The Great Curry Disaster and other adventures

Yes, again I have transgressed and seriously neglected the blog. I blame it all on the New House. The Trip to Hawaii. My new Obsession with buying art on eBay. The Trip to
Chicago. Choose any or all of the above.

The New House
The pictures are hung. The cars are in the garage. And I've planted pots and pots of annuals to brighten up the deck. The wicker furniture is arranged on the lower deck and is accompanied by a lovely iron plantstand I picked up for 25 cents at a garage sale (had to get there the second the seller on an upscale street dragged the for-sale goods out of her garage at the strike of 8AM on a Friday morning). We have Japanese katori senko (mosquito coils) and citronella candles in reserves for evening drinks and dinners outside.

Speaking of which, last week we hosted a party for 23 and then a dinner for 6 the next night. And then I promptly fell ill just as we were headed to Chicago for a fabulous weekend with Sweetie's daughter who was visiting from England. Heftily drugged on Tylenol, I persevered through a most amazing dinner at a restaurant called The Gage on Michigan Avenue. Fabulous food and even better service. Not cheap, however. Gochisosama Sweetie!!

I booked us into Second City's show, "The Best Frickin' Time of Your Life," which we all thoroughly enjoyed. I busted up laughing at the solidly-built ladies' singing "Reubenesque."

We had brunch at the Fox and Obel on the recommendation of a chef I randomly met in Indianapolis, who is originally from the town where we live now. Little did we know that we had stumbled into the just-opened "bistro" at the Fox and Obel, and were not in fact eating at the "cafe" that had been recommended. Well, despite some service issues (which were explained in a conversation we overheard), we had a wonderful brunch. We totally cracked up, when, AFTER eating, it occurred to us that not only was Sweedle's bacon served on Sweetie's plate, but we realized that a nearby diner's Eggs Benedict was ALSO on Sweetie's plate, which explained why that customer got served AFTER we did, even though he was there before us. So, essentially, Sweetie unwittingly ate three people's breakfast.

We followed brunch with a river cruise with the Chicago Architectual Foundation. We'd previously done their bus tour, and I really enjoyed seeing a different part of Chicago. I especially loved the housing developments along the North Fork.

After our return, my cold transitioned into a mystery illness. I unofficially called it West Nile Virus. It involved blurred vision so bad one day that I couldn't even read emails or see people's faces properly at work. And then it resulted in...

The Great Curry Disaster
So, after a long, blurry and confused day at work, I stopped at the grocery store, picked up a few things, and then proceeded to make an Indian dal. The recipe called for pureeing, so I got out the Vitamix and spooned about 1/2 the cooked soup in. I carefully put the lid, on, held it, and then turned the Vitamix on. And then...the soup exploded out of the Vitamix and all over the kitchen. And all over me. I was wearing glasses, but it nevertheless was on my eyelashes. It was in my hair. It was on anything within about a 15 foot radius (open plan kitchen). The cookbooks were dripping in it. The cupboards were covered. The flattop cooktop was encased. Sweetie ran over and flipped out: "Oh my god!!!! What happened here?????"

What happened is in my ill, confused, West-Nile-afflicted state, I had forgotten to start the Vitamix on low.

After a massive cleanup effort (Sweetie calmed down quickly and did most of the work), we sat down to dinner and Sweedle very graciously said, "This is delicious." And then I broke into tears.