Oy. Now my aunt is freaking out about bed bugs because she's reading online reviews, and wants my advice about hotels in Chicago. I live here. I don't stay in hotels here!

Does anyone have Chicago hotel recs that I can pass along?

shrift, last May I stayed at the Holiday Inn south of the Cumberland station on the Blue line. The hotel itself was unremarkable, but getting to and from the train station was a little awkward due to road construction. There is a Marriott on the other side of the train station that looks much easier to get to, but is probably more expensive.

Thanks, dcp. I think they're looking to stay downtown. I should give her a call when I'm not watching hockey. My mom may be used to me swearing suddenly when I'm talking to her, but my aunt is not.

I made vegetarian curry with Swiss chard, red potato, and chickpeas tonight. It's pretty good, but I'm seriously not allowed to cook another big batch of anything until I finish off more leftovers.

I bought a refrigerator! Ended up being sensible and bought basically what I have: a smallish thing with a top freezer and no fancy water or ice dispensers. Except it's stainless steel and energy-star. And I got it slightly dinged at the Sears Outlet, so it was half price. Go me.

And now I'm thinking about doing that for my dishwasher, too.

I bought a smallish fridge as well, with a top freezer and nothing else. It's working out quite well.

We brought out the grill tonight! A new grill, in fact, that I got for Christmas. Weber kettle grill to replace my super crappy off brand one I had before.

We grilled skirt steak and chicken thighs and zucchini, eggplant, red onions, fennel, and baby sweet peppers. Yum. Also had sweet potatoes slow roasted in the oven (2 hours at 300 in a foil pouch) and salad. A lovely dinner with my parents.

I also made some crazy slow oven cooked tomato sauce recipe. 6 hours in the oven, reducing 6 large cans of tomatoes to about 3.5 quarts of sauce. It is yummy.

Shrift, lisah& Bob regularly stay at one place they really like...can't recall, begins with a k?

So I was right. It was the boyfriend. I don't know the details, because it would be unseemly to ask in my position, and no one volunteered. I know she had to go ID his body. And his family is very inclusive of her, treating her like a beloved family member.I'm gonna send a card to the shop for her, and also one to the shop itself. None of her appts was cancelled, owner came in, one of her former coworkers came down from NYC to help cover, she's being paid as if working and all her scheduled appts' tips are going to her. Really lovely. When I asked the owner how Allison was doing, we both teared up. She wants to come back this week, but owner is fully prepared to keep covering if it's too much.

Owner was going to cut my hair, but the NYC guy really wanted to do it (he's said that before, when he worked there. He cuts with a razor, loves to do layer and texture) so I let him. He did great, but showed how invaluable it is to have someone who knows your hair well from way back. I'm usually in and out in 45 minutes, from start of shampoo. This was 1.5 hrs! And I've seen him with his regulars, not the norm. He just really really " got to know my hair."

The Whitehall off of Michigan is where my parental type family usually stay.

I'm making real beef stroganoff, with chopped onions and mushrooms and everything. I've cheated with meat cut up for stir fry and jarred minced garlic, but anything that gets me actually cooking is a good thing.

Yum, beef stroganoff!