Dinner with Valerie

After work, I met up with Valerie (Kent’s sister). She’s in town for business, and a few days ago we discussed hanging out post-work. Headed over to her place (she got set up in a swanky, two-bedroom place just East of the Merchandise Mart) and hung out a while.

The view here was absolutely stunning. I was pretty nervous given how high up we were (I don’t do well with heights), but made it a point to venture out on the balcony and shoot a few pictures. A really amazing view here, of both my workplace and the river.

I couldn’t help but take a pic solely of the Mart. If you look towards the other end of the building, you might recognize a few things.

Valerie and I talked a bit, standing near the windows watching the day slowly fade into night. By the time we decided to go out for a bite to eat, the evening had set and we were nearly sitting in the dark, just talking still.

The two of us rounded the corner and grabbed a booth at Mambo Grill. I had come here ages ago with my friend MaryAnn, and so I decided to have a mojito in her honor. Tasty and quite good, but I don’t know that I’d normally throw down $8 for a mojito. It was good, but maybe not $8 good.

The food was pretty darn fantastic. Bread with some kind of sweetened butter with dried tomatoes. Fried plantains. And for an entree, I got the saffron rice paella, complete with a ton of seafood (tiger shrimp, salmon, mussels, and scallops).

We hung out here for a good long while, talking at length about Chicago, the west coast, Kent and Christine, jobs, growing up in Indiana, and our respective experiences in both TV and radio. Valerie’s job has her travelling a great deal, and it was interesting to hear all about the (oftentimes grueling) nature of the work she does, creating images/layouts for courtroom trials. I think the longest trial she worked on had her away from her apartment for something like 9 months, with her going back home once every four weeks or so.

Sheesh. And I thought I had long hours.

Fun evening tonight – lots of good food, lots of good conversation.