good food. We had supper at Mana Food Bar (where the polenta mushroom saute was so good my sister literally sang after eating it). We walked around Wicker Park for awhile until we happened to find a Jeni's ice cream; so of course we stopped to have dessert #1. Afterwards, we went downtown, to the old faithful Artopolis Bakery for dessert #2. 

On Thursday, we had a luxurious brunch at Kanela Breakfast Club before going on a long walk around Lincoln Park. 

 We ended our trip the same way we started, back in Oak Park just to eat at this charming little place we had seen earlier called Lea French Street Food.

It was a delicious time. And I parallel parked like a champ and only got really anxious twice.

Yay Sister City + Chicago!