Jenny and Jaleo

My cousin Jenny was in town for business, and we got a chance to meet up for dinner tonight. It was going to be a group outing with me, Liz, and Jenny… but the Covid booster from yesterday ended up hitting Liz pretty hard today.

I had slight reaction yesterday evening, but it mostly faded (an odd hour or two where I started sneezing and had a runny nose). But for Liz, she got sidelined for most of the day today… and ended up staying home.

Before dinner, we met at Pigtail (the adjoining Cocktail bar, underneath Jaleo).

Jenny also wasn’t feeling quite well (shaking off a migraine), and ended up getting a cocktail (sans alcohol).

I think she ended up getting the Melon Cloud (milagro blanco and reposado tequilas, aelred melon aperitif, lemon, chai, Mallorca melon and chamomile aromatic cloud).

I was reminded a lot of Aviary, and have a mental note to come back here to explore the cocktails more.

Side note: while not a native Chicagoan, Jenny’s been to a lot of top notch spots across Chicago, over her years/travels. A lot of my favorite go-to staples… she’s already been. So it was fun to try to find someplace new for her.

I think for my end, I got a kind of tropical martini. It was very light, and very flavorful. Really need to come back here and explore the menu more.

Upstairs at Jaleo, we got a few dishes to share. Sadly, the sandwich we got was somewhat similar… but not the Bikini de sobrasada Ibérica that I remember so fondly. It’s been a year, and I still think about that sandwich.

Over drinks and dinner, Jenny and I caught up a lot. We talked about our lives, our jobs, the rest of the Jung family. A lot of catching up.

One big topic we discussed was our lament that the families (and the cousins in particular) don’t really gather much anymore. At least, not since Grandma Phoebe passed.

She was the strong, central glue that pulled everyone back to Indianapolis over the years.

Jenny and I reminisced about the house that Grandma had on Brill Road, on the South side of Indianapolis. It was where our parents grew up, and where we as grand kids would go… and stay overnight.

We talked about how that house was such a central place, and marveled at how many of us were able to fit in there at once. We had piano and violin recitals in the formal living room, scores of kids sleeping in the family room (by my grandfather’s desk).

In our memories, the space was enormous… and we both realized that were we to go there now, as adults, we’d equally marvel at how small it actually was.

That was a long time ago, when we were kids – all of us cousins together. And we’re now at (or past) the point where many of the cousins have kids of their own, who are at the age we once were.

The idea of the cousins getting together is an interesting one. We’re all spread out over the country, but it seems that if we got one event organized… maybe, just maybe we could start a tradition where we might gather again. It would be a difficult thing to start up, after all these years. But not impossible.

In addition to family, we talked at length about work. And I got some good advice from her, drawing from Jenny’s many years working with teams, and in her various leadership roles.

Mandatory selfie, post-dinner. We met pretty early for drinks (circa 5:45 PM), and I think we said goodbye somewhere around 9:30 PM. A fun night out with a lot of catching up.

Related:
Tricia and Paige: Chicago Marathon 2023, Day 1
Catching Up with Jenny
Early Coffee with Jenny
Phoebe Jung: In Memoriam
Meet the Family