Capital Grille

Happy Anniversary (to my boyfriend & I)!

My sweet boyfriend surprised me on our anniversary 03.01.02 by bringing me a bouquet of roses & calla lilies, a gift (2 pairs of my favorite circle lenses), & a great dinner at one of our all time favorite restaurants: Capital Grille. As always, we had a lovely dinner with great service & delicious food.  Here are some snap shots of our evening:

Hemmingway Daiquiri & Mojito de Uvas

We arrived a bit early so we decided to relax and have a drink by the bar.

Hemingway Daiquiri: Cruzan Estate light rum, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, freshly squeezed lime, ruby red grapefruit juice & cane sugar syrup

Mojito de Uvas: Bacardi Light Rum, lime juice, cane sugar syrup, chilled Champagne, muddled mint & green grapes

Whenever we dine here for a birthday or other special occasion & RSVP in advance, there is a card waiting for us...

Capital Grille's Chicago Restaurant Week 2011 menu

Hm...what appetizer should we order... 

Musar Jeune Red 2008, Bekaa Valley, Lebanan 13%

An unoaked blend of Cinsault, Syrah, & Cabernet Sauvignon

I love the design on the bottle!

Musar Jeune Red 2008, Bekaa Valley, Lebanan 13%

An unoaked blend of Cinsault, Syrah, & Cabernet Sauvignon

New England Oysters on a Half Shell

Our favorite appetizer from Capital Grille. It makes me drool just thinking about it...

My first course:

Clam Chowder

My second course:

8 oz Filet Mignon

Our sides: 

Creamed Spinach & Sam's Mashed Potatoes

You can also see his Herb Marinated Tenderloin with Roasted Tomato Relish 

My dessert:

Creme Brulee

He got the Capital Grille Handcrafted Ice Cream (chocolate), but it didn't photograph well

Free champagne & my sweet boyfriend...<3

Chizakaya (Japanese Pub)

I always look forward to the yearly Restaurant Week in Chicago!

It was Chicago Restaurant Week 2011 (some restaurants have extended their pre-fixed menus) so my friends and I decided to try out a new place. After looking through the extensive options, we decided to try Chizakaya, a Japanese Pub.  Here are a few pictures from our dining experience:

Chizakaya's Restaurant Week Menu

Cocktail menu

Puffed Pig Ears

(Yes, this appetizer is made from thinly sliced, deep fried pig ears). Surprisingly, I enjoyed these crunchy, salty pig ears :)

Black Edamame

I only wanted to try these because of the name. You can imagine my disappointment when they weren't really black. HA! I later learned that they're called "black edamame" because the soybeans have been matured on the stalk, eliciting a sweeter flavor.

Poor Cousin

Tariquet armagnac, lemon, ginger syrup, & sparkling wine. Light, clean, sweet flavor. It reminded me of a lemon drop.

Sweet Potato Fries with spicy mayo

Trio of Skewers (From left to right:)

Sweet sausage, Duck confit, & Shishito pepper

The sausage was my favorite - it was definitely drool-worthy with some lime juice.

The duck confit was just alright - nothing to write home about. It seemed overly breaded and bland.

The shishito pepper was the only thing that I didn't finish. Enough said.

Kakuni Pork Belly with Egg

Doesn't the plating remind you of a Japanese Garden? 

It was a bit too salty, but I can see how it'd be a great dish to eat while drinking some beer.

Honey Toast

Honey toast, tres leches ice crean, Sailor Jerry rum honey

Warm Brownie, bay leaf ice cream, caramel, pretzel

Taro Rice pudding with coconut

AprilAthena7's Giveaway!

If you haven't already done so, you should seriously consider participating in AprilAthena7's great giveaway!

Her youtube video
Her blogspot

Good luck to all the participants!

NOTD

My fun summer NOTD

Kose Medicated Seikisho Whitening Mask & NOT

I tried the Kose MEDICATED SEIKISHO Whitening Mask for the first time today. I washed my face with my sample Sella nano cleansing soap. After opening the safety seal and squeezing out some product onto my hand, I was alarmed at its color. It's a rich, patent leather dark black. I think it's because I didn't expect a whitening product to be black. It seems somewhat counter intuitive to me.

Anyhow, after smearing on the product (avoiding eyes, lips, eyes) and letting it dry for about 15 minutes the mask turned tight....

Please excuse the scary pictures -.-

  

After the mask is completely dry, I peeled it off starting from the outside.  (I basically started peeling from the temples, forehead and chin towards my nose.

As you can see, I have a lot of old acne scarring on my face (especially my cheeks).

The completely peeled off mask (front)...Scary!

After peeling as much of the remaining bits and washing off the rest, I used my green tea + vitamin E ice lollipop (from Michelle Phan's video)

I followed up with some tea tree oil to treat my spots, then applied some moisturizer.

FIN!

Initial thoughts:
The Kose MEDICATED SEIKISHO Whitening Mask is scented and a bit pricey.  I'll have it use it for a bit longer before coming to any conclusions, but it reminded me of another product that I've already been using.

I think this mask is similar to The Face Shop's Black Head EX Nose Clay Mask.  I tried to include a link to the product, but I can't seem to find it on their website.  I found it at my local HMART.

I believe The Face Shop's mask was only about $10 while the Kose MEDICATED SEIKISHO Whitening Mask is $19.10.  I must admit though...there are only 50g worth of product in the Face Shop mask while there are 80g of product in the Kose mask.  Also, the Kose mask was intended to be used all over your face while the The Face Shop mask is only intended to be used on your nose (but I still use it all over my face).  The Face Shop mask is an off-white color while the Kose mask if dark black.  Both are slightly scented.  However, I like the fact that I can simply driver over to my local HMART to purchase my Face Shop mask whereas I have to order the Kose mask online.  All in all, I think I will have to try the Kose mask for a longer time before stating my conclusion....but at the moment, I like the Face Shop a bit more.

By the way, how do you like my Burberry inspired nails of the day (NOTD)?

My HG Products

HG Products
Here are some products that I have been using for years and love.

My favorite mascara is Majolica majorca lash expander frame plus

$17. It can be bought here.

Blinc's eyeliner in black

This mascara never runs or gives me panda eyes.
All you have to do is add some lukewarm water and apply pressure.
$25. It can be bought here.

Bath & Body Works Signature Collection CLASSICS pearberry body cream

This smell is limited edition.
$10.50 Can be bought here.