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Chicago Bears win the game against the Seahawks with a Robbie Gould field goal in overtime! Apryl and I watched the game in our pj’s on the couch. My stomach was turning so bad I felt like I was watching my Tigers in the finals of the C-USA tournament. Next up, the Saints!
I already have my favorite song of 2007, and it’s Panda Bear’s “Bros” from the upcoming Person Pitch. Amazing!
(BTW, Panda Bear’s Young Prayer was one of my favorite albums of 2004.)
Apryl knitted me a nice, cozy hat. And the best thing, it’s Tiger ready! I wore it last night, and the Tigers defeated Houston by 10 points. So, “Hello good luck hat!”
I’m in the middle of another work edit, so posts will be coming less frequent until I am finished (which should be around next week). However, I thought I would briefly share with you the recent odd behavior of Eva Cat. If you’re a pet owner, you understand that certain behaviors come and go; however, there is never a shortage of new and more strange nuances just around the corner. Recently, Eva has decided that wherever her water fountain rests is not a good enough position. Thus, it must be moved to a more desirable location. So, Eva proceeds to headbutt the back of the fountain, until the fountain ends up several feet away from its original location. Apryl decided to allow such behavior as long as the fountain wasn’t pushed beyond a certain point. Of course, Eva pushed those boundaries, and the fountain was now blocking the hallway to the kitchen. Now, we had recently moved her fountain from one side of the kitchen to the other, so we figured that she was merely homesick for the old days. So, we moved the the fountain back to its past location right next to her food (the reason for the inital move was due to a dangerous plug outlet). However, it wasn’t long before we started to hear that familiar sound: plastic being scraped along vinyl flooring. The picture below catches Eva right after the act of moving the fountain a few feet from her food dish:
Later on, Eva continued to move her fountain a few more feet toward the door.
What’s going on here? I’m not quite sure, but it sure is funny catching her push that fountain around with her head. Below, Eva takes a break from all her hard work with a nap on Apryl’s leg:
Sleep tight, Eva Cat!
My buddy Chris’ band Arma Secreta came through town this week with a gig at the Empty Bottle. We put them up for the night, and Apryl even served them homemade brownies and milk. The guys played a great set, and I even was able to videotape it for them. My favorite moment of their stay was when they asked us if we had wireless internet. And when we informed them that “Yes, we do,” everyone pulled out their own personal laptops. It was too funny; I had to snap a photo:
Note that the Christmas tree is still up (it even includes my new Grizzlies ornament— thanks David!). On Saturday, we cut the lovely thing up into little pieces and took them to a setup recycling center near Humboldt Park. Chicago parks all over the city were providing recycling services for Christmas trees in exchange for a free year’s supply of blue recycle bags—why you have to normally pay for recycling bags in the first place still seems bizarre and counterproductive. Anyway, it was a lot of fun seeing all the folks pull into the park with their trees on the roof of their cars, ready for the shredder. It was actually quite a communal event. Unfortunately, it seemed to offically mark the end of the holidays.
We had a lot of fun hanging out with friends and family over the holiday break in Memphis and New Orleans. We look forward to seeing you as our guests real soon!
Trey and Rachel, thank you for our SUPERCOOL candy care package! It was a nice surprise to come home to after our holiday break with the folks.
Today on WEVL, I will be playing my top 20 favorite songs of last year. Check it out from 4-6pm at 89.9FM or at wevl.org.
Here’s a fact: Chicago takes its pizza pie seriously. In fact, the two of us were discussing this matter last night (over pizza, of course): that pizza in the “Second City” is scrutinized the same way that BBQ is in Memphis. I mean you aren’t a true Memphian unless you know the exact location to scarf down the BBQ to end all BBQ (which is the Bar-B-Q Shop on Madison). Now, Chicago is nowhere in the same league as Memphis when it comes to pig cookin’ (we know, we tried), but they do make a mean pie. And like Memphians have their favorite BBQ joint, everyone here has their favorite pizza joint, which is carefully decided on from a multitude of criteria such as pie crust, fresh toppings, sloppy level, etc. Well, we have scarfed down enough pizza ourselves since we’ve stepped foot in this fair city for me to come to my own conclusions. So, here are my top 10 favorite places to grab a pizza in Chicago:
10. My Pizza Pie – It’s basic, but good and only a few blocks from our apartment.
09. Pequod’s – This one upset Apryl’s tummy, but I enjoyed it once I dealt with the pepperoni issue, which was that there was way too much of it. I had to pick them off or be left with an overly salty pie.
08. Santullo’s Eatery – OK, this is actually New York style, but good pizza is good pizza. And Santullo’s offers an amazing deal for a slice of pizza, that I swear will make you feel like you just devoured an entire pie.
07. Pizzeria Due – Sure, it’s a tourist trap, but so is the Rendezvous in Memphis, which doesn’t make it any less wonderful.
06. Edwardo’s – A favorite by many for their fresh toppings. To me, it was just another great Chicago pizza. The big plus is that it’s right next to my favorite Mexican restaurant in Chicago and a tasty Indian spot. -Tie-Bacino’s – Apryl seemed to really like the stuffed spinach here, while I tended to like the stuffed spinach from Edwardo’s. However, I will say that Bacino’s was one of the best tasting of the pizzas for a cold breakfast.
05. Art of Pizza – Voted #1 Deep Dish in Chicago by the the Chicago Tribue a few years back. I don’t know if it deserves that honor or such a high spot on this list, but we had it last night (and for breakfast for me), so it’s on the mind. Nice friendly folks, and the best feature is the deep dish “pizza by the slice,” where you can try out a variety of different pizza combinations.
04. Piece – Sure, it’s a trendy spot in Wicker Park, but the pizza is wonderful. Forget deep dish, pan, stuffed, and enjoy a thin slice of pizza every once in awhile. Saturday nights there is live-band karaoke which is wonderfully obnoxious entertainment for out of town guests.
03. Homemade Pizza – How is this for an idea: a restaurant that delivers their pie right to your door uncooked for you to bake yourself. That’s right, uncooked. The reason it’s so great are the fresh ingredients, and it only takes 15 minutes in the oven. And yummy wheat crust!
02. Lou Malnati’s – This might be a pain to get to (at an intersection of a dozen cross streets) but the pizza is so good, that it is only rivaled by…
01. Giordano’s – This was my first introduction to stuffed pizza, and it has changed me forever! If you’re visiting from out of town, we’re going here. There are multiple locations around Chicago, including one close by in Logan Square, but the one on Rush downtown is my favorite.
(Out of town friends Caroline and Liam enjoying a stuffed vegetable supreme from Giordanos!)
10. I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass – Yo La Tengo
09. Let’s Get Out Of This Country – Camera Obscura
08. Rather Ripped – Sonic Youth
07. Ships – Danielson
06. Everything All The Time – Band of Horses
05. The Greatest – Cat Power
04. So This Is Goodbye – Junior Boys
03. Destroyer’s Rubies – Destroyer
02. World Waits – Jeremy Enigk
01. Post-War – M. Ward
And here are some overlooked albums of 2006 that I enjoyed: Music For Bluegrass States (R. Keenan Lawler), Lantern (Clogs), Hokane (Aki Tsuyuko), A Lazarus Tazon (Tortoise), Gospel Music (Various Artists), Springfield (Arthur Russell), IBM 1401 A User’s Manual (Jóhann Jóhannsson), Congotronics 2 (Various Artists)
Are you still on the edge of your seat? Even though we have very limited days to enjoy it, we went ahead and got into the spirit and purchased our first Christmas Tree as a married couple. Which was all a bit odd to Apryl, since she grew up with Christmas trees that were actually cut down by her father. And since we’re on a budget, we bought our tree at the Home Depot instead of the corner tree lot (which is next to the Vienna Factory, I might add). Below, Apryl walks down the aisle of trees, surveying the selections:
And she’s found one!
Let the cutting begin!
No pictures of us getting the tree into my car, but it did do a good number on the paint job of my bumper. So, it looks like we didn’t save any money at all. Of course, the same thing would have probably happened at the tree lot, so we still probably saved a few bucks. When we took the tree out of the car, we both stepped into dog mess, which was a heck of a way to get the festivites started. But after dinner, we seemed to get back in the mood.
And here is Tree Man:
There are two ways to put lights on a tree: the wrong way and the right way. And Apryl does it the right way, which is why there aren’t any photos of me during this stage.
And she’s done!
At which point it was three in the morning. Another hour for ornaments, and it was time for bed. I didn’t get a great photo of the tree with the ornaments but I did get this one:
Merry Christmas!
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