WANTED: A siesta

Sleeping Lion Cub (Close-up)
Originally uploaded by myndz_0_eye.

Last night was supposed to be an opportunity for me and Dr G to meet some of Chicago's most eligible bachelors, at a fundraiser for Northwestern Hospital. Co-hosted by Chicago Magazine, the event was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art. With the unfortunate name, "Summer Lovin", the event promised much but just didn't do it for us. The catering was good, and the venue was lovely of course, but the crowd? Yawn. There wasn't anywhere near the extent of mingling going on that we expected to find at such a young and contemporary event. Groups of guests were just clumped together, staring at everyone else and wondering what was supposed to be happening. We didn't stay around to find out. In fact, me and the good doc left after about an hour.

We made the best of the situation though and ended up having dinner at Orso's in Old Town. I have fallen in love with the restaurant - the interior is old and full of charm and character, and the menu can't be beaten for diversity and value for money. The veal that I had was a little salty, but I blame the capers for that. I don't like capers anyway but the rest of the dish sounded tasty so I had to order it. I do these things from time to time.

Then we walked across the road to ANOTHER Italian restaurant that had an outdoor bar area attached to it. We got heaps of free drinks from the barman, who took a real shine to Dr G - and we loved it. Then a French guy came at sat with us, and babbled on in French with me for a while. I kept up with most of what he said, but when he criticised Dr G for not being comfortable talking about tax law (which she absolutely IS, she just didn't want to talk to HIM about it), we decided to leave. But he was hard to shake, so we ran away down the street and hid in another bar until the coast was clear.

THEN (we're almost done), we caught a cab back into the City and had some wine & cheeses at Bin36, and stayed there till the place closed.

I won't lie to you, the night took it out of me, but it was one of the most fun evenings out that I've had in a long time. We flew by the seat of our pants the whole time and just had a ball. But I think I'll seize the opportunity of this sunny day to lie down on the sofa for a few hours.