*politics*

This is usually my fun blog, but sometimes there are stories that I think really need disseminatin'. Please read these.

Racists in Clarkston, GA don't want adolescent refugees to feel at home. We're talking about the rejection of people who are legal immigrants, war refugees, and children.

Teens are railroaded after standing up to appallingly racist conditions in their high school and hometown. After a fall semester of threats and violence against black students, 6 black kids are charged with 2nd degree attempted murder and conspiracy (one has already been convicted) after a fight in their high school hallway. The victim of their "attempted murder" was well enough to go out to a social event that night. ***ETA*** ABB's commentary, and links

That's What She Said

This week my Mom is in town, and we had quite the day yesterday experiencing much of what Chicago has to offer.

We went down to the Navy Pier; my Mom had never been and neither had I. It was garish and cute, and they have delicious snow cones. Then we took a little boat tour of the lake and appreciated Chicago's stellar skyline.


We had dinner at the amazing Terragusto, and by pacing ourselves enjoyed delicious food without the uncomfortable bloating we went through the first time. Turns out the menu changes at least every month, presumably to keep in line with the foods that are in season. So don't get too attached to any particular dishes, but also understand that everything frickin' thing on the menu is fantastic.

After dinner, we went home to feed the cat, then headed a couple of blocks down the street to the Theater Building Chicago to check out opening night of the all-improv Theater Momentum Showcase II. We were at another show this weekend when disc0 ran into an old friend from his days studying improv; turns out she's in Fugue, one of the pieces being showcased. I was so impressed by each piece (Fugue was first, then Lost in Translation, and finally '97 Bulldogs). The showcase certainly contained the best acted improv I've seen, and much of it was hilarious too. It was less absurdist, more thoughtful, and much more character-based than what I'm used to, and everyone worked together wonderfully. (I love the absurdist stuff, but this was really interesting and fun and a very nice change). We all really enjoyed it. Disc0 and I noticed that by the time the third piece came along, we were almost burnt out on watching improv (at $10--after the $2 discount for knowing someone in the cast-- for a solid two hours of performance, this was the best deal in the city in terms of minutes of improv per dollar) but they still kept our interest and made us laugh, which is a pretty high compliment. I look forward to seeing this showcase again soon.

Flash Flood, Schmash Schmood

My Dad is in town, and tonight we went on a little trek to try to find food. Sadly, it seems that Orange (despite a semi-misleading voicemail recording) is no longer serving dinner. Which is terrible, because their dinners might have been even better than their brunch. We walked to Cooper's, another exciting choice--but the insane weather from yesterday caused them to lose power and close today (get well soon, Cooper's! We love you!)

So we were getting really hungry and decided that we were in the mood for Indian food, because we happened to be standing in front of Radhuni Indian Kitchen
It was a lucky choice, and now we have a wonderful neighborhood Indian joint to brag on. The naan and roti were perfect, the samosas light and delicious, and the chicken tikkia masala was some of the best and most tender I've ever had. I was a little wary of the place because it always looked empty when I walked by, and because we had the bad taste (ha ha) to try a different Indian restaurant in our neighborhood first and the experience was ... unfortunate. Certainly not blog-worthy. So I was afraid this neighborhood was an Indian food-free zone. Phew--I was wrong.

What the French Toast?!

So being in Greece and eating all local food, and being in Europe in general where they are talking about climate change all the time (not arguing about whether it exists, mind you, but discussing ways to actually slow it down. I picked up a number of women's magazines, like I do when I'm on vacay, and in each of them the majority of articles mentioned carbon emissions, the human footprint, and ways to reduce yours. I don't read cosmo at home, but I kind of don't think it does that since there are letters to the editor in actual newspapers calling global warming junk science. The rant ends here.)

Anyway, the gist is that disc0 and I have ramped up our eco-consciousness around the house. That means less shopping (this includes clothes shopping; *cry*) and more looking at labels of the stuff we do buy. I put this into pretty good practice at NEW WHOLE FOODS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. That place is effing gorgeous. Literally every employee in the store says hello and how are you when you walk by. and I have never felt such low drag on a shopping cart. It's part of the new Center on Halsted, a somewhat historic LGBT community center which recently opened just up the road a piece from our place. And Home Grown Wisconsin pick-up is tonight, which means I am going to make home-made Baba Ganouj for the first time.

But despite all this health and earth conciousness, you know I am still a Chicagoan at heart. So of course the first thing I did when left to my own devices was order a D'agostino's pizza at 6:00pm last night. I've been grazing off it ever since. We will try to make Edwardo's, the all-natural joint, more of a staple, but last night I needed the sugary sweet sauce of D'ags and I GOT IT.

My parents paid 30,000 leptons to send me here, and I expect an education

Yes, kids: that subject line is a little shout out to all the Libel Show fans. Keep the dream alive.

Anyhoo, I feel that I should talk about Greece a little bit even though, as a I mentioned before, it is not technically in Chicago or the Midwest at all. Therefore, I'll try to keep it mostly to bullet points. Convenient, because basically I think in bullet points.

I loved about Greece:

+ The food: so most of what we ate and drank in Greece was local. Feta cheese, which I didn't even think I LIKED, was amazing on salads and in cheese pies. The most delicious cucumbers of all time. The green PEPPERS were good (another thing I'm not a big fan of state-side). The tomatoes looked and sounded delicious, but even in Greece I wouldn't go down that road (I do not like them in a car, I do not like them near or far, etcetera). If fish is frozen rather than fresh, the restaurants are REQUIRED to note it on the menu. The food was fresh and good with very few exceptions. The yogurt is about a million times better than anything I've had in the US. Don't even get me started on the baklava.

+The wine: Also all local. Apparently they don't put sulfites in their wine. All I know is it was inexpensive, yummy, and I could drink a shiz-ton of it without getting a headache. Yay!

+The religious parades: Extremely short and to the point. They don't prissy-fizz around with a bunch of oversized balloons
or little kids who passed their bike safety class or floats sponsored by radio stations and paid for by beer companies. They get in, their military band plays some serious music, they burn some frankincense, hoist the icon, and get out. We appreciated this at the Feast of the Assumption on Paros. Very beautiful and cool.

+The dogs: there are stray (or just extremely outdoors) dogs all over Greece. The best one is named Air Bud, which appellation was administered after some mighty wine had flowed. But the thing about Air Bud is that we made friends with him one day on Santorini, and later that night following the wine,
we ran into him and he walked us all the way home (usually leading the way, then checking to make sure we were with him). This may not sound like a big deal, but from Fira (the major city on our side of Santorini where we met A.B.) and Firostefani (the location of our hotel) is basically 150,000,072 stairs up a mountain. So he was in it for the long haul. He became best friends with one of our group (Mambles). We gave him a lot of cheese as a token of gratitude when he delivered us safely to our door. This is not a picture of Air Bud, but of another good guy we saw around. There are also donkeys on Santorini (it's great).

+The beauty: The islands really are stunningly beautiful. The sunsets, the churches, the beaches, the cobblestone streets, even the monstrous hills--amazing views. That place is lousy with views.




+The history stuff": The Acropolis is quite a sight, even though we were very disappointed that the Acropolis museum was closed. The archaeological museum was really interesting, though. My favorite part was how much the early marble Cycladic sculpture reminded me of early African sculpture.

+Energy conservation: in most hotels, you had to stick your room key in a little slot when you entered in order to turn on the electricity. Smart.

+The Ellinon Thea Hotel in Santorini was absolutely fantastic.

What I didn't love about Greece:

-the toilet paper issue: you aren't supposed to flush your toilet paper AT ALL. There are teeny tiny trash cans provided for it instead. Sometimes, the same trash can you are also supposed to open up to discard, for example, your dental floss and q-tips. The toilets are normal euro toilets, but no paper allowed, according to the signs on every loo. I am not sorry to say that I think it's grody. I don't particularly see the environmental benefit of poopy (excuse my french) paper all up in landfills, nor do I understand why a modern plumbing system would be built that can't handle paper. And no, I never saw a bidet. And no--NONE OF the guide books mentioned this!

-Money: The ATMs distribute almost exclusively 50 Euro notes, and almost no shopkeeper wanted to take anything bigger than a five. We always felt like we were extremely rude when offering to pay with anything other than coins, and it's upsetting to feel rude for a reason that seems so mystifying.

-Lines/Queues: are not part of society. It's every man, woman, child, and little old person for herself and throwing 'bows doesn't seem to be out of the question.

-it's really hot: but I knew that going in.

All in all it was a wonderful trip, SO good to see friends we had been missing and get closer to new friends. The complaints were mostly dumb American culture shock (except for the toilet paper thing, and for that I will not apologize). Back to regularly scheduled Chicago, soon...

up and away

we are off to Greece for our post-bar holiday...since we'll be in Greece and not Chicago, we probably won't be blogging but you never know...there is aLOT of fried cheese (or saganaki) there so we may feel at home enough for a couple of updates ;)

Improv Roast

This was an event so unique it warrants my first ever blog post. It was basically an unintentional clash between two sides of the entertainment industry; the talented and unrecognized vs. the marginally talented, corporate-controlled, and obscenely lucky.

The Armando works like this (much simplified): one performer starts with a monologue and a group of improvisers take ideas from the monologue and turn them into a string of scenes. At some point, "Armando", (the monologist) breaks in, delivers another monologue, and the string of scenes starts again. Normally, Armando is one of the talented group of improvisors, and the monlogues, although primarily meant to give ideas to the other performers, are just as impressive and hilarious as the scene performances.

Unfortunately for "Armando" tonight, every one of his monologues centered around his life as an American Idol. He was telling stories of how he just went to the audition on a lark, and a few months later, he now has a nationwide tour, an album coming out, and sponsorship deals with Coke and Ford, among others. All the while in front of 8 or so of the most talented improvisors in the country, each who have to put YEARS into their craft to get a tiny chance at a even a small fraction of the fame that American Idols stumble into every month. (or however often the show is on.) And a crowd of fans/students who hoped to follow in their footsteps. A storm was brewing...

Predictably, when the improvisors got their turn after the monologues, it was a comedic bloodbath. Initially, we felt sorry for Armando, since he clearly had no idea (and didn't seem to understand) what he had gotten into. But he dug his own grave repeatedly by (1) claiming he had improv and comedy performance experience, and (2) claiming he was still "keeping it real" while telling stories about the crazy times and success he's had as part of the most soulless corporate "entertainment" franchise in history.

Some highlights include:
1.) A rambling story of his peformance history being in an acapella group, beatboxing, and being in an "improv jazz ensemble." NB: Apparently he does not play any instruments--it was a mystery what he contributed to this ensemble. He made it repeatedly clear that these were his "real" interests, and he's just doing American Idol "to have fun." I certainly don't begrudge him his success, but his incessant need to have us believe he's not "into the whole American Idol thing" while simultaneously explaning all the massive corporate sponsorship deals kind of dropped his credibility through the floor.

Related Unsubtle Improv Scene: "Hey big boy...I'll do whatever you want... I'm normally not into prostitution, that's not my thing, but seriously...Anything. You. Want."

2.) We learn that although he totally has improv experience, character comedy is really his 2nd love after singing and beatboxing. In fact, he's created a character for the American Idol tour called "Bob Boberson", in which he ostensibly plays a redneck security guard (I assume still wearing a trendy sideways pageboy hat), and greets fans, "in character." NB: You know he's "Bob Boberson" and not American Idol #22234AKSU because his voice is an octave lower. Watch for "Bob" in your town! Also, he's played a number of other characters for the numerous Ford and Coke commercials, in which, apparently they dress up American Idol contestants in funny costumes. Watch for them on your TV!

Related Unsubtle Improv Scene: "Why, everyone, I cannot dine with you, for I am not a patron at this restaurant, but an ACTOR, playing a patron at this restaurant! I was tricking you this whole time, thanks to my ACTING!"

3.) He and his buddies love to make comedy raps. In fact, they're online. They've written a comedy rap about Chuck Norris. And a comedy rap about Snakes on a Plane. And a comedy rap about Harry Potter. (As you can imagine, this is when the crowd started to turn. It is yet another testament to the unfailing politiness of Midwesterners that everyone just threw up a little to themselves instead of hurling rotted vegetable mattah and whipping up some tar and feathers.)

Related Wholly Unsubtle Improv Scene: "Hey Kid. F**** YOU!"

(This was amazing. The story about the comedy raps was given directly after the intermission, and there was one player who had missed the first act. As soon as Armando finished, this one player calmly strode on stage, sat down, and started the first scene of the second act with this line, her first in the entire show. I'd like to think she went on stage, mind completely blank except for this one thought that had been boiling in her head the during the Idol's entire monologue, and made it into her grand entrance. Naturally, she and her scene partner then picked up and turned it into a great scene, but for one moment, she caught the mood of the entire audience.)

4.) When asked about his influences, he started out listing Prince and Michael Jackson. Fair enough. But, at this point, in his last monologue, he couldn't leave well enough alone, and wanted us to remember that he was every bit the comedian as well as a pop sensation. So he went on to list his comedic influences as well: "Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Jackie Gleason...the greats." (NB--I would venture to guess that there is nothing you could do to anger a true comedian more these days than tell him that Robin Williams is one of the all-time greats. This comment elicited some audibe gasps of horror from the crowd. Again, I can't overestimate what a spectacular disaster this was.)

Related Unsubtle Improv Scene: "Robin Williams" coming onstage, declaring he was here to steal everyone's bits, and then repeating the best jokes from earlier in the show.

This all probably makes it seem that it was a tremendously uncomfortable evening, but it was absolutely riveting and one of the funniest shows I've seen. The majority of the show was not dedicating to skewering this poor kid, and the performers did thank him profusely for coming and played along with some of his more ridiculous ideas. They roasted him but sent him on his way with a pat on a back. In all, it just seemed like he was a completely clueless kid who had no idea how much he kept putting his foot into his mouth--but he can cry all the way to the bank.

However, it certainly created a singularity of purpose that I've never seen from a show with this many people. The improvisors were the absolute cream of the crop in Chicago (possibly because the show was being filmed). In the midst of putting their usual excellent performance, they delivered an outstanding comedy review torching everything wrong with the corporate-fueled entertainment industry, that had probably screwed over each of them repeatedly. All at the expense of one of the industry's poster children that the Fox network had (presumably) unwittingly sent to the slaughter.

American Idle (the bad pun is on purpose)

We just had an epic experience at the I.O. Theater, specifically at a performance of The Armando. We live close to the I.O. Theater and have a friend who does The Armando every so often, and it's one of our fave improv shows in the city. We knew something was up tonight when the place was unbelievably packed and got excited, hoping the guest monologist/Armando was one of the guys from Beer Shark Mice who were here this past weekend. Well...it turns out that the "Armando" was a famous young man with whom I was not familiar--someone from the most recent season of American Idol (he took 2nd place). He was basically ridiculous, not in a good way; but the resulting show (from an absolutely all-star cast of improvers) was one of the best I've ever seen. Look above for the guest post by disc0 for an in-depth comedic analysis. This cast was awesome--and introduced me to yet another female comedienne in this city who is brilliant. The only bummer about I.O. is you don't get the performers names because it isn't a set cast, so I can't tell you who all these amazing people are--you just have to believe.

(on a semi-related note, has nothing to do with I.O. but just because it's about comedy: we saw The Ten yesterday afternoon and we were REALLY EXCITED about it. Basically, it's ten loosely related comedic sketches based on the Ten Commandments. I loved some of the sketches, and I absolutely hated others. This pains me to say, because the guys who did this movie also did The State and Wet Hot American Summer, and I adore them. But for real guys; I could truly do without you making another rape joke, EVER again. Seriously, it would make my life better if I--and the rest of the world--never had to see a depiction or simulation of rape on film, video, stage, whatever, whether dramatic or comedic, prison or stranger or date. And I can't believe I just typed about comedic simulations of rape, because the concept really makes no sense, but they made their way into The Ten, rather graphically. And that really just pisses me off. It hurts people and you can learn to deal with your fear in another way. Please and Thank You.)

He said I wore to much Moscow-a

Tonight at Lollapalooza we saw The Hold Steady, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Spoon.

Oh my gosh, The Hold Steady was adorable. The lead singer is from Minneapolis and he's very midwest-like, ya'll. He was EXTREMELY EARNEST**, thanking the crowd for all the joy being in the band brings to them, and just professing how very grateful he is for his awesome job. Our friend Z, who is a huge fan and was front and center during their set, said that the singer was close to tears of joy while rocking out. He also would often repeat lines he'd just sung sans mic directly to the fans who could hear him because of their close proximity to the stage--very closely connected to the fans. Presh.

Then we finally had dinner at Sushi Toro!!! The chef and co-owner is a friend of disc0's and we visited often last summer. The place is always packed and is tiny, so as per usual we put down our names at the restaurant, went for a glass of wine at the nearby wine bar ****, and finished just in time to sit down for dinner. Absolutely delicious. The menu has a whole page of rolls the chef has invented, many of them named for friends and customers. We had the MJ (fried tempura flakes and spicy tuna goodness), the Park West (with shrimp tempura, grilled and topped with cheese, thank you Chicago for allowing even sushi to be fried and smothered in cheese), and the California Twist (a yummy California roll with special fresh crab salad and avocado). I'm so glad we finally made it there this summer and hope we can be there more regularly in the future (along with guests, as always...)


**this reminds me of a cute line from the lead singer of LCD Soundsystem during their set yesterday at Lolla: he noticed that the group of fans dancing closest to the stage was started to get a bit rowdy and apparently kept his eye on them, and after finishing a song thanked them for not being too rough and implored them to keep it that way, so that violent and/or handsy dancing would not make that area a "girl bummer." It was nice that the lead singer was watching out for violence and handsiness.

****I have redacted the name of the wine bar because I forgot to mention earlier that I straight up found drug paraphernalia in the comfy little upholstered chair in which I was, until that point, enjoying my wine! WTF, Lincoln Park neighborhood! Now I can add the "pointless rivalries" tag to this post, because although there may be snow bunnies in my neighborhood, I have never found evidence of them, because they do not carelessly fling their dirty tools around wine bars for unsuspecting gals to find, when all these unsuspecting gals want to do is wait in peace for their seat at the sushi bar. I felt bad for the waiter to whose attention I had to bring the offending length of straw. For shame, Lincoln Park; for shame.

One more time

Today was the first day of Lollapalooza. WHOA. There are whole lists on the internet of who was there. Today we saw Polyphonic Spree, Blonde Redhead, LCD Soundsystem (this is MY NEW FAVORITE BAND, YA'LL, please check them out if you like disco-punk, disco, and/or punk, or if you just like lead singers with unstoppable voices) and Daft Punk. Daft Punk live! I loved all the shows. LCD Soundsystem was particularly cool because I was unfamiliar with them and fell in love with them at their show. Daft Punk was particularly cool because they don't do tons of live appearances, and because the light show accompanying their music was really fun to watch.

Later we went to Bucktown to a bar that featured live band rock n' roll karaoke. I will say this: I don't really like Bucktown, OK? We got turned away from a diner because they stop seating at 10 (??) We had to wait in line at a taco stand (because the cash register guy was talking to a bunch of friends while a giant line formed) listening to effing techno music. Let me explain that when I say "effing techno music" I mean Swedish remixes of Mariah Cary and Celine Dion tunes (and yes, I realize people think Celine Dion is amazing person but that doesn't mean I should have to listen to the techno versions of her songs EVER). Then after that meal we were in a bar that looks, feels, smells, and tastes like a kickass dive bar, my kinda place. But because of the trendiness of the neighborhood they charge $4 for Miller Lite (???) and have a $20 minimum on credit cards (??????) Terrible. It's kind of like dive bar Disney World for yuppies. Maybe my household is sensitive about yuppies because soon we'll look like we are them; it matters not. I will say that everyone who worked there was friendly and efficient, including the live karaoke backup band and the karaoke MC, so I still have love for Chicago people as a whole, but I also have to say that it's possible that our neighborhood rules, other neighborhoods drool.

After the game...which we watched on TV...

Hi-Tops finally happened. You may remember a post long ago about Redmans, which we went to instead of Hi-Tops many moons ago because thought was neighborhood-y and turned out to be sketchy. Well today we decided to go to Hi-Tops after lunch--we know it's sketchy and we like that and wanted to watch it unfold.

We had an AWESOME waitress (I haven't had many non-awesome servers in this neighborhood) who told us the scoop on Hi-Tops, which we'd heard was recently acquired by the Harry Caray's chain of restaurants. We feared a classy-fyin' influence, but she assuaged these worries. Gone are the wet t-shirt and bikini contests (to that I say: good riddance. I didn't even know they used to have them, and probably wouldn't have liked the place to begin with if I did. So yay). But that is going to be the extent of the classy-fication going on, and I say it's the perfect amount.

The crowds poured in after the game (we got there a little early and caught the last innings on their hundreds of televisions, so we had a table from which to observe). As soon as the Cubs lost (boo) the DJ started up the...hits? He or she SERIOUSLY did not play anything that was recorded after 2000. The most "hip" and "with it" he or she got was "B.O.B." by Outkast and that is from their Stankonia album. GREAT: but old. There was a more than ample smattering of J. Cougar Mellencamp. There was Bon Jovi. It was awesomely bad. This is a multi-generational bar and everyone dances. AWESOMELY BADLY. We left after a few drinks, before the dancing on the bar started, because as much as I love the friendly midwestern-ness of being about a decade behind the rest of the country in musical taste, there is only so much J. Cougar Mellencamp I can take when it is blasted at nightclub-worthy decibels. I sincerely mean everything in that last sentence.

Then we took a siesta, and ventured back out for tapas at Twist down the street. It was AWESOME. I was surprised at the awesomeness because I am just getting back in the swing of my neighborhood. For under $20 we got STUFFED on spanish and fusion tapas. Well done, Twist; well done.

"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!

dear barbri....

Now that disc0 and I have have taken care of that little administrative matter we've been working on the last couple days, this blog can get back to talking about Chicago and the great things in and around it...

Quick note: Chicagoans are even friendly when they are taking the bar. Yes; I made more "women's room friends" before the bar exam and during lunch breaks. People offered to share their food, just to be nice. And I don't know if you know this, but law students often tend in my experience to be...how do you say?...entitled jerkoffs. ESPECIALLY when they are under pressure. So I was pleasantly surprised. Oh, Chicago and your Midwestern values!

What is it, Sebastian? I'm arranging matches...

Well I'm not doing anything that would make anyone excited about Chicago, because the bar is in something like 6 days (something like that). I know there are tons of people enjoying Chicago because they walk past my window in droves on their way to and from the Cubs games (they are playing 10 games in a row during the week and a half of bar hell. Thanks a lot dudes) and the bars on my street. But around these parts we are just studying an ungodly amount and looking at the internet for periodic procrastination breaks (see below). The monotony was also briefly interrupted when a movie location scout knocked on our door to tell us they'll be shooting a film down the street and they might need us to put on our lights at certain times (that's right: our condo windows and/or the light they provide may be starring backdrops in what is sure to be a cinematic classic, just like recent films about Chicago such as The Breakup and License to Wed. I'm slightly bitter about who decides to make movies about this town). Anyway, in the course of procrastinating here are some urgent and horrifying news stories I've come across.

A number of Young Republicans really ARE jerks who hate women and themselves

A review of Captivity that finally exhibits the proper amount of rage (FYI it's a little graphic in describing the terrible things this movie does to its characters but it was worth it to see a review so pissed off about this shitshow)

Almost everything documented in the Chicago Tribune is wretched at all times

ETA!!: I MEAN REALLY FOX, SERIOUSLY, DOES THE IDEA OF HILLARY CLINTON MAKE YOU WANT TO PEE YOUR PANTS SO BAD YOU HAD TO DO THIS?!

And finally:

I really don't know what to say about this. (Really don't know).

procrastination station sensation blo-blation

What Song Was Number One On YOur Birthday (this is important info)!!??

AND

Big Night Out

disc0 and I are trying to take a few hours off each week before the bar to do something social and/or fun. Last week it was Terragusto, and this week it was a stand-up show by two of disc0 and my childhood heroes: Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black (of The State, Stella, and Wet Hot American Summer). I had a pretty darn good time--I will admit that I like these guys better when they're doing sketch or improv as a group rather than pure stand-up, so I wish they had done some of the show together and riffed off one another and whatnot, but I still heart them and it was still great to get out and see them live. MIB was recording a live album so that's neat. Showalter is totally presh and I am still excited that I just saw Coop.

OH BY THE WAY this is the same theater where we saw AD Miles, Mirman, et al. Still a short walk from our condo. And it's 65 degrees here so that walk to and fro was just lovely. Now back in the hole (the property, evidence, and constitutional law hole)

So We're Really Full Again....

Times are lean around my household because the bar stuff has gotten, and will remain, pretty intense from here on out. But tonight disc0 and I finished our assigned essays and decided to go out to dinner with J & A for a break. I'm SO GLAD WE DID.

Before he started staying with us, J lived very close to Terragusto and always wanted to try it, but reservations are often a must. This meant they never got a chance to go until this weekend, when A made 'em and invited us along. Terragusta is a small italian restaurant that serves organic and mostly local food, including homemade pasta. We ordered from the two course menu, which is basically family style. Holy crap!

That means we shared three antipasti: a huge antipasto platter (organic salami?! Balsamic soaked garlic that doesn't cause garlic breath?? Who knew?!), the best polenta ever, and a lovely green salad. The pasta course was absolutely amazing as well--the pasta bolognese was especially awesome. I never eat beef unless it's naturally raised so it's like an extra treat for me, and it totally lived up to expectations. YUM. And it's BYOB, so we had some $3 Trader Joe's wine to go with.

After all that deliciousness we had to try dessert, which of course included the most delicious panna cotta I've ever had and a flourless chocolate cake like WHOA. We almost had to ask the manager to roll us out the door. We went ahead and walked the mile and a half home just to try to work the dinner through. It wasn't the most comfortable walk (OK, OK--it is effing hot in Chicago right now, I'll admit it) but the full bellies were totally worth it. I can't wait to bring guests to Terragusto...with reservations, of course.

Unique and Not Unique

Another thing I love about Chicago is its proximity to farms. Not only because we can get to Thunder Valley Inn in about three hours, but because there are great Community Supported/Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) programs to join. disc0 and I have signed up for Home Grown Wisconsin, an organic farm cooperative, and we got our first box of goodies last week. Every two weeks we get a dozen fresh, organic eggs and whatever fruits and veggies and herbs have been harvested that week. I know this is not unique to Chicago--they had this kind of thing in Atlanta and I'm sure they do in NYC and definitely in smaller towns. But it's still great! We're already eating more veggies than normal (although we still aren't sure what to do with the rhubarb...we're waiting on a rhubarb custard pie recipe of which we've heard tell...). The sugar snap peas were out of this world and I even liked the collard greens.

What is unique to Chicago is the beautiful skyline view over the lake from our friends' gorgeous lakehouse roof (picture below: identities have been shielded to protect the chef). We got to visit last night for a lovely July 4th BBQ (we brought organic deviled CSA eggs--yum) and soaked in the beautiful evening. Soaked it in figuratively that is...it didn't rain until much later, and then we were able to share fellowship with other wet Chicagoans on a long, and delayed, el ride home. The el ride was stupidly delayed with traffic at 1:00 AM--that's bad. But people were still friendly and chatting it up on the ride--that's good.

Uff Da!

This weekend, disc0, J, A, and I went to the Wisconsin Dells for a little vacay before bar studying gets really rough (i.e. July 5). It was, as expected, wonderful.



Last 4th of July, disc0 and I wanted to take a cheesy weekend trip, and decided on the Dells, the Waterpark Capital of the World; our impression was that if Disney World is Vegas for kids, The Wisconsin Dells is Branson, Missouri for kids. We were right in alot of ways, but along the way, we also discovered the Thunder Valley Inn, and have been talking about it ever since. You see, before it was the Water Park Capital of the World, the Wisconsin Dells was famous for beautiful rock formations along the Wisconsin River (those are the actual "Dells"), so there are some attractions aside from the water parks.
We knew last year that we had to make Thunder Valley and the Dells a family tradition so we went back, and this time brought some friends along.

The best thing about the Thunder Valley Inn is the food; and the best thing about the Thunder Valley Inn is the people who run it; and the best thing about the Thunder Valley Inn is the atmosphere, which is a combination of the two. The Thunder Valley Inn is...the best.

It's run by the Nelson family, and they are, in a word, incredible. They are some of the sweetest and most earnest people I've ever met in my life--about farming, about food, about hospitality, and about being Norwegian. In fact they identify with Scandinavian-ness in general, including Swedes, so again I felt among my chosen people. At the Saturday "threshing dinner" show, they feed you the best freaking pot roast (grass-fed, no hormones, no antibiotics, from a local friend's farm), mashed potatoes, carrots, onions and peas (from their garden) and bread (the matriarch bakes 40 loaves every day, and makes fresh strawberry-rhubarb jam to go with. OMFG, I at a loaf this weekend). And THEN they get on the piano and the violin and play and sing some Norwegian ballads, with slight yodeling, and then they make eVERYone in the dining room stand up, and hold hands, and sing Good Night Irene. Oh and there's a man named Sven who bursts in during all of this to play the accordion and tell some "Ole and Lena" jokes (a few of which, at the end of his act, were a bit ribald for my taste! Uff da!)

It would take up too much of your time to read about the awesomeness of the breakfast, but let me just say that their fresh eggs and handmade cinnamon rolls are out of this world. I think Chicago is the big city with the best food, and the Thunder Valley Inn is the farm with the best food. disc0 and I stayed in Swedish House portion of the B&B, specifically the Carl Larsson Room, named after Scandinavia's most famous painter, while J & A were in the "Wee Hus" (which is just as precious as it sounds). There are also sheep, goats, a peacock, bunnies, and a KITTY HOUSE, which houses adoptable foster kittens with whom guests are invited to play. The vibe is wholesome, Lutheran, environmentalist, liberal, Feingoldian, Wellstone-ian deliciousness. We want to go there as much as possible.

The rest of the trip, aside from where we ate and slept, was also a blast. Saturday was spent at Noah's Ark, the country's largest water park. A and I left the boys a little early and got massages at a nearby monstrosity/resort called the "Kalahari," which I believe houses the country's largest INDOOR water park. It also houses a very nice spa were the massages were fab. On our way out of the lobby, A and I noticed that there was a group of 10 or so people around a glass enclosure the size of a small gazebo, so we thought it might be a neat snake or something. No, it was two BABY LION CUBS snoozin' away. WHAT?! I was really nervous that this was some sort of fancy, Vegas/Branson looking backyard zoo situation, but then some trainers came to transport the little tykes out of the glass cage and presumably somewhere else more habitable. Though they didn't seem to mind being looked at too much, I was glad that it wasn't their permanent home (or even one they seem to stay in for more than a couple of hours). So we were allowed to be excited that we got to see baby lions up close!!!!!!




Today, after checking out of Thunder Valley, we took an amphibious Original Wisconsin Duck Tour, which took us first through some beautiful forest that contained creepily awesome gargoyles and bas-relief thingies from the old Chicago Board of Trade building (when it was demolished, a woman bought them to decorate the grounds of her estate and now they are by the Duck Boat Road).

Then we went into and down the Wisconsin River with minimal splashage.



There was a moment of excitement when we came across another Duck Boat being evacuated because it got stuck trying to get out of the river back on land--but our driver made it (phew! Uff da!). Then it was through some more pretty forest, and finally more amphibiousness onto Lake Delton before the tour ended. We get to see some of the actual dells (rock formations), which are quite beautiful.

We also had an extremely earnest college student tour guide who made some pretty exciting puns along the way, winning us over completely.
It's actually a really gorgeous tour and we were very glad to see some nature and feel wholesome after Noah's Ark and before coming back to the city. And then the guys did Go-Kart on our way out of town. What can ya do?! Good times are good times.

Storm!

Today there was a thunderstorm in Chicago--it sounded a bit rough from bar class, wind and thunder and lots of rain, but by rush hour it was done. Although apparently it was worse than I thought, because by the time SM and I went to find dinner (though the sunset was doing pretty things to the clouds, the Cubs were playing, and there was no rain in sight), the first place we tried was "closed due to storm." Weird and a little disappointing, but OK. Then we tried to go to my neighborhood favorite Orange and it was ALSO closed. And THEN, we tried to go to a clearly open Thai place I've never tried. The hostess said "two for dinner?" and when we said yes, she said "sorry, we don't have room!" even though we saw an open table. It might be because SM had just kidney punched me in a brotherly fashion and they thought it was a more sinister form of relationship violence.

We walked like a mile and ended up back in SM's neighborhood (he was really glad he came all the way up to my place just to walk a mile in 86 degree Chicago air-soup). BUT the dinner we finally found was delicious (Japanese food at Y2K).

The moral of the story is, sometimes there are mediocre days in Chicago when the buses don't run right, the el catches on fire and starts to stink during your morning commute, it's in the eighties and muggy all night, and you can't find any place to eat, and you get kidney punched by a good friend. BUT YOU CAN STILL FIND A GOOD MEAL IN CHICAGO when you are weary and hungry and it's 9:00 pm and wandering the street, because there is always a fantastic restaurant open somewhere and you will find it eventually.

ETA: to further re-pump Chicago's image even though it was a mediocre day, I should mention that disc0 enjoyed yet another great New Bar Tuesday, including a new place with a dog for a bouncer, and an establishment called Save More which, as the name suggests, used to be a package store and was converted into a bar by the use of some cups, card tables, and folding chairs. I plan to visit soon.