Brunch: Chicago Public House

As previously mentioned, I recently joined the Chicago Food Bloggers organization. This is a fantastic way of combining my love of eating with my new hobby of blogging. I’m truly excited for the opportunity to share my passion for food while meeting great people! I attended my first ever Chicago Food Bloggers event last weekend with my gal Christine of apartmentpants.

The event was brunch at Chicago’s Public House. As a lot of us bloggers have been mentioning, who knew Public House served brunch? I think brunch must be a city thing because I definitely have noticed I am more jazzed about it now that I live downtown!

Unfortunately life got in the way a bit, and Christine and I arrived halfway through the event….not the best way to kick off our first event as members! Nonetheless we made the best of our situation and sampled a few of the tasty dishes Public House was serving up. Behold:

Chicken and Waffles: southern fried chicken, caramelized waffles, hot sauce, maple syrup

I've never had "chicken and waffles" before. While I was excited about the seemingly genius combination of savory and sweet, this was a pass after the first bite. The chicken was tough to cut and the waffles weren't anything special. 

Parfait Pint: granola, greek yogurt, fresh berries

This was lovely. The granola wasn't overly sweet and the fresh berries were yummy. It's always good to have something semi-healthy on the table! 

Doughnut Fried French Toast with a cream cheese glaze, seasonal market jam and fresh fruit

I was surprised by this dish. I usually chose savory over sweet but was hooked after one bite. The French toast had just the right amount of crunch around the edges and the cream cheese glaze was heavenly. 

Crab Cake Benedict: jumbo lump crab cakes, garlic spinach, poached eggs, hollandaise

This was my favorite dish. The crab cakes were delicious with just a bit of a kick. All of the flavor combinations pulled together wonderfully. I would not hesitate to order this the next time I brunch at Public House! 

Overall I was impressed by the setup of the event. From the moment we walked through the door the staff was friendly and accommodating. They gave us a handy sheet that detailed the menu as well as space to write comments, document that the dish had been photographed and sampled, and cute hashtags for each dish! There were serving stations set up with mini sized dishes for all of the bloggers to try. 

Public House clearly marked the names of their dishes and arranged full size plates for us shutterbugs to go crazy. And I literally cannot handle how cute this mini cast iron pan is-

I really enjoyed the environment that the bloggers created. It’s fun to be in a room full of people who also have a habit of taking snaps of their food : ) I can’t wait for the next event and to hopefully meet more fellow bloggers! Visit Chicago Public House at 400 N State St, Chicago, IL 60654 and check them out here.

Note: I attended this event as a part of Chicago Food Bloggers and free of charge, however the opinions in this post are solely my own.

Spring Fashion Pinspiration

We're in that weird phase that is a Chicago March-some days it's lovely and others make us think the cold weather will never end. We're all looking ahead to short sleeves and bare legs, but fear of freezing holds us back in our fashion choices.

So I turned to Pinterest to pick out some fun Spring looks to inspire me during this transitional period!


I absolutely LOVE cropped pants-these outfits are simple yet professional. I especially love the red pants!

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The accessories make this outfit.

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Paired with a tan trench this would be a killer Spring look. 

A great way to jump into spring is to banish black from your outfits! I adore pairing unexpected colors together like this:

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If you tend to dress more neutral-based, a great way to "Spring-ify" your wardrobe is to pick a softer base color like navy blue or grey.

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A touch of leopard to keep things fun : ) 

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And you need casual outfit ideas too! 

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LOVE this sparkly tank to add some pizzaz for a date or drinks with the girls.

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A jean jacket adds an air of effortless cool to your look.

I snapped a quick selfie of my winter meets spring outfit at work yesterday. I love a good pop of color! 

What outfits are you most excited about breaking out for warmer temperatures? 

22 Day Food Challenge!

Who remembers all the hubub around the holidays, when Jay-Z announced he and Beyonce would be going vegan for 22 days? The reasoning behind the number of days was because experts say it takes 21 days to break a habit. Apparently Queen B has been at it again, as I heard on the radio a few weeks ago. This led me to think about the idea of a vegan diet and if it was something I could do for 22 days. While I have my own set of thoughts relating to the consumption of animal products, I would not consider myself one to go vegan for ethical reasons. I'm merely intrigued by the idea of cutting out a large number of foods, and the effect it can have on your overall health. Alright: challenge accepted.

But then I thought about the technicalities of this temporary lifestyle. No animal products means no dairy, eggs, or honey* for goodness sakes. That means no chocolate. No sliver of butter with my sweet potatoes. No whey protein in my morning smoothie. Eating out would be a nightmare. I'd have to be that person that is asking a million questions about how something was prepared. And first and foremost, I started getting nervous that eating vegan would just be a path to carb overload.

I've therefore decided that I'll be embarking on a modified vegan/vegetarian/pescetarian lifestyle for the rest of the month. Basically, I will cut out all meat and also abstain from fish, dairy, eggs etc. as much as possible. I'd like to try and make at least 3 days each week completely vegan. I'm going to blog about my experiences, which of course means giving you new recipe ideas! 

 

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Today is day one and so far, so good. I made an avocado and cacao smoothie for breakfast, had a mid-morning snack of an apple and a few almonds, and brought some beet soup along with celery and rice crackers for lunch. Dinner is going to be my new favorite meal, buckwheat soba noodles and tofu (my mouth just watered in anticipation of this dish. SO good). And all of my recipes today are thanks to this fantastic cookbook.

Have you ever eliminated particular foods from your diet? What was the result?

(*I totally get that vegan means no animal products and this isn't just limited to animal flesh. However, I have an argument against this one. First of all, I buy honey from the farmer's market; these bees were not put in any form of distress to acquire the honey. Secondly-I hate bees. They are the worst.)