Chicago

Summer is slipping away like condensation on a waxy paper cup. I'm just so glad that before it totally evaporates into muggy air, we had a chance to enjoy ourselves in Chicago.

I'll share some about our first day of vacation, and then I will try my best to let the pictures do most of the talking.

The drive north was about five hours including Indiana's ceaseless highway road work, the windy city's typical clogged streets and our one gas station stop (so much cheaper north of the Ohio River!).

The stretch of I-65 between Indianapolis and Chicago was most memorable. Flat farmland and huge low skies racing out towards the horizon, rows of chic and stately wind turbines, and an incessant barrage of pings and splats on the windshield. Bugs and raindrops. Mostly bugs we think.

We self-parked our car in a nearby parking garage, settled into our hotel and then prepared for dinner. It was our two year anniversary and we had a reservation at what would be our favorite meal of the whole vacation.

From our hotel, Momotaro was a relaxing 15 minute stroll west across the Chicago River's south branch. We were welcomed warmly for our early dinner, and for a moment I felt embarrassed at the empty tables, maybe making a reservation was overkill?

But it proved worth it after all. We were treated so well in our corner booth, and with such detail and care, beginning with their warm welcome and the "Happy Anniversary" printed on our menus.

Momotaro is contemporary Japanese - combining the freshest ingredients with creativity and painstaking attention to detail.

One no-brainer was to order otoro, a fatty prime cut of tuna that is Isaac's favorite and that is not served at your average sushi restaurants. The rest of our meal took a little while choose, deciphering the Japanese headings and their minimal descriptions on the menu and narrowing down the finalists.

The tastes were immaculately paired. Like the description of the appetizer below described it simply as "Maguro Nuta - bluefin tuna sashimi, wakame (seaweed), miso dressing" which does not sound so special. But its taste was totally new, nutty and refreshing and indulgent and crisp.

We also ate the zuke salmon roll which was described as "citrus soy, ginger, smoked skin, ikura". It was like a flavor roller coaster, with crunchy nutty puffed rice pieces, a minty zing, a smoky after taste and salmon eggs the size of pearls that pop in your mouth.

The highlight of the meal was the nigiri omakase, which was the chef's seasonal selection of nigiri (fish on top of rice). Nine different pieces, each one carefully assembled with unique and contrasting ingredients.

Even right after our server described each piece to us, we began to forget some of the details. Below is the first piece I tried: scallop topped with sea urchin, salmon eggs and tokyo scallion. Other ingredients included candied yuzu and pickled garlic.

After so much food (and a lot of it just slabs of protein after all!) we could barely contemplate the dessert menu. But the restaurant staff wanted to make our anniversary extra sweet, and so they surprised us with this dessert below, an off-the-menu treat. Two pops of salted caramel ice cream sitting on top of a thin chocolate cake, dipped in chocolate. Laying on a crunchy bed of cocoa nibs! We both made a wish, blew out the candle and blissfully enjoyed our anniversary dessert.

Now I hope you see why our anniversary dinner was so special, and my retelling so verbose. If I continued to share about our trip chronologically, you would lose interest and I will be aching from sitting so long and writing.

Now I will try to share our trip's highlights in larger chunks, mostly pictures with short descriptions and okay, maybe a short story or five.

Our Favorite Hotel

We stayed at two different hotels for our trip. I thought it would be fun to try out different brands located in different parts of the city. One was our clear favorite.

The Kimpton Allegro welcomed us warmly and with style. It's in the theater district of Chicago, with a modernized-1920's kind of personality and an intimate lobby that makes you want to hang around for a while.

Their complimentary coffee and tea bar helped with that too. There were extra little details like iced coffee and unique tastes like cinnamon roll syrup and hojicha tea.

Below: "It's surprisingly comfortable," he said as we took in the hotel the first day, relaxing and sipping our complimentary iced tea.

Traversing the City

By the time we left Chicago, our feet were aching so much. And for good reason. Even in comfortable shoes, after so many hours on your feet, they start to hurt. But some of my favorite photos from the trip were taken while putting in those miles as we explored the city on foot.

Below are the city, state, and national flags. Chicago's flag is proudly displayed all over the place.

Below - the only shot featuring my shoes that looked oh so cute but were totally crushing my toes after a couple of miles.

The next four photos are shots along the Magnificent Mile, the stretch of Michigan Avenue just north of the Chicago River famous for shopping. Besides what was inside the buildings, the architecture was fantastic - such a variety and range of styles all squished together.

Obligatory picture in front of the famous bean (really called Sky Gate). The underside really was kind of cool.

I love river cities. The night we arrived, there were fireworks on the Navy Pier, on the far east edge of the city where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan. We walked to the river's edge near Michigan Avenue and had the perfect view. It put the size of the buildings and city into perspective too.

Delicious Food and Design

Food was of course one of our top priorities for this mission. Also for me, picking places with unique designs and atmospheres that we don't usually get to see.

We had a very fancy brunch at The Allis. Our plates may not look like much, but they kept us full for an unbelievably long time. I almost met my match with that mountain of avocado. And the interior was so lush and cozy, lots of muted velvets, polished metals and exposed wood.

We each had our own individual sized Chicago-style deep dish pizza at the local chain Lou Malnati's

9 o'clock ramen at a place near our hotel, because after having Chicago pizza for linner (lunch/dinner) we were craving something Asian and spicy to cut through all that cheese and bread.

The only time we used our car while in Chicago was to drive 30 minutes north of the city to Han Bat restaurant for the one and only seolleongtang. The beef broth breakfast soup that I learned to love while in Korea and have been craving ever since did not disappoint either of us.

One of the best sushi rolls ever laying on a bed of greens (basically a free salad complete with ginger dressing), with shiitake mushrooms, spicy tuna, asparagus, avocado, cucumber and more greens. Isaac ordered it and loved it, then after trying a piece myself, I immediately stood up, flagged down the nearest worker and asked to order another roll, pointing at our table with rice still in my teeth from the last bite.

Isaac tried a Chicago-style hotdog which is loaded with peppers and pickles and tomatoes and onions and lettuce.

Reading signs on the windows as we walked by a cupcake shop after dinner convinced me to rush in and buy a raspberry white chocolate cupcake as we rushed back to the L train station. The store was Molly's Cupcakes, apparently a winner of the TV show Cupcake Wars. Back at the hotel room, we sank into what was undoubtedly the best cupcake either of us have had, and we usually don't care for the typically overly sweetened things. It was rich and subtly sweet, with tart jelly filling, airy frosting and unbelievably moist cake. Just as important as the pizza and the hotdog, if you're in Chicago I think you should try this.

Fancy cocktails at a rooftop bar called Apogee.

A perfect iced coffee to pep us up for all of that strolling down sidewalks and city streets.

The Fields Museum

One of the hardest decisions was choosing which museum to visit: the art museum or the natural history museum. Whenever we travel, somehow we always end up in a city's art museums (which are of course awesome!). Isaac and I talked about it, and decided to change it up and do something else this time. Besides, visiting the art museum gives us another excuse to go back to Chicago.

The Fields Museum was incredible - especially their vast collection of natural specimens. Bugs, animals, birds, skeletons, rocks. Once we were well into the maze of glass encased mammals, it began to feel kind of eerie. But considering that Chicago has been a gathering place for learning for a long time - thinking specifically about the World's Fair - it makes sense that they would have such an extensive old collection of taxidermied animals. A plaque in the foyer next to the elephants explained this idea well. It said that the two looming African elephants are in fact real elephants. Back before cheap world travel, video and high quality pictures, animal taxidermies were considered a wonderful way to teach and share about animals from around the world.

Sue is the largest and most complete T-Rex skeleton in the world.

Can you tell how big the place is? I tried taking this panorama of the bird hall, my favorite of the animal exhibits. The halls stretched on and on, case after case of delicately modeled and lit animals.

Another amazing discovery - the meteorites collection! Neither of us had ever seen so many meteorites together, or seen them so closely. It was unreal.

These look like they could have been part of some alien space craft made millions of years ago!

One final shot of the gorgeous Fields Museum. We paid for the basic admission without access to special exhibitions and 3D movies, and it was plenty to take in.

Reflecting on our trip with sore and throbbing feet, we may have squeezed too much into our three night vacation. Something about traveling puts me in adventure mode, and Isaac always happily complies. There was just so much to do and see and eat! I guess regretting having little downtime is better than regretting not doing enough. But during our drive home, we both agreed to try and build a little more relaxation into our next vacation.

Maker's Mark

The Fourth of July weekend put us in the mood to do something festive, and so we drove about 70 minutes south to learn a little bit more about Kentucky bourbon. Maker's Mark, we have told ourselves, is the final local distillery that we have any interest in touring (this statement is subject to change depending on our boredom and the weather).

The drive there was like a line out of the national anthem. More remote and less polished than the millionaire horse estates around Frankfort, undulating roads flow through farmland in the hilly Knobs region. It's the kind of area where the narrow roads are named after local families; where you have to slow down and squeeze towards the edge on the rare occasion that a tractor approaches from the other direction.

The country feeling didn't leave even as we pulled into the parking lot, into what just as well could've been a country club or a very lucky derby gambler.

Tickets are $12 per adult and are purchased in the glass-paneled greenhouse. Connected to it is homey waiting area with its air conditioning on full throttle.

The tour began with in the stillhouse, where the combination of grains (mash) is cooked and distilled. Before entering, the tour guide advised us to step outside if we couldn't take the heat. It was uncomfortable inside, sweat-bead-dripping-down-your-back kind of hot. Our guide's explanations were short, probably for our sake. She quickly showed us the column stills, shiny copper vats and let us dip our finger in to try some hours old mash.

Below, the mash was about a day's old. The fresh one we tried just tasted grainy, not yet fizzy and tangy like once it's aged a bit more.

Walking back out into the glorious 90 degree summer day was immensely refreshing. It was easier to appreciate this building's charm from outside. Maybe it's hard to tell in this photo, but in the center of each red shutter, there is a blank space in the same distinctive shape as the Maker's Mark bottle.

We peeked at their printing press which is over 80 years old. They still use it to die cut the Marker's Mark labels.

We learned a bit about Maker's Private Select, which is Maker's Mark bourbon with a customized epilogue. The bourbon is made as usual, but then the DIY part comes in. Ten oak staves are inserted into the barrel, separated to maximize contact with the bourbon. Each stave can be one of five different flavor profiles (like "Roasted French Mocha"). The bourbon is aged about ten weeks longer with these added influencers, adding a unique twist to the tongue. This is how Maker's 46 is made also (the 46th combination tried was a hit!).

Anyone can make their own Private Select, but obviously it's a bit pricey. Organizations  can also make it, so if you walk into a store of the local chain Liquor Barn, you may find bottles of Maker's Private Select created just for their stores to carry.

A newly constructed cellar houses these extra-staved barrels, built into the side of a hill. The same limestone that makes great bourbon and strong horses provides a natural (and wonderful) chill.

Below is a peek into the exclusive tasting room for Private Select creators.

Even though Maker's Mark is not our favorite bourbon, something about the brand is unique and admirable. On this tour, the most interesting thing to me was putting a name to what sets Maker's Mark apart: Margie Mattingly Samuels.






























It was Margie's husband who perfected his family's mash bill, but it was Margie who made the brand. She came up with the name and the signature red wax on each bottle. She had a keen eye for the arts and branding, and it seems like her legacy is continued through witty ads and an appreciation for modern creators. Throughout the buildings, pieces by various artists were on display, and a current exhibition by a glass sculptor features huge, intricately arranged shards of glass breaking through the grounds like some alien flora.

 One final stop which could never be forgotten: the taste testing.

To us, Maker's 46 was the highlight, more enjoyable than the Bill Jr. Private Select and the cask strength 46 also sampled. Maker's White Dog (only sold at the distillery) was surprisingly smooth for something so strong.

We exited the tasting room, picked up a bourbon ball or two and the tour wrapped up in this beautiful barrel-filled hallway. A door opened up, and miraculously we spilled out into the gift shop. The perfect exit for buzzed tourists to make impulse buys.

We made it out empty handed, but appreciated the styles and options available. One popular purchase is to buy a bottle of Maker's and dip it in the red wax yourself. There is an assortment of other wax-dipped things too - glasses, mugs, cell phone stands.

Besides the tour, the landscape of Maker's Mark is beautiful just to wander about. We saw several people walking their dogs (which are not allowed on tours), sitting in the grass beneath trees and eating lunch at the on-site restaurant.

It was a perfectly laid-back afternoon excursion, and another notch in our bourbon belt I guess.