Monday, September 6, 2010

A Little Jazz and a Trip to the Forest

After a few trips this summer, Jeff and I decided to stay in town for Labor Day weekend for a little rest and relaxation.

On our date night on Friday night, we tried a new restaurant in our neighborhood, Rios D'Sudamerica, where we tasted authentic Peruvian cuisine. I've always wanted to find some unique ingredients to try, and for appetizer, we tried their grilled beef heart! It was pretty delicious, but there definitely is a certain gamy after-taste. For entrees, Jeff ordered the parrillada of marinated chicken, Argentinian sausage, lamb chops, fillet mignon and blood sausage. You can probably guess that Jeff gladly gave the blood sausage to me. I really enjoyed my Arroz con Mariscos, which we think is the better version of paella.

After my Yoga class on Saturday morning, we decided to check out the Jazz Festival in Grand Park. It's an annual event sponsored by the City. We relaxed with a glass of wine and beer and enjoyed the Chuchito Valdés Afro-Cuban Ensemble and Rene Marie Quarte. For dinner, Jeff took me to a dive, Miller's Pub, a couple of blocks away from the Grand Park. Though the decor may seem a little touristy, their food was very good, and I had a Sprecher root beer float that was extremely yummy!

We've been planning to take Scraps to trails outside of the city, so we went to the Wright Woods Forest Preserve on Sunday morning. It's about 30 miles north of the City. We "hiked" a few of the trails for a total of 2.5 miles. The air was fresher in the forest, and Scraps was so excited to be in the woods. Since there are quite a few runners and bikers, we had to leash him. There's also a little creek and a pond where you can fish. It was just a beautiful day that we spent in nature!