Birthday Dinner

This weekend was my birthday and it began with dinner at Graham Elliot's on Thursday night. I had heard of him, but I haven't really been keeping up with the dining scene in Chicago (ever since we moved to the 'burbs); so when Matt and I watched Top Chef Masters and saw him, we thought that he would be someone who's food we'd like to try. And voilà, a reservation was made.

At the table we snacked on popcorn with truffle oil and Parmesan cheese (I re-made this for my party on Friday night and it was awesome both times).Me chowing down the popcorn

Appetizers were -- COLD: white Tuna sashmi with avocado mousse, HOT: seared scallop topped with ham hock and served over potato salad with fried pickles and cornbread dressing.

Entrees were: MATT: bison steak with root beer barbecue sauce and beans, ME: Halibut with tomato marmalade, Israeli couscous, fennel and tomato powder.

Finally desert: we split a SB&J basically a deconstructed PB&J only with sesame shortbread, mango jam, raspberry foam, and a dollop of peanut butter ice cream.

I really liked this place, the food and the ambiance was really up my alley for a special occasion in the city. I liked eating food that felt like art, and combined (well to me at least) new flavors. This place was very hip, although not everyone there looked it so that helped (us included). On the other hand, if you want familiar - it's not here - you won't be taking any food home, and your bill will be really high. No vegetarian options as far as I could see, and you really need to order at least 2 appetizers, entree, dessert to get the feel for it. That said, it was a good special occasion place -- unless I lived around the corner, then I'd be there every night for popcorn.

Bathroom - finito! Really this time.

Okay, now we're really done. The pebble backsplash got grouted and the frosted glass got put into the cabinet.Now we can buy that toilet paper holder we've always wanted!

Before & After

Final days of the bathroom renovation

Here's the backsplash of pebbles we added, along with the new mirror and lights.

In the mirror reflection, you can see this cabinet that my dad crafted for us.

All we have left to do is ...

• grout the pebbles under the mirror
• put in the frosted glass into the new cabinet

Oh, and get a toilet paper holder, hooks, and some artwork -- but that's the fun part.

A new set of wheels

Matt and I finally bought a car together. Now we finally have "our car" -- as opposed to the Civic which is, and always will be, "my car."

Here it is:No just kidding -- but I look really good in it, so maybe for my 40th birthday?

Here's the new baby ...All shiny, waiting for us to take off into the sunset. We're pretty excited!

More bathroom updates

We're going on 6 months now ...

My dad made this awesome built in cabinet for the bathroom, in place of a closet we had. It has more storage and I think it looks really great - I love built ins. Now all we need to buy are the glass inserts for the doors and attach the knobs.Finally, we had a powwow yesterday about how to do the mirror and we decided to attach the pebbles to the wall like a backsplash and hang the mirror above it. So far here's how it looks.

Saturday night Spring Dinner

We've been really trying to eat more locally, organically, and seasonally, so last night we had our friends over for a spring dinner - where we cooked our meal with all seasonal ingredients. They brought the wine, we made the food, we played 10 Days Across the USA... How did you spend you Saturday night?


Menu:
**Asparagus Soup with chervil, dill, and Chives
**Stuffed artichokes made with my grandfather's homemade sopresotta
**Smoked Salmon, asparagus, & goat cheese tarts with a spring salad.
**Upside down pear cake with almonds.

My high school is closing ...

It even made Yahoo headlines -- and of course my cousin's boyfriend is the one they interviewed.