weeknight warrior

My friend Natalie has been a big part of my life for over a decade. She’s also not really into birthday parties. However, I wasn’t going to let her quarter century anniversary pass without note. I know I have talked about it a lot, but I figured that the Violet Hour was nice enough for a special occasion and cool enough that she wouldn’t find it completely ridiculous.

This time we were sitting in a booth, which provided ample opportunity to snap some flash-free pictures, without looking like a total nerdo, or interrupting a party of people who don’t like to take pictures of things that they consume. To begin, I had a Daisy de Santiago (Flor de Caña, Lime, Yellow Chartreuse, Spring Bitters) Gerard had a Yellow Rose of Texas (which includes Tequila and Yellow Chartreuse) annd Natalie had a Spring Sidecar (Landy Cognac, Orange Curacao, Lemon, Pineapple, Spring Bitters)- which she didn’t find as tasty as the ones at the Matchbox.

For the second round, Natalie had a Dark and Stormy (a personal favorite)

(Dark Rum, Ginger Beer, Ginger Syrup, Lime)
*I was excited to have a sip of this, seeing as I have been trying to perfect it at home. There is still something with more “bite” about the version at the VH. At home, it tastes sweeter. I think I need to add more ginger.

Gerard had a Hemingway Daiquiri

(Rum, Maraschino Liquor, Lime, Simple syrup?)

I had a Miraflores

(Pisco Italia, Grapefruit, Orange Blossom Honey Syrup, Miramar Bitters)
*My favorite part of which is the egg meringue

For the third and final round (it was a birthday celebration!) Natalie had “The Art of Choke”

(Cynar, Appleton Rum, Lime, Green Chartreuse, Mint)
*Which I had when I came with Gemma, and enjoyed immensely. Artichoke Liquor is tasty!

Gerard had a Spring Sazerac

(Old Overholdt Rye, Herbsainte, Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur, Peychaud’s Bitters)
*Which actually tastes like Apricots!

I had an El Diablo

(Which includes Tequila, Lime, Ginger Beer, and Cassis)

It’s fun to look up all the ingredients online, but they (the internet gods) don’t always give the quantities, which are really important in cocktail constructing. I realize that I missed a great opportunity to have a professional Mai Tai, which will have to happen in a month or so, seeing as the Violet Hour is really only somewhere you can go when you are celebrating something or temporarily flush in cash.

P.S. I have found this website, of Death and Company in NYC (the Violet Hour’s sister bar) very helpful for home bartending. I visited Death and Company when I was in NYC during February and was equally impressed with it as the Violet Hour (actually, I felt that Death and Company felt more like a Chicago place with the wood paneling and that the Violet Hour feels more like a NY place with its sophistication)

P.P.S. I also think I have discovered the secret ingredient in the VH’s deviled eggs. I think they put drugs in them.

celebratory

My friend Danielle just got a great new job. Last weekend over a celebratory Framboise at Small Bar in Logan Square, she mentioned wanting to go out for drinks sometime this week, with the girls before her 7:30am-5:30 pm hours began.

The Violet Hour is delicious and fantastic, but a bit out of our price range for this Wednesday. The Matchbox is an old standby, but we wanted something a little more intimate and less crowded (an odd mix of terms, eh?)

I figured it was the perfect opportunity to try out Juicy Wine Company. We weren’t dissapointed- I had a delicious grilled cheese and some reasonably priced glasses of Pinot Noir. Natalie got and shared some lemon-thyme brined olives and Danielle got the “Stinky, Creamy, Sharp” cheese plate, which was generously portioned and very tasty. It’s a bit pricy to be the kind of place you can go every day (not that you’d want to go to a wine bar everyday, i’m just saying) , but is worth checking out, especially with a group of friends on a low-key weekday evening.

oh my blog

well it’s 2008. last week was fun that weird week between christmas and new years. it always feels nearly imaginary. and now it’s a new year, at least by my calendar.

on friday sarah and i had a dismal meal at azucar, a tapas restaurant in logan square. i don’t want to knock independently owned businesses, so i won’t, but let’s just say the meal steered sarah and me away from ever really wanting to cook or eat spanish food again. whoops, knocking.

the evening, did however provide for a lot of hilarious photo opportunities, most notably

and

on friday gerard and i had a lincoln park adventure!

followed by a styling session for ms. jodie mack.

it was snowing on new years

tony played the piano until 6 in the mornin’ (or 4)

more soon. new years resolution is to find an actual focus for said blog. (eg, this one)

let’s start from the top, shall we?

again, i have neglected my fair blog. baby, i’m sorry. i think about you and wince like maybe how some people do when they don’t put money in the salvation army thing outside the grocery store. so i’m back, but i’m not making any promises. i’m around, you’re around sometimes it works out. usually on a tuesday after work, when i need even more fun qt in front of a computer screen. we can begin with yesterday. i filled up on winter skirts at the thrift store by my house. then i went to see margot at the wedding which was sad but good and funny like the squid and the whale (same director i think) then i made two soups: curry cauliflower and carrot cardamom. which should prove to be quite handy since it’s christmas season and i’ve given up buying lunch so i can buy the people i love books and pictures! i went to be early last night, it was nice.

let’s move backwards to sunday.
sunday began with me making pizza dough.

and a sunday morning chocolate souffle
starting with two coffee cups

cream and eggs

chocolate and butter

pop it in the oven, out come twin souffles!

they are yummy, and great for people allergic to wheat, ahem

you can find the recipe at this awesome website, cooking for engineers.

then i ate pizza with some friends and missed gerard.

on saturday, i made french onion soup because it was snowing.

on friday we went to sushi with lucy and tony, who are both funny and tall. lucy is smart and has great earrings, tony is also smart but substitute the earrings for some legos.
this is a bad picture of a delicious scallop salad.

then we went to the hungry brain for lisa’s 25th bday!

then all of last week i worked a lot. with the exception of sunday…

when we went to breakfast

yum!

and saw beowulf.

the weekend also consisted of
hanging out with annie

and thanksgiving
i lust after my mom’s sugar bowl.

grandpa john

grandma lou

mom and dad

broccoli rabe strata ( a success, no less!) the first time i brought something to thanksgiving! and people ate it!

din-din

have you heard the song white and nerdy? here is the family scrabble tourney. you tell me, ok?

the previous week, sarah and i hosted what has to be the highlight of my young life.

a beautiful dinner party.

it was insanely amazing.

sarah’s blog has even more great pictures, and a better description because i still get sad when i think about how it’s over.

what’s that you say?

i’m going to get more diciplined about blogging. for reaz.

in the meantime, a quick update. the weekend was good (almost a week ago!)

took myself out to dinner on friday

to celebrate/commemorate the end of my current relationship with this book:

fantastic book. going to the dominican republic in april because of it with ms. lopez-betanzos. officially obsessed with junot diaz.

saturday was work after the most beautiful coffee drink ever.

after work, i swear these shoes were just hanging out by a trashcan.

saturday evening

i was mod, danielle was a biker (dead).

this huge dog was at the party

as were carmex and captain crunch!

monday we helped nat with her installation.

it might look like a sweatshop, but it was fun.

go to her opening!

it will be awesome!

on turning 25.

last friday, october 5, i turned 25 years old. a few things are changing in my life.
here is a picture of me smoking one of my last cigarettes. i look kind of cool, but totally dumb, because of the smoking.

this was at the burlington. a new favorite neighborhood hang.

natalie was there too.

we ate rice and mushrooms and cheese for dinner. it was tasty.

my bosses at work were awesome we had delicious sushi and everyone said happy birthday all day long. friday evening proved to be even better!

it’s also donald’s birthday! my little (bigger) brother

don and dad love to talk and eat (at the same time!)

aunt sallee and mom are really serious about their dessert. no fun here! chocolate makes you cry! (kidding!)

this was gerard’s early birthday dessert.

here is a handsome man relaxing during dessert. (we ate at lula, surprise surprise)

this was my regular birthday dessert.

christmas card (POSSIBILITY)

better christmas card (POSSIBILITY)

classic!

most hilarious picture ever.

sarah and emily came to visit me at work for lunch on saturday. here is what they got to eat at fan si pan. it was also tasty.

here are my roommates hanging out

on sunday we rode bikes

and wore tennis shoes

it was a good birthday weekend.

tgif

after a long work week, i met up with my girl danielle at the matchbox.
a great place by my old house.

we talked about our careers and the perils of being a real adult, as well as the advantages. we also talked about creativity, and if part of being truly creative is being a truly irresponsible person who is unconcerned with the bs of paying bills, being on time, etc. we came to no conclusions, but it was an interesting topic to talk about.

critical mass was going on, so it was fun to holler at all the bikers. look, here’s a picture of danielle’s beer.

isn’t she pretty?

here are some gimlets.

here is a deconstructed glass

theresa’s knee and hand

colin seems to be praying to a god of some sort.

gerard and i are in the mob, really

then we went to cafe privata, a restaurant i have never been to, but might start to frequent. i had a sublime steak. the salsa was amazing

said sublime steak

yumyumfunfun

gluten free

bleeding heart bakery has the best gluten free chocolate chip cookies, ever. just fyi for all you celiacs who have boyfriends who can eat wheat- he can’t even tell the difference.