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Freakish Ramblings

Sunday, August 17, 2008

What More Could You Ask For?

What to do on a leisurely Saturday morning. What with the crazy work and social schedule of the last two months, I realized that I hadn’t yet had a quiet Saturday this summer, and I’d forgotten what to do with myself on a day during which my free time was disproportionately larger than the list of my responsibilities. Even better, the weather promised to provide more mild-and-sunny in a string of perfect summer days that we don’t see all that often in Chicago. The biggest event of the day was dinner at home with Jen, Ken, and Emma, so I figured I’d start there.

Early morning found me at the Saturday farmer’s market run by True Nature Foods. Our friends Greg and Stewart started bringing produce from their small farm in Wisconsin to the market last year--this year, their offerings and their stand are much larger. Their email from the night before promised me fresh herbs, onions, garlic, eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, mesclun, and cheese--everything I needed for ratatouille and a side salad for dinner. I loaded up two bags with fresh vegetables and went across the way to the pasta whore.

Pasta Puttana. Homemade, organic, fresh pasta made by a young Italian woman in Chicago. This is her first year at the market (and I believe she also sells her pasta at the Green City Market). I bought enough fresh herb tagliatelle for five--a little pasta tossed with olive oil, bacon, and parmesan would be another nice dish.  Ah yes, and I also picked up a loaf of olive oil ciabatta from Red Hen Bakery, who supplies bread along with Blind Faith Cafe for True Nature. Finally, the entree. True Nature carries eggs and chicken from Country Cottage Farm, and it’s simply the best tasting poultry I can get in the city. I marinated a bunch of fryer pieces in lemon, olive oil, and chopped fresh herbs ... nothing like dinner on the grill!

I’d unpacked the groceries and prepped for dinner by 9:00 a.m., yay! The rest of the day spread out before me in a happy sprawl ... I had an extended-play workout at the gym, walked around the neighborhood, did two loads of laundry, watched the pilot for the now-defunct Birds of Prey series, read 100 pages of Middlemarch, configured Honey P.’s Garmin Nuvi 750 (an early birthday present from yours truly), configured RSS feeds and downloaded applications to my new iPhone G3 (the subject of an upcoming post in which I will eat crow), and for a little, did absolutely nothing at all.

Then, dinner. Great conversation, lots of laughing, lots of wine, intense chocolate gelato and sesame biscotti from Pasticerria Natalina, a martini, and a warm fire as we caught some of the Olympics together. It was a wonderful day, what more could you ask for?

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Passing By

C.S. Lewis once observed that it wasn’t much an issue of our having passions too strong, but rather passions much too weak for proper devotion. I’d extend that, in my own personal life, to say that it isn’t much an issue of my mind working too much or dwelling too doggedly on a multitude of things. Rather, my mental discipline is too weak, and I’m too easily distracted by bright and shiny objects.

In the last month, I’ve been to a college reunion, wedding, and graduation. I’ve had dinner with friends and family roughly eight times. Traveled to seven different cities. I’ve tried out five new restaurants and been back to three all-time favorites. Hosted two dinner parties, helped pick out a convertible. And lived out a passing fantasy of driving topdown into the sunset on Saturday night. And sadly I think I remember more about what I was worrying over (deliverables, timetables, next appointments, clients on the verge of unhappy, laundry, bills to be sent, getting my next workout in) than I do of the experiences of the occasions. Summer’s the perfect time to recalibrate, given how quickly it, too, passes. This year, I’m really going to stop and smell the roses ... they started blooming this week.

Monday, May 28, 2007

Life in Zero Gravity

I love those Corona commercials where you see the sand, beach, sky, and lime, It’s a fantasy I heartily endorse. Now, truth be told, I can’t tolerate temps above 80 degrees, I refuse to be seen in a swimsuit, and Corona tends to bloat me. But a bottle of Goose Island’s Pere Jacques and an afternoon reclining in our LaFuma zero gravity chairs while watching planes follow the lakeward flight pattern to O’Hare was vacation enough. Happy holiday weekend!

Sunday, May 06, 2007

I Incomplete Me

Six issues of Wine Spectator, three issues of Vanity Fair, two issues of Bon Appetit, the latest Esquire and Wired and Eating Well. The August 2006 supplement to Gourmet, four books related to work, seven barely started novels that I alternate in my business-trip briefcase. A mostly unread Men’s Health sits sadly in the trashbin--I tossed it because I realized that the cover was hurting my self-esteem. Oh, and five books on iPod. Three uncompleted swim lessons at the local pool. Two pails of unplanted goldenrod on the back deck. And a membership to Alliance Francaise that I’ve never used. How does anyone manage to finish anything?