Updates..

For Thanksgiving we were planning on going to Tulsa to visit Mr L's dad and his family. But it would have been too far, too much road, and too much stress. SO we decided not to (we called Sunday to let them know). I was a little sad, because I was really looking forward to having a real Thanksgiving in an American family. And I wanted to know Mr L's step siblings.. But hopefully we'll visit at some point in the future, and maybe the tensions in the family will settle down more by then. :)
Anyway..
This will be my third time celebrating Thanksgiving!

Our menu for tomorrow is :
smoked turkey breast
leftover brocoli casserole
mashed potatoes
blue cheese and salad with walnuts
candied bacon-peanut butter pie
Pumpkin bread (that we bought to bring to the family...A big one!)
fruits compote / ice cream

I really want to make coconut flan because I made curry the other day and I have this wonderful-for-cooking coconut milk, and I crave custard.. YUM!
Mr L is really excited about the bacon/peanut pie. When I saw that recipe I immediatly thought of him! :) But I don't think I'll have too much. I just can't think of eating peanut butter, in any form..

I also wanted to update on Saturday outings. We had a wonderful Saturday!! I love Chicago, I love our lifestyle here!! We walked about 6 hours on Saturday.
First we went to that hot dog place. Chicago is famous for its wonderful hot dogs. Hot Doug is the place to go to get original ones. We had 4 to share so we can try many things.. :)

There was a duck saussage hotdog (top right), a rattlesnake saussage (top left), an applewurst saussage (bottom left) and an elk saussage (bottom right) and a side of potatoes fried in duck fat (just like my dad loves it!)
It was all really good. My favorite was surprisingly the rattlesnake. My stomach who craves healthy right now was not too happy, but I had an apple in my purse to balance it out... Yeah it was pretty fat, but oh so savoury!! A real chicago experience. I like people who turn dreams into a good business. I think Doug here had a great idea and I am glad it is working for him! The line outside is one hour! And the place is open only from 10 am to 4 pm..

After that great early lunch we went on with our walking around. We passed by a Christmas tree lot that smelled heavenly. We got a dunkin donut break (with orage juice for me, I couldn't do a donut after the hot dogs!! By the way I was surprised by ho wmuch folic acid is in an orange juice!!).
We ended up at Lincoln park, and visited the zoo again. I love this place. The zoo is FREE. And beautiful, and quite big in my opinion. Here are a few pictures:


Last time we saw the lions outside, and the tigers. The tiger male was crying (? I don't know how his sound is named, roaring?) and it was VERY impressive. You could hear it all over the zoo.
I want to go back next week! This is one of my favorite places in Chicago. I hope to see the bears next time. I was really looking for the raccon but they seem to not have them, too many in the streets I guess.
After the zoo we walked some more (yes seriously) and we went for diner at wholefoods. They have a complete diner hall, with a pizza place, a salad bar, a diner type restaurant, a hot food bar, and several soup stands throughout the store. I had soup and a slice of pizza (did you know walking 6 hours burns over 1000 calories?) and Mr L had soup and grilled cheese sandwich. Way cheaper that going out to a restaurant, and great quality too. This was really fun! :)

We did not do the gangster tour, it sounded really fun, but it was 28$ per person so we didn't even try. Mr L downloaded a ipod tour, that we may try out next week end.. And we didn't go to the lake either. Maybe once it's frozen! :) I really want to go to the zoo again though.

Then Sunday we were both so tired from walking, and probably somewhat sick from being in the cold so next time we'll try to limit the walk, and enjoy it on both days...
That's it for the updates.

Have a great Thanksgiving all!! :)