Fun in Chicago: Little Goat

I was recently invited to a private dinner event at Little Goat here in Chicago and I must say, I am entirely obsessed with their private rooftop space.

Here’s the table all set and ready for us.

I love the glassware on the right. It matches my dishes and I wanted to steal a set of 8 or 10.

They had some fun goat pictures on the wall next to our table and the painting on the floor *gasp* I am obsessed.

We had a great family style meal. I honestly have no idea what we ate because I didn’t order anything and I didn’t ask a lot of questions. I mostly just ate what was put in front of me. Great character trait, I know.

We had our own little personalized welcome sign and if you look closely at that same picture, you might notice that the wall behind the door is very lightly painted like the floor in the dining room. I love the subtle detail! All the character of the space was just amazing from the mixed and matched, rustic silverware to the wall of pots…and that AMAZING chef’s kitchen.

I couldn’t get enough. I didn’t want to leave. Here were are two weeks later and I’m still telling people I want to live there. I hope I have the chance to go back and drool some more another time.

I Bake: Grandma’s Cinnamon Rolls

One of my contributions for this year’s Thanksgiving was my Grandma’s cinnamon rolls. I’ve only made them once before and was super excited to make them, but also a little unsure of everything since the one time I made them was about 4 years ago.

I made sure I had all my ingredients and was ready to start the dough. Once you have it all mixed and ready to go, you have to let it rise in a big bowl. Ideally, there is a sunny, warm place to put it. Unfortunately, that’s a bit difficult to find in Chicago at the end of November. I set it near one of the heating ducts in the kitchen and called it a day.

Here’s the dough pretty much risen. It never rose as much as I remember it rising as a child. Maybe my bowl was bigger than grandma’s? Maybe it’s the lack of heat/sunlight? Either way, you let it rise once, poke it down, let it rise again and then you roll in cinnamon and sugar and tie into knots. I didn’t take pictures of this because my hands were all gooey.

Once you have your dough coated in goodness, tied in knots and put in their baking dishes, you let them rise until they’re double in size. (Lots of rising and waiting involved in this recipe.) Once they’ve risen this third and final time (which is what you see here), you pop them in the over for a few minutes and…

Viola! Warm, gooey, sticky goodness.

Here’s one of the pans of the finished product. This recipe made at least 50 cinnamon rolls on Wednesday and they were all gone by Saturday morning. So much work involved, but I kind of can’t wait to make them again soon. So worth the work…and waiting…and rising.

Fun in Chicago: Hot Chocolate 5K

Last year, after moving to Chicago and settling in, I remember looking into 5Ks the hubs and I could run. Well, he would run them, I would whine and struggle and pant and wheeze through them (and maybe walk for a minute). I found the Hot Chocolate 5K, which is one of the largest 5Ks in Chicago. It was sold out last year when we tried to sign up, so I was really looking forward to signing up this year.

The hubs and I met up with a friend the morning of the race (she snuck up from her holding area a ways behind us) and we all ran together. Here are some shots of the crowd, the start and a before picture of the three of us.

I struggled through the first two miles with them and walked for a minute during the third mile. I have no endurance and I hadn’t run a single time since the Run10Feed10 10K I ran (half of) in October. We ran through some of the Loop and ended in Grant Park, close to where we started. The trees were SO pretty the weekend of the 5K and I snapped this picture below (you can see the lake way in the background) along with some after shots of us ready to eat all the yummy goodness you get after the run.

You got chocolate fondue, a banana, a Rice Krispie Treat, a marshmallow, a brownie (which I couldn’t eat – too much chocolate), and some prezels. We also got hot chocolate, obviously, but it wasn’t the best I’ve had and I stuck with my fondue…and the fondue of those who were with me…

This is a panoramic I took of the whole finisher’s area including the downtown skyline. Wasn’t it a pretty day?!?

Here we are all together after! The two who ran the whole way and me! I had a great time, but next year if I do it again, I can’t do it with absolutely no running leading up to it. I need to be able to run the entire 5K…it’s not that far.

I Cook: Balsamic and Cranberry Pork Tenderloin

A couple weeks ago I went on a mission to find some new, healthy recipes on Pinterest and I stumbled across this Pork Tenderloin recipe that combines a bunch of things I really like, so I figured I’d give it a try and I am SO happy I did. It was so easy and so so so good!

I was looking for a crock pot recipe that I could effectively set and forget. I found the recipe here and I actually forgot to take an after picture because it was so good.

Here’s the before picture. I love that you can see all the fresh rosemary I used. First time I’ve used rosemary from my plant!

I definitely suggest checking this out if you’re looking for a healthy, easy, super yummy new dinner recipe!