While I certainly have been eating more plant-based and vegetarian meals, I only managed to consciously eat vegan meals three times this year. Next year more!
1 - 2/15/21
2 - 5/6/21
3 - 5/17/21
Thursday, December 9, 2021
#32 - Try 12 New Restaurants in Chicago
I was being a bit ambitious in attempting to try 12 new restaurants in Chicago during a pandemic, but I wanted to keep this one on my list to continue my support of the fantastic service industry in Chicago. Chicago's restaurants and bars not only employ tens of thousands of people, they're also, on average, damn good, better than the bars and restaurants of most cities. If you don't serve great food or have something special to offer, good luck competing in this market. It's stacked.
3/20/21
I was looking for some delivery and craving a great sandwich. I thought I'd try North Buena out, and I was not disappointed. I had the Sicilian and will definitely be ordering again and looking forward to going in person.
2 - Figo Wine Bar
4/20/21
It finally warmed up enough to dive into some outdoor dining. Laura reserved a table for 4 of us at Figo Wine Bar on a Tuesday night (an exciting return of Two Bar Tuesdays). It felt so luxurious to split apps and bottles of wine with 3 of my very favorite people. We laughed, drank, ate, laughed, and then continued on to our second bar.
I also can't wait to go back to Figo once indoor dining is safe again. What a cute little spot with a great wine selection and tasty food.
3 - Crushed Pizzeria
7/5/21
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I hate Chicago pizza. Deep dish is way too much. The first few bites are delicious, and then I don't want anymore, but that's all we've ordered because it's so much food, so I eat more, and then I feel like I've eaten several pounds of cheese and bread and I hate myself. The thin crust (a.k.a. pub style) is even worse. It's like cardboard topped with canned tomato paste, preshredded generic mozzarella, and then garbage toppings. It's tasteless grease. I hate it.
Luckily, some great woodfired, coolfired, and Detroit-style spots have opened up in Chicago. My favorite is Paulie Gee's, and they do squares (Detroit style), woodfired, and, newly, NY-style slices. Unfortunately, they're in Logan Square and do not deliver to my neighborhood, so it has to be a whole trip to go there. Then, wood/coal-fired pies just don't travel well (which I learned at Paulie Gee's, who refuses to do even take out woodfired pizza).
So I've been searching high and low for some decent NY-style spots that will deliver to my place. On July 5, 2021, I FINALLY FOUND MY SPOT.
When I tried out Crushed, I ordered a salad and a simple Build-Your-Own pie: just mushrooms. The pizza was everything I was hoping for: crisp, chewy crust; that perfect bite to the cheese; delicious sauce; and just the right number of shrooms for great flavor. I had added on the garlic butter as a side assuming that if the pizza was mediocre (which it wasn't), I could dip it in buttery goodness, and wow, was I shocked. The garlic butter is mind blowingly good. Like, so so so garlicy and herby without being too greasy. It was great on the pizza crust, and then I used it in other ways: on my veggies, to fry eggs, every use perfect.
I'm so relieved to have a pizza delivery place that is satisfying!
7/30/21
I walk by this place all the time, and on this day, tried to do takeout, but my phone said they were only taking orders by home, and I didn't have my wallet on me. But by the time I got home, I wanted Thai food badly, and this was one of the places still open at 9pm... and I could order online 😐
I had pad thai like a basic bitch and some coconut rice w/ mango (which is what I really wanted). The pad thai was fine. Like, fine. People must go there for other things. Because it was fine. The coconut rice was magical when combined with the mango. So I probably won't order delivery from this spot again, but I will give it another try and eat something more adventurous.
5 - Moxy Hotel
7/31/21, with Stephanie Souvenir
I was certainly drawn to this spot due to the name. Luckily, it also had tacos from
Steph & I split a great dip trio and were recommended the carnitas tacos, which were great, and I can't wait to go back and hang/work in this spot.
#2 - Complete the 2021 Book Riot Reading Challenge
I only managed to get 4 of the 24 challenge items done (so far) this year, but I still really love working on this every year. It really gets me out of my reading comfort zone, and I love that Book Riot provides ideas for each of the categories. Can't wait for more next year!
__________________________________________________________________
1. Read a book you've been intimidated to read & 2. Read a nonfiction book about antiracism
Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
4/27/21
I want to believe I was intimidated by this book due its length (515 pages + notes) but really, I think I was intimidated because I was concerned I'd learn about how ignorant I am to large swaths of U.S. history and the intricacies of racist ideas. Well, I was right. This book included 515 pages of things I should have learned in history class and instead was presented with a white-washed curriculum of American progress and exceptionalism, which just isn't accurate. Ironically, this book also showed that the uncomplicated, inaccurate version of history that I was presented with may also be why I hated history class. It was so boring. Kendi, on the other hand, tells stories and weaves ideas and narratives in a very compelling historical text. It made me want to read more, learn more, do better.
I have one critique I feel compelled to share due to Kendi's own argument about how Barack Obama was a legal and policy scholar, not a history, race, and racism scholar, yet his supporters treated his ideas on race as expertise based on his identity. In the epilogue of this book and in his subsequent book How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi also speaks on topics on which he is clearly not an expert, namely gender identity, sexual orientation, and other aspects of identity. He rightly ties the freedom of and justice for all people of all identities to the freedom of all, as is required in antiracism work, but he sometimes speaks as if he is an expert in these others when he is not. Kendi is certainly an expert and a scholar on racism and racist ideas, currently and throughout history, and I learned so much from him in this book. I wish he would speak to the connection between racism and other forms of oppression, and then either do extensive research in these areas before writing on them or refer readers to the writing of other experts. This critique is focused on some pieces of the epilogue, which is such a small segment of the book, so the space I'm giving the criticism in this blog post may not be appropriate. It was just hard to leave on that note, especially after having first read How to Be an Antiracist, which dedicates entire chapters to identities on which Kendi is not an expert and often presents misleading, inaccurate, or sometimes harmful/hurtful narratives, much like the narratives Kendi worked so hard to counter and correct in his own work.
That said, this is all a reminder to myself that I can do deep research, be an expert, and still have areas of ignorance, some of which I am aware of and some I am not. While intent does not equal impact, with the genuine intention of continual learning and growth, as it is clear Kendi has and I strive to share, the pursuit of justice can move forward.
3. Read a non-European novel in translation
The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun
9/17/21
This was a strange read. The idea for the story was fascinating, very compelling, but the writing was choppy, and the author took some really "easy" turns in the plot, removing some of the interest for both the story and the characters. I'd be really curious to hear what someone who read the story in the original translation and with knowledge of the culture thought about it.
22. Read a book set in the Midwest
Say Nice Things About Detroit by Scott Lasser
7/30/21
I picked up this book thinking it was nonfiction. Turns out it's fiction. It makes a good attempt at being loving toward a city I love, but it's also a bit... written by a straight, cis white man who isn't great at writing women or black people. So I see the love letter to the city, and also, it has a really limited, kinda dishonest view.
__________________________________________________________________________
Here's the rest of the list! I highly recommend the challenge!
- Read an LGBTQ+ history book
- Read a genre novel by an Indigenous, First Nations, or Native American author
- Read a fanfic
- Read a fat-positive romance
- Read a romance by a trans or nonbinary author
- Read a middle grade mystery
- Read an SFF anthology edited by a person of color
- Read a food memoir by an author of color
- Read a work of investigative nonfiction by an author of color
- Read a book with a cover you don’t like
- Read a realistic YA book not set in the U.S., UK, or Canada
- Read a memoir by a Latinx author
- Read an own voices book about disability
- Read an own voices YA book with a Black main character that isn’t about Black pain
- Read a book by/about a non-Western world leader
- Read a historical fiction with a POC or LGBTQ+ protagonist
- Read a book of nature poems
- Read a children’s book that centers a disabled character but not their disability
- Read a book that demystifies a common mental illness
- Read a book featuring a beloved pet where the pet doesn’t die
Friday, December 3, 2021
#12 - Practice Yoga 52 Times
1 - 2/12/21: I wanted to get this going, so I did a quick, 5-minute practice at home. At least I got started!
2 - 2/24/21: Another quick, at-home practice
3 - 2/28/21: Still quick, but hey, I'm still going!
4 - 3/9/21: Short, sweet, and becoming more regular!
5 - 4/18/21: Another short session, but feeling better and better.
6 - 4/21/21: Extending my practice!
7 - 4/25/21: Still short but more frequent!
8 - 5/12/21: Another shortie.
9 - 7/25/21: Resuming with a short practice!
10 - 8/3/21: May not make it to 52 this year, but at least I'm back doing this regularly!
11 - 8/25/21: Another shortie
12 - 9/12/21: Building it up!
13 - 9/17/21: Getting a little longer!
14 - 9/21/21: Even longer!
15 - 10/25/21: Short again. Haha.
#4 - Read 35 Books
1 - Under the Volcano by Malcome Lawrey
3/7/21
**3 - Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology edited by Helen Vendler
3/20/21
4 - Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
4/7/21, for the second time, for class
5 - The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
4/19/21, for the second time, as part of Bingo Book Club
6 - Master Harold... And the Boys by Athol Fugard
4/21/21, for class
**7 - Stamped from the Beginning: A Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
4/27/21
8 - Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
5/6/21, for class
9 - Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
6/6/21, for class
10 - Passage to India by E. M. Forrester
7/24/21, for class, for the second timepow
11 - Say Nice Things About Detroit by Scott Lasser
7/30/21
12 - The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
8/5/21
13 - Verity by Colleen Hoover
8/26/21
**14 - Circe by Madeleine Miller
9/13/21, first time reading it after 2 listens of the audiobook
15 - The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun
9/17/21
*16 - And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
10/3/21 for Bingo Book Club
**17 - Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
10/4/21, gifted to me by Kevin Robitaille
18 - Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
10/18/21
19 - My Beautiful Laundrette by Hanif Kureishi
10/19/21, for class
20 - Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid
11/20/21, for class
#8 - Walk 52 Times
1 - 1/2/21, 40 minutes in Pittsfield Township
2 - 3/19/21, 30 minutes in Pittsfield Township
3 - 3/18/21, 5 minutes around the pond with my dad
4 - 3/29/21, 29 minutes in Pittsfield Township
5 - 4/9/21, 39 minutes in Pittsfield Township
6 - 4/17/21, 35 minutes in Pittsfield Township
7 - 4/24/21, 35 minutes in Pittsfield Township
8 - 4/27/21, 40 minutes in Pittsfield Township
9 - 5/10/21, 15 minutes to the store in Chicago
10 - 5/17/21, 47 minutes along the lake shore in Chicago
11 - 5/27/21, 16 minutes in Uptown
12 - 5/31/21, 47 minutes in Uptown
13 - 6/3/21, 42 minutes in Uptown
14 - 6/12/21, 110 minutes in Marbury State Park with Chris Krone & Jackie Schafer
15 - 6/14/21, 55 minutes in Pittsfield Township
16 - 6/26/21, 55 minutes in Uptown
17 - 6/28/21, 60 minutes in Uptown
18 - 7/5/21, 65 minutes in Uptown
19 - 7/17/21, 70 minutes in Pittsfield Township (Pokemon Go Fest 2021)
20 - 7/18/21, 81 minutes in Pittsfield Township (Pokemon Go Fest 2021)
21 - 7/20/21, 79 minutes in Pittsfield Township
22 - 7/30/21, 80 minutes in Uptown
23 - 8/4/21, some time around downtown and the Riverwalk with Nicole Green
24 - 8/5/21, 32 minutes in Uptown
25 - 8/8/21, with Grace in Bay Park
26 - 8/10/21, with Grace in Bay Park
27 - 8/15/21, with Corey Grassl and Christian Imboden in the Poconos
28 - 8/17/21, with Peggy Salsbury
29 - 8/18/21, 45 minutes in the Poconos
30 - 9/2/21, 30 minutes in Uptown/Rogers Park
31 - 9/9/21, 18 minutes in Uptown with Shaun Cooley
32 - 9/19/21, 32 minutes in Uptown
33 - 9/23/21, 16 minutes in Uptown
34 - 9/26/21, 34 minutes in Uptown
35 - 9/29/21, 90 minutes in Uptown
36 - 10/7/21, 30 minutes in Uptown
37 - 10/8/21, 32 minutes in Uptown
38 - 10/16/21, 30 minutes in downtown Chicago
39 - 11/3/21, 90 minutes in Lincoln Park because I ran out of gas and forgot my wallet at home
40 - 11/4/21, 110 minutes in the Morton Arboretum with Stephanie Souvenir
41 - 12/3/21, a very long time (3 hours or so?) in La Paz Waterfall Gardens with Jerry Krone & Kathy Krone
Sunday, November 14, 2021
#1 - Submit Another Piece of Writing for Publication
I submitted an article I've been working on for about six years to an academic journal. Last year, I submitted almost the exact same article to the exact same journal, so I thought I was done with it. Then, I received a quick rejection: because I'd neglected to notice the 7,000 word limit and submitted the article with 10,000+ words. Cutting those last 3,000 words to resubmit has been a chore. In doing so, I do think I've created a stronger piece, and I'm hopeful!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)