I never knew how to either

This post was originally a response to my good friend Haley's new blog, in which she stated randomly that she does not know how to grocery shop.  In fact, my sister has called me several times in our "adult" lives frustrated with her inability to complete this feat successfully as well.  I was once in their shoes.  But I have finally figured out this enigmatic activity with a little practice and help from my living partner.  If you find yourself feeling your soul being destroyed amongst stacks of canned tomatoes and asian sauces, please, read on.

How to go grocery shopping

by Me (taught under the guidance of D. S. Gunn, real live grown-up):

1. Pick a weekly time that you will always do your grocery shopping. Some like to shop on Sundays, but this usually means crowded aisles. Saturday afternoons are not bad. Always try to go on whichever day you pick every week.

2. Pick out about 4 recipes*. Go through cookbooks. Search online. Bonus if you find recipes that share ingredients.

3. MAKE A LIST. Compile your list of only the things that are needed to make your recipes. Then add in the weekly essentials such as milk, bread, eggs, etc. Always write down "fruit."

4. Go to the closest store with the best prices. Buy everything that's on your list. Don't buy anything that's not on your list.

5. Grocery shopping complete! Money saved! Time saved!

*I say 4 recipes because that's the usual lifetime of some of the fresher things you might need to buy from the store. You also have to account for get-togethers during the week where you won't need to cook dinner, and thus don't need a recipe.

It's impossible!!

A totally ridiculous find in Andersonville that should not have been purchased and/or eaten.  I need help.

So after hitting an all-time low of eating 3 cupcakes from 2 different bakeries in one day (one before breakfast and two after dinner), I stepped atop the scale last night and discovered that I have, in fact, gained 7 pounds since moving to Chicago.

This town is EAT CITY, USA!  There are so many places to eat it's ridiculous/amazing.  I don't know if it's because I live in such an environment, or because it's my first few months post-graduation and I have the money, or a combination of the two but I eat out waaay too much and I always get whatever the hell I want without thinking about it.  And this especially applies to sweets.

So after yesterday's cupcake meltdown, I decided to tone it down with the sugar.  I'm just trying to go ONE DAY without eating any sugar at all in any form.  It's impossible!!  Everything has sugar in it...cereal, bread, crackers, soup, fruit, and on.  Here's what I've managed to find in the house to eat today:

Breakfast: Shredded wheat, walnuts, flaxseed, and milk (this was actually pretty good and gave me hope this morning)

Lunch:  Goat cheese by itself (because everything I wanted to spread it on top of had sugar in it), a can of sardines in hot sauce, some (most likely expired) yogurt.

I'm frustrated, chubby, and headed towards a life of diabeetus.

The Housewarming Party That Will Eventually Happen

A few days from now will mark my 2nd full month living in Chicago, and thus Dave and I's 2nd full month living in our apartment and we stiiiillllllllll haven't had our housewarming party yet.  Why?

This is why:

No back porch.  Who wants to go to a party in the summertime with no back porch?   They tore it down in May (top right is our kitchen door) and said 1-2 weeks tops to rebuild the new one.  I doubt we'll even get to enjoy the new porch at all this summer...it wouldn't surprise me if they finished up this fall.  They only come to work on it once a week, if that.

Anyway, on a more positive note, I'm going through a hardcore 90s dance phase/Genesis phase and so when we DO have our housewarming party, I plan to end the night dancing with our friends to a set list mostly comprised of these songs.  In addition to purchasing Genesis's INVISIBLE TOUCH on vinyl, I went on an iTunes downloading spree yesterday.  Here's what I got so far:

"I Got a Man" by Positive K

"Show Me Love" by Robin S.

"I've Been Thinking About You" by Londonbeat

"Touch Me (All Night Long)" by Cathy Dennis

"Finally" by Ce Ce Peniston

"Regulate" by Warren G & Nate Dogg

"Tell It To My Heart" by Taylor Dayne

On my next spree, I plan on downloading this:

Trader Joe's: Thumbs Up

I know many people have been to Trader Joe's long before I've typed this post, but gimme a break, I'd never been before.  Until yesterday.

Trader Joe's is awesome!  There are so many delicious treats...like a whole aisle of chocolate covered anything and really pure fruit juices...and it's all so cheap (for the most part)!  

It's definitely not a one-stop shop to knock everything off your grocery list, but if you're having a get-together, I couldn't imagine a better place.  I like ya, Trader Joe's.

P.S.--I got these white chocolate pistachio cookies and they are like porn for tastebuds.  They're so good you'll eat enough to start feeling dirty and ashamed.

pic courtesy of eBay...yeah, they're selling these things on eBay!

Stimulate this.

I got my George Bush monies yesterday.  I'm going to put it towards a health insurance policy.  Who says there's no free healthcare in America?

Ugh.  

Thing is, I have really no idea how to attain the best healthcare coverage.  My employer is a one-man operation so no health insurance through work which is why I have to do it on my own.  And you know what is one of the least fun activities in the world?  Looking for individual health insurance policies.

At least my dad will stop lecturing me about it once I get covered.  Wish me luck.

Bike Weekend USA

Fridee:

Went bowling with Gabe, Chris Shively, some Dutch girls, and a bunch of ex-Lawrencians.  It was great to see Gabe, he'll be moving up here soon.  This town is perfect for him.  Shively is a gas...to this day I still can't stop thinking he looks like Cameron Frye.  Met a sweetheart ex-larry named Jenna who I remember from before but have never been introduced til this weekend.  She's going to be Gabe's new roomie down in Wicker Park so perhaps our paths will cross again.  

By the way, one of the coolest places to bowl is Lincoln Square Lanes.  Hasn't been redecorated since the 70s.  Sits on the second floor above a hardware store.  Totally awesome.

Ended the night with "dinner" (fried bar food) at a pub called the Leadway.  Luckily we rode our bikes, otherwise I probably would have experienced a coma from all the grease.

Saturdee:

Back on the bikes, the mister and I rode down to the Music Box to see Werner Herzog's new documentary Encounters at the End of the World.  There are some amazing shots...I've always been fascinated with the idea of Antarctica.  It's pretty much the closest thing on earth to being on the moon and the idea that, although very unlikely, I could technically visit there makes me very enamored with the place.

In other news, Werner Herzog is the biggest hipster on earth.  He's also a total asshole sometimes.  He makes fun of the people he interviews in the film constantly and pretty much acts too cool for Antarctica (pun intended).  But in the end, this is one of the things that makes the film interesting.

After the movie we sit down at the 'ol Julius Meinl for dinner, tea, dessert and a 3.5 hour conversation and decide we're going to India sometime in the near future.

Sundee:

Although many religions believe in rest on the sabbath day, we hit the roads on our bikes again, this time to see the new documentary about Hunter S. Thompson, Gonzo....  It was terrific.

My friend Adam (Bemis) was in town for a wedding.  He's a great guy and always really fun to talk to so we met up with him and some other folks for margaritas and Mexican food.  Adam and Gabe are really good friends and they both happened to be in Chicago at the same time but just barely missed each other.  

Anyway, we ate out way too much this weekend and this morning Dave woke up with a burrito hangover.  We've vowed to cool it with the eating out from now on.  I'm about to make a spinach artichoke pasta salad for dinner to teach us a lesson.

Next weekend:  Joe and Anastasia stay at the Two Noses Inn for Pitchfork and big city fun and French consulate-ing.  Dave and I are totally going to see Public Enemy and it is going to ROCKROCKROCK!

Chopped and much cooler

Alright, so I highly recommend the highly recommended Sine Qua Non Salons.  Just got back from the Lincoln Park location this evening and I don't miss my old knotted mop one bit!  Check out my new summer 'do!

hellllp meeeee!

So fresh and so clean clean

Thank you, Kimberly, at Sine for the terrific new hairstyle!

Chop It Like It's Hot

I've been threatening this for a long time now and finally the day has come.  I'm chopping off all my hair this evening at 5pm.  I got an appointment at the very highly recommended Sine Qua Non Salon in Lincoln Park and apparently the stylist I'm seeing was voted as In Style Magazine's top Chicago stylist.  So I should be in good hands.

I've been growing my hair out for two years now but it's just become completely knotted and unmanageable.  Plus, I feel that I'm more of a short-haired personality now.  I've grown up, graduated from college, moved to the big city...just like in the 1920s, when you're no longer a leetle girl, off with the hair!

Of course the "Katie" is really popular right now and I have a square face like she does, but my sister claims my hair is way too poofy to pull that one off (she's probably right).  There's also Audrey Tautou's cutie-pie 'dos (and I'm not talking Amelie).  But, you know, it's so hard to just see the hair cut and not think, "If I make my hair look like this, then my face will transform and look as purty as hers too!"

Anyway, it's summer.  Who wants a tangled hot mess on top of their noggin right now?  Not I!  Wish me luck!  Will post pics tomorrow if it turns out well!

ze Katie?

or ze Audrey?

Jasmine!

Jasmine and me, 1986-ish

My little sister Jasmine and her boyfriend Mike are going to be here at 1pm today!  She just landed her first real job post-college and is spending her last weekend of freedom with us in Chicago (her first time up here).  

She's going to be working for one of the bigger pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. and it turns out her training will be in Arizona and she has to fly out there at 8pm Sunday night!  And, er, she arrives back home in Houston from Chicago at 4pm Sunday afternoon!  She bought the tickets to Chicago before finding out about this Arizona thing.  My dad was in Europe at the time but had he been stateside she totally would have called him for advice and he totally would have talked her out of coming to Chicago all together (which is silly, but us Bascis always play it safe).  Last night my dad and I chatted on the phone and when he found out about this 4pm/8pm thing he sent an e-mail out to both of us saying Jasmine should just fly back home on Saturday.  She's not going to, but both of us are now in freak out mode about Sunday.  What if she doesn't make it back in time to catch her flight to Arizona?  Why is it that parents are always able to induce panic in strategic ways?

Anyway, it turns out that there are limited openings at the Houston location for this new job, so after training there is a slight possibility she might have to work in her second choice city...which is:  CHICAGO!  So this trip is kinda important.  I can't even imagine living in the same town as my sister again!  I'm pretty excited about this possibility but I don't want to get my hopes up.

Anyway, here is our itinerary for today.  Yes, I made one, like a crazy person.  And I wrote it on a restaurant check thingy which is cool in my book and consequently cancels out the crazy.

Thanks, Melissa, for yoinking me a pad of GuestChecks from Genovese or Jo Schmo's, can't remember which.

I'm having so much fun up here...

...but it doesn't mean I don't miss my friends back in Kansas.

(playing around with my MacBook the night before I left for Chicago)

Weekend in Review

Fridee:

1. Dinner with Emily and Josh (and technically their unborn little guy) at Upudi Palace, yummy southern Indian cuisine on Devon Ave.

2. Movies in the Park:  E.T. the Extraterrestrial at Sauganash Park, a great time with the exception of all the hungry hungry mosquitos.

Big mama dosai at Udupi Palace

Saturdee:

1. Brunch with the lovely Laura P. at my now forever favorite place ever, Julius Meinl.  Ate a delicious baked banana french toast and shared an almond croissant.  A lovely time with the exception of our brain dead waitress.

2. Laura and I head to amazing Farmer's Market Garden Center on Elston Ave.  Laura invests in a Better Boy tomato plant.  I invest in mint: peppermint for us, catmint for my little Miro.

3.  Back at home, the latest Netflix arrival is PRIMECUT, featuring forever badass Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman.  Totally a guy's movie (there's a scene with naked chicks laying in hay in a barn while men in cowboy hats eat plates piled high with meat), but there are some great shots of Kansas City and Chicago throughout the film.  The mister and I spend the rest of the evening calling each other, "You 'ol sow-belly pig, you!"

4. The mister and I head on a blastin' speed grocery run to Treasure Island, Whole Foods, and Stanley's Fruit and Vegetables.  I've heard about Stanley's for quite some time now and it's as awesome as it was described.  Ridiculously cheap produce, non-stop 80s music over the loudspeakers.

5. We meet back up with Laura and her best pals Max and Jess for an awesome night at Smart Bar, where New Order/Joy Division's brilliant bassist Peter Hook does a DJ set that had us dancing for at least two hours straight, no stopping.  I seriously weigh 2 pounds less this week from all the exercise.

Yeah, Hooky!

Sundee

1. Spend the afternoon finishing this photo frame project I've been working on and tidying up the house for our first official dinner guests, my pals Haley and Jason who I've known for years from my Kansas City days.

2. Haley and Jason come over for D's delicious Gado Gado, some fruit salad, and mojitos.  We talk about wolf whistlers, raw coffee, and punk rock bakeries.

Gado Gado, pre-peanut sauce 

Next weekend:  my sister spends her last weekend of freedom (just landed her first real job!) with us in Chicago!