Beer, Bulldogs and Brunch Weekend

Let's just say Ben crushed my birthday plans when I learned that not only did he get to spend Monday through Thursday (my birthday) in Miami for work last week, but that also meant the second time that we'd have to cancel our Girl and the Goat reservations.  The reservations I made in February for May, for 5pm because that was the latest time left.  Yes, those reservations.

 

So, we made a deal. Friday night we'd do a local dinner at a bar with friends to watch the Bulls/Miami game and I could make new reservations for G&G.  Luckily this time I was able to snag a "later" dining time of 5:15pm in July.  Looking forward to it.

 

Friday we went to Beer Bistro (II).  Formerly a Small Bar on Fullerton, we were not previously impressed. Given the huge food variety on Beer Bistro's menu, as well as the craft beer at decent prices, we decided to give it a chance and were glad we did.  However, note to self, don't do the "beer grab bag". For $2 we pulled a beer out of a garbage-bag-covered cooler.  Twitter had said Bells, Sierra Nevada, etc.  The disappointment of grabbing a random Chicago brewed pilsner was undeniable.

 

Oh well, it was redeemed by the delicious half-baked cookie we shared for dessert.



Saturday morning started off with a wonderful 6.5 mile run followed by the American Beer Classic.  It was all we hoped for and more. $40 a ticket gave us the opportunity to bask in the sun and drink unlimited 2oz pours from over a hundred craft breweries, plus it was on Soldier Field.  (This was much more fun than my last stint on the field).



One of my blogger friends, Emily at Sassy in Sequins, posted recently about making pretzel necklaces for a beerfest she was going to.  I thought the idea was genius.  Of course, Ben made fun of me while I was making the necklaces.  Our conversation went something like this:

Ben: I can't believe you're making those. That's hilarious.

Me: Just wait until you start drinking and you'll be thanking me.

Ben: You know what they're for right?

Me: Of course, they're palette cleansers for in between tastings. <smirks>

Ben: Yep, they're not meant to be munchies for after you've had a couple beers.

Well, my friends, they turned out to be handy for both.  I just wish I would have been clever enough to put on some string cheese like others we saw. Next time.

After leaving Soldier Field, we took the Michigan Ave bus to Gold Coast neighborhood. Look who we saw along the way...


Yep, that IS Lebron James!

Given the fact Ben and I both ran that more and drank during the day, well let's just say our night ended early.

All Ben needs is his tongue hanging out

However, the benefit of going to bed early, is waking up early! 6:23am to be exact.  It was an excruciating 2.5 hour wait, but because we were up early, we decided to go to Bongo Room (Andersonville location) when they opened at 9am.  Best.idea.ever. No wait and amazing breakfast.

White Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Pancakes



I also decided to go check out the Henri Bendel Sutton Messenger bag I posted about last week....and then I fell in love. I couldn't help myself.  It's a beauty I'm sure I will use for quite some time! (25% off through 5/27 with code MAYJC and 4% back via ebates.com)

Our weekend concluded with our usual Sunday routine: Sunday Night Pizza Night as we watched Skyfall (so good!) Pequods know how to make Chicago Style pizza!

 

How was your weekend? Linking up with Sami!