Recently in Chicago Category
Today's post is a little detour from what I normally talk about here. It was such a great Chicago kind of weekend for John and I, so I decided to share a little of what makes this city (and the Midwest) such a great place to live in. While many people complain about winter and cold grey weather, it was almost impossible to complain about the weather this weekend, which was not only almost perfect, but also reminded me of one of the things that is so great about the Midwest in the summer: fresh produce. In the summer, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois produce some of the most wonderful fruits and vegetables you can imagine. The only problem? Chicago is not exactly farm country and in spite of what you might think, even in the summer our grocery stores sell a lot of unappetizing produce. So, on Saturday morning, John and I headed off to check out something I've wanted to know more about for a while:
The Green City Market is a market that is meant to connect very high quality small farms with chefs, restauranteurs and the general public. It's located in the south end of Lincoln Park (the actual park, not the location in the city) every Wednesday and Saturday morning in the summer. It's a project that has been spearheaded by many of Chicago's prominent chefs who are interested in serving foods that support local farms and sustainable and organic farming practices. Anyone who comes to sell their wares there must be certified organic and must be dedicated to sustainable farming practices (along with a host of other credentials). Not surprisingly it is composed of a relatively small and select group of farmers and small businesses. Since we had such a nice time Saturday afternoon, I thought I'd give you all a little photo tour of what we found there.
We bought some of the most wonderful baby greens from Green Acres Farm, as well as some really splendid fresh garlic (which I took home and sliced into some special olive oil along with some basil from our garden). Another great find? Fresh asparagus from a farm that I (unfortunately) can't remember the name of.
Apparently it is time for the early tomatoes to come in. Neither John nor I eats tomatoes (unless they are in a sauce), but I still thought that they looked beautiful sitting on the tables of the several vendors who brought them.
And lest you think that there will be no fibery content today at all, here's the Simply Wool booth that was featuring hand-dyed natural wool yarns. I didn't get a chance to talk to her, but some of the colors were really lovely, and apaprently she will also do custom colors.
Some festivals feature fried Twinkies. This market featured fresh made crepes and panini sandwiches. John and I decided that we had to stop for a crepe made with fresh strawberry preserves. Yum! Even more fun when you get to watch your crepe being made in front of your eyes.
Our shopping and crepe eating was accompanied by this lovely string group playing folksy music. How can you not love the idea of a huge string bass in the middle of Lincoln Park?
Before we left, we had also bought a steak produced by Heartland Meats. This farm features Piedmontese cattle which are a special breed that is lower fat but not lower in tenderness. Not only is the meat hormone free, but the farm grows its own non-GMO to feed the cattle and ensure the high quality of the product. For dinner, John and I had a wonderful salad with the baby greens, and John grilled up the steak and the asparagus. We had an almost entirely "organic" meal that was just wonderful.
Our only regret for the day? That we didn't get to the Market early enough to get a chance to grab some of the strawberries that some of the producers sold out of. Is there anything better than farm fresh strawberries in early June? Almost nothing to a midwestern girl like me.
Some days I am reminded of what a vibrant city I live in. I can walk to the post office and find inspiration that can be captured with my tiny camera. The above quote was found on the door of an apartment building being rehabbed in East Village. I am not sure why I like this quote, scribbled on a particle board door, but somehow it does resonate with me. Just like the opera, I guess. I can't really explain why I like it. I just know that deep inside it strikes a chord.
Restaurants do that for me, too, sometimes. I know it seems like I am always falling in love with a new restaurant. That's because Chicago is truly a place undergoing an explosion of wonderful places to eat. Tonight John and I went to schwa for dinner. Wednesday is date night, you know, and John and I are always happiest when the date night restaurant is within walking distance of home. Schwa is Michael Carlson's new restaurant (he's recently been listed as one of Food & Wine's best new chefs). Carlson is alumni from Trio, a restaurant that we never got to try, but that has been the proving ground for many incredible Chicago chefs. (If you want to get a closer look at the current Chicago fine dining restaurant pedigrees, the Chicago Reader has an excellent "family tree"). Schwa is a small place (it seats about 30 people at a time) and the service is incredibly personal. We had Michael Carlson standing at our table several times during the evening and wishing us well as we left. It was almost like having dinner in someone's dining room. And everything we had was wonderful.
What was on our menu tonight?
I had the spring salad, which was a beautiful mixture of strawberries, fennel, fava beans and goat cheese with some exceptional greens. That was followed by an exquisite hot course of quail egg filled ravioli accented with ricotta, a brown butter sauce and parmigiano reggiano. My main course was a beef ribeye with summer truffles, taleggio, and some scrambled eggs (which were light and divine). And it was all followed by a strawberry shortcake with a strawberry foam, olive oil ice cream and basil accents. Sounds strange, but was absolutely delicious. All the food was! John had an equally exceptional meal. The meal was also accented by two small amuse bouche courses and very reasonable pacing. We got there at 9 and didn't leave until midnight. I love eating at a restaurant where you can take time to enjoy the food. And having a fine dining experience that's accented with a hip hop beat.
As we were finishing, we were told that they had a tasting menu as well... John and I love doing chef's tasting menus and the special surprise of not quite knowing what is going to come out next. We didn't need any more motivation to go back, but if we did, that would certainly be it.
On a scale of 1 to 10, schwa was definitely close to that highest number. Some might not like the BYOB thing with a restaurant, but it really wasn't a negative for us. We just grabbed a bottle of wine from our collection and walked off on our date.
Did I mention that I just love my city?
If you live in Chicago, you've probably heard about the boutique explosion on Damen St. in Bucktown. Bonne Marie and I decided that a little exploring was in order to see the new stores that had cropped up. Even though the weather can still only be described as blustery and cold (we saw actual snow flurries) it didn't put a chill on the enjoyment we got out of discovering some new stores and patronizing some old favorites. If you need flowers, fashion, kitsch, a custom T-shirt, jewelry, art, hip eyeware, ribbons, paper goods, handbags, funky shoes, cool things for your baby, maternity wear, fine house wares, prepared gourment foods, cigars (no, we didn't go there, but if you want them, you can find them) or lingerie, you can find it on Damen -- and that doesn't even include all the restaurants on the street!
One thing that was a favorite for both Bonne Marie and I was this little number (that we found at Climate Home, which sells some great greeting cards and a wide variety of other strange and wonderful things, including a pop-up book version of the Kama Sutra)
If you live in the Bucktown/Wicker Park/East Village/Ukrainian Village area, your main means of public transportation are likely to be the Damen and Chicago buses, and the Blue Line Train (which inspired the name for my first felted handbag). This T-shirt by Tattooed Tees has that vaguely touristy but mostly hip local celebration of my favorite El line and station.
What makes it ever so delightful is the station co-ordinates. In Chicago, all the El stations have big signs that include the name of the station and it's co-ordinates on the map grid of Chicago. 2000W, 1400N tells you that you are 20 blocks west of the east/west dividing line (State St.) and 14 blocks north of the north/south dividing line (Madison St.)
(This co-ordinate would probably be considered the very northern edge of Wicker Park instead of Bucktown, but the T-shirts that said Wicker Park didn't come in as nice a color combination). Knowing your co-ordinates is better than knowing a ZIP code or a street address if you understand how the city grid works. I so want it to get warm now, just so that I can wear this T-shirt!
Our favorite new shop was Soutache (which I think means "ribbon" in French). This place sells all sorts of wonderful embellishments. Incredible and fabulous ribbons, crocheted flowers, wooden hardware for hand bags, feather and fur (fake) tapes and feather boas, special buttons, pom pons of all sorts -- all arranged in an appetizing and engaging manner. This place almost made me wish that I knew how to sew. If you're at all crafty, I don't think you could go in there without being inspired by all the colors and textures. And shiny-thing-loving-crow that I am, I knew I wasn't going to leave empty handed.
How can you not like knitting-themed ribbon? I think I am going to use the "I wonder who's knitting for me" tape when I give hand knitted gifts. I want to use it to embellish cards that provide instructions for garment maintenance. The "Knitting Instructions" tape* I have no current plans for, but I just couldn't resist it. Maybe I will try to convince my mom to help me make some small pouches for knitting gear and embellish them with it. Or maybe I'll create some needle lace and combine it with the ribbon to use as bookmarks for my knitting book collection.
We made several other stops, to Eye Spy (purveyors of very fashionable eye glasses, which will be revealed in several weeks after I have an eye appointment and get lenses ordered), Toast (where we had lunch of pancakes and french toast -- their Marscapone French toast is to die for!), C'est Moi (a small store full of French-country inspired housewares and fabrics), Shebang (which sells lovely funky handbags), the Goddess and Grocer (some of the best peanut butter cookies in the city, I think) and 4-5 clothing/jewelry stores before ending up in Filter (a wonderful coffee shop made more wonderful by the new no smoking ordinance in Chicago**) to do a little sock knitting. All in all, a most excellent day!
* note to Julie, there is a yard of this stuff with your name on it sitting next to my computer right now next time we have a little get-together, it will come live with you!
** I'm not trying to offend smokers here. In general, I have no problem with people choosing to smoke -- we all have our little vices and I'd be pretty annoyed if someone criticized me for drinking coffee or enjoying a Frontera margarita.. But I don't like the congested feeling I get, the eye irritation from my contact lenses, or the smell my clothes/yarn take on after being in a smokey room. So the smoking ban in eating establishments in Chicago has been a real blessing for me.
Lighting is everything. This morning, it's a grey, snowy day here in Chicago. The kind of day that makes a girl glad that she and her trusty computer are indoors with a nice cup of warm green tea and some entertaining toys. And this time, it's not just AddiTurbos and wool -- it's Exacto knives, paper and glue!
Initially, I wasn't going to post the silhouette shot, but it really is emblematic of so many December mornings in Chicago... quiet and grey with tall buildings reaching fingers into the sky. The flash shot shows off the results of my cutting and trimming and pasting and punching and gluing -- a nifty little city scape that will provide a little extra decoratation for our holiday party. This was a lot of fun, and hardly took any time at all, because Paper Source does all the hard work (i.e. cutting out the city form) and puts all the pieces (and I mean all the pieces --- including a glue stick and a punch for the snowflakes) into one little box. All I had to do was use my imagination and my scissors to get my own little version of Chicago in profile. (For a look at all the goodies that came in the kit, just click here.) How could I not love the cut out shape that looks like the Hancock Tower? Or the Prudential building tower spike?
Of course, art does imitate life in this case. Guess what you can see right outside my window:
When I am not thinking about fiber, I am often thinking about paper. While I don't do quite as much of it as I used to, some of my favorite crafty things to do involve paper. I've never been a scrapbooker (that has always seemed like it required a great deal of dedication that I don't usually have to any one thing), but I love rubber stamps, origami, and using paper to make interesting shapes and decorations. I consider myself fortunate that I live in a city that is the origin one of the best paper arts stores anywhere -- Paper Source. When I first got to Chicago they had one location in a hole in the wall near the brown line. Now not only have they expanded to a few other places in Chicago, they've also gone national and you can order online. But I still absolutely love making a little pilgrimage to the original store every now and again.
Every year, one of my favorite events is our holiday party. I love to fill my home with friends and cookies and holiday decorations. Last year, life got in the way of us pulling it together, so this year I am back with a vengeance. Last weekend we spent a few hours raiding Crate & Barrel for some of their lovely Christmas decorating items and today I headed out to Paper Source for supplies to put together my invitations. And of course, I found just a little bit more than I could leave in the store.
Lately I'm becoming more and more of a sucker for kits -- I love it when I can buy something that has all the pieces and all I need to do is cut and assemble. I don't end up with a lot of extra stuff I don't need and I get to enjoy the fun part without spending a lot of time hunting down all the component parts. Apparently, I'm not the only one, because Paper Source now has more of these wonderful sorts of things than I ever remember them having before. Basically, if you have a bone folder, an x-acto knife and some PVA adhesive, you're good to go on a variety of cool things. In fact, it was almost hard for me to limit myself to three...
1. Holiday Flower Kit -- also labelled as the Holiday Magnolia paper flower kit. This nifty little package is chock full of red and gold papers, floral wire and floral tape and instructions and templates for creating a whole boquet of winter magnolias. I think these will be perfect decorations for my holiday cookie table and as small accents for places that need a little extra color.
2. 3-D Star Kit. This kit is pretty simple -- 40 sheets of pre-cut square silver paper combined with templates and instructions for creating a multitude of heavenly objects. Since this makes 20-40 stars of varying shapes and forms, I'm thinking they'll be hanging from windows and over our mantlepiece once I find a little silver cording. Celestial origami! I just couldn't resist.
3. Holiday Accordian Cityscape Kit to complement the stars over my mantle piece, I'm going to make sure this nifty little city is living underneath them. With a glue stick and a snowflake punch included almost all I have to do is pull out the instructions and get started.
The rest of the goodies are for creating my party invitations. Inspired by a great new set of stamps from Julie (in addition to making all those fab felted bags, she also sells some awesome Hero Arts stamps from her Stamping Online store I decided that this year's invites will be a postcard format -- and will probably be this weekend's big craft project.
P.S. to folks asking about the cashmere scarf pattern -- the pattern was actually purchased from the Hunt Valley Cashmere folks, so I don't feel that I can share any of the pattern details on line. However, Hunt Valley's phone number is 410-298-8244 and the pattern is called the "Triangle Lace Scarf" by Marylin Merbach should you want to try to get a copy of your own. I have no idea if she will sell them without the cashmere, since I bought mine as a kit.
When we bought our house in the Ukranian Village section of Chicago almost four years ago, we could see the potential in the neighborhood, but knew we were taking something of a gamble moving into a neighborhood just south of Wicker Park that hadn't quite hit yet. Yet we really wanted to be living in the city, and most of the neighborhoods that were considered really happenin' at the time (Lincoln Park, Bucktown, Wicker Park, West Loop) were already too well discovered for us to afford them or just didn't have enough interesting things around them besides good freeway access to draw us in. So we put our money down and took a spin at the wheel.
Our gamble has paid off in spades. Over the last year, we have watched as streets like Damen and Division have blossomed with new shops and restaurants. And now we're just beginning to see Chicago Avenue and Grand Avenue transform as well. It used to be that most of our favorite restaurants were east and north of us. Now, in the summer, we can walk to so many good places and we almost don't even think about going too far out of our own little sphere.
Saturday was a lovely day. Julie came into the city to visit so that we could plan our trip to Maryland Sheep & Wool. And since the weather was so nice, we decided to take a little stroll up Damen and down Division to see what we could see. There's nothing quite like exploring neat new stores with a good friend. It made me realize how many nice new creative places are springing up. Here's a little sample of what I came home with.
Tatine, (formerly Wicked, located at 908 N. Damen) is home to a candle maker who specializes in bringing wonderful scents into your home. I'm burning my Gingered Grapefruit candle as I type, and it's filling my room with a delightful spicy citrus scent. The store opened at just about the same time that we did and I've never had a chance to go in before. I don't think it's going to be long before I go back and purchase one of her incredible coffee scented candles or one of the orange chocolate pillars she has available. I used to spend most of my candle $$$ at Illuminations, but given what I found on Saturday, I'll definitely be visiting Tatine for my candle needs in the future.
While were on the subject of good scents, I also got to make my first trip into StinkerBelle, a place that focuses on wonderful scents to complement human skin. I fell in love with a fragrance called Cashmere by Susanne Lang. Cashmere is billed as a unisex fragrance, but I think it leans a little bit towards woman. It has spicy and musky qualities to it with just a hint of something floral (to me). The husband liked it too. And I need to take him back to see if he likes Exotic Tea. StinkerBelle has also shares it's space with and esthetician who does aromatherapy facials. Definitely something I want to check out in the future.
And last, but not least, Julie and I wandered through Nina's. I added to my collection of double points (she has the 6" versions of the nice small sock sized needles) and I took home just a little tuft of fibery goodness in the form of some Habu Textiles Silk Mohair in a light springy green color. It's destined to become a lacy little scarf for my spring wardrobe. And it helped to provide me with some fortitude with regards to not taking home any of the Habu paper yarn that I am currently very fascinated with. The paper yarn is actually 100% linen. I'm wondering how it would do paired with a fine hemp yarn in the table runner department. That will give me something to hunt for while I'm in Maryland in early May.
It was an absolutely gorgeous weekend here in Chicago. Perfect weather for the Renegade Craft Fair. This is the second year for the fair. I didn't manage to get down to it last year, and I am glad I didn't miss it this time.
While it would have been fun all on its own, the time was made better by good company. Bonne Marie and Julie and I wandered through the booths and at various intervals ran into a host of other folks from out Thursday night knitting group. I even came face to face with a professor from grad school. Wicker Park has a way of drawing everyone in these days.
I was actually pretty low key when it came to purchasing things. I didn't really have any "have to find" items. But I did find a few things that caught my attention and "needed" to come home with me.
My favorite finds were the two bracelets. I'd been looking for something fun to wear around my wrist, and these two fit my mood perfectly. The multitude of multicolored stones reminded me of a bracelet that I loved but broke sometime back and can no longer wear. The metal rings spoke a little industrial, a little urban and will likely become one of those things that I wear all the time. And a girl can never have too much nifty stationary, especially when she has fun knit buds to trade with.
I'm also a soft touch for things that smell good. This lovely soap vendor had the most delicious smells in her booth. I resisted the chocolate scented bath fizzies but came home with a sampling of soap in the earthy, spicy, citrusy range.
After the fair, I came home and found this waiting for me in the mail...
It's official! I have my diploma and am completely finished with my computer science degree (we won't talk about when I started it... suffice it to say that it was well before I started blogging). I can now add a few more letters to my CV. Happy dancing all around! Perhaps, since I finished all the main knitting for Audrey over the weekend, I will swatch for Butterfly to celebrate!
Hey everybody! If you're in Chicago and looking for a few knitting buddies head on over to Letizia's Natural Bakery at 2144 W. Division between 7 and 9 pm tonight. Letizia's is a nice place with good muchies and a nice space to hang out in (if it's nice tonight, be sure to check on the back patio).
Hope to see you there!
