Action movie... or real life?

Today is the greatest...

This morning when I dragged myself out of bed after only four hours of sleep, I thought to myself "this day is not off to a good start!" Luckily, music has the power to change moods. When I turned on the radio later in the morning, I heard a song I had not heard for awhile - The Smashing Pumpkins' "Today is the Greatest Day I Have Ever Known."

This song made me think of two things. One - I realized that maybe this day wasn't as bad as I wanted myself to think it was. And two - I thought back to the time when I had listened to that song alot, back in college. Which was fitting, because a good friend from college was in town for the weekend and a group of us would be getting together in the afternoon to do what girls do best together - eat and talk!

So this afternoon, we set off on a circuit of some of Chicago's best coffeehouses and bakeries. We started at La Patisserie P on Argyle, where pastry chef Peter Yuen has just returned from a successful performance at the US Pastry Competition. This bakery has a great selection of beautifully crafted French cakes, as well as sweet and savory Chinese pastries. The red bean bun I tried was probably the best I have ever tasted in Chicago.

We moved on to one of Chicago's German neighborhoods, Lincoln Square, to pay a visit to Cafe Selmarie. Customers crowded into this shop to purchase big boxes of homemade cookies, bags of fresh bread, and other assorted goodies. Here, I sampled a Florentine, which is a sweeter, heartier version of a granola bar - a nice change of pace!

We considered going next to Devon to try some Indian desserts, but we decided to save ourselves for the evening's main event: Chocolate at the Pen at the Peninsula Hotel. Chocolate at the Pen is one of those things that must be saved for a special occasion - it is the ultimate indulgent experience.

Every Friday and Saturday night, Peninsula's lobby hosts Chocolate at the Pen, a buffet featuring chocolate in practically every form imaginable: dainty chocolate cookies and brownies, bite-sized chocolate cheesecakes, enormous chocolate-covered strawberries, luscious chocolate raspberry mousse, miniature mocha parfaits, hand-crafted truffles of all varieties, and even creamy drinking chocalate. The selection was overwhelming... and of course we had to sample a little of everything!

We paced ourselves, partaking of chocolate for close to three hours while enjoying relaxed conversation and a live jazz performance. What could be better than an evening with good friends and great chocolate!

Although I am feeling a bit lightheaded from all that sugar... Whew, what a rush! What a day!




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La Patisserie P
1050 W. Argyle, Chicago
773.878.3226


Cafe Selmarie
4729 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago
773.989.5595
www.cafeselmarie.com


Peninsula Hotel
108 E. Superior, Chicago
312.337.2888
chicago.peninsula.com

Roti ちゃん...and たまねぎ

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Coffee wars

Maybe Starbucks has been too successful for its own good. With over 11,000 locations worldwide, Starbucks is to coffee what McDonald's is to hamburgers - and McDonald's for one is not happy about it. Even though the two chains could not be more different in terms of menu, ambience, and operating philosophy, they are inevitably fighting for the same thing - the dollars and cents of consumers.

McDonald's recently revealed its latest weapon in the fight against Starbucks and other competitors, introducing premium coffee to its menu. And to ensure that this launch would not go unnoticed, McDonald's employees have blitzed the streets of downtown Chicago, handing out coupons for free cups of this new, supposedly improved coffee. Walking to work one day last week, I received close to a dozen coupons from various employees working the streets.

But Starbucks is not one to sit still while a competitor intrudes upon its territory. In true Starbucks fashion, the company staged a huge event: the "National Coffee Break." For two hours last Wednesday, Starbucks provided customers with free cups of coffee at all of its stores.

I, for one, am a bit over-caffeinated by now. I don't think it was from the McDonald's coffee, though - the premium coffee still tastes watery to me (and I don't like that the employees add the cream and sugar. I would rather do it myself). However, about 4-ounces into the cup of Starbucks, my hands started shaking and I could feel my heart pounding. Strong stuff!

I don't know who will win the coffee war. All I know is that I'd better not touch any more caffeine for awhile.

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A penny for your thoughts

I just finished reading Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood for the second time - and I can not seem to get it out of my mind. In some ways, I would like to call this book my favorite - Murakami constructs such a compelling aura around the characters that I am inevitably drawn into the story each time I pick up the book. As the protagonist, Toru, struggles through the aftermath of the suicide of his best friend, he tries to make the best of his lonely little world - and I can't help but hope everything will turn out OK for him and the other important people in his life, even though I know it won't.

So why don't I just call this my favorite book? I guess that's where my naive, conservative side takes over. The characters in this book are just plain weird, doing stuff and talking about random things that would have never crossed my mind. This disconnect makes it really hard at times to understand where they are coming from - even though fundamentally maybe we are all searching for the same thing in life, to be accepted and to know where we fit in.

And maybe that's why I can't stop thinking about this book - Norwegian Wood really gets to the heart of what we all go through in trying to make the best of every day.

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Memoirs...

The Oscars have come and gone for another year. Last Sunday, we tuned in to the awards ceremony, but it was more or less just for background noise. We hadn't seen any of the movies up for best picture and none of our favorite actors or actresses were up for any awards, so the four hour broadcast didn't hold much interest for us.

But my ears did perk up a couple of times when I heard talk about one of the very few movies nominated for an award that I had actually seen: Memoirs of a Geisha. This movie had been nominated in six categories and by the end of the night, it had collected three awards: art design, cinematography, and costume design.

Geisha was a worthy winner in these categories - the movie is visually stunning. Everything from the expansive Japanese landscapes to the intricately detailed kimono worn by the geisha was breathtaking. It really brought the book alive in a way my imagination had not been able to comprehend. The movie is quite long, but I never got bored because it was just so beautiful to watch - I felt as if I were right there in Gion along with the characters.

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And the winner is...

Just think... some of the most well-known movie stars in the world will soon have the chance to enjoy chocolate from the chocolatier that is my personal favorite: Moonstruck Chocolate.

At tonight's Academy Awards, Moonstruck will provide chocolate for the official Academy Award Gift Baskets. Each guest will receive Moonstruck's "Connoisseur Collection," twelve truffles artistically arranged in Thai silk and a teakwood box. According to the Moonstruck website, the Connoisseur Collection truffles are handcrafted with the "finest and rarest of all cacaos," Moonstruck created this collection especially for the Academy Awards, but it is not out of reach of the average chocolate fanatic; this is, if you don't mind paying $175 for a box of chocolate.

For those of us with a little less cash, Moonstruck is still a great place to go for a relaxing afternoon with a Mocha Almond Fudge and a piece of the dark chocolate that is served with every speciality drink. Not exactly the life of the rich and famous, but a nice treat nevertheless.


Moonstruck Chocolate Co.
www.moonstruckchocolate.com
320 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago
312.696.1201

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