Hi vibe avec my husband

I’m going to race through the rest of our time in Chicago now just to show the food highlights.

Kyle and I were in the mood for a healthier start to the day so we hit up Hi Vibe Juicery for acai bowls.

They have so many awesome options on the menu, but we both went with the classic acai bowl only I subbed stevia for honey.  The maca almond butter on top was incredible.  Totally made us feel like we were in Hawaii even though we were actually huddled under an overhang while eating to get away from the rain.  Womp womp.

Later we hit up Chicago Raw (a raw vegan restaurant) for some snacks.  I was suuuuper overwhelmed because I wanted everything, but ended up buying some raw Bliss Bars and “nacho” chips.

We also went to Eataly.

Because it’s heaven and why not??

I could have wandered around in there for hours and Kyle actually indulged me and spent a long time browsing before settling on some pizza.

When I tell you about our bizarre eating habits while traveling don’t judge ok (and keep in mind we had our first meal of acai bowls at 1 pm).  I’m not going to pretend to be ashamed though because we stayed up til after midnight every night and slept in like we had no kids every morning…and then took our sweet time working out…getting coffee…watching tv…etc.  No schedule, no agenda.

So.  Pizza at 3 pm.  Sure.

I did not have pizza, though, and instead opened up my “chipotle lime nacho chips” from Chicago Raw which are made with organic corn, sprouted sunflower seeds, red bell pepper, ground golden flax, lime zest, EVOO, Himalayan sea salt, agave, herbs, and spices.

They were so good!  And the best part (that Kyle pointed out to me which is why I bought them) is that they didn’t have garlic!  Hooray!  Oh and I had kale chips too because it’s me.

Our dinner plans were at avec, a tiny place with a big reputation.

Started with pinot noir again.

Followed by a cheese plate that we made with the guidance of our server.

I said I liked firm salty (non cow) cheeses and dlisked stinky cheeses and yet somehow we still ended up with the persille de chevre which had quite a bit of funk to it.  I was okay with it, but after two bites passed the rest to Kyle (who loves bleu cheese).

The others (pecorino ginepro and montenebro) were delicious, and a nice way to start to the meal…with some marcona almonds, bread, and berries.

Next we got a half order of chorizo stuffed dates.  This is one of the dishes the restaurant is known for, and for good reason…stuffing dates with spicy meat and then wrapping it in bacon and then burying it in a piquillo pepper tomato sauce is a dang good way to eat a date.  BUT.  If I’m being super picky (and Kyle agrees with this point), I could have used more date flavor.

I’m glad we got the half order, though, because the food kept on coming!  [It came with MORE house made bread too]

This was the wood oven roasted cauliflower with couscous, tahini yogurt, pine nuts and tomato shakshuka.

This was a great dish and high ranking among all the food on our trip, but I’m glad we were talked into getting a half order because the last dish we got was ginormous.

Hellloooooo pork!

This was slow roasted with clams, charred bread, green garbanzo beans and pimenton anchovy butter.  Wowzers!

It was slightly underseasoned, but so good and yet we couldn’t finish it!!!  Oof.  Leftovers I guess?!

And yet…look at what we found room for later that night.

You guys.  The dessert situation going on on this vacay is kinda insane.