Read & a recipe.

Though this isn't really a recipe, it definitely is worthy of a post.  I had a craving for eggplant tonight, and thought I would pair it with a caprese-esque salad.

{Tomato & mozzarella.}

{Eggplant.}

{Tomato, mozzarella & eggplant stack.}

{Little stack.}

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Read & a trip.

P and I are heading to Austin tonight to visit Bailey for the weekend!

Per usual, I am having a hard time picking out clothes to pack.  At least I know what I'm bringing in my carry-on.  Can't wait to finish my Book Club book (Sin in the Second City) and start reading on my brand spanking new Kindle I got for Christmas! (Thanks L, C and S!)

{Carry-on.}

Hellooooo Texas!

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Read & XOCO.

P and I went to a concert at the House of Blues last night and decided to hit up Rick Bayless' XOCO around the corner for a quick bite before the show.

{An obvious choice: chips, guac & tomatillo salsa.} 

{Choriqueso: chorizo sausage, roasted poblano, jack cheese & tomatillo salsa.}

{Pepito: shortribs, caramelized onion, jack, black beans & pickled jalapenos.}

Both sandwiches were great, but I actually kind of had order envy of P's Pepito last night... will just have to get it next time!

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Read & fonts.

This project seems right up my alley.

{365 Days of Hand Lettering.}

Definitely will be checking out this blog in 2012!

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Read & flats.

I've been all about the booties lately, but with spring coming quicker than we think (45 degrees and rainy here yesterday), I have my eyes on some cute flats.

{Ann Taylor.}

 {J. Crew.}

{Tory Burch.}

{Steve Madden.}

Spring, please!

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Read & Toast.

Hands down, Toast is my favorite breakfast spot in Chicago.

P and I both didn't eat dinner on Friday night (weird.) so we had a feast on Saturday morning.

{Good morning.}

{My go-to: tijuana omelet - jalapenos, onions, chihuahua cheese & cilantro.}

{P's staple: eggs benedict with prosciutto.}

{Short stack.}

{Can't come to Toast without a side of toast.}

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Read & Shopbop.

I have had my eye on this Shoshanna dress for a while now, and since it is now 50% off on Shopbop, I decided to pull the trigger.

{Shoshanna Long Sleeve Dress.}

{Love the texture / detail.}

One step closer to Shoshanna's Spring Collection...!

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Read & a recipe.

When I saw Anna Jane's avocado toast earlier this month, my mouth was watering.  I love toast.  I love avocados.  I love to spice up anything.  So what's better than combining all three? 

She ate it for breakfast, but for me, it was quite a yummy dinner last night.

{Avocado toast.}

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Read & Shoshanna.

Who has seen Shoshanna's Spring 2012 collection?  CMH raced up to my apartment last night and forced me onto Shoshanna's site.  Uh oh.

{Insane.} 

Looking forward to seeing my credit card bill these next couple months...!

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Read & a recipe.

I love corn, and for some odd reason, I am always compelled to buy frozen corn when I am at the grocery store (weird).  I realized I had a few bags in my freezer this weekend, so I decide to do something about it.

I found this recipe in my Real Simple cookbook and turns out chowder was the perfect dish to use up the corn.

{Chopping the onions.}

{Spices all lined up.}

{Smoky Corn Chowder.}

Yum!

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Read & Webster's Wine Bar.

Date night with CMH on Friday night.  We hit up Webster's Wine Bar, quite possibly the cutest wine bar on Earth.  Though it was filled with couples, CMH and I were just fine settling in and chatting on one of their leather couches towards the back of the restaurant.  

The wine list was a tad overwhelming, so we decided to try a Pinot Noir flight, and pick a bottle of our favorite of the three.

{We went with a pinot from Michigan.}

We couldn't resist ordering the brie and garlic and a meat plate.

{Warm brie with a head of roasted garlic.}

{Creminelli “tartufo” truffle salami / palacios cured chorizo / olives.}

The loser of the night was definitely the butternut squash, ricotta & toasted sage crostinis. (I'll spare you a photo.)  The butternut squash was just way to sweet and as CMH put it, "it tasted like Thanksgiving."  Not what we were expecting.

Loved this little spot.

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Read & Fish Bar.

I freaking love this place. 

{Fish Bar - Lakeview.}

{Started with oysters, naturally.}

{Comped us some clams... they treat us well here.}

{And a scallop on the house...}

{Fried lemons, onions & jalapenos for us too... Do we even need to order dinner?}

{But of course.  P's Oyster Po Boy.}

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Read & a swim suit.

Since I decided to return my DVF bikini, I am now on the hunt for the perfect swim suit.

{Shoshanna - looks like it may have a little more coverage in the back.  Good thing.}

{DVF.  Round two?}

{J.Crew - standard.}

Decisions, decisions.

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Read & a recipe.

For some reason, I was really in the mood to make fish this week.  Flipping through Ina's Back to Basics cookbook, I went with this recipe and a side of her broccoli.

{Working on the mustard sauce.}

{Raw yellowtail snapper - with salt & pepper.}

{Just out of the oven.}

{Mustard-Roasted Fish & Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli.}

I can definitely see this broccoli becoming a staple recipe.  So good!

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