This weekend was not a weekend for the weak belly. After Tricia entertained the kids all week for their February break, we started our gall bladders on the right foot on Friday by packing in some fishfry over at the Ukrainian Home of Rochester. It is almost directly behind our house, and having driven by the Fish Fry Fridays sign many times, I wanted to get a peek inside. When we walked in and saw the mighty Haddock filets being carted to a dining room alive with accordion music, I knew we needed to stay.

Accordion player at Ukrainian Home of Rochester

Unfortunately for us, everyone else had the same idea. We put our name in at 6pm and weren’t eating until 7:30pm. While we waited I did get a chance to sample Ukrainian beer, Obolon Premium. Trust me, this beer tastes the opposite of premium. Luckily you don’t pay a lot for beer at your local ‘home’.
Tricia and Mom A put on a smiley face but under those toothy grins were some choice words for those of us there for the atmosphere.

Tricia and Mom A enjoying the 1.5 hour wait for their fish

I blame it on this guy I found there.

Is the glass half full?

The crispy breaded WHALE that they put on my plate ended up being very good. I also got to sample deep fried pierogies for the first time. All of this food seemed to be tied around my feet when I played volleyball at Hot Shots later that night.

Saturday night, Tricia cooked a deep fried turkey. This tasted awesome and yet again left my belly seeking rice cakes. Instead of listening to the beckon call of Pepto, I instead suggested that we drive to Buffalo on Sunday to see Matt and Alison, my bother and sister-in-law. Of course, when in Buffalo eat like a Buffalo – wings that is. We ended up at the Buffalo Sports Garden which is right around the corner from Matt and Ali’s apartment. The wings there are terrific as evidenced by this grainy blackberry photo.

Kris eating the Buffalo Delicacy

My stomach will definitely thank me for the return of the work week, where I’ll return to my treadmill and my fiber cereal induced equilibrium.

Friday we spent a glorious evening at Chuck E Cheese. It’s the first time I’ve been there since I worked there at the tender age of 16. Come to find out, they “improved” the shows fom the old animatronic days. Bummer. I have fond memories of these characters. At least the guy in the Chuck E suit didn’t have his head fall off and freak out my kids. I’ve got a whole new perspective on that fateful incident that ended my Chuck E career.

What a treat last night. We left Mason at home (with some helpful neighbors), and I took Tricia out to her post-Mother’s Day present. We went to Culinary Classes at the Rosebud. Rosebud is by far our favorite Italian Restaurant(s) in Chicago. They open up their corporate kitchen and have their top chefs teach people how to cook their signature dishes. We watched them cook, then we ate the results. Oh my Gosh. I’ve never eaten so much in my life. We learned to make coconut shrimp, Louisiana chicken gumbo, crab cakes, steak au poivre with french fires and sesame Chinese green beans, and apple crisp. For $75 a person I’d recommend coming to Chicago for a cooking class and skipping the restaurant altogether. It’s just as much fun, you learn something, and you go home with t-shirts and other crap. Yummmmm…..

A TMP lunch o’ fun. We went to the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art yesterday for some quick culture and a bite to eat. I’m just stoked that our fine city has such a museum, and the Archigram exhibit was pretty fascinating. To top it off, we ate at Puck’s at MCA, and the Puckster himself was there! Thanks for the salad Wolfey. I wonder if I should name my next kid Wolfgang just so I could call him Wolfey?