midwest

birthday tea

in

birthday tea at 
happened with birthday buddy doug
the day before our birthday
after a matinee chicago symphony performance of mahler 5
mahler 5, coincidentally enough, happens to be the theme song of my birthday-
as it has become a bit of a tradition for me to ring in the new year by listening to the adagietto,
which brings me to tears every time i hear it live.

it {the tea}
and its accouterments {pictured above}
were scrumptious
and made me wonder:
why don't we have tea time every day?
{like curtis... and english people}

the russian tea time is one of my favorite places to go in chicago.
it's been one of my favorites since i was a wee one
and didn't mind that nothing on the menu was in my dietary dogma 
{i.e. they didn't have mac and cheese}
because their pumpernickel bread is so good,
i could easily make a meal out of it.

now that i eat other things,
i get the potato vareniki or the tea service.
and of course the russian tea!
dougie got the pumpin vareniki which were equally as good.



xoxo


yeh



xenakis, wee ones, second dinners

in , ,
most commonly
when i am home
i am here.

at the counter in the kitchen
{keeping mum company as she bakes, cooks, etc}

i sit on my computer,
i glance up at whichever suburban obsession is on the tele 
{dancing with the stars graced my life today}
and i nibble on whatever of mum's creations are on her 
beloved aqua cake stand
the current tasty is a dark chocolate orange zest cookie bar


today i broke the monotony 
of my butt-glued-to-chair-noshing-aimlessly routine by playing a recital for
{my favorite}
wee ones!
there aren't many things i love more in life than playing for itsy bitsy kids.

they are so curious!
and
they love loud things!
and have you ever seen a kindergartner pronounce "marimba?"

oh tickle me, it's just the cutest thing.

...

i took them on a little time machine trip
starting with bach
and moving up to xenakis....

i really really hope that a five year old goes home and tells his mom he wants a xenakis cd for christmas.
that would be precious and all the way legit.

all of that playing with kids takes a lot out of you.
so i naturally had to ravage some dumplings.
the ones at dragon inn north in glenview, il
continue to be some of my favorite.

 the uuuuber doughy texture
and the mass quantities of ginger
make them xtra special.

whenever i eat them i get nostalgic about my little kid days
when i'd go here and have a whole order of them for dinner,
but only the dough {never the filling}


and of course there's always room for a second dinner

sister stoop came over

and we made
risotto


and it was delicious.

except so much of me wishes right now that the part of new york,
where you walk a bunch after you eat a big meal,
{or where you walk a bunch even when you don't eat a big meal}
was true for the chicago suburbs.

i guess i'll just submit to food coma instead. 


xoxo


yeh

home for the weekend!

in ,
to play a recital
and 
eat some pizza


and to recall that in some places in the world,
pizza is actually cut into squares
{?!?!?!}

does somebody want to explain to me the reasoning behind this?

other than,
1. so that the cheese can slide off reeeeeally easily
and 
2. so that eating just one more piece is so easy to do that you eat the whole pizza without even knowing it


thankfully,
the stupidity of square cut pizza in this region
is balanced out by the genius of
 deep dish.
{with my current accessory of choice, the green pepper}


and how about some caramelized crust with your slice?

#whychicagoansarefatsos


wish me luck in my recital/digestion, everybody!


xoxo


yeh


tonight's pizza was from pequod's in morton grove, il
{pequod's has another location in lincoln park}
m-sat 11am-2am
sun 11am-12am