A Cold Snap in the Windy City

Last week we went to Chicago to visit family before the holiday madness. We saw J's grandmother, parents, aunt/uncle, cousins and nephews. Despite a sharp cold snap, and a decent snowfall, our travel plans went smoothly. We were able to try a new Camry Hybrid, as well as a Chevy Impala, and the Toyota did very well, despite the harsh conditions. Here's Tim, JoAnne, Devin, and Jimmy who have come over to set up Christmas decorations.

While we were there we ate at a range of family favorites including Portillos, White Fence Farm, and Alfies. We also went into the city proper and tried a fancy new gastropub called The Publican, which was quite good and a fine recommendation.


While in Chicago we visited Andersonville, an old school Swedish neighborhood, and stopped in at the Swedish Bakery, where we picked up a few loaves of limpa bread that we had ordered, as well as some traditional pepparkrakrs and coffee cakes. The bakery was extremely busy, and it took 45 min to get everything.

After that we went to Erickson's Swedish Deli which is one of the few places one can find authentic prinzkorv, the tiny sausages served at Christmas smorgasbords. This is inside Erickson's, where I thought their product lineup didn't seem so special/rare compared to what can now be found in any IKEA. To their credit, they did have a wide spectrum of unusual Nordic canned goods, like pickled eel etc.


We also stopped in and saw our old school friend, Logan along with his family. Their three children are happy, healthy ... and rapidly outgrowing their spacious home. So they are moving soon, taking advantage of the disruptions in the housing market. He uncorked a couple of fruity California pinot noirs which we had with the lunch Merilee made; it was refreshing to have something healthy after a number of heavy midwest dinners.

It was nice to see everyone, but it's good to be back home.