La Colombe.  Hands down the best cappuccino in Chicago.  West loop.  Check it.

Don't forget to vote! You can still vote once daily through January 23rd!

Happy Friday.

coffee date

How was your holiday?  I've been so immersed in family time and the relaxing days that follow the December craze that I had taken myself off the hook from blogging, amongst other things.  Until this morning, when I stumbled upon Alissa's Coffee Date Friday link-up and I decided that a coffee date I did not miss.   This week, the coffee of choice has been Intelligentsia's El Diablo and I'm on about a two and a half cup routine.  I just want to savor these mornings when the kids don't have to rush off to school, we don't have to rush off to work, and everyone can just be.  We can awake slowly, lounge in our pj's for hours, and cozy up to each other around new games and books.  I can say yes to question after question like, "can we do this craft, mommy?"  There's no where to be, no deadlines, no conference calls, no homework, and I can be the YES mom for awhile.

at the people spot in front of heritage bike store
 

Sometimes, you just need to take yourself off the hook for things to take the stress level down a notch.  When my son was born, I took myself off the hook for holiday cards, we do Valentine's cards instead.   I'm even taking myself off the hook for downloading the photos that I was thinking of including in this post and instead including ones that I never posted from this summer.  So, take yourself off the hook for something today and enjoy.

And just so you don't think I've lost my usual undertones, I am typing this from my favorite part of the day - the early hours of the morning when I'm the only one awake in the house.  I'm currently the YES mom, but I'm also the - please don't wake up for another hour so I can drink my coffee in peace mom, too.

link up your coffee date post with alissa

Life Imitates Coffee

I had forgotten about this afternoon over the holidays at my parents house.  On our way home from a quick coffee date, we noticed the sky distinctly resembling the top of my Cappuccino that I had just admired minutes before.

Artfully foam topped Capp from Coffee Hound

Monday Morning

via etsy

Good morning Monday and blog friends!  Are you currently enjoying your sip of morning joe?  More likely you are if you are one of my neighbors; well, according to the Huffington Post that is.  Recently Chicago was named the most caffeinated city in the country.  You can check here to see if your city made the list.  In the meantime, I'm going back to sipping and I only have my city to blame.  I knew that I could blame my over coffee-ing (not a word) habits on someone or something else.

Cat & Peppers

I set down my coffee the other day at the market....

4 o'clock coffee

You know how I love to document my coffee drinking...this was a nice little cup of Bux house blend.  It was a late afternoon coffee, about 4pm, on Lake Huron.

Back story:  For some unknown reason, my husband and I never stopped for coffee on our roadtrip last Friday morning.  Imposters, right?  Don't know what we were thinking.  Maybe we wanted to savor the moment relaxing in an anti-gravity chair on the beach. Either way, it cost me huge in the form a major headache, for both of us.  We questioned our coffee drinking, for about a second, and quickly forgot about....

Drink and be merry...and capture it.

Some of you may not know this little fact about me, but I have produced a fair share of food commercials in my career.  This translates into my real life as I find myself snapping photos of my food and drinks.  But I also think its the setting that I want to capture, the vibe that I don't want to lose and do want to remember....

like coffees on the beach...

and wine at sunset....notice the cute little crab on the wineglass

it doesn't get better than this....and while I am spilling coffee in my car tomorrow as I am running late for work, I will remember just one short week ago I was slowly sipping coffee while watching the kids jump in the waves.

Happy 4th friends!

xoxo

bestie

Saturday Saturday

Awoke on Saturday morning very relieved that it was SATURDAY MORNING.  Nothing like a full week of work to make for some weekend appreciation!  I usually don't work everyday so this weekend was especially inviting.  Needed some major kid time so took them to one of my favorite breakfast spots in Chicago, The Milk and Honey Cafe.  When they set my cup of coffee down on the table, it was my "ahhhh" moment.  We had a delicious breakfast.  I mean delicious.  I couldn't stop commenting on how good it was and neither could the kids.

Milk & Honey Cafe

    

Cranberry Apple Granola Buttermilk Pancakes

Other yummies

If you are ever in Chicago, this is the place to begin your day!

Thank you to 2010 for....

sunsets

farmers markets

summer

hats, big and small

legs to dance with

flowers

exploring new places

little hands (that need be trimmed, ok, give me a break)

BIG artwork

beach days (and cousins)

COFFEE....

AND COCKTAILS (just being honest here...this is an honest blog) :)

good friends(ok,this was a coincidence, not a cocktail theme occurring here)

family photos (and battery operated flickering candles from Pottery Barn -so that I don't burn the house down)

and for family, friends, and my blog family. Big thanks for stopping by, I appreciate all your comments and your inspirational blogs!

All the best for 2011!

GRANDMA'S COFFEE CAKE

My 94 yr old Grandmother is my idol! My mother made her coffee cake recipe over Thanksgiving and it was DElish!

The kids couldn't resist helping.

Grandma’s Coffee Cake

Topping:
1 c brn sugar
4T flour
4 tsp cinnamon
4T melted butter
1c chopped nuts


Sift together:

3 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1.5 C sugar

Cut into this: ½ C shortening until fine as cornmeal

To the flour mix add: 2 beaten eggs, 1C milk, 2tsp vanilla

Beat until dough is smooth

Pour ½ of dough into greased 9 x13 pan.

Sprinkle ½ topping. Pour rest of dough. Then topping

Cover with wax paper and put in fridge.

Bake 375 25-30 minutes

Keepin it hot!

This is how my morning usually goes.
Wake up and for a brief moment I realize kids are still asleep so here comes my biggest dilemma: Do I continue sleeping OR Do I sneak into the kitchen for a nice hot cup of coffee and internet surfing in the peace and quiet? If I choose coffee, I usually get to the pouring part and someone wakes up. So, it goes like this. Pour coffee (get someone a milk sippy). Pour cream (change a diaper). Put cream away (get a snack, find Curious George on Tivo, make someone a bowl of cereal) And finally, I get back to taking a sip of my coffee and it's bordering cold and I LIKE TO DRINK IT HOT! (microwave it for 15 seconds, oops, that's not enough, put in again for 15 more). Microwave beeps continually for the next 20 minutes until a little person asks, "what's that noise?" Oh, my coffee, REHEAT, REPEAT.

AND THAT'S why i am LOVING this mug and lid combo from West Elm.

Take me to your leader....

Every morning I feel like I am doing the zombie walk to my coffee machine or espresso machine (if I have the energy to make espresso) which I usually don't, which is why i am sleepwalking to get coffee in the first place, duh. It's like those Folgers commercials.

Shot 1: The sun is rising just over the mountains...
Reality: it's raining in Chicago, there are no mountains, its flatter than my 12yr old chest (did i just write that?)

Shot 2: You see my arms just starting to stretch as I open my eyes in bed
Reality: i am not in my bed but probably on the kids floor or worse, half sleeping on the edge of a toddler bed and i NEVER WAKE UP LIKE THAT....as a little person always wakes me up first

Shot 3: Close up on the coffee maker with last few drips of coffee falling as it beeps that it is done
Reality: ok, this actually does happen, yeah!

Shot 3: I inhale the aroma and it brings a smile to my face
Reality: i am tapping my arm, can't get the caffeine in fast enough, no time to stop and smell the coffee :)

Shot 4: Beautiful cream pouring into a hot cup of coffee in my favorite mug
Reality: My husband has used the last of the half & half i am furiously calling him out on blackberry messenger
Wait, this just happened in real time: i am sitting here with my half cup, ready to go for a second, and my husband says, "oh, i thought you were done" after he pours the last few precious golden drops into his travel mug.

Nonetheless, I have been cherishing old (and new) coffee signs lately...snapped a few in some coffee shops and have one in my kitchen that I bought at a sidewalk sale (and by sidewalk sale, I mean someone literally selling their stuff on the sidewalk in front of their house during the Old Town Art Fair).

Miles away...

Just recently, I have started reading the travel section in the Sunday Tribune again. I didn't realize that I had quit reading this section until a few months ago when I looked at it like a long forgotten friend. But for the past several years, the only traveling I've been doing is to the grocery store and back. And if I can do it alone, it feels like a vacation, a luxury.

But now that my babies are a preschooler and toddler, I find myself fantasizing about far away places, about exploring nooks and crannies of old neighborhoods and enjoying the tastes of new cuisine. Just simply getting lost in the love affair of traveling.

And for a few short moments, my coffee tastes like an italian espresso, my surface turns into a Parisian cafe table, my newspaper becomes my travel guide and I am miles away.

(I think I will dedicate Tuesday to posts about travel. Where I've been and where I dream about going. Until next Tuesday, let that wine, espresso, or travel section take you away...)

Now, if I could just get over my ridiculous fear of flying that I have seemed to develop since I've had children....

Rise and Shine

It's 6am at the lake house...everyone is sleeping EXCEPT for my two kiddos. Coffee is NOT brewing, paper is NOT here and kids are READY to go. After stalling with an hr of the Disney Channel, the natives are getting restless and the house is still sleeping. Down the back stairs and out of our sleeping quarters, which is the loft above the garage, we have made it out! Off to the farmer's market we go (sans coffee though, which is a little nerve racking).

We arrive at the Michigan City Mainstreet Assocation's Farmers Market to find that Lakeshore coffee has added a tent! Someone is looking out for me today. This is where we try our first pastry, a chocolate croissant.

http://www.localharvest.org/farmers-markets/M17553


Amish baked goods. Sampled a loaf of cheese/bacon bread...tastes as good as it sounds!


Tried our second pastry (apricot croissant) from this little gem of a tent from Truffles Bakery.
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=bakery+michigan+city&fb=1&gl=us&hq=bakery&hnear=Michigan+City,+IN&cid=1094366468920430968


The sunflowers were electric!






And after awhile, it was safe to return to the house and pack up for the beach!

Thank you, market!

The lazy days of hanging at the pool, evening walks to the ice cream store, searching for beach glass along the lake all give me so much joy and are just about as comforting as mac n cheese with a side of mashed potatoes. And having children allows me to experience it all over again through their eyes! Summer awaits!

I was reminded of all this as I read the Chicago Tribune magazine on Sunday morning. The magazine featured "The Rules of Summer." With an intro by Rick Kogan (a Tribune writer who happened to grow up in my current condo unit) the magazine left me with a list of summer must do's and anticipation!

As I finished the magazine and enjoyed my last sip of hot coffee, all I could do was fantasize about iced coffees, lake breezes, fireworks, and dinners on the porch.

The kids and I all all wrote down things we want to do this summer on little posties...and we hope to pull them out one by one and do summer one day at a time.