Second Dinner and Drinks at Quartino's

After dinner at Emilio's Tapas, we bid farewell to Joe and headed back to the Allerton Hotel to rest our legs, relax, and do a little reading.

 view from our window

We had first dinner around 4, so by 8 we were more than ready for second dinner.  We'd been to Quartino's before and loved it, so we figured it would be an ideal place to just sit in the bar, enjoy a drink or two, and nibble on some small plates.



I ordered a glass of wine, which came in this lovely little carafe.  I love when I can keep refilling my glass!

We ended up ordering fondue with bread and extra apples.  The petite little cooker has it's own candle under it to keep it warm.

Who doesn't love cheesy bread?!  Plus apples, so I can pretend it's a little healthy.   I highly recommend it!

One of the Miami-Indiana play off games was going on, so the bar got increasingly crowded as men filtered in to check on the score and follow the last few minutes (that's all that ever matters in basketball).

I didn't realize until I already had a beverage that this delicious drink on the sign is actually on the menu and I totally wanted one.  I also recognized I probably had enough wine and would have needed some motherly assistance.  We decided to save it for next visit.  Something to look forward to!

And after the end of a long day and wonderful weekend we headed back to the hotel for a little bit of shut eye.

Thank you again, Mom, for making it all the way out to Chicago!  I know it's not easy for you to leave your work behind, but I loved being able to see you and have you there for my graduation.  I love you!

Home Sweet Home in Upstate New York

After a week in Ohio it was time to hop a plane and head back my homeland of upstate New York!

Because I was flying from small city to small city I ended up on one of those itty bitty propeller planes.

And before I knew it I was home.  My mom being the wonderful woman with a similar love for food we stopped at Wegman's on our way home.  If you don't know it, Wegman's is seriously The Best grocery store.  It was started in Rochester, and I've been going there forever.  It's so great Cher demanded to go there when she came here to perform.  It's that good.  We got all stocked up for a delicious grilled dinner to take full advantage of the warm and sunny weather- steak, girl scout potatoes, corn on the cob, and salad.  Every item was cooked on the grill and totally scrumptious.  Next time we'll have pictures, I promise!

After dinner we settled in with a glass of homemade Limoncello made by my very own Dad.  My parents went on their honeymoon to Capri, an island off of Italy.  To celebrate their 20th anniversary we all went on a mediterranean cruise that was the trip of a lifetime.  While there we fell in love with limoncello- a lemon liquor.  This year he decided to try his own hand at it, and from what I hear it's pretty simple.  And I can vouch that it is very very good.

 my petite glass

Saturday Shenanigans- College Flashback

Okay, so this took a little while for me to post a follow-up to the Friday post, but I have been crazy super busy this week, so hopefully I'll fill you in on that later today.

So we last left off with us being slightly over-served on Friday.  I am a firm believer that a big greasy diner breakfast is the prefect cure for a hungover tummy.  We met back up Saturday morning at Jack & Benny's diner on High Street and had an incredible breakfast.  Joe and I have always been diner-enthusiasts, so I became familiar with the midwestern breakfast that is slathered in gravy but never tried it since I'm a late-comer to the meat party (read more about that here).  Now that I don't live here I try to take advantage of Ohio's best features (more on that soon), and one of those is gravy-covered everything.  So I finally tried it!  I don't remember the name on the menu, but I had hash browns, bacon, and fried eggs smothered in bacon with toast.  It was seriously amazing.  Hannah was equally pleased with her choice of eggs Benedict.

We split after breakfast, and Hannah and I headed up to Denison to meet up with some old college friends from the rugby team.  On the way was one of the best, most delicious Italian markets America has to offer (they also have a restaurant, which is obviously scrumptious).

 Carfagna's!

 Hannah stocked up for her trip home- big jars of sauce with a free pound of pasta with each jar!