I was looking for dinner ingredients after a pleasing business lunch at Prairie Fire (215 N. Clinton St.) brought me to the West Loop.

After touring the whole market — brightly lit, with wide aisles — I zeroed in on the fresh offerings at Produce Express, where I nabbed pints of local blueberries and blackberries ($4 each) and a bag of mixed greens ($2). If I were a commuter, I’d be stopping here daily; prices were reasonable and there was a wide assortment, all of it locally grown at this time of year. Their vegetables looked exquisite, and, I have to admit that I liked being inside — not fighting dogs and baby strollers and the heat — buying local, quality produce.

From there I headed to Pastoral Artisan Cheese Bread & Wine, an outpost of the popular Lakeview establishment (2945 N. Broadway). I picked up a puffy boule ($3.42), creamy hand-dipped ricotta ($6.99 per pound) marinated sun-dried tomatoes ($14.99 per pound) and Italian prosciutto ($24.99 per pound). The servers were knowledge, helpful and generous with tastes.

On my way out, I picked up oversized cookies ($2 each) from Sweet Miss Giving’s, a bakery and jobs training program that donates half its profits to Chicago House. Good deeds produce great cookies: my chocolate chip cookie eaters raved about the dark chocolate chunks and golden, fluffy dough.

The market (131 N. Clinton St.) is accessible from Clinton Street or the Ogilvie Transportation Center (504 W. Madison St.) It’s a treasure for commuters, West Loop workers and residents, and home cooks like me who’ve wandered off their beaten path.

Chicago’s motto is “city in a garden” and in these last summer weekends we insist on the outdoors: eating meals or sharing cocktails in city gardens, sunning and reading on roof decks, swimming fast in open-air pools, biking or walking the lakefront.

Eight of us dined at Piccolo Sogno, 464 N. Halsted St., a newish restaurant in an old space that holds Chicago’s prettiest and most spacious garden, anchored by a huge Spanish sycamore. Strange how a place can be both achingly romantic, for a couple, and accommodating to a crowd.

Later we sat in a private garden, our friends’ good dog at my feet. Deborah pointed to a climbing vine with heart-shaped leaves. My young daughter and I had started that moon flower from seed in March, and I’d been giving the tiny sprouts as hostess gifts during the spring. There it was, grown as tall as their house. The next evening it bloomed, gleaming white against the dark.

I curled up in a comfy chair set to my garden’s one square of sunlight the next day, where I finished Henry Roth’s “Call it Sleep”. What a day; what a book. I’d chugged along for hundreds of pages, wondering how Roth’s simple tale would tie up. (It’s narrated by an overly-mothered boy whose father doubts his paternity). Wow. The climax is positively psychedelic; a cocktail of Whitman, Joyce, Ginsberg.

After another delicious dinner in a city garden — thanks Elaine and Dave! — I took our dog for his nightly walk. I passed an old home with a low-fenced yard open to the street. There, a group of friends sat at a red picnic table, lit by candles, enjoying dinner and a movie playing on an oversized screen. What a night; what a choice. “Stranger than Fiction”, a wonderfully told life and love story — set in Chicago.

Delight, joy: at a museum? That’s rare.

Olafur Eliasson is the Danish-Icelandic artist whose installations can be seen and experienced at the Museum of Contemporary Art (220 E. Chicago Ave.) through Sept. 13.

Go. If you have children or can borrow one, take them.

Eliasson — whose “Waterfalls” captivated New York City last summer — creates spaces that turn art inside out, and sometimes bodily involve the viewer.

One of my favorite pieces, “360 degrees room for all coulors” (2002), allows you to step into the color spectrum. You’re inside the work of art.

Another one we liked is a long wide hall lit by monochromatic bulbs, which emit light in a narrow frequency, “Room for one colour” (1997). It looks inviting, a warm bright yellow. Step inside, all color is washed out of your clothes, your skin. You become shades of black and white! You are the art!

That was a favorite of Alex, my 10-year-old daughter, who likes art but dreads museums. We walked through that hall several times, and at a passage, she divided herself: “Okay, where am I black and white? Where am I color?”

Alex didn’t but I loved “Moss Wall” (1994) a room-size installation of slowly growing moss. It looked like a bumpy field of yellow-green cauliflower heads, and gave off a pleasing scent.

Our shared favorite, “Beauty” (1993), is a pitch black room that holds a mounted spotlight shining through a constant falling mist. Depending on where you stand, you see rainbows, gentle waves, ghostly images. You can walk into the mist — most kids do — which creates yet another image, and view.

The show is called “Take your TIme.” I’d promised Alex it wouldn’t be a lengthy visit; we were through the show in 30 minutes. And she was the one who asked to go back to certain installations.

This show will make anyone rethink the term “museum art.” And it will put a smile on your face, with kids or without. www.mcachicago.org

I’d been to Joe’s (60 E. Grand St.) several times, for review or to meet with editors. It’s pricey, but the seafood — especially their signature stone crab — is worth the expense. Sides and salads are freshly prepared with quality ingredients. Portions are generous.

Joe’s dining room gleams: white cloth tables, waiters in tuxedos. Why sit in the bar? The menu is the same.

Joe’s attracts a lot of tourists. More than once I’ve found myself seated opposite a half-clad group in floppy hats and flip-flops. I’m not knocking tourists; they’re great for the Chicago economy. Joe’s is so classy — refined food, divine service — I expect the patrons to be, too.

The spacious bar area attracts a different crowd. Some tourists, for sure, but typically it’s people like me and Barb, professionals who work in the neighborhood and want a meal you wouldn’t have and can’t afford everyday, in a setting that soothes. There’s a t.v. on — set to financial news — but everything else is dark wood and atmosphere.

I’d feel comfortable dining here alone.

Joe’s “colossal” crab cake ($11.95) is lightly crisped, thick, loaded with crab meat. Among the city’s best, along with Shaw’s. www.shawscrabhouse.com

The tangy coleslaw ($4.95) is more vinegar than mayo, topped with sparkling green relish, sided with thick slabs of tomato.

A meal-sized salad, the Stone Crab Louis ($13.95) was Barbara’s choice: bibb lettuce, avocado, hearts of palm, sliced egg, asparagus, stone crab.

If you’ve never tried stone crab — it’s harvested from the Gulf of Mexico — it’s a lifetime must ($17.95 for four.) Like lobster, you crack its thick shell with pliers. It’s messy, but the crab meat is heavenly: soft, white and sweet.

We passed on dessert this time, but Joe’s key lime pie ($5.95) is the real deal. It’s offered by the half-slice, too. www.joes.net/chicago.

I’d widen the reasons for returning to a restaurant: portions, presentation, ingredients, certain servers, a special view.

Spring time in Old Town

Two restaurants in my Old Town neighborhood, opened within the past two years, have me aching to return — and not because I can walk to them.

Perennial, 1800 N. Lincoln Ave., has right-size portions and reasonable prices (entrees: $16 – $25) for the sophistication of its food.

Portions aren’t the only reason I go back, but it looms large. (I don’t like doggy bags, and I’m trying to lose weight.) Perennial offers a half serving ($10) of pasta, and the other night I lucked into their lamb ragout fettucine. (Theirs is a seasonal menu, and that’s a winter dish. Of course, summer hasn’t quite arrived in Chicago, even in June.)

I don’t especially like lamb, but this dish makes me swoon. Lamb is shredded, mixed with oven-dried tomatoes that burst with flavor.

My friend ordered a gnocchi appetizer that sounded heavy but wasn’t, and was artfully arranged.

Another attraction: the view! Perennial wraps the corner of Lincoln Ave. and Wells St. Its outdoor tables front a leafy green swath of Lincoln Park. The other night our table gave us Lincoln Avenue and its Queen Anne row houses, just as the sky turned to blue-pink stripes.

Our waiter was cute, too. www.perennialchicago.com

At the other end of Wells Street is Old Town Brasserie (1209 N. Wells St.) There’s so many reasons to go back to this smart establishment: the decor is warm and handsome, the bar is large and lively, the waiters are often French, the menu is well priced ($7 -$33) and the food makes my head spin.

Their Lyonnaise salad is my favorite dish. Crisp frisee, bacon that goes crunch, a light dressing, perfectly portioned.

Their roast chicken is predictably good, but fish is the thing to order: a special the other night really was special! Pan-roasted halibut on a bed of spring-green asparagus, more chopped than pureed. Soothing, and melt-in-your mouth delicious.

Sides aren’t typically French: grilled salmon is paired with quinoa, skate wing with bulgur. www.oldtownbrasserie.com