It was busy weekend for me, as I had my friend Marcie in town visiting. Marcie and I went to Bethany together, and we always have a great time no matter what. Even if the rain and inclimate weather made for damp excusions.
On Friday, we braved the drizzle and went downtown to the Art Institute and the MCA. It’s been ages since I’ve been to either, and I must say the exhibits at the Art Institute were fantastic. I was a tad dissapointed in the antiquities wing, where Ancient Egypt, Greec and Rome made up an entire section on their own, but the Impressionists collections as always had me in awe.
The MCA is currently home to Jeff Koon’s work, which was a tad surreal. A mixture of inflatible sculpture, basketballs in aquariums and porn, it was scattered and not as mind blowing as I anticipated. I also have to say that it must be on the application to work at the MCA that one must be an 80’s goth reject. Overall, the whole museum was pretentious with little flare. Yawn.
We ended our day’s excusion with cocktails at the Hancock Signature Room. The rain and clouds kept us from getting to see the view it’s known for, but we shared a giggle over the peculiar and drunken couple that sat across from us near the window. We couldn’t figure out if it was a first date gone strange or if the guy was the woman’s professor, and she was trapped on an extra curricular dating excursion.
Saturday I had to work briefly, and after I got home we headed to Indie for sushi. While the experience as always was great, I did note that I thought it was a different sushi chef working, since my Hellstone Maki was not as finessed as it had been on our past two trips there. We also learned that Hand Roll does not refer to sushi being hand rolled, but rather sushi in a burrito style hand held roll. The stunned and perplexed expressions on our faces when our hand roll was delievered to the table said it all. My recommendation: go to Indie for great sushi, but skip the crazy tuna hand roll. Blah.
Marcie and Rick called it a night after Indie, but I ventured out in the monsoon to Piece over in Wicker Park, where I joined Brian and Sara for Sara’s 28th birthday bash. The pizza was divine, and the micro brews they served were interesting. The heferweisen that Brian and I indulged in later in the evening had a surreal bubble gum taste and mouth feel to it! What made the excursion even more intersting is that about 10:30 ish, Rock and Roll kareoke started. For those not in the know… a live band, armed with a small catalogue of varied rock tunes, played back up to the drunken ones who tried in vain to belt a tune in tune. While most of the singers left a bit to be desired (and there were certainly a few performances that completely ruined certain songs for me), the female guitarist was on fire! I complimented her later, and noted she should be fronting her own band. Go for the good pizza, the fun beers, and, even if you aren’t a karoke fanatic, just to see Lauren jam.
Sunday took us to m. henry for brunch, when as always, the food was fantastic! Dan, one of the managers there, also is a Bethanian like Marcie and I, and showed us the new back patio they just finished. If you have never been to m. henry for brunch, you must must must go. Simply my favorite brunch spot in the city.
Shopping was how we spent the rest of our day, as Marcie and I hit several consignment shops in Lakeview. We were good, and kept the damage to a minimum. We came home to Rick making crawfish ettoufee, which put a perfect cap on the evening and the weekend.
And today… the rain has stopped, i’m back to work, and Marcie has headed home. Time for me to recover, and get ready for my mom’s visit this weekend. Yeah!
Rants of The Misanthrope and other musings 