Chicagoland

My son graduated last weekend from Navy Basic Training in North Chicago. We drove down to see his graduation, by way of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and to spend a few precious days with him before he had to leave for Monterey, CA. The graduation was moving, full of fresh young faces, full of confidence, and eager to jump into their new lives, leaving behind the ordeal of bootcamp. All that youthful ambition and energy, it was a wonderful experience I'll never forget. My son is quite a foodie, no idea where he gets it, so he wanted to try out some regional cuisine that is not available in Traverse City, unless you make it yourself!
We started out with Dim Sum at the Happy Chef in China Town, in Chicago. The traffic was awful, but the food was worth it. Sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves was my fav. We wandered around this particular part of Chinatown for a while, it was a long corridor of chinese restaurants, import shops and bulk Chinese groceries. One shop offered well over 50 different kinds of ginseng...leaving us to wonder why? Lots of Hello Kitty and most of the restaurants had windows full of "fake" dishes, to show what they offered. For the most part, quite appetizing. I made the mistake of trying one kind of black licorice, which I usually love, that was salted, not my cup of tea. The experience was incredible though, it was like being NOT in the USA...we loved it and hope to go back again sometime. Next, we went to Uptown Chicago to the Vietnamese area, but that has to wait until another day...Adios for now!