Lamebook is my favorite...

poaching

We tried this delicious recipe for poached egg and asparagus from a terrific local food blog (and friend of a friend) Lottie and Doof.

It was pretty fancy because we used our own chive flowers (alas, we didn't use that many and now chive-flower-season is over - I need to find a LOT more recipes for them). I love using something from our garden, even if it's a tiny little bit of mint or parsley.

I haven't quite nailed poaching eggs yet - I have a tendency to over-cook them - but, I think I'll perfect the method shortly.


Oh, speaking of food, there's a very funny controversy which just got stirred up by the Reader's Best of Chicago. One category was "Best Restaurant for Kids" and someone wrote in "To be locked in a cold, dark, soundproof room." (ha!) and a bunch of humorless people wrote some comments. Gaper's Block sums it up and also refers to the great Andersonville Taste of Heaven Controversy of Aught Five in which a bunch of humorless people got all upset when a bakery down the road from our old apartment suggested that children should be well-behaved on the premises. Hilarious stuff.

Parental visit

My mom and dad came up for the weekend and we had a really great visit. We ran around town and had a couple of great meals and also worked and hung out in the garden quite a bit. I also convinced them to go kayaking in Lake Michigan!
Oh, look - behind us you can see someone riding one of those newfangled paddle boards or whatever they're called.

22nd!

OMG, so, it's exactly one month to my birthday (!!!!!!!!) but only about a week until my Birthday Month (which is kinda more important). And so, without further ado, I give you my birthday wishlist, which will be, I imagine, greatly appreciated by certain husbands and certain parents. People "claim" that I am hard to shop for, but I maintain that I am extremely EASY to shop for. IE, I love jewelry like crazy. And make-up. Done.

ahem:

• digital egg timer
• Japanese cotton fabric
• Kitchenaid 6 Quart Stand Mixer in Empire Red

Duh. Easy!

item!

We had a big storm tonight. We thought we might have to go in the basement. But, it wasn't that bad, in the end. (For us, anyway.)

Today at work I won a major award.

Did you see these disgusting cigarette warning labels? I hate to get all libertarian, but, come on, those are stupid.

I really liked the Murakami Google thing today:

This is hilarious. But they left out a LOT.

After

I was finally able to finish my chair this weekend, which I so cruelly teased you all with a week ago.

I'm not quite sure where I found this chair but I'm pretty sure I found it in the alley, which has provided more than a few treasures since we moved here.It was hideous, but I saw the potential to look like...
Isn't that great? I really love it. I looooove that fabric. It looks tres Jonathan Adler, although it only cost about $12 instead of like, a thousand. I think the chair is fairly old based on the fact that the original upholstery was attached with tacks rather than staples. There was a date stamped on the fabric but no year - but! Look at that date!

Do you know what that is? My birthday! This chair and I were meant to be together! And! What a lovely reminder that my birthday month is coming up!

w00t Pwn: Portal 2

This time I bring you w00t pwn with first hand knowledge! M & I played Portal 2... together! For a little while. Did you know when you're playing a video game, what feels like 10 minutes is actually 2 hours? It's very disturbing.

Anyhow, Portal 2 is pretty fun. You can play it with a partner, who is your wife, and you and she are like, two robots? And you're in this kind of facility? And, you walk around and try to solve puzzles and stuff. And your husband gazes at you lovingly, as if you are doing something marvelous and not staring slack-jawed at the television trying to remember what button to push.

I quite enjoyed Portal 2, and trying to solve puzzles and whatnot even though it takes a little while to figure out and time slips through your fingers like sands through the hourglass. It's got a voice-over which is truly, truly funny. We smiled at each other and remarked about how it was actually funny, and not completely lame, like most things that try to be funny actually are.

At first I just made my robot follow M's robot around, dutiably adorable, or desperately initiating high-fives (you can do that), or accidentally falling into toxic sludge and getting regenerated while he figured out how to solve the puzzle.

Sample conversation:
Me: What do we do in this one?
Me: Maybe it's that thing.
Me: Look at that thing.
Me: Hey, wait for me.
Me: Oops! I fell in the sludge again.
Me: Where are you?
Me: Ha! That was funny.
Me: It's really funny, right?
Husband: Yeah.
Me: It's weird how it's actually funny.
Me: Right?
Husband: Yeah.
Me: Do you know what to do?
Me: Oops. Hold on. Sludge.
Me: Ok, here I am.
Husband: Oooooo! *I* know what to do!

He concentrates pretty hard. Eventually I figured out how to solve puzzles too. It was satisfying.

He likes the single-player too. I had to quit for a while because I really did get quite disturbed about the alarmingly rapid passage of time. Nevertheless, I rate it Downright Bearable.

Just Before

This weekend we had a lovely, delicious dinner at Bite Cafe in The City. I must encourage you to go there - it was absolutely wonderful (and surprisingly inexpensive - byob!) I had a roast chicken... I'm not kidding you... best chicken I ever ate in my LIFE. I can't wait to go back.

I started a project to recover a couple of chairs I pulled out of the alley, both of which ended up being more complicated than I'd anticipated. Each of them had like 4,000 tacks in them, and I plier-ed so much I kinda hurt my hand (and it's still hurting!) Anyway, I just have a "before" to tantalize you with...


but I can assure you the "after" is going to be totes gorg. Here's a hint: Jonathan Adler!

Food, Glorious Food!

So, did you all know the The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a new food pyramid, only it's not a pyramid? It's a plate, that's like, Hey Dummy, eat this why don't you?

I find it hard to believe we should really drink that much milk. Can you IMAGINE, drinking a WHOLE glass of MILK? Gag.

I am endlessly amused by food propaganda. There was a great show on NPR this morning about "Uncle Sam's" role in what and how we eat. You should give it a listen.

They posted a couple of terrific images on their site. I love this one:

which is just like, "Eat whatever the hell you want!" (Get a load of the "butter and margarine" category!)

The beloved food pyramids of our youth created the carb monsters that we all are today:

(Mmmm...May I have some more pasta, please?)

This one I love, which is less a food pyramid and more of a "Why don't you get some exercise, you fat lazy slob?"

Natalie Dee always gets right to the heart of the matter:


And this one is my favorite!