Whatcha Eatin?

I'm posting this because it's hilarious, even though I'm one of the biggest offenders:

Why have we started doing this?  Is this like when someone posts on facebook 'omg, I love my bf soooo much' - like they're trying to prove a point?  What point are we trying to make?  That we're well-fed?  

Old Orchard Shopping Mall

I feel inclined to write this post because Old Orchard shopping mall is seriously one of my favorite places.  It's neat, it's clean, it has great stores.  Despite the fact that some of the clientele is a little 'uppity', if you will, it's generally a very nice place.  It's a source of both many a childhood memories and much credit card damage.

However, recently, a problem arose.  Well, first, there was the tiny blip where they quasi-renamed it 'Westfield Shopping Center'.  I know my mother personally sent a letter of complaint (she couldn't have been the only one).  In the end, they called it 'Old Orchard-Westfield Shopping Center', or something like that, but it's still known to the general public as 'Old Orchard'.

Anyhow - the problem I speak of today.  The food court.  They redid it.  And not for the better.  Well, they think they did.  They USED to have that wonderful 'Pizzaaaah' joint, where one could get a heaping large slice of pizza (1 1/2 inches thick!) and a bottomless pop (along with a lot of other food court staples - mcdonalds, subway, etc.).  Now they have a new area in the food court called "Wilde & Greene" or something ridiculous like that.  It looks nice and fresh and healthy and all that.  I'm sure it's nicer.  I'm sure it's fresher.  I'm sure it's healthier.  I'm not having it.  It's kind of like the dining section in whole foods or mariano's, but on steroids.  They've got that giant roasted rotating meat on a stick, or a build-your-own-pasta area.  It sounds good, in theory, but it's just not.  It's not mid-shopping trip dining.  At least not in my world.

Dear Old Orchard - please go back to your Old Ways.  I miss them.  I loved them.  I realize this probably cost you and arm and a leg to create.  But I really wish we could just pretend this didn't happen.

Love,

One of your Long-Time Fans

Mambo Grill

Ok, I am upset.

One of my all time favorite restaurants in Chicago, Mambo Grill, appears to have closed.

Actually, this may have happened a while ago.  They pulled one of those 'closed to relocate' deals, but then never relocated.

Well, I am inconsolable.  This was one of the best restaurants in Chicago.  Nutritious and delicious - or at least the latter.  The one thing I didn't like about it was there were some great things on the lunch menu that couldn't be ordered for dinner.  Otherwise - spectacular.

Does anyone out there know more about Mambo Grill and it's fate?  Am I wrong?  Will it reopen?  Please help?!

"About Me"

So, recently, I read over my own blog's most recent post from the perspective of, say, a potential employer or someone who doesn't know me well but is trying to get a feel for who I am.  I know I have covered this 'what would a stranger think of me from reading the blog' topic before, but I wanted to recap.

So anyhow - I read my blog from a stranger's perspective.  Here is what I deduced about 'the writer of this blog':

--I am obsessed with dating/analyzing relationships
--I am obsessed with facebook
--I am obsessed with American Idol and Lee DeWyze
--I am obsessed with food

Well, some of this is true, and some of this isn't.   I am actually not obsessed with things pertaining to my personal life.  I just think it's an easy topic to talk about because it sparks interest amongst my 'audience', that, and there's always something to overanalyze.

Anyhow.  This is very far from a complete list of 'me'.  There are a lot of websites, like facebook (there we go again) where there's an 'about me' section, and then there are the requiste bitching of 'it's so hard to describe oneself, blah blah blah'.   So, here is my attempt to list off other things important to me:

My family & friends.  Dance.  Dance class.  Byobs (actually I have an unhealthy obsession with the lakeview byobs).  Lakeview/wrigleyville.  Nail polish.  Fancy wine glasses.  Wine.  Riesling.  Shoes.  Sex and the City.  Seinfeld.  Friends.  Cherry coke.  Coach products.  The DVR.  Journalism.  Writing.  Sleep.  U of I.  Figure skating.  Gymnastics.  Lake Michigan.  Seafood.  Apple products.  Dogs.  Collies. 

More to come.

Dear readers - anything I'm forgetting?

I'm Not Pretending to be a Food Blogger

but....

1)  I am inspired by fellow bloggers (of the food variety) Becky and Laura

2)  I cooked myself a nice dinner.  And, although I thoroughly appreciated it (at least my taste buds and stomach did),  I felt it was too good to keep to myself.  And, it photographed so prettily.

Sigh.

I suppose photographing and posting the dirty dishes and grocery bill from this meal would really complete the picture.

The Most Important Meal of the Day

I don't eat it.

Ok, correction. I RARELY eat it. Only if I'm starving, or if there's free food in the office. I'm a sucker for free food.

Anyhow. I don't care what nutritionists say - when I DO eat breakfast, I am hungrier ALL DAY. I know this contradicts every scientific study, but I kind of think there might be some kind of bunk science going on. Kind of like when they used to make a huge deal about 'whatever you do, don't wake a sleepwalker!' until some doctor came on and said that, surprise, there really is no serious danger or negative side effects to waking a sleepwalker.

That, or maybe I am a scientific anomoly. Or, maybe the scientists are lying, because they don't want people to be discouraged from eating breakfast because they're all weight/calorie conscious. I don't know. My main reason for not eating it is mostly because I am just not hungry in the morning, and by the time I actually start to get hungry, it's almost lunch time.

Anyhow, I'm sure this was a post my readers care greatly about. There you go!

Another Pet Peeve

Tapas Restaurants.  The WHOLE concept of them.  

Maybe it's not that they exist.  Maybe it's that I know too many people who like them and want to go to them.  In fact, I think there's a conspiracy amongst men - EVERY man I've been asked out by over the past three years has suggested "tapas".  

Yes, it's true, I DON'T like sharing food.  (Insert comment about only children here.)  Actually, it's not that I don't like sharing food - it's more that when I go out to eat, I want to pick the specific meal that I want and enjoy THAT meal (not a teeny tiny part of it).  

At tapas, you kind of have to think of what everyone wants to eat, not just yourself.  I have obscure tastes (I like spicy food, which not everyone enjoys).  Also, I like to doctor my food.   At tapas restaurants, it seems like you have to pick something generic as opposed to what you really want so it's something everyone likes.  I kind of feel like this is like when one person wants the red couch and the other wants the blue couch, so they compromise with the green couch and no one is happy.  Also, if there's something really good, you can only take a little bit of it.  

I guess I don't understand everyone else's love of these style restaurants.  I guess I don't really like 'family style' restaurants, in general.  I just want to pick what I want and have that.   Am I alone in this?