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St. Paddy's Day in Chicago

Last weekend, my Business Man & I headed to Chicago for a lil' weekend getaway with our friends Adam & Sarah. They live right downtown - a block from Millennium Park - so we were right in on the action. And no joke, there's a lot of action on St. Paddy's Day downtown!


We kicked off Saturday morning by watching them dye the river green. (And no, I don't know who "they" are. Hehe.) There was a boat that let off this highlighter color dye off the back into the water, and then a second boat that came behind it and stirred it all up. It was pretty neat. 






It was kinda hard to see because people were lined up 3-4 deep, but a cute lil' old man took pity on me and asked if I'd like to step up to the front. Why of course, thank you grandpa-man. 






After the dyeing of the river, we headed over to watch the parade. That lasted all of about 15 minutes. It's a little hard to watch a parade when all you can see is the back of the people's heads in front of you. There was no candy to be caught, either.


We stopped back to Adam & Sarah's apartment for lunch - Corned Beef Sandwiches. Now, let me tell you this. I am a self-proclaimed corned beef hater. I've never liked it, never even wanted to like it. So I was a little nervous.


Well, these sandwiches rocked! Sarah served up the corned beef on pretzel buns (genius!) with a coleslaw topping. I absolutely loved it. So I am officially on the corned beef wagon. As long as it's surrounded by two fluffy layers of carbalicious pretzel bun.






Another set of friends (Wes & Whitny) was able to come into town for the evening, so we spent the afternoon at Navy Pier walking around, exploring the sights. We even ventured onto the giant ferris wheel, which was super fun. 


Oh, Instagram.


Havin' fun a million feet in the air.


We topped off the night with dinner at a little Irish pub, and homemade shamrock shakes back at Adam & Sarah's apartment. Delish. It was pretty much an awesome weekend. 






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In other news, my latest post is up on the Rays Markets blog!


Yummy BBQ Bacon Jalapeno Poppers. A jalapeno half stuffed with cream cheese, cheddar cheese, green onions, all wrapped in bacon and topped with barbecue sauce. Perfect little appetizer.






Funny story - The first time I prepared this recipe to be blogged about, I got a little excited as I was taking them into the dining room to get a picture. And THIS happened.


Gah!!!
Ay ay ay... needless to say, I got to make them again. Not a problem by me - the more jalapenos, the merrier! 

Comments

aevansb said…
That Instagram pic is awesome!
Running Girl said…
Love the green top & I'm now desperately wanting a pretzel bread recipe.

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