August is prime harvest season for the Peterson Garden Project, which has community gardens scattered across Chicago’s North Side. Fresh tomatoes grown in the small plot tended by our son-in-law Rocket in the Project’s Vegwater garden in the Edgewater neighborhood were a highlight of a late Sunday lunch that Emma whipped up for us.
Then we went over to check out the garden. The place is bursting with colorful veg and flowers, in over 100 small individually tended plots. Tomatoes, peppers, cubes, herbs, zinnias, gotta love seeing this in the heart of a big city.
We stopped for cold brew and oolong coconut iced tea and a killer brownie at Metropolis, near the Glendale El station before wandering over to Hollywood beach where we could see that the crazy stunt planes we watched on our drive into the city along lake shore drive were done entertaining as part of the annual air and water show. Dinner was with wonderful aunt MAT at L. May, the ode to Midwestern supper clubs in Lincolnwoid. Excellent fish (trout with capers, grilled white fish and walleye), potatoes (twice-baked, garlic mashed) and bbq ribs. Great service and of course company.
We ended up at the Chicago history museum yesterday- we were eager to beat the heat and opted against the Singer Sargent show at the Art Institute for fear it would be too crowded and close to the lollapalooza throngs. The museum had some cool things including a temporary exhibit on Chicago blues with fun interactive elements. We made our own record covers, sang karaoke on stage with Koko Taylor (who I saw live several times) and worked a sound engineer booth. I learned that Crate and Barrel started in Chicago and had an early partnership with Marimekko, the Finnish textile design company that I learned more about in Helsinki.
Dinner at Nonnina was enjoyed by all, which was a relief since ours can be a discerning crowd. Surprised by how packed it was at 6 pm on Saturday night. Excellent Italian. We walked along the new-ish river walk and were impressed by all the hubbub, people everywhere on and off the water, at cafes, restaurants and public spaces, hanging out on docked or moving boats. The city was all lit up at night and looked great. The one potential issue is all the private boat traffic. The river is pretty narrow and there seemed to be a lot of traffic from kayakers to boat tours and public water taxis to fancy cruisers and little dinghies. Very democratic but chaotic.
Our maiden flight on Norwegian air went well. Nice clean not to bare bones a plane for an economy carrier. No pillows or blankets but not sure we need anyway. Very young chipper English-sounding flight attendants. Not sure we needed the food either although it came when we paid extra for a seat assignment and checked luggage.
Too exhausted to write more. Dirck has already conked out on our bed in our high ceilinged room with the glorious view at Sortedam Dossering #27.
With subzero temps and icy snow on the ground, Christmas 2017 in Chicago was not conductive to outdoor activity, which is a big change from last Christmas when it was so pleasant we took our dog for a romp on the beach near my stepdaughter’s condo in Edgewater. But this year, we walked as much as we could tolerate, with help from two pairs of socks, down jackets, thick scarves covering our face from the nose downward.
We enjoyed well-deserved hot chocolate at The Wormhole, a bohemian coffee house in Wicker Park and made it about a block in the bitter cold to a little boutique for some post-Xmas sale shopping. At Night, we met my old friend Polly and her husband Jamie (who drove down and around from their home in Traverse City) for dinner at a favorite restaurant, Andy’s Thai Kitchen (the one in Edgewater, which is not only more convenient to where we stay but takes credit cards).
On Wednesday we talked ourselves into thinking it was slightly warmer (it wasn’t but the sky was brilliantly blue over the icy pale blue lake) and walked from my aunt’s apartment on Astor Street to Uniqlo on Michigan Avenue for some sale-priced winter gear and then to chaotic Eataly, the Italian food madhouse for some fresh prosciutto, mozzarella and fungi pizza, sitting at a high top table in the middle of a rush of shoppers. Our only other purchase was rustic bread with cranberries and apples, which made a delicious breakfast today. We kept walking, over the river to Revival Hall, a new food court/Hall in an old building. I’m told the poke place, the bbq place (smoke) and the Thai noodle place are good to try but we only had coffee and some too-sweet bakery goods. I was Intrigued by the”Detroit-style pizza” place, something this native Detroiter never heard of before. Dinner was with my dear aunt at one of her favorite places, Shaw’s for fresh fish, creamed spinach, hash browns and peppermint ice cream with hot fudge.
Today was cold and grey. We wandered a few blocks in Andersonville, shopping at Foursided and the bookstore, Women and Children First, and ending up eating at the nearby Middle East Bakery & Grocery after we learned that Edzo’s was closed (we drove all the way to Evanston, only to discover this). Now driving in the dark across Illinois. Fortunately it stopped snowing after the city of Peru. Our best meal was Emma’s fabulous homemade Korean brisket, roasted rosemary potatoes, collard greens and chocolate cake (with ground coffee but no flour)…not available to the public, sorry.
TakeBetsywithyou 