My Favorite Chicago

It's 2017 and by now I have lived in the city of Chicago for about two years. I have been embracing the city life and so I want to share with you what are my favorite things about this city. 

My favorite summer activity

If I have to be honest, anything indoor, because I hate heat. But theoritically I also enjoy biking along lakeshore drive. It is pretty and always fresh to see the lake in the summer.

My favorite restaurant

It is very difficult to pick one favorite restaurant in Chicago. There are sooo many awesome restaurants in Chicago and I love exploring new restaurants. If I have to pick one, though, I will pick Chi Cafe. Anytime, any food, Chi Cafe food is always dear to my heart. It is tasty and homey, and boy the price you can't beat. Other than that, I would pick Gyu Kaku, Seoul Taco, Great Sea. Yum yum yum!!

My favorite bubble tea place

So I am obviously super Asian, and this has to make it to the list! My favorite bubble tea has to go to Kung Fu tea and maybe TBaar comes close. To me Kung Fu tea has the right level of sugar, tea, milk, and ice. Some other places are one overpowering another, so I root for Kung Fu. TBaar also has tea that smells sooo good, but last time I went the server did't speak English well so I kept getting the wrong tea.

My favorite park

This is not quite a park, park, but I love Lincoln Park Zoo. The admission to the zoo is free and the zoo is high quality kind. They have a lot of nice animals and during winter they always have light festival which is soooo precious!! 

My favorite shopping place

Might be a tie but it's between State street and Magnificent Mile! The best thing is that both of these places are walking distance to my office!!! So guess where my paycheck went?!?!

My favorite mural

I have seen gazillion murals in chicago at this point and hands down whoever painted the flamingo mural did a wonderful job. The picture is really nice, paint is clean and crisp, the color play is so lively. To me the flamingo mural in River North is the best mural in Chicago. Obviously there are many more awesome ones but, to me this is the prettiest one. Link to mural here.

My favorite beach 

I used to play group volleyball often by Oak Street Beach and Montrose Beach. I gotta say even though parking is rough, I like Oak Street Beach more because the city view is amazing. You can also see Navy Pier which is a plus! The atmosphere of how crowded and city feel also makes me feel Chicago. 

My favorite city skyline

After commuting a lot around the city, I have seen many hidden gems where you can see the beauty of this city. The view from Museum Campus is million dollar view, the view from Roosevelt to the North is million dollar view, the view from Trump tower is million dollar view. For me though what catches my heart the most is the view of trump tower and the river from lakeshore drive right by where Navy Pier is at. Whenever I pass by whether it's be during the day or night, my heart melts, that's trillion dollar view right there. 

My favorite museum

This is an easy one for me. Even though Chicago has so many great museums: Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Arts, Field Museum, Planetarium, but.... I like interaction and cool stuff so my obvious choice is museum of science and industry!

My favorite photo spot

Instagrammers all know, we all know, Lincoln Park's Honeycomb is everyone's favorite. The combination of shape, nature, and city line, punches it all!  Here is the honeycomb.

My favorite festival

I go to festival every single freaking week. But... my favorite one would be Chinatown Festival and Wicker Park Festival. The energy level of the people in the festival is luv. Note that I never go to Lollapalooza, so I can't speak to that genre.

My favorite ice cream place 

I beg to expand. There are so many good ice cream places in Chicago. But who wins my heart is releaf matcha cafe in Mitsuwa (Chicago suburbs). Try their matcha soft serve and parfait. Fly guys! 

My favorite area

If I can choose where I want to live in Chicago, I will fall for South Loop all over again. The area is new, close to the city, to the lake, to Chinatown. It gives me all that I need! New restaurants are also opening up around the area, so sooner or later you won't be seeing me coming up north as often I suppose? 

My favorite moment

This one take me some time to think about... I think it would be when my girl friends used to come to my place often and we have girls night. I used to live in the suburbs and it was actually quite lonely time for me. Young people like me need friends and stuff to do. When I lived in the burbs, all my friends lived in the city and they always have dinner or lunch together without me. In order to hang out with them, I drove 1-2 hours each way beating the traffic and I sometimes got home around 3am and work at 8am the next morning. Living in the city truly change the way I live, socialize, and makes me feel a more confident person. Never regret the decision to move to the city. If I ever have a choice to pick a place in the USA to live, I will pick Chicago all over again!

Mural Location:
2150 S. Canalport Ave.(Lower West Side - Chinatown)
Chicago, IL

xx,
Catherine