Chicago: Become Familiar with its Distinctive Neighborhoods

i like cheese, tomato and mozzarella, but only because that's what i like the taste of best, and i don't try to inflict it on anyone else. i guess a lot of pizza toppings are meaty, so they're out. i can imagine some kind of fancy truffle oil pizza would be good, too, with the right crust...

cheese AND mozzarella? :>

ugh, i'm slow today!

I like me some greek pizza.

Speaking of such things, Nick made some great lasagna last night, spinach and cheese. It was the first lasagna we'd ever made (ok, so he made it).

hmmmm....

http://www.datpiff.com/Dj-Doc-Rok-American-Zeppelin-mid9162.html

I just heard a S0und 0pinons blurb on CPR... those dudes have exactly the same voice. If they didn't introduce themselves you couldn't tell them apart.

one of the grossest/most delicious/least nutritious/most fattening thing my roommate used to make was this thing called "pierogie casserole" that was this:

butter
lasagna noodles
mashed potatoes
carmelized onions
butter
lasagna noodles
mashed potatoes
carmelized onions
repeat til full, sprinkle with parsley on top to give illusion of health

it was both gross and delicious and mind bogglingly fattytimes

that doesn't sound thaaaat bad :>

When I first started listening to Sound Opinions in 1995, I had trouble telling Jim apart from Bill Wyman, but now I think Jim and Greg have pretty different voices. Maybe just because I listen to the show every week, though.

my polak nana used to make blueberry pierogi when i was a wee one and they were fucking great.

don't get me wrong
I LOVE PIEROGIES

but in a casserole is a bit much.

man, i think i need to check out the new kasia's on chicago ave. it went from bakery to full on deli with all sorts of homemade polish stuffs.

i found out from my mom that i am not half polish, as i previously thought, but FIVE-EIGHTHS polish. also 1/8 romanian and 1/4 hungarian.

amanda, that sounds really yummy! but i might only do one layer of each thing, plus onions at the top and bottom.

greg sounds like a dweeby music critic, jim sounds like a dweeby fat music critic

i used those no-boil lasagna noodles last night, those things are science. i don't really understand them. they are hard and then you bake them and they somehow get soft.

lol

xpost

i mean, it's yummy, but it's just not worth it! it was hours of work and just kind of gross. i would rather just eat regular potato pierogi sauteed in a pan than have a heavy casserole dish of fat-soaked starch.

Nick OTM. Also Jim is from New Jersey, and sometimes his East Coast accent (the one I tease you guys about -- "harrible," etc.) comes out.

I just made a successfully "creepy" crank collection call to Sarah

i used those no-boil lasagna noodles last night, those things are science. i don't really understand them. they are hard and then you bake them and they somehow get soft.

-- n/a, Thursday, December 13, 2007 1:37 PM (Thursday, December 13, 2007 1:37 PM) Bookmark Link

me and amz used them when we made lasagna, near as i could tell they absorb the moisture from the sauce and cheese? i dunno but that fucking thing was deeeeee-licious.

I heard they work great for the first baking but turn to mush upon reheating. Kevin, how'd they re-heat for you?

They reheated fine for me. BUT we soaked them in hot tap water before putting them in the pan, so maybe that had something to do with it?

like a fucking champ!

Even Cook's Illustrated recommends them.

the first few tracks on that jay-z thing are an improvement for sure

i wanna hear about the prank call! what was said?

we were talking about sexy phone voices and how some fugly people have them, and i called her and said (in something kind of close to my real phone voice) "i'm calling from miner, turley and grant, may i speak w/ sarah?--- yes sarah, you're account is way overdue" and sarah was all like "queeeee????" then i hung up and she was frightened.

That is a true story.

Here is another, less interesting one.
Boss's mom comes in the office and I offer her every drink we have.
She says, "No thank you, Dear."
Then a few minutes later, when I'm on the other side of the office, my boss yells, "SARAHHH!!! GET MY MOM A BLACK COFFEEE!!!"

The thing is that despite all the work I do, the most important thing as far as he's concerned is that I offer everyone something to drink DOH!

To play it safe, would any of you like some water? a soda? some coffee? hot chocolate, maybe?

A nicely-hopped ale, please.

where is the black coffee i did not order?!

I usually offer people something to drink when they come in, and sometimes they say no to me and then turn around and make me look like a naughty boy by accepting a drink from the attorney, so it looks like I let the poor creature sit there thirsty.

YEP. WELCOME TO MY WORLD.

It was pretty cool the other day though when my boss called our tech company about email trouble and he was like, "Yes, Sarah called us a couple hours ago and we're on it!" Thank you, random tech dude.

Talking to a woman probably made his whole day!

ha ha

A different tech guy was in here today and we were talking about the server and our scanner and suddenly he was like, "Bbbby the way, I understand that congratulations are in order!" And it was all very awkward. I was like, um, you mean that I got married? Back in June?

sarah, he's probably been working up to asking you out for a year, and only just found out when he went to work and said "i'm going to ask her out today!" and someone else was like "uh, she just got married, dude."

Speaking as something of a tech guy, and having known many a sysadmin, network technician, IT drone, etc... They're not the most skilled conversationalists.

xpost haha or that

He's funny. He always comes in the office wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses.

Hey, could I transfer from the red line to the purple line at Fullerton?

You betcha. At least on weekdays until about 7 PM.

Why only 7? (not that it's a problem)

The Purple Line runs along the Red Line track from Howard to Belmont and then on the Brown Line track from Belmont to the Loop during the morning and evening commute to provide extra service. I'm guessing it's just not not necessary during other times. It runs in Evanston all the time.

yeah, what he said! express purple lines are my favorite- belmont to howard in under 15 mins, and only 10 mins after that. of course waiting for them to show up is another story.

How do you know which ones are express? Or are all purple lines express?

All Purple Line trains run express between Belmont and Howard.

WAAHHHOOOO

if they're south of howard, they're express. they go into the loop in morning and afternoon rush hours, otherwise it's just linden to howard (all evanston stops) and then transfer to a red line. if they go as far as belmont, then they stop everywhere a brown line does, i'm pretty sure. i think in the maps they go opposite directions around the loop, but they seemed to go the same direction (counter-clockwise) every time i've taken either recently.

xpost

SO I can transfer from red to purple at Fullerton. It will shoot me up to Howard. Then I can get off at Davis. TA DA. Trip planner was being a jerk.