Snow Plows, Wind and CTA Cuts

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I can’t really complain about the snowstorm that is quickly and quietly enveloping the city right now because, well, it’s February in Chicago.  Having grown up in the Midwest, this sort of thing shouldn’t even phase me.  But there was a part of me that went to bed last night that thought “Ha, they say we’re supposed to get 12-15 inches starting at 9pm and it’s 11pm…suckers.  My sidewalks are staying dry and I’m wearing tennis shoes tomorrow.” 

 7:30am: The sound of snow shovels scraping the pavement.  Dangit.

The snow is being pretty polite as of right now.  Kind of like “Hi, I’m here, it’s Winter so please don’t be angry but I’m going to stick around for awhile and I might get super into this and bring tons of my snowflake friends with me to make going outside the last thing you want to do.” 

Also going on right now in Chicago is the CTA making cuts to the buss and train routes.  That coupled with snow should be interesting.  I haven’t noticed any delays in my commute but I really feel for people who have to be in the snow for longer that usual.

Stay tuned.

“Life’s Short, Eat Cookies”

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Panes Bread Cafe. Sigh.  How I love Panes Bread Cafe.

First of all, it’s a cafe for BREAD.  Who doesn’t love a whole cafe dedicated to carbolicious delights?  Second, it’s literally a 2 minute walk from my apartment.  Third, they decorate for every holiday and Lord knows I love me some holiday spirit.

Panes makes all their bread on the premise and in addition to the best sandwiches on the planet, their salads are great and their carrot cake is to die for.  As is the white chocolate rice pudding and the monster cookies (see sign in photo).  And the cream puffs.  My favorite is the “Turkey, Turkey” –turkey, roasted red pepper, avocado and spicy mayonaise on a tomato bun that is just unbelievably fresh.  Once, I had to wait for the tomato bread to get out of the oven to make my sandwich.  I didn’t mind.

Ryan and I got lunch at Panes today for the second time in the last week and have been going there since July so I thought it was time for a mention.  It’s so homey inside, truly the go-to lunch spot in the neighborhood so it’s kinda like a Lakeview watering hole.  I listened to a fascinating convo between 2 30-something women about Facebook (“why do the 20-something girls at work disguise their names and untag pictures on facebook?!  I don’t care about my privacy, it’s just facebook!”) and another duo discussing a bad date from the night before, which really did sound awful.  Did I mention this little place doesn’t take credit cards?  Although kind of inconvenient when I don’t have cash on me, it proves that between the quality sandwiches and bread and reasonable prices ($5.50!) this place has serious staying power.  There’s no website either but if you want a dose of fresh, delicious, carb-loving heaven, the address is 3002 N. Sheffield.

High Five of the Day: We get home from Panes and Ryan immediately starts calling for Luna Bell, per usual.  Is she rolling on the corner of the living room rug like usual when she hears the key in the door?  Is she snuggled up on my new super soft, super cozy blanket?  Is she under the covers?  No.  Luna is laying on Ryan’s sweater, bypassing the blanket, pillows and all the other things she usually lays on.  What can I say?  LB is a luxury kitty and she likes cashmere.  I raised her right.

Cold Days, Hot Soup

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It is so cold in Chicago right now and after a week of eating frozen waffles, almond butter and jelly sandwiches and soy nuggets, I decided it was time for some real, unprocessed food.  A trip to Trader Joe’s later and I had this:

Nothing makes me feel more like, well, me than cooking.  There’s just something about fare qualcosa da niente (making something out of nothing) that gives me a sense of comfort.  With Tony Bennett Radio on Pandora and my new Cutco knives that my mom got me for Christmas, I set to work making minestrone.

I rarely use recipes while cooking.  I think that’s what I love about it–there’s so much room to create.  In my opinion, with fresh ingredients and some spices, you can make anything.  Especially soup.  I actually kept track of what I did this time so here’s the recipe:

3 large carrots

1 onion

2 small zucchini

2 potatoes

1 heart of celery

1 can stewed tomatoes

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can red kidney beans

small shell pasta

1 large box of organic vegetable broth (+ 1/2 a refill of water)

copious amounts of basil

a few large pinches of Italian Seasoning (my personal fav: Giada’s Tuscan Herb Mix )

I sauteed the onion in extra virgin olive oil and garlic until it was slightly soft and then added the carrot and potato.  Then, I added the rest of the ingredients and let it cook until the potatoes and carrots were a desired softness.  And added salt, pepper and more spices as needed.  And basil.  Personally, I don’t think one can ever have enough basil in life.  Never mind that I killed not 1, not 2 but 3 basil plants last summer.  I love the smell, taste and feel of basil and would put it on my cereal if I could.

About an hour and some stirring later, I had this:

Hot soup on a cold night…I can’t think of anything better.

On Commuting. And Self Control.

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I take the El downtown every day for work.  It takes about 30 minutes, unless it’s one of those glorious days when my transfer train is waiting for me at Fullerton, in which case travel time gets cut down to 10.  In any case, the El takes driving out of my life, which I greatly appreciate.  With trains, buses and cabs, I have no need for a car in Chicago.  That being said, there is one big thing you can do in a car that you can’t do on public transportation: sing and dance.  I have been known, on occasion, to belt it out and groove along to the radio while driving in my car.  I was on the train today, listening to RENT Radio on Pandora (all original Broadway cast RENT and Glee tunes.  It was glorious) when it occurred to me:

What if I am singing out loud?  What if I am doing my little happy dance and don’t even know it?

Then I started thinking about what IF I did just break out into song and dance on the train?  What if I did try to coordinate my fellow riders to do the “La Vie Boheme” dance, using the train car as our own personal Life Cafe?  It was at this point where I really started question my self-control and thought it best to change my Pandora station.

Lady Gaga Radio did not help calm my fear that I would break out into spontaneous dance.

Bringing my car home for a trunk show for work and then leaving it there was probably not the best idea.

Clarification.

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If yesterday’s post made absolutely no sense, I apologize.  I just really love my job and I get overly excited very easily.  Here’s the clear and shorthanded, no secret lingo version:

I am planning an event for my company.

It’s on February 13th.

If you’re an athlete and live in Chicago, we want to celebrate you.  If you were once athletically inclined, wanted to be athletic or even thought about doing some active in your life ever, we want to celebrate you too.

If you want more info, shoot me an email.

Cool Global Sporting Event…Event

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So…there’s this Cool Global Sporting Event happening between 2009 and 2011 in British Columbia coming up super soon.  This amazing little company I work for supports athletes like it’s their job, because well, it is.  And since we’re based in Vancouver, this is a huge time for us.  Our Cheer Gear is fabulous, there is free yoga for visitors AND locals in Vancouver during the Cool Global Sporting Event so now it’s time to get give Chicago athletes a little pat on the back.

On Saturday, February 13th at 10am, there will be a 5k from the Halsted store to the Rush St. store and then a party from 11am-1pm honoring Chicago athletes.  We have amazing athletes in this city, from those who are makin’ the big bucks to those who simply wake up and get out of bed to run in this ridiculously cold weather.  We are a town of movers and shakers–anyone ever try to get on the Lakeshore path on a Saturday morning in the summer?  It’s insanely packed with people getting sweaty.  I was talking to the owner of Core Power Yoga Gold Coast after another packed class and she said the amount of people in the studio per day has nearly tripled since opening this fall.  Athletes are everywhere in Chicago, pushing themselves and I love, love, LOVE being a part of such an active community.

So if you’re a Chicago athlete, whatever that means to you, you are being celebrated on February 13th. Contact me if you want more details.

Catch-22

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My two options for a seat on the train downtown this morning were next to a nearly-passed out, slightly smelly man who so kindly moved his brown paper bagged bottle of booze for me to sit down or a guy who was closing his eyes and rocking back and forth, mumbling. 

I remained standing.

She’s grateful.

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This is Luna Bell.  She has been my cat for 2 years.  I went to PetSmart a few months ago looking for a water bowl.  And not just any water bowl–a water bowl that would end her favorite past time of whacking it across the room the second it is filled, thus littering my kitchen floor with water and getting my feet wet every time I want a Diet Coke out of the fridge.  In other words, something heavy and skid resistant.  While I was at PetSmart, I was talking to a lady who was there with a pet shelter.  When I told her I had a “rescue kitty”, she started gushing about how grateful rescue pets are.  That no matter what happens, you just have a grateful animal on your hands.  Let me tell you about my grateful cat.

Luna Bell enjoys cocktail parties, wet cat food and sleeping at the top of my pillow (see above).  She hates beef, being cold and Justin Timberlake.  Since we started our life together in a studio apartment, she has to do everything with me, even though we’ve now hit the big time and live in a one bedroom.  She will only eat if someone is standing near her, she takes up half my pillow at night (again, see above–that was taken at 10pm yesterday) and I swear, when I was practicing yoga last night, she crawled on my mat and did a stretch that totally looked like downward dog. LB always lays with her chin flat on the ground or with her arms crossed, preferably on top of my Blackberry.  Ryan does nothing to help the cause–he feeds her canned cat food every Sunday and I once came home to the two of them sitting on the floor in the kitchen, sharing a can of tuna.  Oh and when the temperature in my apartment drops below 70, she digs her way under the covers so I can see is a Luna Lump in the center of my bed.

When it comes to being grateful, I think that’s me. Thanks, LB, for being my favorite friend under the weight of ten pounds.

On Treats

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I work way too close to The Goddess and the Grocer.

Aside from the fact that I have a hard time passing it by on my way to work because they carry my favorite coffee and a huge cooler case full of glorious things like macaroni and cheese lasagna, this Gold Coast gem has the audacity to have the most glorious.  The most decadent.  The most sinful rice crispy treat you will ever have.  These are not your Grandma’s rice crispy treats.  They are Crispycakes.  So much marshmallow.  So much butter.  So much chewy, gooey moistness.  And if that wasn’t enough, Crispycakes are topped with things like oreos, m&m’s, sprinkles, OR are cut in half and layered to make s’mores. Or PB&J crispycake’wiches.

I bought a not-so-plain Jane one on Thursday.  I cut it in half, thinking “I’ll be a good girlfriend and save the other half for Ryan.”  Then I cut a little more off of it.  Then I cut it in half again.  It got so small that Ryan would have never believed it had once been the size of a brick so I destroyed the evidence by polishing it off and calling it dinner.  I bought the fancy Crispycake pictured above today to have for dessert after our lasagna.  This time I will share.

I promise.