weekend in the windy city

rupert's family gave us another reason to travel this year; another cousin got married. luckily, my parents were willing to watch the kids again so we took off for the windy city last weekend.

we made it to chicago just in time for the rehearsal dinner. the bitter cold was a shocker, even though we were preparing ourselves for it. after dinner rupert and i went for a walk in millennium park (across the street from our hotel) and came back with red cheeks and painful ears and fingers.


the following day was actually quite lovely, as long as you had your coat on. we went back to the park to take pictures of cloud gate, and then took a leisurely walk towards the river so we could have brunch at frontera grill. with our tummies full we walked to paper source, the museum of contemporary art, and then headed back to get ready for the wedding.

the wedding took place at our hotel, and it was a beautiful ceremony. rupert and his brother were recruited to be huppah holders at the last minute so i delegated myself photographer. at the reception the food was pretty good (great cocktail hour); it was quite an impressive wedding.

the following morning there was a post-wedding breakfast hosted by rupert's parents, where we finally got to meet rupert's cousin's new baby. with just a few hours before our flight home rupert and i dashed across the street for a quick walk-through of the art institute.

i had a horrible flight home but i won't recount it here because i don't want to remember it. if it weren't for that flight the weekend would've been almost perfect.

32, but who's counting?

lots of weekend trips for us lately. this time around? good ol' san francisco.

at the last minute we asked our friends if we could head up there for the weekend. last time we were there we stayed with J+J but this time our friend MZ offered up his place near haight-ashbury since he and his sister would be out of town. we had a whole apartment to ourselves, which worked out great.

we arrived on thursday night and had dinner with J+J at park chow near their house (a few years back we went to chow in the castro with them too). after some post-dinner wii-ing, we headed over to MZ's apartment to get some much-needed rest (my allergies were really bothering me all day).

we woke up to a lot of fog on the fourth. i went for a run along the panhandle towards golden gate park in the morning and came back pretty wet from the very misty fog. the weather was pretty cold and gloomy the entire day, unfortunately. made for a very odd fourth of july; i'm used to sunshine and beach weather. (come to think of it, the last time we were in sf for the fourth in 2005 it was pretty darn cold too.) lunch was at burma superstar in the richmond. the tea leaf salad and the pumpkin pork stew were quite tasty; the salad in particular has a really unique taste and texture.

afterwards we headed to the legion of honor for a hike down the trail near the water. maya and i made it down el camino del mar but since we had the stroller we opted to wait back at the car. good thing, too, since the trail ended up having a lot of stairs (222 in one set alone, according to ian). sadly, that meant maya and i missed the nude guy walking around on the beach. nudists i understand, but who walks around butt-naked in weather like that?? rupert was not kind enough to bring back photos of the big naked man.

dinner was an impromptu bbq back at the apartment. i was already in a it's-my-birthday-and-i'm-not-gonna-lift-a-finger mode so i sat around on MZ's very comfy two-seater couch and read stiff by mary roach. very morbid and entertaining. in fact, it was so entertaining that while the rest of the group (a couple of other people joined us for dinner) watched air force one ('cause it's patriotic?) i went into the bedroom and kept on reading.

after staying up until an ungodly hour reading, i woke up nice and early with the kids. just like last year, i let rupert sleep in on my birthday and spent the early morning feeding the kids and watching tv. thankfully the weather started clearing up and by the time we made plans with J+J to go to the ferry building it was quite sunny out. lunch was at the primavera stand since there was no way we were getting into the slanted door (my first choice for a birthday meal) without a reservation. no biggie since i really enjoyed the ceviche tostada i ordered. sure, it was $9.50 but i felt like it was well worth it. (and, heck, it was my birthday.) i had a bite of ian's pork tamale and that was good too. it's just too bad the famous chilaquiles were already sold out.

since it was saturday the farmers market was going on and it was so fun to see all of the great stands and taste the sweet fruit (have you had a candycot before? yum!). i even saw a wild boar leg being sold and it reminded me of the hunter/gatherer section of michael pollan's omnivore's dilemma. what wasn't so great was the price of everything. crazy expensive; i was going to buy some strawberries for the long drive home but balked at the $3.50 per basket price.

what i really like about a place like the ferry building is that almost everyone around you is a foodie. they share the same love of food that you do and the same fascination with interesting ingredients. J+J and rupert decided to make pasta for my birthday dinner after i picked up a package of ink squid dry pasta from italy.

later in the afternoon we headed to the de young museum to see the dale chihuly exhibit. unfortunately, by the time we got there the special exhibit tickets were sold out. we had to settle for the not-as-impressive-during-the-day chihuly saffron tower sculpture in the museum's garden of enchantment. after a stroll through the golden gate park botanical garden we walked back to the apartment and took a little break before dinner.

i got to sit around while a wonderful dinner was prepared. the garlicky squid ink fettuccine was served with really plump mussels and tasty clams on top. i'm used to squid ink pasta sauce, which is much brinier in flavor than squid ink pasta. although it might look scary because it's so black, the squid ink dry pasta doesn't taste fishy at all.

before heading home on sunday we had brunch at squat and gobble in haight-ashbury. i had the strawberry blintz crepe, which was good but had a bit too much ricotta in my opinion. ian had belgian waffles and maya inhaled part of rupert's omelette. we are beginning to notice more and more that the kids are eating like real people lately, which means they are starting to cost us more. darn kids!

after a weekend of lots of eating, rupert drove us home amidst end-of-fourth-of-july-weekend traffic. i am thankful to him for taking us up there for the weekend and really looking after the kids so i could enjoy my birthday weekend. thanks honey!

i {heart} nyc

i spent my first three semesters of college in nyc at barnard college. and for someone who spent that much time in the city, i really do not know it that well. that's because i didn't take advantage of everything it has to offer. what a mistake! i think i missed rupert so much that i was blind to what was around me. now i miss it a lot, especially since one of my best friends lives there, and i wish i could visit more often.

sadly, last summer's trip with the kids was my first time back in nine years. but luckily, rupert and i had the chance to go again to attend his cousin's wedding. my mother was nice (and courageous) enough to watch the kids for three days so that we could get away for the weekend.


and what a weekend it was, jampacked with activities and seeing people. we flew in on a red-eye so we got into manhattan around 7:30 on saturday morning. we checked in, took a quick shower, and we were off to meet a friend of mine from my morgan stanley days in tokyo. after coffee and catching up, rupert and i had to dash off to c-town for dim sum with my best friend K and our other college friend HJ, who i hadn't seen in 10 years.


after dumplings and boba tea, we drove up to barnard and columbia. it was a mini-reunion of sorts for us since it's been 10 years since graduation and none of us had really visited campus. the old student center, mcintosh, was demolished and a new gigantic building is going up in its place. i have so many memories of hanging out in mcintosh that i'm pretty sad it's gone.




then we (minus HJ) headed to the met. oh my god -- suggested admission is really expensive now! i remember when we were students we'd just drop in and not pay anything at all. just like old times we headed to the arms and armor exhibit first, then wandered over to the temple of dendur where we realized it had started pouring outside.

it was a good thing we decided to forego the vampire weekend concert in central park that afternoon. from the museum window we could see tons of concert-goers wandering around in the downpour. after awhile rupert and i managed to make a dash to the subway station when the rain let up for a few minutes, just in time to get ready for the rehearsal dinner in times square.

the next morning was father's day so we tried to get up as early as possible to spend time with rupert's dad. we had breakfast, took the train to columbus circle, and then walked through central park (sometimes in the rain) to zabar's. we didn't have much time to explore since we had to get back for the wedding.

luckily the weather cleared up and we walked the block from the hotel to the prince george ballroom. it's a great venue with a gallery-like entrance area and a wonderful, grand ballroom where the ceremony and reception were held. it was a fun reception and the food was pretty darn good. rupert's cousin S and her husband E looked absolutely ecstatic -- congrats!

and that was our entire weekend. we flew back the following morning and arrived in time to pick up maya at my mom's and then swing by to pick ian up at school. sometimes rupert-and-me-happiness is fleeting.

[more pictures here.]

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!

we spent last weekend in milwaukee to attend rupert's brother's medical school graduation. he and his girlfriend will be moving to rochester next month for their residency so this would probably be the only opportunity (reason) to go to milwaukee.

and what a wonderful midwestern city it was. rupert kept saying that it wasn't as dingy and rundown as he thought it would be. nice, huh? what was he expecting, exactly?

rupert's brother, A, and his girlfriend, A (i know, it's confusing), live in the shorewood area of milwaukee and it's just gorgeous along lake drive :: the huge mansions, the spring flowers, the view of lake michigan. i went for a jog both mornings we were there and it was lovely ... and quite possibly some of my favorite moments of the trip.

one of the things i wanted to see in milwaukee was the milwaukee art museum and the burke brise soleil. unfortunately, everytime we passed the museum the wings were closed. we didn't stay long enough to view the exhibits in the museum but we managed to get a few shots of the amazing glass chandelier by dale chihuly.

afterwards we headed to the betty brinn children's museum, which the kids really enjoyed. it's a great little museum with tons to do. right now there's a curious george exhibit going on, which is one of maya's favorite shows.

on sunday, since the weather wasn't as nice, we headed to sprecher brewery for a tour. the tour itself isn't amazing, but for $3 you get a small glass, four refills of any beer on tap, and all the soda you want at the end of the tour. i didn't get the beer but i really enjoyed the root beer (which is usually not one of my favorite drinks), cherry cola, and the ravin' red.

and the last thing i *had* to do before leaving milwaukee was get a taste of frozen custard. i made my brother-in-law drive us across town to leon's. the butter pecan was delicious and i couldn't believe it only cost $1.65!

i left milwaukee really liking the midwest vibe and historic feel of the city. of course, we were staying in the nice part of town and the weather was absolutely perfect. had we gone in the middle of winter i would probably not be so enthusiastic!

see more pictures from the weekend here. thanks to A+A for hosting us for the weekend!