Monday, October 31, 2005

Cool, But Is It Cheating

As you may have seen, my pumpkin carving skills are not so great...but they are all natural. This pumpkin with Napoleon Dynamite in it is super cool, but also super stencilled...does that matter? I think it's cheating. But we're talking about pumpkin carving, so who really cares one way or the other?

Cool either way.

(Click on the title to see more pumpkins from this guy).

Shopgirl

Yesterday afternoon two neighbors, the boyfriend and I went to Landmark Century Theater and saw Shopgirl.

When I read the book, I was surprised how easily I forgot that Steve Martin was the author. I didn't even consider Ray Porter, a suitor of the shopgirl Mirabelle, as a stand-in for Steve Martin...but it seems that Martin did.

A sweet story about a woman working in a department store and how her life gets flipped upside down in a little town called...well, Los Angeles. It was funny, sad and charming. Steve Martin has huge hands and it's always a little strange seeing him do sexual scenes, especially when they're not funny. But it's not so strange that you can't get involved in the story. So I say, watch this movie...it won't change your life, but it won't make you mad that you spent money seeing it...and if it does, that's not my fault.

Also. Grey's Anatomy is a very good show. I hold it in high esteem.

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Dim Sum c/o Furama Part Eight

Another fabulous Sunday dim sum. We had a first-timer who seemed to enjoy himself, which is a relief...because if he hadn't liked dim sum I would have had to shun him...and no one wants to be the shunner.

This table below has a lazy susan. My dim sum goal in life is to get enough people to sit at such a table and then spin the lazy susan round and round...mmmm...dizzy dim sum.

Pumpkin Carving Party...PCP For Short

After the Lake Michigan walk and some down time in the apartment (I finished the Hornby novel I was reading), the boyfriend and I publicly transported ourselves to Logan Square for a pumpkin carving party. Our hostesses offered us homemade apple and pumpkin pies, an addictive salmon dip and other halloweeny treaties. A fellow guest contributed Harry Potter jelly beans which came in this range of flavors (I'm sure I'll miss a few): dirt, earthworm, sardine, grass, earwax, boogers, soap and spaghetti. Not one of the flavors was at all a pina colada type taste experience...I, the lover of all things seafood, had to spit out the sardine one.
When first invited to the party, I decided I would come sans pumpkin...but in the end I didn't. The above pumpkin is mine and is a fairly accurate depiction of all jack-o-lanterns I have ever made...in my entire life.
What else? The other night I watched Runaway Jury due to a long ago recommendation from a friend (who's no patsy) telling me it was far better than the previews made it look. I agree. The boyfriend and I actually had a decent conversation about gun control afterwards. I'm currently listening to holopaw, a band I got from a SAIC friend who had to put all her music on my hard drive in order to re-install software on hers, I like it...you should give it a try.

Daylight savings. Woo<---that's an ironic woo, not a heartfelt one.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Fatting The Walk Off

After Ann Sather, a walk was definitely in order. We walked south along Lake Michigan and I was, once again, overwhelmed by how close we are to it...and how beautiful it is. We encountered a dog park and I was, once again, overwhelmed by how much I want to have a dog that I can allow to run around in the lake.

I may not have a dog, but I do have a job at a doggie daycare place! Woo hoo!

We came across a hole in the sand (see above) and with the camera's flash, got to see what the bottom looked like (see below).
See the lady bug's trail? Pretty cool.

Sticking mostly to my neighborhood and downtown (where school is), I often feel like Chicago isn't all that big a place. But when I saw the views of the cityscape, I remembered what a sprawling and gigantic city Chicago really is...so much to explore, so much to eat, so much and so much.

Eggs Benedict c/o Ann Sather


Ann Sather eggs benedict are delicious. The boyfriend and I split two versions, the original and smoked salmon eggs benedict. Both versions were stupendous. The cinnamon rolls were also all they were chalked up to be.

I've only been to Ann Sather three times, but I feel relatively confident in saying that their staff is, by far, one of the friendliest. Every time I've been there my server has been attentive and nice...this matters to me.

Friday, October 28, 2005

Beachcomber's Fantasy c/o Adria Mare

The boyfriend and I went to Adria Mare Restaurant for dinner tonight. I was hoping that Adria Mare could be the Chicago equivalent to my favorite mid-state New York restaurant, Diaspora.
We ordered a feta cheese tartlett as an appetizer (see above). The boyfriend and I were both expecting something a little more wonton-like but what came instead was good. There was a bit of dressing on each tartlett (which consisted of one slice tomato, one slice boiled egg, one black olive and a chunk of feta cheese) that really made all the different elements come together nicely.
I had the 'Beachcomber's Delight', mussels with a tomato sauce over spaghetti. It was a tad too sweet (they added a 'hint' of brown sugar to the sauce) for my taste, but the mussels were excellent.
The boyfriend had the garden risotto, which I was a little jealous of....in light of not liking my dish as much as I thought I would. Perhaps the lowest-light of the meal was the constant barrage of terrible music. For example, Italian tenors or baritones or maybe they weren't Italian at all, singing songs like Unchained Melody and My Way a)in another language and (more importantly/more hard to takely) b)as if it was opera. We also got to listen to a guy who could only be Harry Connick Junior sing covers of many songs, including those of The Beatles...eek!
I also had an espresso. This place is B.Y.O.B., but doesn't seem to have a corkage fee. I'm not heartily recommending it, but there wasn't anything bad about it either...except the music, that was bad.

Ah, Moving Pictures

Okay, well, I have been trying to upload images to accompany this post but Blogger is being fickle. So I'm going to have post this without any visual aids...sorry.

The boyfriend and I had a marathon session of Arrested Development last night. And by marathon I mean we watched the entire third disc of the first season...and all of you who told me I should watch it were correct, I apologize for any doubts I ever expressed.

We also watched Off the Map with Joan Allen and Sam Elliot (and the guy who played the mean white power guy on Oz/the psychiatrist on Law and Order). This movie, about a family living in New Mexico in the late 60s/early 70s and the IRS agent who comes to audit them, has many funny moments. Though, overall, it is not so funny. I can't decide if I recommend it or not. Things it has going: funny moments, interesting plot, moments of great acting and beautiful landscapes. Things it has going against it: weird moments of bad acting, heavy handedness, moments where it seems like the movie was originally a play (I haven't researched this).

I'm half way done with reading Nick Hornby's book, A Long Way Down.

I'm going on a job interview today. We'll see how that goes.

Sorry for the lack of photographs.

Do You Know?

Yesterday I was bemoaning my bad person status at length.
I then turned to the boyfriend and said something to the effect of:
-You're so good, how can you be good all the time. There must be like, major psychological ramifications to being so good.
To which the boyfriend replied:
-Do you know how much chocolate I eat in a day?


(nuff said)

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Sushi c/o Indie Cafe

After a slightly more rousing episode of my Popular Art and Culture class (we learned all about Japanese pop culture) I met up with the boyfriend for sushi at Indie Cafe. Indie Cafe has both Thai and Japanese cuisine and a pretty nice selection of lunch specials. I had the spicy sushi lunch special: One piece salmon, one piece red snapper and one piece tuna along with three spicy tuna rolls and three spicy salmon rolls. I also had an order of tobikko and was very happy to find that it was a little zebra-like. By this I mean that it consisted of orange tobikko, black tobikko and (my personal favorite) wasabi tobikko all in one piece! The special included miso soup and seaweed salad and cost nine dollars. It was, shall we say, sushi-riffic...or we could not say that at all...except that I just did.

The boyfriend and I finished off the meal with a spider roll (fried soft shell crab, tobikko, cucumber and avocado).

The Boyfriend Makes Dinner

The boyfriend made dinner last night...not for the first time and not for the last...I'm just making it clear that he's not some guy who never cooks, if anything he is totally a guy who cooks. Regardless, he made a Middle Eastern Salad and spaghetti with a tomato clam sauce. Very nice indeed.

White Sox won the world series, that's pretty big...didn't hear any car horns or anything though.

The boyfriend and I watched a heck of a lot of Arrested Development episodes. Very funny stuff.

Off to my early morning classy.

Beets and Brussels Sprouts, Always A Winning Combination

Regular beets, yellow beets and brussels sprouts in olive oil, soy sauce, dash of ginger and dash of wasabi powder.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Responsiblity

Being responsible is hard.

Breakfast In My Belly

I usually don't eat breakfast...unless it's a Saturday or Sunday in Red Hook, New York. But today I made an exception and fashioned myself some grub. Two fried eggs (one with melted mozzarella), two strips of cooked prosciutto and a whole grain english muffin. Tasty times.

Music Is Hard

So. Though I should be doing something else...I just spent some time looking around the i tunes store and have gotten myself all confused.

If you were me what would you buy?
Halloween, Alaska
Wolf Parade
** Vanderslice
Sufjan Stevens
Fiona Apple
Franz Ferdinand
Clay Your Hands Say Yeah
Joanna Newsome
Iron + Wine
The Shins
or
Ashlee Simpson's new album.

These are hard times.

Just A Wrap

For lunch yesterday I made myself a 'gourmet' wrap. Bit of mayonaise, drab of dijon mustard, two slices brie cheese, one quarter avocado, two slices honey roasted turkey, a few strips of smoked salmon and a smattering of capers. All rolled up and eaten...by me.

Can I just say that last night was a pretty crazy night in terms of television. First there was an episode of Gilmore Girls that was just great...and then there was the longest world series game in history! I could barely keep my eyes open at the end. Those Astros sure like to break their fans' hearts. Baseball, who knew?

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Wine Night The Final Frontier

Another delightful, albeit smaller, wine night. Our hostess provided a Moroccan rice dish, chips and hummus and yummy chocolate chip cookies.

And I got to borrow the first season of Arrested Development to boot.

Monday, October 24, 2005

New Couch

This be the new couch. Awe inspiring it be.

Woo Hoo One Thousand Two!

I've been meaning to post a little snippet on the book I finished a few days back called Eleanor Rigby by Douglas Coupland. This author also wrote Microserfs, an entertaining book about a group of Microsoft employees who defect.

Eleanor Rigby has nothing to do with computer nerds. It is about a lonely woman and how her life becomes a little less lonely. The ending is a let down, but everything leading up to it is pretty great. Read it.

On another note, thank you all for helping this blog reach its 1,000th visitor. If you like, you can pick up your prize (did I tell you there's a prize for being one of the first 1,000?) of either one Hershey's hug or a heaping helping of mashed potatoes by simply posting a comment and living in Chicago and maybe this isn't true.

My First Roasted Chicken

Last night I made my first roasted chicken. To be precise, I made my first herb butter roasted chicken.

Too much food for two people? Yes.
Leftovers for the rest of our natural born lives? Yes.
Feeling of accomplishment and ownership of bragging rights? Yes.
Desire to invite people to our house to help us not explode with chickeny goodness? Yes.
Along with the chicken I made mashed potatoes to feed an army,roasted vegetables (brussels sprouts, baby carrots and broccoli) and a red and yellow beet salad with a goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. Oh, and of course, fresh from the can cranberry sauce.


So last night's series game was pretty rough. The Astros were ahead, then they were behind and then in the top of the ninth there was a pretty amazing play that ended with a tied score. Then the White Sox managed to come back and win by one...the guy who hit the home run didn't hit a single home run in the regular season but has hit two in the series...weird.

Today the boyfriend and I are going to go get ourselves a couch...yes folks, you heard me, a C-O-U-C-H! I've never been part of the purchasing of a couch, new or old, so this is very exciting.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Dim Sum c/o Furama Part Seven




Nothing like dim sum after a late night!

Game One at Gamekeepers

Last night we went to Gamekeepers and met up with a gaggle of friends to watch the first game of the world series (should I capitalize 'world series'?). Many pitchers of Miller Lite, mild chicken wings, jalapeno poppers, chicken strips and onion rings were consumed.

I had a lot riding on this game, specifically two orange tic tacs for the White Sox against two gel mint breath things. The White Sox won and I got to experience intense minty breath in a liquidy bubble the size of a baby pearl. I am, in reality, rather impartial as to who I want to win. I have a feeling it will be the Astros...but then I also have a feeling it's going to be the White Sox. Guess I'll just have to wait and find out. Either way, very good game and time had by all.

This is my second visit to Gamekeepers. It was far more crowded for the World Series than it had been the first time around. Josh Groban sang the National Anthem and I thought him a tool. Liz Phair sang a song too but I couldn't figure out what it was...it was too loud...and probably better that way.


This is a picture of me crunched in a corner...tilt your head to the right for the full effect (blogger still hasn't fixed this very annoying problem of not allowing me vertical images...bastards).

After the game we went to another bar full of men wearing dress shirts, baseball caps and jeans and women wearing tight pants and plunging necklines. I danced ironically and forgot our umbrella. I also made a bad decision about which way to get to the subway and so the boyfriend and I ended up walking far far far out of our way (up Lincoln and then many blocks over on Belmont) before finally getting on a train.

Memorable quote on the train (the boyfriend and I couldn't help but laugh outloud...I really wanted to point, but I didn't):
Boy 1 to Boys 2 & 3:
"Dude, I'm never playing flippy cup again. Those girls were in the flippy cup olympics."

Maybe you had to be there?

Hail


On the train yesterday I became mometarily confused when I saw a number of roofs with a substance resembling snow on them. The boyfriend explained that it was hail. This was my best attempt at documenting the roofs (not a very good job, if I do say so myself).

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Neo-Futurism

After dining at Star Gaze, learning a new game (and sucking at it) called Ghost and playing a rousing round of Scattergories, the posse (yes the two guys with me were a posse) and I went to the Neo-Futurist show Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind.

I am not what one could call 'a theater fan' but these neo-futurists were a lot of fun. We arrived at around 11pm for their 11:30pm show and found ourselves at the back of the line. Eventually we got to a large man giving tokens, he looked at me and said this token was all important not to lose it because I looked like the kind of girl who loses things (true). Then following the crowd we went up a flight of stairs and into a large room (see above). Then after a few minutes a two guys came out and explained their method for people to pay to see the show. Their method is the best method ever. The tickets are seven dollars plus whatever number you roll with the die they give you. I rolled a six, so I paid thirteen dollars.


The show was sold out and when a show is sold out they order a pizza at the beginning of the show. The show attempts to do thirty plays in sixty minutes and last night they succeeded. There is audience participation in that the audience shouts out the numbers of different plays and hope to see them. I'm not doing a very good job describing this whole thing because I have yet to finish my first cup of tea...sorry. Anyways you should go.

Go Astros!
or
Go White Sox!
World Series...game one...be there!

Star Gaze

After Whole Foods a college buddy, chum or pal (friend might also work...you choose) came on over for a night of fun, food and theater. First we went to Hopleaf, hoping for a hearty bite to eat. The wait at Hopleaf was too long so then we tried another place (wait was twenty minutes) before we ended up at Star Gaze. Star Gaze (according to Centerstage Chicago) is THE lesbian bar to hang out in. We were there before it was crowded and none of the ladies looked funny at the guys. I had a vegetable quesadilla that came with no vegetables. The college friend had a sausage pizza and the boyfriend had fried plantains and a pastelillo.

Whole Foods

Oh my goodness the wonders of Whole Foods! Oh my goodness I'm going to roast a chicken for the first time! Oh my goodness I have TWO different colored beets to cook with! Oh my goodness I spent way too much a lot of money! Oh my goodness so did the boyfriend! Oh my goodness Whole Foods is my new dream boat!