Visited Chicago with Tiffany this weekend. We went plush. The Blackstone Hotel. She has some good connections, I can assure you, because there’s no way I could have afforded to stay there at the regular-folk rate.

Friday:

Dinner at Mangia Roma followed by “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” at the Steppenwolf.

Saturday:

Breakfast at Eleven City Diner, where I picked up a new diner mug for my collection. Then we walked up Michigan Avenue to the Museum of Contemporary Art to do a little research for a project I’m working on. We bopped into the store first and encountered these and these and these. I bought the first two for the kiddo and Tiffany scored herself a sad banana. Fun! Jeff Koons was the featured exhibit at the museum. Interesting stuff.

Afterward, we strolled some more, all the way up to Old Town to check out the art fair. We grabbed a late lunch at Sedgwick’s, then headed to the zoo for a peek at the penguins before hailing a cab after waiting more than 20 minutes in the hot sun for the 151 to arrive.

Relaxed at the hotel for a bit for bopping back up to Old Town for dinner at Adobo Grill. To-die-for margarita shaken and poured at our table and some excellent guac. Also had a tasty empanada, although I wasn’t that excited about my chicken enchilada.

We ended the day walking around in Grant Park, taking in a little music, watching Buckingham Fountain do its thing, and then hanging out at the Crown Fountain while the kids just screamed with glee.

Sunday:

Breakfast at Violet, a cool place we stumbled upon after I discovered the Zephyr had shuttered its doors. Then we took some time to check out Southport. I was happy to find, after a bit of panic, that our fave coffee shop from our neighborhood, Cafe Avanti, had just moved a few doors down. At least some things stay the same.

Lots of links. I was in the mood, I guess!