Farewell Dinner: Perfection

Last night Marie and I decided to indulge in a farewell dinner for ourselves. The spot: Sweets and Savories in Lincoln Park. It was one of the restaurants in our deck of discount cards and its review in the Sun-Times as "a destination of the savviest foodie" set our expectations high. As if that weren't enough, it's BYOB (we had a bottle of champagne chilled and waiting in the fridge) and Tuesday night they offer half price dinner!

The stars aligned and we were able to score a reservation due to a cancellation. Originally it was going to be three of us; but when our third got stuck late at work, it was back to the dynamic (and inseparable) duo. Fitting.

A little quirky best describes both the staff and atmosphere of Sweets and Savories. It's small--one rectangular room with seating for about fifty--and three wall posters sums it up for decor. Each staff member we encountered shared a curious timid demeanor, soft-spoken to the point of irritation and seemingly uncertain of how to respond to questions.

But oh the food. After a fifteen minute deliberation, we decided on two appetizers--a butternut squash risotto with crispy sage leaves and a gnocchi with escargot, mushrooms, and harvest vegetables. The latter was a risky move, as I've never had escargot and was a little nervous, but it was salty and delicious. For an entree we split the amberjack--a meaty white fish, much like halibut--served with lentils and tomato butter sauce. It was a tough choice as other menu options included a yummy-sounding gourmet burger, seared scallops (perhaps my favorite food), and a NY strip that I enviously spied on more than one table. But the fish was superb, especially the sauce, and it was a perfect portion for sharing.

When our waiter gave us the dessert menu, we took one look and said in unison, "Berry Cobbler." It was no contest and our instincts were right-on. Sweet but not overly so, and with a crumbly crispy crust, and a scoop of lavender ice-cream, it was the perfect finish to an outstanding meal meant to celebrate an amazing summer.

Lollapalooza, in pictures (from a disposable camera)

WET RATS


Thank you Walgreens for the functional and fashionable ponchos. 
Thievery Corporation 


Passion Pit, "Little Secret"

Techno Stage

Some long-awaited pics

Pritzker Pavilion 
Sears Tower- View from the bottom (Line was too long for a view from the top)

Before our bike ride. The owner of the bike shop thought he was a professional photographer. He ensured us that, "This [meaning, shooting from below] is the way they all want it" (???)

I love this one. Not just because it shows how far we biked!

Some Thoughts on Reading, and one Great (Chicago-related) Book in Particular

I'm ashamed to admit that I just finished my second book of the summer. I'll chalk it up to my general distraction with other things, the upsurge in my online reading, and the recent failure of my usually strong ability to judge a book by its cover.

My literary habits this summer prove, without a doubt, that I'm all or nothing when it comes to books. If I'm not into it--recent examples include, Tipperary, Running in the Family, The Lady Elizabeth, My Life in France--reading is the painful process of forcing myself to get through two pages a night before nodding off, book in hand. I rarely make it to Chapter Two. 

On the other hand, I just finished a 500+ page novel in 3 days, engulfing the last third in a mere afternoon. I'm not bragging--the extremism of my reading style is less than ideal. My literary pursuits often leave me in disheartened reading lows, or else all-consuming highs, and I end up, addict that I am, trying to prolong the feeling, refusing to close the book until I've read through the Acknowledgements, About the Author, and sometimes even the painful Reading Group Guide. 

But I digress. This blog is about Chicago, and I am writing this post because my latest fix was Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife. Truth be told, it came to my attention the same way it probably did for many of the other readers who helped put it back on the bestseller list--the recent movie adaptation. However, I can safely say that the author's Chicago roots and the setting of the book in my current hometown were what pushed me to buy it. 

With one of the most creative plots of any book I have read, Time Traveler's Wife hooks you with its unpredictability and wand-less, spell-less magic. Its beauty as a love story will appeal to the most hopeless of romantics, while the tough questions it raises about time, knowledge and free will, would keep your college philosophy professor satisfied. 

Word to the wise: With the first few chapters, stop scratching your head and over-thinking it. Resist the temptation to give up as the chronology gets shifty and the events more unbelievable. Submit to the element of fantasy, and, like Henry, the time traveling protagonist, just hang on for the ride. 

Thanks Tom!

The Art Institute of Chicago has been free on Thursday and Friday evenings all summer. For the past, oh, I don't know, seven weeks, Marie and I have vowed that this will be the week we go. Somehow though, our last Thursday in Chicago arrived and we hadn't yet made it to this showpiece of the city's cultural attractions.

Even though I was feeling a little out of sorts (please don't be swine flu), I'm very glad we went. We started in the Modern Wing, but after one exhibit (which, I would describe as pleasant to look at but unimpressive as far as artistic skill goes) we opted for the classics.

A few favorites: from an interesting special exhibit on wine in art, one in particular stood out; the impressionists, as always, delighted, especially Monet's haystack series, of which this one was particularly beautiful; this giant piece gives the sense that the people are going to walk right off the canvas; and this, which I had never seen before, made me want to go to the circus. Hopper's Nighthawks made me nostalgic for a favorite quirky professor. The large crowd surrounding it, staring at it intently, made me wonder aloud to Marie whether famous pieces like this are actually better than those that we skim over, or whether we simply see them as brilliant because we have been told they are.

We checked off another long neglected item on our to-do list Thursday night: eat at Frontera restaurant. Since our first visit to the grocery store, we have been buying the made-for-stores salsa from this hot-spot Chicago eatery. Rick Bayless, the chef behind Frontera and its two neighboring restaurants Topolobampo and XOCO, is somewhat of a celebrity figure, having recently starred on (and won) Top Chef Masters.

Buying into the buzz behind Bayless and his restaurants, with the bar set high by the salsas (they really are that good), and with Marie's stepdad's generous blessing to go out for a good dinner (see blog title), we perched ourselves at the crowded bar and ordered up a couple of margaritas.

Unfortunately, I have to say I'm going to be sticking to jarred salsa by Bayless, and I might even go so far as to offer my services as guacamole chef for his restaurants. The guac was bland, in need of salt and lime, and the lame excuse for a bowl of salsa was neither wide nor deep enough to give a chip a good dunk. The chips were the saving grace, not too greasy, and good and thick and crispy. Desperately wanting Frontera to live up to our expectations, we ordered another appetizer, sopes rancheros--"crispy corn masa boats with savory shredded beef, roasted tomatoes, avocado and homemade fresh cheese"--which were tasty but nothing special. Though I had hoped for more behind this so-called master chef, I'm glad we checked it out, because I would have always wondered about the restaurant behind all the hype--and the phenomenal jarred salsa.

Google can Cook!

I think I'm late getting on this bandwagon, but I'm excited about it anyway. 

After deciding that I wanted to make something good for dinner tonight, I surfed around on my go-to recipe website. As we are laughably low on kitchen staples--spices, utensils, cookware, space--all the recipes were looking like they were going to be more trouble than they were worth. I had decided on a fallback--chicken fajitas--when I happened upon this blog posting mentioning a Google capacity I had never heard about. If you type a list of ingredients into Google and search, it brings up a litany of recipes using pretty much exactly what you put in (and to my delight, in most cases, not much more). We had the puzzling trio of chicken breast, spinach, and sweet potatoes on hand, and with one click of my mouse, voila!, I got a recipe made to order to those exact ingredients. I'm happy to say we are in the process of making a chicken and blackbean quesadilla, with spinach and sweet potato, and judging by the smells wafting from my teeny tiny kitchen, it's going to be delicious...and ready just in time for the season premier of Gossip Girl. 

Lincoln Park Conservatory

A few pics from our pit-stop on the way to the Arts Faire. 

Lincoln Park Art Faire

This weekend Lincoln Park hosted its 12th annual Art Faire. The signs have been up for a few weeks and I had marked my calender--it's been a while since I've been to streetfest, and it was only a few blocks south of my new apartment. 

The day couldn't have been better for it: bright blue sky, not a cloud, and a perfect 75 degrees.  

Without a doubt the most low key street festival I've been to all summer, it was all art and no play on this block. Not surprisingly, the craftsmanship on display was better than the average fest fare. There was some particularly stunning photography, but I fell in love with the jewelry by Chicago native, Rebecca Zemans. Simple, classic pieces of hammered silver and gold, I could have bought the entire collection. I especially loved this necklace, and the middle one here, and I tried this ring in silver and it was perfect. 

Bugs and Butterflies with my Babysitting

I've been babysitting for a great little boy for the past couple of weeks, hitting the park, the zoo, and today, an awesome museum that I didn't even know existed. Weird, because it's three blocks from my apartment, and I've always seen people walking around or on top of it (it has a roof garden). It's the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. And though it was full of school children on fieldtrips who were thrilled with the amazing butterfly habitat, adults can definitely get something out of it. Especially it's exhibit on how to be more "green."

A Review I wrote for Gapers Block

Here's the link to a review I wrote for Gapers Block, a Chicago centered web publication. Check it out (and by "it," I mean the whole web site, not just my posting!)

Give me some Downward Dog, I'll Keep my Dollars

I started off the summer on the hunt for free (or cheap) stuff. Food, clothes, fitness, fun, you name it, I was out to find it for as few of my precious pennies as possible. 

Looking back on the summer, I've been able to score the generally pricey activity of yoga for relatively cheap in several different places. I thought I'd recap on the deals I snagged and the studios themselves, for anyone who, like me, loves yoga but is short on cash. 

If you recall, my first week here, I attended two free sessions of classic vinyasa yoga: one on the roof of a building, and one in Belmont Harbor, overlooking the lake. Since they were free, I can't complain; and the views from both unconventional locales were beautiful (though slightly distracting). 

As I settled in, I moved on to bigger and better things: namely, heated vinyasa yoga. The first studio we tried, Om on the Range, offers 75 minute Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga, which is my favorite kind. It's strenuous and energetic, and after attending 5 out of 7 days of my New Student Unlimited Week ($20) I could see and feel the difference in my body. I liked this studio because it offered a wide variety (including Bikram, hour-long Vinyasa, as well as the aforementioned Baptiste Vinyasa), the instructors were knowledgeable but not too chatty, and the atmosphere was a equal parts tranquil and exhilarating. 

Next, we moved down to the South Loop to the CorePower Yoga studio. This is a national chain, and you can tell the minute you walk in. Commercial and untraditional, this studio offers swipe cards, merchandise with its logo, and a class option that involved weights. That said, its introductory special is unbeatable--a week of unlimited yoga, FREE! Besides the drawbacks above, a couple other things kept me from taking full advantage of my seven days: first, it was far from my apartment, and second, they ALWAYS played music, and did so WAY too loud, jerking me out of my meditative yogi state and giving me a headache. 

And this brings us to my present practice at Bikram Yoga Chicago, where they offer a generous unlimited MONTH for $29. Despite my preference for the Power Vinyasa variety--Bikram is much hotter, and with its stagnant postures and repetition is more boring--the deal was really too good to pass up. I'll admit that the first class was tough to get through, but I have since gone two more times, and I have a feeling by the time my month's up I might be a convert. 

Hmmm

By chance I picked up today’s copy of RedEye, a free daily newspaper, while I was waiting for the bus. Must have been my ESP acting up because I turn to page four and there is an opinion piece on DC. I literally laughed out loud on the (very) crowded bus. Just read it.

A Mom and a Move

It's been a busy last few days. First, I got a much-needed last minute visit from my mom over the weekend. We did all the fun stuff--shopping, great dinners, long walks, a bike ride, general catching up. And, I almost forgot, a trip to the casino. 

Yes, my mother and I spent Saturday afternoon at Harrah's Casino in suburban Illinois. Little known fact: a short thirty minute drive from Chicago, you can find yourself amidst shuffling cards, ringing slot machines, and whirring roulette wheels. 

I can't take the credit for this adventure. We were visiting relatives--my mom's cousin--and rather than spend the day sitting around small-talking, the Illinois kin thought it would be more fun to spend the day gambling. 

I'll admit I was more than a little skeptical. But it was a great time! Two highlights: watching a guy one table over from us win big--240,000 dollars big; and walking away with a hundred dollars in winnings of my own. 

I was sad to see my mom leave on Sunday, but I didn't have much time to be mopey. We had to be out of, what I have come to call Melrose Place, by midnight on Monday. Not that it would be too hard for us nomads to relocate to our next camp site. It was touch and go for a little, especially when it came to moving our clunker of a couch down a flight of stairs alone (only to leave it on the curb for the taking), but with the help of a luggage cart, we managed to get it done just in time to catch the tail end of the sunset from our new Wrightwood Ave roof deck!