blue artichoke

Taste of Chicago was awesome. This is what Chicago tastes like:
Stuffed spinach pizza
Chocolate turtle
Jumbo coconut shrimp
Plain cheesecake
Mango rice pudding with dried cranberries
Bailey's Irish ice cream
Crawfish boil with corn
Steak taco with lettuce, tomato and cheese
Lemon, strawberry and mango Italian Ice
Persian chargrilled chicken with pomegranate BBQ sauce
Cannoli
Plantain chips with garlic sauce
Italian sausage
Beer
Wine

That's a lot of tastes for one city! My only regret is that I didn't try any goat dishes. They were there; I was too full to eat another bite. There was a Food Network stage where we saw a bartending competition and several smaller stages with cooking shows and local celebrity chefs. We also saw a few minutes of the Yonder Mountain String Band, but opted to move out of the blazing sun to a shadier spot far from the dancing hippies. Six hours of eating out in the hot sun tuckered us out, but we walked around the city, moving from one grassy patch in the shade to another. I discovered a hidden talent of falling asleep instantly on park benches. We ogled ourselves in the giant silver reflective bean in Millenium Park and stumbled upon the orchestra rehearsing in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, a really cool outdoor amphitheater. I snoozed on the lawn there a bit too.

After trudging back to the hotel, hot, sweaty and grimy, Gentleman Caller and I decided not to go out to a fancy anniversary dinner, as planned, but to stay in and order room service. I thought the food was surprisingly good for room service, but I've never ordered room service food before, so have no point for comparison. I feel so worldly now.