REALLY, DENNIS KUCINICH??!

He let Larry Flynt stump for him.

This makes me glad I didn't vote for his ass in 2004.

If I hadn't just made such a delicious dinner (vegan teriyaki almond tofu), this would have made me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

Three, three, three posts in one

There are so many fabu restaurants I've been to in the last few weeks, but I have not been good about reviewing! How do I expect all of you, my friends and family and loyal blog readers, to move to Chicago to be my neighbors if I don't sell it hardcore?

FIRST: Home Bistro! They have two starters that I tend to always make my meal. Houloumi cheese (much like saganaki), and OMG almond-stuffed dates wrapped in bacon and baked with brown sugar. This is what, in fact, we ate tonight (Disc0 ordered some wild boar snausages - yummo). HB is our favorite restaurant of the moment. They also have amazing desserts, including cupcake flights and bread pudding. Nom nom nom nom...

NEXT: Joey's Brickhouse! We never used to go here because it is just slightly farther west on Belmont from our house than Cooper's. I mean like half a block farther west. But Cooper's is so good that we just never went past it. Well one night Cooper's was full, and Joey's was there to save us (it was after we caught a Gayco show at the annual Sketch Comedy festival...yeah, that happens in our neighborhood. No big deal.) Anyway, they have the cutest, quirkiest menu I've seen yet. (Hey, I love cute n' quirky - I LOL'd when Juno said "thanks a heap coyote ugly but this saguaro stings worse than your abandonment." anyway.) The food is also awesome (duh) and they have the best cocktail list ever - I had something with all of my favorite sugary treats in it such as bailey's, frangelico, kahlua, probably some caramel sauce, I don't know - it was fantastic - and there were a bunch of theater people from the sketchfest eating there too!

THEN: Hamburger Mary's! This Andersonville spot is where I come for all my red meat (Buffalo burgers)! Everything else on the menu, including the fatty fat salads, look great, but so far we've only gone for the burgers. And they are damn fine. The whole vibe is super kitschy, e.g. they give you your check in a giant high heeled shoe, and there is always a cute movie playing on the TVs (last time it was the Wizard of Oz). They have karaoke on Thursdays and I have to check it out as soon as possible (though my "HAVE to check out their Thursday karaoke night" list is growing longer by the day.)

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: Fiddlehead Cafe! This is an amazing wine and cheese joint in southern Lincoln Square; it's so good at wine and cheese that it has no business making such delicious entrees and desserts, too. Each of us had a different red wine flight (delicious and well-matched) and shared the Spanish cheese flight. Seriously, FYI you guys, I shouldn't type, talk, or think about the cheese flight right now or I might get in the car, drive to Fiddlehead, and force them to sell it to me. And that's not safe because the driveway is icy and I will almost certainly hit one or more of my neighbor's cars. By the way, I also just went ahead and ordered a hunk of cheese for dessert because the cheeses were so delicious.

All four of these places have EXTREMELY friendly and helpful servers. HB is the homiest, Joey's is the quirkiest, Mary's is the kitschiest, and Fiddlehead is the most refined and cheesiest (in a very, very good way). I didn't want you to think the cold has kept us from enjoying the country's best restaurant scene (i.e. Near North Chicago).

Speaking of cold, it was 36 degrees today, and it felt balmy. I took a bit of a walk to meet a friend for a movie, and I had to take off my hat and unzip my jacket to stave off uncomfortable warmth. I am now...a seasoned midwesterner! There are rumblings that there may be two weeks of snow storms in our future, and I hope it's true. It's been quite a snowy winter and I absolutely love it. It makes the cold so much more bearable when all that pretty is just falling from the sky.

Is not Chicago; is a pointless entry

This entry doesn't have much to do with how awesome Chicago is (it's still awesome, don't worry) but I have a microphone and you will listen to every damn word I have to say.

Last night, disc0f and I played Rock Band for the first time. Our friends the Saunderseses had us over for a DELICIOUS dinner and then invited us down to their really cool Rec Room (it is in every way a rec room, and that rocks) to play the game. I was the singer. I totally started off humble and by the end of the night I was throwing bottles of Jack Daniels at the bass player's head from a half-prone position on a groupie's lap.

It's the best game ever! I can't wait to get it--there are great songs on the game but you can also DOWNLOAD songs, including Radiohead, Weezer, and a whole Bowie Pack. This might turn me in to a "gamer."

I'm also almost done buying my outfit for Yahootie!'s wedding! This is essential since it's only four months away. It has made me a little bit nostalgic because it reminds me that I used to have the Most Perfect and Fabulous Dress of All Time. It was a black, pull-on, stretch silk, sleeveless, cowlneck number that I bought on Girlshop (R.I.P, Girlshop.com). (FYI, note that Mindy Kaling's shopping blog is now on my links page. I just found out about it last night, and I adore it. Even though it reminds my of my glory days of really out of control consumerism. R.I.P., Tubesy's really out of control consumerism.)

So the Most Perfect and Fabulous Dress of All Time would have been absolutely effing perfect for B & G's wedding. But I realized in law school (during a musical fashion montage) that it doesn't technically fit over my ass anymore. I'm not going to mourn my old 100-lb frame, because that wasn't the best look, but I will mourn the dress and the way I looked and felt in it the 18,000 times I wore it. Despite my growing out of it I was keeping the MPAFDOAT around because, with strategic placement of my Vintage Leopord Print Half Slip of Awesomeness, I could fashion a pretty fun look. Not wedding wear mind you, but I liked having it around. Now the MPAFDOAT is missing. It may not have made it all the way to Chicago, and perhaps I should take this as a portent of maturity - because I found a Grown Up Version (e.g., it has a lining and a zipper, and it covers my ass) of the MPAFDOAT, and it is the Grown Up Version that I'll wear to the wedding. Grown up versions things are great, but I still miss the original. The fact that I found some Christian Louboutin knock-offs on Zappos helps a little:



All I know is I am NOT letting my kick ass camo-lined combat boots slip away. Disc0 loves them, and that's a great sign, because I do too even though certain friends and hangers-on have been trying to make me get rid of them since I was 23.

Ahh memories...memories of clothes.

What the French Toast?!

So I will admit that I've gotten a little bit cocky about my ability to handle the ol' Midwestern Winter. You may remember my post on long johns a while back.

For the most part, the cold really hasn't bothered me. Often it comes with pretty snow showers. Long johns really do make the trip to and from the train quite managable, and furthermore I've always been a sci-fi, nerdy...indoor kid, so not being able to jog, or yog, whatever you outdoor types do, has not been a major impediment.

But the elevator TV (have you heard of these things? Captivate Networks? The name is horribly, unabashadly appropriate), which shows the weekend forecast, listed the high/low for this coming Saturday as "4/3." This is what I did when I saw the figure: (sorry-I really do love that scene).

Anyhoo, my point is that 4/3 is just not an appropriate amount of degrees. I'll let you know how it goes, because we have a dinner engagement on Saturday night. We may have to abandon our commitment to public transportation for the evening and take advantage of what we really paid for when we bought our condo--the garage. The Chicago Tribune had some scare tactic pictures of frostbitten appendanges on their website today and I am not trying to get in on that.

ruh roh

There are now outtakes from "The Landlord" on http://www.funnyordie.com. This is my favorite internet video content of the year. Why yes, I am having an attack of baby hormones, why do you ask?

Here is the original:



And here are the outtakes:



Well now that you're done watching that, I write a little...

I spent last weekend in sunny Atlanta, at the bridal shower of one of my best and dearest friends, Becky of Yahootie! It was so, so good to see Beck and many of the other fabulous women I know and love from the Dirty Dirty South. And I got to MEET a bunch of new friends too! Now all I have to do is convince them all to move to Chicago, and the circle will be complete...

Seriously though, I really miss having my closest friends CLOSE to me. From Charlottesville to Indiana to Atlanta and back to Charlottesville, I have always had amazing women around me who inspire me and make me feel at home. I know that they will be around forever, and I love that so much and am so lucky to have them, and I cherish the opportunities to see my girls when I can. BUT I know that I need to meet some fabulous, progressive, feminist girlfriends here in my new home. I know they are out there and I'm trying to make some changes so I can find them easier. I need my friends from afar and I need some here, too!

(and then, when my friends from afar move to Chicago, I will introduce you all and it will be a hell of a party.)

For now, there are a number of high-spirited (AKA drunk) men in my living room and I have to escort them to Sheffield's before they get deep-dish pizza all over my good couch!

Broadway in Chicago

We both have a couple of days off for New Years...so I can blog about it! Yay.

Disc0 took me to see Phantom of the Opera for Christmas!



It was fantastic! I haven't been to see a Broadway show in a number of years, but if I remember correctly tourists had stopped dressing up for the theater...not in Chicago. Everyone looked fabulous, including the 12 or so year old boy in a tuxedo.

I love Phantom of the Opera. I love Andrew Lloyd Webber and his crazy synthesizers that pop up out of nowhere in what is otherwise quite an operatic show. The actors were wonderful--and this was maybe the understudies, since it was Sunday night. Sarah Lawrence was pretty much perfect as Christine, Raul (Sean MacLaughlin) was a wonderful singer and HOT (totes important in this show) and the Phantom (Stephen Tewksbury) had a beautiful voice and was fantastically tortured. I did not feel like I was watching regional theater, you guys. Bless his heart, disc0 missed the big game to take me to the show.

It is New Year's Eve and we're going to have New Year's Eve dinner at Uncommon Ground...and it's snowing which means (a) it is pretty out there and (b) it isn't as cold as balls. Yet.



Happy New Year!

I wanted the news, not the weather

The weather was fine! I found out that the key to living comfortably at any temperature is: LONG JOHNS! Long johns are the bomb. I felt great today waiting for the el, and walking to my building! Yay long johns!



What in the name of Superfudge did I do without them before?!

Also it's supposed to snow tomorrow and that's fantastic!

did I hear a niner in there? are you on a walkie talkie?

FIRST: According to the weather channel, it is going to be 9 degrees tomorrow. Fahrenheit. Nine. Fahrenheit. NINE DEGREES. NINE. Degrees. FAHREHNHEIT. During the commuting hours. But don't worry, it will be a balmy 17 by the time we leave work. NINE DEGREEEES.

But I still love Chicago. I think I will still love Chicago tomorrow morning, but we might not be on speaking terms.

SECOND: Does anyone want to take a sabbatical from work and do this with me, because it's the coolest thing I've seen since Christkindlmarket:

You look happy--did you see a kitty or find a sticker on the ground or something?

Ok Chicago—at this point it may not be possible for you to be any cuter. Seriously, I don’t understand why anyone would go to Disney World if they lived in Chicago, because to kids who grew up here it probably looks rather glum—a sad and hollow specter of what a really charming and adorable town should be. Because today I realized that Chicago doesn’t leave the cute in its near suburbs or in-town neighborhoods—Chicago brings the cute to the business district.

I’m currently freaking out from cuteness as a result of the Christkindlmarket, and month-long annual German marketplace set up at the Daley Plaza in Chicago’s downtown Loop. I went there today during my lunch break with a couple of friends from work. It is primarily German-themed (and I’m talking real Germans manning and womanning the booths), although I saw booths from Peru, Ukraine, and Poland as well. The Daley Plaza is outside the Daley Center which houses, among other things, the Cook County Circuit Court. For the month before Christmas, it is transformed into a freaking German village, complete with indoor attractions including the most authentic German candy store I have ever seen and a BAR (of course they constructed an indoor bar in the plaza outside the building housing the Cook County Circuit Court. This is Chicago! There might be a bar inside the actual Daley Center for all I know). There are no fewer than three candy shops, two stands that seem to sell nothing but intensely elaborate beer steins, and more Christmas ornaments than you can shake a stick at. And I’m talking about the ludicrously colorful yet terrifyingly delicate kind my Grandma got from my Great-Grandma and gave to my Mom, not some southern Christmas Store crapola.



There is also a life-size crèche and although I am not entirely comfortable with the appropriateness of a life-size crèche outside the Cook County Circuit Court building, to be quite frank the unmitigated adorableness of everything else kind of made up for it (that’s how they gettcha, isn’t it? Seriously: all you insane southern county judges, if you had been smart you would have surrounded those old ten commandment slabs with a couple of litters of French bulldog puppies NO ONE WOULD HAVE NOTICED your silly reactionary tactics.)

In any case, I will be back to Christkindlmarket ASAP and I will buy lots of candy, eat some sweet cheese fritters and potato pancakes and possibly buy one of the many pickle ornaments
for my Christmas tree. Happy Holiday season!!!!





ALSO there is a Holiday El Train...that carries Santa around with the commuters.

You've come to tell me somethin' you say I oughtta know

We have had quite the weekend! Friday and Saturday were both awesome, in very different ways, but both in ways that were very CHICAGO......

Friday night Disc0 and I had my (rescheduled, due to an unfortunate influx of work last weekend) romantic birthday night on the town...we stayed at the Peninsula hotel (oh so fancy, even though we were a few levels down from the suite last graced by Brangelina) and dined at Avenues, stuffing ourselves on Chef Graham Elliot Bowle's 10 course palate menu. There was only one dish that both of us agreed was "just good." Everything else was absolutely amazing and lived up to all the hype: the wine, the service, the view, and the FOOD. It was also very unpretentious, which was most welcome. The Peninsula also gave us a lovely bottle of champagne since it was my birthday, which aided in my falling dead asleep in a well-fed stupor.






Saturday was the 40th birthday celebration of one of Disc0's good friends from his days working in advertising. The birthday boy is a musician, so his band had a reunion show and he also hosted sets by two Chicago-based country bands. His band was super cute, playing lots of angsty songs he wrote 15 years ago, and they're all really good musicians. Can I just tell you that I am possibly more into country music now than I was living all around it in Atlanta? At the party, I was exposed to the band that I think will fill the empty space in my life where Atlanta bands Hot August Knights, Kingsized, and Amy Pike and the Last Cold Beer used to be: Fulton County Line. That is, I will follow them around and go to their shows and learn their set list and be a weekend groupie again. I'm pretty sure the lead singer is a bona fide cowboy, and if not he sure dresses the part from his boots to his beard to his hat to his full length duster coat. And he does a pretty kickass shimmy while he croons and yodels (you heard me!) They have a standup bass, a pedal steel guitar, and electric banjo and I love them.

Now we're spending the day doing some prep work for our first time hosting Thanksgiving! We are sooo excited to see our families! Yay!

Andersonville: Revisited

I know I've talked about Andersonville before, which is just a northbound hop, skip, and a busride from my hood. I love it because it evokes my Swedish and lesbian heritages, etcetera. But I've only really been there during festivals, of which Andersonville host many. So disc0 and I decided to take a little vacay and spend the afternoon there yesterday.

It was delightful.

We rediscovered the feminist bookstore Women & Children First, where I became immediately ashamed of the fact that I had just the day before ordered Alison Bechdel's memoir from Amazon.com. Am a moron?! Not only is there a great feminist bookstore not so far from me, but they have a website from which you can buy any book in print!! I will not let this happen again. The sales clerk was very kind when I had to admit the indiscretion (because I was buying another Alison Bechdel graphic novel--the one in which the bookstore at the center of the story line has to close because of online and big box bookstores!!--and she recommended the memoir).
Then we had delicious coffee at Sweet Occassions
, an adorable bakery/sandwich shop/coffee shop. It didn't even make me mad (very much) that they already had Christmas decorations up (wait until after Thanksgiving, dudes! WOW!) because they were so friendly and the coffee was so good. I'm more of an espresso drink gal when I have coffee at all, but when I ordered a latte they told me they were not allowed to make espresso drinks! Because there is a Starbucks in the same set of buildings, and so their lease says no espresso drinks! As evil corporations go, Starbucks generally gets pass from me, and in this case the Starbucks was there first...but damn, let the Mom n' Pops make their lattes! Sheesh. But as I said, their non-espresso coffee was fantastic, and the same can not be said for Starbucks.

Then this morning we went back and had a Viking Breakfast (well disc0 did, and I had Swedish pancakes with lingonberries). It was delicious and presh--you know I love a place where the sign says Valkommen or Vilkommen and they serve limpa bread...

It's just Carol

After some time last night at Trader Todd's and the L&L (yay, double yay) I finally made it to Carol's Pub!!! It's one of my new favorite places.

It's neighborhood-y, but people come from all over the city to hear the awesome, old-school country band play until 5:00 am. It has a reputation (among those who I now know as morons) for being one of those places where you only go because you don't know any better and nothing good comes of it. But I have to tell you that I have a little bit of a cold, so I was pretty much stone sober and had a fantastic time. Eclectic crowd (biggest range of ages and style of dress I've ever seen in a bar in Chicaog, and that is saying something), seasoned and loyal staff, and great music played live...really, how can that be bad? This was one of the few times since moving here that I've felt a little nostalgic about the culture in the southern regions of the country. Carol's reminds me a lot of the Northside Tavern, where my Boodles used to be the Front Door Woman. Old country instead of blues, but a very similar atmosphere. Also, at times there were women slow-dancing with each other on the floor at Carol's, which you don't see as much in the ATL, and endeared me even more to the place. I will become a regular if I can...

QUICKFIRE CHALLENGE

Disc0 and I had a wonderful time in Boston this weekend. We met a baby we've heard about for months and hung out with my AWESOME SISTER and her whole Big Rock Candy crew.

We got in really late and going to work wasn't all that much fun as a result. Then this evening, disc0 had to go to a talk by one of our old Profs from law school, and I had to go to the grocery store. Well wouldn't you know it, I was plum cheered up by the fact that they were filming Top Chef at my local Whole Foods!!!



There they were, the new class, running around politely, yelling politely to their teammates, and getting lots of friendly service from the Whole Foods Family. I just tried to play it cool, until I finally broke down to the super sweet gal bagging my groceries and was all "Is Padma Lakshmi here right now because if she is I might flip my stuff a little bit?! She wasn't, but that's OK. I didn't need some embarrassing fangirl experience.
As it is, I might be featured as background fodder on an episode of Top Chef, in full frizzy bang, Ugg-wearing, muffin-topped form. I didn't know they would be filming one of the few reality shows everyone can get behind, so I didn't really put on my face, or my jeans that fit. And that...is OK.

In conclusion, it was really, really cool. And inspired me to whip up a rather delicious mushroom soup when I got home. I'm assuming Top Chef will be filming all over my neighborhood from now on, because it is the coolest.

Hey! If you were a hot dog....would you eat yourself? I know I would

Cubs win!

The Cubs just clinched the National League Central Division--I'm told this used to be called the Pennant. In any case, there are 5 helicopters over our house and a thousand people in the street a couple blocks away. Walking home from dinner (from the South) disc0 and I thought there might be some kind of crazed fugitive in our neighborhood, until we noticed the Sports Authority ad board that read "Congratulations Cubs on Win!!!"

Maybe we'll get to see some World Series action on our doorstep...

oh boy

I didn't watch the Dem. debates, even though they were at Dartmouth. Bad me.

I am relieved that Mychal Bell was released on bond and will be dealt with in juvenile court like most juveniles who get into fights in school. And all it took was a national media spotlight and thousands of brave and caring people marching in the streets...yep, that's all it takes to get justice for young black men in some parts of this country. Oh, I'm sorry--the chance for justice.

In terms of Chicago, the weather is absolutely perfect right now. low 50s, high 70s. And it's almost October! Who knew?! Fall in Chicago is as fantastic as summer!

And on a totally different note, I have to introduce you to http://lolsecretz.blogspot.com/.

I don't read post-secret but the concept is that people, well, post their secrets on the internet. Anonymously. I like the cat version better. Don't tell me LOLcats were over before they started, because I don't care. They are cats and they make me LOL.

Oy

Pardon Poor Larry Craig (NY Times). I would LOL if it wasn't all so depressingly true. So instead, it's more of a grave, raspy, mirthless chuckle. Bigots.

On a Chicago note, disc0 and I were walking to dinner two nights ago when a car full of (what we only hoped and assumed was) a sober driver and her 4 inebriated lady passengers, who rolled down the window to ask disc0 and I if we "want(ed) some mozzarella sticks." Completely without guile. We declined, and they drove off bemused that someone would refuse, even politely, such a delicious offer. Most bemused was the front-seat passenger, whose mouth was still full of some of said cheese. Friendly town, you guys--friendly mother-effin town.

Also, Uncommon Ground has a new fall menu. Pumpkin ravioli with hazelnuts and blue cheese? I barely rolled home after that one.

Awww

Becky, one of my biggest inspirations and closest friends, gave me a blog award! You can get awards for blogs??! That's pretty awesome. I guess it helps to know someone on the nominating committee. Beck is one of my favorite people in Atlanta, in the US, and heck, in the whole world.

FFS

So the only member of the Jena Six who was convicted, and whose conviction was thrown out on Friday...is still behind bars, because neither the judge nor the DA showed up for his bail hearing. Because not only was it magically not on DA's calendars...but they haven't been keeping up with local news, national news (or perhaps even their own racist ass conversations all weekend... I mean what?)

Double Entendres

Well, disc0 and I have started work, so updates may be a little more sparse. Also winter is coming, which means we won't be able to go "outside" for a couple of months. But that shouldn't really start until November or December. In the meantime, we had a great dinner tonight with friends at the Schoolyard Tavern a few blocks away; $5 entrees on Wednesdays, including my ginormous black bean burger. AND A SKILLET COOKIE. My goodness, but I love Chicago. They will fry and skillet anything edible and make it better.

Also last week, we say Gayco's new show, I-hole! It was fabulous, maybe the best Gayco show I've seen. They have a really tight cast. We saw their final preview show, but there were still very few bugs in the system. I think we'll probably go see the for-real show at some point during its run since we liked it so much!

Fancy Pants

So it turns out chicago can be super fancy as well as super fun, convenient, and friendly. You just have to leave our neighborhood. Disc0's mom is in town, and last night and today were full of glam.

Last night disc0's mom really wanted to go somewhere with delicious desserts, so we did a little research and headed to Marche. It's part of the KDK family of restaurants, which are made of fance (my noun form of fancy). We had an amazing late-ish dinner, actually just ordering appetizers instead of entrees (which were huge and delicious, and the waitstaff was very pleasantly unsnooty about it) and then had fantastic desserts (sorbet; banana bread pudding; praline pineapple cake--YUM. )

Then today we went ahead and had afternoon tea at the Drake Hotel, oh yes we did. I'm pretty sure when they said "nectar of the gods" they meant Devonshire cream. With strawberry jam. On scones. I did this with my own Mom last summer, and it was just as gilded as I remembered; the Palm Court and ESPECIALLY the Powder Room made me feel very Great Gatsby. Quite the luxurious afternoon.

So tonight we made organic deviled eggs, salad, and broiled potato chips from our farm share stuff. Simple but luxurious in a different way...