Wednesday brought perfect weather, and I made the most of it. I’ve been talking for weeks about how I was going to ride my bike to the cute little bakery that opened down the street. Well, no more talk. I did it – I even made a quick stop at the library and returned a book first. It felt as urban as this suburb is ever going to get. The bakery hasn’t been open very long, but I can tell I’m going to love it. Everything I’ve purchased has been terrific, including a veggie full grilled chicken salad, as well as vegan chocolate chip cookies. (So good, and you’d never guess they were vegan.) Yes, I’m a bit obsessed with the cookies, and yes, the owners know me. Already. Bad sign. The only thing that would have made the day better would have been riding over with my buddy, who is living the soccer-crazed life this week. He gets home from camp at 9 and crashes, then wakes up and starts all over again.
See you tomorrow with the construction update (Thursday is this week’s work day – and we should have the “official” refrigerator in, as well as a working microwave, but we’re also cutting a big hole in the ceiling) as well as the Five. I have to figure out a way to sneak out to pick up Domino’s new issue between deliveries and question answering/supervision.
Congratulations, cpullum! You’ve won the Martha Weddings and Blueprint magazine giveaway! Please contact me (visit my profile) with your mailing address before 8am Monday, July 14 and I’ll get them wrapped and on their way!
photo from studiopw.com
I still want/need letterpress stationery, and a business card, which would go a long way in explaining “what I do” when I’m taking photos, etc during my fact-finding missions. One big problem is that I’m a gifted procrastinator. Another big problem is that there are so many awesome letterpressers out there, and I’d like to have stationery from all of them. Take for instance Studio/PW. I stumbled across this site a month or two ago when I was doing way too much 4:30 am web surfing due to insomnia. (I do not plan to get up at 4:30 and hit the computer, but it happens.) The invitation pieces above are perfectly my style: minimalist with a twist, combined with a great typeface. Check out the rest of Studio/PW’s site. It’s all quite lovely. I’m adding Peggy Wong to my list of people to follow.
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photo from bodumusa.com
Whenever this kitchen project is finished, and things are put away, and I’m feeling like I’m running a normal(ish) household, I plan to buy this nifty Bodum ice tea jug (with filter) for the gallons of infused water I plan to drink. Strawberry/mint will be the first jug.
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Today’s NYTimes says this is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. Important information? Chilling the batter for 24-36 hours makes any good chocolate chip cookie better. I need my oven back!
Read about the quest for perfection here, and if you’re an addict (like me), you may want to scroll through the reader comments to see if a better idea/recipe comes along.
Without a full-functioning kitchen this summer, we’ve been eating out even more than usual. I’ve been trying to stick to local restaurants (i.e. not chains) as much as possible. When we visited friends in Glen Ellyn a week ago, I suggested we meet for dinner at Honey, a new cafe in the charming downtown shopping/train station area. Our family arrived a bit early, so I was able to peruse the baked goods case and picked up quite a few treats while we waited, including the raspberry jam filled star cookies pictured above. (If I can’t bake the Martha recipe, I can buy it!)
Dinner was fantastic. Our server was friendly, and offered lots of suggestions. I tried an organic beer, and most of the table ended up ordering the “mini burger trio” (local grass-fed beef) with sweet potato fries. I plan to visit again soon, as breakfast sounds incredible, and I still need to order the science-fare sundae, as they were out of ice cream the night we visited. (I was going to take a photo of it, too!)
If you’re close to the western ‘burbs of Chicago, you should check it out. View breakfast & lunch, bakery (forever my fave) and dinner menus at honeycafe.net.
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