Chicago: Day 2 - Dinner at Joelen's

[Whew! Marathon posting session! Scroll down for 4 new posts]

After resting briefly after our forays out to the Art Institute and the Sears (I mean, Willis) Tower, we chilled at our hotel before heading out yet again. It rained during those few hours and as 6:30 approached, it rained even more. As mentioned in a previous blog post, I had the pleasure of corresponding with local Chicago food blogger (and fellow Pinay), Joelen from the Chicago food blog "Joelen's Culinary Adventures with Friends and Food", and leader and host of her culinary food group What's Cookin, Chicago?.

A humble and gracious person, Joelen was recently featured in the home living magazine, The Nest. Here's her post on that - All I can say is, "W"hat a great experience! One more thing, she was also the winner of the Virtual Kitchen competition, judged by Chicago chef Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill & Topolobampo. See her posts about that here, here, and here plus a feature on the local news here (too bad the video of her segment is no longer available).

I think it's amazing how the internet can connect you to so many people. Here's my long winded story of how we "met". Marvin, of the blog Burnt Lumpia had a post last month on the 18th Annual FPAC in San Pedro.

The first comment caught my eye, "I wish Chicago had events like this!" -joelen.

"Hmmmm...."I thought to myself. "Chicago, eh?". Since we were going to that very city at the end of the month, perhaps I could ask her a few things.

I clicked on the poster's name and was immediatedly connected to Joelen's blog which was chock full of gorgeous food porn as well as her "culinary adventures" (Great minds think alive - I've used that same term in the past when going out with HotFudge, TORC, Divalicious, the Knitting Diva, etc).

After perusing her blog, I ended up emailing Joelen a few days later, asking for her recommendations about places to eat in Chicago as well as non-touristy things to do. She was kind enough to oblige - in fact, she sent me so many useful links of her personal culinary food tours of the various neighborhoods. Anyhow, our emails led to a phone conversation and she was so gracious to invite us over during our stay in her city...My husband, daughter and I felt so welcomed by her hospitality.

Here is the view of their top floor condo overlooking Millenium Park. The lit up blue lines forming a domelike shame (it changes colors actually) is the Pritzker Pavilion. Sorry for the poor picture quality.
Joelen had a Chicago themed dinner ready for us. Here are her much more superior photos as well as the deets on each food item at her post, "My Kind of Town, Chicago. I highly suggest that you check out her post - her photos are mouthwateringly fab!

As a proponent of local products, each item featured in her culinary ode to Chicago was from a local company. Here's the cheesy "carmel" corn. This is not normally a flavor combination I would even buy, but it actually tasted pretty good! Once you try one, you can't stop!Goose Island Wheat Ale...
Chicago style dogs (with regular buns, not poppy seed) - A beef dog with mustard, relish, chopped onions, a pickle spear and topped with celery salt. A word to the wise, don't ask for ketchup on your hot dog in Chicago unless you want your ass kicked.
I really loved the bright and radioactive shade of this green relish! Have you ever seen anything so artificially green? I regret not buying a jar to take home.
She had two kinds of deep dish pizzas from Lou Malnati's ready - Deep Dish Sausage and Pepperoni. These pizzas were so much better than the one we had at Giordano's for lunch. For one, the crust was thinner and more buttery and flaky. I loved that. If a pizza doesn't have good crust, then why even bother eating it, right? Remember to use your utensils when eating deep dish pizza because the slices are so thick and heavy.
Dessert was also wonderful. She had four different slices of cheesecake (strawberry swirl, plain, chocolate chip & chocolate cake). My favorite was the chocolate chip. The chocolate cake was too much like "cake" and I couldn't really taste the "cheesecake" factor in there.
As if that weren't enough, she also had Coffee Toffee Pie. This was so delicious - very creamy and topped with crunchy bits of toffee. The crust was sooo good too - crushed chocolate cookies with butter! Go ahead and lick your screen. As Pitbull would say, "You know I want'cha, want'cha!" (okay, that was lame-o! ha ha)
We had such a lovely time that night. Both Joelen and her husband were super nice. I am still amazed that she took the time to entertain us, complete strangers, into their home. TC, Bert and Joelen's husband had a blast playing Mario Kart on the wii while Joelen and I chatted in the kitchen. We had a quite a few things in common, especially our love of food and culture. I'm so grateful that we made a connection and hope that one day we can return the favor to her.

Tomorrow - The Quest for Duck Fat Fries at Hot Doug's, Graceland Cemetery and making the trek to Wisconsin!