My Write-Up of Big Jones Restaurant on Chicago Metblog

I just posted this review of Big Jones restaurant on Chicago Metblog. Long story short: YUM.

Ensalada Bella Rossa Part Dos

Bryan shared a link to this NYT article about "The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating," and, since I was headed out the door to the grocery, I added some of them to my list, and to tonight's dinner salad.

Current favorite salad - spinach, broccoli, beets, sweet apples and/or pineapple chunks, and pumpkin seeds, with a dollop of good bleu cheese dressing, sufficient to bind all the chopped ingredients together. Full of vitamins and antioxidants - and really delish.

I'm obsessed with the idea of a perfect salad - that perfect blend of a powerful punch of mega-nutrition and truly enjoyable to eat - and my ideal evolves with time. I used to drop tuna or chicken chunks in, then for awhile I was tofu crazy, and now I leave the protein out of it, since I get that from my shakes instead. Yummm.

Also tried to find canned pumpkin (nowhere to be found, either at Jewel or Edgewater Produce), and grabbed a bag of frozen blueberries while I was at it. Also on the list was Swiss chard, which sounded too complicated (sautee? naw) and sardines, which Bryan (and my cats) love, and which I will never touch with a ten-foot pole. I know, a gripping and fascinating blog post, huh?

Recession Dinner

Scraping the bottom of the barrel: garlic cottage cheese on toasted Brownberry Health Nut bread, half a sweet potato, and a spinach and apple salad with seriously good bleu cheese dressing and a sproonkle of cheese. Yes, "sproonkle."

The Ballad of Carrie Callahan

Last night Carrie came over and made us some snacktacular homemade pizza for dinner. Teresa, Nellie and Carrie and I had a delicious meal, then sat on the back balcony, taking about boys and dating and comedy stuff, and telling dumb dirty jokes and laughing until our stomachs hurt.

After Nellie and I walked Carrie to her bike, on a corner near our house, a man and woman walked by on the other side of the street. He was drunk, loud, and stupid, and telling the woman he was going to "punch her in the face...in front of these three motherfuckers over here," gesturing to us across the street.

Before I knew what was going on, Carrie was crossing the street with purposeful strides as Nellie and I stood there, sort of stunned. "What is she doing?" "I don't know." But we knew we had to follow her. We pushed Carrie's bike across the street, where Carrie had the police on her phone while the drunk idiot yelled homophobic and sexist slurs at us. The woman, probably terrified, said nothing. My hands were shaking and my heart was pounding as they finally walked away. I hate to think what the rest of that woman's evening was like.

Carrie Callahan, a small handful of human being, remained cool as a cucumber walking into the middle of a volatile situation to try to help a fellow human being. She did not hesitate. I hope her next stand-up intro goes like this: "Ladies and gentlemen, coming to the stage, a women who will bake you incredibly delicious pizza, make you laugh for several hours, and if your idiot asshole boyfriend ever threatens you in a public place, she has got your back...Miss Carrie Callahan!"

Here's a clip I edited of Carrie when she opened for our special Jared Logan show this year at Chicago Underground Comedy: