Dance Like No One Is Watching

...In the rain, of course!

You might think these photos are from today.  But they're from last week.  Or the week before.  It's been raining for so long it's all blurring together.

I had our house windows open, my kids were sleeping, and lots of excited shouts and cheers and laughter from the school across the street punctuated my day as it always does when I'm home with windows open in the warm weather months.  

It seemed unusually boisterous this day so I ran to the window to check it out.  And there I saw this little boy in khaki shorts and a blue polo.  Dancing.  Really DANCING. I watched.  And then I ran to get my camera because he lit up my afternoon.

See if you can find him in the set of photos below.  He was the first kid off the bus and the last one to enter the school.  I love that he soaked up every ounce of his rain dance before he had to head into the building.

This little dance party that I witnessed took place about a week after Joe and I made our final decision on which Kindergarten to send Max to this Fall.  You guessed it - we've decided he's going to go right across the street to our neighborhood school.  We had been debating for months between "our" school (the one we've always thought of as our school, since Joe and I bought our house 12 years ago) and a Mandarin immersion school that we very much liked...but ultimately decided against for a variety of reasons.  

The biggest factor, however, was choosing our school that is in our neighborhood that will be a huge part of our family's community as all our kids head to grade school.

Starting this Fall my windows will remain open longer and my ears will be high alert for all squeals of delight. I'll rush to the window hoping to see the same excitement coming from my Max.  

Chicago Weekend Get-Away

May 15th was mine and Joe's 8th Wedding Anniversary.  I had to travel the next day for work, so we thought it might be perfect timing to get away for the weekend. In fact, other than one night when all three kids stayed at John & Diane's (and we stayed in Minneapolis), we hadn't had a night/weekend without the kids since Wren was born (time really does fly!).  

Leave it to the best family members ever (here in Minneapolis;) to work together and tag-team watch the kids so Joe and I could head to Chicago for two nights! Seriously - I would not have any iota of sanity if it weren't for Jamie and Diane being able to give us a break from the kids now and then.

I flew out Thursday to do some work that night (Late Night Food Truck sampling Helper at bar time!).  Joe flew in Friday morning.  We had two full days to relax, go out in search of amazing food, work out, catch some rays, etc.  It was perfect!

Friday we decided to explore one neighborhood and then head back downtown to stroll around before visiting the Helper food truck again.  First up we went to Bucktown and Wicker Park, a short EL ride away.  It was super overcast, and at mid-day Friday many of the shops were closed.  There weren't many people out and there wasn't too much activity.  Kind of a downer way to start our weekend. 

But after grabbing some amazing hot chocolate, followed by salads and sandwiches at a grocery/cafe, we figured it'd be best to head back downtown where we knew it would be more bustling.  We walked around Magnificent Mile, shopped and window shopped and felt the city start to come alive. 

Friday evening we headed out to visit the Helper Food Truck for a bit and then decided to get dinner in Lincoln Park on our way back to the hotel.  

Dinner at Pasta Palazzo. A yummy, casual, neighborhood Italian restaurant we'd eat at often while in school at DePaul University.  

But wait... We ate a lot in Chicago.  Before our dinner at Pasta Palazzo, and after shopping Downtown, we had a late afternoon snack at Xoco, Rick Bayless' "street food" Mexican outpost.  Amazing flavors!  It's a torta sandwich dunked in soup/sauce.  The salad had a spicy lime chili vinaigrette.  Plus a Mexican hot chocolate and churro.

Saturday was our jam-packed day.  And we could not be more thrilled that the weather cooperated 110%.  We lucked out with the most beautiful weekend.

Saturday morning run.  I'd say early morning, but our run didn't start until after 8am, which felt like middle of the day!  Wow! Sleeping until 7am and waking naturally just sets the tone to be a bit more relaxed than rushing to shower, get ready, feed the troops, etc.  We ran to the City Target store in Chicago and then ran our way back through the city and parks.  Joe loves taking panoramic's with his phone.  Had I known how cool they turn out I would have utilized this feature a lot more during our weekend (i.e., Wrigley Field, view of the city from Lake Shore path, etc).

First round of bloody's at Southport Grocery and Cafe.  The food - hash, breakfast sandwiches, bread pudding pancakes and more - was delicious.  It was pure heaven having a long, leisurely brunch with cocktails.  The weather was drop dead gorgeous outside. We could have lingered all afternoon here, but we had a Cubs game to get to!

Our plan was to enjoy our brunch and then try to scalp some cheap tickets a few innings into the game.  It was our lucky day...a couple eating breakfast next to us wound up asking us if we wanted their bleacher seats to the game!  Joe was offering him cash and the guy was so cool and refused, saying to spend it on drinks at the game - that he has tickets to most games and up until that morning he didn't even realize he had tickets.  Such a fun surprise, and probably for the best.  My colleague and her boyfriend tried to get tickets, but had no luck.  

We had an hour and a half to enjoy the Cubs game.  Enough time to get a beer, people watch and catch some sun.

After the game we walked from Wrigley Field to Lincoln Park, passing the place where we met!  Then window shopped the cute streets in our old neighborhood as we walked to the EL, heading back downtown for the afternoon.

Early that evening we rented bikes and rode along Lake Shore Drive path.  Let me tell you...this path is S.T.R.E.S.S.F.U.L.  There is one path (albeit wide) for all bikers, walkers, joggers, strollers, skateboarders, rollerbladers, segways, wheeling coolers, police cars, pets, etc.  As I mentioned, the weather was probably the first gorgeous weekend Chicago's had all spring, so it was a mob scene. But it was worth it.  Feeling the wind in my hair and getting to take in beautiful views of the city.

And getting some kisses from this one

And then we got off the main path and found a more relaxed one and tooled around some of the green space in the city.

Buckingham Fountain.  I was having trouble trying to get the two of us and the scenic points of interest on my phone screen for a picture.

After covering so much ground on foot and by bike, I wanted a snack before heading out to dinner.  I had remembered seeing a Magnolia Bakery on our morning run, so we headed that way.  A little dessert first!  I truly love Magnolia cupcakes - still haven't found any other's I like better.

For dinner we decided burgers and fries were what we wanted.  We enjoyed a casual bite at The Butcher & The Burger.

...And then headed to Little Goat for a late night dessert of a "Choco Taco" sundae.

A mere 10 hours after we had our Choco Taco sundae, we were back at Little Goat for breakfast Sunday Morning.  It was so delicious.  I got the Shrimp with Cheese Grits, asparagus, tomato, etc.  So amazing.  Joe got an Indian type flatbread with eggs and spices.  I still can't get over how much we ate in two days!

After breakfast and before we had to head to the airport, we decided to (finally) take the Chicago Architecture Foundation river cruise.  We've heard they are great tours, but we'd never taken one before.  Again, we could not beat the weather, so it was perfect being on a boat, learning about many of the buildings and neighborhoods we'd been exploring the previous day and a half.  

Thanks again to Jamie and Diane for making our Anniversary get-away possible.  It's always such a treat to have time just the two of us - unbelievable to get two nights away!  

May our marriage last as long as the Cub's World Series championship drought (104 years and counting, I think)!

Incomplete 1

With every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Not sure the science (or geometry, chemistry or engineering, maybe) of this, but I’m pretty sure Joe does. So in case you want to ask about it further, he’s your go-to Schuster.


What I do know, is that with my following actions, there has been a very equal and opposite reaction.


Action: Two business/personal trips in the past 2+ weeks. 
Reaction:  No blogging during that same time.

Action:  Whole 30 for 30 days. 
Reaction:  “Incomplete 1” (my term for whatever the opposite of a Whole 30 is) for a day. Or, given my travel schedule, a lot more than just one day.

With that preface, here’s a quick post to bring closure to my Whole 30, or more specifically, going off of it after 30 days of being on it.


Again, I was on the Whole 30 for the month of April. It was great. By the end I was very much looking forward to getting of it. I wanted some DQ, dammit.

And so, on day 31, my first day off the Whole 30, I flew out for a 7 day business trip, which I knew would completely shatter whatever good I’d done for myself the 30 days prior. But before I flew out, Joe and I had a celebratory breakfast out where we got….eggs. Plus some cornmeal pancakes. Neither of us could bring ourselves to completely binge on pancakes, French toast, etc, and decided to stick a little closer to some Whole 30 approved eggs, meat and veggies.

And then, a few hours later, I landed in Texas and didn’t look back. Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the amount of food I can apparently eat in one sitting, in one day, in one week.

For even more contrast to my Whole 30, I was in Texas to ensure our Hamburger Helper Food Truck got up and running and sampling. In addition to eating my way through Texas BBQ, gobs of Tex-Mex and larger.than.frickin.life Texas Steak House filets and red wine, I ate a whole lot of Helper. Every day.


And I almost immediately felt the negative effects of all the things I’d avoided for a month. Through a piercing headache following our first night out (which included a few glasses of wine), I texted Joe letting him know I was going back on a Whole 30 when I got back home. I got a reciprocal note from Joe.

So I ate everything I wanted to in Texas, including a full-size drunken nut pecan pie that I split with my colleague over the course of a couple days.

Once home I hopped back on a mostly Whole 30 diet for a week until heading to Chicago… Too much good food to ignore in Chicago (more on mine and Joe’s fun weekend get-a-way, including eating our way through the Windy City, in my next post), so I ate whatever I wanted there, too.

But now I’m done traveling for a bit and am sticking closer to Whole 30 eating again for the next month. I'm the type of person that needs boundaries defined because my slippery slope towards chocolate and cheese and cookies is more of an avalanche with no recovery. For my health's sake, I'll try to stick mostly to Whole 30.  But for my sanity and celebration's sake, I'll be devouring a lot of Incomplete 1 when we head out to camp next weekend, as well as for some other special treats.  


Check out what my Incomplete 1 meals look like:

Where there is air travel, there are little bottles of liquor.  The credit card machine on board wasn't working, so I kindly asked if I could use the only $8 I had to get two Jack's (that were listed at $6 each).  Our kind flight attendant brought myself and my colleague two bottles each. She knew we were celebrating the end of a long, successful business trip.

The best BBQ!  Sonny Bryan's in Texas.  Go.

Bloody's for breakfast.  And beignets.  And plenty of other things, too.

Our drunken nut pie.  

Airport dinner

Whole 30 - Week 4

I completed the Whole 30 two days ago.

Over the past month, due to Joe and I stricting adhereing to the Whole 30, we'd made food a priority again.  A priority that took a lot of time and energy and effort.  But, just as they say, you really do get out of what you put into something.  Both of us experienced more energy throughout the month, waking up more easily in the morning without begin groggy, having even energy during the day, having enery left after tucking the kids in for bed at night.  We both leaned out a little bit.  My belly wasn't bloated at the end of every day like it usually is.  I'm not sure if my hair is shinier or my complexion clearer, but my outlook is.

Over the past month I've found a ton of new blogs and resources for Whole 30/Paleo recipes and support.  The sentiment that's stuck with me from everything I read about changing your diet was "It's not that easy.  But it's not that hard."  

To stick to the Whole 30 I needed to do a lot of advance planning to have the right foods on hand or ready for meals.  I needed to prep a ton of veggies.  Research for new recipes.  Purchase just a few new staples to have on hand, and then hit up the grocery store more frequently to keep up with the amount of fresh food Joe and I were eating.  And because of this, we ate amazing meals.  So healthful and so incredibly delicious (for the most part).  Quite frankly, we were eating the way we wanted to again. 

I knew sugar, soy, preservatives, etc were in many things in the grocery store, but now I've realized it's in nearly everything.  Rotisserie chicken, jarred sauces, stock, frozen herb cubes, pre-packaged meat, cashews, etc. Everything needs to be scrutinized or home made to keep it "clean" and preservative free.  I do believe that all of this little bad stuff that is snuck into everything adds up and affects us. 

Over the past 30 days Joe and I did a great job sticking to the Whole 30.  Neither of us had a single bite of dairy or any grains in the past month.  And yet we were completely and healthfully fueled every day.  I usually steer very clear of fads when it comes to eating - I think the only reason I considered Whole 30 is because you can eat in abundance.  Whenever you like, as long as you're eating healthfully. 

That said, we did have a couple accidental slip ups.

- Around Day 20 we realized our cashews were not plain cashews.  They had peanut oil in them, and since peanuts/peanut products of off-limits, we'd been slipping up for a couple weeks since we did eat some cashews (although mostly we were devouring macadamia nuts like the state of Hawaii's wealth depended on us).  I must say, I thought I had checked the cashew label early on, but either I didn't, or Coscto just recently changed their cashews and they now contain peanut oil.

- Our last week we decided to buy the frozen cubes of ready-to-use herbs to ease the task of keeping fresh herbs at our ready (considering it's still snowing in Minneapolis and our garden isn't exactly flourishing yet).  After using the herbs a couple times I realized I had just assumed they were 100% frozen herbs.  Nope - a whole lot of preservatives, added sugar, guar gum, etc.  Dissappointing that this stuff is literally in everything. 

We're technically "off" the Whole 30 now, but I'm pretty sure both of us will continue to follow some of the principles of the program.  I'll save that - along with an update about our 1st day off the Whole 30 - for an upcoming post. 

And now, a peek at some of our meals from our last week on the Whole 30.

Grilled Flank Steak, fajita style with peppers, onions, mushrooms, avocado and tomato
Our first mealof the season eaten outside, in 79 degree weather.  Two days later it snowed.

Moose Meatballs (w/ sweet potato & green onion in them) on Zoodles with Cauliflower Rice
This was one of my favorite meals.  The mooseballs were so good.  The homemade sauce is seriously better than Prego (I found some super sweet jarred, diced tomatoes at Costco and want them on everything now).

Coconut Shrimp on Zoodles (or Squoodles...yellow squash "noodles")

I did actually get a little gut-rot following this meal.  Joe and I polished off an entire bag (not sure if it was a 1 or 2 pound bag) of shrimp that we dipped in egg and shredded coconut and then pan-fried in coconut oil.  They were so good!

Mushroom Beef Soup

Amazing. We made this hearty stew on a cold day and it hit.the.spot.  It was Joe's favorite meal on the Whole 30.  It was made with tons of fresh mushrooms, ground beef, tomatoes and a whole can of pumpkin to thicken it. 

Venison; Kale with jalapeños; Red Cabbage with Apples 

Joe and I wish we liked kale better.  Clearly I need to find a better recipe to make.  This meal was thrown together last minute, without any recipes and the side dishes were lackluster.

Oriental Chicken Mash (chicken, broccoli, carrots, shitakes, orange, ginger + more yummy goodness)
This will be a staple.  Sooooooo good.  Such fresh asian flavors.  I would eat this daily all summer long if I could.

Almond Crusted Cod with zoodles and peppers

"Almond Joy!" I exclaimed after trying my first bite.  Literally, this cod that was dredged in almond meal and then fried in coconut oil tasted like an Almond Joy candy bar.  Crazy to me that Max picked off all the almond crust and only wanted the fish.  We didn't waste a thing, as I quickly ate his almond crust!

Baked Italian Eggs

A great twist on our usual breakfast.  Sausage (home-made...good luck finding packaged meat, bacon, sausage, etc without additives), spinach, tomatos, topped with coconut milk and tomato paste and an egg, then baked. 

 

Week Four Menu

Coconut Shrimp

Oriental Chicken Hash

Moose Meatballs

Grilled Flank Steak, fajita style with peppers, onions, avocado, tomatoes 

Almond Crusted Cod

Beef Mushroom Soup

Balsamic Crock Pot Chicken

Venison with Kale & Red Cabbage