after church on sunday, we met up with my friend chris, who was visiting for the weekend. after a late lunch at ‘quartino’ in downtown, we took a quick walk around millenium park; christmas lights and the outdoor ice skating rink were already all set up. afterwards, joe and i headed off to the historic read more
a few weeks ago we found ourselves in greektown on a rainy day; basically a lot of blue and white flags, greek restaurants, and knick knacks reminiscent of scenes from ‘my big fat greek wedding’. while we were having dinner, i noticed that other than a grandma sitting at a nearby table, there were literally read more
on our last day in new york city, we returned to some neighborhoods like soho and did a bit more (window) shopping. look carefully, the building on the left is actually a trompe l’oeil. the flatiron building is on the right. for lunch, we treated ourselves to “mesa grill” near the flatiron district, one of read more
we spent the morning (into the early afternoon) at the metropolitan museum of art. their egyptian collection was quite impressive, and i liked how they would create spaces reminiscent of the artifacts’ original locations. the temple of dendur: i thought this painting by salvador dali was very interesting. up close, the painting consisted of white read more
on our third day in nyc, we planned to visit the statue of liberty and ellis island. fortunately the line-up onto the ferry was pretty quick, but even with a reserved ticket, we still had to wait a really long time to get into the pedestal and museum on liberty island, but i think it read more
today we got to visit pam’s church in harlem called “newsong”. it was a warm community church that reminded us a lot of our own church in chicago. we enjoyed the soulful music and the friendly atmosphere. afterwards we decided to visit brooklyn since we had heard of the brooklyn bridge flea market, and of read more
today while we were downtown, we went to a festival called “chicago arabesque.” it gave a glimpse into various aspects of the culture of the arab world. we milled around the little tents and shops while listening to middle eastern music. it was really hot and we were happy to eat some handmade syrian (roasted read more
this weekend we went to ‘taste of randolph’, a street festival on the west-side of downtown chicago. we wished there were more food stands, especially since it was supposed to feature more of the upscale restaurants in the neighborhood, but we did try some ahi tuna tacos and a very juicy pulled pork burger. just read more
I learned today that June 6th is the 25th anniversary of Tetris. It brings back memories… I spent(!) many hours of my youth mastering the subtleties of this simple yet addictive game. Turns out I haven’t completely lost my touch: If you are bored and have a few spare minutes (or hours), click on the read more
yay, another visitor! i got to play with liz for a couple of days in chicago this week. here we are in front of ‘cloudgate’, the big silver bean in millenium park. after bit of debating (museums vs. shopping) and despite some erratic weather (ranging from cold rain to hot and humid), we explored downtown read more