Celebrating Cinco de Mayo with bananas:

Interesting sub-genre of fiction:

America’s Next Top Model in the toy section. Is that really appropriate?

River North, Chicago

I read on a blog that John Legend appeared on The Colbert Report, so I headed over to take a listen since I’m a big John Legend fan. Stephen Colbert joins in. Funny. Press the play button above to watch.

Grilled Chicken & Apple Salad :: Grilled chicken breast, apple, cashel blue cheese, walnuts, dried cherries, mixed greens, and bleu cheese dressing :: Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro, North Center, Chicago

Fish And Chips :: Kinsale battered cod and fresh cut chips. Served with tarter sauce, curried ketchup, & malt vinaigrette :: Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro, North Center, Chicago

On Saturday we took a break from shopping and planting to get some lunch. I decided just to get a casual lunch at Brownstone, but when we walked in they were like “Are you here for the crawfish boil ?” Uh. No. Dallas and I had just had crawfish in New Orleans, I wasn’t about to go and have it here. Besides that, my mom wasn’t into it. Plus, the regular menu was very limited if you weren’t having crawfish. Also, it really REEKED in there. So we left and walked down the street.

We came across Mrs. Murphy & Sons Irish Bistro. I’d been meaning to try this restaurant for some time, but hadn’t, so we decided to go in. My mom and I split two things: the chicken salad and the fish & chips. The photos above are half portions because the restaurant was kind enough to split the food up for us in the kitchen. So, you can see that the portions are pretty huge. I had a full plate of salad and a pretty good serving size of fish & chips. Not only was it a good value (each of these huge portions was about $9), but I thought it tasted really good too. I especially liked the curried ketchup that came with the chips. If they bottled it, I’d for sure buy it. But they don’t. (My mom asked.)

While we were sitting at Mrs. Murphy’s we looked out the window and there was Sola. I usually go to Sola by way of Damen and then Byron. I wasn’t used to seeing it from Lincoln. Even though I really enjoyed our lunch at Mrs. Murphy’s I was kind of bummed I didn’t take my mom to Sola because I really like it there and they have a great brunch. Never fear! The next morning we made a quick Target run and then had breakfast at Sola before my mom had to head off to Wisconsin.

Also, Dale Levitski is still working at Sola even though his own restaurant is supposed to be opening soon.

Flowers in the Trunk, Home Depot, Bucktown, Chicago

Spent about 2 hours at Home Depot and then planted all afternoon. It was a lot of work, but luckily my mom was still around to help. And, I think the decks are going to look great. I can’t wait for the seeds to pop up plants and for the plants I bought to grow out. I’ll have to take update photos in a month or so.