back in the new year

see you in jan!

crappy meringue bunnies, the holiday train, wrigley xmas market and myostery!!!

still dealing with the hell virus. who makes those things? could they fucking stop, please? anyway, i've turned a corner so this week i was able to attempt some baking. i fucked up some snow bunny meringues because i added extract that turned them brown. 

i mean, whatever. i was too tired to gaf, honestly.

i was *almost* too tired to gaf about the holiday train too! which whaaaaat?! i LOVE the holiday train! so i rallied and this year leff went with me! (keep a look out for his vid on his youtube channel in the near future. if you want crap vid from my phone, clickety for a set.)

santa rides the red line.

and so do i!

we had a destination in mind-- the first christkindlmarket at wrigley! i wasn't even grinchy about it cause, for some reason, i don't mind the holidays in chicago.

the market wasn't too crowded on the day we were there (sunday, mid afternoon) but i imagine that this, like all other christkindmarkets get slammed.

got my first gluhwine in a mug! it's like i live here now. (please don't @ me about a nonboot being my first mug haha)

you know what else isn't boot shaped? YES MYOSTERY CERAMICS!! OMFG!! we got our first two pieces from myostery (an annoying chicken and a bebe!) and i. am. IN! LOVE!!!

they are so well made and have such character. they also look great on their shelf with fake succulents in their heads.

myostery was the highlight of my week. i've wanted some of these little pots for years. (we have a pretty serious ceramic collection starting! ha!)

other things, uh, i got a jiji pin!

and, oh yeah, i ate a pomegranate. none of you are surprised.

ugh, this virus

yiiikes, i have been down for the count with a nasty virus for a little over a week and half now. since all i want to do is sleep, i haven't really left the hood. 

packages have been arriving though. padre and my step mom sent me a bulbasaur planter with some fake succulents that i loooove.

they also sent succulent candles! aren't they adorable?!

on saturday, leff and i made it to the armory for remix chicago. we got several things but all that i have photos of are this lovely bowl from karma neutral ceramics.

and a few glaze test pieces that we picked up.

i ordered mycological blind boxes for myself.

i love the ones that i got.  the triple shrooms are magnetic! AND THEY GLOW IN THE DARK (fake bioluminescence ftw!!)

yesterday was a serious ghibli day. i ordered the jiji planner for myself but padre and my step mom sent me the kiki pin!! SO CUTE!

also kinda cute, the pineapple i threw some lights on.

food of note this week:  black garlic tonkatsu ramen from blowfish!

and italian butter cookies

and kolacky from paloma bakery.

holiday time in the loop

since we are in desperate need of a new couch (yikes, our sleeper sofa is just...well *rotating yikes gif*), leff and i headed to the state street macy's this weekend. maybe you know about it? it used to the the old marshall field's? 

i swear to you, when i had to exchange a pair of boots at this store in the 90s, this is where i fell in love with chicago. 

i mean, i'm kinda joking but only kinda. it's just an all around glorious fucking store and macy's kept a lot of the details as you can kinda see in these pics. they also put up a honkin huge tree.

i mean, fine. people were taking selfies in front of it. tbh, i'm more impressed with the view.

we did find a couch, btw. just got to see if it will fit cause someone (me) forgot to measure the space before we went to the loop.

since we were nearby, leff and i popped over to christkindlmarket. (i have a lot of catching up to do in regard to holiday stuff in chicago since i was down for the count with pneumonia last year.)

anyway, christkindlmarket was just as crowded as i expected it to be. there were also a lot of brats!

will prob go back for the gluhwein at some point before xmas day. maybe also one of those stonking giganto pretzels too.

since we were at the gov buildings anyway, i talked leff into heading over to james r thompson so i could finally walk inside the dubuffet.

i've heard a rumor that it will go if the thompson center is torn down. it would be a shame, really. i've always had a soft spot for this goofy old sculpture.

not gonna lie tho, i kinda don't care if the thompson center gets razed.  dunno what they'd do with such a huge empty block but, and i am not alone in this sentiment, i wouldn't miss it. it's very, um, berlin GEE I WONDER WHY (helmut jahn designed both the thompson center and sony center at potsdamer platz (i wasn't really a fan of jahn's when were were in berlin either. *shrug*)

just...blah. i really like what jahn did at o'hare! just not this particular building. or, you know, sony center.....ha hah...

MOVING ON, we walked down randolph cause i wanted to try to find the old heidelberg restaurant building cause the fact that this tiny building still exists in the loop is just crazy. it's a tea shop now but, for a while, i guess it was a steakhouse? idk, i saw footage of it from the 30's on youtube (AND I CAN'T FIND IT AGAIN ARGH) that showed the original clockwork figures moving around on the quarter hour. you can kinda see where those would have been located above the clock face.

look, i'm fascinated by this building. it's right next to the oriental, aka the theatre with the most haunted alley which is a whole other topic for another day.

but speaking of other topics, i got to see the aic lions with their wreaths!

we were at aic for the thorne rooms' holiday decorations! i love this tradition SO MUCH!!

do click through on the thorne room link. it's really hard to get a good pic of the miniatures cause of the glass, so, please, if you are AT ALL interested, check out their professional photos.

leff and i still have to head back downtown for mag mile lights and maybe also to see the tree in grant park. ice skating at the ribbon?? oh! and on the way home, zoo lights! (i think they also have new holiday mold a ramas too. lol)

what can i say? i kinda like the holiday season in chicago. it feels...right? stay tuned for more ~soft holiday stylings~. (maybe we'll also have a new couch soon. haha)

take heart

started a small free painting project in chicago tonight called "take heart"!

the premise is simple, if you see a heart painting (or two or three) in your little library box, please take it and let me know at rakkadeer+takeheart at gmail dot com (include the number on the back of the painting in subject line) so that i can replace it with another. 

it's just a little bit of encouragement in what has been a very, very rough year for many. anyway, if you live in chicago or have friends/family here, please be on the lookout/let them know! thanks!

happy thanksgiving

happy thanksgiving if that's a thing you celebrate. this year, leff and i had chicken vesuvio. it was SO GOOD and it even looked like i knew what i was doing before i put the dish in the oven.

here it is after baking for about 50 min.

there are a ton of chicken vesuvio recipes out there but ours came from this book that leff picked up from one of the free little libraries in our neighborhood.

the recipe in case you can't get your hands on the book:

i'm sure your family will enjoy it whether or not they are composed of four empty chairs and a table in a vacant lot

or you, your animal friends and a very large japanese style cream soda. i know we did. (leftovers for daaaays!)

(ps-- if i know you and you want my friend code for "pocket camp", dm or text me and we'll swap!)