We like to eat

There are SO many good places to eat in Chicago!!! One of them is our own cozy dining area. This was the day I had Andy over for tofu enchiladas:

Lewis's place has also proved to be a great place to eat. Though he does not eat vegetables, he has managed to prepare quite a spread on several occasions. This past weekend, Lewis's mom, who is from Colombia, was visiting from Michigan and she made incredible chilaquiles and Colombiano Pandequeso (bread with cheese baked right in--hers were better than the ones in the picture on the box because they had no holes in the middle) which we dipped in our hot chocolate from Chiapas! And if we bring over some more Blind Faith vegan cornbread, they just might trade it for those vegetarian empanadas (= deep fried pockets of goodness) she left in the fridge.

Here's the night that Andy made a traditional Polish dish, dill pickle soup. The guys said it was delicious, but it was a little too meaty for Mira:


We also hung out a lot on the side porch that evening while Lewis spray-painted nearly everything in sight (mostly just some chairs and stools) in bright reds and yellows.


Lewis actually has 3 porches--it's not fair really--and last night we sat on the front porch where we could listen to the lake while we played Euchre (for non-Michiganders and northern Indianans, Euchre is the best card game in the world)! We knew we were in for some intense competition when Andy put on his green "Andrew Sensei" bandanna (which he later tied around his wrist and dragged through the candle flame multiple times) and we did indeed end up getting whomped (it was payback for the tennis game), though it wasn't because of their intensity. Lewis: "Oh, what happened? Is the game over? Oh, we won?" I'm sure there will be some more Euchre action in the near future.

Back to the food talk... Our recently engaged Garrett friends Justin and Andria were in town for the weekend and we visited Tapas Barcelona again with them and Erin (another Garrett grad) and her husband Matt. After heaps of goat cheese and sauteed mushrooms and tortilla espanola and a bit of sangria, we waddled down the street to Ethel's Chocolate Lounge, a swanky (i.e. spendy) place that looks like a cafe but serves only items with chocolate in them. As if the mudslide mocha were not rich enough, we had some chocolatey truffles on the side. Erin is the Deacon at Holy Covenant UMC (where we've been going), though her primary appointment is to a housing aid organization as a Social Worker, and she and Matt live very close to us--so we're hoping we'll get to see them often! We're also excited to see Justin and Andria more often as they are buying a house in Grand Rapids (half an hour from Mira's parents).

We also had a nice breakfast at the Heartland Cafe this morning with Steven and Carol. Steven worked with Eric at Twinlow Camp in Idaho for several years and is now in Illinois because his parents are the directors at Reynoldswood, one of the camps where Eric interned while at Garrett (worlds collided when we visited with Ben, Steven's dad, at Reynoldswood on our way to Chicago). His girlfriend, Carol, is from this area and lifeguarded at "our" beach (Juneway Beach--across the street from our building) when she was younger. So, it was good to see them and enjoy the endless supply of Heartland coffee with our ginormous breakfast burrito and whole wheat biscuits.

The weather here has been very mild lately, even cool at times, which has been nice. We had a slow drizzle this morning and the lake was so calm--very peaceful. Time to go outside and enjoy it!