two recent desserts

Another evening at home alone, and with the fog rolling in and an early dinner in my belly, I've decided to be all cozy and catch up on blogging. A glass of wine, some photos from recent dining, and here I go!

If I may, let me revisit the fun weekend with Allison - a week now since she arrived. We picked her up at Midway, and by the end of the evening, we three were over at Hearty for a late bite. Conrad and Allison were ambivalent about dessert, but the table behind us on the patio (ah, patio dining - it's been so cold since then) recommended an item, and I decided we should all share it. Very worth it, I have to say: a Nutella pop tart with salted caramel ice cream. Go on, ask Conrad and Allison how much they declined and how birdlike they picked at it sparingly. As if!

That was a delicious treat, undeniably. Better still was the dessert the next day. Allison and I went to Terzo Piano at the Art Institute for lunch. She opted for the little lunch special while I had the papparedelle with turkey confit. The room filled up, we moved on from wine to coffee (decaf for me), and I ordered dessert.

Every time I go to Terzo Piano, I find that every dessert has at least one super-intriguing or appealing ingredient. Same thing this time. Allison guessed my choice on the second try: ricotta and green pea fritters with carrot caramel and orange sorbet. Peas? Interesting. And think about it: they are sweet. The peas were in the filling to the fritters, and they really were fresh and sweet and fine. The caramel? Lovely. The sorbet? A bright, tart-sweet, fruity counterpoint. Another winner.



After a month of cleanse, it was a good start to an anti-cleanse weekend. Mmmmm... desserts...

cultural attractions

I think we can all relate: no matter where you live, if there are attractions that, well, attract tourists, we seldom go. Hancock? Can't recall what year was the last time I was up there. Museum of Science and Industry? Only been once, hated it. And so on. We become tourists in our own city only when out of town guests somehow provoke us to take them places. And then, predictably, we think, "We should come here more often."

Here's the secret to going more often: buy a membership.

No, really. We got in on a Groupon deal for the Art Institute a year back (well, 13 months), and found ourselves there, oh, three times. Not much, but given the deal (and the discount at Terzo Piano, the restaurant in the Modern Wing), it was worth it.

Conrad wanted to see a show today. He'd heard from a colleague about an exhibit of Henri Cartier-Bresson photography, and wanted to go back. Alas, the membership had expired. A few clicks and a $80 charge to the credit card later, and we're members again. And for sure, we'll go a few more times this year.

In any case, it was a lovely morning to get out of the apartment (even if it had cooled off and clouded over by the time we left the Art Institute). We admired the view from Millennium Park and the Nichols Bridge over to the Modern Wing,

headed in to Terzo Piano for a light lunch,


and happily took in the show. I promise, we will go back, with or without out-of-town visitors!

perfect day

Easing myself back into blogging with a simple entry on a sunny Sunday.

We've been productive today, both of us. Conrad is in the kitchen (at my usual spot) whiling away on some work he brought home. So far today we've also done all the laundry (including a whole bunch of linens) and I have baked some cookies for him to bring in to work. I've written thank you notes, e-mailed my best friend a newsy note, chatted with another friend, and posted recent photos to Flickr. Plus we got groceries, went for an early morning coffee while laundry was on the go, and made it into downtown.

All this BEFORE going to Yoshi's!

:-)

It's been a perfect Sunday, truly. A full and restful night of sleep. A gloriously sunny (though not totally warm) day out there. Flowers and young leaves in full evidence about the town.



Conrad and I had planned to go down to Nordstrom and shop a little - he wanted some nice slacks to keep up in Vancouver. En route, we got to talking about new restaurants to try and ones to go back to, and that got us to thinking of Terzo Piano at the Art Institute. By the time we got a parking spot on Grand, we changed our minds, drove farther south, and headed for AIC.

We got to the Art Institute and parked with about 15 minutes to spare until our reservation for lunch. Great timing - that left us an easy stroll through the nearby part of Millennium Park and over the Nichols Bridgeway to the Modern Wing. Views and sun and flowers and people. What a great day. We could have lingered more, I think, were we not starting to feel a few pangs.







I didn't photograph lunch, I just enjoyed it. That's fine. It's not always about the food (though it is a fine restaurant). Having eaten, we went down to go through the Matisse exhibit, and then took a slightly roundabout drive home to go through the park a bit and just enjoy the day all that much more.

Yoshi's is ahead, and that will be good, too - food and a drink, friends at the bar, my handsome man


(isn't he adorable in those shots - I'm so glad to be home with him after all the travel we each have had!). If I can finish the night with some chat with my best friend, then truly, I can say it was a perfect day.

Terzo Piano

Conrad and I can be rather limited in dining out. Yoshi's. The Center on Halsted. Thai food ordered in from Ping Pong. Given our rather narrow tastes, it's something of a special treat to dine out some place new to us. And with the added excuse of a friend visiting from out of town, well, quite a treat indeed.

Holly had been in Chicago for a few days, attending a conference. We managed to catch up with her before she headed back Texas-ward. The three of us met up in Terzo Piano, the restaurant in the Modern Wing of the Art Institute. Mostly, it's open for lunch with Thursday dinners also available. Big open space, full of light. We had a table not far from the entrance, which gave me a view of the buzz of activity as people came in and gave Conrad and Holly a view of a dining room that filled up while we had a leisurely time of it.

A few things struck me early on in our time at the restaurant:

• They loved cheese. Good sign - a cart with a number of handsome options. Yay.
• The wine list does you favours if you order by the bottle, not so much by the glass. Funky cocktail list, too.
• The menu is not cheap for lunch, but it promised a lot of fun.
• The service was sweet and friendly - I think our server was named Jessica, and we were impressed (and grateful) that she thought to ask us about food allergies.

I'm sorry I didn't photograph the antipasti plate we had. Different items of charcuterie, a bit of cheese, some huge olives, pickled vegetables, a salty-spicy celery dish. We shared a modest but fine Italian white wine, and happily grabbed items from the platter.

Lunch: Holly and I each opted for the same thing, sesame-crusted whitefish with eggplant and a charmoula dressing. We both liked it a good deal, and I think it was a good match for the wine. Conrad, meanwhile, decided on a healthier course of things and chose a salad with avocado and chicken breast. Darn him. It did look good.

If we weren't with Holly, we might have had cheese (they looked so good, parked near us). Instead, I had a dessert while Holly had a cocktail and Conrad had a coffee. Five dessert selections to pick from, and four of them had "keywords", those ingredients you see listed and they just pique your interest something fierce. I went for the dessert that hit multiple keywords:

• pomegranate
• maple
• beignet

Maple-cream filled sweet potato beignets with a pomegranate sorbet.
The beignets were light, not too sweet, and the sorbet was a jewel - taste and colour both.

So then, I think Conrad and I will be back. After all, as a member of the Art Institute, I get a 10% discount. Good reason to go and have a nice lunch right there, as if the food, wine, setting, and collections downstairs weren't enticement enough!

beautiful buildings and rooms

Yep, still ticking along here. It's been a quiet week is all. Conrad is in Hawaii until Saturday, and while I had a lovely dinner with RAS at Yoshi's on Sunday, I wanted to catch up with her, not blog. And while I made some delectable halibut with frizzled leeks and red chard for dinner with CG last night, I wanted to catch up with her, not blog. Maybe this weekend fun things will happen. Certainly the weather here hasn't been conducive to peppy postings.

Instead, I'll reach back and simply show a few shots from last Saturday. Conrad's company took part in Employee's Day at the Art Institute, and we took advantage of the free admission to go admire the new Renzo Piano-designed Modern Wing.

I'm embarrassed at how long it's been since last I was at the Art Institute. Good to go and see the early 20th Century European works especially - I'm rather fond of that sort of thing.

After time spent enjoying (or not - sorry to you, assortment of modern American crap) the galleries, we wandered to the Palmer House Hilton in search of an afternoon cocktail. No luck there - weddings abounded. Onward we pressed and ended up in a luxurious space, the Atwood Cafe at the Hotel Burnham. OK, maybe luxurious is overstating, but the scheme always feels a little wonderfully OTT. A certain luridness (is that a word?) that I like. We sat at the bar and each had a martini plus some seriously kick ass smoked almonds. I'd go back just for those. In fact, I will.

Later Saturday night we attended a professional association banquet that Conrad's company had purchased tables at. The food? Fine enough. The speeches were minimal, the presentations were pleasant. The space? Glorious. Formerly the Chicago Public Library and now the Chicago Cultural Center. Can I get married here? Check out that Tiffany (yes, THE Tiffany) glass dome ceiling, and oooooo, that tilework all over. Stunning.