Chicago: The Best Lakehouse in Steakview

New thread, just so I can finally get this title out of my head.

Chicago threads always have the best titles imo.

bravo

Glad for this, I was getting tired of "White Glogg" running through my head to the tune of "White Lines" every time I clicked on the thread.

i don't know what this means, but i like it

I think of it as a lake house with big picture windows overlooking a giant steak.

what did you make with the pine nuts, nick? i like them toasted in a light pasta or on a garlic/oo based pizza (rather than tomato based, i mean)

Thread title comes from a video billboard I saw at Clark/Diversey advertising "The Best Steakhouse in Lakeview!"

I was making a bulgar salad that has pinenuts, mint, green olives, feta, and olives, with a lemony dressing. I was making it for a work potluck, but I think it was too exotic. When I signed up to bring it to the potluck, my boss didn't know what bulgar was and she thought it meant Bulgarian and she asked me what made it Bulgarian. Then it turns out my boss hates olives and another coworker is mildly allergic to lemon. So I ate most of it. Which is OK with me.

I was going to ask John if eats pinenuts at all since his case of pinemouth. I was wary about it because of my pinemouth incident but I decided to just get back on that horse.

I still eat pesto, which is often made with pine nuts. I guess I feel a little wary about eating the nuts on their own, but I don't really come across them that often. (I'm not sure I've ever actually bought them other than for making pesto.) Probably wouldn't go out of my way to pick them out of a salad. At any rate, I think my case of pinemouth was fairly mild, and I like to think it was just a bad batch.

mine was mild too, just lasted 2-3 days. but it was unpleasant.

I forget what pinemouth feels like. Can you tell me? And do you (or anyone else) get spinach teeth?

Yeah, I get spinach teeth.

Pinemouth for me was a constant taste like I had just had eaten a zinc cold tablet. Basically a metallic taste that would tinge the flavor of anything else I ate.

Love the title. I want a second home in Steakview one day.

I eat pine nuts on their own kind of a lot I guess and I have never noticed pine mouth. I keep them in the fridge. Would that matter?

i think not everyone is susceptible to pinemouth, like the cilantro-challenged population?

btw i don't think i'm going to move to Steakview, sorry guys

iirc it's just certain batches of pine nuts that cause pinemouth, but they don't really know why? it's a recent phenomenon, just showed up in the past few years. don't know if some people are susceptible and others aren't.

looks like it's totally related to the pinenuts themselves, not who eats them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_mouth#Risks_of_eating_pine_nuts

i have spent years developing an immunity to fake pine nuts

Hey, The Chicago Code is on Hulu. Some fun location shots, some Chicago actors in there.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/obituaries/ct-met-wuczynski-obit-20110209,0,6738886.story

I know a dude who's doing camera work on that show.

I am sick again, after being sick just two weeks ago, which is weird because I don't get sick that often. There was an annoying woman at the university yesterday applying to be a student who, every five minutes, would come up and tell me something different I need to do to get rid of my cold. Various products, vitamin C, wash my hands, don't touch my eyes. I wanted to be like "lady, I'm 31 years old, I know how colds work."

Obviously she doesn't if she thinks vitamin c is going to help.

Unless you have scurvy, then I stand corrected.

Washing your hands and not touching your eyes would have been fine advice for cold prevention or prevention of spreading it to others, but otherwise she's too late. Same for vitamin C, too. The only thing that is going to help is tying a chain of garlic around your waist.

Ooh, ooh, highs in the 40s next week.

Most good studies conclude that vitamin c is ineffective in the prevention, reduction of duration or severity of colds in the normal population.

:(

When snow falls on Chicago, the charitable spirit of community washes over some of us. Others get a bit more proprietary (dibs, anyone?).

Some get downright grabby -- and sometimes, every once in a while, they get served a cold dish of revenge.

David Welles works for a security company, Tunnel Vision Technology. So when his snow shovel was missing from his front porch, he checked the tapes from the many surveillance cameras around his house, the Chicago Tribune reports.

He spotted a woman swiping the shovel, watched her dig out her car with it, then grabbed his new snow blower and went out for a little payback time.

Watch the WGN video of Welles's vendetta. Wondering if he felt any guilt about it? "It felt really good. I'm not gonna lie, it felt really good," Welles says.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/07/snow-blower-revenge-stole_n_819540.html

That's the youtube I posted upthread. It's sooo dickish but so is stealing someone's shovel.

er, posted in the last thread

That was great. What kind of a MONSTER steals a shovel? And then gets rid of it! Good on him.

still p psycho on both sides imo

I have to say, the recent harsh weather really made people friendlier and chattier. It gives people a topic of conversation and a common enemy, and I have had small conversations with people at my bus stop who I see all the time but have never talked to before. And then there are little connections like when a particularly nasty blast of snow hits two pedestrians and you smile (grimace) and nod to acknowledge each other's common plight. On the day of the storm I made a mini friendship with a lady at a crosswalk who was as disgusted as I was at the guy rollerblading into traffic in the middle of the blizzard.

Hey, The Chicago Code is on Hulu. Some fun location shots, some Chicago actors in there.

No Dennis Farina, no credibility.

I'm interested if you guys have any impressions of the various Chicago suburbs. The only one I think I have the "feel" of is Evanston. But every day I drive out to Elgin, I see the signs for various NW suburbs, and I have no idea what they're like, what their characters are. I wonder what the difference is between living in Arlingon Heights or Carol Stream or Schaumburg.

Having spent most of my life here, I do have impressions of various suburbs, but it's largely about demographics, like affluence or ethnic makeup. Or I guess long the suburb has been around: is the kind of place that has a quaint downtown or is it nothing but new development and strip malls? I can't say I've spent a ton of time outside of the area I grew up in, though.

Straight west from the city, Berwyn, Oak Park, River Forest, Maywood, and Elmhurst all are distinctly different, mostly for the reasons John mentions.

I went to Elmhurst for the first time a few months ago and liked their downtown a lot.

I was reading somewhere that La Grange has a really nice downtown. Anybody know if this is true?

I actually think taking random trips to the suburbs is fun...maybe this weekend...

Naperville, or at least the sections of Naperville I frequented while playing hockey out there, is shitty and stifling.

Yeah, I mean a lot of the areas near where I work are pretty bland and useless...but I'm assuming there are some nice suburbs somewhere (aside from Oak Park and Evanston of course, which barely seem like suburbs). There are occasionally places that look nice on Check Please.

Just got my first paycheck with new IL tax withholdings and I can feel the difference. Crappy.

Interesting: http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/winter-season-snowcard_2011-02-10?page=3

Chicago's standings:

Chicago:

* Seasonal snow-to-date: 53.4" (28" above average-to-date)
* 3rd heaviest snowstorm of record (20.2" on Feb. 1-2). 4th straight season with 50"+ snow.
* Season's snow grade: A+ (Do we even need an explanation here?)

We live in a wasteland. Might as well move to south America.

A guy at work was talking about similar stats (not sure if it was the exact same source) this morning and, I swear to god, followed it up with, "heh heh, so much for global warming" complete with air quotes.

Did you then begin viciously beating him about the face and groin?

If I didn't need and really like my job, I might just have done that. Instead I just mentally filed him under the "never give a shit about anything this guy says ever" box.

I try to avoid any Red Line stops north of Jackson during evening rush hour.

I know--that line stood out to me as well, giving (even preference aside) how private the dude is.

Courtney Love said in an interview that Kurt Cobain once went to Stipe's house with the intention of having sex with him, but he chickened out and wouldn't tell her any details of what went wrong.

god riding the red line to/from grand and state was the worst, so glad I'm not doing that any more

Yeah, God takes up at least two seats. Plus, he's always sweaty and smells a bit ripe. I wish someone would ban him from the CTA, but what can you do? He's God.

thou art god

Hey everyone, my school's Repertory Dance Company is performing tomorrow at noon at the Harris Theater for their Eat to the Beat series. They're really good, it's only $5, AND you can bring your lunch. I highly recommend it as a nice Friday lunchtime diversion.

N/A, are you on twitter any more? I tried to communicate with you?

K-Berg: That sounds lovely, but I'm taking the afternoon off tomorrow to go to this: http://go.colum.edu/manifest/

(Fair warning: the page has auto-play video with sound. I wish I could explain to them why that's a bad idea, but I only work at the school across the street.)

most of stipe's new orleans recommendations aren't quite my scene. that said, i've been to bar tonique (same block as donna's) and it's ok, meauxbar is amazing if you want to drop a little coin on a nice dinner, and i totally love satsuma cafe (i think used to be called something else, can't remember what). biscuits & jalapeno jelly, yup.

I like that he says in praise of the hotel "it's not haunted."

I don't know wtf is going on a floor below us, but it sounds like a combination between an Usher concert and an arena football game with tons of loud cheering.

it's probably someone playing B96

Lol, no there is actually a huge crowd cheering at something very very loudly between bursts of loud bass-driven music.

Ooooh, and now its gospel!

That kinda sorta reminds me of this Kanye West/Goat link that I saw this morning, that made me laugh way more than it should have.

http://youtubedoubler.com/?video1=0vGtM1Vh7LI&start1=3&video2=VgAXZHMi_ws&start2=0&authorName=Ann+O%27Nymous

lol I mean Usher not Kanye

Figured it out. East-West is having a fashion show/party directly below our offices.

RIP Chicago Code, cancelled already.

Good riddance.

I kinda liked it.

Who would you say is the Cubs player - past or present - with the most name recognition?

Ron Santo? Ernie Banks? Ryne Sandberg?

The first one I thought of was Ernie Banks. And then that guy who left a few years back. Also Fukudome.

Ernie Banks is perfect. Thank you!

I need to reference a baseball player in an exam question, and although I am going to say, "Ernie Banks, famous former baseball player for the Chicago Cubs," I wanted to use a well-recognized name, too.

Sammy Sosa for people not in Chicago or not old.

My students are all in Chicago. They are about half old.

Sandberg or Sosa, I'd say.

A brigade of small children just marched past our house. I think they are planning to occupy city hall.

I don't know who Sandberg is, so he's out. Ha.

Sammy Sosa for people not in Chicago or not old.

2x

agreed
i would not be able to identify ernie banks as a cubs player tbrr

Sosa was the one I was referring to above.

Too late. 20 copies featuring the Ernie Banks exam question are already made and in my teacher mailbox.

Be kind of hard to call Sammy Sosa "legendary" or anything after his tainted legacy.

Name recognition was the criteria.

You're right.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30885260@N06/5662284082

heh, I saw that this morning

glad to see that blipsters can stay in Pilsen

hahahaha
that's funny

well, not really, but

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_sSYMzjFHMKE/S8yEnkw6RDI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/5xnsKZTwqeg/s400/havens+1.jpg

Heh, too many things wrong with that white hipsters poster. Get out of here you racist whiteys!

Do you think that church sign is real?

No.

What's the limit for length of Chicago threads? This one is getting mad, fat long, yo.

I think there's an old one that's 6,000+. But start a new one if you like!

This one is but a baby. They should go on for years.

xp The title has to be clever, though. I don't know if I'm up for that right now. Maybe after a shower and a shave.

Saw Bridesmaids this afternoon. Pretty darn funny stuff. The "Target Lady" was such an awful character that I don't think I gave Kristen Wiig near as much credit as she deserves. The movie successfully combines the romantic comedy/chick flick with The Hangover, and that's no small feat. There were bits that didn't work for me, but that's true in any comedy (because I'm a sour, mean bastard), but some of it was killer. I'll say no more. Don't read any reviews.

Here we go: Chicago: They paved a fetid swamp/and put up a parking lot