finished 09.28.08
Eh. Not the best he’s written but not the worst book ever. It’s no Jurassic Park. Futuristic book where we’re all doing genetic testing and stuff. It was a quick read with short chapters. I thought I’d read all of Michael Crichton’s books but realized there are some I haven’t so that’s why I picked it up. Not sure if I want to get the others I’ve missed.
Tags:Books·michael crichton·next
Here’s a dip we made while vacationing in Cape Cod. I also made it for a barbecue (the notorious vodka lemonade night). Here are the ingredients -
- Fat-free Greek yogurt – 6 oz. container (I use Fage)
- Juice from one lemon
- A clove or two of chopped garlic
- Chopped up cucumber (take the seeds out. Pat cucumber with paper towel to absorb water. I got my cucumber at the farmer’s market.)
- Fresh dill (I got mine at the farmer’s market)
- Salt & pepper
Tags:Chicago·cooking and baking·cucumber·dill·fage·roscoe village·yogurt
Highly sought after Survivor Wrigleyville merchandise.
Jill & Rachelle
Meg & Chris
Jill
On Saturday we celebrated Jill’s birthday at O’Donovan’s. Since she’s a fan of Survivor, Brian planned a whole Survivor-themed party. Even though O’Donovan’s is in North Center, it was Survivor Wrigleyville because that’s where Brian and Jill live.
Danny doing card toss.
Jeff Probst officiating Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Prabha eating creamed spinach baby food.
Yahtzee!
Marshmallow Toss
Pin the Tail on the Donkey
Danny pinning the tail.
We split off into teams – Jill and Tricia were team captains and Brian played the part of Jeff Probst. We had headbands as tribe buffs and played games based off games played on the show. There was card toss, rock/paper/scissors, a food challenge that involved gross baby food, concentration memory game, a round of Yahtzee, a marshmallow toss, and pin the tail on the donkey. After each challenge the team that lost had to vote someone out of their tribe. Oh, and the team immunity idol was a Fukudome bobble head.. and happened to be the Survivor’s prize, too. I guess we couldn’t expect a million bucks!
Tricia
Rachelle
Cory playing the Cubs trivia game.
My smashed cookies.
After all these games the tribes merged and we all got hats and played individual challenges. There was a Cubs trivia contest where we had three animal crackers by our names and if you got the question right you got to smash other people’s cookies and they were out when three were smashed. I didn’t last long for that one. The final challenge was standing on one leg with our hands on our hips. Since we’d had a lot to drink by then, it didn’t last long. That’s a hard challenge when drunk!
Rachelle & Limey
Final Three: Rachelle, Cory, Kristin.
Cory is the Survivor Wrigleyville.
The final three were me, Cory and Kristin. Everyone who played the game had to vote for the Survivor Wrigleyville. But you know what? It was a three-way tie! So the final tie breaker was who could chug bottle of Miller Lite the fastest. Cory won!
Rachelle & the O’Donovan’s House Magician
Oh, and there was a random “house magician” that no one really liked. He wanted to do a trick with birthday girl Jill but Jill made me go up.
What a fun party, though. We had a great time. Happy Birthday, Jill!
Tags:birthday·brian·Chicago·chris·cory·dallas·danny·fukudome·jeff probst·jill·kristin·limey·magician·meg·north center·odonovans·prabha·rock paper scissors·survivor·Television·tricia·wrigleyville·yahtzee
Jessica and her sister Jen flew in yesterday. They’re attending a wedding today and staying at our place for the weekend. On Friday they met me downtown after work and we went to Millennium Park. A bunch of it was closed off for NextFest and Chicago Gourmet, but we were still able to admire the bean and the fountains. We walked up Michigan Avenue, bought some chocolates at Vosges, and went up the Signature Lounge for a drink (like we did last time Jess was here), to rest, and to admire the view. Jess has been to Chicago a few times before, but this was Jen’s first time. We ended the night at Village Tap. We were sort of bummed because we missed the first part of the debate, but when we got to the Tap it the patrons were completely silent and the TVs were all tuned to the debate with the volume cranked. So we ended up getting to watch some of it. Well, I should say, the patrons were completely silent when Barack spoke, but totally heckled McCain and drank when he said certain things.
“The Bean,” Millennium Park, Chicago
Jessica hugging the metal moose made of car bumpers, Michigan Avenue, Chicago
Presidential Debates, Village Tap, Roscoe Village, Chicago
Tags:barack obama·Chicago·debate·hancock building·jen·jessica·magnificent mile·mccain·michigan avenue·millennium park·moose·roscoe village·signature lounge·the bean·village tap
Random things that have been open in tabs in my browser forever.. need to keep them somewhere.
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Offensive + Delightful greeting cards.
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Crazy Chicago stat:
“An estimated 125 people were shot and killed over the summer. That’s nearly double the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period.” [cbs]
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I’ve seen this all over the place on sites…. probably about a month ago… finally getting around to doing it.
Instructions:
1. Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2. Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3. Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (does alligator count?)
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (jello shots?)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (by accident, maybe. there were a lot of bugs @ village tap last week!)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake
Tags:Sundry