kindred

Two sets of dear friends visited in January. Visited Chicago in January. Clearly, I am loved.

Eben and I are truly at our best together on a porch, beers in hand, music playing, and time stopped or spread. Alas, the Adirondack chairs are yet to be purchased and snow's all that sittin on the porch. So when Eben and Anna visited, I had to plan some indoor activities. Many of them involved beer including a tour of Half Acre Brewery.

Half Acre's brewery tour was free yet they still pumped us full of free beer. Amazing, tasty, complex free beers. The kind of beers that you wouldn't want to have as an everyday beer but you would because the Half Acre folks are so knowledgeable and charming. The beautiful foamy head on this hoppy afternoon was that Half Acre doesn't want to expand. They don't want to get big. They don't want you to drink their beer everyday. Hallelujah.

Eryn lost her scarf, but we still found fun

Just a day into the oh-ten new year, I had the good fortune and good company to sample a new drink. Glogg! A drink made all the more exciting by the fact that there's an umlaut in it. (I don't know how to type an umlaut.)

Glogg is a Swedish mulled wine. Of course, I've had mulled wine before, but the familiarity of this drink is part of what makes it so special. It was slightly sweeter than similar drinks I've had and was finished with raisins and almonds that wait as tiny alcohol-soaked treats at the bottom of your mug. It didn't suprise me but enabled me to appreciate nuances of a drink I've had, but haven't had, every winter.

I want to recline in the moments and tastes and spaces where familiar and new meet. Here we have experience yet fresh perspective. Like having a dear friend in your new(ish?) city. I was reminded about why I love my neighborhood bar. We went places I've never been, but they seemed intimate and comfortable. And I was able to softly detect the ways she's changed yet remains true.

last taste of winter

Uncommon Ground has their organic rooftop garden started for the season, but it's too early to for the menu to sprout spring flavors. On the first seventy degree day of the year, we closed the evening with the last of winter's foods.

To drink

Midwest Maple Manhattan: death’s door whiskey, maple syrup, chai infused sweet vermouth, maple sugar rim

To appetize

Artisanal Sausage Sampler: wild boar bratwurst, cognac pheasant sausage, market potato salad, pickled vegetables, whole grain mustard

To eat

Crispy Gunthorp Farm Chicken Breast with polenta, wild mushrooms, and brussel sprout salad

To finish sweetly

Chocolate chip banana bread pudding with whiskey gelato & caramel sauce