Chicago

On Thursday my parents and Isis and I left for Chicago, where we would catch our train on Friday afternoon to head west towards Portland. But prior to getting on the train, there were important things that had to be done.

For example, I had to portray the gritty realism of city life by climbing to the top of the Wyllis (formerly Sears) Tower and jump, then take a picture of me plunging rapidly onto the skyscrapers below, you know, for my art.

Of course, by "climb" I mean take the elevator, "jump" is slang for "sit on the floor" and "plunging" means holding my camera phone overhead while leaning backward on the sky-view deck to take a cheesy photo of me above some skyscrapers.

But in all seriousness, the view is incredible. It may not be the tallest building in the world anymore, (I have my doubts about Dubai's longevity) but looking down at puny mortals from my fortress in the sky and laughing at the helicopters as they fly by below is pretty sweet.

On that note, Chi-town also has food, which tends to pique my interest, if you can't tell from my previous entries. My father found a restaurant called Marche near our hotel, and it ended up being a pretty hip new-French bistro with edgy decor and great munchies.

The picture doesn't do it justice, but it's got an open kitchen, and hand painting all over the place. Everything is simply dripping with cool. The bathrooms were pretty cool, as weird as that may sound.

Classic steak tartar, sure to fire up the carnivorous instincts in the meekest of us. Very classic preparation of raw beef tenderloin, capers, shallots, chives, and dijon mustard, (usually has either hard-boiled or raw egg, too) with crostini, and a cute, transparent ribbon of shaved celery for show.

Escargot, (er, snails) very tasty in their new and improved shell made of butter and breadcrumbs. The chef was even so nice as to give them a comfy ceramic bed in which to nap. Isis ate most of these guys, the rest of us (Mother opted out) were lucky to grab a couple.

We had more entrees, but in the interest of time (I am a sleepy girl) I will just show two. Above is a bed of fresh spring peas and oyster mushrooms, with buerre blanc and tender sauteed scallops. Nice and filling, but not too heavy. Loved the great sear on those scallops!

And grilled whitefish with cream sauce, chickpeas, onion, basil, and cherry tomatoes. Also yum.

Dessert was spectacular. Above is their banana bread pudding, served with creme anglais, a scoop of caramel ice cream with a crunchy cookie surprise underneath, and bruleed banana slices. Mmmm...

And the chocolate trio, (from top) white chocolate blondie with home-made ice cream, molten chocolate cake, and a chocolate passion fruit mousse that was nothing short of killer. They wouldn't part with the recipe, though, so I will have to do some experimenting...

Aside from some traffic (okay, some horrible traffic) and oppressive humidity, Chicago can be a cool place. Alas, there was a train to catch, which shall be the subject of my next entry, but for now:

Sleep. Buona notte!