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!