i am stuffed...went to a little deli/cafe over by the clybourn metra station called riverside deli & cafe...it's on cortland just east of paulina next door to the bucktown pub...i've been wanting to go there for months, ever since i first walked by it a long time ago...it's a breakfast/lunch diner...really cute...interesting menu...you've got all your usual breakfast/deli items and then you have stuff like the havana special, which i had...that was scrambled eggs, carribean rice, plantains, and this soup that's like a cuban minestrone...it was really good...and it's got a really cute ambience...all this antique stuff hanging everywhere and then these pictures of this chef dude w/ a mustache shaped like bull horns...the staff is really friendly too...i wish i took photos, but i forgot my memory card in my other bag, so no visuals today...



last night, i took the train in from work because there was a cubs game, the blues fest, and possible thunderstorms and i didn't want to deal w/ the friday traffic on top of all those...rt picked me up and we actually sat on a bench in front of the riverside deli & cafe for about a half hour just shooting the breeze...rt had hurt his back somehow, so i cooked this cocunut tofu curry for dinner...i had never made it before, and again it was like monkeys cooking in the kitchen...i think rt was worried listening to all the commotion, and i was all bent out of shape stressed out because i had no idea what i was doing...but it came out just fine...i have to admit that with my sinuses acting up these days, my taste buds are not what they used to be, so it's hard for me to guage what something really tastes like...oh, and another thing...here's a hint when cooking w/ ginger...never use a GARLIC crusher to mince ginger...it just doesn't work that way...trust me...i learned the hard way...



rt is home baking my bday cake finally...it's also going to be a bday cake for his brother jay & sister lauren who are twins...which reminds me i'm supposed to be looking up a recipe for white chocolate filling...



been listening to:

ask me tomorrow--mojave3

went to see the detholz! @ the metro last night...you can see the photos right here...they totally kicked some major ass! they were TIGHT, totally TIGHT for this show...it was their first time playing the metro, and i'm sure they'll be welcome again...there was a good crowd...a really young crowd...which is good...thax douglas read a poem for them before the show...derek told me i should try to get shots of the teenage girls ogling carl, the guitar player...and some girl kept yelling at jim the lead singer telling him how sexy he was...it's funny cuz these guys are such sweet boys in real life that when they take on this rock star persona on stage, it's sometimes hard to believe it's really them...





well, it's the weekend again...and what a weekend it will be...the blues fest is going on, which i think i'm going to check out...rt wants to go bowling at UIC, which i think will be fun...the first time i ever went bowling was at UIC w/ my first boyfriend back when i was 16 and didn't know jack squat...you'd think after 15 years, i'd be a bit wiser by now, but sometimes i feel as clueless as ever...i think i might actually go to church on sunday night...my friend nanette who leads the spirituality discussion & hosts the poetry slams is speaking @ 4th pres by the water tower on sunday night, so i'm gonna check it out...



p.s. rt got me jd salinger's 'nine stories' AND 'raise the roof beam high, carpenter/seymour: an introduction' for my birthday...i LOVE salinger...i reall, really do...

i got an email last night from the first friend i ever made in the u.s. her name's ruthy and she's out in the lovely silicone valley in california working on her doctorate @ stanford...there's something to be said about having friends who knew you before you knew how to read, tie your shoe laces or play double dutch...somewhere in the recesses of my cluttered mind are memories of growing up w/ ruthy, her older siblings esther and joseph and my brother jim...the 5 of us spent countless hours together doing all kinds of stuff, mostly without adult supervision...here are a few of my favorites...



* one day, we decided that we wanted to make donuts...i think it started w/ my brother and me reminiscing about the homemade donuts that they'd give out at my grandpa's kindergarten back in the motherland...so the 5 of us got out my mom's betty crocker cookbook, found the recipe for donuts, and proceeded to make a horrendous mess in my mom's kitchen...i remember my mom coming home to the spectacular disaster of dough and flour everywhere...and she helped us make the best of it we could...this disaster started a saturday tradition for me & ruthy...we would get together every weekend and bake cookies from that betty crocker cookbook...MY favorite was the peanut butter cookies...i loved making the imprints w/ the fork...and they came out good every time! as long as we didn't burn them...



* my brother jim discovered lp records and beethoven at our local public library when he was around 11 years old...this started a passion for music which continues to this day for him and it started my musical education which he oversaw with huge doses of beethoven and then later the jazz greats like miles davis and john coltrane...back then, my brother wanted to become a conductor...so he would take orchestral scores and practice conducting an imaginary orchestra...one afternoon, joseph, esther, ruthy and i filled in for that imaginary orchestra and we took up our "instruments" (mine was a broom but it was really a cello) and we played one of beethoven's symphonies (probably his 2nd, 1st movement) while my brother conducted...i did go on to play the cello in high school, and to this day, it is one of my favorite instruments...ruthy and my brother jim went on to both become accomplished violinists...ruthy still is to this day, and my brother played until his early twenties but moved on to the guitar and bass guitar...



* when i used to take piano lessons as a girl, before my parents bought me a piano, i used to practice for my lessons over at ruthy's house every day after school...or so my mom thought...well, it was spring, the year was 1984, and there were a LOT of cubs games to be watched that season...those were afternoons to be remembered, still years before lights were introduced to wrigley field...i had a crush on both ryne sandberg and jody davis...the thrill of that baseball season, the collective hopes of a city and beyond, the bitter disappointment and deep pangs of loss...these are emotional milemarkers that i'll never forget...somewhere, in the midst of all my junk, i still have a photograph of the 1984 cubs...



the cubs, broom cellos, betty crocker...i can still play back those memories like old movies in the theatre of my mind...damn, i miss my childhood...



speaking of which, rt got me j.d. salinger's 'nine stories' and 'raise high the roofbeam carpenters and seymour' for my bday...and i'm still waiting for him to bake me a cake...



been listening to--

pleased to meet me--the replacements

every breath you take: the classics--the police

who are the detholz!?--the detholz!

murray street--sonic youth

well, wish me a happy birthday...i'm officially in my 30's now...no longer can i just say i'm merely thirty...i am now at the very odd age of 31...no, i didn't type OLD...that's ODD...as in an odd number as opposed to an even number, ya dig? but yeah, i guess it seems like an old number although my older friends would beg to differ...here's something that made me feel old...rt & i were coming out of the movie theatre last night, and a kid asked us if he could bum a smoke...i took a look at him, and before thinking, i blurted out, 'like how old ARE you?!! you look like you're 15!' and his friends chuckle, and he answers, 'i'm 16...' we walked away, and rt & i talked about that and when we got to our car, i exclaimed, 'he's HALF MY AGE!!!!' crimeny...half my age...there are kids running around without adult supervision who are half my age...and less than half my age!!!



well, let's see now...what have i been up to...it's been my bday weekend, and saturday i went to lunch w/ my mom & bro...i took rt along and he got to meet them for the first time...i think my mom liked him cuz she asked for a hug...that's gotta be a good thing, right? after lunch, rt & i went up to the botanic garden...it was such a beautiful day...we were on a project, doing a photo shoot for his brother's girlfriend's bday present...there were swarms of people around...but it was great to relax a bit and walk around outdoors in the greenery and all the colors that have sprung up so far...



after the gardens, we went to my apartment and i made some guacamole while rt cooked spaghetti for dinner...the guac was for his bro's girlfriend's bday party later that night...it was a homemade salsa/chips party, so we thought we'd take some guac & our homebrew...the party was up in east rogers park, a block away from where josh & lielle lived right before they moved to new york...it was already a hopping party by the time we got there...there was lots of beer, that's for sure...some great mix music by rt's brother david...tons of people i'd never seen before, including a total bruce lee look alike...although i don't know for sure what his face looked like cuz he had these dark aviator sunglasses on all the time...as well as a buttondown shirt and tie...the girl he was with kept telling people he was her parole officer...he was by far the most bizarre person there...i also ran into someone i knew way back when i was at the evanston vcf...it was steve h., whom i'd barely known but rand had mentioned he'd run into him about a year ago, and how he had been away from chicago several years and was writing a book now...it was really random running into him at the party...it was nice though to run into someone i knew...and it was great seeing rt's bro again...i had met him and his girlfriend back at the new years eve party around the time rt & i started hanging out...he lives in seattle so we haven't seen him since then...



on sunday, we went to wicker park in the afternoon and threw the football around...well, actually, we laid out in the sun most of the time we were there, had a mango bar from one of the hispanic ice cream cart vendors, and then threw the ball maybe for 10 minutes before heading home for our matrix marathon...yup...we did it all right...we'd done the xmen marathon a couple weeks ago, and now we did the matrix...we watched movie # 1 at home and then went out to the burbs to the AMC barrington theatres to see matrix reloaded...we stopped by ikea before the movie...that's always a trip...talk about a store geared at impulse buying...everything is so cheap you think if you buy the entire store, you're getting a great deal...i always think of the movie fight club when i think of ikea...i did get a rubber spatula for 50 cents...i was looking for one of them kitchen island/utility carts to give me some more counter space because i have exactly half an inch of free counter space in my apartment right now...we didn't find what i wanted, but that's okay...we went to our movie and had fun with all the fight scenes...i know a lot of people were disappointed by reloaded as opposed to the first matrix, but i still enjoyed the movie immensely...i thought some parts were really cheesy...but i liked all the kung fu action...



well, today is my actual bday, and rt is going to bake me a cake at some point...and i want to be outdoors cuz it's another beautiful day in the neighborhood...



been listening to--

trompe le monde--the pixies

read music speak spanish--desaparecidos

loud, fast ramones: their toughest hits--the ramones

one beat--sleater-kinney

licensed to ill--beastie boys

to the rooftops--watchers

i just picked up some asparagus soup in the cafeteria here...whilst 'the middle' by jimmy eat world was playing overhead...what is this corporate world coming to??? funny thing is that the last time i heard that song over a loudspeaker was at the dallas mavericks season opener w/ my whole department when we were in dallas for a meeting...i remember my coworker insisting that it was a cover of a song from the 70's...



today is my friend ryan's birthday...he's 23 years old!!! damn...i'm almost 23 too...23 backwards that is...



here's a piece of advice: when at work and answering the phone and you hear 'hello?' on the other line, NEVER reply with, 'oh, honey, you're up so EARLY...' just an FYI...



rt snagged me a stereo system from his grandma's yesterday...it's got a record player and everything! we haven't hooked it up yet, so i don't know if it works even...frankly, i think it's a plot on rt's part to get me to clean my damn livingroom to make room for the stereo...i have so much crap to throw out it's pathetic...have i mentioned that rt drew FOUR (4) floor plans for reorganizing my living space? some people just have too much time on their hands...



been listening to--

potty mouth--bratmobile

galore--the cure

red medicine--fugazi

to the roof of the sky--VoL

the rocky movies soundtrack