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!

On Coffee Shops

So my job requires me to work from home.  Everyone I know thinks this is one of the greatest things that could happen to a full-time employee such as myself, but I tell you what, it's really hard.  Especially the first few weeks when we were still in boxes...it was so tempting to stop what I was doing and unpack and set up the house.

But within the last two weeks I've really done a 180 and love my situation.  I get up every morning around 7:30 (something has happened to me post-college; my internal clock has become a responsible one) and get dressed like a normal human being.  I make breakfast and read or look at my friends' blogs (yes, you.)  Then I get to work in the office (D and I's spare bedroom...we each have our own desks), which is finally completely set up and fully functional and organized.  I work til I'm feeling lunchy, then I heat something up and take about a 30-45 minute break and mentally unwind by doing some non-work (ex: this blog post.)  After that I work straight til 5 o'clock, sometime 6 if I'm on a roll, and once I'm done...I'M DONE.  I just walk out of the office and do whatever my heart desires.  No waiting around on the El or being stuck in traffic.  It's great.

Now, there are some downsides.  Sometimes when I'm on the phone with someone important like a potential guest, the cat will come in and meow (so unprofessional), or something around the house will happen that distracts me (neighbors, mail delivery, etc.)  But the hardest thing is not having a water cooler with co-workers scattered around it.  I interacted with my boss through e-mail and phone calls all day, but pretty much the cat is my only company.  Which brings me to the subject of this post:  coffee shops...the work-from-home-er's solution for solitude.

Unfortunately my neighborhood of Logan Square isn't really known for having very many of them.  But there is a place right down the street called My House.  Located on busy/nasty Fullerton Ave, My House is set up to feel like just that: someone's pad.  There are a bunch of beat up couches to sit on and the barista lounges around amongst everyone.  Unfortunately they only offer 5 types of bagged tea and some so-so Mexican pastries.  I haven't had the coffee but I've heard it's pretty bad.  When I went, they were blasting music at an annoying high level and eventually switched it over to blasting an NPR talk show, which made it extremely difficult to think and work.  I commend My House for opening its doors in a neighborhood devoid of coffee shops, but, like most of the people I've discussed it with, it gets a major thumbs down.  At least for working purposes.

Open mic night at My House; photo from their MySpace page.

Another place close by is No Friction Cafe, located at California and Armitage.  This place has the right kind of atmosphere with hip brick walls and plentiful tables and chairs.  I've been several times now and am able to get a lot of work done.  They play terrible music but they keep it so low it disappears when you put your own headphones on.  They serve really great bagel sandwiches and the tea selection is swell.  My only complaint is that, although the name implies smoothness, the atmosphere comes off as kinda annoyed.  Everywhere you look there's some kind of passive-aggressive sign like "We'll serve you when you get off your cell phone," or "DO NOT put too much toilet paper in the toilet!" (p.s.--visit passiveaggressivenotes.com).  The other thing that ticked me off was that they've got this frequent buyers card like some places do and the other day I bought a $5 smoothie and the barista said I couldn't get a stamp because it wasn't coffee or tea.  At five bucks, I'd say I deserved to be one step closer to a free drink.  Oh well.  I'll still go there when I need to get out and don't want to bike far.

No Friction cops a 'tude.

Since my only other option in Logan Square until the new No Wave Cafe opens later this year is Starbucks (and I'll go eventually, just to be fair), sometimes I do venture off to other neighborhoods.  I've been to quite a few of the classic Wicker Park haunts like Swim Cafe, Alliance Bakery, and Lovely.  Lovely definitely tops the list--they've got one mean pb&j and really great loose leaf tea.  

But today I've discovered the grandest of them all (and I type to you from here now).  I was looking for a place this morning where I could get breakfast and a really good cup of joe that had a nice working environment and free wi-fi and I found it x1000.  Cafe Ballou, located at Western and Augusta, is the cutest little cafe I've ever been to in Chicago.  The enthusiastic reviews for the place on Yelp.com were dead on.  Western Ave is one of the nastiest, noisiest streets in Chicago, but when I stepped inside Ballou the warm yellow globes of light that hang from the ceiling French cafe style and soft Django Reinhardt tunes put me in a pleasant and productive mood.  I had a great egg and cheese breakfast croissant and am enjoying a very delicious mocha latte.  The staff is sooo friendly and there are many local Ukrainians who stop in and it's fun to hear them converse in their language.  And, they even put a copy of Jeffrey Brown's Clumsy in the restroom which gives them one billion more coolness points.

Hello from Cafe Ballou

So, now that my "lunch break" is over I'm going to get back to work.  By the way, here's a direct link to the latest episode of Business Matters, the show I produce.  This episode is on travel and features the founder of CouchSurfing.com, the president of Megabus, a representative from Virgin America Airlines, and Logan Square's own Ryan Wilson, avid couch surfer.

Thank God It's F-R-I-D-E-E!

Dave, who has been in the real live 9 to 5 working working much longer than I, insists that Friday nights are the worst night of the week.  There's this part of you that says, "You must go out tonight, it's the end of the week--live it up!" while at the same time you're tired from working all day and just want to relax.  I used to dub this 6th day disaster "Freaky Fridees."  I never had them because I occupied myself with doing my radio show every Fridee night back in Lawrence...meanwhile 600 miles away in Chicago, Dave attempted a Fridee Dinner Club that only had one meeting after its inception.

Well, now that we're up here together this has all changed.  Fridays have become this glorious time to take off to the town and live it up together, no holds barred (we purchased sweets twice last night).

 

Last night at my new favorite-place-to-watch-a-movie-ever, the Music Box Theatre, we enjoyed the new Fatih Akin film, The Edge of Heaven.  I've seen two of Akin's previous films, and I'd have to say this is his best yet.  It was especially fun for me since I speak a little Turkish and was able to get more meaning out of the scenes when the characters would switch between speaking Turkish, German, and English.

Afterwards we met up with our beautifully pregnant pal, Emily, for dinner at Harmony Grill (attached to the venue Schuba's).  After being immersed in Turkey for two hours, the pistachio chicken special sounded like the perfect meal and was.  The only mistake we made was sitting outside...Harmony Grill is located right by obnoxious Wrigleyville (a neighborhood that's like a fraternity without a university) and all these drunk jerks on party trolleys would scream at us when they came by.  

The night ended with a visit to Julius Meinl, a Viennese cafe that's open late and serves utterly decadent sweets and specialty coffee and teas.  I had the banana hazelnut mousse and could have cried from joy; it was amazing.

Almost too pretty to eat... Almost.

Yes, Freaky Fridees are now Fun Fridees, but even better, they turn into...Sleep-in Saturdays!