Month: July 2008

Bathroom Progress

There is progress!

I has a tub! (It’s not hooked up, but I has!)

I has tile floor! (I shouldn’t walk on it yet, but I has!)

I no has toilet (yet). Tomorrow, hopefully!

I have uploaded a boatload of photos on the job thus far on my gallery. If you’re curious, go have a peek. I’ll keep adding to it as the job continues.

Last night, I stopped drinking fluids around 6:30pm. I went next door to mom & dad’s around 10 to take a bath & pee. Then I returned home to geek on the PC (and finish updating my new iPod*) and eventually go to bed.

At 4:30am I woke up and I had to pee. Bugger. So I got dressed, went outside to my loving neighbors (who left the back door unlocked for me), snuck into the house, went to the bathroom, and returned home. Only to then not be able to fall asleep again. After a bit, I finished reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (I really liked that book!). Then around 6:30am I got up. Blech.

Tomorrow, judiang flies in! I’m not taking her straight to the Lake however. Since the contractor’s running a day behind, I might stay over until Friday. I’ll see how things go tomorrow. But no matter, I have entertainment for the Gods of Rrrrrrrragnarrrrok Judi. Mom & dad and Aunt Becky are joining us tomorrow evening for some Penn & Teller’s Bullshit watching, munching of Indians Pizza, and playing cards. (Only one of those options will not include my dad. I’ll let y’all guess which one.)

elsaf arrives Friday and we’ll definitely be at the Lake by then. Apart from some point in time where I’ll grill corn on the cob (Friday night, probably) and another point in time (Saturday evening, definitely) Elsa will grill Yet Another Glorious Meal, we don’t have any firm plans. We’re hoping to get some bike riding in. I think it’ll be fun to ride around the park a bit. 🙂 Judi assures us she’ll remember how to ride a bike. She’d better! 🙂

*My old 60GB 4G iPod finally snuffed it the other day. I tried everything they suggested on the Apple site to no avail. So, knowing I needs my music for working in the house, working in the lab, etc, I ordered another one. I got a refurb 80GB iPod Classic. It arrived yesterday morning. For grins, I have purchased Blink for it. And, for equality in Scottish Doctors, I converted That Circus Episode of Doctor Who into iPod compatible video and stuck it on there too. And I’ve got all my MP3s and many Sylv photos on it. Yay iPod!

123456!

Today a milestone was achieved and I commemorated it with a photo!


123456!

Who’da thunkit that back in January 1994 when I was buying my first car that I’d reach such a milestone with it. judiang was with me when she passed 100k and we both cheered. And I think I washed the car shortly afterward to celebrate. (The only other time I washed her was when I paid her off.) Haven’t decided if I’ll wash her a third time or not. (Always afraid that any dirt might be holding bits together & washing the car will only screw that up.)

(Edited to correct the year on the car which elsaf spotted.)

Bathroom Remuddle

Anyone who’s been in my bathroom has had a sinking feeling about the place – because you sink into the floor when you get in. Yup, I’ve got a water damaged floor in my bathroom. So with a CD maturing (well, matured as of today), I decided to remuddle my bathroom this summer.

After B-WISER and before my Chicago trip, I had the first estimate from Re-Bath (through Home Depot). I liked the fellow who came, but his company is, first & foremost, a bath liner company. He said they could also repair the floor and put in a shower and waterproof the window, so I put his company down as a good maybe.

When I was back from Chicago, I got back into the estimation mode. I went to Lowes hoping they’d have someone like Home Depot, but they didn’t. The loudest salesman ever recommended a plumber who does free estimates and remodeling, so I wrote it down. But I couldn’t find this person in the phone book, so I guess I was a bit leery of the place. In the phonebook, however, I saw two ads which promised free estimates. I like free. I called both places and scheduled the estimates.

First place that I called, Aurhause, booked the estimate later that day. Works for me! Rych Haynes (lots of ys), who owns the company, answered the phone and did the estimate. (I believe the owner of the Re-Bath place in estimate #1 was also the owner.) We talked about what all needed doing (and about cats – he is a cat owner too) and he said he’d be back the next day with an estimate. I liked Rych and hoped that his estimate was reasonable.

The other phone call was to Home Re-Modelers. The person who answered the call was, again, the owner of the company. However, he called me “dear” too often and even asked if I was married. Right away I was on the defensive (not a fan of patronization). But we scheduled an estimate the following day. After we’d talked about the bathroom and he saw its foibles, the first thing he asked was what my budget was. Unlike the first two companies, he didn’t write up a formal estimate detailing what they’d do, he just wrote a ballpark figure on the back of a business card. I had pretty much decided before the meeting was over that he wasn’t the one.

Thursday, I joined mom & dad at the Lake for an overnighter. We talked about the various estimates and they agreed with me – #2 was the one to try. So Friday, I called Rych and made arrangements. (He didn’t answer at first – apparently he was roofing when I called. But he called back shortly afterward.) He says they can start on Jul 28 – yay!

I chose Aurhause for a number of reasons. Yes, it was the lowest bid of the three, but mainly because he just bid the labor and support materials (new subflooring, cement board, etc) and I’ll buy my own fixtures and stuff. Yay. I like having that freedom. So does mom – means she gets to help me pick stuff out.

So Friday, on our way home from the Lake, mom came with me and we went to Home Depot. I found pretty much everything I wanted there, recorded the prices, and stuck ’em in my spreadsheet. Yesterday, mom, dad & I went to Lowes where I found a few things for less (or, as in the case of the floor tile, more preferred), and then Menards. At Menards, I found a vanity that I liked more than the pedestal sink we’d seen at Home Depot. So I might get that instead. They also had sconces that I liked.

Tomorrow, I’ll pick up the mature CD and deposit it into my savings account. And I might start buying the things. Rych says that I can buy the materials and tell them that Aurhause will pick them up for me. So that will be nice. I’ll do that with the Home Depot stuff (since there’s more of it) and bring the Lowes & Menards purchases home with me.

I’ll get a few “before” photos posted before they begin work, and then I’ll be sure to take lots of “during” and “after” photos. I hope I’ve chosen well with Rych and his company. Mom & Dad hope so too – they’d got a couple of jobs they’d like to put his way. Lucky me, being the guinea pig. Heh. 🙂

I’ve missed my calling!

Forget teaching – I should have been a science writer for MacPaper! I’ve gotten my grades back from my scientific writing course. We had to analyze two science articles and compare to the original studies. Then we had to write two New York Times-style articles on two science studies. And finally write two USA Today (MacPaper)-style articles on two other science studies. And I got 9/10 on five of the assignments and 8/10 on one of the two NYT-style articles. Go me!

For those of you who’ve subscribed to my scienceblog feed (tls_scienceblog) you’ve gotten the first two assignments already and the other four will show up over the next five Wednesdays. My favorite headline is with the last article that I wrote: Bigger Weapons or Bigger Testes – Choose Only One. Heh – how can you not read an article with that title?

Finito – for now!

I have just turned in the 6th assignment for my online summer Masters course – Scientific Writing. Today is also, coincidentally (not!), the last day of the semester. So I’m done with college until August 25th when fall courses begin. Though I need to work on a thesis idea since one of my classes is the first of my thesis classes. I’d like to do something with children’s science books, but I haven’t gotten things sorted out in my head yet about it. Then I’ll have to ask one of the three professors (one of whom I’ve not had yet) to be my thesis adviser.

In addition to thinking of theses, I need to be working on my new course for school – Advanced Problems in Science. This is a critical thinking-style class with influences from my Masters program and ideas from when dad created and taught the course. I also have two of my Vernier LabQuests at home that I want to play with and write labs for. So I have lots of intellectual things I want to do yet this summer.

Other summer goals include updating my Sylvester McCoy website to be a Coppermine Gallery. Plus getting old VHS clips into digital format. Plus updating my main website. Plus… well other things too.

So what am I going to do first? Probably resubscribe to World of Warcraft for a month. Heh. When the Olympics start, however, I need to be off the game so that I can fully enjoy the summer Olympics experience. 🙂

*sniff* My Chicago Trip is nearly at an end…

Before I get too far into my post, a quick HAPPY BIRTHDAY to drake57!

So, yesterday (well, I haven’t been to bed yet, so I’m still thinking today is Sunday) after our nap and a bit of geeking we headed off toward Navy Pier. We popped into a couple of bookstores (Borders and a used bookstore) so that I could look for more Lois McMaster Bujold books – no go on the ones I’m looking for.

We arrived at the movie theater right when the 5:00 showing of Wall*E was beginning, but we wanted a bit of a rest from the walking we’d been doing. (No, we didn’t walk all the way from judiang‘s place – just from the Borders.) So we had drinks and some spinach & artichoke dip at the lounge were the bowling alley is. (This bowling alley’s in the same building as the theater – and the lanes are on the second floor. Seems such an odd place to put a bowling alley.) Dad called while we were lounging, so I talked a bit with him and mom. (They’re in Minnesota visiting Amy & Rachel. Like me, they go home tomorrow – Monday.)

A few minutes before the movie, we finally made our way to the theater to discover lots of people were going to see it too. We wound up in the center of the very front row. And it was actually a great place to watch the movie. We both loved it and the cartoon before it. And we saw several trailers that we enjoyed. Though I think I’ll be giving Beverly Hills Chihuahua and The Pink Panther 2 a miss.

After the movie, we continued our walk to Navy Pier. We first put our names in at Bubba Gump’s, but it was an hour waiting. So we walked on down the pier and decided to try the barbecue place, Joe’s Be-bop Cafe. They had a 5 minute wait, so Judi left to cancel our name at Bubba’s and we were seated at Be-Bop’s. We decided to take our time eating in order to sit most of the night before the fireworks, then get up to watch ’em. We timed it perfectly (with some thanks to the waiter who took forever to get our desserts to us).

So, for starters we got popcorn shrimp (since we missed out on the bucket o’ shrimp thingy from Bubba’s). Tasty, tasty! Then Judi got the rib tips and I got the half yardbird (bbq chicken). Although their barbecue sauce was better than Robinson’s (which I sampled at Taste), it still wasn’t to my liking. Still, the rub & sauce on the bird (what little there was) was excellent. I liked their jalapeño corn bread, their spicy baked beans, and the baked tater too. I also had an amaretto sour there. Judi and I both agreed that it was better than the one I’d had at the bowling alley lounge. Dessert was “sumpin’ chocolate” which was basically chocolate overload cake with chocolate ice cream and hot fudge. Wow. I wasn’t able to finish the thang.

We paid for the meal and then Judi led the way to a good spot for fireworks watching. Although it was only a 10 minute show, it was really cool to watch. They even had smiley face fireworks! I hadn’t seen those in years! (First time I ever saw them was at St Paul, MN during Taste of Minnesota.) We all ooohed & ahhhhed as we watched.

My phone tries to take a video of the fireworks… Not bad, phone!

After a return to Be-bops where I looked for a souvenir for Taylor (my cousin who’s looking in on my kitties while I’m away), we headed off for the 29 bus to take us back to Judi’s place. We managed to get on the third bus and even got to sit for the entire journey. Then we watched the series finale of Doctor Who. Judi’s already posted her WTF. I rather enjoyed it myself. (Hmmm, reminds me of last year’s finale.)

We both slept in today and were ready by 10:30 to head for Chinatown. Yes, it was our traditional jaunt for a dim sum brunch. We went to new Three Happiness (as always) and had a nice assortment of dim sum. We even had leftovers (see, we needed that third person, elsaf!) We also went to a store in Chinatown so that I could get Taylor’s souvenir. (I didn’t care for the Be-bop choices the night before.)

After we returned home, it was swim time! I took my final swim in Judi’s pool, and as always, it was refreshing. And I had finally talked Judi into taking me to the Field Museum (though I had resolved to go on my own if she didn’t really want to come – it’s across the street fer gosh sakes!) I printed off $5 off coupons so we’d save some money going to the Mythical Creatures Exhibit. But it turns out I didn’t need it cuz the lady at the front desk let me in free (paying only $8 for the exhibit) since I’m a school teacher. Judi got a discount as a Chicago native, but she had to pay $15. Heh.

Since there were only 2 more hours before they closed, we went right to the Mythical Creatures Exhibit. capriuni, we both thought of how much you’d enjoy that exhibit. 🙂 It was cool – some neat art, cool statues, a Chinese dragon as used in New Years parades, etc. No photos allowed, alas. Then we went to the George Washington Carver exhibit where we were both inspired by Carver and all that he did. I learned a lot from the exhibit – he was green long before it was the buzzword of the decade.

Leaving the Carver exhibit put us right in with the prehistoric beasties. Yay! I was able to take photos there of various skeletons. I’ve always been fascinated by mammoths and saber tooths and other such critters (why else would I waste my money on 10,000 BC?) We finished off the visit with some overhead shots of Sue, the T-Rex which I remember from when I was a kid and visiting the museum. (She’s shrunk since then, I swear!)



After we left the museum, we walked over to the ugly Torso & Legs Sculpture at the tip of Grant Park near Judi’s apartment. I took photos. (I’m really pleased with my phone’s performance as a camera this trip. Not too shabby at all!) The sculpture(s) is called Agora. There are 106 cast iron figures. And they’re ugly and creepy and rusting all over the concrete.


I made Judi come with me for ice cream at Marble Slab (me thinks she doth not protest enough) and we both got cones. I had white birthday cake ice cream and double chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone. Yummy! We returned so that Judi could walk the pooch and we could veg a bit. Then we headed off to Gioco (a nearby Italian restaurant) for supper.

For starters, we had fried calamari. Yum! Then I had the pear and pancetta salad plus a side of polenta. Mmmm, best polenta ever – it was seasoned with mascarpone cheese and butter. It looked like a big pile of scrambled eggs, but tasted far better. Thanks to all of the bread and olive oil I’d already scarfed, I could only eat half. Judi happily ate the other half. Heh. Oh, and I had an amaretto sour there as well.

We waddled back and popped up to the penthouse to look over Judi’s fair city. Such a lovely view. Then we returned to make strawberry shortcake and watch the Confidential for the last ep of Doctor Who. We then watched Housewife, 49 while we ate our shortcake. It was a nice little movie. (I knew I’d like it – it had Stephanie Cole in it, after all.) I’ve pretty much been writing this post ever since. And I should head for bed. Tomorrow, *sniff* I leave. This trip has not gone completely as we’d originally envisioned, but I do think that Judi and Elsa and I had many pleasant times during it. Here’s to the next time when we three shall meet again. 🙂

The continuing story…

Yesterday, when elsaf and I finished watching The Bucket List, I woke up napping-judiang and the two of us walked to Taste of Chicago, armed with a large purse and a package of Saran Wrap. We had a to-go order from Elsa which the bag and cellophane were for. Once Judi and I had gotten and eaten our wares, we picked up items for Elsa and wrapped and stuffed ’em in the bag.

My Taste things for Friday were as follows:

  • Las Tablas – empanada

  • Harry Carey’s – chocolate chip cookie

  • Robinson’s No. 1 Ribs – rib tips

  • Abbey Pub – fish

  • Vermillion – mango cumin-dusted fries with chutney

  • The Noodle Vietnamese Cuisine – sesame beef on a stick

  • Canaday Le Chocolatier – mascarpone gelato

  • Franco’s Ristorante – lemon Italian ice

Today’s fare was a little less satisfying than Wednesday’s. The empanada was a little plain. The barbecue sauce on the rib tips was more ketchup than anything. The fish from Abbey Pub could have easily been from Van de Kamp’s. But I liked the fries – they tasted like samosa in a convenient fry shape. The gelato place had issues – first you had to wait forever in one line to deliver your tickets, then they gave you a colored stick and you waited in another line for your ice cream. And they were out of pistachio, which was my first choice. But I’d also been interested in the mascarpone ice cream, so that was OK. It was quite tasty, too.

Once back at the apartment, Elsa got to eat her late lunch. We then decided we’d have pizza delivered for supper. And I decided that, after the long walk, I wanted to go swimming to drop my core body temp a little. So, off to the pool I went. It was chilly, but not as chilly as the first night we swam. And it was very refreshing. I was only there for about half an hour, but it was what I needed.

Judi wanted more strawberry shortcake for supper’s dessert, but we needed strawberries. I talked her into trying peach shortcake since we’d have to go to the grocery anyway. Of course, when I say “we” it turns out it was “me.” They gave me a list of things to get and off I went with Judi’s wobbly grocery cart. As I was walking off to the grocery, I thought of how nice it is where Judi’s at that she’s got all these neat places to walk to. My town is so small, there’s not a whole lot of places to walk to. But Judi has quite a variety of walking experiences. One more reason to visit friends!

I peeled (??? we never peel ’em at home!) and sliced the peaches for peach shortcake, then got a conscripted cutting board (Judi didn’t know what the thing was, but we used it as a cutting board) out for the Gouda cheese and Toasted crackers we then snacked on. We sat and chatted while waiting for the pizza delivery.

Pizza was from Connie’s Pizza. We ordered the special (sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms) in a deep dish crust. Judi was disappointed because they didn’t do the deep dish the right way (crust too thick) but it was tasty and satisfying. We put No Country for Old Men on while we ate and wondered just what the movie was about. I think we were all rather perplexed by the end of it. Still, the scene in the boot shop after the anti-hero returns from Mexico was laugh out loud funny. We also ate peach shortcake with ice cream (regular store-bought vanilla) while the movie played. Afterwards, Elsa and I watched the Edwardian Supersizers episode (the pilot for the series).

Unfortunately, although Elsa started out the day feeling better than she’d felt in a couple of days, she was feeling worse by the end. 🙁 Indeed, when she woke up this morning around 6am, she decided there was no way she could drive home. Judi got up around 6:30am and I followed 15 minutes later. We discussed several options. She finally decided on flying home today and flying back next weekend in order to drive her car back. She only took her essentials on the flight, so nothing had to be carried or checked. I paid for the cab ride to Midway because I didn’t want to drive there and back again in Elsa’s car in Chicago (a very unfamiliar place for me to drive). Judi got a wheelchair for her once we arrived and we walked with her and her chair pusher until she was outside security. We just received a text from her that she’s on the plane. Her bro will pick her up upon arrival.

It’s a shame she got to feeling so poorly once she was here. We did have a good time despite the troubles, but I know she would MUCH prefer to have NOT had the troubles. (Pain is really a bitch.) Get to feeling better, Elsa!

On our way back from the airport (using the El this time – less than 1/10 of the cost of getting there) we stopped at The Bongo Room for brunch. We both ordered the BLT Benedict – an eggs Benedict with applewood smoked bacon, spinach, and a tomato basil hollandaise sauce (though they were out of tomato) and hashbrowns. I also ordered a hot chocolate. It was very yummy! And we both preferred it without the tomato.

Judi’s now napping and I think I’ll do the same when I’m done with this post. Our plan is to get to Navy Pier for a late supper and fireworks watching. Perhaps we’ll catch a movie today too. Wall-E sounds like a good ‘un.

Interesting Times

OK, so yesterday didn’t go completely as planned. But I think we managed to make a good day out of what started out as a crappy day.

Poor elsaf had fallen on Saturday and has been nursing two rather large bruises while on vacation here. They ached when she moved, but she was able to function, able to walk to Taste of Chicago, able to cook us a magnificent meal. However, late Wednesday (1:30am Thursday in all actuality) she complained about some muscle cramping around where her chest bruise was. We’re talking honking great pain muscle cramping. We were hoping it would go away after awhile, but it never did. So around 2:30am, judiang called 911 and had an ambulance come. (Indeed both an ambulance and a fire truck came.)

Judi left with Elsa and the ambulance and I stayed with Lance. I couldn’t sleep at this point, so I watched FoodTV until it switched over to infomercials. Then I played Bejeweled 2 on my cell phone. Judi kept me up to speed with various text messages. EKG fine; x-rays fine; other than the bruise, Elsa’s healthy; etc. Then Judi called to tell me pack a bag for Elsa. Oh, and I’d be driving us back to the hospital in Elsa’s car. I asked her about getting Elsa’s car keys (people who don’t drive don’t often think about necessities like car keys, heh) so Judi returned to Elsa’s room to get ’em.

Eventually, Judi showed up. I had my purse and Elsa’s bag and yet… Elsa was right behind Judi. The threat of either Judi or I driving her car encouraged Elsa to check herself out. Heh. They had her on a heavy dose of Vicodin, so she was feeling little pain. Judi still had to finish her cases, which she did and then headed off to work. It was around 5am by this time. I finally fell asleep, but I had my cell phone set to wake me at 8am. Someone had to pick up Elsa’s prescription in the morning, and I figured Judi would be too sleepy to do it.

Turns out I was right. When 8am came around, I popped into Judi’s room to encounter Dead Asleep Judi. Don’t think you can wake her… 🙂 So I showered and stuff and returned to Dead Asleep Judi and managed to get her awake enough to find out (a) where the nearest drug store was and (b) which of Judi’s keys was to her front door. Then I headed off to Walgreens. And I was a block away when I realized that, although I had Elsa’s driver’s license, money, and HMO card (she gave ’em to me – I didn’t take ’em!) I didn’t have her prescription – whoops! I returned to the apartment, picked up the prescription, then headed back out.

The pharmacist was a nice fellow. He wanted to make sure that Elsa was able to take Vicodin since it’s a codeine derivative and she’s allergic to codeine. So I called Judi’s cell phone – no response. Then her home phone – no response. Home phone again, then Elsa answered. Awwwwwww. I felt bad for getting Elsa up, but she assured me that she’ll be able to take the Vicodin – she’d had it the night before without any allergic reactions. The pharmacist needed to find out of the HMO would co-pay the prescription, so I walked across the street to Jewel and bought some donuts. Then I returned to get the prescription, popped into Starbucks for a hazelnut soy latte for Judi, hot tea for Elsa, and a vanilla steamer for me.

Elsa was sitting at the table when I got back and Judi was still asleep. When she woke up (around noon) it was my turn to sleep. I slept for a couple of hours, then Judi and I went off to the grocery in order to get supplies for our surprise supper for Elsa. On our way back to the apartment, we picked up sandwiches at Jimmy Johns for a late lunch.

We spent a relaxing afternoon goofing off. Then Judi and I picked up a few rental movies from the kiosk in her apartment complex’s market. (National Treasure 2, The Bucket List, and No Country for Old Men.) We also headed off to Target and then her new Best Buy store (on the other side of the Long Ass Bridge) looking for a Logitech Harmony Remote. Although she was sorely temped by the $420 model, I talked her into the $99 one (which is sufficient for nearly anyone’s needs).

Judi and I made supper – Judi made fried catfish from scratch, I made everything else. Heh. (Well, everything I made was pretty easy – either nuking or a short cooking time.) So, for supper, we started with a nice salad with bleu cheese and raspberry vinaigrette, an appetizer of baked crab cakes, fried catfish, Bob Evans mashed taters, green beans, and strawberry shortcake with Bailey’s Irish Cream ice cream. I think we did a very nice job – we’re no Elsa, but we dun good.

At 9pm, we turned on WGN to watch the Grant Park fireworks. Despite the cinematography sucking a few times, the fireworks were very cool. And if we looked behind us, we could see them reflected in the building behind us. Also, the booms we heard were from the live fireworks rather than from the telly. Heh.

We finished out the day with National Treasure 2. It was silly and fun. I was entertained. 🙂

We all slept pretty well last night. This morning, after Judi got up, I made French toast for breakfast. Elsa and I are now watching The Bucket List. Not sure what Judi’s doing. Later, Judi and I may go to Taste to get us eats and some stuff for Elsa as well. Regardless of what we do, I know we’ll have a good time, despite any other Interesting things happening. 🙂

Tasty Tasty Taste!

Food, glorious food! I think one of the most important things in going on vacation is all of the wonderful FOOD you get to have. And one of the best things about going on vacation with judiang and elsaf is that they’re as much Foodies as I am. So, we know how to have a good time AND eat lots of good food.

This morning, we started out by going off to Whole Foods, an organic grocery (seriously, there’s, like, carbon compounds EVERYWHERE there!) It was HUGE. And pretty impressive. Elsa was looking for ingredients for the phenomenal meal she was planning for us. So ingredients we bought. Judi, meanwhile, was nearly comatose with caffeine deprivation, so I sent her off to get herself coffee and me a vanilla steamer. She returned awhile later, perkier and with a hazelnut steamer. (OK, so she missed the word “vanilla” but the steamer was very yummy.) Apparently, she was looking all over for the Starbucks that she knew was in the shopping plaza, only to later discover she was standing in front of it. Now *that’s* what I call caffeine deprivation!

Once we bundled the groceries into the car, we drove back over the Long Ass Bridge (ah, I remember alryssa, tiger5, Judi and I walking over that once – I so much prefer driving) to return to Judi’s place. Then we walked over to the Taste of Chicago. Yum! (Although we don’t go over any Long Ass Bridges, it’s still something of a Long Ass Walk, but it’s still a lot closer than many people going to the Taste had to travel.)

So, with my handy Taste of Chicago booklet in hand, I shall rattle off the good things I sampled there (everything I bought was a “taste” portion):

  • Lagniappe-Creole Cajun Joynt – beignet

  • A Natural Harvest – tamale

  • The Breakfast Club – bite of Elsa’s tamale

  • Tamarind – Taiwan Shining Noodles

  • Kasia’s Deli – pierogies

  • Arya Bhavan – samosa

  • Wow Bao – a Kung Pao bao (steamed dumpling with kung pao filling)

  • BJ’s Market & Bakery – bite of Judi’s mustard fried catfish and bite of Judi & Elsa’s peach cobbler

  • Bobtail Ice Cream Company – chocolate – dipped ice cream cake on a stick (which was ENORMOUS for a sample-size. I’d be afraid to see the regular sized one!)

To save Judi and Elsa having to walk too much, I did most of the food gathering, but the advantage there is having bites of what I’d bring them to eat. Heh. Tomorrow we hope to tackle the other side of the taste – there’s at least 7 things I want to try tomorrow.

The walk back from Taste was warm (and long). So I told the girls that I wanted to go swimming. Elsa agreed and then we talked Judi into at least putting on her suit in case the water was warmer today. So we got in the pool (this time full of people, especially kids) and agreed that it was, indeed, warmer than last night. We stayed for over an hour in the pool and then sat on the lounge chairs for a bit longer drying off. It was very refreshing!

When we returned to the apartment, Elsa started working on supper, starting with the ice cream. Judi and I went to the market at her apartment complex to get a few needed items while Elsa cooked. It’s a cute little market which actually had everything that we needed (including lemons and batteries – and yes, you can make a battery from a lemon, but they don’t usually fit inside of garage door openers or radios).

I set the table (with Judi correcting me the whole time) and Elsa plated the dishes. The salad was heirloom tomato, fennel, tarragon, and bleu cheese with vinaigrette. I’m not a big tomato eater, but I enjoyed the salad. The main course was pork chops with brandied peaches, potato souffle, and broccoli with lemon. Oh my, the pork chops were wonderful! And the brandied peaches – yum! I enjoyed the potato souffle too and ate most of my broccoli. 🙂 Dessert was the christening of Judi’s ice cream maker (which Elsa had given her at Christmas) – Bailey’s Irish Cream Ice Cream. Yum! I’d forced Judi to buy me a Lindt milk chocolate bar at the market, so I topped the ice cream with a square of that in each – yummy.

Elsa and I watched the end of the Navy Pier fireworks from their reflection in the apartments across the way – that was pretty neat. I have suggested to Judi that she & I go on Saturday to see them up close & personal. She agreed. 🙂 We’re now vegging on laptops while Judi works on cases for her job. Poor thing! Tomorrow, more Taste, some fireworks, and more fun!