Entries from July 13th, 2011

Whole Foods International Cookies Made Locally

July 16th, 2011 · No Comments

While my car was broken down and stranded and I was waiting for my dad and brother to arrive, I spent a bunch of time in the nearby Whole Foods, wandering around and hunting for free samples. I noticed they have a display of international cookies.

Upon further inspection I also noticed that all of the cookies were made at local bakeries, all over Chicago. I thought this was pretty cool.

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Grahamwich

July 15th, 2011 · No Comments

A few months ago Alden and I decided to check out Grahamwich, Graham Elliot‘s sandwich shop, for lunch. I had heard very mixed reviews about the place. Early this year, Time Out hated on the place, but friends I talked to said it was alright. I kept meaning to go but didn’t and then they had a menu revamp and we decided to finally go and check it out ourselves.

Inside Grahamwich there is very little seating. There is one communal table in the back and then maybe 6 seats at a bar in the front. We lucked out and got two seats together in the front, but I would be afraid to not get so lucky every time. Maybe most people get their sandwiches for take-out, though. Also good to note, there was no wait. We walked right up to the counter and ordered. Our sandwiches were made in a timely fashion.


Pacific Tuna


Grilled Cheese


Pickles

For lunch Alden ordered the Pacific Tuna (Roasted pineapple + wasabi peas + yuzu aioli + sweet soy + Hawaiian bun) and I got the Grilled Cheese (Wisconsin cheddar + Italian prosciutto + tomato marmalade + cheese curds + pullman loaf). Alden also got a soda, which I think they make in-house and I got the pickles which were pickled vegetables. I liked that our food was served on some really cute vintage tin trays.

Alden thought that his sandwich was alright, but the sauce was much sweeter than he’d have liked. He also wished he’d ordered a side to vary up the taste. I liked the grilled cheese, but it was very rich. I sort of wish we’d have split our sandwiches, because the whole grilled cheese was a little much. Good, but a lot. The pickles did a good job cutting the heaviness of the sandwich and tasted very good, but the serving size was tiny. For $3 I got maybe 10 medium-sized pieces of potato, garlic and cauliflower. I’d have expected at least double that. Or for it to cost half. It didn’t help that they were in a very large box.

All-in-all, we did not hate Grahamwich, but we’re not dying to go back. If and when we do go back we’d do things a little differently.

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Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson

July 14th, 2011 · No Comments


finished 07.13.11

This was a great psychological thriller about a women who lost her memory and has amnesia after suffering terrible trauma in “an accident.” She doesn’t remember anything day to day and doesn’t know who to trust or believe or what’s the truth about anything. I got the audio version to listen to at the gym, but it was so good I kept sneak listening to it on my commute and at other times. Usually I use the audio books for motivation at the gym only, but I couldn’t help myself.

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What $159 of Eyedrops Looks Like

July 14th, 2011 · 6 Comments

Speaking of the allergist, I took a prescription he made for Pataday eye drops to CVS and when they rang it up, they said I owed $50. I was all “$50!??!?! WTF!??!” and they said that insurance covered $59 and I had to pay $50. Wow. For 2.5 milliliters. To put this in persepctive, there are almost 5 milliliters in a teaspoon.. so that’s like $159 for a half of a teaspoon. I don’t know if I’ll be refilling this prescription very often.

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Chicago Mascots + Val Warner + School Kids

July 13th, 2011 · No Comments

One day back in June I was walking by the Thompson Center and came across a whole bunch of Chicago sports team mascots and Valerie Warner and a bunch of school kids. I didn’t really know what was going on, so I just took some photos and figured it out later.

Turns out it was the Salvation Army‘s Hunger Campaign and they were collecting donations. But to make it fun they were having people text for certain mascots. Also, each mascot had a box so you could just put money in the mascot box. These are the mascots who were present:

Not too surprisingly, the Salvation Army is reporting that the White Sox mascot, Southpaw, won. While I was there, it sure looked like Sparky was winning. It’s who the kids liked best, but I guess the kids were not voting with their wallets. More importantly, the Salvation Army raised more than $500.

Along with the mascots, there was Val Warner, who I recognized immediately from WGN Morning News. She and Ryan Chiaverini are now doing Windy City Live in Oprah’s old time slot.

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