List 78

Love: The Boxcar Children was a childhood favorite of mine - to read and endlessly play act - so it's been lovely to re-read it this past week with Stella. The idea of four resourceful kids fending for themselves while living in the abandoned train car in the woods (storing bottles of milk in their cold creek "refrigerator", gathering mis-matched cracked dishes and pots from the town dump, finding eggs in the woods for supper, etc.)is as appealing now as ever.

Like: Tasting Table's Year of the Dinner Party series, which promises to provide ideas and inspiration for entertaining for the coming year.  Based on the first two entries, I'm hooked.

http://www.tastingtable.com/multipart_article/national/121

Discovery: Friskies' brilliant Cat Fishing app, which played a small part in keeping our poor cat Clara sane during her 8-week confinement following surgery (she was hit by a car in January.)  As of today, she's a free girl and authorized to be a normal cat again. 

Obsession: The current post-advertising fantasy gig is owning a small, modern urban inn above a bar or restaurant. Not unlike Longman and Eagle in Chicago or Detroit's Honor and Folly.

Complaint: That I don't have a picture of the finished dish to help convey this, but I swear this recipe for Guinness-Braised Beef Brisket is the easiest and most delicious centerpiece to a St. Patrick's Day dinner, if you are so inclined this Saturday.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/guinness-braised-beef-brisket-10000000577146/

List 77

Love: Cocktails at Aviary, where the science and imagination of molecular gastronomy is applied to alcoholic concoctions. Of course, I had to go with the Negroni-based option, called the 2-in-1. You start with a glass vial of carbonated Negroni and a tall glass with a white lady, all frothy egg whites and gin.  After a few sips you mix them together and a new drink emerges.  When I'm next in Chicago I want to try the 7-course cocktail tasting menu for sure.

Like: Ruxbin, a down-to-earth but gourmet Chicago BYOB, named one of the 10 best new restuarants in America by GQ.  Run by a brother, sister and friend trio, all surnamed Lee, we had delicious stuffed calamari,hanger steak, and a chocolate pot de creme topped with bacon cotton candy.

Discovery: That Bill Cunningham is pretty much the sweetest man on the planet.  Such a rare and unusual character, and such a lovely documentary. 

Obsession: Take Shelter, a terrific small movie from late last year, with Boardwalk Empire's Michael Shannon (decidedly non-Agent Van Alden-ish) as a working class family man in rural Ohio who becomes obsessed with his dreams and visions of an apocalyptic storm.  Is he prophetic or descending into paranoid schizophrenia?

Complaint: Hotel room service – how long it takes, the awkward standing around in a robe while someone brings the tray in, deciding how much to add to the 2 gratuities already on the bill.  Thankfully, this complaint has been solved at Public, Ian Schraeger’s new stripped-down hotel concept in Chicago, which aims to offer everything you need and nothing you don’t at a surprisingly affordable rate.  The best part of the stay: 6-minute room service left outside your door in a stylish bag.