Wknd Recap

This past weekend, Mr. Sister was in town. It was silly planning since I'll see her four days this weekend, but she wanted to come before Christmas and it was the most ideal weekend for both of our schedules.

Friday night we laid low.  We had planned on trying a new restaurant (new to us), Feast, in Wicker Park, but eventually decided we just wanted to do something nearby that we could walk to.  We ended up going to Coopers for some BBQ.

 

Saturday we woke up early enough to be the brunch crowd at Southport Grocery.  We went here a few weeks ago, but I never got around to posting about it.  Delish.  I cannot believe we've lived nearby for almost four years and had never tried this hot spot.  They even have a Grownup Poptart, which consists of a pastry, mascarpone cheese and strawberry filling.



Both times I've ordered the Bruschetta, which consists of bread, scrambled eggs, tomato, queso freso and basil.  It's a huge portion!

Mr and I split the Bruschetta and also Cupcake Pancakes. These were good (and filling, between the bruschetta and one pancake, we were stuffed. We even had a leftover cake for Ben!)

Following breakfast, we went back and got ready to head out on some shopping adventures.  I've been keeping an eye out at one of the local TJ Maxx for new Kate Spade jewelry (they've had the same two pieces forever), so we stopped in there and ran around before coming home to drop the car off and head downtown to a nail appointment.

 

I'd bought us each a YouSwoop in the summer for mani/pedis at Image Nails.  We'd been frustrated not to get an appointment during Mr. Sister's last visit, we were pleased to have been able to get appointments this trip.  The nail salon was not that great to be honest.  In the bottom of a building (weird. No windows) and both of us had slight smudges within an hour of leaving. Boo. Funnily enough, I saw one of Ben's coworkers there!  While I didn't love the salon, I am in love with the color I picked out though, Essie's Smokin' Hot . I may need to purchase this!

 

After our nail appointment, we headed over to Oak Street in Gold Coast neighborhood for some shopping/window browsing and also the Festival of Lights Parade!  The parade put a bit of a damper in our shopping (it took us forever to figure out how to cross the street from Juicy Couture to Kate Spade), but it was a fun and festive atmosphere!





After enduring chaos to get on a train to head north, we stopped into our friend's wine and cheese party for a few glasses. 



 It was about 7:30 and we agreed on Cafe Ba Ba Reeba for dinner, but the soonest we could get in was 10pm.  City living. We drank up and ate enough cheese that at Reeba for the three of us (Ben, Mr and I), that our bill was only $56, and that included a $19 pitcher of sangria!. The cheapest I've ever ate there.



Somehow Sunday morning we were up and moving by 9:30, so we decided to book a 10am reservation at Prasino for brunch via Open Table (love this website for booking reservations, plus you can earn credit to restaurants). As when we previously visited, the food was perfection. Even Mr. was impressed, which is hard to do.

Salted Caramel French Toast

Hippie Omelet

We made a special stop for macaroons, but that deserves it's own post, so stay tuned!