4th of July Weekend, and Intelligentsia Coffee

Where did the weekend go? I feel like it was Friday evening, I blinked, and here I am sitting on the couch and it's Monday afternoon. Time flies when you're having fun. I have oh so many things to write about from this weekend, but to be honest I'm wiped out and very much enjoying zoning out while watching today's Anthony Bourdain marathon. I'll give you a few odds and ends from the weekend now and delve into the rest of it over the next couple days.

Howie and Gabby came to visit us from New York, arriving Friday evening. Visitors = cheese platter.



D'Affinois (obviously), Cana de Cabra goat cheese, flatbread crackers, baguette, Adriatic fig spread (so good with the goat cheese), and an assortment of olives in my cute new olive boat from Sur La Table.

And now, a whirlwind tour of the weekend's activities. Saturday - a nice walk down Michigan Avenue, a visit to Millennium Park, and a photo with the Bean. Then on to lunch at the Art Institute, which I will get to later.



Sunday - Cubs vs. Reds. The Cubs...well, they didn't do so well. But between an ejection in the first inning, some guy running on the field near the end of the game, some entertaining fans, and a couple hot dogs, we had a very fun time. Not to mention our great seats.



And Sunday night - fireworks! We went to the lake to see the fireworks at Navy Pier.



I know, I know. Back to the food. We stopped at Intelligentsia Coffee's Millennium Park Coffeebar on Saturday afternoon. Intelligentsia Coffee is a Chicago-based coffee company, and we've come to know and love their coffee since living here. We buy their beans and brew our own most of the time:



They have many, many location/retailer-specific blends that you can buy around Chicago. For example, the Morning Goddess Blend is from Goddess & Grocer. There's a Gold Coast Blend that they sell at our Whole Foods, a Lincoln Park blend, and I'm sure a lot more I haven't come across yet.

Peter has been saying that the Coffeebar has "the best latte I've ever had". Yeah, yeah...everything is "the best". But Intelligentsia boasts the 2010 World Barista Champion, so ok, it probably is the best.



Yup. Creamy. Refreshing. Great texture, flavor, richness, all that good stuff that a great coffee is supposed to be. Delicious. At the Coffeebar you'll also find this setup:



I couldn't tell you what it is or what it does, but I'm sure whatever kind of coffee it makes is nothing short of amazing. And with that, I'll wrap it up for today. More to come later.