Windy City

Asked by Greg why we came down to visit Chicago for a few days, I replied:  To get some culture.  And to eat.

Daniel clarified:  Except that shopping on Michigan Avenue doesn’t quite count as culture.

But the eating!  So yummy.

Day One –

Oodles of Noodles on Clark Street – pan Asian fare, all delicious, all different.  Daniel’s dish won:  Spicy Crazy Noodles.  Crazy good.

Day Two –

Chilam Balam with Laurel, Nick, Isaac and Ruby.  Amazingly inventive Mexican fare, served up in small plates so you get just less than enough to satiate.   The sun streamed in through the front window onto our table in the tiny basement space, so one employee came over with a beautiful piece of fabric which he nailed over the window to dilute the light.  Ruby demolished her chicken flautas – “these are yummy!”

Day Three –

French Market below the Metra station.  The sign outside says “Stop for lunch, shop for dinner” and that is just what we did.  Belgian fries, herb and garlic flatbread, aged sheep cheese with a baguette.  Then some beautiful fresh pasta and sauce to take back to the hostel, along with a nice bottle of wine, and some outstandingly gorgeous – and delicious – fresh chocolates.

After cooking and eating our pasta in the hostel kitchen, we went for an evening stroll, winding up at Molly’s Cupcakes for dessert.  Kids sat on swings at the counter, playing Connect Four, while D & I had a nice game of Scrabble while devouring our yummies.  There was a “sprinkle station.”

Day Four –

Met up with the Scott-Lantzes at Xoco downtown, one of Rick Bayless’ armada of restaurants.  Fresh churros and many different varieties of hot chocolate in which to dip them.

After visiting the Loyola University Museum of Art, headed back to Lincoln Park, stopping at Nesh! for a late lunch of falafel, grilled veggies, Nesh fries and a smoothie.  One of the owners pressed sample cups of his lentil soup on us as we waited in line – delish!

For dinner we drove over to Marla & Greg’s house, there to meet Godzilla the dog, and then to head over to Devon and yet another terrific Indian restaurant.  Here again, one of the owners showered us with free treats, to the point of actual discomfort. Wrestling with Godzilla afterwards helped work off some of the caloric intake.

Day Five –

Lunch with Marla & Greg at the Art Institute’s cafe, where Greg absentmindedly ate all the pizza he meant to share with Marla.

Late lunch/early dinner in Ikea (though no Swedish meatballs for us!), ending with, bien sur, Swedish Fish.

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That is illogical, Captain.

I am attending a conference in Columbus, OH, in April.  I’ll be driving down with the others of the BAM Team, but I would like to come back earlier than they are planning, so I’ve decided to investigate airfare one way from Columbus to Madison.

The results are bewildering.

Among the myriad options available to this intrepid traveler are the following delightful adventures:

• Leaving Columbus at 7:45 pm, flying to Providence, RI, then to Cleveland, and finally arriving in Madison the following morning at 10:12 am.  For this jaunt, I would pay $865.30 to USAirways.
• Leaving Columbus at 7:30 pm, connecting in Detroit, and arriving in Madison at 10:24 pm that night.  This trip via Delta would set me back $100.40.

Hm, let me consider – ok, I’ll take option #2.

Someone needs to explain to the honchos at USAirways the basic geometric precept that the shortest distance between two points is NOT to first head in the opposite direction.

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Holy S*&%

We leave for the greater New York – Vermont region on Sunday.  That is four days away.  I am not at all in the holiday gear.  Gotta rev up.  Go go!

Oh, I am not feeling truly Grinchy.  But my heart isn’t in the season yet.   Getting there, though…this afternoon Shara & I spent a good hour wrapping presents while listening to her iTunes collection (which includes Men at Work, such a wonderful fact!), and tonight I addressed our Christmas card envelopes.  The tree is up and festive, the cats busy drinking all its water, needles strewn throughout the house.  (I am considering getting an aluminum tree next year – perhaps in purple.)  Egon has prepared his annual list of desires – an unnecessary exercise, as he has been letting us know what he wants (xbox 360) since about June.

Egon has been asking a lot of religion-related questions this year, including why we celebrate Christmas if we are not Christian, and why we couldn’t instead/also opt to celebrate Hannukah (a transparent ploy for 7 additional days of presents).  I think about this every holiday season.  We celebrate Christmas in the sense of friend & family togetherness and happiness –  as Frances’ parents put it, “a family is everybody all together.”

It is also, for me at least, a time to put the past year to bed, to reflect on what we’ve done, what we’ve witnessed.

And I really like the lights and decorations that abound at this time of year – it is so cheery and festive and lightens up the long, dark, cold nights. And the goodies that seem to appear everywhere – chocolates, and homemade toffee (thanks Becky!) and cookies – help lift my winter bound spirits (if not my winter bound butt).

Perhaps I am in more of a holiday mode than I suspect.  I think I’ll go put “Olive, the Other Reindeer” into the DVD player and hunker down under some kitties.

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