My brother went home this week, an unfinished 1000 piece puzzle of Cinque Terre on the dining room table is my reminder that he was here.  When we weren’t talking about my parents, we talked about cruises we wanted to take together and worked on the puzzle.   It is snappy cold this week and as I write this, the world seems unusually quiet because we had snow overnight. Restaurant Week has started in Chicago, and I went to Duck Inn yesterday for brunch with my husband.  Brunch was excellent, we split everything, including a Bloody Mary with a beer back. My favorites were the duck wings and fried cheese curds. Recently read an article about some California property auctions. I clicked through the article to this website and found a church building on a decent sized lot in Speer, IL. Pop. 80 or 48, depending on the source.  No reserve bidding and as I speak the bids are up to a whopping $601. Bidding closes tomorrow.  Wasted an inordinate amount of time contemplating buying the place and what I would do with it.  What business would succeed there? It might be nice to create a dacha if I didn’t mind driving 2.5 hours to get there. Adding in my work commute that would have me in my car 15 hours a week.  No thanks. Hosted lunch for my cousins on Martin Luther King Day so everyone could see my brother while he was in town.   Catered by Massa; meatballs, 8-finger cavatelli and salad.  My sister brought dessert. The table looked bright with my citrus-colored jacquard tablecloth from Gem de France in New Orleans and my everyday “Crazy Daisy” dishes. It was a simple and very nice party. After I close this laptop I will go to church, drive through the snow to visit my parents and when I get home, I will make a twist on traditional Sunday dinner, trying this recipe for Mississippi Chicken tonight and maybe work on that puzzle a little bit more. 

#Massacafeitaliano #DuckInnChicago #Chicago #NOLA #gemdefrancenola #choosechicago #Elmwood Park #Corelle #crazy daisy #property auctions #Cinque Terre