Vacation, Part 4

On Monday, we woke up early and had breakfast with my parents. By "breakfast", I mean "leftover pizza". The b.h. had some homework to do, and my dad was taking down the Christmas decorations, so my mom and I went out to do some shopping. I had various things that I wanted and can't easily get up here, so she patiently drove me around and I collected various beers, some dog stuff from Trader J0e's, and a couple other items that are not interesting enough to post about. I also went to her chiropractor, which was a huge relief because I had a pinched nerve in my neck and then drove for two days and I was really out of whack. We got back to the house around five, and snacked while we waited out traffic. Around six, we headed back into the city to have dinner with the b.h.'s brother.
We ate at Cafe Baba Reeba, a tapas place in Lincoln Park where I used to work a million years ago. The menu has changed a bit, but our old favorites were still on there. We started with a beer. I had Cane and Ebel, a lovely hoppy rye number from Two Brothers, a local brewery of which I had never heard before this visit. It was fantastic. As soon as we were seated, the manager, who is a friend of mine from all those years ago, sent us a pinxto (pronounced peen-cho, in case you care) plate. This is basically a sampling of one-bite tapas. My favorite was the goat cheese croqueta, but I also loved the cheese and membrillo and the mushroom and rice croqueta. The b.h. and his brother were partial to the shortrib stuffed piquillo pepper. Next up were a couple of salads, one with endive and blue cheese and quince and walnuts, and the other was a citrusy thing that I can't remember right now.
I also had fried green peppers (no breading but plenty of sea salt), tortilla espanola, and patatas bravas. I don't remember what all the guys ate, but I can assure you that there was a lot of meat and some fish and they loved every bite.

Crap. Now I'm hungry.

Anyway, we had a long and satisfying dinner, followed by too many desserts (also sent by the manager), and then we dropped the b.h.'s brother off at home and returned to my parents' house for stretchy pants and crossword puzzles.