Sunday Salon: The Big Grabowski

A busy week was had in the land of the Nawrot this week. Lots of fun and frivolity and stuff, so please allow me to share with you on this fine Sunday morning!

There was high excitement going into the week because on Wednesday, my husband and I were to fly up to Chicago for an annual business meeting. This is a huge mid-year highlight for me...a handful of days spent shopping and eating our way through the Windy City, kid-free! Woo hoo! My parents drove down from Indiana to watch the kids, and I spent Monday and Tuesday scurrying around getting ready for the trip. While cleaning my pool, I found a little surprise in the skimmer, which I had to fish out and dispose of.

Nice stiff little baby possum, huh? Thought you would enjoy that. I was so offended by the whole experience. Snakes and toads I expect to find, but not that. These things never happen when my husband is home. All I have to say is thank God for the empty lot across the fence.


We arrived Chicago to find the most BEAUTIFUL weather...mid 70's with a little breeze. Big difference from that horrible, oppressive crap in Florida. In the mornings, my husband and I walked by the lake. My friend Jenny and I did the Magnificent Mile from one end to the other, as one must. We ate at one of the original deep-dish pizza joints called Pizzeria Due. We ate at the historic Atwood Cafe. We did drinks at the Trump Tower, then dinner at a place called Benny's Chophouse. Crazy as it sounds for a evening in a chophouse, out of 8 of us, 7 had the Dover Sole, which is something I personally cannot resist if I find it on a menu. It was humorous watching all the little waiter boys hunched over our fish, preparing it for plating:






















On our last morning, my husband and I found a popular breakfast joint called West Egg Diner or something like that, where I indulged in something called "The Grabowski" (isn't that the best name for a breakfast dish???), a grilled Polish sausage, covered in mustard, onions and cheese, with a side of eggs, potatoes and English muffin. Hey. At least we walked about five miles that morning. Still, no need for a flight home. I'll just roll back, thanks.






































I managed to sneak by Sandmeyer's Bookstore again over on Printer's Row, as I did last year. I was greeted warmly by the lovely Mrs. Sandmeyer, who remembered me from my previous visit. After some cruising through the stacks with her, I came away with the following treasures: 84 Charing Cross Road, Jane Gardam's Old Filth, Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides, Dave Eggers' What is the What, and an Icelandic murder thriller called My Soul to Take. I'd show pictures, but I'm feeling lazy. Of course I want to cast aside every other book I have and read them all...

So what of the reading? Unfortunately, with all of this running around, I got very little done. I'm about halfway through In the Woods by Tana French, and I'm remembering why I was so besotted with this author after reading The Likeness. The kids and I are less than a half hour away from finishing Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Prince of Mist on audio (entertaining but feeling more like a contrived spooky story I'd tell around the campfire). And then there is my current audio, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand. Everyone seems to have loved this book, but friends, I'm not feeling the love at all. Don't know if the audio production is to blame or what, but I feel like I'm watching paint dry. I so desperately just want to move on. Four more discs. Serenity now.

So I said goodbye to Chicago knowing that in just about week, I will be back for another short stay, during which I am hoping to meet up with Jen @ Devourer of Books and little Daniel. One can really never get enough of that city.

What are all of you up to today?