gnat turns 24!

after morning class and some quality time at the lib, i started off my celebrating with a walk over to the chicago city farm heirloom tomato stand. i was hoping to leave with heaps of large, juicy, colorful, misshapen heirloom tomatoes, but the walk over took significantly longer than i anticipated and this was all they had left:

worth it. these little guys accompanied me on the rest of the night's journeys,but only about half of them made it home.

then i hopped on the train to meet daniel for dinner at xoco, (the name of which i mumble ambiguously and pronounce slightly differently each time i say it) a rick bayless restaurant which serves almost exclusively tortas. a whole restaurant just for sandwiches - how could it be bad?

daniel tried the ahogada:

i had the milanese:

both were crazy good. my new personal goal is to try every torta they make (except the one that has mushrooms on it). two down, eleven to go.

also at xoco, we had fresh churros, ice cream, and the best damn hot chocolate i have had in my recent memory.

post dessert we met cara, aleck, kristin, and a few of my classmates at clark street ale house ("if you can't get into heaven, go straight to ale!"), which has one of the most intimidating beer lists i have ever encountered. our server was able to help me out with my selections, and in exchange we shared some tomatoes with her.

the night ended with a big surprise from cara and aleck:

cupcakes from more! i look sheepish because i basically ruined the surprise by breaking up the gathering before cara had the chance to reveal the takeout boxes she'd been carrying in her bag all night. oops?

coconut mango and (i believe) chocolate chocolate:

three months into my chicago residency, i know a small but mighty contingent of kickass people who came out and made it an awesome birthday. and there were sandwiches. and tomatoes. i win.

gnat prepares for her last day in california

yes, the one month mark of my california stay is fast approaching and with it my impending return to chicago. here's a sampling of the things i did while i was here:

i spent the first week fluishly and furiously (like fast and furious but with more phlegm) knitting from the couch in my parents' living room.

i made my way south to LA and back (twice) to see some of my favorite people and eat some of my favorite foods, including this pizza from enzo's in westwood:

it's just so damn satisfying.

i visited san diego and celebrated maya's birthday and larry's newly awarded permanent residency. (hooray for no longer having to worry that he'll get deported!)

can you find anything wrong with this picture?

i saw some free (well, almost free) music that would have caused 15 year old me to flip out at the del mar racetrack:

i collected some evidence that we have seasons here in california, too:

and, perhaps because i've begun to miss living right on top of a purveyor of silly flavored cupcakes, i baked.

blue moon orange with honey cream cheese frosting:

and irish car bomb cupcakes (guiness chocolate cake, whiskey ganache filling, bailey's buttercream frosting) for very late celebrating of daniel's birthday.

all of this and more! sadly most of the trip went undocumented, owing to carmine's accident early on. he couldn't be fixed, so tomorrow i'll pick up his replacement - carmine II. thank you, accidental damage warranty. also tomorrow, packing. not looking forward to that.

stay tuned, only one more day before gnat's chicago experiment is actually about chicago again.

gnat goes goes back back to cali cali

and gets laid out by the flu the moment her plane touches down at san francisco international. awesome.

no matter. it means i get to take some time out from lying on the couch, wheezing, knitting, and watching harry potter movies to post a couple of pictures.

thursday night i got a little crazy at trader joe's for snacks and two buck chuck (which costs three dollars a bottle in chicago... seriously chicago, wtf.) for a picnic in millenium park. cara, eric, laurena, maya, daniel and i wined, dined, enjoyed some free jazz, and hobnobbed with some hungry mosquitos.

on friday myself, cara, aleck, and cara's friend lisa who was in town for a brief visit, went looking for billy goat's tavern - a chicago legend. this saturday night live skit is evidently about it. there are several locations around the greater chicago area... we chose the absolute sketchiest one.

in case we weren't sure we were in the right place, this sign was posted outside:

also notable this week, i did battle with and subsequently vanquished a disgusting little apartment intruder. i had to sacrifice a tupperware to do it but he's gone and isn't coming back with any of his little cockroach friends. gross.

gnat tries crack (not actual crack, guys)

and it came from garrett's popcorn shop - a chicago tradition! they're scattered all over the city and we walked by one during our wandering today, so i made daniel stop in so i could try some.

i opted for the chicago blend, a mix of cheese and caramel flavored popcorns. and i can't. stop. eating it. i don't even like caramel (which is probably why you'll notice the cheese are looking a little outnumbered).

today was the first and hopefully the last time i will ever buy this popcorn. not that it isn't delicious (and addictive), but i think i can feel the cellulite forming with every bite.

gnat fears life without vegetables

yesterday it was about 34007509 degrees out, so naturally daniel and i chose to spend the day sitting outside in direct sunlight listening to (yep) free music. we watched fireworks from the lake then from daniel's apartment. i guess fireworks aren't illegal here, because the whole skyline was all lit up with fireworks being set off all over the city from nightfall until past midnight.

i spent today with cara, the future roommate, who is out in chicago for a visit to look at apartments. we did some preliminary hunting and will be continuing the quest for the perfect place tomorrow.

then i paid a visit the jewel-osco, the midwest equivalent of ralph's. the produce section was a little depressing, which worries me because it's june so i can't imagine what it will be like in january. a full 1/3 of the section was apples, and the only fresh herb in sight was parsley. sooner than later i am going to be hurting real bad for some cilantro. i need to find a mexican market somewhere.

after selecting all of my items, i had to carry them the eight blocks back to the apartment. i am going to have to learn some serious self control when it comes to grocery shopping.

and i cooked! i had forgotten how much cooking improves my mood. i've been showing you pictures of food that everyone else in the city made, so here's some that i made:

the best pastitsio i have made in my entire pastitsio making career. seriously. i put on my big fat greek wedding while i was making it, you know, to set the greek food mood.

gnat necesita una poca de gracia

so far i had only really meandered from the apartment in one direction - north. i figured it was about time i familiarized myself a little more with my surroundings so yesterday i set out towards the east. from the train station two blocks over:

i didn't get very far though, cuz i live about three blocks from the lake, but i did walk by soldier field onto the museum campus which houses the planetarium, the natural history museum, the aquarium, some pretty sweet views, and lots of tourists who are happy to take your picture (albeit crookedly):

once i hit the water i had little choice but to head, well, north (it was either that or south, i mean come on) so i walked up past the marina back to millenium park where the grant park orchestra was having open rehearsal:

daniel managed to get off work early and met me at taste of chicago for, yeah, more free music. we saw los lonely boys and los lobos. i had only heard one los lonely boys song before then (check it out) and wasn't expecting them to be as completely awesome live as they were. seriously so fun to watch.

los lobos played a long set too which was fine but we were a bit distracted:

by this guy:

at least, until they played la bamba.

gnat makes friends (both human and non-human)

i spent most of friday bumming around the apartment then walked down to grant park to meet daniel at taste of chicago for the "rap down rewind" concert. we saw salt n pepa, slick rick, doug e fresh, these guys:

(there's absolutely no way to tell, but that's bell biv devoe) and some other fools. the place was packed. i thought jazz reggae was nuts, but it wasn't like this:

and this was from pretty far back away from the stage.

yesterday i went down to the bar next door to watch the usa/ghana game in hopes that i'd find some friendly people to sit with and i DID! i made a friend who actually lives nine floors up in my building.

after the game i set off on a quest to find a good nearby coffee shop where i could do some reading (total fail) which was (thankfully) interrupted by a phone call from my roommate to ask if i wanted to go hang out with her fiance and his friends. on the way home we grabbed groceries and i cooked dinner but really sorta disappointingly. i don't have any kitchen mojo here yet, think i still need to get used to everything being so nice... it seems only cook well in kinda crappy kitchens with hodgepodge cooking implements that need to be re-screwed together every now and again.

OH yeah, the other friends i mentioned. they love crawling all over my wall of windows (how the heck do they get up here? i'm 21 floors up...) and yesterday i met a particularly large one.

i didn't get a chance to name him before he disappeared, with my luck probably into my bed. oy.

gnat swears this will get easier (right?)

the last two days have been, well...

rough.

moving across the country to a city where you know exactly one person, a person who is really busy, is not easy. i knew it wasn't going to be when i decided to do it, but i guess i didn't quite expect this. it's only day two, and it wouldn't be all that fair to say i was trying my hardest to get out there and enjoy the city because i haven't but still... there is a big part of me that wants to admit defeat, pack up the little bit of stuff that i've unpacked, and head back to california.

in the meantime i've been applying for jobs and volunteer positions, looking for classes (what kind of classes you ask? cooking, music, knitting, improv, basically you name it and i'm interested), and checking out chicago social networking opportunities.

i just need to make it a few more days and then all of this will get easier. i think. i hope. no, i know.

on a lighter note, last night daniel and i went to a pretty awesome free concert in the park. we saw el ritmo de la vida with doc severinsen, who used to play trumpet for johnny carson on the tonight show. hes completely awesome. and he performed in pink leather pants.

and finally, by request, the view from my apartment which is, sadly, far less spectacular than the view from daniel's:

gnat gets mixed signals

after spending the preceding few days dealing with this:

yesterday i did one final pack/repack/repack-again/realize-there-was-more-stuff-in-the-laundry-and-repack-some-more and headed with mom to SFO. the first leg of the trip (san francisco to las vegas) was super turbulent but otherwise fine. no sooner had i lined up at my gate for leg two (las vegas to chicago midway) than an announcement came over the speaker that we were being grounded due to weather conditions. weather in chicago. thunderstorms and a tornado watch. wtf? tornado watch? you must be joking.

by this point i'm beginning to think that hey, maybe chicago doesn't want me. maybe it's trying to keep me on the west coast where i belong. the delay was only an hour, though, and the flight into chicago was, well, long. i was sandwiched between a larger gentleman whose left arm found its way into my seat every time he dozed off and a twitchy lady who reeked of cigarettes and obviously was hurting for one pretty badly, she chewed an entire pack of gum one stick at a time over the 3 hour flight.

i deplaned and immediately found myself surrounded by banners proclaiming "we're glad you're here!" from mayor daley. the MAYOR is glad i'm here.

the mayor may have gotten his wires crossed though. after waiting for an hour in a cab line that ran the length of the terminal, i wind up with a driver who starts talking shit about me to his buddy on the phone as soon as i tell him where i'm going. in arabic. in egyptian arabic. so not only is this guy a tool, he's also an idiot. he made it through about 8 minutes before he had to hang up because his battaraya khelset (his battery died). i paused for a moment then asked "so you are egyptian? me too." he shot me a pretty awful "oh crap" look then turned the radio up and left it up for the rest of the trip. he was really nice about helping me get my bags out of the car. then i met up with ANOTHER egyptian (a nicer one, though) who i had kept up waiting for me with all of the "adventuring" i had been doing.

so here i am. daniel left for work, i'm supposed to be gathering my things and heading on to the new apartment but all i really want to do is take a nap. here's the view from the window in his room:

kinda neat, huh?