Great News, Good News Monday

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Great News: It was 85 degrees yesterday!  Good News: The 10-day forecast says that it’s going to stay above 45 degrees.  Which means no more winter coat!

Great News: Ry and I celebrated the end of our 9 mile trek all over town with lunch at Grahamwich yesterday!  Good News: They changed their sammie menu AND IT’S STILL AWESOME!  When I didn’t see my fav smoked whitefish sandwich, I was bummed…but their new Pacific Tuna did not disappoint!  The roasted pineapple and wasabi peas were clutch.

Great News: I have successfully achieved my weekend goals and have arrived at Monday feeling super refreshed and energized.  Good News: I finally got the sushi I’ve been craving but was also reminded of what an amazing cook Ryan is- homeboy whipped up some fish tacos with pineapple and hot peppers last night that were just TDF.  How did I get so lucky?

(photo via TGT)

Perfect Cocktail for the Perfect Day

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The “Thanks For Throwing Us a Bone, Mother Nature” Cocktail

1 part Organic Vodka (we used Rain)

2 parts sparkling water (we used Blackberry flavored)

A splash of Pineapple Mango Juice (we used Tropicana 50- lo cal, baby!)

A squeeze of lime

Perfect when enjoyed after walking all over the city for several hours/laying in the park reading/throwing the football around…all because you want to be outside enjoying every second today’s 80+ degree gift from Mother Nature.  I mean, just for example.

Today was so refreshing, in more ways than one.  The weather, the wandering, the cocktail….ahhhh.

Happy Sunday!  Hope everyone has been out enjoying it as much as we have!

Weekend Shopping, Anyone?

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When it’s as consistently cold/foggy/cold as it has been this week, I feel like the best thing to do is shop for my spring and summer wardrobe.  Because maybe if I have new open toed heels/short dresses/new sunnies, Spring will get the hint and the weather will improve.

When browsing through my shopping guru’s blog this morning (Tall Girl Tales, if you must know), I came across this little gem of a not-so-secret:

I love Kate Spade jewelry (in addition to their bags and shoes) so I will definitely be hopping over to the Kate Spade on Oak Street or hitting up their new (and might I add adorable) website.

Oh and Tall Girl Tales makes a list every single day of what sales are happening and online coupon codes so you can be thrifty and stylish.  Totally worth checking out.

Happy Friday and Happy Shopping!

TGIF

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Last Friday, I wrote about how much I was looking forward to a weekend of reading, running, sushi and a pedicure.

I was a big, fat liar.

I didn’t read a single word from an actual book, sushi was replaced with burgers and beer at Goose Island Brewery, and I didn’t drag my busted tootsies to get a pedicure until yesterday.  Ryan and I did run but the temp dropped 10 degrees while we were out and we got cranky so it ended with grabbed coffee and walking the rest of the way home.

I am so exhaustified by this week and the only thing I need is to lay extremely low.  Sushi, yoga, reading and napping.  A friend reminded me yesterday that sometimes, you need to do less, better.  So this weekend is my attempt at just that.  The goal is to arrive at Monday impossibly fresh and ready to rock.

Apple-Golden Raisin Bread

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Question of the Day: What do I have and what can I make out of it?

Answer: Apple-Golden Raisin Bread!

When it comes to baking, I’m a use-a-recipe-but-not-really kind of girl.  Sometimes this turns out well, sometimes it doesn’t.  Today’s bread was a winner so I wanted to share this fresh outta oven goodness with you!

(Adapted from Betty Crocker’s Banana Bread Recipe)

Apple-Golden Raisin Bread

2 Cups Flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1.2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon (add more to taste)

2 eggs

2 apples, thinly sliced

1 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Applesauce (instead of oil- reduces fat content and doesn’t change flavor or consistency of bread at all)

Mix all the dry ingredients together; set aside.  Combine sugar, eggs and applesauce; add thinly sliced apples and a handful (or 2!) of golden raisins.  Or maybe cranberries- cranberries could be a nice touch too!

I like the thinly sliced apples versus tiny chopped up apples because once baked, every bite contains a legit piece of soft, juicy apple.  Delish.

Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix well (no flour crumblies left at the bottom!).

Pour into a greased bread pan and bake for 45 minutes.  I usually put foil over it for the last 10 minutes- sometimes, the top crust of my bread can look super done but then I still have uncooked business going on on the inside.  I find the foil creates an oven within an oven and the inside gets perfectly cooked while preserving a perfectly brown crust.

A cup of tea, this bread…the perfect way to wait out this fog that has settled over our fair city today.

The Return of the Milano’s

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When I was a kid, my family came to Chicago pretty often.  Being from the west side of the Mitten, only a few hours from the Chi, anytime we were in need of great food and some shopping, we hopped in the car.  Like clockwork, our first stop when we got into town was Papa Milano’s.  It was my family’s absolute favorite Italian restaurant on the planet.  Their red sauce was TDF (to-die-for), the gnocchi perfection and the hostess never failed to be wearing electric blue eye shadow.

One night, we asked the cab to take us the to corner of Oak and State in anticipation of some Papa Milano’s gloriousness and…nothing.  Papa Milano’s had closed.

To say my Dad was devastated is an understatement.  “How could they close Papa Milano’s?  It’s a Chicago institution!  And I want their house salad and I want it now!”.  He wrote the family, begging them to reopen, somewhere, anywhere.  When Barney’s and a Citibank went up on that corner…well, it was (almost) enough to make my dear old Dad swear off Chicago and Italian food forever.

I follow Penny Pollack, Chicago Mag’s dining editor, on Twitter and last night, she tweeted the tweet of all tweets: “The Family Behind Papa Milano’s returns with Mama Milano’s“.  Come this May, a pizza bar called Mama Milano’s will be open at 1419 North Wells!

A pizza bar!  In Old Town!  Giuseppe Pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, salami and olives) for everyone!

It turns out that people other than my family have been missing the Milano magic in Chicago.   Something tells me that my Dad is going to be visiting me a lot come May…

 

Flip Cup Champion

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My Mom is visiting my Grandmother (Gi) in Florida and they just sent me this picture.

“Flip Cup Champion.  I Flip Cup Like It’s My Job”

Gi is turning 94 in two weeks- maybe this is an outfit option for the big day.  I think it would go nicely with a party dress.

My (almost) 94 year old Grandmother keeps ME young.  God bless her and her funny little ways.

“Why I Hate Ironing” or “Ironing 101: Don’t Do It”

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This isn’t going to be one of those posts about “Tips for a Tight Fitting Ironing Board Cover” or about “How to Iron a Shirt like a Pro“.  It’s not that kind of Monday, folks.

No, this is about my utter loathing of irons and ironing boards.

I hate ironing.  I like my clothes to be wrinkle free as much as the next gal but there are about a million and two lengths (Dry cleaners!  Hanging them in the bathroom while I shower!  Refusing to buy anything that isn’t dubbed “wrinkle free”!)  I will go through before I fire up the ol’ iron.  I enjoy most home/domestic pursuits but I draw the line at ironing.

I blame it on an ex-boyfriend who was a huge jerk about the way I ironed his shirts.  Because apparently he invented ironing.  Right around the time my 21 year old eager-to-please self realized he should be doing his own flipping ironing was when I realized that he could take his love of ironing (and everything else) and shove it.

But I digress.

I don’t have an office job that requires starched anything.  And there’s a dry cleaner in my apartment building and The Lee’s who run it, God bless them, are awesome so problem solved.  However, Ryan recently suggested we pick up an ironing board to “touch up” things that get wrinkled in the closet because we do own an iron and, well, I guess that iron needed a friend to get the job done.

This request went largely ignored because refusing to lug an ironing board on public transit was a legit excuse.

But during a trip to Bed, Bath and freakin’ Beyond this weekend with the car, my excuses ran out.  And while Ryan does not expect me to actually touch the iron and has assumed all responsibility (in writing) for the de-wrinkling in our life, I now have an ironing board in our bedroom that I CANNOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO CLOSE!

There it is, in all of its huge, in my way, annoying glory.

I have pulled strings and loose looking metal rods and stepped on the ends…no luck.  The damn thing is still upright.

Ryan will be home soon and better have a solution (the man has a master’s in engineering- he better have a solution) but until then, I will be basking in what I have always known to be true:

I am right and ironing sucks.