chicago – Page 2 – Lauren Warnecke

Reasons I love Edgewater: Brunch and a $27 Subaru

I’ve spent about 5 years living in the Edgewater neighborhood (split between two tours), and I’m starting to think that this is the place I belong.

Love it or leave it, Edgewater is as strange as I am, which might be why we get along so well.

Unpretentious and often bizarre, “the edge”, as our silly lamp post neighborhood banners say, is the sort of neighborhood where you can eat really fancy, really expensive ice cream on one block, and get shot on the next. Yeah. We live on “the edge”.

Whatever.

All I know, is that this past Sunday was kind of a pivotal moment for me. The GF and I have been scouting this tiny diner two blocks from our house for the past several months. You know the type… the decor hasn’t been updated since 1963, and you’re pretty sure the food is going to be the best thing ever or the worst thing ever.

Sunday was the day we finally bit the bullet and went to Alexander’s for breakfast. I’ve never seen waitresses that good. My omelette was the size of my ass. The coffee was free-flowing. You get half a banana as a garnish, and homemade salsa on the side. Alexander’s was everything I hoped it could be, but I’m a little afraid to admit it lest you start going there too. I want Alexander’s to be my little secret. A place where we can walk to on a Sunday and always get a table, and always have fantastic service. Please don’t change, Alexander’s. You haven’t changed since 1963, so there’s no reason to start now…

… and then on the way home we came across a $27 Subaru.

Yeah. That’s my ‘hood. We are a match made in heaven.

The Fanciest Bathroom I’ve Ever Seen

Every once in awhile, it’s fun to schmooze downtown at a fancy place – the sort of place where you might go hang out as a tourist. Last weekend, the GF and I got an opportunity to meet up with some friends at the Radisson Blu hotel bar before a dance performance at the Harris Theater. The bar was fancy enough, but the bathroom was out of this world. We all decided it was like being inside a disco ball. I wouldn’t want to be the guy that placed all those individual mirrored tiles (and, let’s be honest, it doesn’t make for the most flattering image).

But wait, there’s something else! The toilets are named after my guilty pleasure band.

Pride, Organized Chaos, and a Crafty Lady

At times the chaos was only somewhat organized, but when a group of strong, resilient motorcycle chicks work together to get a non-profit organization up and running in six months, put on a major fundraising event and secure participation in the Chicago Pride Parade, there are bound to be a few moments of contention.

But in the end, everything got done, the fundraiser was successful, and nearly 50 bikes lined up two by two to take Pride by storm.

What do I have to do with motorcycles? Not much, but over the past year I’ve come to really appreciate the culture and solidarity these women give so much of their time and money to. There really isn’t a valid comparison to being out on the open road with the wind in your face, and the loyalty that comes from being a part of a community of riders.

Plus, it goes really well with the vintage image…

The view in the rear view mirror at Chicago Pride 2013

I kid…

…not really.

But seriously, I’ve had the pleasure of working on media relations and social media for these women for the past 3 months and it’s been such a joy to become involved with the newly born, philanthropic 501(c)3 Organized Chaos – Chicago. As an Associate Member of the club (which basically means I get to hang out with them and ride on the back of my gf’s motorcycle…) OC took me under their wing and helped me to meet my fundraising goal for the Ride for AIDS Chicago with a smashing event at Spyner’s. I thought about their generosity a lot this past Saturday while I was peddling 80 miles in my last big training ride before riding 200 miles in 2 days, and I thought about it again yesterday as we proudly rocked the crowds on Halsted Street.

Here are a few pictures from Pride, and be sure to check out Organized Chaos if you ride, want to ride, or just want to be a part of an incredible group of women (like me). Photos (except for my mugshot) courtesy of chicago.gopride.com

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Old Town Gets a Fresh New Neighbor

Photo by Bret Grafton, http://photografton.com/

When I was first invited to the grand opening of Plum Market, I pictured a small cafe / grocer much like Panozzo’s or the once lovely City Provisions, which closed earlier this year. I got dressed up to meet new blogger friends from the Chicago Blogger Network under the assumption that I’d be spending a leisurely hour or two perusing, schmoozing, and sipping on free coffee.

Boy, was I wrong.

In spite of massive thunderstorms that moved through overnight I arrived at Plum Market’s inaugural Chicago branch to find a line hanging out the door of a relatively massive grocery store. More akin to Whole Foods than City Provisions, all of Plum Market’s 27,000 square feet of organic goodness were packed to the gills. I never found any of the bloggers, I never got a free coffee (for fear of running out of my free hour of parking waiting for it), and wondered the store in somewhat of a culture shocked daze after spending three weeks in unpopulated Wyoming.

After securing my bag of “blogger income” (i.e. free samples) and navigating the store, a few key points came to mind:

Grocery stores can be very beautiful. Aside from my obsession with piles of fresh food, Plum Market goes a step beyond in it’s stunning design elements, bountiful hot and cold bars, and specialty areas.
People other than hipsters enjoy organic food. I love Whole Foods as much as the next person, but sometimes being waited on by a disinterested dirty hipster is a turnoff. The staff at Plum Market are clean cut, friendly, and very helpful. If they can keep it that way I’m totally sold.
What’s good for Old Town is good for me. Just north of Division and Wells, Plum Market is in an ideal location bordering hoity-toity-ville, gross bar-ville, and homeless-man-hanging-out-by-the-red-line-ville. This market will easily satisfy the residents of Old Town, is walking distance to the Ruth Page Center for the Performing Arts, and hopefully will give the miserable Jewel at Clark and Division a run for it’s money. Though grocery stores don’t necessarily make for great tourist attractions, Plum Market extends Old Town’s charm a little further to the South then the average visitor would be apt to walk, and provides a lovely stop to grab a cup of coffee and a break before turning around and heading back.

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Experience Plum Market for yourself at 1233 N. Wells St. Store hours are 8am-10pm; free parking for 1 hour with validation. For more information, visit www.plummarket.com or @PlumMarket on twitter (#PlumMarketCHI). Plum Market is also on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

Where did I go?!? The Past Two Months in Pictures

After Spring Break, $#^t got crazy.

Between school, Chicago Dance Month, putting on a show, and training for RFAC, I was so busy living my life that I didn’t have any time left to blog about it. Now that the dust has settled a bit I’m back in action.

Phew

#wipesbrow

Thanks for your patience.

In an effort to get readers caught up with all my goings-on, here are some highlights from the past two months in Instagram form:

tumblr_mmuk92RUvD1qmywbko1_500 — Apparently, the steps to my PhD all fit on this handy little flow chart now hanging in my office #ifonlyitwerethateasy

tumblr_mmyh6sjLNY1qmywbko1_500 — Summer makes me contemplative

tumblr_mmsij0AJpG1qmywbko1_500 — The mountain of fitness journals I graded

tumblr_mmhpvatYS31qmywbko1_500 — Planting the garden at Vedgewater

tumblr_mmjumghovN1qmywbko1_500 — First commencement as full-time faculty… regalia is weird.

tumblr_mkud27kjgs1qmywbko1_500 — Writing with Max

tumblr_mlk8myya4X1qmywbko1_500 — First training ride with the Chicago Ride for AIDS

Starbucks Around the World: ORD Oasis

I know what you’re thinking… haven’t you visited this Starbucks before, Lauren? No, not really. It’s just that it’s an exact replica of the Belvidere Oasis. This one is off (or rather, on top of) Highway 294 near the airport, and I visited on my way to Aurora to see Olivia Newton-John in concert.

Yes. That Olivia Newton-John.

Anyway, though thankful for the caffeine jolt, this was a rather odd Starbucks experience, hence my somewhat lack-luster smile. I asked for one of my favorites: a short Americano with the shot on top. I was told that they don’t make short anything, while the cashier had her hands on a bunch of short cups.

“Uh, ok, how about a short coffee?”

No, they only have tall.

“Um, ok, what about a single espresso?”

This they understood. Apparently, there is no price listed for a short Americano. I asked why they had short cups, and she said, “Oh, that’s for the kiddy cocoa.”

That’s cool, but here’s the thing: you could have easily charged me for the one shot of espresso, and added a bunch of hot water to it in one of those short cups. If she were to ever visit another store, she might realize that Americanos are priced simply on the espresso shots.

The water is free.

Anyway, I’m sure this nice lady doesn’t make a habit of traversing the world for Starbucks-es as I do, and to be honest, I didn’t have that revelation about the water until I was back in the car drinking a cold shot of espresso doused in half and half.

I will say, also, that the espresso shot itself was very, very nice.

Summer draws to a close

ConnectFour1-3632 — Fall 2011 at Portage Park Farmer’s Market | Photo by Kelly Rose

We’re on the heels of my favorite season. The mornings now have a bite in the air, fashion scarves and sweaters are becoming imperative, and everything around me is turning into orange-y and amber hues. Though I’m a California girl at heart, I’ve lived in the Midwest for almost 25 years. The one thing about living here that has kept me from continually accosting my parents for moving us across the country is the leaves. Well, they have leaves in California, but they don’t turn orange and gold and burgundy.

Some people live life with rose-colored glasses; my glasses are burgundy.

Plus, the idea of not sweating profusely every time I go somewhere is highly appealing to me.

The farmer’s market is becoming particularly bountiful, and though it’s sad to see summer squash and tomatoes go out of my life, the beginning of fall means it’s “squirrel time”. What I mean is, I’m trying to make time to take everything that still just barely at it’s peak of freshness and dry it, freeze it or can it for the winter.

I’ve always wanted to make an attempt to preserve enough produce to make it through the winter without buying a shriveled up zucchini that was grown in the middle of Mexico and shipped to my local store on a refrigerator truck.

Wishful thinking…

I know that this isn’t the year for me to make this happen full stop, but nonetheless I’ve managed to buy and can or freeze 25 pounds of tomatoes, pickle a bunch of beets, blanch and freeze broccoli, eggplant, and green beans, and there is a batch of crispy squash chips in the oven as I type. I got a really big squash in my CSA box last week, was told it would be the last one, and, having eaten one squash too many, this is what I chose to do with it:

Squash Chips

Ingredients:

Zucchini or summer squash, thinly sliced and dried on a paper towel
Olive oil
Salt

Line a baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat (spraying it with cooking spray works fine too). Arrange the squash slices in a single layer and coat with olive oil using a pastry brush. Sprinkle with a modest amount of salt and bake at 275-F for a LONG time (several hours). When they are firm and crispy, they’re done.

A great substitute for potato chips, use these chips up in about three days, stored in a plastic bag or wrapped in a tea towel