Chocolate fest & bunny time

Today was our first appearance at the Long Grove Chocolate Fest. We've been to the Strawberry Fest many times, and the Apple Fest last fall, but this was our first choco-fest.

It was substantially similar to the other fests, actually, with some additional perks. For example, chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate-covered donuts, and fruit kebab fondue are perennial favorites at the Strawberry Fest, and apple donuts and pies are common at the Apple Fest. But, instead of fruit-themed drinks at those other festivals, there were chocolate martinis, chocolate shakes and malts, and other things. There was even a chocolate cannoli at one restaurant.

Dave and I met up with Andy and Joanna and we each had a kebab fondue skewer of a strawberry, rice square, donut, and marshmallow, all covered in chocolate and happily devoured. We also picked up a handful of chocolates from the Long Grove Confectionery Co., which makes very good chocolate treats. I used to have access to their goodness every day downtown, but they closed their location in the Ogilvie Metra station. So I guess I take it when I can get it!

Afterward, Andy and Jo came by our apartment to meet Max, and we took him for a little walk outside.


He was pretty happy. We picked him lots of dandelions and weeds, and he had his fill of free greens. Andy and Jo were quite taken with Max, who generally wins over everyone he meets. Besides, he's usually friendlier to strangers than he is to Dave.

It was a good day, and an especially good day for food. (I forgot to mention that we went to an Indian buffet for lunch and I made bean and veggie tacos for dinner tonight. Mmm.) Now to wait until the Strawberry Fest, which is the last weekend in June, for those of you keeping track. Hope to see you there!

Strawberry fest

Today was our fourth annual Long Grove Strawberry Fest, and we brought quite a group this year. Contingents from law school and college met up for Indian buffet, then we headed over to the strawberry fest and gorged ourselves for dessert.

Here, Ed is eating a chocolate-covered kabob of strawberries, doughnuts, Rice Krispie treats, and marshmallows. Mmm. Dave and I each had one, as did others, and the chocolate strawberry kabobs were amazing as always.


Among the other treats we had were strawberry doughnuts, strawberry lemonade, chocolate-covered strawberries, strawberry slushies, and yes, plain old unadulterated strawberries.

This year was super crowded - way more crowded than I've ever seen it - but we think that was because the first two days of the fest were hotter weather. It was still pretty hot on Sunday by the time we left, but all in all it was a really beautiful day.

Oh, and don't let me forget the "pony rides" we saw in the town square, which were really enormous Irish wolfhounds. It's hard to get the scale from the picture of them sitting down, but look behind them - that's a little kid, and they are probably almost as tall as that kid when they stand up. It was wild to see three of them in one place, since you can go years without running into one.

We found out this year that Long Grove also hosts an apple fest in the fall, so we'll definitely have to check that out in our typical autumn event-hopping.

Strawberry Fest

Well, it's summer, which means I'm going to be posting a lot more about events I do. It's time for the annual Long Grove Strawberry Fest, which means I'm going to tell you about all the delicious things I ate. Get ready.

This year, we attended with my old coworker Rosa and her husband Franco and little girl, Lina.


Yes, you're not seeing that wrong, she's actually wearing strawberry gear, at the Strawberry Fest.


She got TONS of comments. Very, very cute indeed.

So now for the eating list. We ate the fondue kabobs, of course, and Rosa got some strawberry lemonades. We also bought some small pies. Rosa got an apple pie, I got a strawberry apple pie. I also bought some chocolate-covered strawberries and a carton of small Michigan strawberries.

I think we showed some restraint by not buying the large pies. Can't wait for Apple Fest: keep it classy, Long Grove!

Chocolate fest

Today was the Long Grove Chocolate Fest, so in addition to walking 9 miles for training, Dave and I had brunch with friends and went over for some tasty treats.


Of course, we had to have our perennial favorite, the chocolate kabob. Strawberry, donut hole, marshmallow, and Rice Krispie treat, all on a skewer and dipped in chocolate.

We ran into the denizens of the northwest suburbs, too, including their dogs, or, in some cases, bears on leashes.


That there is a Landseer Newfoundland - and a big one at that. He was completely amazing. It was beautiful weather, and the festival wasn't too utterly crowded.

Can't wait for the Strawberry Fest in June!

Visiting the south 'burbs

Last night was my 10-year high school reunion, so Dave and I got tickets and went to the southwest suburbs to do some official reuniting.

The event was held at CD & Me in Frankfort. It's a cute venue, and we had a nice tent with a pond and bonfire. I got to chat with some of my long-lost high school acquaintances, although I have to say that the turnout was disappointing. My graduating class was 1,000+ students, and I don't think there were even 150 total in attendance. People in my high school obviously are not interested in attending a reunion.

Dave and I spent the night at my parents' house - how else can you follow up a high school reunion? - and my mom gave me a heap of green peppers, jalapeno peppers, and summer squash from her garden. Awesome.

Since we were already in the south suburbs, we went to Whiting, Indiana for the Pierogi Fest. This little street fight has all sorts of Polish and international food goodies. We got samples of Polish sausage and sauerkraut, but let's not kid ourselves: we were there for the pierogi.

We sampled seven different kinds of pierogi; potato, potato & cheddar, sauerkraut, meat, mushroom, sweet cheese, and blueberry. Mmm. The blueberry one exploded when I ate it, and you could really taste that it was grilled. (The others were fried.)

We also stopped at the Calumet Bakery for some paczki. I got strawberry, Dave got raspberry. They were as big as hamburgers, and I'm not sure we were ready for that. But they were really good.

Sadly, we were too early to get pictures with "Mr. Pierogi," a man in a gigantic pierogi costume. A worker at the fest claimed that Mr. Pierogi was still hungover from last night and probably was just waking up. Oh well.


I'm still glad that we arrived early, because the lines really started getting long by the time we left. We bought some frozen potato-cheddar pierogi and went back to our bunny, who was waiting patiently for his breakfast lettuce. I need to prepare some crochet samples for tomorrow's crochet 201 class at JoAnn, and in general I just need a day to relax at home. But I'll keep thinking of those frozen pierogi in the fridge...

Bras & ice cream

Today Dave, Mike, Diane, and Mehal accompanied me to Pierogi Fest, where we ate copious amounts of Polish food. I ate a potato pancake with sour cream, half a Polish sausage with mustard and sauerkraut, and a handful of pierogi. Cheese, potato, jalapeno, sauerkraut, beef, and I'm not even sure what else.

After dragging ourselves back to the cars, Dave and Mehal were kind enough to accompany me to a free event I'd signed up for - free ice cream and a free bra fitting (and bra!) at Union Station!


Yeah, the guys didn't want to be pictured, surprise surprise. Maybe this is TMI, but I thought my cup size changed when I lost weight, especially considering how my old stuff fits. But apparently the girls are still...quite present. That's all I'll say here. But it was a fun event; my cousin Jill and her friend made it out, too, and we all had some Skinny Cow ice cream. I had strawberry cheesecake!

So, it was a day of excess. Got to buckle down this week - and go get my free bra at Macy's!