Phoebe's Cupcakes

For anyone that follows my Twitter feed (thank you, by the way) it's pretty obvious that I have a fondness for cupcakes. So it shouldn't be at all surprising that I try to use some of my free time seeking out new cupcake bakeries to try.

This past weekend, I went walking through Lincoln Park in hopes of finding some great farmer’s market deals when I happened upon Phoebe’s Cupcakes. I stopped inside and was immediately drawn to the simplicity of the store. There weren’t 800 different cupcakes competing for my attention. In fact, there were only six to choose from. Even though the selection was limited, I still had a difficult time picking a flavor considering all six flavors sounded delicious. Since I couldn’t pick just one, I ended up going with a salted caramel and a red velvet one rationalizing it to myself as needing to try more than one flavor in order to get a proper opinion of the cupcakes at Phoebe’s :)

Store front of Phoebe's Cupcakes

Pretty chandelier hanging in the store

Really cute dispenser display with colorful sprinkles to add to your cupcake purchase.

Salted Caramel Cupcake: Vanilla Cake soaked in Homemade Caramel with Caramel Buttercream Frosting topped with Himalayan Rose Sea Salt

Red Velvet Cupcake: Classic Southern Red Velvet Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting topped with Red Sprinkles

Surprise! Caramel on the inside of the cupcake too! 

Wine Down

As much as I love being able to take advantage of all that city life has to offer sometimes it’s just as nice to be able to wind down and have a relaxing night in. Several weeks ago, a friend of mine and I decided to do a wine and cheese night.

To gather our necessary supplies, we ventured to my favorite Chicago grocery store, Fox & Obel in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood. The only problem with this brilliant wine and cheese night idea was that neither one of us knew practically anything about wine or cheese. (I guess my college years of enjoying Andre and Yellow Tail didn’t exactly make me a wine connoisseur. Not to mention, the extent of my cheese knowledge was knowing that KRAFT singles were always a must when making a proper grilled cheese sandwich). So when we got to Fox & Obel we were a bit overwhelmed to say the least. Luckily, Fox & Obel had a great wine sommelier on staff that helped us pick two great wines, both at reasonable prices. The sommelier  even suggested what types of cheeses to pair with our wine selections. We ended up with a red and white wine and six different cheeses  to enjoy.

It was great getting to try something a bit outside my comfort zone, and with great success!