Tony's Birthday!

My sister and her husband's birthday are right next to each other.  So, after the feast from yesterday and since it was Tony's hard work (in the cooking).  We decided to take them out to eat this time.  We went to Leona's and it was delicious :)  Hope you had a great day!

 Leona's screw up in the singing! Alma and I were in the bathroom and we heard singing.  So, we could not capture Tony's moment, but hope the sundae was good :)

Jamie's Graduation Party

Jamie's Graduation Party !! We are very proud of your accomplishments and we are happy that we were able to go and have an awesome time!  Here are some of the pictures for you to see!

We were making tacos! The food was just delicious...

I bought Mike this shirt for his birthday and he loved it.  I think he looks great in it :)

The table was set and the party was going...

I love these pictures :)

 

Time for cake!

Relaxation and stories ended the day.  It was just perfect!

Congratulations Jamie!

Honk Honk!

This is the first ride that Arianna has in one of those car carts at Home Depot!  She loved it.

And then we needed to go to Kohl's to buy some clothes for Mike's job.  She hated this cart when she was younger.  This time she was better, but she was getting so tired.

We tried the Indian restaurant by Orland Park Taj Mahal and it was very good.  Mike got the Frontier Chicken (Right side) and I opted for the buffet and found out that I like Chicken Vidaloo (may be misspelled)
and their Rice pudding. Arianna was very happy that she was singing and she was also a bit silly.  ;)

Then we went to our evil store Barne's and Noble , evil because we like a lot of stuff, but we only bought a magazine per person.  Arianna picked one book and I got her a really cool puzzle (about doggies).  There is a picture of it below.

Then, we came home to play a little in the yard and to re-fill the bird feeders and Mike hanged 2 more bird houses!

We were so tired that we came inside and rested for awhile.  How was your day?

Chuck's restaurant and Openheimer.

Caught them eating!  Arianna likes french fries again! 

We went to Chuck's Restaurant for breakfast and it was delicious.  The first time that we went was for dinner and I tried their BBQ.  I was not that impressed.  But, I gave them a second chance and ordered something different and it was very very good.  The breakfasts were excellent as well.  Mike ordered french stuffed toast and I ordered chilaquiles with a side of 1 pancake.  We will definitely go back. Arianna ate her bread and just a little of the pancake.

We also managed to go to see the mostly monologue of Clay Jenkinson's portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer (the so called " Father of the Atomic Bomb).  It was excellent, but I will leave the details to Mike.  I am sure he will write a review in his blog.  We met with Clay and John Williams (from 720 WGN) afterwards!  [Last time I took a picture with them, but this time I was too tired for that, but we talked for awhile]  If they ever do another show, I highly recommend it!

An outing for the parents.

It has been awhile since we have gone out as a couple, we usually go out as a family and we love it.  But, this time Mike surprised me by buying tickets to see the musical/ play Pride and Prejudice so a date was set.  This picture was taken as we parked in downtown... since it was a weekend the price was not as bad as we thought.  You know how some parking lots go by different names per floor, this one had a "green theme".  I loved how colorful it was.

Our idea was to have dinner and then drive to the theater.  Now, Mike had promised me to take me back to Frontera Grill (restaurant), but for whatever reason it had been 3 years and we had not made it back so he drove there.  The owner is Rick Bayless and he has a new restaurant that opened recently, Xoco.  I wanted to try that one.  It was supposed to be faster, it is just tacos, tortas or soups, but when we got there we found out that it had more than one hour wait time.  I did not want to rush and we found plan B.  When we were parking, we saw a restaurant named Havana.  So, we tried it.

When we got there, it was not full.  We were seated right away under very nice chandeliers, soft music, and dim lighting.  The service was wonderful too.

Here are the pictures of some of the food that we ordered.  The steak was Cuban style, and had lots of flavor.  Mike ordered pork shops and they were very good and not dry!

But of course, my favorite part was the dessert.  I actually pick desserts first :)  This time I had to tried Strawberries with cream.  Mike had the lava cake and let's  not forget the awesome plantains.  We would love to go back, so we will see.  But, we definitely recommend this restaurant.

When we left the restaurant, I saw this car and was transported back in time....love the color as well.

I was playing with the camera trying to get a couple's shot when the waitress volunteer to take a picture.  Here are both pictures! 

Then, it was off to the play which was just lovely.  But since parking was hard, I did not have time to take pictures and when it finished I realized I left my camera in the car, so no picture of the theater.  But, we will try to do something like this in the near future.  Then, it was home to our darling Ari.  It is amazing how you just need an hour or so away sometime, but then we just miss her too much :)  (By the way, thanks for babysitting).

Girls dinner out!

On Friday, my friends Tiffiney, Leigh Ann, and I went to a new restaurant in Chinatown. It is called Cafe Hoang (232 W Cermak - same block as the fire station) and it specializes in Vietnamese food with some Thai food as well (lesser amounts). I saw a Check, please episode and that is where I heard/saw about this restaurant the first time. So, we decided to give it a try.
I forgot to take some pictures of the crab Rangoon, but they were delicious and big. They were 4 for $4.95. The spring rolls (same price) were good, although I liked the crab Rangoon better (Can't compare with fry food I suppose, haha). The Thai Ice Tea was good as well (but 3.50 a piece). For the main entrees, we ordered a Vietnamese plate with beef and shrimp and an egg roll (7.95)- really really good, a shrimp and chicken stir fry (10.95)- good as well, and a ginger chicken cooked in a clay pot (9.95)- just yummy. So, at the end of the day, it was about 20dls (taking into account tips and taxes) but well worth it, we are definitely going back. And to top it off, we had an amazing server and great conversations. Thank you!