Although I wanted to, I didn’t do anything too exciting over break. Usually my family and I are on a plane right after finals and headed to Arizona to visit my mom’s side of the family. But of course, Covid kind of got in the way of that. However, I did do a little traveling. After Christmas, my family and I visited Saint Louis. I expected it to be as cold as Illinois, but I learned it is always about 10 degrees warmer there than it is here. The first night, we went to get sushi at a restaurant called Sushi Ai. It was bomb let me tell you. In the middle of the restaurant they had a little station where you could watch them make the sushi, and then they brought it to your table. My sister and I ordered some salmon skin rolls which were super good, california rolls, and a rock-n-roll which has red snapper, salmon, and crab tempura. If you’re ever in St. Louis, I highly recommend Sushi Ai. What was also nice was that we stayed in a hotel right next to the arch, which is smack dab right in the middle of the city. That way we had a nice view of the arch from your hotel room, and we were a 5 minute walk from all the good eats in the city.

Our second day there, my dad wanted oysters for breakfast. I don’t know why, he’s just weird like that I guess. But, in the end it was super good. We ended up ordering raw oysters and oysters rockefeller. If you don’t know, oysters rockefeller just come with butter and a bunch of herbs on top. Super good! We also had some alligator bites (which just tasted like chicken), and we all got an order of shrimp and grits as well. That night we visited a nearby theater to watch a production of Cats. In my opinion, all I got from it was that there were a bunch of grown people in cat makeup singing and dancing, but I’m glad my mom enjoyed it. Our third day in St. Louis, we were all craving some soul food. Lucky for us, there was a soul food restaurant that was 3 minutes from our hotel. We got all the staples. Fried chicken, yams, greens, dressing, mac-n-cheese, fried okra, and fried green tomatoes. I know, a lot of fried food. But who doesn’t love fried food? After that we saw Saint Louis University which was super nice, visited the City Museum, and went up the arch! The arch has this small bubble shaped elevator/escalator type of thing that takes you up the arch so you can get a birds-eye view of the city. Once you get to the top, you’re able to see the Illinois side and the St. Louis side. Super cool! Overall, I’d rate our St. Louis trip a 10/10. Primarily for all the good food we ate!

A couple of days before school started, my family and I decided to do a staycation in Chicago, and spent the night in the city. We also decided to take the CTA to our hotel which was fun. I’m guessing you already know what we did when we got there. Yes, we ate! This trip was a little more laidback, so there wasn’t much sight-seeing. But for dinner that night, we went to one of my favorite restaurants, True Foods. Most of its food is vegan and gluten-free. I decided to get steak tacos, my mom got squash lasagna, and my sister got a vegan pizza. For desert we had my favorite, squash pie. Trust me, I know it sounds gross. But you have to at least give it a try if you ever find yourself at True Foods. In the morning, we got some walking in and then decided to head back, nothing fancy. I’d also rate our Chicago trip a 10/10.