Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood

Disc0 and I are still committed to exploring Chicago, so that we have our favorite places all over the city. TBF, we're still limited in this exploration to north of the loop - southside is coming, though!

Today we took the Red Line up to Rogers Park. I've never been there even though one of my besties went to college up in them there parts. I love Rogers Park! Its a little bit funky, a little bit rock n' roll, a little artsy fartsy, and a lot more integrated than our neighborhood. I found my DREAM HOUSE up there on W. Jarvis, y'all. TBF, I find my dream house in every neighborhood. Last one was in Uptown.

We walked up Sheridan, right by the lake, to the Lake Side Cafe. It was like a smaller, sweeter version of the Chicago Diner. I love that Chicago has one vegan diner that's all "corporate" and "the man" against which the smaller, scrappier vegan diners have to fight.
Anyway, it was yummy and friendly and I had a delish chai tea with my quinoa salad. Disc0 had a vegan Chicago-style polish sausage. As he said, encased meats are often so processed anyway, at some point your enjoyment of the meal doesn't even depend on whether the stuff inside the casing is actually made of meat.

The plan was to walk down Sheridan to Loyola after lunch, but then it got really cold and windy so we just hopped down Howard to the el and went back home. I really like Rogers Park and want to spend more time exploring. There is gorgeous architecture all over the place.

There were tons of crazy/drunk Cubs fans on the el. They are so cute.

I'm trying now to decide what to make for dinner. This week I've done curried turkey burger sliders on tiny challah buns, cheese enchiladas on whole wheat tortillas, curried chicken salad, and pizza with caramelized onions. Common law housewifery!

"niner"? are you on a walkie talkie?

And we're back! Started off our first free afternoon in Chicago by trying to go to the Cubs game. I can't say the weather is up to normal awesome Chicago summer standards, but compared to VA where we were this past week it actually feels pleasant. Because although according to weather.com it is 89 and feels like 91, there is a breezy-ass breeze and that really does help.

We didn't get tickets because we are cheap and told ourselves before we left the house that we would pay no more than $22.50 per seat. That means we turned down $46 seats being sold for $30 right outside Wrigley just after the game started. Whatever, we stuck to our principles, and it means we got to eat at Uncommon Ground again. We consoled ourselves with naturally-raised chicken goodness: I had a delectable sandwich and disc0 had a breakfast burrito, complete with yummy organic protein. We might go back tonight because Thursday is $5 martini night, they are open late, and they serve a "TREEtini" made with organic vodka--for every TREEtini ordered, Uncommon Ground promises to plant a tree. You can't really beat that for value.

Tonight: The Brauhaus? Toro Sushi? These are places where we haven't made it all summer and that is basically a travesty. You'll be hearing about them soon, I hope. Tomorrow: Lollapalooza!