Another trip to Lillie's Q and Planning a Productive Day

I went to Lillie's Q BBQ in Wicker Park for the second time this evening :) I am happy to say it was just as good and I am pretty sure it's going to quickly become my new favorite place. They are doing all the right things. I am guilty of getting the same thing as I did before, it was just so good! But I also tried the Cornbread and Hush Puppies this time which were both firsts and they were both very good. So far they have been just as good as BBQ I grew up with, I have to admit though that they came nowhere close to my family cornbread recipe! That's ok though, I'll keep that one to myself ;) 
That was really the only thing I did today that is worth talking about. Went to school, took a mid-term exam, walked dogs and ate some soup for lunch. Pretty exciting stuff. 
Tomorrow I have to go to the WIC office to see about getting on a waiting list for childcare services and to sign up for whatever they can help with. I am not exactly sure how it all works being that I have never signed up for it before, but I guess I'll find out what it entails tomorrow. I can't say I'm excited to sit in a State Aid office, they haven't been known to be one of the best places to hang out. I do have an interview after which I am sooooo hoping I get, and I have the stage coming up on Sunday at The Signature Room so I am totally stoked on both of those. 
After  my interview, I am heading to a crafts store to buy things for the baby shower :) I want to make some decorations, it's going to be outside so just a few simple things will do. Time for bed. 

Hot Doug's, Lou Malnati's, B.L.U.E.S and some much needed best friend hang time

Yesterday was a much needed day of awesome. Two of my best friends Bryce and Katie flew in from Boston Friday and yesterday we spent the whole day together. These two wonderful people will also be the Godparents of my daughter. :) For lunch I took them to Hot Doug's, they used to live here so they had been once before but in my opinion it has been too long since they've been back! My friend Ally who lives in the suburbs of Chicago also met us and had lunch being that Hot Doug's is one of her favorite places on earth. I ordered the Veal Saltimbocca Sausage that came with a sage mustard, hickory smoked swiss cheese and fried prosciutto, that was sooooo delicious!! That fried prosciutto was perfect on it, the sausage was very moist and soft as was the cheese so the crunch that the prosciutto gave was much needed and magical! I also ordered the Chardonnay and Jalapeno Rattlesnake Sausage with a roasted pepper aioli and Pere Joseph Cheese. This dog was no less extraordinary. Bryce also order the Rattlesnake along with the White Wine and Dijon Rabbit Sausage that came with a mustard aioli and creme de Brie cheese. I take his word that is was fabulous. Katie ordered the Cherry and Apple Pork sausage with creamy peach mustard and Cranberry-Cinnamon Goat Cheese, and Ally ordered the Brown Ale and Chipotle Buffalo Sausage with bacon garlic mayo and  Carragaline Farmhouse Cheese. I feel like neither one of them made a peep until after both were completely finished. None of us had a single complaint about anything we ordered or having to wait in the half hour line to get these delicious dogs. There are 5 selections I would recommend trying. Actually, just throw a dart at the board and try whatever it lands on, it will always be delicious! We then went back to my house, let my dogs play in the yard and hung out for a while and then decided for dinner we would do Lou Malnati's. We got "The Lou", it's a huge deep dish pizza covered in mushrooms, spinach, roasted tomato and sauteed onions. I feel like I don't even need to say how that was, but just in case... It was ridiculously good!! We all got filled up and all took a piece home. To finish off the night we decided some live music was needed. I suggested the bar B.L.U.E.S on Halsted, I've only been to it once before but when I did the show was just awesome. It's small and cramped and has the dive bar feel to it, but in my opinion almost no better way to listen to a Blues band. The band was awesome, the blonde monster who came and stood right in front of us to make out with her boyfriend didn't even put a damper on it! ;) Over all it was a wonderful day, I had tons of fun and got to spend time with people I adore and don't see nearly as much as I would like to. All the places we went are wonderful, if you haven't been you need to go check it out yourself! www.loumalnatis.com Hot Doug's  www.chicagobluesbar.com

Chicago Tattoo Convention, El Cid and dealing with my Diabetes

I had several friends working the Chicago Tattoo Convention over the weekend so Sunday I went with my bestest bud Emily Schmitt to check it out. She is a tattoo artist and so is her boyfriend, Ryan Nutini. Who, won piece of the day on Saturday, we were both very proud of him :) It was one of the better conventions I had been to in a while in Chicago. I scored some new artwork, got to hang out with some friends, see all the crazies who come out and just enjoy some good old fashioned people watching. By the way, what is up with all the dudes with cheetah print dyed into their hair?!? There were a good number of men with this hairstyle, for some reason it doesn't strike me as a "dude" thing. Anyway... So we all went to dinner after it was all over. We had a taste for mexican so I took them to El Cid, which is one of my favorite places. Keep in mind, I'm a sucker for mexican food so I'm usually pretty happy with any place I go. The staff at El Cid are all super nice and they like their food spicy! Probably part of the reason I love it. I know there are two locations, the one I always go to is on Kedzie and Milwaukee basically right across from the Logan Square blue line stop. If you haven't been, go! It was 4 of us eating and one person had a few beers and our bill was $51 and some change, not too shabby. 
    Today I had a meeting with a diabetic specialist to go over my new dietary guidelines. Luckily, nutrition was a class I paid attention in so I was already cutting back on the right stuff, just got a better handle on how to spread my carbs out throughout the day. Over all I don't feel very restricted like I thought I would. I'm sure some of that comes from not being a picky eater, but even if you were I feel like it still leaves people plenty of options on things to eat. I got a test kit to test my blood sugar levels after each meal, I did my first one after eating lunch, ideal number is to be under 120 and mine was 111, so YAYYYYY!!!! For some reason I was just waiting for it to be too high and like be in trouble right away, so thank god for that. I had an interview after that, it went very well and I should hear from them over the weekend, on the walk home I stopped at The Red Balloon Co. and bought the baby a stuffed ladybug... not at all needed but very adorable! EL CID  www.theredballoon.com RYAN NUTINI

"Pulled Tofu" Sandwich w/ Moms Coleslaw, Maple Bacon Ice Cream & Homemade Gnocchi

   I've had an idea for a while to do like a pulled pork sandwich using Tofu instead. I am a carnivore all the way but I like to think of healthier options and options for people who are vegetarians that still will be tasty. I want to use a firm tofu and bake it with my BBQ Sauce recipe, which I will probably alter just a bit to make it a little more on the tangy/vinegary side instead of sweet. I will be topping it with a very delicious creamy coleslaw (moms recipe) which is more on the sweet than tangy side, so I'm expecting it to be a lovely compliment. I'm planning on just doing a very fine julienne cut on the tofu because I don't see it shredding the same as pork would. I do hope in the end, that the texture of the tofu works. This is something that I plan to have on my menu which I consider a fun vegetarian friendly option. I will be doing a trial run within the week, I would love feedback on the idea. 
  MAPLE BACON ICE CREAM is also on the to do list :) <3 Although it saddens me to say I won't be able to do more than literally just try it, I know a few loved ones that will be more than happy to be my guinea pigs and take it off my hands. I got a ice cream maker not too long ago and I love it! Can't wait til I don't have to watch my blood sugar levels so I can enjoy it more. The last ice cream batch I made was a bleu cheese and candied pecan ice cream which was out of this world!! I would advise anyone to give it a shot if you enjoy making ice cream, I made a pear creme brulee to serve with the bleu cheese ice cream and together it worked very well. 
   Next... Home made Gnocchi :) The last Chef I had in my Catering and Buffet class loved to make Gnocchi and was a master at it, I mean he could bang those out like crazy and they were so delicious. I have plenty of potatoes that I need to put to use so I want to get some practice in on my Gnocchi making. I will probably make a very simple Gnocchi in brown butter with parmesan cheese and maybe some basil. AND those are the things I want to make within the next week. I'm sure I'll be making other things as well, but those I really want to spend some time on perfect them. :) 

My New Dietary Guidelines, A BIG LONG TO DO LIST and Arturo's Tacos

At my last doctors appointment I had to have about four hours of blood tests done where they would do draws every hour on the hour to test my blood sugar levels. It was not a fun doctors appointment to say the least, I had to fast for 8 hours prior and then couldn't eat or drink anything (including water) during the four hours, except for one glucose drink they gave me which had something to do with the test. That one drink tasted pretty awful as well. Long story short, I tested positive for gestational diabetes. It really freaked me out when they first called me and told me being that diabetes in any form is never something I had to deal with. I feel much better about it now, more than likely it will even itself out after the baby comes and I'll just have to be very mindful of my diet and get some regular exercise. All things I should probably be doing anyway, but I usually tend to take the "I'll just relax" approach. After school I came home and met my friend Sam at my place and made a us a nice lunch. We had roasted fingerling potatoes (potatoes are one thing I have to cut back on but I already had these so decided to get rid of them and have someone help me eat them ;) ) tomatoes with fresh garlic, salt, pepper and sour cream and I sauteed some stew meat with some red and green bell peppers. Although it seemed like an altogether healthy meal, it was still a little out of my new "guidelines". I have some work cut out for me to stay within the lines and keep me and this babe healthy. 
    My to do list is not a very exciting topic, but it does have some important things on it :) I have to buy a new chef coat for an upcoming stage, I need to buy a little bit bigger one so I don't look too pregnant! Also "hearing" myself say that is kind of funny. I have to drop some resumes off, fill out a few online applications and put together some questions for an event called "My Eats My Streets" where there will be a symposium on the current food truck laws in the city of Chicago along with many other current issues involving the food truck business. There will also be about 20 local trucks there to serve lunch which I am really excited for! I also want to drop off some baby shower invitations at the post office, jog/run the dogs for at least 20 minutes and still have some energy to be up past 9 p.m tomorrow. Over all today was a great day, my best friend Emily was in the city watching a Golden Gloves boxing tournament and offered to take me out to eat Mexican food (one of favorites just so you know). Chicken enchiladas, had a little salad, took it easy on the rice intake, and enjoyed great company and great food. Arturo's Tacos is a 24 hour place on the corner of Armitage and Western, nothing fancy, nothing mind blowing and is the first in line of about three mexican places on the same street. It just happens to be my favorite. I used to work at a bar around the corner from there and would stop in after my shift for tacos on a regular basis. If you haven't been I would say go, it's good food, not expensive and usually some characters in there. The service is not usually warm and friendly but I don't really care when it comes to there, I'm not going to be wowed by service, more just my very much needed mexican food fix. :) For today that is all, but it's going to be a busy weekend, and hopefully there will be some amazing  food trucks to blog about!!  arturos-tacos.com ;  MY STREETS MY EATS

Menu Composition... Who is my target audience?

I am really trying to get the ball rolling on finishing my Menu for my my food truck concept. I know I need a target audience but I don't really know who that would be since I'm basically making a menu of things I would love to eat... so people with my same taste? PROBABLY not the best way to go about it. I need to get a business plan in the works because from the looks of it, that will be no small task. Who wouldn't like Meatloaf Cupcakes, Duck Breast Tacos, Banana Pudding and tasty Game Meat Pizzas?