Summertime in the (2nd) city. Again.

Look at that crowd for the Pat Benatar and Blondie concert at Ravinia on Sunday!  (The background music is the opening group, The Donnas). [links open in a new window]  [clip is 24 seconds long]

Incredible!

Everyone brings a picnic and libations of their choice then sets up on the grass.  The setups have gotten pretty competitive.   Those are real candles, folks.  And when they burned out later, there were replacements!

The only potential problem was a 60% chance of rain but it missed us.

Security, on the other hand, didn’t miss me and my camera so all I’ve got is a few seconds of Pat Benatar on stage [18 sec]

and just a sound clip for Blondie [14 sec]

It was all terrific!

And Monday was another Botanic Garden freebie, the latin sounds of Fernandez and Kimball.  This is slightly longer than the usual clip and will take longer to load but worth waiting for.  [1m 19 sec]

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v18946793MsKGehBk

Chau.

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Summertime in the (2nd) City, Parte Dos

We catch the train to Chicago from the Deerfield station and if you have an eidetic memory, you might recognize this as the station Rebecca De Mornay left from then had her way with the weird scientologist actor in the movie Risky Business:

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Saturday, though, we went to the Botanic Garden and watched a chef from Karma, an upscale Asian fusion restaurant, show us how to make a great spiced tuna block.  As he does his thing, the audience can see his table top in a large overhead mirror – nifty.  Near the end of the 40-second clip, you may catch a glimpse of the finished product resting on salad bed.  The dressing for that was a terrific sesame ginger vinaigrette that I’ll make when I get to Miami Beach (ask if you’d like the recipe, which also includes soy sauce and chili oil).

The Garden also had a bonsai competition.  Here’s the first place winner and one that wasn’t even in the running, but had a price tag of $2,600.

After the Garden we had a wine tasting of our own at home, three Malbecs from the Mendoza region in Argentina.  Actually, two Malbecs and one, by Tilia, that was a 50/50 mix of Malbec and Sirah.  Malena introduced me to the 2007 version of this and it was the first wine I actually liked.

The 2008 Tilia Malbec Sirah, while not quite as good as the 2007, was the clear winner with the 2007 Terrazas Malbec a reasonable second-place finisher.  The 2007 Santa Julia Malbec is now cooking wine.

Next day, Sunday, we went to Chicago.  This shot is taken from a water taxi on the Chicago River.

I really like the way the river is “embedded” in the city, a living integral part of what makes Chicago Chicago.

When we got to Navy Pier, the first thing we noticed was a Turkish flag.  Then the music.  Then  [35 sec.]

Turns out it was the Turkish World Festival  [14 sec.]

But we came for the afternoon Latin music in the beer garden and there we found Bolivian dancers [53 sec.]

Don’t know what happened to the sound quality on that clip – maybe it was the air show being held a few miles north, with some of hot-doggers coming in over downtown Chicago [16 sec]

So what’s going on in your neck of the woods?

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Summertime in the (2nd) City

A great thing about Chicago (in the summer) is all the free outdoor activities.  We’re only a few miles from the Chicago Botanic Garden, where they put on events most nights.

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Tuesday was a Latin music night.  Nicole and Jeff created a great picnic, and we sat out near the lake and listened to the music.

An unexpected part of the entertainment was Hula Annie.  30 sec.

Didn’t seem very Latin to me, but who am I to complain?

Here’s the main act with a view of the view, some of which reminds me of Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon”.  2 min.

The music was fine, weather was great and people-watching interesting.  Great way to just hang out.

Wednesday evening was “Grapes and Hops” at the same Botanic Garden.  This performance cost $8 each (the others are free) but that covered the beer and wine samples. There were six stations spread out around the Garden with a dozen different wines and beers you could sample.   Appetizers included shrimp salad, feta and olives, etc.  Well worth it, since on Tuesday the wine was $8/glass and the beer was $6.50 a bottle.  Plus, met some interesting people, probably made more interesting by the readily-available beverages :-)

And Thursday was zydeco.  We saw Hula Annie again, but this time she was in a calm black dress and didn’t have her hoop.   2min.

Tonight just some wine tasting, no videos.  I finally found some Tilia Malbec Sirah.  The 2007 was the only wine I’ve ever liked but all I found was the 2008 so we’ll have to see how that works out.  Will also crack a bottle of Boutari Naoussa, a Greek wine we sampled on Wednesday.

How’s your summer going?  Tell us about it.

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Chicago is hot!

Made it to Chicago yesterday morning.  It was going to get into the 90′s so Jeff, Nicole and I immediately caught the train to Chicago to see a salsa band on Navy Pier where we could catch some breeze off Lake Michigan.

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We quickly found the beer garden on the pier, where the group was playing.

Here’s what Chicago looks like from the pier:

Unfortunately, I blew it with the music video but here’s a salvaged clip of the lead-in act to the salsa (next time, no zoom or a tripod :-)

Embarrassing quality, but that’s the way it is, folks – I’ll do better next time.  Really.

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Great balls of what?

Had a great dinner last night with Cyrina and Jason in Denver.

We went to the Buckhorn Exchange in Denver.  This place has been around since 1893 and has Colorado liquor license number 1.  The steaks were huge and great, but we went there because it was mentioned in the book  500 Things To Eat Before It’s Too Late.

Their specialty sounded intriguing and since this is the new me I decided to try it for the first time ever:

Jason looked on in amusement while Cyrina took the picture.  However, he didn’t try them and Cyrina did.

What was that stuff, you say?

Prairie oysters – and don’t bother.  They just tasted like some breaded and fried “stuff.”  Nothing to write home to mother about :-)

This morning had a bagel and coffee with Cyrina (thanks for that and the accommodations, C.) then hit the road.

The most interesting view in all of Nebraska and half of Iowa was probably here:

I’m not sure which state that was, but it definitely was not Colorado or Utah.

And the lack of sensory input probably explains why I ended up driving 835 miles today and am just on the west bank of the Mississippi.  Where I may stay for a while, as the Interstate 80 bridge across Ole Miss. is closed, so I’m going to have to detour south.  May make it for lunch tomorrow, anyhow, Nicole – I’ll call once I’ve crossed the river.

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UT’s a beaut!

Had an easy drive (655  miles) and got to Green River, leaving only about 345 to get to Cyrina tomorrow.

No great places to stop on the road, but I managed to get a few windshield shots.

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Up and running again!

Windows has given me nothing but grief.  Besides eating tons of data and applications in two major crashes this past year, last month it ate my old blog.

This is the beginning of a new one, and I’ll just start with a picture of what I’ll be leaving on Thursday, shot from in front of Joe’s place:

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And I won’t have the nifty old GMC van, but will instead be riding in a soccer-mom-type minivan.  Here it is in front of my house [which survived a year's lease to four college students in terrific shape, probably because they're all girls :-)]

Should be fine.  Has a new bike rack

and room for a sleeping bag.

And my ride buddy seems to rarin’ to go.

First stop is Denver, for dinner with niece Cyrina (who has floor space for my sleeping bag) and nephew Jason (who’s driving in from Boulder).  Should be fun – I’m rarin’ to go, too :-)

PS:  At some point I may at least re-post the pictures and videos from my last blog – hate to not have any record.

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