Chicago, Day 3

The problem with trying to recreate a magical moment from the past is that failure to do so robs the memory of the magical moment from you forever. When we visited in 2001 we stumbled upon an Italian restaurant in Old Town called Orso's. The day was perfect, cloudless, warm with low humidity and a light breeze blowing. We sat on the grape vine covered patio and ordered a carafe of red wine and asparagus risotto. We had an endless supply of homemade crusty bread and good quality olive oil to dip it in. The food was great as was the service. It was a magical meal. We said we'd return to spend an afternoon lingering with a liter of red wine and we'd while away the afternoon. That was a mistake.

We went there today when the temperature was about 10 degrees hotter than in 2001. Either our palate had changed or this was not the same house red wine we had enjoyed so much. The bread no longer had the texture of a hand kneaded dough and the food, while not bad, was nothing special. It wasn't awful, but neither was it magical so now our memory of Orso's is one of disappointment. It was a mistake to go back.

We had arranged to meet part of the other side of the family and ended up driving across town to dinner. Although it took us several hours to get there and we chatted a few minutes before going to dinner, there is something very wrong about leaving one table to go to another one as the total day's activity. Really, I just want to focus on tasting menus right now. This restaurant was a neighborhood Italian, nothing fancy but good food. I ordered chicken cacciatore and they brought an obscenely huge serving. It was good if not exceptional. The best of dinner was chatting with the family.

Husband's paternal side of the family consists of nine brothers and sisters from the first marriage, in addition to the four from the second one. Although we didn't have a lot of contact with them in the early years of our marriage, they have reached out to him in recent years. They host a family reunion every June – the purpose for our visit. I regret not knowing them all those years before because they are truly nice people.

The youngest brother, with whom we had just eaten, drove us out to Orland Park to look at his new condo which is directly across the street from the older brother. This concept is totally foreign to my family, whom I barely see in any given year. I do wish we had that kind of family life.

The condos are beautiful – much nicer than anything we've seen at home. The grounds are beautifully maintained and there is small grassy area between each duplex, which is further away than many of the single family homes we've seen in Chicago. I don't know how much they cost, but they are truly beautiful; I'd certainly love to live in them.

After talking for about an hour, we all hopped in the car and drove to the Plush Pony for ice cream. These portions have to be a Midwestern thing. I ordered a single scoop in a cup and got about a pint of ice cream. I nibbled at it, but could not do it justice and ended up tossing most of it.

It was a good family day. The only food thing to report is that there was too much of it. Tomorrow we need an activity.