Leslie Blogs

writing about my life on a tiny island

Chicago!

A couple of weeks ago, I headed to Chicago for a work conference. Since my brother lives in Chicago, my parents traveled with me and we got some quality family time in the city too! Now, I grew up in the country, and now live in a very small city. So Chicago is most definitely a huge change of pace…and I love it! Here are a few of the fun things we did!

Of course on the first night in the city, we had to be the ultimate tourists and visit The Bean! I think this is my new favorite family picture!

The Bean Chicago
We also ate a whole lot of great food! One night after dinner we headed up to the Grand Lux Cafe for dessert and coffee. And it was delicious, as you can see!
Grand Lux Cafe dessert

We also finally tried The Purple Pig! I’d wanted to eat here during my last couple of trips, but we never wanted to wait for 2-3 hours for dinner! This time, we decided to bit the bullet and just enjoyed drinks, conversation, and people watching while we waited to be seated. The Purple pig is a tapas-style restaurant that focuses on using the whole pig- snout to tail! We ordered 7 or 8 plates to split between the four of us, and it was a great experience! One of my favorites was from the smears section of the menu- salt cured Greek yogurt served with strawberry rhubarb preserves and sea salt. So simple, fresh, and delicious!

The Purple Pig Chicago

Our last evening together was spent doing what my dad has always wanted to do, checking out a Cubs game at Wrigley Field! It was so awesome! Well, the experience was awesome…the Cubs lost pretty badly to the Padres, but we still managed to have lots of fun!

Wrigley Field

And of course, what would a Cubs game in Chicago be without a Chicago dog and a local craft beer? Delicious!

Chicago Dog at Wrigley

 My conference finished Thursday afternoon, and our flight home wasn’t until Friday evening, so we took advantage of the extra time on Friday to take an architectural tour that showcased both the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. It was easily my favorite activity of the trip!

My parents waiting to board

Chicago skyline from Lake Michigan

Even though my days were spent working, we managed to fit in a lot of family and fun time in the evenings, and it was a great trip!

Until next time, Chicago!
What’s your favorite city to visit?

Things I’m Loving About Summer

My full time job is a 9 month faculty position at a community college. Not only do I love teaching, but I also am totally in love with having summers off. Now anyone who has ever taught knows that “summers off” is kind of a misnomer, as you’re always tweaking units, researching new curriculum, and other things. It’s also not completely off for me, since I’m still teaching a class online and doing some part-time work. But- it feels like it is completely off, since I don’t have to be anywhere at a certain time, I’m not going to campus daily, and all that.

So, since 1 month of my time off has officially gone by (sad face), I thought I’d list a few things I’m loving about summer so far:

  1. Disney with my mom! We took off for a girl’s weekend to Disney for the last weekend of Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival as soon as I was finished with the school year. It was great to get away for a little while, especially to our favorite place! 
    Mom and I in Epcot.
  2. Lots of time with the pups! I love nothing more than spending time with my two dogs, and over the summer I’ve been keeping my parents pups for a couple nights each week too. It has been great! 
    Sweet Echo!
  3. Running! Before the semester ended, I finally got into a pretty good routine of working out 4-6 times a week, by going to Boot Camp classes. One thing I really wanted to get back to was running- especially since I’m running my 2nd Tower of Terror 10 Miler in October! Being off has given me plenty of time to start training for that (and keep up with Boot Camp too)! 
    Run is done!
  4. Fresh fruit! My two favorite fruits are finally in season! Watermelon and cherries…I could live off of those! It’s not nearly as hard to eat healthy snacks with those two fruits around. 
    Cherries!
  5. Pool time! This is only my second time (as an adult) having summers off, and I promised myself that no matter what else I have to do or work on, I WILL enjoy some pool time each week! So far, this has meant spending an hour or two at the pool a couple times a week…but that’s more than I used to get, so I’m soaking it up! 
    Pool time
What do you love about summer?

Food: Bacon Meatballs with Barbecue Sauce

The Super Bowl was tonight, which of course meant craving Super Bowl food. I wanted to make something that would be delicious, but not quite as bad for me as all the other food we were planning on serving up. Plus, I needed something that could double as a couple lunches for the week ahead. I settled on meatballs, and ended up combing a couple of recipes to make bacon meatballs and a tangy barbecue sauce. The recipe I used is an adaption and combination of these two: PaleOMG’s Bacon Meatballs and The Pioneer Woman’s BBQ Comfort Meatballs. The Bacon Meatballs are paired with a Mango Honey Mustard Sauce that sounds awesome…but I’m allergic to mustard, so had to figure something else out. Here’s what I ended up with:

Bacon Meatballs (recipe adapted from PaleOMG, cooking method from Pioneer Woman…this version is not paleo)
1 pound of ground sirloin
4 slices of bacon, diced
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 egg, whisked
1/4 cup flour (divided)
2 teaspoons chili powder
Oil or cooking fat
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Throw the diced bacon into a skillet and start to brown.
  3. Once the bacon starts rendering enough fat for the onion to not stick, add the onions to the skillet. Stir the bacon and onion around until the bacon is cooked and the onions are soft. Remove and drain on a paper towel.
  4. In a bowl, combine the ground sirloin, bacon, onions, egg, spices, and a couple Tablespoons of the flour. Mix it all up with your hands.
  5. Scoop out meatballs and roll into balls (I used a small cookie scoop to make sure they were all the same size). Roll each meatball in remaining flour to coat.
  6. Get the oil or cooking fat of your choice hot (or just use the bacon grease if there’s enough) and add the meatballs to the skillet. Cook enough to sear each one. 
  7. Once the meatballs have reached the brown-ness of your liking, remove to a parchment covered baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until done.

Barbecue Sauce (adapted from Pioneer Woman)

2 cups of ketchup
2 Tablespoons of sugar
5 Tablespoons of distilled white vinegar
4 Tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
4 Tablespoons of minced onion
1.5 Tablespoons of grape jelly
  1. While meatballs are cooking, combine all sauce ingredients in a sauce pan. 
  2. Cook on medium low heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil.
Once the meatballs are cooked, you can either pour the sauce over them or serve on the side as a dipping sauce, depending on your preference.
Since it was Super Bowl Sunday and I knew we’d be grazing, I dumped the meatballs and sauce in the crockpot after cooking to keep it warm.
This recipe received raves from everyone!

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