Going to split this update in two posts, this one will cover last week and my next one will cover the weekend. Last week was a long one with challenges inside the classroom and out. The content last week was difficult and I am glad that I at least had a base of biochem to build on. The test was harder than then previous two, but did ok on it despite some very debatable questions.
As usual, we spend the majority of our time studying. We did however make an effort to see some surrounding breweries and local food spots between class and hunkering down.
This is supposedly one of the top Italian Beef joints in Chicago. It was in fact excellent, but we have plans to visit some others to see how it stacks up. Spoiler alert!! We went to another one today and it was better. If you have any recommendations please send them my way, ISO: Best Italian Beef, FT: Beer Knowledge. For those of you who are not immersed in the world of beer nerd-dom, ISO is internet beer geek speak for In Search Of, and FT is For Trade. These are used in the online beer forums to arrange trades of rare beer that you are looking for (ISO) and what you are willing to trade for it (FT)
We stopped by Half Acre for a quick beer. We were looking to go on a tour, but they were not offering any that day. The bartender was not a very friendly individual and was unable to handle interaction with other humans in a reasonable manner, so we cut our visit short and found a neat little German bar on the way home.
Apparently this place has been a German beer hot spot for over 60 years! Trying some good authentic German beers really got me excited about trying fresh German beers in less than a month!
Another day we went to JJ Thai, which a Thai Street food place down the street from us. It is unlike any Thai I have ever had and it was fantastic.
Some different flavor profiles from most Thai, very interesting and still has that nice spicy kick that I crave. It will be hard not to eat here again before we leave.
After Thai, we stopped by a new brewery called Forbidden Root. They are an infusion/science themed pub. All of their beers have some type of infused herb, root or spice. Made for some really good interesting beers and for some 'not my flavorite' beers.
Barrel Aged Heavy Petal...this one was good.
On Wednesday, we had another sensory session. This one had more off flavors and some sometimes desirable characteristics from fermentation.
One night, we stopped by Piece Pizza for dinner because the brewer is a Siebel grad and heard the pizza does not suck either. There were a bunch of awards everywhere, but the pizza did steal the show.
Huge pizza! Ryan is very excited.
On Wednesday we whipped up tacos to fuel a long night of studying.
The week was also an emotional one, as my grandma, Adela Mateo, passed away. Technically, she was my step-grandma because my Dad's Mother passed away before I was born, but like she always said "I love you just like you are one of my own." She was such a loving person and was a blessing to our family. I have so many wonderful memories from teaching me how to make a Cuban soffrito (base for many Cuban dishes), to picking me up from preschool, to spending the summer with me, my Grandpa and cousin in Malaga Spain, to playing cards as recently as January when we stayed up past 1:30am playing Continental (over 5 hours straight!) because she would not quit until she won. I feel very fortunate that I was able to run up to Milwaukee for services on Thursday evening, that really helped to process everything. I love you Adela, I miss you already.
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