Crosswalks to Nowhere

More Birthday Goodness

2010-03-03T04:22:22Z

This past weekend my daughter Becca turned 18. "Impossible," I say-- it was just a few weeks ago that I brought her home in a carrier that I could hold in one hand.

On Sunday, that same kid ate her fill of bacon-wrapped filet mignon, garlic sirloin, and and a bunch of delicious stuff from the salad bar at Texas de Brazil in Schaumburg. Lisa and I each enjoyed a lovely caipirinha with our meal.

We also ran into an old friend: Nick, the former owner of CNA Snack Shop in Arlington Heights is one of the managers at Texas de Brazil. We didn't recognize him with his perfectly-pressed suit: we we used to seeing him behind the grill.

A great way to wrap up a two-birthday week!

Birthday

2010-02-24T04:22:22Z

Today is my birthday. I won't go into numbers.

Lisa made this wonderful Tres Leches cake for me, and she and the kids got me some great presents, of which you'll see more here in the very near future.

We also tried the new Asian place in town, Red Lantern which was very good. You'll be hearing more about that place soon, too.

That's it for now. Time to enjoy and reflect.

Valentine's Cake

2010-02-17T04:22:22Z

Valentine's Day dinner was my doing this year. I made Chicken Parmesan (a modified version of the too-complicated Cook's Illustrated version) and this awesome dessert: Flourless Chocolate Cake. I got this recipe from Les Nomades, a wonderful restaurant in Chicago that we reviewed on an episode of our Cheap Date podcast.

What you see above are some of the raw ingredients for the cake. Five full-sized Lindt 70% Cocoa bars made the foundation for this dessert. Read on for the recipe and more photos.

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Les Nomades Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

- 2 cups finely chopped fine quality Chocolate 70% cacao (five full-sized Lindt bars did the trick) - 1/2 cup cacao powder - 1 cup soft butter - about room temperature - 1 pinch of salt - 1/2 tsp vanilla extract - (other flavorings such as Gran Marnier or Rhum may be added at this point; be careful: moderate amount) - 1 cup egg whites - 1/2 cup sugar

Procedure

Prepare 9 to 10 inch spingform mold by brushing with butter and dusting with flour or by lining with parchment paper. Melt chopped chocolate in a bowl (covered) over warm water or in a low heated oven (less than 200 F.) When melted stir in cacao powder, blend in butter, add pinch of salt and vanilla.

Whip egg whites to soft peaks (a dusting of cream of tartar or squeeze of lemon juice may be added in this process). Add sugar, a little in the beginning and the rest gradually as whites begin to mount.

Chocolate mixture should not be too warm as you incorporate egg whites gently, a little a first, then the rest, gently, careful not to deflate whipped egg whites.

Turn the mixture into to the prepared mold and then into the oven for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees. After removing from the oven, allow the mold to cool briefly on a wire rack before releasing the cake.

Serve still warm with fresh raspberries, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. J'adore le chocolat!

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And now the photos:

The chopped chocolate bars, ready for the boiler.

Hah-- the chocolate is no match for the power of my GE gas range.

Eggwhites.

Folding in the egg whites. I was ready to just stop right here and sit on the couch with the wooden spoon.

The finished mixture in a 10-inch springform, ready for the oven.

40 minutes later... looking good!

A dollop of whipped cream... and you're all set. Happy Valentine's Day!

Snowstorm

2010-02-10T04:22:22Z

Here are some photos taken around town this evening.

Clark

2010-02-03T04:22:22Z

Clark ponders a February afternoon.

Greektown- Then and Now

2010-01-27T04:22:22Z

I took the photo above sometime in 1983-- probably in the Spring. This is a view looking north on Halsted around Jackson Blvd.

A couple interesting points about this shot: the Greek Islands restaurant had just moved to their new location at Halsted and Adams, and they were in the process of painting a new mural on their building and water tower. There was previously a mural for a Danny Boy / Texaco station (see here for an interesting article about Dan Terzakis, the Danny Boy mogul) on the wall, so the interim message turned out kind of funny.

That mural and water tower weren't touched again until the past couple of years, when they sandblasted the Greek Islands mural. The water tower still has the 1983 paint job.

Here's a view of (almost) the same spot in January 2010:

It's interesting to see the changes that took place in 25-plus years: the streetlamps are upgraded; there are trees on the sidewalks; the transient hotels (the "New Jackson" is on the right) are gone, as is the Currency Exchange. Roditys Restaurant, on the left side of the street, is still there and doing grand business.

Some technical notes: the original photo was shot with a Pentax K1000 on Tri-X film. I was a student at UIC at the time, and I developed and printed this photo myself. I scanned the print for this blog entry. The 2010 shot was taken with my Canon PowerShot A720IS digital camera.

Abandoned Gas Station

2010-01-20T04:22:22Z

Here's another photo from my archives.

This is an abandoned Shell gas station that was somewhere near the Wisconsin Dells. I wish I had put more of the building in the photo, but as I recall it had almost entirely collapsed.

I took this photo one morning in August, 1983 with a Pentax K1000 and Kodacolor VR (probably 200 ASA) film. This was scanned from the original print.

On a related note, I sent over 2000 images (color photo negatives and slides, as well as some black and white negatives) to be scanned at ScanCafe.com. Some of these go back as far as 1976. Within the next couple of months you can expect to see those, including a cleaned-up version of this shot.

Chicago Blizzard of 1979

2010-01-13T04:22:22Z

31 years ago a snowstorm began in Chicago. It ended three days later, and by that time 21 inches of snow had fallen. And this was on top of the 7 to 10 inches that were already on the ground from a storm on New Year's Eve.

I was in high school at the time, and that's my red 1974 VW Super Beetle under the white blanket. While VWs weren't the best cold-weather cars (mostly due to their lack of heat), I will say that I was able to crawl through the streets while friends of mine in their rear-wheel drive cars cut donuts in the snow.

These photos were shot between January 12-14 1979 and give an idea of just how much we had to deal with.

This is one of my favorites: my sister Marybeth looking eye-level at our dog, Nicky. Nicky was "playing in the yard."

So far, Chicago's had a cold winter with a fair amount of snow, but I hope these photos will help the complainers keep perspective.

Before She Worked at The Cheesecake Factory

2010-01-06T04:22:22Z

I was watching an old episode of Northern Exposure and discovered this scene of Shelly talking with her as-yet unborn daughter. Fans of The Big Bang Theory on CBS will recognize the little girl as Kaley Cuoco, "Penny" on the show. Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

Resolved: A Happy New Year

2009-12-30T04:22:22Z

I don't make New Year's Resolutions.

I realize that many people use the end of the year as their reflect-and-recharge period, where they review the previous year and determine what changes they want to make in the following year. That's good, and I wish those people all the power in the world to make it happen.

That said, I think there are many more people who dive headlong into the excesses of the holiday season-- some starting as far back as Halloween-- and pull all the stops and overindulge for the next several weeks, using the excuse that their New Year's Resolution will be to go to the gym every night, get on Weight Watchers, and only eat Lean Cuisines.

And in many cases, that's exactly what these people do, and the stores and health clubs love it. Walk into any store the day after Christmas and you'll see aisles of SlimFast shakes, Alli (if they even sell that stuff any more), and tons of As-Seen-On-TV exercise devices. I have to adjust my workout schedule this time of year because my gym is always packed right after January 1.

Then, predictably, we start to approach Spring Break time and the healthy displays at the stores go away and the crowds at the health club start to dissipate. And I'm able to get a bike in cycling class 5 minutes before it starts rather than having to get there an hour early. After April 1, we're guaranteed to be back to business-as-usual.

The turning of the calendar page is as good a time as any to make a change, but I believe that if a change needs to be made in my life I should make it as soon as possible once it's identified. Life certainly doesn't care what page is showing on your calendar, so why use that to determine when you want to improve something in your life? When I think back on all the major changes I've made in my life over the years, none of them were based on the calendar (and by extension, none of them were New Year's Resolutions): changing jobs, changing relationships, changing my approach to what and how I eat and drink, how often I exercise: every single one of these significant lifestyle changes came about when I decided it was time to do it.

Lisa and I recently completed an exercise where we cleared out every storage space in the house and got rid of a whole bunch of unused things. This wasn't a "2010" thing-- it was a "we've got the time to do it now, so let's do it" thing.

So as we approach 2010, I recommend you resolve just one thing: to recognize a need for change in your life and to do it without waiting for the calendar to turn over.

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve, and here's to kicking off 2010 as a great year!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T04:22:00Z

Merry Christmas, everyone! Here are some photos of North School Park for your enjoyment.

A Holiday Tradition

2009-12-16T04:22:22Z

We spent the weekend in downtown Chicago, one of our holiday traditions.

This year, we decided to try and leave a smaller carbon footprint while enjoying our time. First, Becca drove us to the Arlington Heights Metra station (an advantage of having a teenaged daughter who drives) and we took the train downtown. Once at Ogilvie, we took a CTA bus which landed us within a few blocks of our hotel.

We walked the rest of the day, and then took a bus which dropped us near the Greek Islands (another favorite), and caught another one back to the hotel. A train ride back to Arlington and another lift from Becca on Sunday afternoon brought the trip full circle.

Not only were we trying to accomplish a more "green" excursion, but we also saved the valet fee downtown and most of all, proved that it could be done: making the trip without driving into and around the city.

Happy holidays!

Changing of the Guard

2009-12-09T04:22:22Z

While Winter doesn't officially begin for a few weeks, we've already had our first snowfall and cold snap.

The gourd in this photo is still targeted to have its seeds roasted. I hope the pumpkin thaws so we can get them out.

Let The Holidays Begin

2009-12-02T04:22:22Z

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend, although it started a bit rocky with some furnace issues.

The family came over here on Thursday for dinner, we got our tree and started decorating on Friday, and on Friday night we drove to Indiana to spend time in the now-barren cornfields.

And now the holiday season is in full-swing. Let's make it a happy one!

Beaujolais Nouveau 2009

2009-11-25T04:22:22Z

It's that time of year again-- the third Thursday in November brings the annual release of Beaujolais Nouveau. We always sample several wines and select the one we'll serve at Thanksgiving dinner.

Beaujolais Nouveau is a simple, young, and unpretentious wine which is perfect for the holidays. It goes well with just about anything, including this lovely pizza from Dondi's:

This year, we tried the wines from four vineyards: Louis Tête, Joseph Drouhin, Georges DuBoeuf, and Thorin. While DuBoeuf is the most popular brand, you'll find several brands in your local store, and this year's wine is very good, so you won't go wrong regardless of the brand you choose.

We selected the Thorin (from World Market) for this year's dinner, as it has just the right balance of sweetness and dryness.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and bon appetit!