We took our time getting ready to leave for home last Monday morning, but at last it was time to say goodbye to the Renaissance and Combo Breaker 2025. We drove through Chicago on the way out so we could see the city one last time:
And then stopped at Rainbow Cone, as has become a tradition.
We took a break at Wally’s again:
And stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at Portillo’s…bet you thought I was sick of Italian beef after serving so many sandwiches at the event, but no, I was not!
And then it was on to home, with memories of Combo Breaker 2025 fresh in our minds and an eye toward Combo Breaker 2026!
Combo Breaker might have been over on the last day of our trip, but we still had a lot of things planned, starting with our first-ever trip to the Chicago History Museum (even I had never been there!). The short film was really good (it made me cry a little when the things I remembered from my childhood were mentioned), and there was one exhibit in particular that I really enjoyed.
After that, we went to Rainbow Cone. I broke with tradition, and tried one of their new sliced creations (the first addition of those since they opened in 1926!), the “Cosmic Birthday” which included Superman ice cream just like I remember from my childhood. Between all of us, we also had a traditional Rainbow Cone, and two of the other three new additions, “Minty City” and “Chocolate Obsession.”
Then we went to the Pullman National Historic Park, a place I’ve wanted to visit for a long time. We had a nice walk around…it’s a really cool place to get a glimpse of history!
The trip home always involves a stop at Wally’s:
And as usual, we went to Portillo’s for dinner, but this time we stopped at a different location, in Springfield, IL. I love how no two of their restaurants look the same!
After that, it was only about 90 minutes to home…we arrived later than we usually do when returning from Chicago, but we had a full, fun day along the way!
Time for a look at my favorite food photos from 2023! Most of them are dessert photos (hey, it’s not my fault desserts are so photogenic!), but let’s start with a spread I made featuring white borscht last winter:
We did venture out from the hotel on Sunday of Combo Breaker, including a stop at “The Jewels.”
We also returned to the church of my childhood for the first time in several years:
We didn’t have a chance to go to the original Rainbow Cone location on the South Side like we used to, but we did visit one of their newer locations in Lombard…I love how the place looks!
The rest of the day was spent back at the event.
King of Fighters was another game that drew my attention this time…the commentators and crowd made it impossible not to want to watch!
We even found time with everyone’s work schedules to take our traditional family picture:
Tekken 7 is a game I always look forward to watching:
We found time for an evening walk outside:
I didn’t stay up as late as some, but I made sure to see a bit of the final top eight, Guilty Gear-Strive-.
After that, I headed back to the room Chickadee and I were sharing (that was a whole saga) for one last night at the hotel.
As promised, here are my top five dessert photos from this year, starting with a King Cake I made for Mardi Gras…I just love the vibrant colors, and the fact that I was able to come up with enough beads from around the house to make it a little extra fancy!
This cupcake photo just came out perfectly…I don’t think I could have staged it better!
These Easter cannoli tasted as good as they look!
I really like how I embellished this chocolate malt cheesecake:
And finally, a cake from The Nightmare Before Christmas cookbook that was decorated by Ladybug and photographed by yours truly:
Also, because I’m not me if I’m not trying to sneak a sixth item into a “Top Five” list, a bonus photo of a Rainbow Cone at the lakefront in Chicago, which is honestly more about the setting than the food itself:
Stay tuned for my top drink photos from this year!
It’s time to take a look back at 2022, starting with my favorite food photos of the year (minus desserts and drinks)!
Let’s start in February, with this beautiful quiche I made for the tea party we had to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne:
A lot of my best food photos this year occurred during our “Disney Dinners,” like these Moana’s Motunui Sliders:
Some of my other best food photos came from my adventures in German cooking, like this Bavarian Obatzda with homemade pretzels:
On Thursday, we chased one last wild hair of mine for the summer, and drove up to Chicago for the day. We had a few goals, starting with visiting Buckingham Fountain, which we didn’t get to do in May…it was just as grand as I remembered it!
The place we really wanted to spend time at, though, was Navy Pier, the last really big thing on my list of Chicago things to share with the Fab Five. We walked all the way around it, and we couldn’t have asked for a nicer day to do it…it was in the 70s with a beautiful lake breeze!
Seeing the anchor from the USS Chicago is kind of amazing…you just don’t realize the scale of the size of one until you see it for yourself!
The views from the Pier are amazing!
I also finally got to reunite some of my Homes Bracelets with the place they represent…Lake Michigan!
There was no way we could do all of the things, so I picked one big attraction…the Centennial Wheel. It is very similar in size to the Ferris wheel in St. Louis, but the views of the skyline and Lake Michigan are a lot more impressive than anything we have here in the Lou!
We stopped for Rainbow Cones after our ride. I really prefer the original Beverly location, because it has so much character, but the scenery made the five flavors taste even better!
We walked over to Polk Bros. Park just across the street:
We also shared a burger from the Billy Goat Tavern, just so we could say we had one:
And then we walked back through the mall and to the end of the Pier again:
I will never tire of the view!
The other big reason for our trip north was so that Bunny and I could visit the Rare Dirndl design studio, located in the Lincoln Square neighborhood, which is a really cool place! We toured the studio, did some shopping, and most importantly of all, got to meet and talk to the designer, Erika Neumayer!
On the way home, we stopped at Portillo’s, as is our tradition:
I’m not going to lie…it was a lot of time to spend in the car in one day (although we certainly had days that were longer on our vacation!), but it was worth it to get to see Chicago one more time before the end of the summer!
Here we are, already at the end of our virtual vacation. After packing up the car, we had one more stop planned before we hit the road…a tour of Wrigley Field! (Pardon the blurry photo…it’s a picture of a not great picture I took in college!)
After visiting the Friendly Confines, we would have made our way to Rainbow Cone to enjoy the ice cream treat they’re famous for:
I love driving through the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago…there are so many cool vintage signs!
The final stop of our Memorial Day Weekend trip is always a meal at Portillo’s, where I get the Italian beef, dipped, of course!
And then home sweet home…no matter how much fun we’ve had, it’s always nice to pull into our driveway (and begin the process of doing all of our vacation laundry!).
One more sign from our drive through Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood, and it’s the only one from a business we’ve actually patronized! The sign on the back of Rainbow Cone is small-ish, but it’s colorful, and as far as I know, fairly vintage. Plus, Rainbow Cone!
