Where have I been?

Oh, I know that it has been a while...

But I had an excuse.. really.

I have been moving into the house with the wonder kitchen!

And cooking! Really! More on that later... in the meantime, I do have some interesting news...

Fun Daddy and I attended the end of season event for WTTW's, show, Check, Please! Even better, Fun Daddy and I managed to score VIP tickets courtesy of our friend, Barry.

Wow! Great food. Great drinks. I mean, really, people! Kumquat Mojitos? Margaritas made with vanilla and pineapple infused vodka? Oy! Those were amazing.. as was the Pisco sour and the real sangria served from a porron! All while listening to the stylings of the Orbert Davis Trio!

But even better was the food... All the restaurants that had been featured on the show participated...
Making the food, well, amazing!

The restaurants there were:

• Café Lucci
• Café Matou
• Café Trinidad
• Carlos' Restaurant
• Carnivale
• Chef's Station
• Flo
• Haro
• Hema's Kitchen
• Honey 1 BBQ
• Japonais
• La Pasadita
• Las Palmas
• Le Lan
• Le Titi de Paris
• Manny's Coffee Shop and Deli
• May St. Café
• Moto Restaurant
• Myron & Phil's
• Palermo's 95th
• Papillon
• Paprikásh
• Russian Tea Time
• Saloon Steakhouse
• Santorini
• SushiSamba Rio
• Taste of Peru
• Terragusto
• Tre Kronor
• Victory's Banner
• Yassa

• 
  

YUM!

Naturally we enjoyed every minute. And when you enjoy things you have too much fun for words... that means Fun Daddy and I hit the silent auction tables with gusto!

We assumed that we would have to be aggressive with seasoned charity event goers. We had learned this from the Lycee... as it turns out, the French school parents gave us the baptism by fire! 'Cuz we cleaned up at the auction...

We managed to score a barbeque, a pretty grand one that will be hooked up next week or so, a painting by Liz Tuckwell, entitled Window on the World (after WTTW), I will be working for an afternoon (and possibly, evening as chef's help at Carlo's in Highland Park. Oh and best of all?

I won the raffle!

Three of the raffle spots were to win an audition for Check, Please!... Not even an actual chance to be on the show! But me? I won the right to be the bartender on the show. Yes. I will be filling the glass of Alpana Singh (The second Rajput Singh I know! and the Youngest Master Sommelier EVER!!!) I have met Ms. Singh a couple of times, and I have always loved chatting with her. She is smart, funny and other wise amusing.

I am SO looking forward to being on the show.

What could be better for a foodie like me?

Nothing!