Happy Birthday to me.

My sister, Christina, and I went out for dinner on Saturday night to celebrate Christina’s birthday. She chose Anteprima, a small Italian spot in Andersonville. Now, if you read reviews of this place, you will see that people either love it or find it extremely disappointing. Therefore, I mentally prepared myself for a horrible experience.

I’m happy to report that we had a lovely experience and the food was tasty. It certainly helped that we were able to score a parking spot right in front of the restaurant. We had the Burrata to start, which was mozzarella and prosciutto drizzled with balsamic dressing and served with toasty… toast. (Whatever, I’m no foodie.) For our entrees, I chose the ravioli, Christina chose pappardelle, and Sis chose the rainbow trout. All three were delicious in their own way. I was really happy with my choice – the ravioli filling was creamy and the lemon zest gave the dish a light and balanced flavor. For dessert, we chose the brown sugar cake. It was a nice ending to a meal that left us stuffed–the portion sizes were perfect for us to finish without leaving us hungry or too full.

The place is definitely loud, and they really pack people in. The cocktails were yummy. I don’t even remember what was in mine, but it was delicious. Our server was really nice and patient — considering how small the place is and how there were people waiting for tables, I never felt rushed. There wasn’t a long wait for our food. All the staff generally seemed nice and accommodating. Factor in that we went on a Saturday night at 7ish, and what we had was a satisfying experience.

Will I ever go again? Chances are slim. I liked it, but there is a never ending list of restaurants to try in Chicago. The gods must have been smiling upon us. Had we not found rock star parking, even my cocktail wouldn’t have been enough to make up for having to walk in the windy and rainy weather that night. If you plan to eat there, it serves you best to plan ahead and make a reservation, and be ready to parallel park and deal with Andersonville traffic.

Visit Anteprima at http://www.anteprimachicago.net.

One of the things that I love about the holiday season is hearing about all the different traditions people have. Regardless of what your faith is or whether you even choose to celebrate anything during this time of year, there are expectations for the season, even if it’s the annual avoiding of Salvation Army bell ringers.

I remember being impatient for my dad to finish putting up the tree so that I could decorate it. I would watch my mom wrap gifts for everyone, and she always managed to sneak my gifts under the tree without me noticing. I would help my mom wrap little dumplings for the soup we would have after midnight.

Growing up, we used to always spend Christmas Eve with a specific group of my parents’ friends. It was pretty much the only time we would see them all year. It was odd but comforting: we would always have that same spicy and sour soup with beef heart, tripe, and liver. I can’t honestly say that I always had a good time, but I remember how the adults would laugh, how we kids would awkwardly try to hang out with each other, the anticipation of finding out if one of the older girls had a new boyfriend this year.

Most years, we would go to Midnight Mass and then come home, play Christmas carols on the stereo, eat soup, bread, and dessert, and open up gifts. I can’t recall any year that we didn’t stay up past midnight. On Christmas Day, we would wake up to something from Santa in our stockings, we would visit Grandma down the street, and spend time with family. It was always an exciting time.

As we’ve gotten older, the parties have stopped, my parents celebrate with other friends, and my sister divides celebration time between our family and her in-laws. Santa doesn’t visit anymore. I’ve come home to a fully decorated Christmas tree. I wrap most of the gifts (including the ones meant for me). We all sigh with boredom as we open our gifts and look at the clock to see if it’s okay to end the party and go to bed. This year, I was in bed watching the Doctor Who Christmas special when midnight rolled around.

The one thing that has remained is the pancit molo (Filipino dumpling soup) that I help Mom with. The fun part is wrapping the dumplings. Okay, truthfully, wrapping those suckers can be a pain in the ass. But we always seem to have a lot of laughs as we sit at the table together getting it done. Here’s a pic of the wrapped dumplings:

I don’t have a photo of the soup itself since we ate it all before I remembered to take a picture.

Anyway, it’s time to start new traditions for my nieces. For the past few years, Christmas has been a chore. I don’t want that vibe to rub off on my nieces. I don’t want them to just expect a ton of presents. I want them to look forward to the holidays and learn to love the little things that we do to celebrate. I want them to laugh and feel merry. It might be stupid, it might not make any sense, but tradition is what makes Christmas special… as long as it doesn’t involve violence or homicidal feelings toward family members.

Swedish pancakes are the only pancakes! That statement was true for me for much of my childhood. The only pancakes my mom cooked at home were Swedish. I would only see buttermilk pancakes (aka cakey and thick pancakes) at restaurants.

Mom would use Lund’s Swedish Pancake Mix, which you can buy in bulk at Amazon.com. I tried looking for it or any other Swedish pancake mix at local grocery stores, including natural/organic food stores, and didn’t find any.

Photo by Tammy Green

There are a couple restaurants that I will go to when I need my Swedish pancake fix. The first is Tre Kronor in Albany Park. All the breakfast items at this Swedish restaurant are yummy. The Swedish pancakes are consistently delicious–and one of the cheaper items on the menu. If you have never tried Swedish pancakes before or never had good ones, this is the place to go to. Swedish pancake loyalists like me won’t be disappointed.

Photo by EvilChick

Okay, you’ll have to trust me on this next restaurant for Swedish “pancakes.” IHOP has Swedish Crepes on their menu, which are the next best thing to real Swedish pancakes. They are served with the traditional lingonberries and this delicious lingonberry butter that I haven’t seen anywhere else. Trust me when I say they hit the spot every time. Sure, you can get all sorts of pancakes at IHOP. But these are the only ones worth coming back for, in my humble opinion.

I did try the ones at Walker Brothers, and found them to be too big (served flat instead of folded on a huge plate), and too dry and crisp around the edges. I’m open to suggestions for other Chicago-area restaurants with Swedish pancakes on the menu. In the meantime, I’ll be busy making my own with the twelve boxes of Lund’s that I just ordered online.

How FOBby of me to title this post in Tagalog. But anyway. It’s Thanksgiving (for a few more hours, at least), so lemme talk about what I’m thankful for.

I am extremely grateful for my family, shelter, no shortage of food, my job, great friends, and good health. Any of these things can be taken away from me at any time. So many are without a good family, a suitable place to live, food on their tables, jobs, genuine friendship, and good health.

I am grateful for possibilities, imagination, opportunities, and freedom. There’s so much to learn about and see in the world. All I have to do is want it and go for it. Others out there are smarter, more creative, have better ideas that I will ever have–but they may never have an opportunity to learn, create, or influence others.

I am grateful that I have chosen to be open and positive. I’ve missed a lot by closing myself off from people, giving in to fear and laziness, and letting bad attitudes get the best of me. It’s always been important to me to be self-aware; but self-discovery is exciting, surprising, and has changed my outlook on everyday life. Sure, I have my negative moments and negative people in my life. But being miserable sucks.

I’m grateful that I have the ability to help other people. Knowing that I’ve made someone’s day just a tiny bit better makes me feel so… I can’t even describe it.

I’m thankful for (and honestly a little scared of) anyone who may be reading this and who takes the time to read my blog at all. It is pretty neat to think of all of you who might be reading this. It’s even more neat when one of you reads this blog and decides that I’m a person worth liking. So… thanks!

I’m developing a new site with along with some of my online BFFs and we want YOU to be a part of it! Is there something you’ve always wanted to do but were too chicken to try? Is there a personal goal that you’d like to meet? We dare you to face your personal challenges and share your stories with us.

If there’s a story that you’d like to share, please leave a comment below and you will be contacted with more information (be sure to enter a valid e-mail address–I’m the only one who will see it).

I’ll be posting updates on i-cant-drive.net, so be sure to visit periodically.