Chop Chop in Chi-town

night view
Originally uploaded by koyochi.

Jems has been sleeping off her cold and jetlag the last couple of days, which left me and Kate alone with the shops on Broadway. Big mistake.

Yesterday we wandered into an artisinal cheese shop that I had always known was there but never been to, and we walked out with the stinkiest French cheeses you've ever smelled. I can't wait to devour it today because as everybody knows, the smellier the cheese, the tastier it is. And of course if we leave it in my fridge any longer, I'm going to have to move house to get away from the smell.

We had some down-time in the afternoon to watch "Sex and the City" (can you believe neither Kate nor I had watched it before?!) and then it was off to dinner at the Chicago Chop House - we all loved it. Jem's steak was as big as her head (and that's pretty big!). She didn't eat all of it but she gave it a really good shot. I think it was the prosciutto-wrapped asparagus that she had for starters that did her in. Mmm so delicious. I had a 10 oz. filet mignon and it was cooked to perfection. K's steak was enormous and there was no way she was going to finish it. So we wrapped up the leftovers and walked to a champagne bar, a few blocks from the restaurant.

I've loved Pops for Champagne for a long time and the girls enjoyed it too. By the time we got there it was after 11pm so not too many people were around. Still, the service was a little slow but we got what we needed in the end. The barman created Jems a champagne cocktail that wasn't on the menu and she really enjoyed it.

Because NoMi was closed for the night we jumped in a cab bound for Boystown and ended up at "Cocktail" to watch the very straight (but not very dressed) male dancers shake their money makers up on stage. On the walk home from Halsted we realised that I had left our steaks on the windowsill at the champagne bar. That hadn't occurred to any of us until then - classic. I am sure the cleaners have discovered worse surprises, but still...

And so today is Columbus Day, a holiday here in the US. We are sitting around in our pyjamas watching very bad TV - and none of us are all that hungry after a really great night out in Chicago.