Chicago and Christmas Cookies

 What an eventful week we had! Thursday, Terry and I took advantage of relatively warm weather (40’s) and the fact that the kids are still in school to go to the Big City for the first time since the pandemic. It was a nice day, beginning with getting all day passes on the train for just 10 bucks each! Normally, it’s $9.50 each way. “That’s like two free beers at Chistkindlmarket!” Terry said. We all have our own ways of assessing comparative value.

Ten dollar day passes in the ticket clips on the train 

Whoo-wee! That wind was NOT warm as it came whipping off the lake and into our faces as we headed up Madison. I was glad to have my hat and long underpants! Our calculations were correct. Christkindlmarket was the least crowded we had ever seen it. We walked right up to the counter and got two brats with sauerkraut. Next we walked right up to a counter a few shops down and cashed in our savings from the train tickets.

The relatively deserted entrance to Christkindlmarket

We shared a tiny stand-up table with an older woman (well, a little older than us) and her daughter. They were drinking that nasty hot spiced wine in souvenir Christmas mugs. Each year’s mug is dated and has a different design. I can see how that could be habit forming. After you get, say, 5 years of mugs, could you give it up? But where would you ultimately store them all? This year’s mug marked the 25^th anniversary of Christkindlmarket. That’s a lot of shelf space. The daughter was off foraging when we colonized our half of the table. I asked the mother if she collected the mugs.

“No, my daughter does,” she answered.

The daughter returned with potato pancakes. We chatted while we ate and drank. All of us came down once a year when there was no pandemic.

When we finished lunch, we moved on to the vendor booths. Terry was drawn to a stall selling Belgian chocolates molded into novelty shapes, such as nuts and bolts. My eye caught a chocolate croissant in the booth next door, St. Roger Abbey French Gourmet Patisserie of Marengo, IL. I’d heard of the nuns in Marengo. They are always getting in trouble with the City Council over permits for one thing and another. My croissant was $4.50. I gave Sister $5.00 and told her to keep the change. I felt that the sisters were a bit stingy with the chocolate, but not with the butter. It was an exceptionally flaky croissant.

Terry joined me with a white chocolate car in a fancy box with a gold seal, for which he paid $19.50. Get that man out on the town, and he just goes crazy.

Chocolate car in a fancy box

Our next stop was the windows at the store formerly known as Marshall Fields. The story this year was of a reindeer named TipToe, who was learning to fly. This window shows the lecture from the cliché wise old owl. So lame.

TipToe, the blue reindeer in front, gets her flying lecture

There is no more viewing of the tree in the Walnut Room from the floor above. TipToe and her friends were positioned around the tree. We could have had immediate seating in the Walnut Room during peak lunch time. Everything is different now.

TipToe at the base of the Walnut Room tree

This is the tree at Millennial Park.

The Christmas Tree at Millennial Park

The city was nicely reflected in the Bean.

The Bean

Here is our self-portrait on the Bean. I have the red coat and the yellow camera in front of my face.

Terry and me reflected in the bean

We walked up Michigan Avenue. The Mag Mile has taken a pandemic hit. There were several stores for lease. Crime has increased in the city. There were no Rolex watches on display in the windows. I saw a salesman locking the door on a diamond store. I guess you have to knock or have an appointment to get in.

We admired the bust of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, the first non-Indigenous resident of the area. He established a successful trading business in the late 18^th century, but it was not until almost 200 years later that he was acknowledged as the founder of Chicago. Why? He was a Black man. The honor first went to John Kinzie, White guy, who bought Pointe DuSable’s property. I was surprised to see from the plaque that he lived to be 73 years old. Considering all the hazards of frontier life, that’s quite remarkable.  

Pointe DuSable, a handsome man

We didn’t go all the way to the Hancock this year. Terry wanted to catch the 3:45 train home. We had one more beer at Christkindlmarket on our way back to Ogilvie station. I got suckered into buying a pretzel. They always look so good, and they always are so dry. Bah.

When we crossed the Chicago River, we saw a crane hoisting up building materials to a skyscraper under construction. 

A crane in action

Back at home, I weighed Terry’s white chocolate car. It was 3.52 ounces, which figures out to be $88.64/pound. Way more expensive than Godiva.

This is what $88/lb chocolate looks like

Saturday was Christmas cookie day. I prepped the doughs on Friday, using butter by the pound. Kate wore the commemorative apron she and her sister Kim made after our jam session. It doesn’t seem like it was three years ago. Time flies. Kim was supposed to join us, but was snowed in up in Oshkosh.

Kate and her commemorative apron

I rolled and cut out the cookies. Kate prepped the frosting. Jane switched the trays and put the cookies on the cooling rack.

Rolling

Jane waits for the next tray to be done

When the cookies were cooled, the frosting began. Jane put chocolate frosting on the bison while Kate did the vanilla cookies. Then it was time to decorate.

So many cookies!

Kate and I tag team with different colors of frosting

And decorate.

Still decorating....

Finally, we had the cookies done.

Christmas bison with wreaths and bows

Lovely sugar cookies in the late afternoon sun

We also made peanut butter blossoms and Mexican wedding cakes. We were too tired to take on the pecan bars, so I did those today. I’m done baking for awhile. I’d better be!