Only Mountain

Will it Explode?

2008-04-30T18:55:01Z

yes. yes it will.

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Earthquake!

2008-04-18T15:26:46Z

Yup, we felt it! Dan and I both woke up around 4:30am, after I heard creaking in the apartment like someone was walking around the hallway (which really disturbed me more than anything), and then our bedroom door (which was cracked) swung open. Then I noticed the bed was shaking! We just thought it was the wind, since we had some of the windows cracked, but there really wasn't much wind last night (and I didn't really question the logic of the wind making the bed shake). Totally crazy. I guess (at 5.2) it was the second largest ever recorded in this area. UPDATE: Dan just phoned to say he felt an aftershock at the apartment just now (10:15am). Didn't feel it in our building in Evanston, but we're so tall, it probably sways enough as it is during a regular day.

Let me tell you what is wrong with yourself, Starbux

2008-03-27T15:15:42Z

Ok. Look. I'm only here because I received a whole mess of giftcards at Christmas that I'm still trying to remember to use. But I've known plenty of barristas/os and they need things like groceries and rent payments and I want to tip you out. However. I only have a $5 bill, and I'm sorry, I'm not tipping 100% off my latte and a muffin. But since you can't open your cash drawer when I use my giftcard, and therefore can't give me change for my $5 bill, I can't leave you a tip. Sorry. And look, barrista, you don't need to double cup my tall latte. Are you kidding me? I don't need 2 cups! I need 1 cup, and maybe a little band of cardboard to keep me from burning the hell out of my hand since you insist on setting your espresso machine to the "fire of a thousand suns" setting. It's hot, but I don't want to be 1 of maybe 100 people you're going to 'double cup' this morning in Evanston and be a part of the problem of now 100 extra paper cups getting added to the nearly full-to-the-brim Chicago-area landfills.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

2008-03-26T14:00:45Z

In skimming through Epicurious one day a few weeks ago, I came across a Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe that looked shockingly easy, and which had a ton of uber-positive reviews. I saved it, and it wasn't until last night, when Dan and I got home from a bike ride, that I finally was able to try it. Have to say, it turned out wonderfully. Dan was completely skeptical that it would turn out well at all, and tried to talk me out of it, but oh, the deliciousness that ensued taught him a lesson in judging a book by its flourless cover. One thing that struck me about the recipe (and which totally threw me for a loop when I was shopping for ingredients) was the call to use "bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)". Doesn't that sound strange? It took me a while, but I finally got that "bittersweet" and "semi-sweet" are the same thing. Man, that made me feel like an idiot. Anyway, you couldn't ask for a simpler recipe, really. I think I'll make this cake monthly if not more often. Be forewarned everyone who invites me over for a potluck....you're getting this cake! UPDATE I made a 2nd cake for Stephanie's birthday. Pictures on Flickr. I also have to say that I still have ham biscuits in my fridge from Sunday's Easter brunch Ham-travaganza. They are salty and delicious. Jealous?

photo on the Chicago schmap

2008-03-20T19:50:37Z

Well, they've been perusing my Flickr page I guess, and chose one of my pictures (of Doughty!) at the Old Town School of Folk Music to include in the Chicago Schmap. I found a few errors in their Schmap (like placing the Lakeview Lounge in the Lakeview neighborhood...ha, tourists) and emailed, but no word back (or even a thank you, huh). Here's their widget.

photo on the San Francisco Schmap

2008-02-16T22:56:20Z

Hey, so I had a flickr photo that I took on my fall trip to San Francisco chosen for this online map called Schmap. Here's a sample. The one I took was of one of the ones featured in the entry for the Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop. If you scroll through them, mine has my name under it, and it mostly has the fountain in the foreground at Ghiradelli Square.

Still crafting...

2007-11-29T21:15:55Z

One more weekend of crafting, then I'm back to normal for the season. Come buy some stuff!

DIY Trunk Show this weekend!

2007-11-12T14:39:00Z

Oh, I'm crafting up a storm! Won't you come out and see?

I welcome you, fall, with open arms

2007-09-02T13:51:51Z

After many months of summer (why does it always last months?) fall seems to be here. We've got highs in the low 80s, sun, clear skies, and low humidity. Awesome. We had almost twice as many days of rain in August than our average (something like 24 days of rain), and I'm happy to be in a "dry spell" now for what it's worth. I ended up getting water in my car a little bit with the couple of storms last week that just tore up Chicago. My friends Jenni & Steve had some serious damage to their building, and will have to live elsewhere for a while, which is very sad. But, they themselves are OK, so that's the important thing in times like these, eh? Dan and I went last-minute camping last weekend up to Kettle Morraine in Wisconsin. Lovely night, clear skies, and it got way colder than either of us anticipated. One of the best parts was making a giant fire in the pit in order to use up all of our wood like we were supposed to. Fire good. Meats cooked over fire = very good. I have no pictures, but for once, I didn't get a mosquito bite. woo! We stopped in Kenosha on the way home and bought a case of New Glarus Spotted Cow beer. Mmmm, so good. Really, this stuff is some of the best beer I've ever had, period. It's good that it's made so close, but since it's only sold in Wisconsin, we have to head over the border in order to pick some up. We also got a bottle of the Raspberry Tart which is surprisingly tasty with spicy food. (I recommend thai) I have to really hand it to Wisconsin for producing some of my most favorite things to consume: beer, cheese, and sausages. We bought locally-produced Kewaskum hot dogs and polish sausages on our way to the campsite, and of course, no trip over the border is complete without a stop at the Mars Cheese Castle where we got cheese food and curds. But, after just a smattering of meats this weekend (it's only Sunday afterall), I'm a little meated out. So I'm making vegetarian black bean soup today, and the closest thing to meat I'm going to eat is some cheese we got at the farmer's market yesterday. (six-year old cheddar, yum!)

Update: I ran!

2007-08-14T15:32:32Z

Hey all, Well, I survived my first 5K race. I finished with a (self-timed) time of 34.20, which is awesome. I stuck very close to an 11 minute mile and didn't really feel the heat until the last half mile or so. Overall, I was really happy with how it went. Pictures of me and Carolyn running (thanks for being my race buddy, Carolyn!), along with many many Elvi are up on flickr but here's me at the finish:

Run, Anne, Run!

2007-07-31T14:29:03Z

Ok, so I've officially signed up (i.e. given them some monies) for the Elvis is Alive 5K on August 11th here in Chicago. I'll be running (i.e. attempting to keep up with) the lovely Carolyn and it ends with a party and a big Elvis impersonator lineup. It's the only 5K run at night here, and they highly encourage you to dress in head-to-toe Elvis costumes. (The King did sweat a lot, but I don't think he ever ran a 5K while doing it.) I'll be in my TCB hat (if it arrives from eBay in time) and possibly a shirt I picked up in Nashville last spring. No gold lame though. Anyway, if you're reading this, and you're in Chicago (which most of you who read this are) come out out and shout at me like Burgess Meredith while I run run run. yay! * * * * Also, if you're still not sure about the 80108 thing, talk to Mac, 'cause he subscribed and he likes it. Right, Mac? I'm also going to start writing a second channel called "Chicago Culture" next week (8/6) which will deal with theater, art exhibits, classical music, etc. Again, it's 80108.com. Please, sign up. It's pretty cool and very low effort. :)

80108 - Get me on your phone!

2007-07-17T14:44:48Z

Hey all, I'm starting a new in-my-copious-amounts-of-free-time writing gig this week. It's for Boston-based 80108.com, a mobile media company. They're expanding to a dozen more cities and Chicago's one of them. I'll be piloting the "Date Night" channel which sends you 3 or so text messages every week about fun things to do in the city. It's free to subscribe, and there's absolutely zero paid endorsements or anything. I write what I want so you don't have to worry about them all being "go here...and drink a coke". Seriously. Check it out at 80108.com and click on Chicago, then Date Night. That's me! And let me know if you subscribe so I'll get that warm fuzzy feeling. Alright? (oh, and they don't sell your number or anything either.) Here's the Chicago Date Night archives as well. You can read it online too!

Double Blogging This Week, Oh My!

2007-06-18T13:50:45Z

Hey all, I'm attempting to do the near-impossible and blog at more than one music site this week. I'm sitting in the guest chair over at NYC music blog Break Thru Radio's site b/c they were so nice to ask me to. Check out my posts (this week only) as the "Blogger of the Week" (click under Articles at the top of the page. You can go directly to today's post here.

Things that I wish I hadn't seen on the CTA

2007-05-10T17:06:07Z

So, two days ago I was coming home on the Purple Line, sitting in one of the seats that faces the other, right by the doors. This skinny kid, probably a NW student, was sitting across from me. I was listening to my iPod, and kind of just zoning out while this kid chatted about nothing in particular to his friend, who was sitting in the seat behind him. Then, out of nowhere, this big guy (like 6'2", 220 or more) comes out of the "hobo seat", simply walks up, smacks this skinny kid upside the face and then heads on up the aisle and looks back a couple of times before changing cars through the emergency doors. This was simply one of the most shocked moments I've had on a train in my 4+ years in Chicago. The kid looked at me, stunned, kind of holding the side of his face which was bright bright red from his eye to his chin, and I kept on looking at him, at the guy heading up the aisle, at the kid's friend while none of us could say anything. We kind of gathered our wits, and I asked the kid if he was ok. His friend said he should call the police, and the kid calls 911 to report the situation. I hadn't realized, but the dude had stolen his hat off his head as he slapped him. (his hat! jesus, this was about a hat?!?) So I sat there while the kid talked to the dispatcher and related the story, and they asked if he was in any danger and he said no, but the guy hadn't gotten off the train yet. We watched as the train pulled into the next stop, and no, the guy didn't get off. The train rumbled on, and the guy was put on hold a couple of times, and I have no idea what they were telling him, or really, what they could do. I started wondering what would they do if it was something more serious like a stabbing or something. Would they radio the train conductor to lock down the train mid-stop? Would they try to swarm some cops on it before the dude could get off? There's nothing stopping anyone from changing cars, so he could come back at any point, and considering how random, swift, and bizarre this assault was, there was no knowing what this guy was going to to next. The thing is, this was the kind of violence I used to see in high school. Someone beating up on a skinny kid who had something cool that they wanted, so they just took it. "And what are you going to do?" This was precisely the vibe of the look the dude was giving us as he walked up the aisle, and the same look he gave us as he got off the train at South Ave. in Evanston and went about his evening. The kid relayed to the police that the dude had gotten off the train, and as we pulled into Howard, I had to leave them to change trains to the Red line. I don't know if it even got written up as a report or not, or if the kid pursued it much further. I haven't seen violence on the CTA before, and the randomness and seemingly soberness of this attack is just bizarre. I've thought about it each time I've gotten on the train the last few days, not that it's deterred me from anything CTA-wise, but I've considered what I would have done in that situation, and how I would have wanted others to act as they came to my aid (or ignored it as other passengers did). Chalk it all up to another "big city experience", I suppose, and go about your day.

Flowers gone gone gone

2007-04-05T17:13:56Z

Ok, so the flowers were a debacle (of small scale). When we got them, the bin they were sitting in was w/out water, which I thought was odd, but they looked ok. When I asked about it at the checkout at Trader Joe's they said "oh we do that so that they'll open when you get them home". Well, I cut off about 2 inches and the stems looked good, but darn it all if they ALL didn't die in the vases. So sad. I'll have to just grow my own or something. We're still a few weeks out from spring blooming, which is good since it's freaking snowing out (well, yesterday it flurried). Still, it's cold and windy. I'll get out to the Botanic Gardens soon and take more pictures for notecards, but in the meantime, I'm excited that I'm actually updating pictures in the Crafty Ladies Chicago site's "items for sale" page. I have to take pictures of notecards, but the "style sheet" for the wallets is up, as well as updated marble magnet pics and prices, etc. Soon, Stephanie will have sculptures up, and hopefully we'll have some new stuff by Monika as well. Anyway, yeah, it's cold, and my flowers died. harumph.