So I took advantage or Bloomie’s annual rug sale this week, buying a tiny little 3′ x 5′ rug for $750 which supposedly retails for $3999. It’s a Barbara Barry design called Shoji Platinum, made in Nepal under the Tufenkian brand. It’s got a cool subtle color changing thing going on in the design where the lines can go from dark greenish brown to a shiny almost goldish looking color depending on which way the fibers are resting. So the lines can look dark and pronounced one minute, but as you walk over it or even just brush your hand over the top of the design, the change in angle of the fibers can make parts of the lines almost disappear. I originally intended to leave my floors uncovered because I thought a rug would make things feel too cramped (which is the same reason I’m probably not getting a coffee table), but the tiny 3′ x 5′ size is ok. Just enough to have something soft beneath my feet during the coming winter months while I watch football, yet small enough to keep enough of the hardwood floor showing so that the living room still seems somewhat spacious considering all the furniture I have crammed in there. Anyway, here’s the pic of my Tufenkian:

In other luxury news, apparently the foie gras ban in Chicago was preceded by a crazy city-wide foie gras binge fest. All the restaurants that support foie gras were offering special menus to feature my beloved fatty liver in all its splendor, a mad rush to take advantage of it before they could no longer sell it. Ah, and that’s the loophole. They can only no longer *sell* it. So resourceful as we all know chefs can be, many are now resorting to giving foie gras away for free! Well, sort of. The trick is that they will simply not list foie gras in their menu descriptions, but if you want some, it may appear as a “garnish”. How awesome is that? Hrmmm, with my duck entree, I’d like a side order of the $35 roasted potatoes please. 🙂