we'll take a cup o' kindness yet

was '09 the year to grow up? the unexpected death of extended adolescence? the slow birth of adulthood? hello, oh-ten. bring a new and curious infancy.

and, of course, delicious drinks i have never tried like the classic jack rose cocktail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sebfwBVEVKE

the first supper

I managed to make it through another set of finals. This is a privileged triumph following a few weeks rife with privileged complaining.

In the days leading up to the end, it helped me get through to think about what I would do when I had free time again. Laundry! Books for fun! Cooking a real, healthy meal! I even bought ingredients to make a dinner that had distinct elements that sat apart from each other on the plate and complimented each other. Nothing special but it sounded exquisite - fish, collard greens, and scalloped taters spiked with some fancy cheese finished with fresh baked banana bread ice cream sammiches.

But when it came time for the first supper of freedom, all I wanted was a buffet of finger foods and a bottle of a hearty, cheap, red wine. I needed to nibble and sip for hours. I popped olives in my mouth, plucked pomegranate seeds from the fruit, and traced patterns in the hummus with crackers.

After a few weeks of big bites and big tasks, it needed to be small. Well, except for the wine.

for when i venture outside the box

I work in a cubicle in an office full of cubicles this year at my field placement. It's strange, as years of Dilbert comics can attest, to work this way. People do weird things like cutting their fingernails or burping when seemingly isolated from their co-workers.

The company provides coffee and tea for its employees. After sampling all three varieties of Farmer Brothers coffee, I would recommend the Columbian. I'm pretty sure the blends for the Northwestern and French roast are full of robusta because they give me the jitters. You'll have to bring your own cream, but this is a good way to push through those chin-high modual wall structures. Perhaps one day I'll meet "Megan" who always has her organic cream appropriately labeled with her name in the communal fridge.

I like to take my time walking back with my cup of coffee. It gives me a chance to enjoy all the cat photos posted in each cube. Hang in there!

empty glass

my rain boots leaked. the homework i thought was going to be easy is hard. midterms are looming. defensive and taking things too personal. and i forgot my minty green tea.

and though I like to act the part of being tough...

After a long day of touristing, my mom, sister, and I needed to refuel. I took them to Russian Tea Time for the restaurant's, well, Russian tea time. We didn't do the full $23 per person high tea service. We did, however, enjoy assorted sweet treats and the house black tea served out of glasses nestled in ornate pewter holders.

The waiter brought lemon slices, white sugarcubes, and brown sugar in a roughly cubed shape. He told us to put lemon and white sugar in the tea. Then we'd hold the brown sugar in our mouths as we sipped the tea. The brown sugar would dissolve and sweeten and sediment as the tea would flow and hot and smooth. The sensation was lovely. What was happening in my mouth was a microcosm, a miniature of how I feel when I sit down for tea time.

i'm a fan

I love to root root root for the home team. In any sport really. Man, living in a city with 5 professional sports teams is awesome. Especially when you can score some free tickets to a game thereby off-setting the cost of the $7.50 Heinekens.

i didn't make it to the formal

One of my friends told me that the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants would be where she would go in high school before the big dance.

Well, I had a gift certificate and we had some fun plans in the foreign Streeterville region so we went to Ben Pao which is much like a P.F. Changs. When did I last eat at a place where I had to have one of those buzzer things while waiting for a table? Not sure.

Well, I couldn't order a respectable drink like a glass of wine, decent beer, or true martini at this establishment. I had to, of course, get an Asian Pear Saketini which includes a laundry list of ingredients:
- Grey Goose la poire
- Sake
- St. Germain
- Funkin pear puree
- Pineapple juice

The drink was just fine, you know? Ambiguously fruity and decently boozey. So many ingredients to ultimately create vanilla.

a-muse-ing

I'm not sure that I've ever been inspired to create art by beer, but I am quite fond of PBR. I wish I had an artsy bent so I could win a year of free beer.

ritual

It's fall now. The new school term is underway, and I'm beginning to settle in to it all. While Tecate needed to be brought in with a drum roll and exclamation points to represent its season, I will just whisper to fall. tea. tea time in the afternoon. as i read. as i finish a day of internship. it's a break and continuation.

To: Vacations.

As those Corona commercials pun-fully remind us, vacations shift our attitudes. Through disrupting comfortable monotony with new geography and new/renewed relationships, we're jolted to remember what's just so wonderful or what needs to go in our lives. Lists and promises made while away generally fade yet re-emerge in quiet moments - unexpected stay-cations. And here I find myself again, needing to raise a few glasses to my rollicking, recentering trip to Portland.

Here's to occasional, amazing over-indulgence: Bacon Bloody Mary.


Here's to enjoying the best without any snobbery: Right Turn with amazing desserts at Clyde Common.

Here's to being challenged: Salted Plum Collins

Here's to taking the time: Agua Fresca Margarita

Here's to a holistic approach: Milwaukee Mule enhanced by icy cold copper mug

cheers.

i'm not worthy

I had the most amazing series of happy hours and meals when I was visiting some of my dear friends in Portland. So much drinking, so much fun, so much love. I think I've been overwhelmed by the joy of that visit to the extent that I couldn't put together a few pictures followed by words and sentences to document those times and the beverages that accompanied them. Perhaps un-blog-able.

exeunt omnes

This picture blends the bourbon and old wood at Berghoff's, a fitting setting for a final hurrah of the fellowship. The restaurant and bar are embedded in old Chicago but are trying to be creative and contemporary to stay afloat.

I was smitten with the $7 bourbon flight. Three healthy pours of three mighty fine bourbons including Berghoff's own 7-year aged.

Summer Sips

I should have been making hatch marks to tally the number of Tecates I've swilled this summer. While that's the official beer of summer '09, there are a number of other drinks that have tasted like the season.

• Cheap, ideally twist-top wines consumed out of Solo cups while soaking up the summerfuntime at free concerts in Millenium Park. Euphoria.


• Sangria at a burger and beer joint. Hackney's really decent sangria just has bits of apple and orange in it and always makes me want another.


• The iced coffee sweetened with local honey that I brew and fridge each week. Always consumed out of a blue travel mug I've had for ages, this coffee makes me attuned and appreciative of the city I pass through between bus stop and revolving door.

Finally, I have to snag another of Mario's Italian Lemonade before the season is out. More than just Italian ice, there's chunks of fruit frosted in those little paper cups too. Check out delicious cantaloupe Italian lemonade.

what we do when we're alone

While I have had some lovely drinking experiences this summer (including a hefty liter of German beer The Brau Haus and a few amazing Belgian beers at The Hopleaf), it's too late to write about those. The precious immediacy is past.

Now I'm drinking my way through a bottle of Trinity Oaks' Pinot Noir, a cheap wine that was on sale at Whole Foods. There is little to recommend it beyond its low low price and claim that the company plants a tree for each bottle of wine purchased. That makes me feel good as I engage in hedonism/laziness watching episodes of old episodes Check, Please! on my laptop and gorging myself on finger foods.

"dirty arnold palmer" sounds really dirty

The summer has me running. Working my Big Deal summer job on the 9 to 5 tip, visiting and having visitors, & meeting and greeting at happy hour o'clock. I've also just read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food so I am trying to recommit myself to cooking and eating real food. Writing letters and journals has fallen to the wayside. I have only been so-so at keeping up with the couch-to-5k training. I do, however, have these lovely slow moments reading sections of A Moveable Feast sitting thigh-to-thigh with a stranger, waking up, sunny, on the bus.

Somewhere in between it all, there's also apartment hunting happening. I have faith that we will find an excellent apartment in Pilsen. And while we're searching there's many a place we can stop and relax in Pilsen. This week it was Simone's. We popped in here twice on one day when we saw apartments nearby. At brunch we were served a banging Bloody Mary. The drink was garnished with practically an appetizer of cracker and cheese. The wasabi spiciness was right on, and I just can't get enough of this Bloody Mary with beer-back.

In the afternoon, we had the John Daly aka Dirty Arnold Palmer aka sweet tea and lemonade with a boozey kick. The base of the drink is Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Flavored Vodka & Bourbon Whiskey. Yes, that's vodka with bourbon in it. While this drink is a little sweet for my taste, I enjoyed the one I had and it inspired me to learn more about John Daly. This golfer apparently said
"I believe nicotine plus caffeine equals protein." Michale Pollan does not agree, but I give this a smug half smile.

one of my best friends' weddings

One of the signature cocktails - Singapore Sling
+
A champagne toast
+
A mighty fine Rose
+
Keg beer in the wine glass
+
French press coffee toast
=
Tastes like growing-up

drum roll please

I hereby declare Tecate the official beer of summer 09.

eating and drinking as sightseeing

My sister recently visited me in Chicago. She, like me, loves to eat and drink. The only activity that was a must on her agenda for her trip was to visit Kuma's Corner for one of their famous burgers. After the standard two hour wait, we were not disappointed. We threw back some PBRs, built our own mac'n'cheese (bacon & peas, please), and finally ordered our burgers which are all named after metal bands. Abby could barely talk after she bit into the Yob (10 ounces of beef, topped with smoked gouda, bacon, roasted red peppers, and roasted garlic mayo on a pretzel roll). Marcus and I enjoyed the Pantera and the Melvins burgers with equal enthusiasm.

I introduced my sister to Dunkin Donuts to get us going in the morning for three reasons. 1. Omaha is surprisingly lacking the D&D. 2. I love dessert at breakfast which is what those cute li'l munchkins are meant to be. 3. I really do love the coffee. What makes it so wonderful? How do they know just the right amount of cream and sugar to add? Ah, Dunkin Donuts, you win me over every time.

As soon as lunch was digested through wandering around and shopping, it was time for lunch and beers. Abby and I went to a Goose Island brewpub so we could sample some local Chicago beers.

Our two favorite beers that we sampled were the Willow Street White ("an unfiltered Belgian style wheat beer spiced with coriander and sweet & bitter orange peel") and the Matilda, another Belgian style beer with "golden sunrise color, fruity aroma, and spicy yeast flavor."

We decided to get dessert for lunch too (hey, it's vacation). Goose Island also makes some of their own sodas and offers dessert options of ice cream floats. We oohed and aahed over the grape-soda-and-salty-peanut-gelato float which tasted like a liquefied essence of an ideal PB&J.

On Abby's last night in town, we made a delicious feast composed almost entirely of goods from the farmer's market. We celebrated Abby's birthday at The Cove, a Hyde Park neighborhood bar, with enough pitchers of cheap beer to lead to impassioned arguments enveloped in love and certain hangover. Luckily, we had appropriate brunch plans the next morning.

The Publican's pristine pork products were well-accompanied with other important hangover curatives. First, they serve Intelligentsia coffee and wait staff don't want to see your cup empty. Second, they leave a big bottle of water at your table. Finally, their Bloody Marys are made with Tito's Vodka and a beer back. Yes.

I love to spend time with my sister.

Blackberry Bellini

Like everyone in my marketing demographic, I love brunch. I do not, however, love waiting an hour for it. I also feel a little weird about being surrounded by lots of people who look a lot like me but cuter and quirkier. An Ira Glass look alike totally got seated before us at Lula's Cafe. All this hemming and hawing to say mmm... brunch.

a year of percolating

On one of my first days of my first year internship, I stopped at Intelligentsia for coffee. My friend Emily had told me I had to try their clover coffee. All excited about the new life of internship, school, and Chicago, I went up to the counter and asked for a clover coffee. Turns out Clover is a type of machine that makes coffee one cup at a time, a bit like a fancy-schmancy french press. The coffee brewed through it at Intelligentsia is amazingly flavorful and nuanced.


On one of my final days at my internship, I revisited Intelligentsia (at $4 a 12 oz. cup, this is a special occasion coffee). Waiting in line to order, I realized I've absorbed and become accustomed to the city street bustle. I have learned to better balance my work, school, and social lives. Moreover, I know how to order a cuppa at Intelligentsia.

Pizza and Beer Pt. 3

For the latest Chicago-style pizza and beer tasting, we went to Pequod's. The mascot for the restaurant is a whale standing on its hindfins, one hand-fin on hip, mouth tugged down in a slightly peeved expression. He also looks looks like he might be wearing panties on his head. Perhaps that's why he's peeved. Maybe he's quietly judging the customers for not having read Moby Dick. In any event, the pizza the whale oversees (overseas?) is mighty tasty - buttery blackened carmelized crust, cheesey saucy deliciousness.

Great Lakes Brewing Company's Dortmunder Gold Lager coupled with the pizza well in its light Pilsner-y-ness. And in that there's fictional character of the same name in some books I have never read.

hot asian buns

In addition to tasty bao, Wow Bao serves homemade ginger ale. Consider this place the new reigning king of yuppie fast food places I like in Chicago having dethroned previous queen, Hannah's Bretzel.

you can go home again and/but you'll be older

On this most recent trip to Omaha, I found myself doing homework at the same coffee shop I studied (and held gainful employment) at in high school. Ten years later and still the same thing but oh-so different.




My sister is just about to enter her early-mid-twenties and is facing that startling, requisite quarter-life-crisis. She said to me, "I just thought I would be in a different place by now." To which I lovingly replied, "When they said that you could be whatever you want, they lied." Perhaps I come off as a cynic, but I think there's something liberating about limitations.

And libations.

My mom, sister, and I finished our mini-pub crawl at the Homy Inn, a small bar in Omaha that has champagne on tap. We split a pitcher of surprisingly decently good bubbly, got some popcorn, played pickles and listened to my mom tell stories about she and my dad before we were born. They knew each other six months before they were married, had their wedding on Wednesday morning, and honeymooned in Jamaica on $160. They were young and in love in the late 70's and drove across the country in a junker. It makes me feel romantic and nostaligic for a time I didn't know.


Before we went Homy, we lounged at the Surfside Club, an Omaha instituion on the banks of the Missouri River. Mooned by a boater? Check. Corn fritters with honey? Check. $7 pitcher of Old Style? Nope, it's PBR now but we still got it.

The pub crawl started at home with lunch with the extended family. My sister and I discovered the new summer beer-verage: Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy. It's like last year's Michelob Tuscan Orange & Grapefruit but better. Perfect to sip with ribs and all the Midwestern Memorial Day meal fixins. This beer brings a sunny disposition.

And even if you're not where you thought you'd be, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy where you've ended up.

lesson 1 for the upcoming festival season

Two Miller Lights is not sufficient alcohol intake to deal with a bouquet of college kids budding in a beer garden.

combinations and divisions

Coincidentally, the day I bought tickets to see Vetiver, Marcus's co-worker recommended a place with amazing steak tacos that was right around the corner from the venue. Vetiver & awesome tacos? Plans made.




It turns out there are actually three locations of La Pasadita within 50 feet of each other which is confusing. Which is the best? What caused the break-up? Family feud? Should we get one taco from all three? We picked the closest one and got a bag fulla carne asada tacos for take-out since there was limited seating. We walked down the street to Rite Liquors which is a bar/liquor store with a big, neon cocktail lounge sign and divey feel. It's the kinda place where the guy beggin for change outside eventually wanders in and has a drink and the bar staff is sweet as schnapps.


Bellied up to the bar, chowin on tacos, and sipping Dos Equis, it felt like drinking in a combination ABC store and my dad's (or perhaps your vaguely creepy uncle's) house. You know, in the good way.



Vetiver played at Chopin, a beautiful theater space in with an Eastern European leaning. While I'm not much of a thee-ah-tah goer (except for of the cheesey musical kind), I would go back to see one of the plays just so I could sit in the space and enjoy another one of the beers they stock in the cafe. I liked the Warka I tried which advertised both a "unique taste beer" and a tribute to Polish revolutionary Kazimierz Pulaski on the label.


Perhaps for our next outing we'll get banh mi, drink Caipirinha, and fly a kite by the lake. Ah, yes, it's all coming together.

i guess no one would eat there if it was called "fat ass"

Some Friday nights are fated to end in take-out and television and for that I am grateful. I am also grateful for Potbelly's milkshakes with cookie-decorated straw. I am not, however, appreciative of the name of the fine establishment. Especially as I'm supine on the couch, remote in hand, full of spicy Italian sub, with crumbs on my pjs.

the grape doesn't fall far from the vine

I really have the most amazing family. Everything you could hope for - smart, loving, comfy hedonists with a penchant for rocknroll who have lived just enough tragi-comic moments to lend credence to a memoir with a true midwestern aesthetic.

My mom spearheaded a cross-country roadtrip from Nebraska to North Carolina with her brother and father with a pitstop in here Chicago. This in and of itself is awesome. We all got together with second-cousin/uncle/future country music chart topper, Bill and his sassy lassy lady friend, LeAnn. Lemme tell you, we had a good time. We had pre-dinner drinks, dinner and drinks, and dessert and drinks. You've gotta take Bill and LeAnn's advice if you go to Bandera. Get the prime rib and grilled artichoke with a 7&7 or dirty martini or glass of wine (or all three) to wash it down. Cheers!

leather and lace

It's all connected you know. The Thermals played at the Bottom Lounge. When we got there, I ordered a Two-Hearted Ale, a hoppy delicious beer that reminded Marcus of his friend Chris. When Chris drinks Two-Hearted Ale, he sings Neutral Milk Hotel's "Two-Headed Boy" along with the name. When I walked in to see The Thermals, I thought of Portland which made me think of Emily and Cindy and Aaron and Carrie. Then as the band started rocking, I reminisced sitting in Andrew's car and hearing this band. I could go on and on...

Beer and Pizza: Pt. 2

I'm anticipating summertime with my mouth watering for heirloom-tomato-and-basil-with-garlic-rubbed-bread sandwiches. After becoming convinced that it doesn't actually get warm and sunny in Chicago, I semi-satiated my longings with Oberon, Bell's light seasonal wheat beer, and pesto, sausage, and spinach pizza covered in a thick tomato sauce. Caffe Florian's cozy, dark wood charms and thick and crispy not doughy pizza crust almost make it ok that I'm not lake beaching and BBQ-ing.

happy hour

At a faux pub, I ordered a decent but fairly boring beer for an afterwork gathering. Both beer and event exceded expectations. Perhaps influencing each other?

i did not pay $50 to see the live performance of This American Life

The Hideout house drink was perfect, simple (rye, soda, bitters, & lemon), and non sequitur ("The Wooden Leg") .

The accompanying entertainment (illustrated tales) was urbane, humane, and witty

with a tinge of requisite awkward adorable overshare.

last taste of winter

Uncommon Ground has their organic rooftop garden started for the season, but it's too early to for the menu to sprout spring flavors. On the first seventy degree day of the year, we closed the evening with the last of winter's foods.

To drink

Midwest Maple Manhattan: death’s door whiskey, maple syrup, chai infused sweet vermouth, maple sugar rim

To appetize

Artisanal Sausage Sampler: wild boar bratwurst, cognac pheasant sausage, market potato salad, pickled vegetables, whole grain mustard

To eat

Crispy Gunthorp Farm Chicken Breast with polenta, wild mushrooms, and brussel sprout salad

To finish sweetly

Chocolate chip banana bread pudding with whiskey gelato & caramel sauce

am so am grateful for - april 10, 2009

Poets of triple fermentation.

Poets of 70's songstress obscurity & fame.

Poets of words.

tourists/townies - april 9, 2009

Like many Chicago tourists, Marcus and I took advantage of Thursday evening free admission to the Art Institute. We got cultured, but didn't belabor the process by seeing everything or staring meaningfully at pieces that held no interest. It turns out that I'm excellent at naming the nameless "Untitled" pieces.

Like many Chicago tourists, we followed-up our art outing with Chicago-style pizza. I'm making it one of my missions to find beer-and-pizza masterpieces.




Pizza: Giordano's Famous Stuffed Pizza - special sans 'shrooms. Okey dokey.

Beer of choice: Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat. I'm a fan of this simple everyday beer.

Bringing it Together - April 3, 2009

Tito Beveridge used his time at the Interview Show to promote living the dream and making it happen. That is, bringing together your loves and building a life from them. Tito likes science and partying so now he makes an oh so smooth vodka out of Austin, TX.

But it's really Tim Tuten who should be my mentor. He's a co-owner of the Hideout and about to be working under Arne Duncan in the Department of Education. That's pretty much living my dream - having a hand in a fun, cozy, music-filled bar and a toe in education policy.

I believe! Soon enough you'll see me by night in own my bar complete with skee-ball, old timey juke box, and deeeelishous local food tidbits. By day, you'll find me researching and suggesting cross-the-lifespan ed policies for social justice.