Chicago and Grand Canyon Trip Advice

One of my favorite parts of blogging is interacting with all of you.  It’s fun sharing knowledge (or lack there of).
Nate and I are currently planning two trips.  We are going to Chicago for a long week-end with some dear friends of ours.  We are also looking at heading to the Grand Canyon in August-ish.
Here’s where we need you…
What are Chicago favorites?  Favorite restaurants? Places? Shopping? etc.  Nate and I have been to Chicago a handful of times but our friends haven’t.  Nate and I have have done a lot of the touristy stuff but feel free to share all of our wisdom.  Who knows what we’ve missed!  I’d also love recommendations of thrift stores/unique shops. 

Next up: the Grand Canyon.  Flights to Phoenix from our local airport are ridiculously cheap right now.  Our plan is to fly into Phoenix and start our adventure from there.  We would like to spend a few days hiking in the Grand Canyon.  What are your favorite things to do in Arizona? Restaurants?  Suggestions on where to stay to fully enjoy the Grand Canyon?  Any other awesome things to do/see in Arizona?

via AAPG

Thanks in advance for your help! Bring on those suggestions!

Parmesan Crusted Steak

I never used to like fancy food.  Then Nate’s parents started taking us to fancy restaurants.  And now I like fancy food.  Darn those in-laws.

One of my favorite fancy foods is parmesan crusted steak.  Nate and I whipped this up at home for his mom on Mother’s Day.  And it was pretty much amazing.  And easy.  So easy that I could play sous chef successfully.  It’s that easy.

For four steaks, you will need:

• 2 sticks butter 
• 1 cup Panko 
• 1 cup grated Parmesan 
• 1/4 parsley 
• 1/2 TBSP Kosher salt 
• 1/2 TBSP cracked black pepper 
• 1/2 TBSP fresh minced garlic 
• 1/2 TBSP Wocestershire

Mix all of the ingredients together until blended. 

Grill up some steaks to perfection.  (NY Strip would be the best but whatever kind of steak you have on hand will work just fine.  We used ribeyes.)

Make a patty out of the parmesan/butter mixture and place on top of the grilled steak.

Turn your oven’s broiler on high and broil until golden brown.  Remove from the oven and eat up!

We served ours with rabbit food and cheesy hash browns cooked in a cast iron skillet.  Holy cheese overload.

Can you beat a fancy dinner that is super easy to make?  That’s right.  You can’t.

How do you like your steak?  Any delicious preparations that we should try?

Stool Survey

 
First, I wanted to title this post "Stool Sample"... because it would be funny.  Unfortunately it didn't really make sense.  There is, however, a survey at the end.  Rumor has it you all like surveys...me too!!!

Nate and I are currently disagreeing on a home purchase.  For the most part, we agree on items that need purchased for our home.  So this disagreeing thing is weird.  And annoying…for one of us.

We don't do that cheesy home decor blog thing where we both have to agree on an item.  We just annoy the other into liking it. Done.

One of us is madly in love with these stools from World Market. The other is not.  I will not specify who has what opinion.  We need to keep the post impartial.

via World Market

One of us thinks the World Market stools would look quite lovely in our kitchen.  The other does not.



One of us thinks the black saddle stools are just okay.  The other thinks they are super okay.

One of us thinks the World Market stools would add a little more interest to the island. The other thinks they are “super ugly.”

One of us is slightly concerned that the metal is too different from the rest of the stainless.  The other of us thinks the stools are dumb.

What do you think?  We want honest opinions.  You won’t hurt either of our feelings.   One of us will just have the pride of knowing they have better taste than the other....at least with regards to stools.