Uncle Bub's - Best BBQ in Chicago

If you like barbeque, you must go to Uncle Bub's in Westmont. They offer the whole range of smoky, yummy barbeque meats and down-home sides at a friendly informal restaurant on Cass Avenue.

The smoky scent of their hickory fire greets you in the parking lot. The barn like setting is perfect and informal with an order counter and table side delivery.

Hannah and I both went for the Pig Pickin' Pulled Pork sandwich platter ($7.49). The meat was so tender and smoky that just thinking about it right now makes me hungry. Their sauces are excellent, and are a complement to the meat without overpowering it. The sandwiches came with ample sides; we ordered baked beans, potato salad, fried mac & cheese and corn bread. We shared it all and especially loved the mac & cheese. The portions were large, we packed up half in doggy bags.

Uncle Bub's has a full menu of barbeque including; beef brisket, smoked turkey, hot links, rib tips, ribs, and chicken. Next time I plan on sharing a sampler platter, just to check out some more flavor. Everything is resonably priced and shared with a smile.

Garage Sale Success

Browsing around garages, looking for useful, nifty and odd little objects is one of our favorite weekend pleasures. I used to run around with my mom doing the same thing, in fact I still have a few of the finds we made back in the 1980's.

Yesterday, Hannah and I got out early after taking a quick look over Craigslist's garage sale section. There were a lot of sales in Wheaton and we headed in that direction. As soon as we hit the border, the little roadside signs just popped up everywhere. We had a few items we were looking for and just started cruising and in the end found it all!

Wheaton is a lovely, leafy town where each house looks different from its neighbor and the yards are filled with flowers. Neighborhood touring is part of the fun of garage-sailing; I've discovered some many unique little areas. We lucked out and found excellent sales at modest, older homes and one great estate sale.

Our general quest this summer has been to find things for Hannah's dorm room. The futon ($50) was our last purchase. It is in awesome shape and just what she is looking for. Getting it in our car was a challenge, it hung out the back and had to be tied down. It was our last buy of the day and felt like a real triumph. We hauled it into the house when we got home and the cats immediately started lounging on it.

I also picked up a couple of my 'quest' items; a breadmaker ($15) and an ice cream machine ($6). I want to try my hand at bread and ice cream making, without making a huge investment; $21 seems about right. Old kitchen items are fun; the old Wilton cake pans (75 cents) and jello molds (25 cents) were a steal -- use them once and you've got your moneys worth.

Isn't this apron great? Only $6 and just bursting with embroidery and style. It's really sweet and surprisingly stain-free. I like the shape and think it will make a great pattern to make my own. The butterfly pocket is so cute.

We found it at an estate sale, where we also picked up the ice cream maker. Estate sales offer some of the best finds, but can be bittersweet because you are basically sorting through the stuff of the recently deceased. This house appeared stuck in time; with many 1970's decorations and 1940's appliances. The ice cream maker was in its original box and even had the instruction manual.

All together, this house wasn't bad it was basically de-personalized. I once went to a sale where 1/2 used shampoo bottles and opened q-tip containers were up for sale. Yuck.

This clock was a great find as well. It matches our kitchen. For a dollar, it was worth the gamble that it worked; which it did.

Our day was so much fun, good bonding with Hannah and great hunting. As summer passes by and her move-out date gets closer; I just totally treasure our time together. It really reminds me of the garage sailing I did with my Mom.

Fleamarketing

We love the Kane County Flea Market in St. Charles. Held the first weekend of every month, it attracts over 500 vendors who sell just about anything, new or used. Many flea market shoppers and collectible hunters say this is the best flea market in the Midwest.

Hannah and I try to hit it a few times every year and always come away with a fun item or two. We were really impressed with some of the new furniture available and the wonderful selection of 50's bark cloth, tablecloths and aprons. Perhaps the cutest item on sale were puppies, adorable farm-raised little Australian Shepard and Border Collie mixes -- we spent a little time cuddling with the little guys before heading off to the indoor section.

Today's haul included some handmade scented soap, a much-needed cheese grater and an awesome ketchup bottle telephone that Hannah will use at college. It's mainly used as decoration, because a hardwired phone is required. Altogether we dropped a totally of $23 dollars and amused ourselves for an entire afternoon.

Patriotic Goodies

It didn't get out of the 60's on the 4th which made the day a bummer in most peoples' minds -- not mine.

I love just about everything about the 4th of July, the history, the parades and the picnics. Really everything but the fireworks. The big shows are nice, if I can view from a distance -- but the amateur backyard shows scare the hell out of me.

As long as I can remember, my father, uncles and six brothers loved nothing more then setting off all kinds of fireworks; from firecrackers, to bottle rockets and roman candles. They even tried to make their own in our basement. Sadly, every boom and tossed charge scared me. We would have huge parties in our yard and I would spend all day inside avoiding what everyone else adored.

Yesterday's cool temps and rain put a damper on the daytime pyrotechnics and allowed Hannah and I to do a little sweet making. Hannah dipped yummy strawberries and pretzel sticks while I baked up Red Velvet Cupcakes with the most wonderful vanilla buttercream frosting. Both were big hits at the parties we went to.

The cake is very involved, but fun to make. It's like a science project -- between mixing buttermilk with salt, adding a foaming baking soda and vinegar mixture and using a whole bottle of red coloring it's a lot to do. The final results are worth all the work, it's got a great light texture and subtle chocolate flavor and everyone loves the bright red color.

Blueberry Cinnamon Muffins -- Yummy

Living the smoke-free life is a big adjustment. My sleep schedule is all off and I'm feeling a little down. The craving part is over and I've past the 1 week mark, but being a blue girl is no fun. Being weepy not something I expected as a side-effect, hopefully this will pass quickly.

In the meantime, I'm trying to go with a new adage "when life gives you the blueberries -- you make muffins'. Leveraging my new sleep schedule, I put these beauties together before work and surprised my co-workers with the results.

Pairing blueberries with cinnamon balances out the acidity of the berries and gives it a real homespun taste. They mixed up great and were just brimming with berries.

I found the recipe on Epicurious, and highly recommend it Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins.