What to Eat and Drink in Chicago (+ A Travel Vlog!)

Chicago has always been one of my favourite cities to visit. It has so much great food, the nightlife is awesome, & it has beaut architecture! When we visited the city a couple weeks back, our main priority was very clear - we wanted to eat good food and have a couple draanks. And we did just that. I decided to put together a fun, little vlog showing everything I ate and drank in Chicago. I'd highly suggest eating and drinking everything we did, because we had an amazing trip ;) haha kidding (maybe). But if you are interested, I listed out everything down in order below for your reference! 

Enjoy!

• Chips on the plane (because calories don't count when you're on vacation) • Military latte at Sawada Matcha • Breakfast at Meli Cafe • Rosé at The Hampton Social (pinterest #goals) • Drinks at Parlour Pizza • Lunch at Little Goat Diner • Gorgeous cocktails at Z Bar in The Peninsula Chicago • Pizza and drinks at Parlour Pizza (again haha) • Beer(s) at a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field (+ a chicago dog) • Taquitos and chips at Cafe El Tapatio • $1 beers and ramen at Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya • Coffee from Peets • SHACKBURGER FROM SHAKE SHACK (+ crinkle cheese fries YUM) • Ending off the trip with a beer cheers at ORD

Thanks for following along!

Most Instagramable Cafe in Chicago

No questions asked, Sawada Matcha is the prettiest coffee shop in Chicago. Opened by Hiroshi Sawada, the first Asian World Champion Barista of "Latte Art World Championship" in 2008, Sawada Matcha is the sister cafe of the original Sawada Coffee in Chicago.

Sawada Matcha is located in River North and has a completely different vibe when compared to Sawada Coffee - think more modern, more photo friendly, more Instagramable, same delicious matcha.

I'll let the photos speak for itself!

"What to order at Sawada Matcha" is really a preference question. They're famous for their matcha, hence the name haha, but specifically known for their military lattes. A military latte is a matcha latte with a shot of espresso. The mixture between the roasty espresso & creamy matcha is just unbelievable!! But regardless of what you order, you can be sure that it will come with the prettiest latte art. See for yourself below!

So if you're into beautiful lattes and a pretty interior, be sure to add Sawada Matcha to your list of places to visit when you're in Chicago next. Cheers!

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Lisbon, Portugal in One Day • Photo Diary + VLOG

If you think the above cover photo is a photo of me in San Francisco, you are mistaken - this was taken in Lisbon!!

Lavender Fields in Provence

Checking out lavender fields in Provence has always been on my bucketlist, but I didn’t know I’d be going to visit them this year! When planning my road trip through France, it honestly did not even cross my mind to go because I had no idea when lavender season was. When we arrived in France, it came up in a random conversation and I learned that it was actually the PERFECT time to visit. I was so, so happy that we were able to add it to our itinerary on our last day before flying back to Toronto.

Staying in Marseille, we drove an hour up north past Aix-en-Provence towards Valensole to seek out the beautiful fields of purple. Although there are a number of spots to choose from, we decided on finding lavender fields in Valensole (aka the closest one) and it honestly couldn’t have been a better decision!

Even though I would have LOVED to go during sunrise or sunset, we weren’t able to due to the distance it takes for us to get to and from our hotel in Marseille. We ended up going around 5pm (to miss the harsh, afternoon sunlight) and it wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t busy – everyone was able to spread out into a row of lavender and take your own pictures.

I found that it was quite hard to plan because these lavender fields aren’t explicitly listed on Google Maps, like a restaurant would be per se. But I ended up finding one through endlessly searching on other people’s blog posts haha. The field that we went to was called Lavandes Angelvin (Latitude: 43.824546 | Longitude: 5.938015). If you’re looking for an actual place to put into your GPS, this is it. PLUS, this field has lavender and sunflowers. If you're lucky, you'll be able to see both!

Here are a list of things you must know when planning to visit the lavender fields in Provence:

• Please look online first as to whether the lavender is even blooming! There's no point planning to visit if they aren't even in full bloom. Even if they just started to bloom, you won't get the same 'full' effect.

• Stay a night in a town nearby. You’ll not only be able to wake up early to go at sunrise, you’ll also be able to stay late until sunset (usually around 9:30 to 10pm).

• To avoid aimlessly driving around the area, make sure you put in a specific address or coordinates into your GPS. It’ll save you the hassle of aimlessly driving to find the purple fields!

• If you have any form of allergies (i.e. to Spring, nature, etc.), do NOT forget to take your allergy pills 30 minutes before arriving. There are way too many things in bloom that will irritate your nose.

• Bee-ware of all the bees!! There are so many swarming everywhere. Even though they will most likely not hurt you because they are too lavender-happy, it is good to note. As long as you keep moving and don't both them, you will bee fine.

Enjoy, xx