Top Five Favorite Chicago Rooftops

Chicago is well known for beautiful summer days. With epic views the city rooftops create for some of summer’s most happening moments. With only so many summer days and so many awesome rooftops, I am sharing in today’s blog some rooftop recommendations that I think you must hit up this summer.

CINDY’S ROOFTOP

On the rooftop of the Chicago Athletic Association is where you will find Cindy’s. The high energy, hip rooftop has views of Millennial Park, the water of lake Michigan and City landscape. The rooftop offers its patron’s a variety of eating options. From little bites to go with your favorite cocktail to a full-on dinner menu and yes even brunch (cause in the city brunch is absolutely the best meal of the day) anytime of the day is a great time to be at Cindy’s. Known for being one of the more favorite Chicago rooftops, you will find this place is filled with a lively active nightlife. The Causal sit-down dining during the peak season will require a reservation. I have enjoyed quite a number of summer night’s here at Cindy’s and if you too are the social extrovert, I’m certain you will as well.

OFFSHORE

A Tourist dream rooftop is located at Navy Pier. This opened in 2019 and is the world’s largest rooftop. The views of Lake Michigan and the city skyline are priceless! The rooftop offers both a full-service bar and dining menu. Offshore as described on their site is 36K square feet with an additional 20k of terrace and 7 firepits

Being a Chicago resident, I personally avoid the tourist trap of Navy Pier, but I had to check this one out when I had CA friends visiting me. Offshore is located at the very end of the pier – yes making for quite a walk. While I personally don’t find this ideal for an average weeknight of rooftop drinking, I would absolutely recommend checking this rooftop out when you have a guest visiting in-town or when looking for something fun to do during a summer weekend.

TERRACE 16

Like Trump or not this glam rooftop in Trump tower is exquisite in every way. Whether it be the views of the river running through the city or the legendary Wrigley Clock Tower, this rooftop makes for a perfect photo-op. Trump terrace offers both a full bar and dinner menu. With a very generous square footage this rooftop provides a space of intimacy for both large and small gatherings. The service is excellent, the space is luxurious, and that high standard is carried all the way down to the luxardo cherry that tops off your cocktail.

One of the more personal reasons I enjoy coming here often is because Terrace 16 is in the heart of downtown walking and it makes for a very quick and comfortably safe walk home. While I have so many fond memories here, a favorite recent was on a beautiful Friday afternoon this past May with a group of my girlfriends. Chicago is exceptionally easy to show-off to my suburban friends when I bring them to Terrace 16

THE CHICAGO CLUB

Chicago club is the oldest private club in Chicago. In order to catch these rooftop terrace views you must be a member or know a member. If you are fortunate to visit this terrace, I am telling you this will turn out to be a summer memory of a lifetime! The views of Buckingham Fountain, Soldier Field, the water of Lake Michigan and the city scape when paired with their incredibly delicious food and service is truly something that is unmatched! The Club rooftop offers both a full bar menu and full-service dinner. There are several firepits and outdoor couches for intimate gatherings as well as a fireplace. The Chicago Club brings a respect to the city dining experience with its high-class service and required dress-code. This rooftop makes also for an exceptional place to host a private party as I experienced first-hand when we celebrated my husband Sean’s 50^th in June of this year.

LONDON HOUSE

Being one of Chicago’s most popular summer hangouts, I probably don’t have to share too much detail about what makes this tri-level rooftop such a happening summer hot spot. London House is located on Waker Drive in the heart of downtown. To say the views are incredible would be an understatement. Pretty much every direction you turn their amazing! I would highly recommend if you are visiting Chicago (or are in town on business) to stay at London House. It is a well-respected hotel and many of their guests will enjoy a business dinner in their restaurant followed by an after drink on the rooftop.

Being a favorite to Chicago, this rooftop will get very busy during the summer months – especially on weekends. The vibe of the crowd definitely makes this high energy setting one that will require a reservation if you want to be seated. The rooftop itself offers a full bar and the bar menu is geared more as bite-size appetizers as their full menu is found in their indoor dining restaurant. I personally enjoy ending a summer day with a nightcap on this rooftop. Last time I was up here was right as summer was coming to an end. The city was looking so beautiful that I had to snap a photo to preserve my thought on how Chicago during the summer months is truly is a dream playground.

There is nothing like a summer memory in Chicago to hold onto during those cold bitter winter months. I hope in sharing my favorite rooftops, you will not only make a summer memory, but it will provide for you a guidance to a great rooftop to visit when in the Windy City. I would strongly encourage you during the high peak summer season to call ahead of time to make a reservation as is required for most outdoor dining/rooftopsj in Chicago.

My Personal Summer Times on Chicago's Best Rooftops Photos

Valentine Gift Ideas That He Will Love

What started off as a post on putting together the perfect old fashion romance drink for your guy transpired into me putting together a few more gift ideas for your man this Valentine’s Day. All these guy gift’s I have purchased at some point so I can say they are totally tried and true favs!

OLD FASHION ROMANCE - A great way for a guy to unwind after a busy day on the job is with a pour of whisky. I highly recommend either the Woodford Reserve or the Basil Hayden. Along with the whisky, purchase him some glassware. Whisky glasses come in a variety of styles from cute and fun to monogram and traditional classic. With this gift idea I would encourage you to really make it a true old fashion and buy the drink accessories. Chicago Style Cube ice …. MUST! (I know sounds crazy buying your man ice but I’m telling you the square ice cube is symbolic to this classic drink). Be sure to also pick-up cherries and orange peel.

WHERE TO SHOP THIS GIFT: Whisky & Accessories can be found at Garfield’s Barrington http://garfieldsbeverage.com Whisky Glassware – Fun Look shop Angelina’s http://www.shopangelina.com Classic and Monogram Glassware shop Williams-Sonoma www.willaims-sonoma.com

MAISON MARGIELA REPLICA JAZZ CLUB - I recently purchased this bottle as a gift. I will tell you the combination of fragrances create a masculine smell that will certainly have you catching the attention of your love. Jazz is described as a scent of heady cocktail and cigars and this bottle and its package is as good looking as the guy who uses it!

WHERE TO SHOP THIS GIFT: Sephora www.sephora.com

FAST & FREE RUN BELT – Hands-down this is really a great buy! Practical and yet stylish. My guys use these when skiing in the mountains, on the Metra to downtown or just running around. Holds just the right amount of your personal belongs while on the go.

WHERE TO SHOP THIS GIFT: Lululemon www.lululemon.com

THE RIDGE – Remember that Seinfeld episode?? No guy wants a bulky wallet! This compact wallet is stylish and well designed for men of all generations.

WHERE TO SHOP THIS GIFT: The Ridge www.ridgewallet.com

POCKET SQUARES – I personally think pocket squares make a man all the more distinguishable. It’s that extra touch and as we all know the details are found in the accessories. With beautiful patterns of red to go with the valentine theme to classic business colors, there is sure to be a pocket square your man would love to own.

WHERE TO SHOP THIS GIFT: J Hilburn – Maureen Slott http://www.maureenslott.jhilburn.com

PROVERBS WISDOM – Being an avid reader, I have read so many good books on business and personal growth in my life. At the end of the day, thou this particular book holds all the wisdom one would need to succeed in the game of life. What I love about this book is the design and layout. This company is well aware of the reality that most of us are probably not picking up a bible on a day-to-day basis to read and so it created these individual books as a way to encourage one to pick it up and start reading. Whatever your religious belief, this particular book (Proverbs) makes for a beautiful coffee table book or office table book that your guy can randomly just pick up and read.

WHERE TO SHOP THIS GIFT: Alabaster http://www.alabasterco.com

ONE LIFE KITCHEN WINE CLUB – Hard to write this one without being bias as I am the business owner of this establishment. We take the guess work out of wine shopping by offering each month three bottles of wine from a specific region of the world that our sommelier has hand selected and sure to please a wine lover. Club membership provides access to monthly recipes that we recommend when pairing food and wine.

WHERE TO SHOP THIS GIFT: One Life Kitchen www.onelifekitchen.com

VALENTINE CARD – From the romantic to the darn right hilarious a valentine card is a must!

WHERE TO SHOP THIS GIFT: Angelina’s Barrington. http://www.shopangelina.com

GIFT WRAP – Perhaps I add this because I feel you all need you to find a reason to visit this store. I joke all the time saying I can never contain myself at this store. Seriously thou, this store has the ultimate array of making a showpiece out of any gift. The boxes, ribbons, bows, giftwrap are of finest quality. My thought is don’t spend a lot of money on a gift to just toss in a gift bag. Be sure to make your gift shine even before they know what it is by presenting your valentine a beautifully wrapped gift.

WHERE TO SHOP THIS GIFT: The Container Store http://www.containerstore.com

ALTOIDS SMALLS – The color design of the container looks as thou it was created with valentine’s day in mind. Ideal to have on hand at work while conversing with clients and all the better to have on hand when you’re walking in the door to kiss your love. The small container of mini mints (yes is it that cute!!) is the right size to have at your disposal anytime you need to freshen your breath.

WHERE TO SHOP THIS GIFT: Local grocery or drug store

The Gift of Music

As the holiday shopping season reaches the 10-day countdown, I’m sharing one of my favorite all time gift ideas with you. Not only is this a fun and unique gift that represents the giver, it is absolutely FREE and you don’t even need to leave your house to go purchase it. Now, before I share this gift idea, I want to tell you a little something about me.

Since the start of time (well ok more like the point in time I can remember my youth), I have always had a love for music. I had a great collection of what were known back in the day as cassette tapes. It was quite an array as I often ended up receiving 70’s music along side my requested music choice of Michael Jackson or Van Halen. My mom naturally thought I would certainly like the music that she listens to, because we all know how much kids listen to their mom’s music. Well, it turned out Barry Manilow and the Bee Gees were pretty bad ass after all! I would spend so much of my youth listening to music on my boom box or that really cool Walkman with those ever so soft headphones speakers that touched up to my ears as I wrap over my head that hip headpiece while making my way around the town.

My love of music carried over into playing the piano, it carried over into some good but mostly not so good attempts at vocal lessons, and eventually also into dance. As an adult it still is a strong heartbeat to most my days. From concerts, to long car rides to gym workouts and just about every meal spent cooking at our kitchen, I have music going in my ear quite a lot. Now it’s not the same Walkman anymore but rather is is with the cool sophistication that time has brought to us, as we can now listen to our music anytime, anywhere on the magical device called a cellphone. I can grocery shop to my own playlist of music by slipping those little air buds into my ear. Which takes me back now to this holiday gift idea for you!

Have you ever considered the magic of music? Music truly has this magic ability to relive a moment in time. Music can pick you up in a down year like Covid. So, what better FREE gift to give to someone you care about this holiday season, then to create for them a playlist. A playlist is unique because it is a direct reflection of the music that has filled up many days within your one life. A personal playlist is so easy to make.

Recipe for Creating a Music Playlist

When putting together a playlist I suggest the following tips ….

Know your Recipient - With much music genre, you should keep in mind your recipient musical tastes when choosing songs.

Creating a Mix with Balance – Do you want it to be a specific music theme … love songs, country, rap OR simply a variety of all your favorite songs? Unless you’re making a mix for a gym run, I would personally recommend a balance of era’s and style along with an 8 songs minimum /12 songs max. In addition, I would only include one song per artist in a mixed playlist.

Music Choice - Be careful when choosing music that you are not sending mixed messages through the lyrics. You don’t want that opposite sex friend to think you now have a crush on them!!

Consider their Lifestyle – Are they into gym workouts where some good endorphin music does the trick or are, they into hosting dinner parties where a jazz music play list might be a better option?

Choosing a Lead Song – Just like an album, the first song leads way to the tone for the rest of the album. Make sure this first pick the best pick possible.

Introduce Something New - . A music playlist mix is as an opportunity to gift the recipient with what could become their new favorite song. In order to make that happen you have to introduce them to an artist whose music they are not familiar with – I guarantee you this is absolutely priceless gift.

Just for Fun – Name your playlist!

Presenting the Playlist - Create a card that includes neatly typed the names of songs, artist and album. Great place to find some creative templates be sure to check out canvas.com Lastly, always make sure your card includes the touch of your writing with a personal line or two along with your famous John Hancock, for when we look at handwriting, we connect to that person. Most platforms make sharing a playlist quite simple. Pending on what platform you use, you should be able to download and share right to a phone or even airdrop.

Country Music

Back four years ago, my husband and I celebrated our anniversary in Nashville. I entered that city as a total rookie to the country music industry, yet somehow Nashville has this way of converting everyone into a country music fan. As my weekend in Nashville came to an end, my days of listening to country music just came to a start.

My gift I share with you today is my most overplayed Country Music Playlist I created. This playlist brings on every possible emotion one could know – but most of all it brings a smile to my face every.single.time - and I hope now to yours as well . Enjoy!

Country Music Fav

Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset – Luke Bryan

Doin’ What She Likes – Blake Shelton

Loving Arms – The Chicks

I Don’t Know About You - Chris Lane

I Fall to Pieces – Patsy Cline

Just to See you Smile – Tim McGraw

Take Your Time – Sam Hunt

Beer Can’t Fix – Thomas Rhett

Without You – Luke Combs

What if I Never Get Over You – Lady A

Girl Crush – Little Big Town

What Ifs – Kane Brown

Your Gonna Miss This – Trace Adkins

Beautiful World- Kenny Chesney

Best Concert I EVER attended - Thomas Rhett at The United Center in Chicago, September 2019

Pomegranate Cranberry Relish Crostini

It's the holiday season and time for cocktail parties! We have a great recipe for you today. It's quick and simple with Christmas color. It will most certainly impress you holiday guests as it does our guests at One Life Kitchen. Enjoy!!

Baguette Bread is a staple ingredient to many appetizers. You can create so many cocktail topping with baguette bread. Today we are topping ours with cream cheese and a cranberry/pomegranate.

Keeping bite size in mind cut the bread slices to about 1/4-1/2 inch in size. Top the toasted bread with cream cheese. Not only is cream cheese a perfect match to bread it also provides the glue that holds our topping together.

If I had to pick a food that represents the beautiful of the holiday season, it would be cranberries and Pomegranates. Combining the two creates for a perfect appetizer.

The finishing touch to this appetizer is garnishing the crostini. We used basil but there are so many other options to garnishing a crostini including parsley, chives and red crushed pepper to name a few.

I got a little excited and took the picture before adding my garnishing but as you can see this looks and tastes delish! About the only thing that would make this taste even better while eating is a glass of wine in your other hand! If you are looking for some wine options to gift a client, friend or loved one be sure to check out www.onelifekitchen.com wine club and holiday wine offerings!

Your Next New Wine Obsession

First it was big and bold, then unoaked Chardonnay and natural wines, now rosé prosecco. Some winemakers in Italy have been producing this wine for some time now, releasing it as generic IGT – Indicazione Geografica Tipica – wines, but 2021 will be the year of prosecco rosé as Italy has now created a legal designation for this beautiful pink bubbly and it will officially hit the market New Year’s Day 2021! Rosé aperol spritz, anyone?

This prosecco rosé will be a blend of Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir) and Glera – the native grape responsible for the wonderful Italian bubbly wine we all know and love. These wines will be dry or off-dry and vintage-dated, with all of the floral aromas that define prosecco.

While we wait for these exciting new wines to be released, let’s celebrate with some of our other favorite sparkling rosés! As we dive into Champagne we see rolling hills of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier, and a few other varieties growing with old châteaux storing hundreds of years of history and preparing many wines for release. From here I recommend picking up a bottle of Billecart Salmon Brut Rosé for a night you want a real treat.

Franciacorta may be very familiar to those Italian wine-lovers, yet still unknown to many. Here we see winemakers producing high quality sparkling wines in the way of Champagne, what we call the méthode champenoise, creating those tiny, uniform bubbles that hit the palate just right. With extended lees aging these wines are complex, with toasted nut and brioche flavors on the palate! You can never go wrong with a Franciacorta and I recommend Ricci Curbastro Franciacorta Brut Rosé.

There’s so many amazing sparkling wines out there, but I cannot end this without mentioning Australia! Australian winemakers have worked so hard to make a name for themselves. The country has been known for mass-produced, cheap wines, but there are many incredible producers all around the country today and the one I’d like to highlight is Lambert Estate in Barossa. I came across this producer as I was browsing the grocery store looking for an affordable wine to enjoy that night after I heard the wonderful words from my husband, “I’m making dinner tonight, go out and get a bottle of wine you’d enjoy”, music to my ears! I saw this bottle sitting there and thought, “huh, I’ve never had a sparkling wine from Barossa, I may as well try it” and boy was I happy that night – as soon as that cork was out the room was filled with strawberry, brioche, almond, and cherry aroma-galore!

Keep enjoying and trying new wines and as we anticipate the release of prosecco rosé be sure to check out the One Life Wine Club – December will feature sparkling wines from around the world!

Cheers!

- Miranda