Successful Single: Volume I – Issue 3 October 31, 2007
In this issue:
- This Friday, November 2 – Gourmet Connections Beatles Bash Dinner at Bertucci’s in Highwood
- This Saturday, November 3 – Chicago Singles Dining Asian Fusion Feast and BYOB Wine Tasting at Thalia Spice in Chicago’s River West
- Next Friday, November 9 – Dinner at Highly Regarded (and Hot) New Trattoria 225 in Oak Park
- Next Sunday, November 11 – Outing to “Midwest Wine Expo” at Drury Lane in Oakbrook Terrace
- “At Halloween or Anytime, You Can Be Whoever You Want”
___________________________________________
Welcome to the third issue and the third week of Success Singles Club and “Successful Single,” our weekly newsletter. By now, you may have noticed that the Web sites have been changed. Modifications to the Gourmet Connections Web site (suburban parties) and Chicago Singles Dining have already been made to reflect the new club. The New Single Friends site will also change in the new couple of days.
Actual CG party planning and listings will also change, noting which parties are suggested for Gourmet Connections (suburban parties) and Chicago Singles Dining (city parties).
——————————————————————— Beatles Bash This Friday in Highwood; Asian Fusion with BYOB Wine Tasting Saturday in Chicago
———————————————————————
I hope that you are getting geared up for this weekend. Gourmet Connections and Chicago Singles Dining are hosting terrific outings this Friday and Saturday and two more next week. We hope that you will join in the fun and meet and get to know some new single friends.
It all gets started this Friday, November 2, when Gourmet Connections hosts “Dinner with the Beatles,” at Bertucci’s Steak and Seafood on Green Bay Road in Highwood. You’ll dine on hearty fare, with a choice of 6 mouth-watering entrees, from fish or chicken to prime rib.
After dinner, enjoy live music from the area’s best Beatles tribute band “Cavern Beat.” Those of you who were able to join us earlier this summer for our first Beatles dinner can attest to what a fun and nostalgic atmosphere the band creates. This is an “open party,” so you can bring all your friends.
Your entire evening is a very affordable $37 for members and $39 for non-members/guests. To attend, please sign up today at: www.GourmetConnections.com/singlepage.html or call me at 773-929-6534 with your card info.
********
Then, this Saturday, November 3, the Chicago Singles Dining and Social Club, the city branch of Success, hosts a fun Asian Fusion dinner feast with BYOB wine tasting. The venue for this special party is the enchanting new Thalia Spice Asian Fusion Bistro on Chicago Ave., near Halsted, in Chicago’s River West neighborhood. It’s not far from Japonais.
Enjoy eight unique dishes (soup, 3 appetizers, and 4 entrees) from Thailand, China, Malaysia and the Philippines. We’ll pair these with wines we bring to share and pass around. This is an “open party,” so you can bring your friends and their friends. If you want to participate in the BYOB wine tasting, please bring a bottle of red or white wine, retail $10-$15, to share. If you are not a wine drinker, you can bring other alcohol.
This dinner feast and BYOB winetasting is $39 for members, non-members and guests ($40 for walkins). To attend, sign up today at: www.ChicagoSinglesDining.com/singlepage.html or call me at 773-929-6534 with your card info.
*******
Next weekend, we have two outstanding parties planned. Friday night, November 9, we’ll be at Trattoria 225, the chic new rustic Italian restaurant at 225 Harrison Street in Oak Park. Chicago Magazine put this new restaurant on their “Hotlist.” This is one of the sharpest places I have seen in a while. The dinner party will be $42 for members and $45 for guests.
Sunday afternoon, November 11, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., we will be putting togehter an entourage of members and guests (open to all singles, regardless of past participation), to tour the Fall Midwest Wine Expo at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace. Taste your choices from more than 700 wines, and a dozen area restaurants. Tickets are available in advance through us for $30 ($10 less than you would pay at the door). Note: You must purchase your tickets through us to participate with our club.
================================================
Details for Upcoming Gourmet Connections, Chicago Singles Dining & New Single Friends Parties
================================================
When? – This Friday, November 2, 7:00 p.m. – MidnightWhat? – Dinner with the Beatles (Music) featuring “Cavern Beat” at the Popular North ShoreWhere? -
Bertucci’s Steak and Seafood
246 Green Bay Road (1 block North of Prairie) in Highwood
Join Gourmet Connections for an evening of nostalgic musical fun, along with the hearty steak house cuisine of Bertucci’s Steak and Seafood in Highwood. The evening features a post-dinner performance by accomplished Beatles tribute band, “Cavern Beat,” for your listening and dancing pleasure.
Your evening begins with a get-acquainted cocktail hour (cash bar) in Bertucci’s lounge.
This is followed by a full dinner featuring your choice of 6 tasty dishes:
- Vesuvio Half-Chicken – Baked with Herbs, Garlic, Olive Oil, Peppers and Vesuvio Potatoes
- “Queen’s Cut” 8 oz. Roasted Prime Rib of Beef
- Whitefish DeJonge – Broiled and covered with DeJonge Breadcrumbs
- 12 oz. Pork Chop Grilled Vesuvio Style
- Mama Lena’s Famous Homemade Tortellacci Pasta filled with Spinach, Asiago, Ricotta and Parmesan Cheeses and served with Your Choice of Sauces
- Blackend Fresh Tilapia with Cajun Seasonings
Dinner also includes soup or salad and appropriate sides.
After dinner, the music really gets going with the band performing all your Beatles favorites throughout the evening. Your full evening from cocktail party, dinner, taxes and tips, and live music is an affordable $37 for members and $39 for guests.
Dressy casual attire. Park in the restaurant lot. Sign up today at:
www.GourmetConnections.com/singlepage.html or call me at 773-929-6534 with your card info.
***********
When? – This Saturday, November 3, 7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.What? – An Affordable Feast of Marvelous Asian Fusion Cuisine with BYOB Wine Tasting at NewWhere? -
Thalia Spice Asian Fusion Bistro
833 W. Chicago Ave. (at Green Street, 1 block West of Halsted) in Chicago
The Chicago Singles Dining and Social Club hosts a family-style Asian Fusion dinner and wine get-together at Thalia Spice. It is an enchanting new restaurant located in Chicago’s River West neighborhood, not far from Japonais. This cozy and highly appealing gathering spot serves cuisine from Thailand, China, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Join single friends old and new in intimate surroundings. Your *Thalia Spice* adventure features wonderful food and warm ambiance. Upon arriving, our group will go directly to our tables to be seated. There, you’ll feast on a variety of flavorful dishes, sharing both cuisine and wine in a traditional fashion. If you wish to join in the BYOB wine tasting, you should bring a $10-$15 bottle of red or white wine to share.
Sit down to enjoy superb cuisine along with warm conversation and camaraderie. Your dinner feast will include ALL of the following:
- Volcano Soup, with Seafood, Mushrooms, Tomatoes and Onions in a Cilantro, Chili, Lemon Grass, Galangal and Coconut Milk Bisque
Plus three popular appetizers:
- Vegetable Egg Rolls with Cabbage Salad and Sauce
- Aroma Grilled Beef Wrapped in Hawaiian Leaves
- Grilled Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce and Cucumber Salad
And several entrées to share:
- Thalia Spice Fish featuring Grilled Salmon in an Exotic Sauce
- Beef Basil with Onions, Bell Peppers, Hot Peppers and Mushrooms
- Duck Curry – BBQ Duck, Cherry Tomatoes, Pineapple, Peas, Bell Pepper in a Coconut Milk Base with Traditional Spices
- Filipino Pansit Noodles, Stir-fried and Served with Chicken, Shrimp and Vegetables
Your evening, including dinner, corkage fee, taxes and tips is $39 for members, non-members or guests, plus the bottle of wine you bring. To attend, sign up today at: www.ChicagoSinglesDining.com/singlepage.html or call me (773-929-6534) with your card info.
***********************
Singles Notebook – “Get-Real” Thoughts and Opinions from Jim “Senny” Senhauser
“At Halloween or Anytime, You Can Be Whoever You Want”
When you and I were children, Halloween was always a special time. As little costumed characters, it was our chance to dress up as a super-hero, a pirate (though few of us understood what pirates really were), a beautiful princess, or something scary.
It was a time when we could make believe that we were those things, and, for that day or evening, we actually were. Our parents and the neighbors on the block would fawn over us and tell us how strong, big, brave, scary or beautiful we looked. Even for a kid like me who stood all of 3 foot 6 inches, it was a chance to feel 8 feet tall. Sadly, those feelings were not destined to last.
As we grew older, somehow the words or actions of our parents or grandparents (when we were no longer so adorable), our teachers, our peers, our “exes,” our siblings (especially the older ones), our bosses, other adults and numerous other sources imbedded in us and made us overly aware of what we couldn’t do rather than what we could. Through negative talk or actions to limit certain behaviors (regardless of how well-intended), they often reinforced to us that we were either “too this” (little, weak, young, fat, poor, bad, lazy) or “not enough that” (smart, pretty, capable, realistic, mature, talented or whatever). We learned what we couldn’t hope to achieve rather than what we could dream to become.
The “Catch 22″ off all this is that often in trying to help us, they stomped on those feelings that in this life we could be anything we wanted. In trying to protect us, shape our character, punish us, shield us from disappointment or, worst of all, raise their own esteem, these mostly well-intended people around us instead sometimes succeeded only in limiting our potential.
Through their comments or deeds, they managed to reinforce our insecurities, make us feel guilty, be controlling, dwell on our flaws instead of our strengths, stifle our imagination and otherwise make us reluctant to make decisions, make our own mistakes or learn to take calculated risks and their consequences. Today, the self-doubt and pessimistic internal talk that creep into our subconscious are often a result of this prolonged negative reinforcement.
I was lucky. Overall, my parents were very supportive. They listened to me and let me make most of my own decisions and personal choices. They showed confidence and trust in me. So, while they did not buy into my desire for our family to replace the dining room table with a pool table, they did not make me feel stupid for suggesting that possibility. In the end, their support built my confidence.
Knowing many of you (and just knowing human nature in general), I would guess that not all of you were as lucky as I was. Your Halloween fantasies of being a super-hero, a beautiful princess or a pirate have long since been squelched by actions or talk from others (and now by you yourself) that limit your confidence and ultimately, your potential. You’ve got to fight it. You simply cannot let your “inner talk,” those negative thoughts and insecurities that people around you have planted in you psyche, keep you from being who you want to be.
You don’t have to be the perfect husband, wife, lover, parent, boss, employee, buddy, girlfriend, dancer, writer, singer or athlete to become the best one you can be. You just have to once again become confident that this is possible and that you deserve no less. Yes, possible for you, not just for other people. You can be as beautiful, friendly, considerate, kind, bright, likeable and lovable as you allow yourself to be.
I am not suggesting that you blame those who implanted any negative self-limiting thoughts within you. Just recognize what happened, forgive them and move forward resolutely with confidence.
So, during this Halloween season, it is time for you to once again actually become a super-hero. You are bright, talented, and strong enough to conquer those imaginary scary monsters that too often sit on your shoulders like gargoyles trying to beat you down. Cast out the curses of self-doubt, self-pity and self-talk that try to convince you that “you’re too this and not enough that” to be who you really want to be. Like monsters in the closet, the ones on your shoulders will disappear when you finally shine a light on them.
It’s also time to once again become that beautiful princess or that brave pirate (whatever that is) or just that strong, capable, decisive person you want to be. Remember, it is up to you to choose whether to believe that you can or to think that somehow you cannot. Your actions will follow your attitudes, and it’s absolutely scary how much you can accomplish if you just believe that you can.
So, may today, Halloween, and tomorrow and the next day, once again become the ones of your childhood dreams where you can be whoever you want to be.
Successful Single! ©2007 – Success Singles Club, Ltd. (formerly the Gourmet Advocates, Ltd.)
Jim Senhauser’s “Singles Notebook” column (used with permission) is ©2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 IdeaTree, Ltd., Chicago, IL 60613. “IdeaTree” is a registered trademark of IdeaTree, Ltd.