The Boss' Boat

So my super senior boss owns a boat. Not like one of those dinky motorboats, I'm talking a 42' beauty of a yacht. As the best of summer days started rolling in, he invited our team out on the lake for a ride. I feel so lucky!!!!

via Glut with Guts -- After leaving Monroe Harbor

via Glut with Guts -- Jeaneau

via Glut with Guts -- The ever-expanding Chicago skyline

via Glut with Guts -- The Jib

via Glut with Guts -- Ahoy from on board!

6.23.2011

via Glut with Guts -- Sidewalk Message

via Glut with Guts -- Colorful Landscape

via Glut with Guts -- Whipped Cream Vodka (in Mega Liter Sizes) Makes Everything Blurry

via Glut with Guts -- I wish I was Home Depot Handy

ew. toc.

People who know me know... crowds give me anxiety. I would love to be a wild concert go-er, or a public fairs type of gal, but it a'int so. I pick and choose my public functions carefully to ensure I would get too engulfed in crowds.

But it's that time of year again in Chicago. The time I dread and try my hardest to avoid (which is a semi-difficult feat since I work a stones throw away).

Minna-made

Unpacking after moving has taken quite a bit longer than I had expected. This in addition to minor "issues" with our apartment have kept me hesitant from breaking in the new space. It's now week four in my apartment, and slowly but surely, things are coming together and I've started to feel a bit more at "home".

via moi

S came over the other day with two lovely new additions to my kitchen: basil and rosemary! After I wake up each morning, I scuttle into the kitchen and rub a leaf of each for good measure. They smell so great!

Moving out of my old apartment, I did a major purge of my things: I threw out boxes of old clothes, many bottles of lotions and sadly... a lot of kitchen stuff too. However, essentials at hand, I've started to cook once more.

via moi

I made my pseudo pad thai. I say pseudo (and probably should) about most/all my cooking as... I barely measure. This is a bad habit I've picked up from years of watching my halmoni (grandmother) cook in the kitchen... only I have no experience to back up my method. haha oh well.

I love "easy made" recipes. I hate when I pick up a cookbook filled with ridiculously obscure french names and processes or 'crazy' ingredients. I'm a simple girl, with simple tastes and would like a recipe to be blunt and show me how in 10 steps or less. No hand-holding, just slap it down on the table.

(Also, please ignore my washer/dryer in the background. My kitchen is cramped but functional and cute!)

Other weekend happenings: I'm loving my new neighborhood and all the foodie/wino nooks and cranies.

via Glut with Guts

Truffled eggs at Fork in Lincoln Square/North Center = HEAVENLY. Sitting atop a light puff pastry with a thin layer of mushrooms and goat cheese, this truffle flavor infused eggs made me happy and giddy. I don't think I spoke the entire time I was eating this and had my eyes closed like a freak after each bite.

Other notables from the Fork menu:

via Glut with Guts -- Duck Crostini

via Glut with Guts -- Orange Carrot Juice

After brunch, +1 and I went to our favorite breakfast/bakery place (that had a 2 hour wait for brunch! Hence why we choose the no wait Fork instead.) for some coffee.

Welcome to Lincoln Square:

via Glut with Guts -- Cafe Selmarie

via Glut with Guts -- The Fountain of Lincoln Square gets a washing!

via Glut with Guts -- Sunday Sprawl

via Glut with Guts -- Summer Sprigs! :D

wish list

want. I need less gray and black and more bright colors like these!

via matches

Helpful Hints for a First-Time Bridesmaid

I'm slowly, but surely, learning what my MOH responsibilities entail. I saw this cute visual and thought I'd share! There's some creative ideas for how to consolidate costs, and acts as a sort of check list of what should be planned (and how much money I should plan on saving throughout this upcoming year!).

Excited to be MOH :)

Provided by Mint.com

Holy, Houston!!!

via swamplot

" If the world’s current population — all 6.9 billion of us — were packed into a city as dense as Paris, or Singapore, or New York, or San Francisco, just look how piddly it would be. This handy chart from Tim De Chant’s Per Square Mile blog shows how sad, too: The Gateway Arch in St. Louis would probably get lonely, and the Minnesota Twins would lose their all their fans. But what if we all spread ourselves into a city with Houston’s density?"

a Seattle Summer!

via me

So recently, I bought these super yummy rainier cherries. They made me reminisce about my summer in Seattle, because my aunt and uncle have an amazing garden with a huge rainier cherry tree at the center of it all!

So since I miss Seattle, my aunt/uncle and my g-ma who lives with them, I'm going to post a couple photos (photo credit: ma soeur) from my 2009 summer in Seattle (which came after a long trip in SF, but that'll be for another day...).

Chillin' at the Ice Caves with my Halmoni (i.e., Grandma)

Pike Place Market

fishhhhhhhhhy

goochus. puhahhahaa

OH MY GOD. yummy fresh lox w/capers and steamed onions.

Summer Lovin'

Overnight Chicago has skipped over the entire season of spring to come out guns ablaze with torturous hot and humid heat. The past two nights have consisted of me playing an intense (in my head) game of chicken: me v. the air conditioner.

With the even hotter months of July and August ahead, I wanted to conserve energy and psyche myself into thinking I can handle the heat. The idea of having the a/c unit on overnight seems like such a waste of our depleting sources of energy and since I sleep like a bear, temperatures in my sleep don't bother me.

Ridiculously minuscule mind battles aside, I'm pretty excited for this summer season! Summer and grilling are synonymous in my mind and has me wishing and wanting; I think my amazon.com wish list expands at a 30 items per minute rate these days. On my list include:

via Williams-Sonoma

The All-Clad Gourmet Double-Burner Grill for an on sale of $79.95 is perfect for an urbanite like me. Plus this piece is much easier to clean and maintain than a large grill pan/face/accessories.

via Sur la Table

And since we're add it, might as well as a Stainless Steel Stovetop Smoker, only $59.95 at Sur la Table.

**Note: I say things like "only" and "sale" as if I can still afford these things where as in reality, I'm a poor student with an addiction to shopping and dining in nice places, deeming most of these products unattainable. [sad face]

Mid-Week Perspective

Mumbai Golf - ESPN E:60 from Evolve IMG Films Ltd. on Vimeo.