Events Newsletters Subscribe

February 2009
Signs of the Times
By Barri Leiner
Go ahead: Wear your heart on your sleeve. Or, better yet, around your neck. Right now, it’s all about bling you believe in. Read more
School of Wok
So Sarah’s all, “Let’s take cooking classes while we’re in Thailand,” and I must have agreed, because now we’re shopping for ingredients in a Chiang Mai food market with a chef and a gaggle of Australians, Norwegians, Welsh, and Swiss. The highlight of the tour was watching a dour woman bludgeon a... Read more
Striding Forward
By Elisabeth Fourmont
As the fashion citizens of the world unite this week at the tents of Bryant Park for the New York collections, there's much curiosity this season about how budget cuts will affect designers' creations. Fashion insiders say there will be a resetting of the dial—that the weaker talents will be sifted away. As for consumer consciousness, habits are not likely to change so quickly. People will still covet that Miu Miu shoe that will change their lives, making it perfect if even for a few moments... Read more
Ex-Rated
The Ex Files

Can’t agree on how to celebrate V Day? Split the difference between a romantic dinner and ignoring the holiday altogether with Letters/X 6, Groundup Theatre’s guffaw-worthy annual roundup of Dear John letters recast as monologues, sketches, and songs performed by both people and puppets (yes, puppets). Cheap-date warning: The performance is free, although donations are accepted. The show runs 8 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and... Read more
On the Market: Mini-mizing a Gold Coast Flaw
By Dennis Rodkin

List Price: $2.5 million
The Property: Elaborate carvings on its rough sandstone façade and an elegant renovation of its interior make this 19th-century Gold Coast house very appealing. But Tricia Fox, the listing agent for its seller, Joseph Aldeguer, noticed one drawback...

Read more
Mirror, Mirror


Before


After

Seems like every pitch I get these days has claims to be green and low-cost. But here’s one that made me stop and look: MirrorMate Frames, a way to easily frame those big, flat bathroom mirrors found in so much new construction. So instead of throwing away the mirror, you attach a frame around it. You don’t even need to remove the mirror from the wall—just clip and glue the frame on. The company says it’s cheaper than buying a frame or a new mirror. Talk about your quick fix.

—Jan Parr
 

Read more
Loop Survival Kit
By Penny Pollack & Jeff Ruby
Sell the Sizzle
“I think I found a way to survive here,” says Alan Shikami, who has transformed Shikago (190 S. LaSalle St.; 312-781-7300) into the kind of “fun Japanese/Asian restaurant” he always wanted. In his new chef, James Okuno—Shikago’s former sous-chef and son of Kiyoshi Okuno from New York’s esteemed Sushi Yasuda—he’s finally found someone on the same page. Together, they’ve gone back to basics. “There was a place in Bangkok called the... Read more