Antique-ing Part 1: Lincoln Antique Mall

I 'm a sucker for a good deal.

  

And the greater Chicago area is home to many of the best and largest antique markets; so I continue to luck out in my quests for unique things to do in the city. My mother heard of this fact and when she was in town made it a priority for me to take her to each of the top places in the city. So we started at the Lincoln Antique Mall. 

The Lincoln Antique Mall is nestled into a pretty random neighborhood in Irving Park, pretty standard Chicago practice, and also is Chicago native, Nate Berkus', fave antique spot in the city. Chicago Home Magazine and Architectural Digest have also given their stamps of approval. I'll take that. They house their goodies in a 7000 square foot store, so if you're into this kind of thing, I would be shocked if you left empty handed. And they proclaim their prices are the best in the city, so what more can you really ask for?

If you're not in the neighborhood or looking for something specific, check out their website, which actually has a huge variety of items listed for sale. French-style furniture, yes! WWII Gas mask, why not? 

XOXO, IN LOVE WITH CHICAGO

Grant-ed!

Alinea.

Year after year Alinea continues to earn the world's top restaurant industry honors. Restaurant wizard Grant Achatz has breezed his way to the top of tons of lists including being the only restaurant in Chicago with 3 Michelin Stars, #7 on last years' San Pellegrino top 50 Restaurants in the World and even Bon Appetit named it one of the 20 most important restaurants in America. And James Beard awards. Lots of those. Best Chef: Great Lakes, Outstanding Chef, his cookbook won for Cooking from a Professional Point of View and Outstanding Service awards. I mean really the list going on and on. And onnnnnn.

As for our experience, I wanted to do something special for Sean for his 30th birthday in January (#superlatepost) so I started planning a few months in advance as a meal like this requires. January tickets, yep I said tickets, went for sale the first week of November, so I anxiously set a reminder in my phone, logged onto their ticketing website and purchased two tickets for the first week of January. Cost of the ticket includes the service charge, so if you decide to not add the wine tasting or a glass of wine during dinner, then you are all in at the time you book your tickets. Alinea also has a facebook page where they sell last minute tickets, so that's also an option if booking in advance is not a possibility for some folks. And if throwing down a ton of cash, last minute is your style, then lucky you!

I think I will let the photos speak for themselves here, but to sum it up Alinea, the experience, is the adult version of Disney World. The restaurant is undetectable from the street and as you walk in to the door of a house, that pretty much looks like a regular brownstone residence, you would have no idea what you were getting into. Because we went right after the holidays the hallway was piled up with multiple Christmas trees. I was confused as I stepped over them thinking I literally walked into an apartment that was occupied by lazy 20 somethings. Silly me. As soon as we walked in we were greeted with hot chocolate, while exposed to the kitchen, which was wide open for us to gawk at. We walked upstairs to our seats when all the fun began. The presentation for each dish was so unique and even breath taking at times using ice, fire, foam, straws, balloons. Good ol' Molecular gastronomy.

If you look at the menu below you'll see LAMB...........????????..........!!!!!!!!!!! Mind you we were given the menus after the meal, so we had no idea what to expect. So this special dish was lamb served with 86 different ingredients. I mean my mind was blown. BLOWN.

It was a simply amazing experience that I hope every food lover can enjoy some day. So come visit Chicago!

 

XOXO, IN LOVE WITH CHICAGO

Version 2.0

REMEMBER ME?

 It's been a while, I know, but I'm back for good with a new look! I have a chalkboard in my kitchen that I update with fun messages and when my friend pointed out that it still said "Happy New Year!" I knew it was time for me to update a few things in my life. The last few months have been crazy-to say the least, but I'm ready to bring it home to Chicago and share my favorite things to do in and around town. What have I been up to, you ask? A trip to my birth town Nagasaki, Japan, with a pit stop in Tokyo, Hong Kong and the marvelous Macau, a girls trip to NYC, quick trips to San Diego and of course, quality time spent in Chicago. So in brief, a few tschotskes and a few thousand photos have brought me to where I sit today. 

Please come back to see me soon, I've got some good stuff for you!

And Happy New Year =)

Hello! From Hong Kong's Victoria Peak

Bright lights in Macau

Hanging out with my buddy in Kumamoto, Japan

Grinning after a delicious sushi lunch at Tsukiji market in Tokyo, Japn

The roof top at our apartment is finally open!

A little wedding dress-up fun

XOXO, In Love with Chicago

Martin Creed Plays Chicago

Martin Creed Plays Chicago is the name of the year-long MCA residency of the famous British artist, Martin Creed. He has been presenting a different exhibit every month for the whole year in Chicago; one exhibit, Mother's is a huge neon steel structure that rotates on a central axis and is located right in front of the actual MCA and his September exhibit, Half the Air in a Given Space, is literally the Water Tower half filled with red latex balloons. I had to sign a consent form that I wasn't allergic to latex, which I immaturely giggled at. Anyway, there are apparently three other sites that are half filled with balloons of different colors, but I was pleased to randomly find this one while strolling down Michigan Ave. What a great city! The MCA website explains this exhibit as:

Creed fills half the space of a room with balloons, giving tangible form to something that’s usually invisible: the air around you.

The tourist in me, strikes again!

Halloween 2012

To take a little break from all these travel posts:

Three blind mice, three blind mice, see how they run, see how they run.....

Our friends had some creative costumes this year!

Happy Halloween from Chicago!

NYC: Shop

Last, but certainly not least, I'll end this NYC installment with a shopping segment. As with anything else in NYC, you could spend days, months and years perusing the streets and you wouldn't hit all the best things to see, shop, do and eat. This time around I enjoyed a little Kelly Wearstler in the attic of Bergdorfs, Uniqlo basics shopping...which is rumored to be coming to Chicago, Brooklyn flea market...where I signed a consent form for a reality tv show on flea markets, while being filmed in one of the booths. Funny thing is that I saw the show on HGTV or Travel Chanel not too long ago and prayed to the heavens that my slightly hung over face would NOT show up. I digress. Fishs and Eddy is one of the stores that I try and visit each time that I'm in NYC. Think of the home section of Anthropologie as one huge store. So obviously the photos of the spoon chandelier below are from my recent trip.

Hope you enjoyed reading about my recent trip to NYC...I'm sure the next is right around the corner!

NYC: Do

A few fun shots from a few fun and random activities in NYC.

Justin Bieber at the Today Show, my favorite store in the world Kate's Paperie, a jazz bar, photo op in Bryant Park,  random things you find in Brooklyn and Belvedere Castle in Central Park