I guess the idea behind Chicago Thursdays was just to make sure this blog stayed located, as we are, in Chicago. We can talk about ourselves and we can talk about our cats, and we can post pictures of the above, and we can do that from anywhere. But we don’t live just anywhere, we live in Chicago, the Windy City, the Second City, the City by the Lake, the City on the Make (?), the Paris on the Prairie (???), the Heart of America, the City of Broad Shoulders, The Big Onion. It’s got a lot of character, and we like character. So we want Chicago to be as much a feature of our blog as anything.
That said, I’ve got to get to work. Wow, this really has been a week of intros and teasers, hasn’t it? So it is. I’m closing tonight with one of my favorite work buddies, Lou. For a couple weeks now, we’ve been saying we should go out for a quick drink after closing together sometime, since she’s a super busy student and I’m working two jobs and neither one of us would probably ever have “free time” independent from work. Our cafe is right downtown, right off of Michigan Ave, the “Magnificent Mile,” and I thought for sure there’d be lots of places for us to go at 11:30 on a week night… but interestingly enough, no dice. Everything closes by 11 on weeknights. If New York is The City That Never Sleeps, then Chicago is The City That Tries To Get To Bed At A Reasonable Hour. Catchy, isn’t it? Our one hope is the Reagle Beagle, just a couple of blocks away and open til midnight. If we have a fast close, we can totally make it.
We both love food. Who doesn’t? We both love eating, we both love cooking. And we both have lots and lots to share on the subject. Furthermore, we live in a great big city with not only lots of food options, but lots of really really fantastic food options. Within a few blocks of our house, we have our pick of delicious Korean fried chicken, fancy fresh pizzas, and a long list of different flavored margaritas, not to mention the numerous cafes, ice cream shops, and of course, the fancy cheeses place. Ooh, I just saw on their website they have classes. I could go on and on! I haven’t even touched on our brunch options!
But there are lots of Wednesdays ahead, so there’s no need for me to ramble on like this. We’ll be taking turns talking about restaurants, recipes, and the latest taste sensations (mmhmm, I’ve said it before, we’re cutting edge) as they relate to our lives here in Chicago.
All of that said, and now that you’re all excited, I’ve had a cold for the last few days and I think pretty much all I’ve consumed has been frosted mini wheats (aldi brand, of course) and, most of all, red tea. Or at least that’s all I can think of. Bummer.
So that’s going to be it for me today: red tea. Lucky for me, it’s delicious, because, on the orders of my supervisor at the cafe, I drank almost a hundred ounces of it at work last night in a variety of forms: hot red tea, iced red tea, red tea latte, red tea latte with vanilla, with caramel, with soy milk, iced soy red tea latte with sugar free vanilla, easy on the ice… almost 100 ounces. That’s a lot.
They’re starting to say that red tea has as many health benefits as green tea when it comes to antioxidents and lowering cholesterol and generally making you healthier, which I think is nice because I like red tea better. I did make it through my closing shift last night, if that’s any testament to red tea’s ability to keep a fever down and a person up. But I tell you what, after 100 ounces, I don’t mind that we’re out of red tea and I’ve been drinking other things. I also don’t mind not having to close tonight. Sheesh, Wednesday really does bite when you’re sick. But don’t worry, I’ll bolster up my strength and get to feeling better and post a super awesome foodie post next week. It’ll probably be about lentils. Get excited.
PS, my back is sore and I think it’s because I’ve been blowing my nose so much. Is that weird?
PPS, Mac made me dinner, some delicious sweet potatoes and Asian sesame salad with oranges and chicken. He’s the best. Who needs to eat out when you can eat on the couch? :)
Since when has 10PM become late night for me? …I can’t pin it down but I know it happened somewhere in the last three or four years. Anyway, today is Tech Tuesday here at Our Chicago Blog and I owe you all a technology related post of some sort. Shana and I discussed it, and we’re aware that Tech Tuesday has the potential to become simply a geekier version of Monday’s theme: Product Endorsement. My thinking is that whether the Tuesday topic ends up being a product, a service or a perhaps just a concept, it’s still not necessarily an endorsement. With all of that in mind, I’m nonetheless going to write this post about something that could potentially be seen as a product and that I also fairly strongly endorse — Google “My Maps.”
I’ve been doing alot of work with the Google Maps Application Programming Interface (API) lately. The Google Maps API is a service made available by Google so that programmers can utilize all of the power of Google Maps on their or their client’s own web site. I mention this because Google “My Maps” is basically your everyday Joe’s API. Unlike the actual API which requires knowledge of at least three different scripting languages and extensive knowledge of how web services operate, “My Maps” is a simple point and click interface for creating your own customized maps that you can put on your website as “mapplets” or share with the world straight from the Google Maps web site. I could write up a whole big set of instructions here and bore you to death or I could point you now to an excellent video tutorial that demonstrate everything you need to know to get started:
Well, that pretty much says it all… Have fun making maps!
I’m very proud to announce that our first ever Monday Product Endorsement is not a product at all (as you probably noted given the awkward omission of the word in this blog title) but a place: SPACE in Evanston, IL.
One of the biggest perks of being a fan of kind of obscure folk singers is that (if they tour) when you go see them in concert, you’re one of a couple hundred at the very most, never one of a couple thousand, or a couple hundred thousand, for that matter. Case in point: last night Cheryl Wheeler played at SPACE, a fortunately pronouncable acronym for the Society for the Preservation of Arts and Culture in Evanston (imagine if they had been, say, the Group of People in Evanston Who Like Artsy Stuff, for example). Cheryl Wheeler is one of my absolute favorite artists ever ever ever. From hilariously insightful to heart-wrenchingly true, her lyrics tell stories and paint pictures, and her skillful and beautiful guitar playing carries them with me everywhere I go. I fell in love with her during my junior year of college while dogsitting for a favorite professor of mine who owned some of her cds, and this is the third concert of hers I’ve been to.
And yeah, she always looks kind of like this: moppy hair, grey-ish t-shirt and sneakers, and she makes funny little faces while she sings. And she’s like 60. But once you’ve gotten over those aspects of this picture, I hope you notice the close proximity from which it is taken. Now get this: I’m not using a zoom. For real. One of my very favorite musical artists ever, of all time, someone I hugely admire and love, within easy spitting distance of where I sat for two hours. Easy! Not that I would ever spit on Cheryl Wheeler.
Mac and I didn’t know what to expect when we arrived at SPACE, with a small sign out front that read “Cheryl Wheeler @ 7:00″. We went to get in line, as it was 6:30 and the concert was open seating, but found there was no line, or at least there wasn’t until we started one. When they opened the doors, we had our pick of seats – about 20 small tables, only three rows deep, each surrounded by four chairs. That’s it. Capacity: 80. We went straight for the front (obviously) and took our seats. My jaw remained solidly dropped for at least five minutes, and I almost peed in my pants at least once, I was so excited.
Here are a couple more pictures of the venue:
The concert, of course, was amazing, hilarious, insightful, moving, perfect. I love Cheryl Wheeler. Mac loved Cheryl Wheeler. This I had anticipated. I endorse her every chance I get. But we also really, really loved SPACE. What an awesome place to see a show! Every spot was a good spot, and the extra super good spots (like the ones we had) weren’t hard to come by either. Check out their website, see if anyone playing there looks interesting, and just go. If you’re at a loss for what to see, I’d be more than happy to make recommendations (anyone free March 6?).
While I’m at it… if Cheryl Wheeler is ever in your neck of the woods, wherever your neck may be, just go see her too.
I’m so full of endorsements today! This is going to be fun.
There’s are at least two little imbalances to our little blog here. I’m sure you’ve already noticed, but nonetheless for some reason I feel like these should be explicitly addressed.
It’s called Our Chicago Blog but it’s thus far mostly been Shana’s Chicago blog.
We claim that this blog is about our lives here in Chicago but a disproportionate percentage of posts are about our cats or biking. Lately, it’s leaned heavily toward the former. In all fairness, the non-work aspect of our life here is in fact occupied mostly by these things. In fact, there’s a cat on my lap right now. And as I’m typing, my attention is intermittently being pulled this toward the open door of my office as our other cat walks by every 60 seconds or so. He stops just long enough with each passing to ensure that I take note of the jealous look on his face. Case in point, I could have not mentioned these happenings, but this is a big part of our “social lives.”
In an effort to bring some semblance of order to the chaos we’ve come up with a topic-centric weekly posting schedule.
Monday Product Endorsement
Tech Tuesday
Wednesday Bites
Chicago Thursday
Friday’s Smooth Move of the Week
I’m going to leave it at that and refrain from explaining these categories. I feel like if we start imposing rigid definitions right off the bat, we could potentially make it much harder to justify fitting our cats in. At this point, for all you know, Wednesday Bites you very well be about cats…
So, stayed tune. It’s Monday and today Shana will present you with our first official Product Endorsement.
I have one rule about riding my bike in the winter:
When temps are below zero, take the bus.
Today I’ve decided to add a second:
When sustained winds are at 25mph with gusts up to 37, also then take the bus.
It’s kind of a bummer, because it would be a perfect day for the heated pants, which I haven’t had out in a while, AND I just finally installed my new side cages on my new rear rack:
which makes me look super spiffy, and gives my back a feeling of freedom that, when I get over the slight panic that I must’ve forgotten my backpack somewhere, is totally awesome.
That picture is from yesterday, when temps were about the same as they are today but it wasn’t snowing and the wind wasn’t blowing and my ride was very pleasant. I was almost late to work, however, because (I stopped frequently to take pictures, and) that stretch south of Fullerton has iced over again. I had hoped we were over this. Bummer.
This is around where I’d wiped out last week… you can see how this would be a potentially somewhat hazardous place to take a spill, and why I wasn’t keen on pushing my luck and riding through it again, and why I don’t want to be anywhere near this on a bike in 37mph gusts of wind.
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In totally unrelated news, yesterday at work, an Irish woman named Patty (yep) came into the cafe and told us, among many other things, that martinis are like boobs – one’s not enough but three’s too many. She said she came up with that herself but she’s sure she’s not the first one to have said it. I didn’t know how she’d have taken it if I’d have replied, no… no, you might have been the first.
It’s really not fair to post glamor shots of Rohn and then post… this… of Ammy. But I just couldn’t resist. In my defense, he did freely put himself in this position, and he did remain in this position while I went looking for my camera, and he did look directly at me and hold still for the duration of the shot…
We’ve been laughing at our cats a lot lately. Rohn, for his part, has been known scoop food out of his food dish onto his paw and eat it like that, which is hilarious. And he’s become obsessed with the filter/drain in the shower, so much that he pulls it out and runs around the house with it and chews on it, which is good for neither the drain nor his little teeth. Mac and I had to start taking it out except for when we’re showering, which has led Rohn to actually jump in the shower while it’s on a couple times. And yesterday Rohn picked a whole bag of chocolate covered pretzels up off the coffee table in the living room and ran down the hall, through the kitchen to the pantry and put it in his food bowl (a not too subtle hint?).
You know, I do think this picture of Amarok exemplifies just how chill he’s gotten since we moved to Chicago, and just how extra super chill he seems now compared to Rohn, who’s just a little crazy. At least Amarok is teaching Rohn how to jump… though Rohn is teaching Amarok how to get us out of bed in the morning by clawing at the walls…
If we wanted boring cats, we sure missed the mark. But if we wanted cats with huge egos and way too much personality, we hit the mark right on the head.
When I tell people that I get around the city primarily by bike, even/especially in the winter, the most common response I get is, “aren’t the roads kind of dangerous in the winter?” A legitimate question – all that slush and ice and snow and salt and muck and goodness knows what else out on the roads, it could be a recipe for disaster. It sure is for lots of cars. But I can always tell people, with 100% honesty, that I have had more near wipe-outs crossing the back courtyard to the bike room than I ever have had out on the road. Or that my tired legs have almost tripped and I have almost fallen on my face on the stairs on my way up to the apartment after a ride… but out on the streets, I’ve always felt very safe.
I do usually take city streets in the winter – there’s that very convenient, not to mention beautiful path along the lake that connects us directly to downtown, but I’ve been avoiding it for the last few months simply because I like to have some sort of buffer between myself and the unceasing winds off the lake. They’re cold. Not even heated pants can save you when they come gusting at 30mph on an already only 15 degree day. But in these last few weeks, we’ve had some warmer/calmer days, so little by little, I’ve been venturing out there again. It feels good to reconnect with the lake, and I like biking uninterruptedly for miles, instead of having to stop every 2 minutes or so at a red light. It’s nice. I like the view of the skyline as I ride south. It’s like, hey, yeah, that’s my city.
In venturing back out onto the lake path, I discovered that one section of the path, just south of Fullerton Ave, had been blocked off and re-routed over the grass up the small hill for a stretch of about a quarter mile. This appeared to be because that section of the path ran right up against the edge of the lake and therefore was completely covered with sandy splashy crunchy (dangerous) shelf ice. This icy part has been slow to melt, even with these warmer days, but the re-route has been quick to turn into a giant, soupy, sludgy, icy, sandy, totally gross mess:
exhibit A, ew
There was really no option but to close your eyes and pedal your buns off (and wear your galoshes and pack and extra pair of pants, just in case). Exhilarating, maybe, not actually my favorite thing to do on my commute. The prospect of having to plant a foot in 3 inch-deep almost-frozen sludge is just not fun, not ever. It’s really been in just the last couple days (yeah, this blog is cutting edge) that the ice on the real path by the water has melted enough that it’s passable again (and I can wear my regular shoes). Joyfully, I rode the path into work this morning, with a light breeze at my back, and I made it in a record 18 minutes. Smooth. Beautiful. No mud soup. What more could you ask for?
Coming home today, that light breeze that had been at my back had picked up just a bit, and it was now in my face. I made my way ever so slowly north into the wind, thinking I should’ve maybe opted for city streets and a buffer this evening, but the lake is just so tempting… I tried my best to think it was beautiful when all I really thought was that it was windy, until I got to that stretch just south of Fullerton, where we can finally ride the path up by the water’s edge again. I noticed, much to my delight, that the path was wet, which meant waves were crashing along the edge. Oh how long it’s been since we’ve enjoyed waves crashing along the edge of the lake!
waves crashing along the edge of the lake, from back when it was warm... ah, those were the days.
I giggled to myself a little as I approached the spot, watching for wave crashes and wondering what it would feel like to get splashed (probably miserable, but what a fun and summery idea!). I made it through safe and dry, and as I passed I felt a big gust of wind and saw a wave crashing just behind me! I turned to look… and my turning combined with the gust of wind combined, most of all, with the frozen concrete (yeah, just ’cause the water in the lake is moving doesn’t mean it’s above freezing)… and oops, out went my back tire, and oops, out went my front tire along with it, and next thing you know, there i was, on the ground, with my bike on top of me and my u-lock about 10 ft up the road.
It was the perfect wipe out, really. That stupid head wind had me going so slowly anyway that I might as well have been standing still, and with the way the tires slipped out from underneath me, I slid so gently down onto the concrete that you might have thought that was how I always stopped my bike.
I stood up and stood my bike up. Deep breath. I checked the chain – it was still on. I spun both tires – still aligned, rims looked fine, fenders looked fine. I checked the brakes. They braked. I checked the pedals. They pedaled. I picked up my lock and hooked it back on my handlebar and hopped back on my seat and took off again.
By most counts I’m past due, really, for some sort of incident, given the number of miles I ride in a week or a season, and the kind of conditions I do it in. And I tell you what, if this is my incident, hey, I’ll take it.
And by the time I got home, I couldn’t even have told you what part of my body hit the ground – not a scratch or a bruise or anything. No mud, even.
For the record, my tired legs almost tripped and I did almost fall on my face walking up the stairs to the apartment. Always an adventure, isn’t it?
which makes me look super spiffy, and gives my back a feeling of freedom that, when I get over the slight panic that I must’ve forgotten my backpack somewhere, is totally awesome.
