Ah Chicago in March

The weather wasn't too bad actually. Rainy but in the 40's mostly.
The trip was a success: spent time with the family, had fun with the kiddies, had pizza and Poochies.
Jun and I had planned to do a head to head with Lou Malnatis and Burts pizza but Burts doesn't answer the phone after they run out of dough, so your SOL. Must be nice to not need more revenue... The next choice was Pequods, right around the corner from Burts and I would guess, their mortal enemy.
I had never had Pequods so I didn't know what to expect. When I went to pick it up, amazingly there was a parking space right in front. I had read parking on the weekends was a nightmare, so I was lucky. The place smelled fantastic and the large I ordered with double sausage and mushrooms cost $25 but weighed a ton. 4-5 pounds would be my guess.
Lou Malnatis was the next stop (after a Starbucks run for Frances). The large there was a good deal lighter and less $$ at $21 .
I also bought 2 frozen pies to take back to CA.

Here they are:




Pequods is on the left, Lous, on the right.
I have to say, I was not a fan of Pequods. It smelled great but lacked brightness in the mouth. Just kinda bland and doughy. boo. Lous, which I have always loved was great. The pie is always different depending on who is making it, but the ingredients stay the same and for me, the sauce has some punch. So good. The Lous pie went right into the freezer in individual slices for transport to LA as well.
I worried that my checked luggage might be lost, leaving a good amount of Chicagos finest to 1 defrost, 2 go to waste and 3 ruin my clothes but all went well. TSA at O'Hare did closely inspect my other stash of carry-on pie and absconded with my ice pack. "It's only allowed for medical reasons." Yea, well I need this pizza for my mental health. Nasty buggers. LAX TSA let me go through with the same one.

As for Poochies: four words-cheddar burger, cheddar dog. At least 2 hours of tennis to work this off, but so good.
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The kids were as cute as ever.

All four of them were swamp monsters the week I was there but amazingly, I didn't catch anything.
One day, we had an excursion to Chicago. First stop was a bakery called Sel Marie, an early dinner at Matsuya was great. The kids love their tempura and udon. Dessert was tempura ice cream, followed by a bowl of vanilla ice cream since the first dish was heavy on the tempura and light on the ice cream. OK...
The next stop was unplanned but a great treat: Sweet Many B's. I love this bakery. I had planned to just run in, but we found a parking space so the whole clan came in for more sugar bombs. Everything was delicious.

After everyone was sufficiently amped up, we loaded back in the van and not surprisingly, none of the kids fell asleep on the way. I did. During the washing up process, I noticed that Amelie wasn't upstairs. I went to the kitchen and heard the crunching of paper. Amelie was on the floor with a bag from the bakery (number 2) eating a brownie. What a scoundrel. With chocolate all over her mouth, she was so proud of herself and giggling. Hilarious.