Chicago: They paved a fetid swamp/and put up a parking lot

Badge of a Midwestern summer!

Sorry to gross u out mander, thought of linking to that with a less explicit URL name.

so many blackfly bites last week, big raw ones on my ankles :P

Lolllll someone in the comments of the BK article blames it on Obama's socialist politics.

We've got roaches in the bathroom at work. I was surprised in a bad way once (happened to glance over my shoulder and found myself eye level with a roach). Now I check behind/under the toilets as a matter of course before getting down to business.

Sigh.

Also, eating at Subway makes me feel sad.

I like the sadness; it's like airport sadness.

It's like eating lukewarm substandard coldcuts with someone's breath all over them sadness

then again, on a roadtrip it's usually the best option

It's like giving someone my money and getting a tasteless, watery pile of vaguely food flavored cellulose on a gummy roll in exchange sad.

tasteless watery vaguely food flavored cellulose otm
it is also the best option next to maggot frosties and mouthfuls of flies
that is not a kind of sad that i can really get behind

ie it is distinctly unromantic

jenny could you plz quote the socialist comment?

eric, i get what you mean re the sweet sadness of shittiness, but for me, subway has quite enough je ne sais quoi to achieve that feeling. things i love for that reason are: chili's, mcdonald's, k-mart, taco bell, hamburger helper.

and chinese buffets

i like rice a roni

I love Rice-a-Roni. Also Hamburger Helper.

a *certain* friend told me the other day that he or she ate mcd's double chzburgers and they were like, transcendentally delicious. i totally get that. it's like, sometimes i want duncan hines box cake and frosting, not a homemade or pastry shop creation.

Haha that was me and I was about to post that I would rep for the double cheese as a road food option over Subway but the conversation veered from that trajectory.

Circumstances: I had eaten an early and insubstantial lunch and had the low blood sugar shakes in a bad way by about 2 and was looking for a fast, cheap protein-and-fat infusion. It was delicious and seriously like the perfect food in that moment and cost $1.35.

Note: I never want can frosting but I will fuck up a tube of crescent rolls.

I posted about this back in 2008: Cook's Illustrated opined that processed American cheese food* was the appropriate cheese for grilled hamburgers. You know how fussy and thorough they are, and it didn't seem at all like challops. They just said that they found that it was the ideal cheese-like substance for burgers.

I think I'm discerning and keen enough in my senses that I can confidently rep for allegedly "shitty," mass-produced, corporate, inauthentic blah blah blah blah, foods, services, businesses, culture when it is appropriate. I'm feeling some strong anti-snobbery today.

*A friend used to say of the term "cheese food" that it's the stuff that they feed to real cheese.

fun fact: my 21st c favorite junk food is chester cheetah's flamin hot popcorn
i don't really care to rep for or against anything at the moment because i feel beaten down by life, but this is a good time to eat chester cheetah's flamin hot popcorn for sure.

The thing about the double cheese is that the second burger patty is what makes the bread-to-meat ratio spot on. A regular McD burger always struck me as too bready (been years and years since I had one so they might have ginned up something better in their foodlabs since then).

I really did send an exultant email to Jesse about this cheeseburger. It was kind of the food equivalent of the amazing nap I took the weekend before last.

I'm sorry you feel beaten down by life, A. I hope you have something fun and energizing going on soon!

No need to rep. Let Chester nourish your soul with the glow of his yellow-orange healing.

And then be sure to throw the bag on the sidewalk in Rogers Park.

lol

Throwing the bag on the sidewalk is def part of the experience, as is finding a way to remove the charming red stain from hands/mouth (or chin, if I've been messy).

La Lechera, you should do this race: http://www.allcommunityevents.com/cornmaze/wlcm_run_home.html

!! Amazing and corny!! That does sound like fun.

This New Yorker cartoon made me think of you, Amanda, although I can't explain why:

http://www.newyorker.com/images/2011/08/15/cartoons/110815_cartoon_073_a15247_p465.gif

haha! the person in the middle sort of looks like me
also day after me birthday

coexisting at a certain time in human history is reason enough to rejoice imo

warrants a high 5 at least

I think maybe I associate you (positively) with an attitude of enthusiasm in the face of apathy or oblivion.

:)
something has to wake me up every morning, right?

an attitude of enthusiasm in the face of apathy or oblivion

I prefer apathy to oblivion, but also to unwarranted enthusiasm. Which I do not associate Amanda with.

Je55e, I think Subway has this kind of austere sadness stemming from its (admirable) decision to be a fast-food restaurant without a deep fryer. That's also why I find it to be a decent palatable option on the road, or simply when I want air conditioning and unlimited diet soda and Katy Perry and Sun Chips and something with a little spinach on it. Airport sadness.

also day after me birthday

Yesterday was your birthday?

I prefer apathy to oblivion, but also to unwarranted enthusiasm. Which I do not associate Amanda with.

I didn't say her enthusiasm is unwarranted.

Hey, this interview with Achatz's business partner about Next/Alinea/Aviary is interesting:

http://eater.com/archives/2011/08/16/nick-kokonas-eater-interviews.php
http://eater.com/archives/2011/08/17/nick-kokonas-part-two.php

Kokonas is a savvy guy.

He reminds me of a film producer, in the sense of artistic input and practicality.

aug 24 is the day after my birthday
i'm totally not feeling it this year btw.

BUT i have a few good shows to look forward to, and my bff might come visit for labor day. i was gonna see if anyone wanted to have a shitty movie night at chez moi that sunday, actually.

email me if you think you might be interested in watching a shitty movie with me.

Maybe?

So tonight I bought 8 lbs of grapes, which I picked from the stems, and put in the freezer.

i like shitty movies.

i put lots of terrible food in my body, because there are lots of terrible foods that i love. this week, while sarah is out of town, i am eating frozen pizza, kraft mac & cheese, and veggie dogs. if i ate meat, i would probably eat mcdonald's occasionally. but i will never ever eat at subway. it is gross. pizza coated in grease or shitty mcdonald's hamburgers are less disgusting to me than the smell and taste of the lettuce they put in subway sandwiches.

btw you probably all saw this on facebook but i am playing a show with adv@nce b@se in pilsen tomorrow night.

sorry for being hyperbolic about subway. it's probably not that bad. i haven't eaten there in a long time. but the thought of their lettuce still grosses me out. i wish they were good, since they are everywhere and i like sandwiches.

Relevant to this thread circa 2009 or so

http://i.imgur.com/6jrQI.jpg

nb i just encountered the most horrible kind of chicagoan at a bar in champaign. despicable accent (despicable!), very rude. i wanted to say something, but then i just shook my head at the youth of today, and did a crossword.

Sarah Silverman's Twitter feed IA surprising. She doesn't tweet as "Sarah Silverman" the character. Robin Williams and Jim Carey could learn from her. In more than just that aspect, actually.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d88SCMZq9Lo&feature=fvst

JAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK

Huh, I actually watched about 10 minutes of that movie last Friday night when it was on TNT. (Kr had won a free night's stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in Evanston, so we stayed there after the Steely Dan show.)

Were the two SDan shows identical? (Curious, since they're such a tight band.)