Moto Restaurant

For my birthday last week, we went to a fancy, adults-only dinner at Moto in Chicago. My brother was gracious enough to even lend us his apartment so we didn't have to trek back out to the suburbs when we were done. Oh, and he went to our house to help Grandma baby-sit! What a treat!

Over the years I have seen Moto's food chemistry demonstrated on various Food Network programs and was very excited to see it for myself! We had the 20 course tasting menu that took 4 1/2 hours! Some were awesome; most were good; and a few were bad! Here is a sampling of my favorites:

SNOW MAN: tuna ceviche in tequila citrus sauce with salty lime foam snow man.
CLAM BAKE: corn, lobster, fresh herbs and gnocchi that looked like scallops

BASEBALL SNACKS: peanut crusted quail breast in cherry reduction. The Cracker Jack paper was edible and tasted like caramel and pineapple.

CIGAR WITH ASHTRAY: a Cuban sandwich of sorts wrapped up to look like a Cuban cigar. This is one I had heard rave reviews about, so my expectations were very high. I was a little disappointed. Not a ton of flavor, and the texture was awkward to me. Jason thought it was good though.

FOREST ROLL: duck and risotto made to look like a sushi roll. The "wasabi" is a pea.

DUCK & MOLE: This was a duck taquito with sour cream and mole sauce drizzled on the plate. If you were expecting a sweet cannoli drizzled in chocolate, it was a big surprise!

BANANA SPLIT: the three droppers were chocolate sauce, cherry juice and caramel sauce. This was delicious!

ACME BOMB: the wick of this truffle desserrt was marshmallow which was toasted as they lit it upon presentation. We were told to eat it in one bite since the inside was liquid. Also delicious!

THE MENU: this is a cracker with edible paper and ink. It was served on a bed of spinach pesto with parmesan cheese. We were given it first and snacked on it while we waited for the first course.

Hello!

Hello fans! I know you've missed me this past week! Mommy and Daddy were on a little vacation and Grandma Joni was at my house to take care of me and Rachel. Uncle Ryan came over, too, and we all had lots of fun playing! Mommy is still buried with work and laundry and whatever else she does, so I'm posting today! Mommy can post later about her trip, but here's what I was up to. . . Climbing up and down my slide. . . .

Climbing up and down the stairs. . . .And making sure Rachel was fed. . . .

Watching Golf

In what really could have gone down as "Worst Move Ever," I moved Will's high chair into the family room so he could eat baked beans in front of the British Open coverage! He likes beans, so none of them made it onto the floor (much to Rachel's dismay). The same cannot be said for the some of the pasta primavera, but that wasn't very messy. Actually, the reason was not watching golf, but because Jason was mopping the kitchen tile floor and didn't need us in there.

But, yes, it was a nice bonus to sit and watch TV while we ate lunch. I sat on the couch for mine. In the background of the first picture is the white shelf that Jason assembled in an earlier post. We have two and are using one them for our shoes when we walk in off the garage. This second one hasn't found its permanent spot, but Will has been enjoying putting his "stuff" on it while he plays.

On the Mend

I'm happy to report that Will is back to his normal 13 1/2 month old silly self and has not been showing any complications from his HFMD diagnosis from Tuesday. We really think that Sunday was the peak with the temperature. Did you know that a temp between 100 and 102 is called "low grade" by the doctor's office literature? I call 102 a "highly worried mama" fever.

We've been busy this week so no new pictures; this is from last week when Will wanted to help Jason assemble some new shelves - immediately after eating baked beans that I didn't get cleaned off his face.

Neighborhood Watch

On our day home Monday, Will joined Rachel in her neighborhood watch activities. They each took turns pulling back the curtains and smearing up the glass. [Editor's note: Will had on khaki shorts most of the day, but they didn't make it back on at some point in the tiring (for Mommy) afternoon.] Will's turn. . . .Rachel's turn again, but Will doesn't look too patient. . .
Will stopping for a drink during Rachel's turn
(that's Pedialyte which he seemed to think was ok).

Up, Mommy, up!

HFMD

Will went back to daycare first thing this morning. And he came home by mid-morning. No fever, but the teachers thought his mouth sores looked like HFMD (hand, foot, mouth disease - which is NOT the same as hoof-and-mouth disease), which apparently is very popular among little kids. Of course, I had never heard of it before then or I would have recognized the symptoms of fever, mouth sores, and hand and foot rash. I attributed it all to teething and the heat.

Jason took him to the doctor for confirmation and a doctor's note that he can go back to daycare tomorrow since he hasn't have a fever since Sunday. Apparently the virus can stick around for months, so the rule is no fever. The mouth sores should go away in about a week.

No treatment except for comfort. Soft foods, cold liquids, no acidic fruits and veggies. Wish us luck that the sores don't get worse or hurt him much.

Another Sick Day

Will's blazing hot fever from Sunday got him a sick day home with his Mama on Monday. The fever broke overnight, but we decided to keep him home anyway to catch up on his sleep. There would be none of that! One hour after lunch. That's it. The rest of the day he was racing from toy to toy and room to room - stopping only long enough to climb the stairs or scream or cry. That's right; he wasn't always smiling and cute.

Ornery looking baby

This picture from last week captures some of the attitude!

We feel like it has to be teething because we can see/feel those four monster molars breaking through (bottom right is out) and his chin and shirt are covered in drool. And he has no other signs of illness to go with the fever. His pacifier is his best coping mechanism and that has left him with little pimples on his lips and chin due to the moisture. He hasn't been a very good eater the past few days (and meal times are high drama), but he's been draining his cups of cold milk. So, we're giving him a little more of that than usual. Water wasn't interesting him, so I gave him some fruit punch Pedialyte. He must have thought it was interesting and drank a cup over the course of an hour or so.

This is Rachel after Will went to bed. She's really showing how we all feel after our day at home!

Miscellaneous Moments

Uncle Ryan was over for a visit the other evening, so here is Will trying to scam him into something he knows he shouldn't be doing. Ryan seem to be saying, "hey, are you sure your mom lets you do that?!"Here are two of his favorites: balls and Rachel's toys (here, Rachel's toy balls). He's actually pretty hilarious right now with how he wants to play with Rachel. And thankfully she is very, very patient with him dropping her toys on her back, or trying to shove the toys into her mouth, and the not always gentles pats he gives her. Today I gave her an entire mozzarella stick as a treat after she let him crawl onto her dog bed with her. Will has a great interest in climbing these days. He routinely wants to climb the stairs (so we have to go with him) or he'll climb into and onto his toys. Here he's demonstrating his self-created "King of the Suitcase" game. Obviously I couldn't get a picture of him fully on it, because I was too busy telling him to sit down. Incidentally, he does know "sit" and does it sheepishly.

Seven Seas Dolphin Show

Today was a great day to have our family pass to the zoo! We were in and out in 90 minutes after using our free passes to the dolphin show. It was a nice, mostly overcast day today and not too hot - perfect for a day at the zoo. Unfortunately as I was holding our little buddy, I realized how incredibly hot he was. We left right after the show. He slept on the ride home, got a bath to cool off and wash off the sunscreen, and then went down for his third nap of the day.

I don't know if I was expecting Sea World or if it was the steaming hot baby on my lap, but the dolphin show was just so-so. They did a few jumps and splashes, but it wasn't very long. It definitely made me want to go swimming though! And, of course, as with all things; I'm always glad I go places just so I know what I might have been missing!