Scenes from the weekend: Chicago

By some miracle I made it out of New York City Friday afternoon to Chicago's O'Hare airport with only a few hours delay. The entire country was a mess after the incident at the air traffic control center in Chicago that morning, and I was so grateful that my quick weekend getaway was not majorly impacted.

I spent the weekend in Chicago celebrating my parents' birthdays. My younger brother Lucas lives there and did a great job picking restaurants for us to try during our two-day stay. My mom also researched online and found some amazing brunch spots for our weekend mornings. The majority of our trip was spent eating, but we also took an architecture tour on the river, shopped on Michigan Avenue, and walked through Millennium Park. We had a wonderful time!

Here are some of my Chicago highlights: 

• Over Easy- The Sassy Eggs were delicious and full of flavor. 
• Do-Rite Donuts- I loved the Buttermilk Old Fashioned donut. The Cinnamon Crunch Old Fashioned and the Pistachio Meyer-Lemon were also amazing. The bakery is only open until the early afternoon, so arrive early to stock up on donuts! 
• Pequod's Pizza- My favorite Chicago pizza to date! The crispy cheese pizza crust made their pizza extra tasty. 
• Intelligentsia Coffee- I enjoyed cappuccinos from this local Chicago coffee shop and took home beans to cold-brew. 
• Smoque BBQ- My family loved our dinner here. The 1/2 pork 1/2 brisket sandwich was flavorful and huge- my brother and I should have split one instead of each ordering our own. I really enjoyed their corn bread and mac and cheese. 
• Bakin' and Eggs- The cheese grits here were delicious! We were too full from breakfast to try anything from the Lovely bakery case, but the cupcakes looked really good.