more amigurumi

I'm still having fun making amigurumi - may have hooked A on it as well as guided her through an ice cream cone which was SUPER cute. I'm especially proud of this little turtle... These little eyes are making all the difference!

satiated

This weekend I had a visit from my good friend A - I took off Friday and we had a full sched of chatting, museum-ing, eating great food, drinking a ton of wine and plotting her move to the Chicago area. After a three-day weekend smashed full of good times (including an awesome book club on Friday night) it's with a heavy heart that I think about going back to work tomorrow. -__-

It's also with a heavy heart (literally) that I think about not eating gourmet food for a few days! My goodness, we did some indulgent eating! Friday afternoon we had brunch at Tweet, Sat. afternoon, lunch at Terzo Piano (the new rest. in the Modern Wing of the Art Inst. It was très chic - check out the dining room below) - handmade tagliatelle and lamb ragu - Sat. evening, dinner at Ante Prima. I was adventurous and ordered Amish chicken liver and gizzard risotto. It was decadent. M ordered a lemon panna cotta that made me realize, for perhaps the first time, that dessert doesn't have to have chocolate in it. Lunch this afternoon at de Cero on the way to the airport. Passion Fruit Margarita, up? Yes, please! Goat cheese tamales? Why not.

An Education

Saw An Education with my mom this weekend - we both really enjoyed it. It's based on a memoir by Lynn Barber as her experience as a school girl in England who had a relationship with an older man. The screenplay is written by Nick Hornby, which surprised me at first because I was all, Hornby can't write about a girl. But, he does, and very well!

The main character, Jenny, is 16 and from a working-class neighborhood of London. She's being sent to a private school by her parents, who hope that she'll go to Oxford one day. She's extremely bright and precocious. She manages to end her sentences with n'est pas and be charming, rather than completely obnoxious. Although her parents want the best for her, her life is mostly about studying and it's only when she meets the dashing David that she begins to go to concerts, auctions (where she bids on a painting at David's encouragement) and eventually go to Paris for the weekend. I don't believe I'll ruin it for you by saying that what Jenny begins to question is why she's working so hard on her education, when a degree from Oxford for a young woman in the early 1960s will only either land her either a teaching job or a marriage. I thought the story was really subtle and smart, witty and very thoughtful. Loved the supporting characters, played by Dominic Cooper (hello) and Rosamund Pike.

Carey Mulligan is absolutely etherial as Jenny, and Alfred Molina is terrific as her dad. Peter Sarsgaard used to creep me out, but he's very suave lately. I thought he had a Ewan McGregor/Colin Firth quality in this movie. Costumes were gorgeous, without being costume-y. Awesome soundtrack - introduced me to Juliette Gréco, my what I've been missing!