Ode to the Suet-Filled Spongecake Crisco Logs

Business, The Punk Epicure Comments Off
Nov 172012

As I write this, the snack-cake eating world is in a panic over the demise of Hostess, the company that makes, among other things, Twinkies. There have been runs on the products, and people all over Facebook and Twitter are lamenting their downfall.

(I’ve been more of a Ho-Ho kind of guy, but I left convenience store snack cakes in my rear-view mirror a while ago.)

The likelihood of someone’s buying up the brands and cooking up the “goodness” again is pretty high, as this article by the Associated Press explains.

All this kerfuffle reminded me of an article called “Twinkie, Twinkie, Little Suet-Filled Sponge Cake Crisco Log, Now I Know Just What You Are” in the July 1989 issue of Spy magazine. In the piece, authors Jane and Michael Stern talk about the mystique around Twinkies and the various attempts people have made to recreate them in their homes.

And if you’ve managed to score some of the golden cakes, be sure to run some experiments as shown on the T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project site.

In the meantime, just sit back and wait: they will be back.

Posted by jtl at 12:44 pm Tagged with: , ,

Presto-Change-o

General, Photography Comments Off
Jul 242012

We bought a new canopy for our gazebo, and take a look at the effect it has on the color of everything on our patio.

These photos were taken within 30 minutes of each other, and I didn’t do any Photoshop wizardry on them. Nice effect, I think.

(For those of you who came here via Google-Fu, this is a Target Madaga Gazebo, Style #L-GZ136PST-7. This canopy came from Garden Winds, and is in the “terra cotta” color. The replacement canopy fits perfectly {both top and bottom sections} and it seems very well-made.)

Posted by jtl at 10:22 pm

The Ever-Changing World of Chicago Radio

Chicago, Entertainment & The Arts, In The Media Comments Off
Jul 172012

It took about a year for the plug to be pulled on an ambitious (or some would say ridiculous) project: FM News 101.1. As of today, you will hear music on 101.1 FM instead of talk.

The CEO of the station’s owner cited “lack of audience engagement” as one of the reasons: that’s doubletalk for “people weren’t listening.” Here’s a link to Robert Feder’s play-by-play of the demise of the station.

When I first wrote about the station last year I indicated that I actually wanted to see the station succeed. They seemed a little light on substance and resorted to a bunch of hackneyed gimmicks but my hope was that station management would learn that Chicago radio audiences were more sophisticated, and that the real opportunity for News 101.1 was to fill a niche between WBBM and WBEZ. They opted to swing in the wrong direction entirely.

I did tune in to the station occasionally, mostly when I missed WBBM’s Traffic and Weather report, because News 101.1′s reports were now on the Ones.

101.1 now plays a mixture of 80s and 90s music in kind of an odd mishmash of styles designed to appeal to 30-35 year-old-women (correction provided by my wife, who’s in that demographic).

And so we keep spinning the dial…

Posted by jtl at 10:22 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Active Recovery

General, Sportin' Comments Off
Jul 102012

I wrote this piece as my submission to the the3sixfive project. It was published today on their site, and I’m presenting it here to you.

“Active Recovery” is what personal trainers call it: that’s when you follow a particularly intense training period with one that’s a little easier on your muscles, giving you the chance to recover without losing momentum.

I was halfway through my early-morning bike ride in Busse Woods when I dialed down the intensity to catch my breath. In a moment of clarity (this was at 5:45 AM and I was still an hour away from my first cup of coffee, so this is significant) I realized that the idea of the “active recovery” is as much a part of my everyday life as it is to my workouts.

Last week, I left my position at a company where I worked for six years. For most of that time I was in a role that had me on the phone with London at 2:00 AM, in the office in Chicago at 6:30 AM, and on the phone again with Asia at 7:00 PM. I was the guy you’d see on the train with a Bluetooth in his ear and occasionally saying “Can we get back to the issue?” If there were a corporate-equivalent “26.2” sticker I certainly deserved to have dozens of them splattered on the side of my briefcase.

When I resigned to accept a role at a new company I decided to take a week off in between. And true to form I’ve been getting up with my alarm at 4:30, only now my race is to the forest preserve instead of Metra. While my wife is at work, I’m managing the details of the family reunion we’re hosting this weekend, catching up on my not-for-profit work, and fixing things around the house. So while I’m not spending this week fire-walking through the corporate world, I’ve turned to family, home, community, and the pedals of my Specialized Allez to recharge.

On Monday morning I’ll be at a new desk with a new phone number and a new company name on my business cards, and I’ll be ready for whatever challenges come my way, thanks to my Active Recovery.

The rest of my morning ride went beautifully, and I even set a new personal record.

Posted by jtl at 10:22 pm Tagged with: , , ,

A HiFi from Don Draper's Apartment

Dude, I Forgot About That!, General, Technology Comments Off
Jul 032012

We recently found this hifi in a local thrift shop, and after a little cleanup it now sits in our living room.

It definitely has the Mad Men-era design, which we think is a pretty cool look.

Click here to read more about it at joesradiopage.com.

Posted by jtl at 10:22 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Morning Greenery

General, Photography Comments Off
Jun 262012

Since it’s been so dry here in the Chicago area, I’ve been up every morning around 5:00 am watering all the plants around the house. We put in a bunch of new stuff out front and it would be a shame if it all dried up.

This is what the ornamental grass along our driveway looked like early one morning. It was so peaceful to be out there at that hour, and when I saw the way the water was clinging to the blades of grass I had to get the camera.

Posted by jtl at 10:22 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Silent Summer 2012

Chicago, Entertainment & The Arts Comments Off
Jun 192012



The Silent Film Society of Chicago just announced its lineup for their summer film festival, one of our favorite events of the season. The festival runs on Friday nights from July 20 through August 24 at the Portage Theater in Chicago.

This year will bring us some comedy from Harold Lloyd, some action from Douglas Fairbanks, drama and mystery from John Barrymore and adventure from Fritz Lang along with other great stuff.

Click on the image above to see all the details.. See you there!

Posted by jtl at 10:22 pm Tagged with: , ,

Revere Eight

Dude, I Forgot About That!, General, Photography, Technology Comments Off
Jun 122012

This is the Revere Eight 8mm movie camera my dad used since the 1950s to capture our family events. It’s because of this that all my childhood memories look like The Wonder Years.

He gave me this camera a few years ago, and I hope to one day get it working again.

Posted by jtl at 10:22 pm Tagged with: , , ,

Chicago Board of Trade

Chicago, General, Photography Comments Off
Jun 052012

There are only a couple of weeks during the year when the sun shines on the façade of the Chicago Board of Trade Building at the angle you see here. I happened to have my camera with me the other morning, so I captured it.

With the morning sun shining at this angle, you can really see the detail on the statues and carvings on the front of the building. Here’s a close-up:

I have a long history with this building: my first job in downtown Chicago was here (in 1986) and for a while I had an office on the 11th floor (next to the clock, to the right as you see it here) that looked up LaSalle Street. I spent many long hours, late nights, weekends, and holidays here. I was even involved in evacuating the building during the Chicago Flood of 1992.

Currently, I work across the street from the CBOT, so I get this view every day.

Here’s another shot of the building that I took on the morning of Bike the Drive, complete with eerily empty streets:

Posted by jtl at 10:22 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,

Cloud Gate (and Bike the Drive)

Chicago, Photography, Sportin' Comments Off
May 292012

This past Sunday the 11th annual Bike the Drive event was held on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive.

After riding the 30-mile route, I took the time to ride around downtown Chicago a bit, and wound up at Millennium Park, where I shot this photo of the Cloud Gate (aka “The Bean”) sculpture.

There were over 20,000 participants and the weather was beautiful. Another of our favorite cycling events!

Posted by jtl at 10:22 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,
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