1. Visiting Chicago’s Christkindlmarket

Nothing gets me more into the holiday spirit than visiting the German Christmas market in Chicago every December. There are three locations this year, but we always go to the original location at Daley Plaza. It’s conveniently located downtown, which means it’s easy to hit up before seeing a Broadway show or when you need a break from shopping. The market is full of little huts selling everything from beautiful, wooden ornaments to hot, mulled wine. We always get a glass or two of the wine to sip while we stroll around and window shop. We often buy an ornament for ourselves or as a gift for others at one of the market’s shops, which has just about every ornament you could imagine! The crowds here are always large, but it’s worth braving the masses.

2. Lunch at The Walnut Room

This is another Chicago tradition you have to partake in at least once! My parents visited the Walnut Room with their families when they were kids, and it’s a tradition they’ve passed on to us. The Walnut Room is located inside the former Marshall Field’s on State Street, which is now a Macy’s. People are willing to wait hours to get a table during the holidays because of the amazing decorations. There’s always a breathtaking tree in the center of the room that serves as the backdrop for many families’ holiday photos. It’s decorated with a different theme every year, which makes the annual trip all the more exciting. The Walnut Room offers a special menu during the holidays, which includes my favorite holiday drink ever: Eggnog Brandy Alexander. The restaurant doesn’t take reservations during the holidays, so expect to wait about two hours for a table. But, don’t worry — you can shop while you wait! We’ve also learned that going at odd times during the day makes it easier to get a table. And, if you don’t have anyone under 21 in your group, you can sit in the bar. We’ve opted to snag a table in the bar section the past two years and haven’t had to wait more than 20 minutes.

3. Taking in the decorations at West Baden Springs

If you’ve never visited West Baden Springs hotel, Christmas is the time to go. The domed atrium of the hotel is impressive year-round, but the giant tree that stands in the middle of the room makes it even more beautiful. We like to grab a drink and dessert at the atrium bar while taking in the amazing view. It’s also worth hopping on the trolley and visiting the French Lick Hotel, which is also extravagantly decorated for the holidays. Check ahead of time to see what events are happening when you plan to visit. There is often live entertainment on weekends and plenty of family-friendly activities to check out. I highly recommend taking the historic, guided tour of the hotel if you haven’t visited before.

4. Drinking lots of Krampus

You knew there had to be a beer-related activity on this list, right?! We’ve been huge fans of Bloomington Brewing Co.’s seasonal Imperial Black IPA since we moved to Bloomington. It’s become a tradition of ours to not only grab a few pints during December, but also fill a growler or two with Krampus. We almost always have a limited amount to share with guests during our annual craft beer and cookie exchange. BBC is hosting its Krampus release party this Thursday, and my dad will conveniently be in town for the event. I can’t wait for the first sip of the season!

5. Tubing at St. Patrick’s County Park

While I don’t miss the lake-effect snow that came along with South Bend winters, I do miss some of the snow-related activities we enjoyed while living in the northern part of the state. I’m dying to get back to our old stomping grounds to go snow tubing at St. Patrick’s County Park. You pay to rent a tube for the day and then slide down a giant hill. You can go on your own or create a train of people, which makes you go even faster! St. Pat’s also offers great cross country skiing, including some special guided nighttime programs throughout the winter. James and I actually got engaged at this park, so it will always be a special place to us.

6. Cheering on the Hoosiers

Our favorite time to go to Indiana University basketball games is during winter break. All of the students are gone, so it feels like a ghost town — which we love! While the games may not be the most competitive, that means it’s usually easy to snag decent seats for pretty cheap. We’re really excited to be taking my family to their first game this December.

7. Stopping by the Hovey house

There are few things that bring me more joy than driving past this house on Hovey Avenue in my hometown of Normal, Illinois. Seeing the yard and roof packed full of illuminated holiday figurines is something that I’ve looked forward to since I was a kid. The display’s grown over the years. Last year, it included 1,000 figurines, which also spill into the neighbor’s yard. When we went home for Thanksgiving last week, the display was already ready to go.

8. Hosting our craft beer and cookie exchange

We love throwing parties, but our craft beer and cookie exchange is by far our favorite of the year. Everyone brings a dozen cookies or a six pack of beer to share, and we spend the evening sampling all of the goodies. It’s a great excuse to get together with friends before the craziness of the holidays really settles in. And, can you really go wrong with cookies and beer?

9. Making tortellini

When we get together with my cousins over the holidays, we often end up making some of my grandpa’s famous tortellini to enjoy for a meal. Having a large group of people to help fill and fold the tortellini makes the process go much more quickly. And, there’s something extra special about preparing a meal together. Spending time in the kitchen with loved ones is one of my favorite parts of celebrating Christmas.

10. Feasting on appetizers

My favorite meal of the entire year comes on Christmas Eve. My family started a tradition years ago of having an appetizer buffet. Each of us makes two to three appetizers, and we always have more than enough food for a meal. The dishes are usually a combination of family favorites and new recipes. It’s a great way to have a delicious, memorable meal without spending all day in the kitchen.

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions? Tell me in the comments below!

The post My 10 Favorite Holiday Traditions appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.

Southwest Michigan is a region that will always hold a special place in our hearts because it’s where we spent so much time together when we first started dating. James drove me up to Silver Beach Pizza for our second date and it will always be one of my favorite memories. We spent the night laughing, talking and walking along the beautiful beach. We’ve made many trips back since then.

We’re renting a house in Lakeside with a group of friends and plan to spend the weekend relaxing, laughing and indulging in plenty of good food + drink. Our friends Molly and Angelo organized the getaway and asked us all to bring some food to share for the long weekend. Here’s what I’m contributing:

• Two-Ingredient Creamy Salsa Dip + veggies
• Lemon White Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats
• Pita chips + hummus
• Shortbread cookies (recipe coming soon!)

We don’t have many set plans, which makes for the best kind of long weekend. The one stop that’s definitely on our list is our favorite brewery in Sawyer. We’re blessed with plenty of good beer in Bloomington, but this place is unlike any other. We’re definitely coming back with as much beer as we can fit in our cooler.

What are your essentials for a long weekend away at a cabin? I’ll be back Monday with a full breakdown of our weekend a guide of our favorite places in Southwest Michigan. Cheers to the weekend!

The post Heading North appeared first on The Broadcasting Baker.

We also can’t wait to go back to Cincinnati, which is where we spent the last few days of our minimoon last week. We originally had plans to head north to Lake Michigan to celebrate as newlyweds, but when we saw the lineup for Bunbury Music Festival, we couldn’t resist. Neither one of us had been to Cincinnati before, so we were excited to explore the city! We booked a downtown hotel through Hotwire, which we’ve always had great success with. We landed at the 21c Museum Hotel, a boutique hotel that also includes an art museum guests can visit for free, 24 hours a day. It was walking distance from Sawyer’s Point, which is where Bunbury was setup for the weekend.

We loved the funky, modern vibe and friendly staff. The hotel also has a rooftop bar, which we didn’t have a chance to checkout but heard great things about. We definitely want to stay at 21c again!

Day One

Before the festival kicked off on Friday, we headed down the street to check out the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. Several friends who are from the area gave us great recommendations for places to grab drinks and grub. We started at Senate Pub, a small joint known for their gourmet hot dogs.

The couple sitting next to us told us we had to try the poutine, which consisted of french fries, cheese curds, gravy and short ribs. It sounds like an odd combination, but it was delicious. James is a big fan of poutine and decided this was easily the best variation he’s had.

We were pretty full after eating the poutine and quickly discovered we should have split a hot dog instead of each ordering our own.

I ordered the ‘trailer park’ —a hot dog topped with coleslaw and Grippo’s chips. It was out of this world, but I was so full I could barely get 1/4 of it down. We were full the rest of the day!

Once we got to Bunbury, we headed straight for the Craft Beer Village. I was excited to see 21st Amendment’s Hell or High Watermelon on tap. I’ve been waiting to try that beer for three years! It was delicious — not overly fruity and the perfect beer to drink on a hot, sunny day.

We spent the rest of the afternoon taking in several great shows. Father John Misty and Walk the Moon were both amazing. We stood around at the main stage for several hours in order to get a good spot for The Black Keys, one of James’ favorite bands.

We got poured on in the process, but it was worth it to see such a great show up close. James has wanted to see them in concert for years, so that show was the highlight of his weekend.

Day Two 

After sleeping in on Saturday, we headed back to Over-the-Rhine to grab brunch and look around a bit before concerts started later in the afternoon, but quickly realized just about every other person in town had the same idea. We decided to try for lunch at The Eagle, a Cincy staple known for its fried chicken. Once again, we ordered way too much food.

James also got a fried chicken sandwich. I had a chicken breast and a few bites of the mac and cheese — both were phenomenal, but so heavy and rich. This was James’ favorite place we ate all weekend. Once again, we left feeling extremely full and didn’t eat much for the rest of the day.

We did, of course, make room for beer. We’d heard great things about Rhinegeist. This is hands-down the coolest brewery we’ve been to. Not only are their beers top-notch (five different IPAs on tap — our kind of place!), but the atmosphere is so unique.

The brewery has an open floor plan, reminiscent of a German beer hall. There were several sets of bags for people to play, as well as table tennis. There were two bars, so lines for beer were never too long. While Rhinegeist doesn’t serve food, they encourage people to bring their own or order delivery from nearby restaurants. James ordered a couple pints and I decided to go with a flight so I could try several different beers. I selected four IPAs and we both decided Stryker, their Triple IPA, was our favorite brew. We stopped by a grocery store on our way out of town to pick up some cans of our favorites. We’ll definitely be making another trip to Rhinegeist!

After gorging ourselves on beer, we headed down to Bunbury to take in some more great shows. We felt a little less guilty about indulging because the non-stop walking we did while at the festival. We saw one of our favorite bands, The Secret Sisters, play with the Ohio River as a backdrop. They are always amazing live. Last time we saw them was at the Hi-Fi in Indy, which is a pretty intimate venue. It was a completely different experience to see them on a giant stage playing to hundreds of people!

Another highlight of the day was seeing Kacey Musgraves perform. We had a great spot for her show and got to hear her sing one of her new songs from her upcoming album.

We left the festival shortly after The Avett Brothers started playing because we were absolutely exhausted.

Day Three

Our last day in Cincy seemed a lot more relaxing. We didn’t have any shows we wanted to get to until about 3:45, so we were able to hang around downtown for a bit before heading down to the Riverfront. We started our day with brunch right across the street from our hotel at Nada. We made a reservation after we saw it was pretty packed throughout the weekend. James decided to start his day with tequila since it was the last day of our minimoon.

We split chips and salsa to start and both ordered different variations of enchiladas. Everything tasted extremely fresh and the dishes weren’t too heavy, which was a nice change of pace after a couple days of eating extremely rich meals.

We decided to walk down to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center after brunch to check out some of the exhibits. I would highly recommend the museum — the building itself is beautiful and many of the exhibits were interactive. We really enjoyed walking through and learning a little more about the history of the Underground Railroad and the brave people who were involved.

There’s also an amazing view of the river from the second story balcony.

After a couple of hours at the museum, we headed down to catch our last shows of the weekend. We got to see Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, a group from Brown County. They put on one of the best shows of the entire festival with their powerful, unique spin on the blues. They had everyone up on their feet at one point, which was one of my favorite moments from the weekend. Go see them if they come through you area — you won’t be disappointed!

The last show of the weekend for us was Shakey Graves, who we saw perform in Indy a couple of months back. He put on another great show and it was the perfect way to end the weekend.

A lot of people looked at us like we were a little crazy when we said we were going to Cincinnati of all places for our minimoon, but we’re so glad we did. We had an absolute blast and are already talking about going back for a Cubs vs. Reds game! If you’re in the Midwest, it’s worth making a weekend trip over to Cincy.

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