#10 - Watch 3 Movies From the AFI Top 100 List

1. Sunset Blvd

1/15/21

This film was interesting. I don't get why the AFI would put it in their Top 100. But like, worth a watch.

2. Citizen Kane

3/2/21

I did not get it. Basically just a journalist learning the life story of an old, rich, white man, which was a super basic, boring old, rich, white man trying to buy and possess so many, many things, including women and things that can't be bought, like a passion for one's work. And like... he owned the thing he supposedly yearned for after all that time? Boring.

3. Casablanca

4/25/21

I get why people like Casablanca. The story, the characters, and the setting are all compelling. The ending is so well done. So I liked it. I didn't love it. Maybe it's because I expected to see some beautiful scenery, knowing Casablanca is likely an incredibly beautiful city. But I'm glad I've now seen it, so that I have context for the so very, very many references from this film that I've heard throughout my life. 

#25 - Make 3 New Breads

1 - Bagels

January 2021

I love bagels. So much. But they have always stuck in my mind as something impossible to make at home. I don't know where I got this idea. 

I saw a post from a friend of some bagels he had made. He's also a great cook, so I still assumed bagels were beyond my reach.

Then I came across a video on Serious Eats about how to make bagels. I knew I wouldn't be able to do it, but the video was only 4 minutes, so I gave it a watch. 

Um, y'all... bagels are kinda... easy. Great bagels are tough, but good bagels are within reach of anyone with a food processor and some basic cooking gear. 

I don't have a food processor, but for several months in 2020, I was staying with my parents, and they have one. 

The toughest part about making the bagels was finding barley malt syrup. It's just not an ingredient easy to find at regular grocery stores. I was able to find some online, and it definitely made a difference, both in giving a lovely thin crust and in getting toppings to stick. 

The second toughest part was getting the dough to be the right texture. The recipe I found said it should only take 90 seconds or so in a food processor to achieve the right texture, but I found I needed longer than that. Much longer. I never quite got the full stretchiness I wanted, but in both attempts, I gave up, and my bagels were decent.

The first day they were great. The second day, they started to do that shrivel things bagels do, but that makes sense, giving they had no preservatives. I am so stoked that I can make bagels at home. SO DELICOUS.

2 - Crusty White No-Knead White Bread

3/20/21

This was shockingly easy and turned out quite good. I should have let it rise a bit longer, but it had a delightful crust, and I can't wait to make it again. Here's the recipe via Serious Eats.

3 - Irish Soda Bread

3/20/21

Well, this was likely the easiest bread I've made and right up there with the best I've tried so far. Such a tasty side with butter! Again, much love to Serious Eats!

Fails:

2/15/21

For some reason, this foccacia did not work. At all. But it was still tasty.

#15 - Don't Drink for 30 Days in a Row

I started this item several times in 2020, but then, you know, 2020 was 2020. January, I had a holiday party, gala, and bachelorette party that were all inclusive, so I decided against Dry January and scheduled in 30 days just before my annual conference trip, which was inviting hangovers with the socials, but was the first 30 days in the year where I could avoid social events. 

And then, 2020... 2020ed. I started my dry period several times, and then, well, things kept happening. It was mostly political events triggering my desire for a drink, and, well, those just never stopped.

Even though things got heated just 6 days into January 2021, I managed to stick it up. The new year is always an easier time going dry with the start of the year, I think because of the combo of overindulgence through the holidays and my birthday and the excitement I get in beginnings and new goals. I had an easy time with it, except in the last week when I had several virtual game nights with friends and would have loved a few glasses of wine as I played along. But I resisted! Jan 1-30.

My January 2021 View

#21 - Try 12 New Restaurants in Chicago

Covid-19 put a damper on this one, as I usually only include restaurants where I dine in person. I counted delivery and take out this year because those were my (safe) options! I still only hit 9 new joints, but that makes sense since I was in Michigan for maybe 6 months this year and couldn't afford to order takeout every night.

1 - El Pulpo Loco

1/6/20, delivery

I was craving tacos, and El Pulpo Loco filled that craving!

2 - Little Bad Wolf

1/31/20 with Laura Masters

I have been wanting to try Little Bad Wolf for awhile now, even more so after reading Megan Stielstra's The Wrong Way to Save a Life where she gushes about what a delight this place is. I was thrilled when Laura Masters suggested it for lunch plans we had made.

Shrimp bao <3 

Little Bad Wolf has two rooms, both dark and adorably decorated. After seeing the amazing Caesar salad at the neighboring table, we decided to share that and then get some baos and tacos from the bites menu. Everything was really good, but the shrimp bao really stood out to me as a favorite.

The servers were quick, attentive, and knowledgeable. They also let us take our time, even during the lunch rush.

Just a lovely first new restaurant of the new year!

3 - Lawry's
1/31/20 with Chris and Beth

Early into the new year, Beth sent a text to Chris, Dan, and I asking if we wanted to do Restaurant Week there. I'd never even considered setting foot in Lawry's, with it's well-known name and pretentious facade, just blocks off Michigan Ave. But $48 for a 3-course steak dinner, why not?

The day of, Dan was sick, so it ended up being Beth, Chris, and I. They had been to Lawry's before, both for Restaurant Week and because it was such a cool experience.

They were right. Dining at Lawry's is an experience.

3 - YATAI Asian Street Food

2/6/20, delivery

I have been looking for decent delivery wings, so I tried out YATAI. YATAI was pretty good. I would try it again, though maybe not for wings, as I found some others for that option.

4 - Pizzeria Aroma

2/24/20, delivery

I had a hankerin' for a filling sandwich. I'd had pizza from Pizzeria Aroma when I happened to be at The Boxcar on a night when they had free pizza, but I'd never ordered myself. I tried out the chicken parm, krinkle fries, and a chicken caeser salad (for multiple meals). The sandwich was awesome. The fries were quite good. So filling. So flavorful. So fast for the delivery. 

5 - Clarke's
2/28/20 with Holly Zann

I've tried to make it a habit to ask someone to lunch each week to get myself out of the house now that I work from home (and do my best work actually from home). I asked Holly and likely will again soon because she's also at home, taking care of a newborn, and I like that newborn, so he was invited too.

She suggested we go to Clarke's in Rogers Park. I had no idea there was a Clarke's in Rogers Park. This is probably semi cheating because I've been to the former Belmont location of Clarke's so very many times. However, that location is closed (how, I don't know), and I'd never been to this location, so I'm counting it! We had a great diner-style lunch. Holly had some soup and grilled cheese and I had a bagel and lox. Totally a great spot for a diner lunch.


6 - Irazu
2/29/20 with Marcy Gonzalez, Denisse Ocasio, Nelly, and Chelli

This spot reserved a private space for Marcy's bachelorette party. They took great care of us, not only serving great Costa Rica food but being super attentive about our drinks.

I loved Costa Rica food while we were there, and I can't wait to go back to Irazu to find some of those tastes again!

7 - Big G's Pizza

3/6/20, delivery

I cannot find decent hand tossed pizza in Chicago. I love Paulie Gee's for woodfired and Detroit style, and there are a few others that have decent woodfired or Italian-style pizzas, but I just can't find a New York nor just hand tossed that I like. I tried out Big G's. It was fine. The dough was still a bit pasty but everything else was fine.

8 - Mrs. T's Southern Fried Chicken

5/2/20, delivery

I was craving really good chicken fingers. Mrs. T's was it. So damn good. I had chicken fingers with hot sauce, biscuits, and coleslaw. Fantastic.

9 - The Budlong Hot Chicken

6/1/20, delivery

I'd been wanting to try the hot chicken sandwich at The Budlong for awhile. I was not disappointed. The sandwich, slaw, and biscuits were all so damn good. Just writing about it makes me crave fried chicken in all forms.

#20 - Try 12 New Workspaces

The pandemic sure put a stop to this one quick. I am looking forward to the day when I can work and explore the city every week.

1 - Chicago Athletic Association Library
1/17/20

I have been to the Chicago Athletic Association many times, and each time I walk through the Drawing Room into the Game Room, I think, I would love to study/work in here. Welp, I finally did it. What a glorious space for some remote work. Here are my favorite things about it.

• It's all dark and Hogwartsy.
• The servers are attentive when you're looking for them and leave you alone with you're not.
• They have great tea options.
• The tea comes in an individual pot.
• The servers will offer to get more hot water for your pot without charging you for more tea.
• There are options to sit by a window that overlooks Millenium Park, at a long table that reminds me of the UM Law Library, by a lit fireplace, or, my favorite, at a big table all to yourself.
• To go to the restroom, you get to walk through the game room and past the pool space where there are usually interesting pop ups. The last time I was there, it was decorated to look like a summer patio for Parson's Chicken and Fish, complete with astroturf, picnic tables, and red-and-white-striped umbrellas.
• It's just a beautiful space.

This will definitely be in my rotation, and if it weren't so far away, I'd be there on the regular!

2 - Starbucks at 180 N. LaSalle
3/3/20

So after a lovely lunch with my buddy Zann, I headed over to the DMV to get an updated car title. That may sound like a miserable thing to do after a nice lunch, but really, the vehicle services side of the DMV in the Thompson Center is usually a pretty efficient process. I've never had to wait more than 15 minutes or so. I make my turn down the vehicle services hallway, grinning at not having to wait in the driver services line that is somehow spilling into the atrium, which I have never seen before. So I pop into a short line, already filled out forms in hand, and am then told that the computers are down. There are still people waiting, so I assume things are just getting reset. Nope. The entire state system is down. It had been for an hour and there was no estimate of when they'd be back online. But I really didn't want to go all the way back downtown another day. So I waited. And waited. And waited. Then the computers were back online. They tested a couple quick purchases, and then I would be next. And then they were down again.

Bay Park Coffee

I realized I couldn't afford to lose any more work hours, and then I realized, WAIT, I CAN WORK FROM ANYWHERE NOW. So I popped across the street to a Starbucks and worked for about an hour. Then, I went back to the DMV and was told the system was still down. So I gave up.

So this is not a story about an interesting workplace. It was fine. But wow, what freedom to be able to just say, oh, well, this is inconvenient, so I'll go do some work somewhere nearby for a bit.

Loving this life--inconveniences and all!

3 - Bay Park Coffee, 4130 Napier St., San Diego
3/10/20

Love this little spot! Love the vibe, love the tea selection, love the snacks, love the reusable cloth coasters and metal straws. Love that the people at the table next to me climbed under the bench to plug my lap top in for me. Whenever it is that I can spend more time in San Diego, I will definitely hang out there a bit!

My Luce view

My Luce snacks

4 - Luce Bar & Kitchen, 1959 Moreno Blvd., San Diego
3/10/20

I needed a little more to eat and to prep for happy hour, so after Bay Park Coffee, I headed over to Luce, which has great happy hour food and drink specials. It had been a little rainy, and it was only 3:00pm, so I found a spot on the patio by the fire to stay warm, have some snacks, and wait for my buddy to join me for some wine. It was a great spot to get some work done for a few hours!

#3 - Read 3 More Books From the Top 100 of the 20th Century List

I only managed to fit one in this year, but it was a good one. I'm halfway through another, so I guess that'll just count next year.

1 - Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
7/16/20

It took me a bit to get into Darkness at Noon, but I ended up really liking it. It was a nice, clean, compelling narrative specific to a location and time. A quick read but unlike anything I've read before.

Complete the 2020 Book Riot Challenge

I only got 3 books into the 2020 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge this year. Hoping to get through it next year.

1. Read a YA nonfiction book: How Dare the Sun Rise by Sandra Uwiringiyimana 

4. Read a graphic memoir: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

7. Read a historical fiction novel not set in WWII: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead