Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Dan and I had fun on Sunday. . . first stop, the magical wonderland of Salvage One on Hubbard Street. I want everything contained within its four giant walls.


This chair makes me want to wear pearls and drink cocktails whose preparation involved bitters and a muddler.


I think Dan dreams of performing on this stage. Who wouldn't? It's gorgeous.

He looks so natural there. . . maybe someday soon. . .



Both 623 S. Wabash and Not 623 S. Wabash


This building is not 623 S. Wabash. It's directly across the street from 623 S. Wabash. But the light show is being cast upon it by the late-day sun hitting the windows of 623 S. Wabash and reflecting back. I don't know what accounts for the extreme variation in shape, but it was lovely to see. . .

The building in this photo is not 623 S. Wabash, but surely the photo captures a record--removed as it may be--of 623 S. Wabash.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

How Pretty. . .

She doesn't have a name yet. . . but she will. A sweet little concert-sized ukulele. Let's see if I learn to play her. I sure hope so. If I could, I would do this:



Yah for the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra. . . and for ukuleles in general. They're the sound of happiness.

I Still Miss Someone Cover--Yeah!

I convinced Daniel. Enjoy Scott and Daniel Phillips and Nathan Blake Lynn doing a cover of Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone" at the Wrigleyville Uncommon Grounds.

Nina from the Netherlands

Gee Whitakers, I love Ninainvorm's designs. Her screenprinted re-purposed ceramics are so filled with joy. . . I want to fill my kitchen up.

http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.124082603.jpg

http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.123379172.jpg

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Check out her charming blog, too!

Zapruder Point, Monologue Bombs, Nathan Blake Lynn

The Dan (Zapruder Point) and his twin brother Scott (aka the Monologue Bombs) played Uncommon Grounds with Nathan Blake Lynn a few weekends ago and I said nothing. . . Because I am a bad wife. And maybe a bad friend, because if you didn't go, you really missed out. It was a great night.

Nathan was up first and played country music that was filled with humor and charm. If Johnny Cash was still alive and still had a variety show on air, Nathan would be invited to perform. . . or if we figure out time travel, Nathan could surely slip back in time and sneak on the show. In his 3-piece tan corduroy suit and his gentle=y funny patter between amazing songs, he would fit right in there.

Dan has a new guitar--a jazz master. This was his first show taking it out for a spin. And I sadly didn't get a good shot of the two of them together.

Here's Dan and Scott singing Dan's "Johnny Without June." I'm hoping Dan will help me to post Dan, Scott and Nathan combining to sing Cash's "I Still Miss Someone" a little later.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Today Looked Like Spring

It didn't really feel like it, because it's still chilly out, but skies were blue, the sun was shining, there are buds on the trees and spinach is growing in the cold frame in the backyard.

It's such great news. I need spring to get here as quickly as possible.

In the interest of speeding it along. I worked on spring projects and dreamed of the house I would want to live in if it was spring already (and if cost or heating and cooling and my own need for privacy were no object).

First the house. . .

Brought to you by Japanese architectural design company, Suppose Design Office. And my favorite, by far, is the house in Buzen, especially in spring when the light is so changeable at the end of the day. How great would it be to get to enjoy that light pouring in through your glass ceilings between your cozy boxed up vanilla ice cream lit rooms?

Check out the Suppose Design Office website and look at the rest of their homes. They're all Modern (with a capital M--and Minimalist with a capital as well) and filled with light. The SDO also features highchairs or rocking horses or children's toys somewhere within a shot in every home--despite almost all of the designs featuring odd bi-level builds with no railings or fall-prohibiting structures at the edge of one story tall precipices in, say, living rooms or bedrooms.

Besides this gorgeous one story Buzen house, the rest seem like resplendently gorgeous parental nightmares.

But even without a glass ceiling, the view from my front porch today was perfectly lovely:


And inside I was making delightful small and/or springy things.




French or British Chicago

It took so long to post about our trip to New York (which I swear I am almost over, though my attention to fashion is still 20% higher than before the start of the trip), that I've fallen behind on the fun stuff we're doing here. . .

Last Sunday, the temperature in Chicago spiked and all of the snow in the city melted contributing to a European strength fog that dimmed and hushed our neighborhood.


And because of the warmer than usual temperatures and the surprising weather event outside, I decided to crack open Simone and Ines Ortega's 1080 Recipes and make a Spanish treat for dinner--Galician Pie:


You mix up the dough right on the counter top (I could have done it in the food processor, but when weather change inspires fancy cooking, you really should let it all be a challenge).


Pretty Galician pie. The innards are ridiculous--chicken, Chorizo, a third sausage of your choosing, plus "rustido" (a savory/sweet vegetable base of onion and garlic and seasoning), blackened and peeled red peppers, and I added blanched spinach and tiny fried potato cubes.


Even prettier when fully cooked.


The dough part of this recipe was a little disappointing. Not very much flavor--and that's not what you want to discover when you look back on the 20 minutes of kneading the dough needed to be ready for rising. Otherwise, it was amazing. . .

Saturday, March 13, 2010

NYC Day 4: Last Long Walk


Our last day, wedding over, guests all leaving, we had a flight out at 4. So, we checked our bags at the hotel and went for our last long Manhattan walk of the trip. The last time I visited, NYC was overwhelming and while I had fun, I was also pretty glad to leave. But this time, walking through the city--from the East Village over to NYU campus, Washington Square and up to the Flat Iron building on Fifth--I could tell I was going to miss it this go around.


Our lovely hotel--the Cooper Square Hotel.


We had breakfast at the Moonstruck Cafe. I like their mugs and their coffee (and sadly, nothing else).


Just liked this sign. So, cute. It was a little Asian bakery and grocery right next to St. Mark's books.



A shop window on Fifth Avenue was filled with robots made out of discarded hardware and industrial parts--made by Bennett Robot Works. I pretty much wanted all of them, but here are my favorites.









New York was magical. I understood this visit why people fall in love with the city. I didn't want to leave. . . but I couldn't afford to stay. Dan and I had a marvelous time and were bone tired by the time we boarded the plane. The last time I felt that level of happy exhaustion was when we spent a week in Acadia National Park in Maine.


headed home again.

NYC Day 3: Mitra Orders the Blizzard to Stop

Right before the wedding, it's as if my buddy Mitra declared that the blizzard and the overcast grey weather in NYC simply had to cease. She's a very powerful woman. She could control such things if she put her mind to it.

And then New York was lit up in gorgeous late day light for everyone's cab rides over to the Foundry in Long Island City.