Carpe El Weekend

I remember an arm of the US armed services had a slogan like "We do more by 7am than most people do all day". Our July 4th weekend could be summed up in "We do more in one weekend than most people do  all week." I remember a time one day during our honeymoon in Japan when Dan turned to me, authentically confused, and asked "Why are you tired all the time?" This weekend is an excellent example of why, perhaps, I may be tired all the time!

Friday

A delicious lunch of meatloaf and pork belly sandwiches at Birchwood Kitchen in Wicker Park was followed by a leisurely stroll to the Steppenwolf Theatre where we watched "Parallelogram". It was a darkly comedic play about a woman who believes that her future self has come back to warn her of an impending apocalypse, but she is absolutely powerless to stop it (and convince others that she is not insane). By the end, you're not sure if she's loony or if she possess supernatural powers.  Post-play, we ordered Italian ice from our favorite Lincoln Park spot, Annette's. We highly recommend it.

Saturday

Our friend Lolita came over bright and early to devote a a sinfully full day of eating Chicago's finest foods. We hit up the Wine Discount Center and came away feeling like alcoholics with large jugs of wine before noon.  

Giles the Cheese Guy was next. This is, like the Willis fka Sears Tower, a great Chicago institution. Giles is a wholesaler and distributor, but opens his very chilly warehouse to the public from 10am-1pm on Saturdays only for free cheese tastings and sales. You are allowed, nay ENCOURAGED, to bring alcoholic libations, which was all the permission we needed to uncork the wine we just bought and have a wine and cheese tasting all by our selves. There is something very special about hanging out on the South Side of Chicago on beautiful Saturday summer morning in a warehouse surrounded by dairy products. It's addicting.

Post-cheese overload, we marched over to our friend's Seema and Dave's place to watch the Paraguay vs. Spain in the World Cup quarterfinal. As if we didn't have enough pizza and cupcakes (you cannot watch soccer without cupcakes), we made the rounds of Xoco (churros), Sushi Samba (yellowtail w/ lemongrass jalapeno sauce), Frontera Grill (ceviche tasting), then Xoco again (goat sandwich specials and a million churros). Needless to say, we are BIG Rick Bayless fans. Well, at least I am.

Sunday

Every year, we pick one of Chicago's great museums, get an annual membership for 2 people, and visit the heck out of it. It's a great way to enjoy all the exhibits in any one place, and you never feel rushed or hurried. Best yet, it's a charitable donation and saves you money. That's how we roll. 

This year, we are members of the Shedd Aquarium. After our homemade fried chicken lunch, we enjoyed the Wild Reef exhibit about the Apo Islands in the Philippines. The best part is when you can identify a certain fish that no one else knows. It feels us feel intellectually superior for a nanosecond. The second best part is that you can argue endlessly over whether certain fish would taste more delicious steamed or fried. 

We made our way from the Shedd Aquarium to a BBQ all the way up north at an attending's beautiful house in Highland Park, made a game-time decision to buy bikes at Walmart, and watched the Fourth of July fireworks on Lake Michigan from Lake Shore Drive from the sunroof of our car. 

Monday

Again, an early start as we pushed off on our first sail of the season from the Belmont Harbor at 10am! We had a jolly crew of friends onboard, the winds were perfect, we were reefing the sails, drinking beers, and eating cheesy Doritos. We are a classy bunch. Dan was captain per usual, and I was the wench. That just means he gives orders like "tighten the boomvang!", I glare at him, and do what he commands. 

The weather really was perfect for sailing. The winds were strong but not too strong, the sun was shining but there was enough cloud cover that we weren't getting baked, and the lake was completely deserted. After our 3 hour sail, we trooped over to our friends' Sujeet and Shamita's swank apartment to BBQ (again), eat the requisite 10 lbs of meat each, and then loll around helplessly as our stomachs protested in complaint. We grabbed some delicious watermelon and strawberry Italian lemonade with Lee and Lolita at Mario's Italian Lemonade stand in University Village before heading home.

I am happy to report that most of our weekends are like this. Great feats of culinary and athletic strength! Brought to you by the Kwan-Chang household. Tomorrow, unfortunately, is a work day and Joanne's first day at her new job, so we'll see if we can keep up the pace.