Summer Break

So, one of the perks of being a student again is the breaks!!!  I had about 4 weeks off this summer (sorry, not trying to brag!) and I filled the time with some amazing trips!  I have many pictures to share with you...

First up, our weekend in Chicago!  We drove to Michigan City, IN and took the train in.  On our way my car hit 100,000 miles!  Had to document that =)

Here are the highlights of the trip...

Here I am on Navy Pier (my teeth are blue from my vodka slushy I am drinking!!)

First night: sushi and a show!!  Here is our sushi platter, edamame (soybean pods in the bottom right corner), and some sake-tini's

And, following Japanese tradition: sake bombs!  Just kidding, only American's could come up with a way to slam sake and beer in 2 seconds...  we definitely took advantage of the fact we weren't driving!!

The show: Colbie Caillat at the Lincoln Park Zoo!!  We got to see some animals, too!  It was a beautiful night and she was great live.  This show was actually Plan B...  we WERE going to see Kings of Leon and Band of Horses, but it was cancelled =(

Day 2: architectural boat tour.  Here's that beautiful skyline!

Navy Pier and the Handcock building

After the tour we had brunch at Frontera Grill, a great Mexican restaurant owned by Rick Bayless (celebrity chef), starting off with a couple of tequila drinks!

And, of course: amazing food!!

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the city and shopping!  Here is the "bean" at Millennium Park

Then, came our "fancy" dinner at Arun's Thai Restaurant (you have to check out the pictures from the website... I was having trouble with my flash, so the pictures didn't turn out that great.. sigh....)  The restaurant offered a 12-course dinner: 6 individual small plates (appetizers), 4 entrees, and 2 desserts.  They specialize in beautiful plate presentations and vegetable carvings.  It was seriously AMAZING and a night I will never forget!!  Here are few pictures that turned out okay...

Shrimp dish with pink noodles with lemon slice, scallions and perfectly cut vegetables

Spicy curry red snapper over rice with pickled rhubarb (on left) and cucumber ribbon on the right

One of our favorite dishes of the night: soup with mushrooms, tofu, pork belly, hard boiled egg and vegetables.  The broth had INSANE flavor!!

One of the main courses was red snapper with a carrot-carved fish (it looks possessed!!), celery leaf and thin ribbons from beets and carrots

From the bottom up: potato disk, cucumber, seared scallop, and vegetables rolled in a cabbage leaf, complete with a  delicious sauce and asparagus

We left the next morning and met up with my aunt and uncle in Indiana for lunch and to visit.  Overall, it was a great weekend!!
I was feeling domestic the next week and tried out a traditional Hungarian dessert recipe called gleichgewicht (which means equal weight fruit cake).  It is basically equal amounts (by weight) eggs, butter, flour, and sugar and then fruit of your choice.  It is similar to pound cake, but you have to separate out the egg whites, whip them to medium peaks and fold them into the batter.  This makes them a little bit lighter tasting.

Here are all of my ingredients...  My fruit choices: apricots and red currants

One of my changes was to arrange the fruit in a pattern (just to bump up the elegance factor!!)  Here's how they turned out!  The contrast of the tart fruit and sweet batter is just delicious!!

Then, I had some visitors over Labor day weekend: my mom and aunt, uncle, and cousins from Kansas City!!  I hadn't seen them in over 2 years-it was a wonderful time!

Here are my sweet cousins playing at Grand Haven Beach!  It was windy!!

We ate dinner one night at The Lake House in Muskegon and I had this great salmon dish (encrusted with wasabi peas!

I had to document the crazy cloud cover that moved in as we were eating outside...  We were all freezing and had to be moved out of the rain.  It was a memorable evening, for sure!!

 Then, came our BIG vacation: a week long tour of Michigan!!  Since I have never really explored the state, we planned out a great trip... here are the highlights!!

One of our first stops was a chocolate shop (of course!!) called: Grocer's Daughter Chocolate on our way to Sleeping Bear Dunes.  We bought many delicious items that we had to make sure didn't melt in the car the whole trip!

Here is Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, just recently voted "Most Beautiful Place in America" from some survey...  we did some hiking and got some great pictures!  I couldn't get over that this was a lake-it looks like the Pacific coast!

I had white fish for dinner that night (a MUST when you are in Michigan!)  It was delicious!

The first night we camped at Platt River Campground (here's a picture of the sign for the visual learners out there...)

Our camp sight

 Next stop: Traverse City!  Here we attended the Epicurean Classic (code for foodie convention!!) and took 2 wine tasting classes and really learned a lot about tasting (although some of it was over our heads, but after some samples we really didn't care!)  Here are our charts and forms we filled out, it was very official!

After wine tasting, we checked out some local breweries, including North Peak...

And Right Brain Brewery

We were pretty hungry after all of that and ended up at Poppycocks in downtown Traverse City. 

Our appetizer: goat cheese-stuffed squash blossoms!

I had this amazing mushroom polenta with a balsamic reduction drizzle, and more goat cheese!

We spent the next day wine tasting on Leelanau Peninsula.  Leelanau Cellars had free tasting and a great view-score!!

One of our favorite stops was Tandem Ciders.  It's owned by a married couple and they had delicious hard ciders and a really cute logo (we HAD to buy shirts, of course!)

Before heading out the next morning, we stopped at Morsels Bakery for a breakfast of champions: a fancy latte and bite-sized cakes and brownies!  I really loved the concept of this place-cute little desserts for a dollar a piece and coffee-how can you go wrong?

Next stop: Mackinaw Island!  It was a bit chilly that day, but we did some hiking to stay warm!

Here's the downtown area

Arch Rock

Pictures from the butterfly museum (I was obsessed with this place!!)

A "light" snack of BBQ pork and blue cheese over chips and flat bread with brie cheese, honey, candied nuts and frisee lettuce-YUM!!

Afternoon cocktail at the Grand Hotel

We then took the bridge to the UP (upper peninsula)!  This part of the state is absolutely beautiful!  Here is Tahquamenon Falls!

At this point we saw so many waterfalls, I can't keep them straight!  Here are a few of my favorite pictures!

We encountered some weather issues on the first day (here is a storm rolling in on Lake Superior), but we just bundled up and drove along the the coast of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and tried to stay dry!!

A sunny moment!!  I was having flashbacks to Highway 1 in California... beautiful!!

 After a long day of hiking and braving the elements we ended up at Lake Superior Brewing Company.  Here was the building... (we're not in Kansas anymore...)

 We got a delicious pizza and I had my first Scottish egg: hard boiled egg wrapped in sausage, breaded and fried.  How can you go wrong with that??

 We got a growler of the Brown Ale (your choices were: Red or Brown!) to take back to the hotel.  After   a long chilly day of hiking nothing sounded better than beer and soak in our jacuzzi tub!!

The final day of our trip: the weather cooperated long enough for us to go on the boat tour of Pictured Rocks.  It was a 2.5 hour tour up and down the coast line.  Here are my favorite pictures!

The biggest news of the summer: I'm an auntie!!!  I went to Cleveland to meet my nephew: Noah Thomas.  He is a beautiful baby and I held him as much as possible!!

New mommy!

My final venture of the summer: celebrating Jessica and Rickey getting married in Louisville, KY!!  She is my oldest friend (going on 20 years now-whoa!!) and I was honored to be a part of their special day!

Me and Jess at the rehearsal dinner!

Their rehearsal dinner was amazing!!  It was at 211 Clover Lane Restaurant.  The entree choices were:

Filet mignon...

Halibut...

or roasted half chicken!  I think our whole table sampled all options-nothing like southern hospitality!!

Dessert was berry cobbler a la mode!

For their reception, they opted for the very trendy cake balls instead of a large cake.  They were so cute and delicious!!

I think that's it!!!  Classes start this week and I can't even believe that I have been here for a year.  Looking forward to another great year and I can't wait to share pictures from my next class: chocolate making!!  Happy Fall everyone!