Has it been a week already? Where does the time go? Anyway, I knew there was something really clever I was going to blog about, but I don't remember what that was at all, so here's all about our Saturday... but first regarding the end of last week - Trey and I were home together 3 nights in a row. 3 nights in a row! I can't remember the last time that happened. :-)
So, on Saturday we did something I have never done, despite having grown up in Chicago - we went to the Taste. Some friends of ours from Pennsylvania really wanted to go, so we decided why not? It ended up being a beautiful day, and we got to try lots of tasty stuff - we did smaller "taste of" portions of a bunch of stuff and then Trey and I each chose one main sized entree.
Foods I tried: I think my favorite was the Chicken Satay I chose for lunch - chicken with a thick spicy peanut sauce and cucumber salad. Awesome! Other yummy items I enjoyed a couple of bites of were Samosas from one of the Indian places, a steak taco on a white corn tortilla, sauerkraut pierogis, sweet potato hash browns, red beans & rice, a great empanada with green chili sauce, a new beer, turtles, and a vegetarian barbecue "beef" thing that was good despite the fact that I couldn't tell what it was made out of.
Other fun stuff:
-The Budweiser Clydesdales were there, and it was fun to watch them get dressed and then take a few laps around Buckingham fountain. Bud, their little dalmatian friend, was cute, too.
-I got a kick out of the competing antacid companies handing out free tastes of their products. We also got a bunch of free samples of the antacid, as well as several tubes of toothpaste, some paper towels, and Texas Pete's hot sauce.
-The Tribune was there, and we signed up for Sunday only delivery for a year for 50 cents a week (newsstand price is 1.99). We're saving 75% on the cost of the paper over the next year, and they even gave us a free Cubs t-shirt!
-They had a 2,000 pound Eli's cheesecake to celebrate 28 years of the Taste and of Eli's. They cut it and were giving it away, but since the line was 2 blocks long, we decided not to wait in it.
I'm very glad I took the advice of some of the folks I talked to and suggested we go down early - we took the train in and arrived at the festival around 11am when it started. We left just before 4, as hoards and hoards of people were showing up. By 4 it was already getting to be shoulder to shoulder people - I would've HATED being there when it was any more crowded as I was already having to hang on to Trey so I wouldn't feel like we were losing each other.
I'm also very proud that we bought all of our tickets in advance, thus avoiding the $2 surcharge per strip of 12 tickets at the gate. Based on the amount of tickets we bought - 6 strips was the perfect amount as we got to try a lot of stuff but didn't get overly full - we saved $12 by purchasing them in advance. Thinking of it another we, we got 1 1/2 strips of tickets for free!
Anyway, definitely a good experience. If anyone ever wants to come and visit Chicago during the fest, let me know!
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5 comments:
Sounds like a tasty good time! I have never been to the taste either. I lived up there for 3 years and I know I planned to go at least twice!
Mmmmm makin me hungry!
Wow, that sounds great. Judging from all the blogs I've been reading, there are food fairs all over America right now! :)
I went to the Chicago Taste once, a few years ago. It was fun - but most of that was probably the company. :) I never had an interest for Cincy's taste, though. I think I've been there a time or two. Maybe? Oregon's is coming up sometime later this summer.
How do you cook a 2000 pound cheesecake?
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