just another random thursday!

as some of you may know, i try to head up north a few times a month to see my dear friend chef larry raymond - aka sweet baby ray of the popular sweet baby ray's bbq sauce - with my homie doc and more often than not he'll prepare a breakfast or lunch for our visits. as if they aren't always something spectacular, this week's was definitely a treat!

what's hot, sweet and wet!? our italian beef sandwhiches straight from the one and only JOHNNY'S..! and we didn't even have to go to chicago or wait in line. it's nice to have friends who have friends! haha. thanks, chef! ;D

i was pretty stoked when he mentioned it for lunch because i had literally just watched anthony bourdain's "the layover," in chicago, where johnny's italian hot beef was a main feature and definite must eat! and it just so happened that chef just had a friend visit from chicago who brought him up some, along with the infamous au jus. mmm! definitely delicious and worth all the hype!

(fun fact: chef's friend who visited was "santa," the same santa during all the macy's christmas day parades you see on television! hah.)

however, i do have to say my favorite part of these visits would have to be the company while enjoying the northwoods unplugging next to the lake for a few hours each week. like the signage in his cottage, "if you're lucky enough to live by the lake, you're lucky enough." ;D yes, i'm a lucky girl with great people i'm grateful to call friends. i'm definitely looking forward to some fishing this season!

...just another day up north.

you know how i'm always thankful for my friends and the good people i'm blessed enough to have in my life? well, i truly am a lucky gal to be able to call this guy a dear friend of mine: chef larry. and since the day i've met him, we've become great friends and kindred spirits in greenery and fishing.

if you aren't familiar, chef larry is the man behind sweet baby ray's award-winning gourmet sauces; a household name across the nation becoming the fastest growing bbq sauce in america and the #1 premium sauce in grocery!

this past holiday weekend, equipped with nothing but the plan to enjoy labor day weekend, i packed up my northwoods essentials and accepted his invite to stay at his beautiful cottage right on the lake up north. needless to say, i was spoiled from the second i arrived! thank you, chef..! for everything.

it was definitely a great weekend spent with 2 of wisconsin's most renowned chefs - the other was chef larry's washburne culinary institute classmate and lifelong friend... also known as former executive chef for the green bay packers for many years - whose company (and food!) i genuinely enjoyed the entire time too. so much, in fact, that i stretched out my 2 day stay another night/day :) because yes, it was that fantastic and i thoroughly loved every moment!

p.s. happy birthday, chef! (september 10th!)

♩ ♪ ♫  ...but you can't stop nothing if you got no control, of the thoughts in your mind that you kept and you know. that you don't know nothing

but you don't need to know, the wisdom's in the trees not the glass windows. you can't stop wishing if you don't let go,
of the things that you find and you lose and you know. you keep on rolling, put the moment on hold... because the frame's too bright, so put the blinds down low. ♪ ♩ ♫