This year we chose to go digital for our holiday card to tell our story (and spirit) through video! Enjoy!
By @sasha_em on @mashable via , Of course, the @alexitauzin
By conservative estimate, as we traveled down Roosevelt Road about 30 people jumped out in front of our car (for reasons we never could discern) and we passed at least one red light district XXX-video store. The Depot American Diner, located in this slightly sketchy west-southwest corner of Chicago where the city meets Oak Park and Cicero, is a skinny little spot with just one window facing the street and a small sign advertising “made-to-order donuts” and the “Blue Plate Special.” We made the trek to this humble hash house on the recommendation of several of the lady’s co-workers and left the place pleased by the out-of-the way, yet still homey and comforting experience.
The Depot, despite it’s less-than-lauded neighborhood, is a highly recommended and Zagat’s rated joint that was featured in Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on The Food Network. It delivers that classic diner feel by way of a stainless steel counter and spinning bar stools with a few booths along the other wall. Though there’s a full kitchen behind closed doors, the space behind the counter has an “exposed” look with enough deep frying and cooking going on to keep that greasy-spoon vibe and they serve old fashioned bottled sodas and a few soda-fountain style drinks. When we dined, there was another couple like us and a few folks who fit that stereotyped look of “a regular” to a tee.
Crafting original cocktails is simultaneously the most exciting and the most daunting part of this mixology hobby I’ve adopted. When you create a successful new drink – or even just a clever variation on an existing one –…
(Source: bybe.wordpress.com)
Next, if you somehow haven’t heard, is the new Chicago restaurant from Chef Grant Achatz and Restaurateur Nick Kokonas, both of Alinea fame. The premise is short-lived, but exquisitely executed menus with the food, silverware and focus changing every three months. The opening choice of…
hello Chicagons,
just in case you’ve been hiding under a rock all day i’ll let you in on some breaking fucking news: it’s going to snow this week. it’s going to snow a lot. we’re talking multiple inches of snow accumulating an hour, a high temperature estimate of 10 degrees Fahrenheit and lake fueled wind chill levels that would make Mayor Daley’s long dead and frozen heart shiver. we’re in official urban blizzard mode here people.
so yah, the bad news is that it’s going to be very cold. hot cocoa prices will skyrocket, bar crawls will “go Donner party” and public nakedness will be made entirely impractical. nay, suicidal. the good news is that we’re Midwesterners AND we’ve been choking down Hot Doug’s all year in preparation. we’re practical, frugal and get a massive boner off of being well prepared for these kind of things. additionally, all that delicious encased meat has prolly left most of us with a little warming cushion around our bellies.
accordingly, i make the following plea to all Chicagoans:
please find a blizzard buddy immediately.*
if you’re in a relationship (loving or otherwise), you’re in luck. this person is your best bet to make it through three days of frozen apartment pipes, floorboards crafted of dry ice and the general malaise of frozen winter shit. maybe things aren’t great between you two right, maybe they are. it doesn’t matter. this is not a drill. fucking man up and be madly in love for a while. it’s my experience that monogamy burns hottest while eating warmed up leftovers and watching hulu from bed. you lucky devils. enjoy yourself.
the rest of us have a little work to do unless we want to spend our night cuddling with a space heater. finding a proper blizzard buddy can be rewarding if you’re smart about it, so i encourage you to be proactive.
an ideal buddy will:
- be blindingly beautiful; possessing the animal magnetism and sexual charisma of a Brazilian cheetah in sexy underpants. alternatively, you could find someone that is, you know, just like … around and warm.
- have already stocked up on a wide variety of alcohol (whiskey warmsssss), cigarettes and other illicit inebriants.
- be able to imitate a concerned parent muffled calls to your work explaining your illness related absence.
- possess an exceptional taste in winter accommodating music. bonus points if they avoid Sigur Ros.
- have a clairvoyant knowledge of your desire for coffee, additional blankets and oral sex.
- generate enough BTUs to make your bedroom bunker a veritable sauna.
- have the stamina for multiple rounds of NOVA documentaries, ruminative gazes out the window and sex hot enough to steam the veggies in your freezer.
if you follow these guidelines then you and your blizzard buddy will get through this whole ordeal without serious issue, excepting the possibility of a few playful bruises and scratches.
warm regards,
ataxiwardance
(photo is some blizzard buddies from Chicago’s great blizzard of ‘67)
*run. do not walk. no procrastination. also, your cat / dog / landlord does not count.
Street art makes me happy.
Chicago makes me happy.
[lucyhewett: Logan Square, Chicago- this afternoon]
I was there when they were painting this mural. I live around the corner from here. :)
This is a work in progress by Nick Adam, an all around swell guy. You may have also seen his Mayor Daley: Forever and ever campaign and Nothing ______ Can’t Fix signs around. They didn’t finish before the cold set in, so it won’t be done until spring. I will kind of miss the mural of Atlas with the giant graffiti cock though.
