Even more Thanksgiving pictures...

I was going to leave it at the last set of pictures, but realized I hadn't truly captured Thanksgiving if there isn't at least one money shot: i.e., the turkey. The Big Bird. So here's Tony about to dig in.
And mom helping to set the table. We kept it very traditional this year -- green bean and mushroom casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, deviled eggs, pumpkin pie, etc.
And, of course, the after dinner nap by Pam. Not that she needs turkey as an excuse to catch a nap. :-)
And our "lesson learned" for the year -- you can't put poinsettas outside up here. It's too darn cold. Coming from Florida, we'd always thought they were cold weather plants, since winter was the only time you buy them. Now we know better. This is, obviously, after we left them outdoors and brought them back inside. Sadly, they did not revive.

Some Thanksgiving Pictures...

Here's the obligatory belly shot, even though Mom says I barely look pregnant. Me, I feel like I swallowed a soccer ball. Harley, getting in the spirit. (Not really...but he kept it on stoically long enough to take a picture).
Gracie, posing, as per usual. "Hey, Harley," she says, "This is how you wear a scarf! You gotta work it!"
Mom and Pam awaiting the turkey.
Tony and Watson putting the lights on the tree. We got a real one this year. It's bee-yutiful and very festive, though Harley is disappointed since he likes to chew on the fake ones (his yearly flossing).

Tony's Birthday "Big Night"

Things have been so crazy that I hadn't gotten this posted earlier. The Saturday after Tony's birthday, we had a birthday gathering with our neighbors a la the movie the Big Night. We spent all day making a timpano -- handmaking the sauce, the pasta, the meatballs, etc. I practiced my mommy-to-be skills by putting together some stuff for the kids to do (we made chef hats out of poster board and tissue paper and I had them make "spatula people" as a cooking-related craft).

This is a pic of the timpano going in the oven. That's Emily, one of our neighbors, helping Tony out. She was the big helper of the day, helping out with the pasta through each step. I think she had a lot of fun. We also had on some foodie movies for the kids (like Ratatouille).

And here's the timpano out of the oven. It came out pretty well. A small amount of sauce leakage, but nothing significant. It's a great dish and a lot of fun to both prepare and eat. We had a lot of fun and there were about 14 neighbors (w/ kids) in and out all day).

Grandma V's Pancake House

10 East Maple Street, Mundelein, IL 60060 (847) 949-4960

I had to make a run out to Garden Fresh today (Tony needed a small container of lard -- the real stuff), so I stopped at Grandma V's on the way for lunch. I'd been wanting to try it for a while anyway (I looove pancakes), so this gave me a good excuse.

It's not just pancakes, btw, though they have a fairly diverse selection of those. They've also got all kinds of sandwiches and Greek dishes, and desserts and BBQ...basically, a little bit of everything. It's a big menu.

I can only comment on the pancakes, though, since that's what I had. I got one of their specials: chilled juice (teeny glass, but that's ok), two pancakes, two eggs (I got scrambled with cheese), two strips of bacon (nice and crispy), and a sausage link (kind of English style, which was nice. They bring out syrup that's heated up too, which is a nice touch. The pancakes were good. Not the best ever, but a good solid representative of their kind. The whole thing also came out really fast, which might have been because of the time I was there (about 1 PM). It wasn't very busy.

Service was fast and reasonably friendly. The inside has the feel of pretty much any diner place across the country. Since it is in Mundelein, they have both smoking and non-smoking. It didn't smell smoky, though, which is good, since I couldn't take that right now at all. Smells are still messing me up. I'm not sure if I'd chance it during peak Sunday breakfast hours, however.

Demetri's

660 Lake-Cook Road, Deerfield, IL, 60015 Phone: 847-940-0777

The other night I met Tony after work before he left for Toronto (mostly just to see him, but also because he'd forgotten his suitcase). We ate at Demetri's, which is just around the corner from his office in Deerfield.

It's a Greek restaurant and he's been there a ton of times (there are only so many close places to his office building), but it was my first time there. We actually arrived very early, so we were able to get the Early Bird specials (pretty good deal; they even include dessert).

The inside is nice and pretty understated. They've got some art glass-y type of lights and a big fish tank, as well as some (presumably) Grecian columns decorating the place. The menu seemed pretty authentic to me, with all the standard Greek fare (spanikopita, dolmades, moussaka, etc. [all of which I'm probably spelling wrong, since I don't feel like looking it up right now]).

We had soup to start off with (it came with the Early Bird) and mine was an interesting lemon, rice and chicken soup. Tony had the Athenian chicken (which he'd had before and liked) and I had pasticchio (which I really should look up how to spell, since I'm positive I mangled it). Both were quite good and the portions were, honestly, too big. I especially liked the potatoes with Tony's dish. The baklava and the homemade walnut cake for dessert were also really good.

All in all, this is a nice Greek place. It's not the best Greek food I've ever had (that, so far, would be at places down in Tarpon Springs, Florida), but it was all pretty good. And if you're early, the Early Bird is definitely a good deal.

Rudy's Mexican Grill

55 Barron Blvd Grayslake, IL 60030 (847) 223-6176

I stopped in at Rudy's Mexican Grill today (ok, see, Tony is coming home tonight from Toronto and I didn't feel like cooking...so I had an early dinner out). It's in a tiny little strip mall (3 shops) right off of 137 / 83.

Friendly guy who owns it (Rudy, natch) with a pretty authentic menu (i.e. real tacos with cilantro). Homemade chips and salsa were really good. I tried a combination platter with two tacos and a tostada (one of the tacos was supposed to be a sope, but he was out, though very apologetic). All good, nice flavor, served hot and fast.

There were also some Spanish speakers in there, which is always a good sign. One diner was even all complimentary to my outfit, telling me it was "my color" which was kind of nice but weird. Especially since the color I was wearing was charcoal gray. But hey. He was being a little flirty, but I'll take it since I feel like a cow anyhow with my big 'ol belly. ;-)

So, to sum up, as Inigo might say -- small place, good vibe, good food, friendly people. Worth a visit, especially if you want something much more authentic than Taco Bell (and just down the street from them). He even had horchata, which I'll have to get next time.

Under the Sycamore Tree Bookstore

Under the Sycamore Tree Bookstore
970 Harris Road, Grayslake, IL 60030, Tel: 847.548.0311

This is an AWESOME bookstore for kids and parents. It is owned by Jackie Harris, who lives in the neighborhood. It's a really great bookstore with a large selection of both books and related items (toys, tie-ins, cool stuff) and a bunch of resident pets (a snake, some birds...). Uniquely decorated and with lots of events (author signings -- hey, hopefully I'll have one there next year when my book comes out -- storytime with Ms. Jan and all kinds of stuff).

Being a YA book reviewer, I don't often buy books for kids or teens. Heck, I don't buy many books at all -- I get too many in to review as it is. But I would highly recommend Under the Sycamore Tree to anyone looking to buy a book for a special kid in their life. I try to buy the few books I do from here. It's always good to support a small local business over the big chain stores. So many little shops have gone out of business in the last 10 years. And this one is just a really nice shop with lots to recommend it.

Prairie Croissant Cafe

Prairie Croissant Cafe
970 Harris Rd, Prairie Crossing, Grayslake, IL 847.223.9800

This is arguably the shop at Station Square that I am most excited and disappointed about. These are, of course, only my own personal thoughts. I know some people in the neighborhood love it unreservedly and others really dislike it. I'm kind of in the middle.

On the plus side, I LOVE having a coffee shop/cafe within walking distance (heck, practically spitting distance). That was one of the (few) things I liked about Old Louisville -- the Old Louisville Coffee House. I was beyond excited when they opened up the Cafe here. I love doing the whole writer-thing and working in a cafe all day, drinking specialty drinks.

So, that in turn is my biggest disappointment...though it probably has more to do with the demographics of this neighborhood than with the Cafe itself. During the day, it's a noisy, noisy place packed with miscellaneous play groups. I know, I know, I'll soon be a mom myself. And I'm sure I'll be happy to take my kiddo there to get out of the house too. But it really ruins it as a place to go work in during the day. But even when it isn't packed with kids, it is always pretty noisy. Something about the space just makes it that way. Not that it isn't a pretty, attractive space. It is. Just too many hard surfaces to cushion the sound.

For the most part, the drinks and food are all pretty good. I'm partial to the steamers (I'm not a big coffee drinker). The bad thing is how long the food usually takes to arrive (especially sandwiches). They still have some kinks to work out on service levels. They have been expanding their offerings lately, and it looks like things are improving. Another note on the sandwiches though -- they are all mostly French style (which means ultra-crusty bread and frou-frou fussy ingredients). They've all been okay, just not my favorite kind of sandwiches. The pastries (from an organic bakery) are all pretty yummy though.

As an interesting note, they have the most efficient hand dryers in their bathrooms that I have ever seen. Really insane.

At any rate, the Cafe is a nice place. They still have some things to work out, but it is getting better every month.

Little Skye

Little Skye
Station Square @ Prairie Crossing ~ 970 N Harris Road, 1C ~ Grayslake, IL 60030 ~ (Rt 137 & Casey Road) 847-543-1975

Little Skye is another one of the shops here at Prairie Crossing. It's a children's boutique featuring clothing, toys, furniture, and all kinds of cool little kid things. It also has some maternity stuff, but more items on the "kid is already here" end.

The owner is Eden (hopefully I'm spelling that correctly). She's a nice lady with a small daughter and an older son. She carries more high-end type of items (it really is a children's "boutique"). In keeping with the whole PC theme, she also has a fair amount of organic cotton items, etc.

Some really cute diaper bags, which I'll have to look into pretty soon.

Affinity Boutique

Affinity Boutique
970 Harris Road, Suite 2B, Grayslake, IL 60030

The Affinity Boutique just (and I mean "just" as in two days ago) moved from downtown Graylake to the Shops at Prairie Crossing. I suppose you could call that good news for me and bad news for Tony. Well, kind of. Being nearly 5 months pregnant means I'm not buying a whole lot of normal clothes at the moment (though I did see a really cute jacket that I think will work for me both now, in a few months, and after).

I actually should have written this little clothing and accessories boutique up months ago when I bought a really cute little brown dress there. My favorite little dress, actually. It's a bit pricey for what I normally spend on clothing (my mom's influence), but really, really cool stuff from interesting designers. And technically, by big city standards, not that expensive.

They carry XCVI (my dress is from them), and a bunch of other designers that I've never heard of (mostly because I'm not all that label-aware) like Sisters, Willow, Jag Jeans, Nic & Zoe, Cubism, Bloom, Donna Morgan and many others (I lifted that from their website...it isn't from memory...like I'd remember all that).

Jill and I walked over today to check out their new digs. It's a nice location around the corner from the cafe and they've got two dressing rooms now and a lot more space. On the one hand, it is kind of sad to see something close in downtown...on the other hand, I'm happy to see it here.

At some point I need to write up all the other shops in PC. I'm not sure why I haven't yet (oh yeah. Time.)

Sammie's

Sammie's
799 Belvidere Road (Route 120), Grayslake, IL 60030 (847) 223-4663

Sammie's is one of the ubiquitous "Chicago-Style" restaurants cum greasy spoon type of places that dot the countryside up this way. It's probably the closest one to our house (though I could be wrong...when I say these types of places are "ubiquitous" I really mean it).

There are actually a few locations (another in Lake Villa and a third in Round Lake Beach). According to their take out menu, they've been around since 1964 serving their Chicago Style Sandwiches.

So, what exactly does that mean for people who don't live up this way? Well, it means that the following things will be on the menu:

• Chicago Style Hot Dogs (mustard, relish, onions, tomato [as in real slices of], pickle [as in a spear], cucumber & celery salt and don't you DARE to put ketchup on it)
• Italian Beefs (kind of similar to a Philly Cheesesteak, but not exactly...and it comes topped with giardinera, usually spicy. You can get these while watching a Bear's game at the stadium.)
• Tamales (I have yet to figure out why this is a Chicago thing, honestly)
• Gyros (Again, not sure why this is a Chicago thing. Though there are a fair amount of Greeks in the area, so maybe that's why)

There are also bound to be burgers, char dogs (essentially, charred hot dogs), and perhaps some things like pizza puffs. Basically, greasy spoon food. Stuff you'd eat while watching football and drinking beer.

I went to Sammie's for lunch today and got (for the 2nd time) their Gyro sandwich. It's really pretty good, though honestly, how would you ruin one? Tony's had their Chicago dog before. The fries are always hot and crisp. At some point I'll have to try some other items on the menu, but it just seems like I want a gyro every time I step foot in there. Who knows, maybe the baby's got a gyro-craving going on.

They've also got shakes and malts, but it has been a bit too chilly to order one, so I'll have to report back on that. They do catering as well. All in all, a good stop off for a Chicago Style lunch experience.

Cafe Lucci

Cafe Lucci
609 Milwaukee Avenue, Glenview, IL 847.729.2268

Tony has actually been to Cafe Lucci a few times, but a few nights ago was my first time there. I'd been wanting to go since he and Joe (a guy from work) went. Joe (we guess) is a regular and just had them bring food. I love it when places will do that. I really miss Antoine at Chateau France in St. Pete (*sigh* I shouldn't have looked it up. Now I miss Antoine more. He's just awesome. If you're ever in St. Petersburg, Florida and want an excellent meal with impeccable service, go visit Antoine. He's the owner/executive chef and he trained at Le Cordon Bleu. And he makes a mean paté.).

Anyway. Back to Cafe Lucci.

Tony kept talking about the nice wine list (not that I'm imbibing at the mo, but hey) and the good food. He went back at least one other time for another dinner with people from work. So when he needed me to come get him from work one night this week as he was working late and said to get a reservation, I went for it.

It happened to be a slightly strange night to go, since there was a crew there taping a spot for CitySearch. I think I might have even made it on camera, though I sure would have worn more makeup if I'd known that was going to happen.

We asked the friendly waiter to just bring us food and he kind of halfway did -- which meant that he picked stuff out for us and asked if it was okay (we said sure). What I really, really like is when they don't do anything other than maybe ask about allergies and then just bring you food. But, it was okay. I think the time Tony had been there before they'd had the owner come by, but he was busy with all the taping (though, really friendly guy).

He picked out crab cakes to start with (they were really great and instead of a bread filler, included some type of pasta that gave it the right bit of crispness) and for me a Chilean sea bass and for Tony a pasta scallop dish. Both were good with giganticus portion sizes (I got most of the way through one part of the fish and didn't even touch another). We didn't make it to dessert. At this point, my stomach has been shoved out of the way and it will only hold so much food at once. Some of the desserts looked really good too. Again, *sigh*.

Inside, the atmosphere was nice. Pretty good ambiance. I gather from the website that they renovated everything not that long ago and removed the "old World Feel" it used to have. It's pretty generic inside now, but nice. Nothing that jumps out at you, other than the dark wood wine cabinets up on the wall and the giant chalkboards listing the menu specials of the day (which, interestingly enough, are in Italian...though when the waiter describes them to you, he uses the English...i.e. linguini gamberi becomes linguini with shrimp. I was just happy to practice my rusty Italian at all.)

I'll definitely have to try it again sometime, perhaps on a quieter, non-TV-filmed kind of night. It seems like it would be a great place to go with a large group too.

Halloween....A Ghoulish Time

We got a lot more trick or treaters here than anywhere else we've lived, though not quite as many as I thought we'd get. But w-a-y more than we've ever gotten before. Some really cute costumes too.

Here's a pic of our front door. I cut out the tree and bats and crow from black construction paper. It looked pretty cool from the outside when the lights were on inside and it was dark out. Never could get a good picture of it that way, though.

I thought these guys dressed up as the Blues Brothers were awesome, so I had to take a picture. They even had "Jake" and "Elwood" written on their knuckles. Tony reminded me that the Blues Brothers were a Chicago thing.
Here's a perfectly horrid picture of me, but I was trying to show off that I actually got Harley to wear some bling for Halloween and his expression was just priceless.
Another horrid one of me. But hey, I am 4 1/2 months pregnant. So you gotta cut me some slack.

And here's Tony, my favorite ghoul. Or zombie. Or whatever he was. I made him dress up after he got home from work and he can't tell me he didn't get into it since he even took the axe out of the garage.