Vacationers who stare at Goats

After seeing the movie, Men who Stare at Goats, I was reminded of my own goat experience in Ios, Greece of Summer 2008. We were lying on Manganari beach, when all of sudden....

Chicago Tourists

My dad was in town this past week, hence the slow blog. It was fun being a tourist for a change. We saw a lot of the city in one week...Cubs game, Sears tower, architecture boat tour, Millenium park, magnificent mile, chicago pizza and hot dogs, latin festival, Buckingham fountain and The Greenmill. And since I forgot to photograph the scarf I made my dad, I have decided to share photos from his visit.

This is the famous glass ledge of the Sears Tower....excuse me...Willis Tower: That's Dad on the left!

This photo was taken at the Greenmill Jazz Club:

And this photo is of the new Zaha Hadid designed pavillion in Millenium Park. Side note: This is the second time I have been to the pavillion. And both times are reminders of why I love Architecture. On the first visit, 2 kids ran towards this screaming "OH COOL!!!" At this last visit, one kid asked his mom "Can we go see that one again?" And its not just kids either, everyone is drawn to this. I know its more of an installation rather than architecture, but any great building really, even the Sears Tower, people flock from around the world to see BUILDINGS. I love that! Have you ever seen anyone running towards a strip mall saying "Oh cool?" Not me. Down with the Strip Malls!

More crafts to come....I promise. I am just trying to enjoy the last days of summer while I still have them!

Food from Places I have been

I'm on a crochet break. This goes out to my foodies...

Texas: BBQ

BRISKET!!!

And of course your other southern delicacies such as chicken fried steak, fried okra, and basically anything fried.

Pecan Pie, yuck!

California: Lots of vegatarian, vegan, raw.

Lots of Asian.

Lots of Mexican.

Chicago: Deep dish Pizza.

The "Italian" beef sandwich. What makes it "Italian" is anyone's guess.

Macaroni and Cheese, its more of a Chicago thing then it is an American thing....you can actually order it as an entree here.

And of course the hot dog.

Barcelona: Oh geez here we go...

Meats include (fuet, sobrasada, jamon serrano, and botifarra) wiki them!

Fish and lots of it. And shellfish too, especially Mussels, super yum!

Gazpacho

Bread with Tomato and Salt

And so much more....

Mexico: Tacos

Mole

Beans and Rice with every meal, its true Alex...don't get mad

Tamales

Ceviche

And so much more....

Italy: Pizza, super thin and no pepperoni

A million types of pasta and sauces

weirder pastas include: Gnocchi

weirder sauces include: amatriciana (super good)

Greece: Gyros

DO NOT eat the sousukakia in the summer, I got food poisoning

Fish

Salads

Turkey: Every Breakfast in Turkey consists of cucumber, hard boiled egg, and bread

Kebabs

Romania: Suprisingly Pizza is everywhere

Rotisserie Chicken and boiled potatos

Random things about places I have lived

I know if you have lived in these places you already know about these things, but since I have a national and international following I thought I would share. This might be a regular post from time to time as I keep track of all the fun things I have done.

Chicago:

People use the edge of Lake Michigan as a lap pool

Dallas:

Has underground tunnels...that is where everyone is because its climate controlled and as Justin says "bumless"

Los Angeles:

Uses helicopters to chase criminals on a weekly basis. Spotlights and helicopters fly above your residence until the suspect has been caught, which makes TV night nearly impossible.

Spain:

Has 4 official languages people! Yes 4! Yes official! Ok wiki says 5 and they aren't official, but rather co-official. Anna please confirm, but they should be Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician. And wiki names Aranese.

Where are you from? And what is THAT in my bloody mary? Questions from Milwaukee...

Yesterday we went to Milwaukee mainly to visit the museum there. But walked around town. Not much there to be honest, but it was still fun.

A chatty museum worker asked us where we were from. This is a question I get a lot these days. I am not sure if its because I stand out or if I just notice the question more, since my answer is now a little complicated. We answered the question "We are originally from Texas, but live in Chicago." But when I first moved to Chicago, Chicagoans would ask the same question and since I hadn't lived in Texas for 2 years I would answer "Originally from Texas but have been in LA for 2 years." I have lately dropped the "LA" from my answer.

But this whole "Where are you from?" brought questions to mind. What did I say when I did live in Texas? What do you all say? Do you state the city you live or the city you grew up? Or simply say "here"? I really think people who engage in small talk with strangers should really be asking "Where do you live? This is a question, with a fast answer. If we end up having beers later, then you can ask where I am from.

We ran out of things to do there, so we ended up drinking for the last 2.5 hours or so. I was drinking beer but I kept seeing people ordering these crazy bloody mary's with what appeared to be oodles of nooodles (Udon to be exact). But Udon it was not, it was CHEESE. Cheese along with a shish kabob of: olive, mushroom, pickle, SLIMJIM, and shrimp. Maybe I am just not a cultured bloody mary drinker, but I have never seen anything so wild.

The only other observation I had during my short visit to Milwaukee was that most people that were drinking beer, were drinking Corona. WTH? This is the home of the brewers and they are drinking the most disgusting beer on Earth?

Spune Tot

So when I was in Romania this summer we kept seeing commercials that used the word or phrase "Spune Tot" to sell their product/service. So for the rest of the trip we kept referring to nouns as spune tots, especially pointy things or mounds. I think the reference came from our previous country of travel... Turkey. In Turkey, there is a region called Cappadocia where they have pointy mound caves. Those mounds were deemed spune tots. So, with that said, this is my spune tot hat. It was crocheted using a picot stitch. I found a pattern online and like with most patterns...I didn't understand it so I made the rest up. Turned out ok, right? Well, I walked into work very confident in my new spune tot hat and the secretary basically jumped out of her seat. I guess its a bit dorky. My dorkiness caught her off guard.