Friday night dinner in

Dinner last night: leftovers of red wine chicken from last weekend over fluffy flatbread with tahini, ricotta, and spring mix. Kind of a weird mix, I know, but surprisingly delicious together.

Single again (for one week only)

I've been on my own for an entire week without my sidekick, The Fella. It's been refreshing, reflective, and a bit lonesome all at the same time. (He's in Minneapolis for a higher-level academic class he's taking at the University of Minnesota.)

Probably because I have had *so* much time on my hands being by myself this week, I've been feeling unusually lonely. But don't feel too bad though – I'm only "powder blue", which in my own mumble-jumble speak basically means "just a little blue". (I came up with that term yesterday when chatting with an old friend, a whole continent away in France, who is also feeling the same way right now.) For me, it's because many of my dearest friends who I've grown to know in Chicago have moved away and now it's time to embark on the process of making new ones.

But in the meantime, during Fella's absence, I've mostly enjoyed my temporary "single" status:

:: Not putting away dishes immediately. It felt delicious to let the clean dishes sit in the dishwasher for a couple days, pulling from it only as needed. (Obviously, this means my used dishes piled up in the sink. Whatever, people, judge all you want.)

:: Not feeling obligated to cook, or to worry about another person's nourishment. As another girlfriend, married with two young kids, wisely exclaimed, "You're so luckyyyyy!" Ironically enough, I did the exact opposite and cooked up quite the storm. You know, because I had so much time on my hands.

:: Biggest dilemma of the week: one chocolate croissant for $1.99 or a whole box of mini double chocolate cookies for $3.69?

:: Take long naps on the couch at 6:00 p.m.
 
:: Work from home more.

:: Stay up late watching reruns of Law and Order: SVU and Friends. Oh wait, I already do that.

:: Plenty of time for online shopping. For some odd reason, feeling lonely and "single" justifies new purchases.

I must admit that I talked to the dog more than usual. The good thing is, at least I didn't hear her talking back to me :-P 

P.S. Can't wait for The Fella's return tonight!

20 conversations + dinner

There's a private chef upstairs in our office kitchen right now, and he's preparing a four-course meal that smells pretty awesome. Something of bacon, cheese, perhaps meyer lemon... heavenly!

It's for another client appreciation dinner that we're hosting this evening, a part of our 20th anniversary momentum campaign. In this day and age, 20 years of business is truly something of which to be proud! It was not too long ago that we were fighting to survive, to stay afloat in this economy where the first thing cut from budgets is always marketing (that's us). It was through an in-depth look at our own internal marketing efforts that we thunk up strategic opportunities to cultivate new business from things such as these client appreciation dinners, that we were able to turn things around slowly but surely, and as we pulled through, eventually the question mark became one of how do we make a profit now??

And so, tonight, our clients, six top business leaders – a mix of current and prospective clients – will come together at my office for a night of inspired conversation and delicious food. Each one of these dinners have made at least one conversion – now that's sweet success!

{ the scene, our conference-turned-dining room }

{ I can't recall what these little flowers are called,
but they're so Dr. Seuss-like and they make me smile everytime }

And here's what's on the all-local menu, specially prepared by Chef Joel Chesebro of A Seat at the Table: 

Heirloom Tomato Salad, Crave Brothers Mozzarella,
Micro Basil with Balsamic and Olive Oil

Black Welsh Lamb and
Fountain Prairie Veal Meatballs
Confit of Juliet Tomatoes and Fennel with Olives,
Pine Nuts and Summer Herbs

Berkshire Pork Loin
Apples and Onions with Seared Greens
and Roasted Root Vegetables

Dense Chocolate Cakes
with Raspberries and Whipped Cream

Truffles

Of course, there was also a cheese menu, yum-yum!

Pesto pasta for dinn

Tonight's dinner: homemade pesto with capellini! Our herb buckets are doing so well, so far. This summer, we've had a bountiful source of basil, particularly, so I have been making pesto a lot. It's so quick, easy, and a bit like capturing summer in a bowl. (P.S. Kinda embarassed that I've been giving pesto to A & J a few times now, I just found out they have their own very robust basil plant!)

The Fella and I are quite proud that we haven't forgotten to water the plants (much, anyway), prune 'em back, fertilize once in awhile, and trim flowering buds from the basil (a big no-no in basil upkeep, because flowers are a sure sign that your plant will soon die). Two green thumbs up this year!

{ pasta just the way I like it, with a light coating of pesto }

Press check outing

Sometimes in the midst of my busy day-to-day job, I relish the idea of going off-site on a press check. Yes, I have to drive far and away to the 'burbs (Barrington, Arlington Heights, Lombard), but at least it forces me away from the office. Going to print is always a very nerve-wracking time for me. I'm the Production Manager, and it'll be my head if something is produced incorrectly or not up to industry-standard. Printing is permanent and therefore relatively costly, unlike the web. But the beauty of a nice print job, each page unmatched in its ability to communicate subtle shifts in color and emotion, is immeasurable.

Plus, I get to load up on new paper and cool print samples. I really love this part, I am not ashamed to admit.

{ at Graphic Arts Studio, overseeing a press check for the printing of wealth strategist workbooks for pentamillionaires }

Also, I'll never tire of seeing the beautiful Chicago skyline as I drive back into the city!

The weekend, succinctly

The weekend was "relaxing", nothing like the whirlwind-work-packed weekend before.

There was still some work involved, both remotely from home and at the office, but nothing compared to last week's frenzy.

Amidst that, The Fella and I enjoyed a leisurely day at the Museum of Contemporary Art downtown. Like with most museums, I mostly enjoy the space and surroundings – sometimes more than the art itself. I know that's sacrilegious to say, but oh well.

{ MCA }

There was a little woodworkin', too! The MCA has a little studio space dedicated to a different interactive activity each month, and this one allows viewers to design and build anything out of reclaimed wood from the South Side of Chicago.

{ That's Fella, in the back corner, at the wood cutting station }

We were attempting to make a wood dog (not a horse) like the one pictured below, but then the one power drill available ran out of charge. Sorry, FurFur.

Followed by a cold, refreshing mango gelato!

Much to my annoyance, my Executive Board meeting for the condo association was canceled last minute and rescheduled for Tuesday 8pm – argh, don't they know what it's like to work at a busy marketing agency?! – but at least it opened up the day to get together with A & baby, chat, and flip through the newest Real Simple on the deck.

And a return to the kitchen to reclaim my relatively long-lost zeal for cooking! It's been a busy few months with friends coming and going out of our home and Chicago, that I've barely eaten in or cooked a proper meal until this weekend... so in between sunny eggs over toast with melted cheddar and salsa, cucumber-tomato salad, roasted baby carrots with honey, and chickpea pesto salad, there was also...

{ baked tilapia with citrus-thyme over creamy Parmesan polenta }

{ chicken in red wine and fennel }

{ wild salmon braised in a vodka, soy sauce, citrus, brown sugar marinade }

Good night!

Company retreat

I never did say much about our company retreat earlier in the week. It was long (9 hours to be exact), and inspiring and painstaking all at the same time. We dutifully hashed out new business ideas and revised our strategic plan processes, looked at straw man models, and new media. Besides the spectacular dinner experience afterwards, one perk of the retreat was that it was off-site, in a non-traditional conference room on the 9th floor of the Joffrey Ballet Building, right next to the dancers' studios. At least we languished in sweeping, sunny views of the city! 

As it turns out, I gave such a *good* presentation about blogging that it resulted in loads more work for me: I get to run with our corporate blog, as well as another company's. Can't decide yet if I'm excited or terribly annoyed.

Just another farewell party

In a season of never-ending farewell fetes, we rounded out the month with yet another goodbye to friends moving to sunny SoCal. I guess they could have picked a worse place. They are so never coming back.  

Wine flights, cheese and meats platters, dreamy gougeres, and presents at Bin 36... I really must toot my own horn a bit because I found the most fitting gift on Etsy, handmade jewelry from vintage Chicago maps, so that M & H can always be reminded of the beginnings of their life journey together. (I wish someone had thought of this when The Fella and I moved from Miami!)

Oh, and to top it all off, Portillo's Chocolate Cake! One can't leave Chicago for good without a final morsel (or three, whatev) of this locally-famous dessert. It just wouldn't be a proper send-off.

{ manchego, 10-year cheddar, tartufo; prosciutto, speck with juniper, Toscano salami }

{ gougeres }

 

{ and then there were two... }

 

{ necklace For Her, vintage atlas featuring Chicago, circa 1940s-1950s }

 

{ cufflinks For Him, vintage map of Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica – totally fitting because, as it turns out, H is going to road-trip it via Route 66 on his move over there! }

 

{ farewell card in Russian that I can't read, but it just goes to show the power of pretty things }

{ indulging in Portillo's Chocolate Cake, yes, please! }

What it's like to work in an agency

Dear everyone,

This is what it's like to work in a busy marketing firm. 

1. It's not your typical 9-5 job. If you work 10-12 hour days, that's considered good. I remember when I used to do 15-hour days rather frequently back at PBA. And you're sorta on call at any given moment to respond to "crises" set forth by your boss, clients, whomever! It's quite like being a doctor, only without the pager circa 1990s.

2. It's not your typical office environment. It's an agency. This means you don't normally get to sit behind a computer all day, surf the web (okay, fine, sometimes there's time for this), or gossip by the water cooler. There's always emergencies and fires to put out, especially when you're me. Not to be self-aggrandizing, but when you're the Production Manager/Designer/Project Manager/Anything Else, there's always someone or something that needs your attention.

3. You're usually working on 14 things at once. Case in point: Today while I was waiting for documents to print from the Laserjet, I simultaneously made changes to a design file for one project and answered a call from a print vendor about another job. Waiting for the design file to finish saving as a PDF, I updated the production schedule in Excel, ran back and forth to the Laserjet to shake the toner cartridge around to hopefully fool the printer into thinking it wasn't, in fact, low on toner, switched over to Virtual Ticket (our intranet application) to read posts about three other jobs, signed for a UPS delivery, and worked up a budget, all the while keeping one eye on the bottom right corner of my computer screen for notices of incoming emails. Then I conducted a production meeting with the team, where I run through the day's deliverables and workflow. When the conversation veers off into a project-related tangent between PM and Creative or Billing, I half-listen in while switching over to design project. Afterwards, a client phones with a quasi-freakout over some collateral which has gone to production, and I have to remedy the situation by A. revising the design files; B. pre-flight everything once again; C. upload it to print vendor and recount the changes. Then I move on to finally begin review of two 100-page workbook proofs from the printer that need my approval. I'd been trying to find a block of uninterrupted quiet time to look over this complex print job, but I'm hit with a rush proposal needed by The Boss, in addition to the two other brand strategic plans that need my attention for some client meetings tomorrow. And it's only 10:00 a.m.

4. Clients and bosses tend to think everything is life or death and always need your help, stat. Really? REALLY? We work in advertising!

5. You are immersed in a cool space, creative energy and pretty things. You get to go to paper shows and magazine events, and thumb through Pantone swatch books and paper books in your "spare" time. Free samples, parties, unusual perks and the like.

Yours,
J

Dinner at Shelley Young's house

Following a 9-hour company retreat slash business strategy session, the team ended the day with a rare dinner experience tonight. We were guests at Shelley Young's private home, the founder of The Chopping Block, a renowned recreational cooking school in Chicago.

It was nothing short of a treat. Literally.

{ Shelley Young's home in Lincoln Square }

The experience of being in a top chef's personal working space and seeing her in action was such a humbling (and uh-MAZ-ing!) experience. Over appetizers of black bean fritters and deviled eggs with shrimp, and a glass of Prosecco and French strawberries in hand, we kicked it back on plush bar stools while Shelley prepped artichokes in her airy kitchen, which was custom-designed and built from ground up with Wood-Mode cabinets and butcher-block and concrete countertops.

Shelley Young is not what I imagined most chefs/cooks to be. She's warm, friendly, relaxed, and anything but Gordon Ramsay. One of the perks of having a private dinner cooked by a chef is that she will answer any of your culinary questions, dumb or otherwise :) 

Her home was reflective in cozy, earthy colors, accented with furniture in an eclectic mix of 70s-inspired and Danish modern.

{ Shelley and her assistant, plating }

Did you know that artichokes are the only food that don't pair well with any type of wine?

{ first course: grilled artichoke with lemon-tarragon aioli }

{ second course: homemade fettuccine in light cream sauce tossed with farm-fresh tomatoes, spring peas, and oven-roasted tomatoes }

Or that hangar steak is considered the most prized cut for its flavor, and is not readily available in the United States?

{ third course: roasted hangar steak with a crisp three-bean salad }

{ dessert: three-layer trifle with vanilla poundcake, cream, blackberry jam, peaches mascerated in bourbon, dried apricots mascerated in cointreau, French strawberries in some other alcohol, and tart plums }

{ my vintage-inspired frock fits right at home with Shelley's couch decor }

{ the team + Shelley Young }

The weekend, succinctly

I dreaded the weekend (words never before uttered from my mouth).

That's because I knew I would finally have no choice but to do what I'd been long-putting off, which was to prepare a presentation about how to use social media to build better business for my company retreat on Monday.

So, work consumed the weekend in various locations around the house.

{ on the guest bed }

{ at the dining table } 

There was one bright spot, however. I did unchain myself from the laptop for a couple hours to stalk the filming of Transformers 3 downtown. Success!

{ Paramount Pictures trailers on the movie set, as close to Michigan and Wacker as I could get }

{ Bumble Bee, packing it in for the night! }

No Shia sightings, sadly.

And now, even more sad, it's back to work for me. 

{ Not pictured – going into the office to work some more } 

29 candles later

Today is my 29th birthday, which – according to a colleague, 10 years my senior – I will claim to celebrate for the next few birthdays onward. So, on this milestone day, this is what I did:

Went to a meeting downtown with the boss, where a few wealth strategists sang Happy Birthday to me. Bonus: client's building is right in the heart of the Transformers 3 movie set. AWESOME! 

Returned to the office for a not-so-surprise Cupcake Celebration with the team. 

It was much appreciated, by the way, as it was a hectic week at work, especially today of all days, with deadlines amplified by frantic balls of stress pulsing through the office (I mean, how DARE they pile on so much work that I had to stay until 7 on my birthday!).

Besides that, I feel good, happy and healthy, and tonight I enjoyed a lovely, long-awaited dinner at Naha with The Fella. Our friend, Maria, who is a connossieur of seeking out all the finest restaurants worldwide, recommended Naha three years ago when she and the fam were visiting Chicago.

{ executive chef, Cary Nahabedian }

Our server asked if we had any theater plans that we were in a rush for ("no"), then said they will take their time to make our orders extra fresh. He wasn't kidding. It was the longest dinner for two we've ever experienced – 3 hours to be exact – except for this other time. But it's all good, we were offered complimentary glasses of wine, and I got a true Date Night with The Fella: long conversation facing one another, fancy dinn, beautiful setting.

{ 29 years young, over a farm plate of roasted quail, kurobata pork belly and a coddled duck egg enrobed in prosciutto with scallion jam, kale, duck fat-fried potatoes, and thyme }

{ The Fella's entree: Maryland Coast soft shell crabs with a succotash of fava beans, tomatoes, sweet corn and cilantro, toasted quinoa, pea shoots, arugula flowers and balsamic brown butter } 

PLUS, I got to hear the dish on Aaron and Tori. As in Spelling, overheard in an extra-loud name-dropping convo by a guy dining behind us: Aaron was the nicest guy ever, we were such good pals; I hung out with the whole cast, Shannon Doherty is awesome; Tori was the sweetest girl, she and I smoked pot together once; Aaron's wife was a money-hungry b*tch who cut Tori out the will and did the handyman while he was deteriorating from cancer, yada yada yada. 

Birthday outfit, head to toes:

Dress: A|X

Heels: Steve Madden

Jewelry: Wedding pearls, earrings and necklace

Clutch: NYC Chinatown