Thursday, May 18, 2006

On a Sugar Rush

Wednesday was my birthday, and quite a lovely day it was. The City of Chicago celebrated my birthday by launching the Greens Market, so I got up early and met some friends at Lincoln Park so we could check it out. The growing season's early yet here so there wasn't a whole lot of produce, but I still managed to find some things.
Clockwise from the top left: some beautiful hand-spun, hand-dyed yarn from Michigan (a birthday present from Larry), some beautiful green garlic I can't wait to try, purple asparagus (I'm thinking of using some of that and the green garlic with pasta), a beautiful loaf of whole-grain artisanal bread (a gift from Bob), some local chevre with sage that was just screaming "take me home and put me on some of that bread!", and some radishes. I'm still trying to decide what to do with the radishes. Lynda suggested sauteing them with butter, which sounds delicious, but I also stumbled across a recipe for stir-fried chicken and radishes that looks pretty intriguing as well. So many possibilities!

I went home to store my goodies, then went back out to meet up with Lynda and Larry, and another good friend for lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Chez Joel on Taylor Street. This unprepossessing French restaurant serves impeccable food at reasonable prices. The service is always prompt and excellent. We had a lovely time. and then I went home and took a much deserved nap. It's hard work being the birthday girl.

Then I went to teach my knitting class. Mary called me on the way to wish me a happy birthday. Her birthday is next week, so we usually get together in between our birthdays to celebrate. We're going to brunch on Sunday morning for our joint celebration.

Then I got to the knitting shop, where more surprises awaited me.
One of my students brought me some scrumptious cupcakes from Sweet Mandy Bs. That's 1 chocolate, 1 lemon, and 1 vanilla. Guess in which order I ate them (and yes, I did already eat them. You can hear the buzz from where you are, I bet).

And behind the cupcakes you see the gorgeous yarn Melinda and Louann gave me. It's a beautiful, soft alpaca just loaded with possibilities. They also gave me a gift certificate to Crate and Barrel. Now I have to try to stay sane while I figure out what I want to get.

All in all, a lovely day. Thanks to everyone for making it so.

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