When I come to Chicago to visit my friends Anne and Steve, I usually come with no game plan. Anne likes to do things by spontaneous combustion. Steve always just rolls with the flow.
Good thing, too. Turns out my dear friend Wendy Chioji (who I worked with a million years ago in Orlando) was in town this weekend. Not only was the visit a total coincidence, she was staying at a hotel less than two blocks away from me.
Wendy brought her mom and niece in to town with her and we proceeded to absolutely tear up the city. Turns out there is this annual event called “Taste of Chicago” where you can graze on all the finer eats Chi-Town has to offer. For a foodie like me, it was sheer bliss. I, along with 250,000 of my closest friends, spent a majority of Friday eating our way through Grant Park. There were over 75 different restaurants all vying for limited space in my stomach. I started with light fare and eventually worked my way up … up to eating whatever anyone put in front of me.
The event is free, but you buy tickets and dole out 4-8 of them at a time for whatever dish catches your eye. I like a lot of different types of ethnic foods … so I ate my weight in Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Thai and Italian. Of course, I had to have desserts between each entrée to cleanse my pallet.
After eating ourselves in to oblivion for the day, we left the Taste of Chicago and immediately headed to a restaurant to relax and put our feet up. After a couple soothing glasses of wine, we were ready for Round IV. (V? VI? VIII?) And then it was off to watch the fireworks at Grant Park.
Oops … turns out we went to the wrong park. So while we enjoyed hearing the lovely SOUNDS of fireworks in the distance, we never actually glimpsed any of the rockets red glare or bombs bursting in air.
We did manage to have a delightful chat with a Somalian cab driver. He informed me that Somali pirates were “watchers of the seas”. I thought he said “robbers”. No, he said “watchers” … and then concluded they were Somali’s version of the Navy. Enlightening! He then asked if I was famous or a celebrity. I said of course. Thus, indeed, pirates = Navy. Got it?
So here’s to you, Wendy. Thanks for a totally random, totally unexpected weekend of fun and merriment. It was great to see you and hang out. And, of course, consume 24,000 calories in less than 48 hours.
it was a LOVELY and FUN weekend!!! don’t forget you’re glamorous, too. xo. w
Hi Michael,
Sounds like you had a wonderful weekend in Chicago. Also sounds like a lot of food.
Mom and I did not do bad in our California Tour. We had great food on the California Zepher and in all the Hotels. Holiday Tours put us up in great hotels. At lake Tahoe we stayed in the Embassy Suites.We had three big rooms and the bed must have had eight pillows on it. When we got in we had a Managers Reception ( it seems like they do this at all Hotels now) free drinks from 5:00 AM to 700 AM all I could handle was two margarita’s. Mom cannot wait to tell you about trying to sleep the first night on the Zapher so I’ll let her tell the story. I took 199 photos on the trip. I have them on a CD now. We saw a lot of sights. I enjoyed seeing China Town and the Cable cars in San Frncisco. Our twenty minute tour of Virginia City was also interesting.
The tripdown the coast in a shorter bus was very similer to our trip in Nova Scotia a couple of years ago. It was rain an fog in NS and Cslifornia was all fog. It seems to roll in off the ocean every morming. Onlyn hte day we drove down the coast it lasted all day. The Hearst Castle and cattle ranch is quite a place. It seems like Mr. Hearst collected things for years then built this huge Castle on top of a mountain to store his collection. Ubelievable what he collected and put in his Castle.
I went thru the Kodak Theater in Hollywood where they hold the Oscar’s. Mom had hurt her foot and couldn’t walk so she stayed in the bus. She said she saw a Topless Babe walking down the sidewalk. On the way back from the Kodak Theater I saw a Marlyn Monroe clone in a white dress standing over a grate with a fan blowing her skirt up. I guess I was not impressed with Hollywood. The streets were packed with people
So it sounds like over the Holidays we both had great Holidays. We sure enjoyed our trip
We went out to Karen and Larry’s on the Forth and had another great meal. Jim and Julie were there with there new little Daughter Michala. She’s a darling little girl. Mom and I are so happy for them
Take Care Michael…..See you at Fair time
Love Mom and Dad
hey i was there too!!
and sorry i was in such a horrible mood that night. i couldnt talk without something hurting. you shouldve seen my face when i was eating the sushi wendy brought back. ouchh. im feeling better though. but anyway your website is very entertaining. see ya later!!
Katy (aka wendys niece)