The Purple Pig

July 25, 2011 hannahviolin 2 Comments

I just got home from Chicago a little bit ago. I hate all those things you have to do when you return home—pick up piles of mail, unpack, figure out the funny smell, clean the cat litter, feed the cat, pet the cat, etc. I used to travel a lot more than I do now between work and being a long distance relationship, and those things have always annoyed me.

But, let’s talk about my last day in Chicago. Karen and I didn’t have any real plans, so we headed for Michigan Avenue to do some shopping. We didn’t really want to spend much money shopping as we’d been spending ridiculous amounts of money on going on, so after a bit we decided to go bowling. She had only been bowling once before in her life and wanted to try to improve.

I am not a good bowler either. (Today my right arm is ridiculously sore from two games…). By the end of the second game my thumb had gone numb, and at one point I was worried I had reinjured my right shoulder. Bowling was fun, but perhaps not the wisest choice.

Next we hit up the Hancock building. There is a restaurant on the very top (95th floor), and we got a couple drinks and enjoyed the view.

It was nice for a bit then some clouds (?) came in and the view was ruined. We decided it was time for dinner!

Off to the Purple Pig we went!

Evidently there aren’t any restaurants in Chicago where you just order your own food, so once again we went to a tapas (small plates) style restaurant. The waitress thought this was unusual but we had her ticket 😉

Prosciutto bread balls, calamari, fried deviled egg, and ham/egg on toast. Not pictured was the beet and goat cheese salad and the squid with fingerling potatoes. And the sparkling wine. I decided it was a sparkling wine day.

Dinner was delicious, especially the calamari salad, and we decided to book it over to the Navy Pier to ride the Ferris Wheel. We ended up riding the Ferris Wheel and a swing ride.

I think Karen was starting to get the hang of the "take pictures for the blog" thing that I do. In any case the rides were fun, and I felt so wonderfully touristy.

What is this? Does anybody know?

We then decided it was dessert time. Off we went to a place I can’t recall the name (Bin 36) Delicious desserts and more sparkling wine—I had a wine flight of sparkling whites, and Karen had a different flight.

Last we decided to go a jazz club called the Green Mill. There was a $4 cover (only!) and the singer was really quite good. I can’t recall her name.

And that’s it! I drove back this morning and have a few students shortly. I’m EXHAUSTED. But it was a great trip overall, exactly what I needed, and I’m super glad I was able to go. Thanks Karen!

Food

Eating my way through Chicago

July 24, 2011 hannahviolin

I didn’t realize that my visit to Chicago would turn into a foodie’s dream, but I daresay it has. I woke up today dreaming about the carrots I had last night at the Publican. Yes, it’s a little strange to dream about carrots, but these weren’t ordinary carrots. They were magical. I don’t know exactly how…they were described as carrots with ricotta salada and almonds. I didn’t take any pictures of the meal though. We also split beef tartare (OMG), scallops, arugula salad, and radishes. It was a vegetable heavy meal, and OH so good. The Publican isn’t Avec, but it’s good.

Speaking of Avec, (and yes, I am) I found an interesting article on epicurious about it. That focaccia the writer talks about is one of the best things to order there, along with the chorizo stuffed bacon wrapped dates. (Just writing that…you KNOW there’s no way that can go wrong.) I think right now my ideal meal would consist of those two things plus the above mentioned carrots. In fact when Karen and I went to Avec Friday night we had some leftover focaccia and a date, which we TORE into last night when we got back. And though not as good as originally, still better than most food.

The only thing I’ve been craving lately that I haven’t gotten is cheesecake. I’ve been denying myself dessert, even when we ate lunch at a french bakery. The bakery had all manner of ridiculously good looking pastries and such, but we didn’t order anything. I have learned that is a big part of not gaining weight, not ordering everything you want :( But many days have gone by, much good food has been eaten, and yet the dessert craving has NOT gone away. So I think perhaps today is a good dessert day.

Or not. My brain is torn: attempt to win Mike’s weight loss competition? Or lose handsomely, covered in cheesecake crumbs and sauce from the bacon wrapped dates? It seems those are the two best (only?) options.

Travel

Avec

July 23, 2011 hannahviolin 2 Comments

Last night it was finally time. It was time to go back to Avec.

The last time I visited Karen (with Chris that time) we went to Avec for dinner and it was one of the best meals I had ever had. I was eager to return to see if it would be as good as I remembered.

We went after Karen’s concert. Like I’ve said, she plays with the Grant Park Festival Orchestra. The orchestra plays their concerts at Millennium Park. The concert was Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, a Bach Cantata, and Faure Requiem. I am not a huge fan of choral works, but it was a good concert. I felt a little overdressed for the show as I was wearing a new dress I bought at Nordstrom Rack last week (in preparation for our night out) but I would rather be overdressed than underdressed. The weather had finally cooled off a bit so it wasn’t too awful sitting outside.

After the show I met Karen backstage and we headed off to Avec. When we arrived there was about a one hour wait for a table (well, for part of the long, communal tables) so we waited in the little bar area outside. We split a few different kinds of wines, ranging from a sparkling rose to a tempranillo.

Finally we were seated! Just so you know, the main thing we wanted were the chorizo stuffed dates wrapped in bacon. Last time we were there I had these, and they are the sort of food one dreams about, not just once or twice, but repeatedly. Avec is a tapas restaurant, which means you order a variety of smaller dishes and share them with your party. Since it was just the two of us we couldn’t go as crazy with the ordering as we would have been able to with a larger group, but we were able to try a few new things as well.

We started with a salad of pickled beets, brussel sprouts and something else. Then came this excellent "whipped brandede" which is a type of fish. It came with several pieces of toasted bread on the side to spread on it. We had also ordered a salmon dish, which was the weakest thing we ordered. It was with risotto, and the lemon flavor was entirely too overwhelming.

When you order tapas, they don’t all arrive at once. It’s pretty fun because they just show up and you eat it, then sometimes you wait a bit. It takes a certain attitude to eat at a tapas restaurant, in my opinion. In any case, at this point in the meal we knew all that remained were the dates and the focaccia with ricotta cheese and truffle oil. In other words, saving the best for last!

I’ll just say that the dates did not disappoint. I ate two of them and was incredibly happy. The focaccia was fantastic too (we had had that before as well) but I was SO full by that point that I only ate a little bit.

All in all the meal was overwhelming fantastic. We have even debated returning tonight, but we’re going to try something different.

Oh look, a creepy photo of me! I had to squat next to her for the photo, that’s why I look creepy. Promise.

So, after Avec we decided to head to a place called The Violet Hour owned by the same people (we thought they needed more of our money) for after dinner drinks. Karen had been before and really enjoyed it. When we got there, however, there was a really long line to get in. Generally I am not the sort of person who cares enough to wait in lines (except when on a cruise, amiright?) but I was in vacation mode so we stuck it out. We needed to digest a bit anyway.

We finally got inside and had a few drinks. It was really nice and chill…weird to have such a long line like it was a club versus more of a speakeasy 😉

Finally it was time to go home. We opened the door to leave…and it was completely pouring rain and the road was a like a river. Naturally the car was 6 to 8 blocks away and our umbrellas were…naturally…in the car. We panicked a bit.

Karen finally came up with the brilliant idea of asking the bar for a plastic bag. We knew our clothes and shoes were fine with water, but we were concerned about our purses and the contents of our purses as well (phones and wallets). They gave us a large trash bag and I threw the bags in, tossed it over my shoulder like Santa Claus, and off we went into the ridiculous downpour. We were squealing the entire way, and the roads were crowded with people attempting to get home or back to their cars. It was awful to be completely soaked, yet it was also hilariously exhilarating! The roads were seriously flooding but we finally made it back to Karen’s apartment. What a night!

Tonight we are thinking of going to "The Publican" which is yet ANOTHER restaurant owned by the same people…also I’ve been to Blackbird in the past. Yup. That’s how I roll.

Today has been a lazy day: slept in, brunch at Eleven City Diner, and a manicure. Karen has another concert tonight, but it’s the same program I saw last night. I’ll probably head down with her and poke around the area, or maybe just read outside or something. Let’s hope it doesn’t rain too much more!

How is your weekend going?

Random thoughts

Deep thoughts by Hannah

July 22, 2011 hannahviolin

I used to live alone, but it’s been a long time. And of course I haven’t been "single" in a long time. I am NOT used to being alone. I do enjoy my alone time, but those two are incredibly different—being alone and alone time. Chris is gone for just a few weeks and if I hadn’t made plans to go visit a friend I think I was on the verge of imploding. Yes, I guess I truly am that codependent and needy. That’s why Chris and I work so well together—we are both needy, codependent, and hate being alone. (There are a whole host of other reasons too, in fact, many of those reasons are less pathetic sounding!)

Yet here I sit, alone in Chicago…which is fine, because my friend is just out for a run and then we are getting lunch. I spent all morning alone too, and I didn’t mind a bit. If I were sitting in my apartment at home I’d probably be going stir crazy (I know I was by Wednesday night), but here I did a 5 mile run up and down the lakefront, then read a bit, listened to music…all totally normal stuff. But it feels better, and I feel more relaxed and calm than I did at home. Of course, I don’t have to worry about cleaning, or clutter, or even wedding planning for a few days. That helps too.

I think, however, it helps most being near an old friend. I have made some wonderful friends in St Louis, but they are all "new" friends. Karen understands me really well, yet still likes me. She has seen me at some very low points in my life, and some very high points. We don’t always see eye to eye, but we get where the other person is coming from. It’s really relaxing being around somebody like that—not worrying about saying the wrong thing or embarrassing myself (sorry St Louis friends, but I worry about those sort of things all time!) And she gives honest, practical, advice. I think me being here is helping her out too–

It’s nice sometimes to just be Hannah too…since I moved to St Louis with Chris I have always been part of a couple for everybody there. My old friends know ME and Chris both together and separate. I fear losing my sense of self (have I already?). In fact, I’m terrified of it. My past, my present, my future. These are things that Chris is a part of, but I still have my own life, and I don’t want to simply be part of a couple.

Does that sound terrible? I don’t think so…I want to marry Chris because being with him is the only thing in life that has made me truly content and happy…but part of me is that I am not content and happy BEING truly content and happy. I like to be a bit off kilter…to have a bit more excitement, even if that excitement ends with burning my finger on a skewer, or with a bunch of bruises on my legs, or even in tears. I want the downs in life to make the ups that much stronger. That’s why I love classical music…you get those ups and downs and in-betweens. Emotions make us feel alive. I believe that Chris knows this about me and tries to protect me from myself.

I feel like I’m being really introspective and dark for 2:30 pm. But it’s GOOD. It’s important to analyze ourselves and our motives.

Sorry for the deep post! Must be the heat, getting to me 🙂

Random thoughts

Chicago

July 22, 2011 hannahviolin

That’s the view from Karen’s apartment. Except now the view is this.

Yes, that’s a storm coming through. She is in rehearsal and I was hoping to go run around the lake. (By the lake). I still have plenty of time though—hoping it’ll pass through.

Yesterday I drove in. I got here around 1:30 and we had lunch then decided to go to the Aquarium. We thought it would easiest for her to park at the Millennium Park Garage and then take a cab there rather than pay for parking. We got a little "pick me up" at the Tavern on the Park first, to give us the nerve to fight through the throngs of children we would soon be dealing with ;) It turned out that the cab ride to the Aquarium cost more than half of parking, so that was a disappointment.

However, when we got in line at the place, an older woman came up to us and gave us "member" wristbands so that we didn’t have to pay a thing—I guess she was a member and was leaving for the day. Rock stars, that’s us. So we got into all the exhibits and shows for free.

(Reenactment)

VERY hot and sweaty.

In any case, the Aquarium was pretty cool. My favorite part was this one tank where a bunch of the fish were hanging out in one corner, but WAY in the back there was this grumpy looking orange fish just hiding. We left and came back to check on that fish later (maybe 1 hour later) and he was still there! I hope he wasn’t sick or something. We decided he just didn’t like the other fish.

The other thing that was really interesting was that I always think of fish as constantly moving around but it really seemed that a lot of them just sat still for a lot of the time. I suppose that makes sense? Weird though.

After the Aquarium closed we went to get ready for dinner. Guess what we wanted to eat?

That’s right. Sushi.

Karen wanted to go to an Improv club later so we picked a sushi restaurant near that club. It was called Itto Sushi and ended up being fantastic. I had some rolls I’d never had before, one with plum paste and another with fermented soybeans.

After dinner we went to the club. It was a place that some little groups do Improv Comedy shows every Thursday night, near Wrigley Field. The cover was only $5, and the show was a lot of fun! There were three different groups, and they were all very funny, especially the first group—their name was something Pizza. I can ask Karen where the place was if anybody is really curious.

Today I’m just waiting out the storm. Tonight Karen has a concert and I’ll go with her and then who knows. Today is her busiest day while I’m here so I’ve also been doing some work-related stuff that came up (over 45 minutes of phone calls and busywork so far…). Her apartment is on the 33rd floor, two blocks from the lake, so I definitely need to get out there. Yesterday I didn’t exercise at all, unless you count walking several miles (which you probably could count, and my darned blistered feet probably count it), but I don’t ;) It is starting to clear up outside and I’m worried it’s going to be awful and muggy.

Oh, and this is Centipede. She slept next to me a bit last night.

Random thoughts

Pacific Music Festival

July 21, 2011 hannahviolin 1 Comment

My youngest sister Carrie is currently at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. She is a viola player and attends Oberlin College during the year. I don’t talk about her as much as my sister Leslie, mainly because we didn’t grow up together quite as much due to the age difference. She’s only 19 years old, whereas I am at least 6 and possible 13.5 years older, depending on how old you think I am.

I found some great photos of Carrie to share.