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I was trying to manage time effectively, reduce the amount of driving and possibly get home early from our weekly shopping trip and visit to the nursing home so I spent some time searching for breakfast restaurants in the Des Plaines area - or on a relatively direct route between Glenview and the Meijer in Arlington Heights. I found three that sounded good and picked Katie’s Kitchen because it seemed the one closest to a direct route and was the one closest to home. We were already running late, due to that whole daylight savings time thing - and it was pouring rain. Seemed like the smartest choice. Plus, the reviews I’d read were all really positive.

Katie’s Kitchen is a new restaurant, tucked away in a small strip mall and feels very much like the Breakfast Nook and Lunch Cafe in Glenview. When we arrived, the small waiting area was packed but we didn’t have to wait much more than five minutes - just long enough to review the menu and make our choices…

The menu was pretty extensive. There were a lot of things that sounded really interesting… some of the oatmeals, the portobello (except for that stuffed with shrimp part) and some of the crepes.

When we were seated, we were given a printed list of the “St Patrick’s Day” specials and some of those were pretty tempting… so tempted that TW’s mother changed her mind and ended up with some sort of Irish Creme french toast. TW stuck with her original order of an oatmeal with peaches and I ordered the garden nest.

The coffee wasn’t great, but it wasn’t horrible. The waitstaff never did come and ask if we wanted a refill until we had already finished our meals, that’s always disappointing to me. It just shouldn’t be that hard to wander through and warm up coffee cups.

The food, however, was excellent. Really. I should have taken a photo of the garden nest - a veggie/cheese omelet with hash browns wrapped around it. Fabulous presentation, just the right amount of everything (sometimes a veggie omelet has too much spinach or not enough cheese - this one was perfect.)

Here are the photos of TW’s order and her mother’s. We’ll be back there again sometime, no doubt about it. (I do believe someone will want to try the crepes that come with fried ice cream….)

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We found ourselves at Intuit last weekend for the Flea Circus.

Interesting building, love the green doorway, but it is not wheelchair accessible which is troubling since every website and review of Intuit that I found indicated that it was. Well once you got inside it was wheelchair friendly, but that first step and turn to get in the door is not accessible. Thankfully, TW’s mom can walk - it’s just not easy for her TO walk.

Once we were inside (by the way, parking on the street wasn’t a problem at 3:30pm on a Saturday. I didn’t get a free space but a meter at the corner was open and there were plenty of free and metered spots around the entire block and across the street) the place isn’t big but it’s interesting!

The exhibits we saw were Sticks (everyone, even the grouchy teens, found something that interested them in that exhibit and Liz wants to make some of her own Stick art) and the Drawings of Joseph E Yokum. Nice. The Henry Darger Room was indescribable. Seriously. Click the link and check the panorama shot.

I’ve got Intuit on my list to check regularly for interesting shows (like the Flea Circus) and cool exhibitions.

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On the way home from the Flea Circus, we stopped at The Village Creamery on Waukegan & Oakton primarily because my cousin had recently blogged about visiting the Skokie store and we hadn’t gone yet…

We should have planned to eat dinner there and have dessert because there’s nothing better than a plate of Pancit but I had forgotten they had actual food and it didn’t hit me until we’d already started ordering our ice cream. Ah well, we’ll go back.

Anyway, about the ice cream… there were too many flavors I wanted to try and I was there with too many people who weren’t interested in trying unusual flavors so I couldn’t even bargain for a lick of theirs. I mean really, who goes to a cool ice cream shop with all of those interesting flavors and then orders… chocolate… banana… rocky road… java chip… seriously. I am not taking those people back to the Village Creamery until they agree to step outside the norm.

Thankfully I had TW and she ordered a scoop of Avocado. Awesome. I liked it quite a bit and would order it again. No problem.

I ordered a milkshake made from Maize… it was good but a little too vanilla-y and not quite maize-y enough.

I bought a pint of Queso (with pieces of Kraft American!) Ice Cream to take home…. I’m having a tiny bowl now. Mmmmm, cheese!