Nearly A Week Off

The wife & me went to Chicago for a few days.  As is my wont, I walked around a lot & took pictures, some of which will doubtless make it to the Self Help Radio Tumblr page in the coming months, & also we ate lots of vegan food.

Chicago's vegan section is all on its north side, & because I had only been to Chicago a few times before (maybe three?) I wasn't quite prepared for two things: one, how compact it all seems, & two, how long it takes to get from one place to another even though it seems like you're just a couple of miles away.

One of my wife's colleagues, with whom we ate at the trusted Chicago Diner, told us there's a joke/saying/whatever in the city which goes like this: How long does it take to get to a place in Chicago?  Thirty-five to forty minutes.

There's a similar joke around here in the D/FW Metroplex.

Chicago doesn't have as many highways as we have, despite having impressive, densely-packed sprawl.  So I can drive (in non-rush-hour moments) forty-five miles in forty-five minutes, but that's a lot longer in Chicago & anyway, you're only going to make twenty miles (if you're lucky) in forty-five minutes.

Enough of that.  I enjoy mass transit.  I liked riding the trains.  I saved my Ventra Card like a souvenir.

What was I talking about?  Oh yeah, vegan food.  We saw old Lexington friends at Arya Bhavan, a vegan Indian restaurant, which, on a Wednesday night, has no other customers but us.  In fact, they closed early & made us leave because they had to be somewhere else.  I regret not getting to go to their Saturday buffet.  Oh Em Gee.

We went to Chicago's vegan pizzeria, House Of Za, & got a Chicago-style to go while eating pull-apart garlic bread & vegan monkey bread while we waited.  I confess I was a little disappointed, maybe I don't like stuffed pizza, I liked it more the next day but that's always true.  I would want to eat more the next time.

What was really amazing was the Break Room at the Upton Naturals place where they make their products.  It was a small place but I swear I haven't had migas that good since Austin.

The weather was perfect for walking around.  I suppose we should've done more touristy stuff.  At one point we got lost in Cicero (who gets lots with GPS on your phone? people who aren't using the GPS on their phone) & I swear we found ourselves driving by a drug corner like in The Wire.  It was a ways from the main road, I guess it would have to be, I had never thought about it before.  We just smiled & drove on by.  But we could've bought drugs!

Anyway, I got the Morning Blend to do tomorrow & SHR this week.  Back into the swing of things I go.  How was your week?  Did you miss the show (don't answer that).