And...

The reason I quit my job, which is the reason I'm unemployed, which is the reason this blog (barely) exists, was so I could focus on completing grad school applications, and completing them well. A few actually let me in, so in the fall I will start a dual Master's degree program at the University of Chicago. (This bird does not fall far from the nest.) I officially accepted my admission offer(s) yesterday, so..... mission accomplished. Time to get a job.

Oh, The Irony

It is a beautiful, beautiful day in Chicago. Sunny, bright blue skies; warm in the sun, cool in the shade; light jacket or a hoodie kind of weather.

In other words, the perfect day to play hooky.

And of course, of the little work I am doing lately, I have deadlines and meetings today.

So I will be basking in the warm sun from the wrong side of the windows, propping them up to bring some of that outside in, and working the day away under a roof, like the rest of the world, save for bike messengers. (Incidentally, today is exactly the type of day where that line of work appeals to me.)

Sugar Sugar

I've had my fair share of fancy desserts — from shortcakes and tortes to Gale Gand's sweets extravaganza at Tru — but to these taste buds, nothing tops the classic sweet and salty chocolate chip cookie. I've been known to bake a batch just to sate a single cookie craving. However, after scratching the sugar itch, I often eat the remaining 23 cookies. In the interest of maintaining my waistline, I've decided to hang up the apron and find Chicago's perfect chocochip fix. Lucky for me, I live in a neighborhood heavily populated by coffee and sweets shops. Here are the results of my highly scientific, statistically accurate survey:

THE CONTENDERS

Alliance Bakery. Chocochip cookies come in "mini" size, but are larger than Chips Ahoy. Crunchy, crumbly, and with small chips, the cookie has the consistency of shortbread. Little too stiff for me, so dunking is a must. They do taste good, but I'll stick to my poppyseed strudel next time. $0.32

Letizia's Natural Bakery. Waaaay undercooked. The edges weren't even close to crisp. Pale, pasty beige color, very chewy, very floppy. The chocolate was decent, with chunks on the top, but I didn't even finish it. THAT says a lot. About two bucks.

Artemio's Bakery. Shortbread cookie with chocolate chips plunked on top, not mixed in to the cookie at all. It was fine. Similar to the Alliance cookie in consistency and feel, but less flavorful. I bought half a dozen pastries and cookies, and my total bill was $1.75, so I'm guessing these are about $0.10.

Corner Bakery. Man, when I first moved to Chicago, I thought Corner Bakery was the bees-effin-knees. Then I ventured off Michigan Avenue. It's still a fine cookie fix, with a nice firm edge to it. Just a little too sweet, if that's possible. $1.29

Red Hen Bread. Surely a bakery that's mastered every flavor of bread could handle a measly cookie, right? Theirs have crunchy edges (though sometimes a little too crunchy), a cakey middle, chunks of dark chocolate and just the right amount of salt to leave you craving another. And the color? A perfect spectrum from bronze to gold. At about the size of a CD, this thing was breakfast. Seriously, I don't know why anyone else bothers. $2.30

August Grocery. This adorable grocery just opened down the street, and I'm taking full advantage while business lasts. In addition to the lovely cheese, fish, and veggie displays, they have a bell jar of sweets to tempt you at the register. I always give in, and it's always amazing. After the first taste, I asked if they bake the cookies in-house... Nope. Red Hen delivery. Of course! But here's the trick: Living in the bell jar softens up the cookie juuuuust enough to make it that much more perfect. And? They're $1.75.

WINNER? Red Hen, by way of August Grocery.



Some people spend $8 a week on cigarettes; I spend it on chocolate chip cookies.

Encased Meat Mecca

I finally made the pilgrimage to Chicago's legendary bastion of encased meats: Hot Doug's. Seriously, I don't know why I hadn't made the trek to the corner of Roscoe & California sooner (oh right, I had a day job, and HD's has notoriously limited hours). But one thing led to another, and there I was crammed in the backseat of an overstuffed station wagon on my way to hot dog heaven.

Vegetarian? Me too. Fret not, there's a veggie dog! You can even dress up the plain v-dog with any of the daily special (and rather gourmet) toppings, or go the ol' kraut and ketchup route (my fave). There's a veggie corn dog for two bucks, too. Mr. Doug himself greets you at the register to take your order, and is quite the model of customer service.

My meal:

- Veggie Dog with Sun-Dried Tomato Mustard, Caramelized Onions and Smoked Mozzarella Cheese
- Veggie Corn Dog
- Cheese Fries (oooooooh the cheese fries...)

Also, depending how veggie-strict you are (like say, you'll eat stuff cooked near or in animal products, but just don't want to eat the flesh itself), there are the infamous duck fat fries, only avail on Fridays and Saturdays. Fried in (duh) duck fat, they have a different texture than regular fries, maybe to help the grease stick to the lining of your arteries better.

I feel a little more like a true Chicagoan today.

Bücher! Livre! Boeken! βιβλία! 本!

europa books
Originally uploaded by missmaria.

When the price isn't right for adding stamps to the ol' passport, I get my Euro-fix with a $1.75 bus ride to Europa Books, a foreign language bookstore on State Street. Something about being surrounded by words I don't understand makes me happy. There's even a charmingly snooty French dude at the register.

The first floor is stocked with foreign lang mags — familiar titles, mostly in French, Spanish, and German. There are also books for les petits enfants, including no less than a dozen different translations of Mssr. Harry Potter's exploits. These are great when you're learning a language or actually want to enjoy brushing up on one.



The lower level features literature, travel guides, and a bevy of dictionaries, phrase books, and learn-a-language-in-your car discs for everything from Albanian to Thai to Palestinian Arabic. Western Euro lit dominates the fiction shelves, but nestled in the language study section are some non-traditional tomes that are fun in their own right. With my newfound free time, I'm getting back to studying Japanese, so I picked up a refresher: the first volume of Japanese in Mangaland, an "entertaining way of learning the basics."



Also grabbed the latest Paris Match. It's a win-win read: keeping up with the latest Euro gossip while working on my French!

When Art Meets Science

if you haven't been to see the Museum of Contemporary Art's current special exhibition, Massive Change, GO NOW.

the exhibit — open until dec. 31 — presents more ideas than art, with text panels as wordy as a master's thesis, and a science fair-like presentation that wavers between clever and cumbersome. (pictures may say a thousand words, but the curators still threw in all those words just to be sure you get the point.)

yet the exhibit clearly translates into effective visual form well-known but abstract social and environmental facts such as ozone layer depletion or urban sprawl, lending a definite "wow," or at least, "well, how 'bout that" factor to the exhibit. we're all aware of the volume of flights taking off at a given moment — the security lines at o'hare will tell you that much — but a digital map plotting all flights across northern north america shows the synchronized dance between each plane's pattern, and really drives home just how much steel and luggage is skipping across the sky on a daily basis. not to mention the international effort required for such a flawless performance.

at the very least, the exhibit will make you feel good about riding the bus rather than driving to the museum, or choosing paper over plastic at the grocery store that morning. and it just might inspire you to a greener existence.

tuesday is free day, all day 10 'til 8.



(and yes, there's a book.)