Date Night - er, I mean Weekend

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This weekend, Justin and I had a 3 and a half day long date. Yes, that's a long time. Yes, it was awesome.

The weekend consisted of ten cards I designed beforehand, each of which contained a poem (mostly silly poems) with a clue about what the next activity was. There were a few treats mixed in, as well.

I prepared for Justin to get home and set everything up. As I waited for him to get home, I decided to set the camera up on a tripod to capture what comes next. It's awesome. Also, I'm a dork. 

When Justin returned from work on Friday night, he was greeted with this:

Yes, a lightsaber. And a challenge. He entered the apartment, and the lights were off, but for a few candles and the TV, which I'd turned into a strobe light using a YouTube Strobe Light video. I was pumping Lightsaber sound effects through the speakers, and then proceeded to battle him for the second clue.

After the epic battle, I gave him his second clue and we headed down to Chriskindlemarket, a traditional German Christmastime marketplace, where we walked around, shopped, and had sugar toasted nuts.

When we returned, we stopped for dinner at Twisted Spoke, where they legitimately serve a Manhattan that costs $125. No, we didn't buy it. The rest of the menu is really reasonably priced. 

Saturday and Sunday included a number of more relaxing activities. I cooked him breakfast, we went to spinning class, and we relaxed on the couch while watching Elf. Sunday included Church and a relaxing trip to Libertyville for dinner.

We took Monday off, so, after breakfast, I gave Justin the 8th card. We went to the gym, and then he sped off to LillieAnn's, where I bought him a massage and foot reflexology appointment. A word to the wise: If you're booking a massage for your man, try to get him a female masseuse. It just seems to be something they're more used to.

After his massage, I gave him the 9th card. I'd planned a dinner at Cite, which is a french steakhouse that is located on the 70th floor of Lake Point Tower. It was wonderful.

They have a wonderful skyline view of the city, so I felt like I was in a movie during the entire meal.

While we waited and had a cocktail, the chef sent out a complimentary appetizer for us. It was delicious.

And that's the end of a wonderful date weekend!

Skinny Fish Tacos

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Light on calories but heavy on flavor and spice, these skinny fish tacos have just the right amount of authentic flavor mixed in with some delicious twists. Prepare in 20 minutes and it's yours forever... well, or for as long as you can manage to enjoy it before polishing it all off!

On Monday, something totally adorable happened. While I was at work, bf asked me if we could have a date night. After our last date night in Wicker Park, I was totally hyped about what this date night would consist of.

As it turned out, he had a plan. While I was at the gym, he prepared all of his ingredients for fish tacos, as well as a totally delicious Whiskey Sweet-N-Sour (which I'll share the recipe for on Friday, get pumped!). And by the time I was showered and ready for date night, everything was ready.

No, you can't have him. He's mine. :)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound white fish (any white fish)
• 1/2 pack of Trader Joe’s taco seasoning
• 1/8 to 1/4 diced onion 
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup water
• 8-10 small corn tortillas
• 1-2 cups baby spinach
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Mix vegetable oil and taco seasoning together in a mixing bowl (has to be a large enough bowl to fit the fish, too). Add water and stir well.
3. Cut the fish into bite sized squares. Toss fish pieces in the bowl with the seasoning and mix, gently, until fish pieces are completely covered.
4. Line a cake pan with aluminum foil. Add a thin layer of olive oil on top. Then, spread the seasoned fish out over the bottom of the pan.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, then use tongs to flip the pieces. Bake for another 10 minutes, then remove.
6. Heat corn tortillas in the microwave for 15-30 seconds, just enough to make them more pliable (so they don’t break apart in your hand, which happened to me).
7. Serve with baby spinach, cilantro, and shredded cheese.

Wicker Park Picnics, Wine, and Cheesecake In a Jar

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Believe it or not, with all of my creative planning blessing suffocating people around me, I hadn't yet started a creative date night tradition. Shame on me! 

It finally hit me last week when Justin and I realized that, after a week long vacation with my whole family, a work Summit, and a visit from my girlfriend, we hadn't been able to have lovey time focused on each other in weeks. I'm not a fan of this way of life, friends. Where is the love?!

So, I decided to plan a Date Night. A secret one (of course!). I made Justin a picture frame and started a Composition Notebook in which I wrote him a letter about the things I love about him and then explained our date... which started with a VERY heavy Under Armor bag that I needed him to drag to Wicker Park.

Why?! Because it was picnic time, of course! Enter beautiful paper plates from Target, some plastic silverware wrapped in napkins wrapped in leftover tissue paper from my Birchbox arrivals!

And this guy. Look how happy :)

Oh, right. And a bottle of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay that we pre-corked and brought in mason jars. You see, apparently (I should have thought of this but didn't), you can't just haul alcohol into public parks. You have to be sneaky. And since a wine bottle and wine glasses were obviously out of the question, I was still determined to find a classier, more romantic way to guzzle that KJ. A way that didn't involve Red Solo Cups.

And so, in these times we live in, it seems that everything is more romantic with mason jars. Thus, it was the perfect way to go! Sneaky sneaky. Looks like apple juice, doesn't it?

The entertainment, so to speak, consisted of a fairly lively baseball game. Here's how Wicker Park goes: before dark, baseball. After dark, basketball. Despite the fly balls, I'm a fan of the baseball crowd. If you catch my drift. Hipsters sitting on blankets with their shoes off. I'll take it.

I'm also a fan of diagonal pictures. Diagonal pictures of my cute as heck boyfriend with his cute as heck Target plate, his cute as heck mason jar chardonnay, and some to die for picnic dinner.

Quinoa salad. This one is delish. Quinoa, red pepper, corn, black beans, feta, onion, avocado, and a hefty serving of spicy as heck pico de gallo. Mix it up and serve. It's pretty perfect for picnics because it's not too temperature sensitive and can be prepared entirely beforehand.

Plus, it's darn filling.

As was dessert. This delicious cheesecake in a jar. Blueberry cheesecake. Mason jar. Agave toasted granola.

I know, you're drooling all over your keyboard. It's okay, I am too. We're in this together! And don't fret, because I'll hook you up with the recipe tomorrow! I know the girl ;-)

She happens to be a mason jar aficionado (seriously, read the About Me page on her blog. It's on there). She fills them with Kendall Jackson and Blueberries and Cheesecake, Oh My!

She also happens to be semi obsessed with reading. And feels exactly the opposite way about bugs. Which is why she ran all over town the day of the picnic looking for a big tarp to lay down at the park. Because having a blanket between the ground and you just isn't enough. You need a tarp, people, a tarp!

Back to speaking of myself like a normal person would. I also bought us some reading and writing materials. The Composition Book, with Justin's name on it, is now the official Date Night book. We started with the letter from me to him, an explanation of our date and geocaching (which we tried - and I met the hugest rat I've ever seen in an alley), and a challenge to each draw one scene we saw at the park. Hopefully we'll keep the tradition alive and end up with a whole book of letters, dates, and random pen sketches of people and things around us.