Saturday, April 28, 2012

Just A Quickie


I'm being good and working really hard on a project of mine tomorrow (it's not quite ready to share yet!) so can't spend too much time on a post.

But!

I had far too much fun putting together this little succulent arrangement, a Birthday gift for my co-worker Parisa, not to share! I keep worrying the coldness of my apartment is too big a change so have been putting it on the back of my stove to acclimate. Hopefully I'm awake enough when I make my first cup of tea that I don't try to boil a pot of plants instead of the kettle.

One can only hope.


Sad but true, the asparagus with egg I made for my lunch kept making me giggle because it looked like a wee raft.  It even stuck together when I slid it off the pan thanks to the egg that had seeped down to the bottom.


A poor little egg, all alone in the wide expanse of plate on its little raft of stalks.

Until I hacked it to bits and ate it.

Happy Weekend!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Lucy Pevensie found Narnia...



...I found a built-in ironing board. You never know what's behind a door.


Of course Lucy didn't need to enlist the help of Miss Eire and her toolbox to pry the quarter round off the wall. We made quick work of it, called it all sorts of names, and then shrieked with glee when we discovered what was inside.


It's in excellent condition, just a bit dusty, has a sleeve board (!), and is almost making me wish I ironed my clothes. Almost.


It's a little musty from being shut up for who knows how long, so I've got the door open to let it air out.

I'm just glad there weren't any mummified dead rats in there. Or that it looked into my neighbor's kitchen. Or made the wall cave down. Or had a curse like King Tut's tomb. Y'know, normal stuff like that.

I'm not really sure what to do with it though! It's not in an ideal location to put it to good use. I've had to rearrange my trash system to keep the door open but it's too cool to keep hidden! Maybe I'll take the door off...paint the inside white...or be lazy and do nothing....hmmm.


After the excitement of the morning's discovery Miss Eire and I went back to her house for Tea. She is a collector and we spent a lovely day poking through piles of deliciously gaudy costume jewelry, 60's nudie catalogues and other awesome things of times past. We ate pumpkin loaf and blueberry baked-ness with homemade jam and drank tea out of turquoise Fiestaware. She also has a dog that looks like an Ewok who I'm madly in love with.


And I made off with some loot! Miss Eire had a pile of old keys from her Grandmother and was sweet enough to let me have some (and a darling spotted handkerchief). The big one is obviously the key to the Secret Garden, and I'm thinking of using the smaller two for a necklace.

It was a delight-full day and every time I peep into my kitchen I get giddy!  Plus I now know a place to get mighty fine chicken and fried okra. Fried okra.


I'm not sure if it was all the excitement of the day before, but Sunday I ruled to stay in my pjs and be lazily productive.


-I read more Le Carre
-organized the interior design files on my computer
-scrubbed down the ironing cupboard with soapy lemony water and swept up debris
-made a damn tasty asian noodle salad (p.s. 'poaching chicken' just means boiling it. fancypants.)
-watched 2.5 Austen movies (Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, and Bridget Jones)
and finally went completely mad and made brownies to eat while watching Jane Eyre.


I'm glad I did, they are probably the best brownies I've ever made. Rich chocolate flavor, not too sweet, no oil, fudge-y middle and flaky top. Plus you can add 'hot water bath' to your culinary know-how.

Curled up in my chair under a snug blanket with a brownie stuffed mouth watching one of my favorite films (while being in possession of a built-in ironing board and the key to the Secret Garden) was a kick-ass way to end my weekend.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Year 26, so far so good.


Birthdays are such funny things, I never feel any different. Do you?? I may be older but I still can't wash my dishes without getting wet and I still leave my clothes in a pile on the floor. Clearly not a grown up yet. Maybe next year?


I have done a fantastic job at celebrating my awesomeness though (because I am). I treated myself to more beeswax candles from Canada: 


Pillars for my Japanese bowl and votives for my jam jar and icon corner. And a few more beehives of course!


For my actual Birthday Dinner I had my favorite banh mi and shrimp rolls from Ba Le.


And I watched Amelie while nibbling on pistachio macaroons and sipping bubbly pear cider. 26 is awesome.


And I had a gift from my Aunties waiting for me when I went back to work on Monday! The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories is magical. I read it all that day! They also gave me a new paring knife. It's red. All the better to hide the blood.

Speaking of blood, my Birthday 'party' ended up being at Al Capone's favorite watering hole, The Green Mill. I was too busy talking to all my lovely friends to dance so I will just have to go back!

I also made lemon bars but ate them too fast to take a picture. Just make them yourself.

Other than that it's business as usual. Reading and eating with a bit of yoga and fun times thrown in.


I made this very eastern european meal of bulgarian cheese on pumpernickel with pickled beets to eat while reading Looking Glass War. I'm on to Small Town in Germany now, only 17 more to go!



Pasta with this sauce. I might as well add that while I did want a nice tray, I really got this one from Ikea because it's from Carl Larsson's house. Yes, I'm just that obsessed that I recognized where their designer got the inspiration for a tray. I probably should be worried...but it's just so pretty!


And of course, lots of eggs. Soft boiled with spinach that time. And I just ate some poached over roast asparagus. Some things never change!


Sunday, April 15, 2012

Oh My Goodness.


As you ought to be aware, last Sunday was my 26th Birthday (and Easter)! It was made even more exciting by my lovely parents coming up for a long weekend visit. The usual Sandin shenanigans commenced: food, bookstores, beer, food, tea and lots and lots of walking.


The weather on Saturday was spectacular so we spent most of it outside. First in Lincoln Park at the Conservatory.




I made some new friends.


Spotted some dinosaurs and a wooly mammoth.


And a Dr. Seuss tree.


We then walked into the Loop along the Lakefront Path, it's one of the best features of the city in my opinion. Danny B. was on to something with his Plan and the public access to the entire lakefront.


Dr. Karl wanted to spend some quality time with the 860-880 Mies van de Rohe buildings.


That's them in the middle, lovely examples of his post-war Modern 'less is more' skyscrapers. More importantly, he is credited with revival/evolution of the First Chicago School style which I'm so fond (see countless blatherings on Danny B., Louie S., Johnny Root, Willy 'LeBaron' Jenney and D. Adler).



Miss Linda and I enjoyed people watching while Dr. K 'documented'.



After that we went into the Loop proper to check out the Pritzker Pavillion (that silvery thing, it's an outdoor concert venue that has free concerts in the summer) and the Ramp up to the Modern wing of the AIC.


Typically not a big fan of buildings built after the 1960s I have to say I love this one.


I love the color palette, the way it fades into the grey lake, how it's lit up at night, it has a freakin' ramp dude!! Any time I'm down in the park I walk up the ramp to watch my city.


As if Dr. K and I hadn't had enough glorious architecture to look at/document, we finished the day off with a bender:



My Louie S.'s Carson Pirie Scott.



Danny B. and Johnny Root's Monadnock Building (is that Chicago School 'skin and bones' I see?!) which is right across the street from their Fisher Building...


...which couldn't be more covered in ornamentation if they tried. Same guys. Those two buildings. My heroes.



In the sun the terra cotta lights up, turning it into a gilded Renaissance reliquary. Swoon.



I also love the new Library, it looks like something out of Dinotopia.


The P-Units were driving back Sunday so we had a festive Birthday/Easter breakfast of pancakes before tackling my Birthday Present which we bought on Friday: a Big Girl Bed!



Got it at Ikea of course, I had picked out a bed frame online but when we got there I didn't like it in person. There was lots of brainstorming and a 'kind of what I want' bed was found. But after questioning a sales lady I found out they had a new version of that bed that wasn't on the floor yet but was exactly what I wanted (simple metal bed frame with no footboard and instead of a rattan covered headboard it was a removable fabric cover. In grey. Hot diggity!). And they just happened to have it in stock. I could buy it that day. Swedes rule. We chucked the shitty 'temporary solution' futon sofa frame I'd been sleeping on for two years in the back alley, Happy Easter to some scrap truck man!


There were lots of little presents too, notably the World of Downton Abbey (swoon) and I finally got my hands on a M.F.K Fisher book! I've been hearing her name since I started reading about food, especially my favorite genre: food essays. Love in a Dish is a collection of some of her more well known essays and I'm already in love. There's a whole essay on the egg. Since my track record with the elusive soft boiled egg is still rather special I jumped on her technique from 'How Not to Cook an Egg':

The best way, I think, is to cover the egg with cold water in a little pan. Heat briskly, and as soon as the water begins to bubble, the egg is done. It will be more tender than when started in hot water, which, of course, makes the part nearest the shell cook immediately, instead of heating the whole thing gently.

Being gentle is something I'm notoriously not known for but so far so good. I typically let them sit in some cold water after that to firm up just enough so that they aren't fully hard boiled but reach a point of partial solidification which is nirvana in an egg. Deuced hard to achieve but I will NEVER stop trying!


Fortunately, if the fortune cookie I had with my Birthday dinner is to believed it's all worth it.

Hurray for being 26!