Cereal Bar

I've heard of Juice Bars, Wine Bars, Coffee Bars, Candy Bars, and Soap Bars... Today I heard of a Cereal Bar (no, not that kind!) so went downtown to check it out. It's called Cereality, a cereal bar & cafe. I think the concept is interesting, but I'm not sure how viable it will be. There are locations in Chicago, Philadelphia, Arizona State, and a PA toll plaza. I've also heard they plan to open a location in Evanston. The pictures of doctored-up hot cereal (oatmeal) looked appealing, but I'm not much of a fan of hot cereal. I did purchase an oatmeal brownie that was ok. They have some other cereal concoctions for snacking that I might stop by and try sometime.

UPDATE: 6/18/08 Cereality in Chicago has been closed for some time. Also locations in Evanston and Pennsylvania have closed. I think there are only three locations now. Perhaps it was an interesting idea but people just aren't up for paying five bucks for a bowl of cereal...

Is this really Chicago?

By the end of the summer I'm hoping to have been on foot all along the lake from one end of Chicago to the other. As of today, I've been from Hollywood Avenue to Monroe Street. This picture was taken at Oak Street Beach. The palm trees made me think of it as a bit more exotic than it is... What do you think?

Night pictures always look better

My brother-in-law stayed in the "Second City" an extra day due to a cancelled flight. I coerced him into going to Buckingham Fountain in the evening where he took some pictures. I think they turned out pretty good and, being night pictures, are more dramatic with the color of the lights and spray of water. Maybe someday I'll get a camera for myself...

And Still Another

I went to Orange (this time on Clark) with yet another sister and her husband. The theme of the week for the Pancake Flight was Strawberries & Chocolate.

(Clockwise from Upper Left)

1. Cakes with strawberry cream sauce garnished with a chocolate covered strawberry.
2. Chocolate infused, hand whipped cream topped with chopped strawberries and strawberry syrup.
3. Home-made strawberry jelly served with chocolate sauce, garnished with powered sugar.
4. Cakes served with chocolate chips baked inside, topped with sweet strawberry coulis.

Overheard

While eating lunch today, I heard the guy at the table next to mine tell his dining companion: "Never trust anyone whose name starts with the letter Z." I got to thinking... Do I even know anyone whose name starts with the letter Z? Hmmm... Zachary, Zelda, Zalman... Any others?

Another Pancake Flight

I made another trip to Orange, this time with my sister and her husband, and had the opportunity to see another Pancake Flight (and I did sample a bit myself, too). The theme for this week was Fear Factor.

(Clockwise from upper left)

Maggots: Rice flavored "maggot" pudding topped with pineapple & kiwi infused with "bug juice"

Cat Jewels: Apricot flavored feline dried "testicles" served with orange infused cat "urine" and cotton candy flavored "hair ball"

Worms: Sweet spaghetti flavored "worms" served on top of chocolate infused "mud"

Eye Balls: Lychee flavored "eye balls" served with strawberry flavored goats blood and eye ball syrup

Gross! (but tasty, too...)

The Price was Right

Last week I took advantage of "free admission" days at several locations in Chicago including the Shedd Aquarium, Museum of Contemporary Art, and Museum of Science & Industry. I wasn't in the mood for heavy duty museum-going so the price was right! Even if I had been wanting to investigate each venue completely, I'm not sure I could have justified the regular admission price. Each was interesting, but, in my opinion, overpriced. This week I'm going to continue my free museum-going experience by visiting the Art Institute of Chicago again, this time with my sister. That is one place I might even pay for! [This picture was taken with my phone camera and seems to be less blurry than the last, but the day was overcast so the colors aren't that great.]

Windy City

I moved into my "summer home" this morning. This afternoon I took a walk to the park along the lake (a few minutes from where I'm living). I tried out the zoom feature on my phone's digital camera. From the picture here, it looks like (a) the camera takes pretty poor quality pictures zoomed in on things in the distance (the picture of the catapla blossoms was taken with the same camera) or (b) I wasn't very steady when I pressed the "capture" button.