Weekend recap…rain, food, museums, rain, shopping, food and more rain

It was busy weekend for me, as I had my friend Marcie in town visiting. Marcie and I went to Bethany together, and we always have a great time no matter what. Even if the rain and inclimate weather made for damp excusions.

On Friday, we braved the drizzle and went downtown to the Art Institute and the MCA. It’s been ages since I’ve been to either, and I must say the exhibits at the Art Institute were fantastic. I was a tad dissapointed in the antiquities wing, where Ancient Egypt, Greec and Rome made up an entire section on their own, but the Impressionists collections as always had me in awe.

The MCA is currently home to Jeff Koon’s work, which was a tad surreal. A mixture of inflatible sculpture, basketballs in aquariums and porn, it was scattered and not as mind blowing as I anticipated. I also have to say that it must be on the application to work at the MCA that one must be an 80’s goth reject. Overall, the whole museum was pretentious with little flare. Yawn.

We ended our day’s excusion with cocktails at the Hancock Signature Room. The rain and clouds kept us from getting to see the view it’s known for, but we shared a giggle over the peculiar and drunken couple that sat across from us near the window. We couldn’t figure out if it was a first date gone strange or if the guy was the woman’s professor, and she was trapped on an extra curricular dating excursion.

Saturday I had to work briefly, and after I got home we headed to Indie for sushi. While the experience as always was great, I did note that I thought it was a different sushi chef working, since my Hellstone Maki was not as finessed as it had been on our past two trips there. We also learned that Hand Roll does not refer to sushi being hand rolled, but rather sushi in a burrito style hand held roll. The stunned and perplexed expressions on our faces when our hand roll was delievered to the table said it all. My recommendation: go to Indie for great sushi, but skip the crazy tuna hand roll. Blah.

Marcie and Rick called it a night after Indie, but I ventured out in the monsoon to Piece over in Wicker Park, where I joined Brian and Sara for Sara’s 28th birthday bash. The pizza was divine, and the micro brews they served were interesting. The heferweisen that Brian and I indulged in later in the evening had a surreal bubble gum taste and mouth feel to it! What made the excursion even more intersting is that about 10:30 ish, Rock and Roll kareoke started. For those not in the know… a live band, armed with a small catalogue of varied rock tunes, played back up to the drunken  ones who tried in vain to belt a tune in tune. While most of the singers left a bit to be desired (and there were certainly a few performances that completely ruined certain songs for me), the female guitarist was on fire! I complimented her later, and noted she should be fronting her own band. Go for the good pizza, the fun beers, and, even if you aren’t a karoke fanatic, just to see Lauren jam.

Sunday took us to m. henry for brunch, when as always, the food was fantastic! Dan, one of the managers there, also is a Bethanian like Marcie and I, and showed us the new back patio they just finished. If you have never been to m. henry for brunch, you must must must go. Simply my favorite brunch spot in the city.

Shopping was how we spent the rest of our day, as Marcie and I hit several consignment shops in Lakeview. We were good, and kept the damage to a minimum. We came home to Rick making crawfish ettoufee, which put a perfect cap on the evening and the weekend.

And today… the rain has stopped, i’m back to work, and Marcie has headed home. Time for me to recover, and get ready for my mom’s visit this weekend. Yeah!

Ice Cold In Chicago

This past weekend brought a rather nasty cold spell that left the temperatures hovering around 7° F. Jeez, I hate to even think about venturing outdoors when it’s in the single digits, but Sunday morning saw me out and about twice.

At 7:30am, I headed to Ginger’s Ale House on Ashland where I joined Alan and the rest of the soccer fans to cheer on Manchester United as they played Manchester City. For those who are going, huh?… let me clarify: we like to watch the original football- English Premier League soccer matches. Being a fan of soccer for a long time, Alan got me to join him to cheer on his favorite team a couple of years back. As a result, I became hooked, and now will get up at what Rick and Alan’s wife Erin call ‘ungodly’ hours to go watch the Red Devils (hopefully) kick ass.

This Manchester derby match was particularly poignant this Sunday, as it was the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, where a plane crashed as it was taking off and killed 23 people on board, 8 of whom were Man United’s Busby Babes. A victory over Man City would have been a fitting cap to the tribute that was held. Alas, not so much, as they lost 2-1, and fell to second place in the Premiership.

After the match, I returned home and coaxed Rick out of bed and out to brunch at M Henry, one of our favorite Andersonville breakfast spots. The food was amazing: Rick had the apple and brie french toast, and I had the shrimp, asparagus and mushroom omlette with lobster sauce and salmon caviar. I also had a chance to see an old college alum of mine, Dan, who manages the front of house there. Definitely worth the trip into the deep freeze.

The only sour point of the excursions, besides the biting wind that cut through my jeans and nearly burnt my lips, was the fact that Rick and I had to dodge the occasional strip of sidewalk that some lazy git didn’t bother to shovel or salt, and with the fluctuating temps had become dangerous sheets of ice. It cracks me up, the crazy fucks of this city: they will spend hours cleaning out a parking spot and loading it with signs and junk to protect it, but the sidewalk in front of their home? Not a chance. And these sheets of ice are dangerous. One good spill and it’s a leg cast for 12 weeks like my friend Steven.

I think the most blatant example of this is actually on my block, where the owners of a building actually shoveled from their front door to the walk beside their house, but left the strip in front completely untouched. What a good neighbor, so concerned for himself but screw the rest of the block. As clumsy as I am, I’m so afraid of slipping and breaking something. However, if I do, they are so paying for the ER visit.

Rick and I are so conscientious of making sure the front of our building is clear, and the last time he shoveled he even cleared a path in front of the empty house to the left. “At the very least, our mail carrier will appreciate the path,” he reasoned, and I couldn’t agree more. I know we appreciated it on the way to M Henry. And even if they didn’t think about it at the time, I’m sure every person who walks down the block and manages to make it across some lazy home owner’s sidewalk ice trap looks ahead and is thankful for the path that is clear ahead.