chicago air & water show

I don't frequent the Air & Water show - the crowds are massive and it's usually hot as balls out... but when Selika suggested we go and the forecast was to be sunny and 80, I thought let's do it! This is the first year I watched from Oak Street Beach - the center point is a tiny bit further north at North Avenue Beach. It was actually quite nice, lots of spots and the aircraft all flew right in front of us. Even crazier was when they flew into the city from over the lake - seriously freaks me out (post 9/11). They get wicked close to the buildings, or at least it seems that way.

The skill these guys have is amazing! I can't decide if my favorite is the guys who skywrite or the fighter jets that go super fast and bob and weave in and out of one another. Even though we got there late, we made it for the good stuff. The lake was lined with boats watching too. Maybe one day I will know someone with a boat so I can watch from there... ha!

As always, we had a great time. I took photos for Selika's fashion blog - she's always super stylish. She's "Posh Spice" to my "Sporty Spice." Ha Ha!

We ended the day with a little treat at a cafe in the bottom of the John Hancock building. Sometimes I take for granted the beauty of the concrete jungle that surrounds me. I need to remind myself to look up more - you just never know when you will see something spectacular!

cake pop!

I finally decided to try my hand at cake pops! I've been admiring them from a far for some time now and after having one at Starbucks not too long ago, I thought I could give it a go. * side note: The one from Starbucks was not good - the cake was super oily and yuck *

So... I grabbed a box of white cake mix and pre-made french vanilla frosting for the cake and then tapped into my chocolate collection for the shell. I melted 4 oz of Scharffenberger 99% and 6 oz 62% with a tiny little bit of edible wax for the shell (should have made 12 oz total, was two pops short). And then sprinkled with Swedish sugar. The only thing I was missing is some kind of holder to keep the upright. They are super tasty and not overly rich because I kept the cake to frosting ratio more in favor of cake. Overall I'd give myself a B. They taste good, but the cake balls are all different sizes and not perfectly round and I feel like I need to add some kind of flavoring to amp them up a bit - maybe a little orange or lemon or coconut. And next time I might make my own cake and frosting to see how a meringue type might work.

recipe:

1 box cake mix
1 can pre-made frosting
12 oz dark chocolate
1 tiny square of edible wax
decorative toppings

tools:
candy sticks
cake pans
silicone baking mats
baking sheets
upright mixer (optional)

Bake cake according to directions on box. Let cake cool completely. Cut into small sections and break apart (either by hand or in stand mixer). Mix in frosting till mixture forms dough like texture. It should easily form a ball when rolled by hand. Roll balls to about 1-1 1/2" and place on baking sheet with silicone mat. Place entire sheet into freezer or refrigerator till balls are cool (not frozen). Melt chocolate and wax in double boiler, remove from heat as soon as it's all melted. Let the chocolate cool just a bit while stirring. Make sure the chocolate is in a bowl deep enough to fully submerge the cake ball. If you need to transfer bowls, make sure to wipe all water from the bottom of the bowl you used in the double boiler - water will ruin the mix. Once the chocolate is cooled a bit remove the cake balls from the fridge/freezer - dip the end of the candy stick into the chocolate and insert into the cake ball about half way. Put the tray into the fridge to let the chocolate set - only a few minutes. Then fully submerge cake pop into chocolate and let excess drip off while tapping the stick gently. Be patient - you don't want the chocolate dripping (or pooling). Sprinkle with decorative toppings (optional) and let set at room temperature. Now you have delicious cake pops!!

can a picky eater be a food snob ?!?

I had the funniest dining experience yesterday. I was at this new kind of gourmet food court and decided on a crepe. The girl behind the counter couldn't have been older than 20 and clearly had no idea how to really make a french crepe. This despite the fact that she had all of the right instruments at her disposal. The awesome cooking surface, long spatula and etc. Watching her make a crepe was painful. She didn't know how to do the swirl of the batter with the little wooden blade and when she went to take the crepe off of the cook surface she took it off whole and draped it over a plate that was smaller than the crepe itself. She then proceeded to fill it to the brim with berries and then folded it with her hand. P A I N F U L if you have ever seen a real French crepe made. The restaurant is new. She's young. But I found myself thinking about having crepes made on the street in Paris ... and thought, sheesh what a mess.

My travels have really made me a bit of a food snob. And that's quite funny, considering I am such a picky eater. Seriously ... the pickiest eater you might ever meet. That said, of the things I do eat ... the must be the best. No Hershey chocolate for me - it's got to be dark and rich and, in many cases, from some foreign land to be good. I am obsessed with French butter, there is simply nothing like it. Gelato is not the same anywhere outside of Italy. And there is certainly American fare that cannot be duplicated abroad...

It's funny where life takes us and how that journey transforms us. Food for thought. * wink *

things on tuesday :: san francisco

OK, so I know it's Wednesday, but.... I got home late last night and had no time to type up my "things." 

loves

• rolling thunder in the distance
• photographing a new city
• this cupcake from Cako bakery in San Francisco
• fun new frames app for iphone 
• Starbucks black iced tea
• Southwest airlines - on a 4 hr flight they came thru three times for drinks and twice with snacks at NO EXTRA CHARGE!!
• that I have my own car back!!

loathes

• that Phoebe attacks Lucy for no good reason
• sketchy rental car places
• that the zipcar didn't work out in SF
• power outages - three storms, three outages
• that I am at the office till 8 PM and still have to work once I get home
• curve balls on a project
• that cannot seem to get exercise into my daily routine

Another big storm is on it's way in - can hear the thunder in the distance and starting to see the lightening, so it's time to close up shop for the night.  Pray that I will not have yet another power outage!!  Night all!

things on tuesday :: money!

hemorrhaging money and not happy about it... let's start with the bad stuff, the list is going to be long ... 

loathes

• that fixing one thing always leads to fixing something else
• my AC blowing out when it's HOT outside
• that I have no way to find out if the AC unit the sales guy is selling me is good
• loosing power - again 
• getting in a fender bender in the Target parking lot (that was not my fault) and having over $3K worth of damage to my car
• the shop where I am supposed to have my car fixed still has no power
• considering returning the camera I just got
• opportunities not taken
• that I can be quite judgmental
• upcoming work travel
• being known as a little bit bitchy
• all of the above causing more neck/shoulder tension
• that I haven't ridden my bike in two weeks
• that I didn't get to see all the bands I wanted to see at the dmb caravan
• netflix is raising their fees and now I have to consider dropping them 
• that phoebe just sits and meows at the front door - why?  why?

loves

• booked my fall vacation - back to Hawaii - who can resist a free trip?
• Dave Matthews Band
• that I have actually been spending some of my summer outside !!
• a wonderful love story of a photographer/blogger I've followed for some time
• that it's cooled off just a bit tonight 

OK... negative nelly is in full force this week.  Hopefully next week will bring the love!

DMB Caravan

Spent the day on the south side of Chicago for the Dave Matthews Band Caravan with my music bestie, Robin. Took us almost two hours to get into the venue, so needless to say we were ready to hear some music and enjoy a beverage or two!

We got there just in time for Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, but were so far back (see photo above) that you could barely make them out. There weren't any screens on the two smaller stages, that was a bit of a bummer. They sounded great - even with all of the chatter going on around us.

I cannot even begin to describe how many people were there - I'm guessing 30,000 or more. And this posed a real problem. There was plenty of space - the stages were spaced just far enough apart that if they were both playing music there was no interference. BUT, it was impossible to bounce from stage to stage factoring in trips to port-o-potty's and the long wait times for food and bevs.

AND the biggest problem ... not enough water stations. It was a beautiful summer day and the sun was out in full force - 85 degrees with a little breeze and a few puffy clouds. Staying hydrated is a must when you are out in the middle of a field for almost 10 hours! They had promoted free water from 'filling stations' - bring your own bottle and fill it up - which was a great idea, but there was not anywhere near enough of them. We waited in line for ONE HOUR AND FORTY FIVE MINUTES to fill up our water bottles. I consumed a full (purchased) bottle of water and two beers in the time I was waiting in this line. We chatted up some guy in line with us - a bartender from Madison, WI who had made a whole week of concert going in Chicago (U2, then DMB Caravan). During this wait we missed Liz Phair and G Love. (boo!)

See the full gallery on Posterous

Most people had actually planted themselves in front of the main stage to get good position for Dave. That meant we were going to be pretty far back, but we had a great view of the screens and the sound was fabulous. Once they went on stage all was well - the sun was setting and the breeze from the lake was fabulous. And the music... exactly what we came to see!

See the full gallery on Posterous

The new lakeside venue could be really nice if they put a little more work into it. It was a major dust bowl - we had dirt and grime everywhere! The photo below doesn't really show how bad it was... but let me tell you it was nasty!

We only did the single day ticket and are so thankful for that. I don't think I could have done three days worth of the dust and grime - I'm still sneezing from just one day!

crap day

What a super crap day!

Work was meh.

Tried to (re) join the gym where up until October 2010 I had been a member for 15 years and they were not willing to reinstate my previous rate and wanted me to pay full price as a new member. So much for loyalty - guess I will have to go to the other gym.

Then decided to make a quick trip to Target, where upon pulling out of my parking space got nailed by some idiot in a YELLOW SUV!! I was clearly out of my parking space when she pulled out of hers and she nailed me. Sadly major damage to my car and nothing but a scratch to hers... go figure! And since it happened on private property and we were both 'moving' the officer rules it no fault so I will be out a cool five hundred bones. Joy!

On the up side... the DMB Caravan line up was announced and I FINALLY got into Google+

soooo excited!

DMB Caravan schedule announced for this weekend! I spoke to my friend who does lots of these all day concerts so that I know what to take with me ... 10 hours of music in a field along Lake Michigan with a view of the Chicago skyline. So ready!!

things on tuesday :: funny monkey

Seems so wrong that it's Tuesday already, but what a great holiday weekend we had here in Chicago!  So let's see ... 

loves

• getting to the beach (even if my 55 spf prevented me from getting any color)
• getting shit done
• sweet treats
• this funny monkey
• my new photo toy - leica d-lux 5
• scoring a subscription to Dwell for $2 via fab.com (woot!)
• Dave Matthews Band Caravan this weekend and the free sampler of music to pump us up!

loathes

• headaches
• glasses
• death
• google and their lack of planning when rolling out a product
• that my new air conditioner doesn't seem all that cold... 
• that my upstairs neighbor just doesn't get it.  Simply put, I should NOT hear you, your TV, chairs or etc.
• folding laundry

OK then ... let's get on with this week! 

I Leica

Is it just me, or do you also find that your hobbies just suck all of your extra income? When I got into photography, I thought I could just go take pictures, that's free now that everything is digital. Well, I did that, but as I got more into it I realized that better equipment would allow me to do more with the craft. I've been shooting with the Canon 40D for about two years and have been very happy with it, but lust for a full frame sensor so that I can do better with less light. So I've been stashing a few bucks aside for an upgrade.

That is until my point & shoot (Canon s90) got a crack in the lens. I have no idea how it happened - I've never dropped it and keep it in a case, I just don't know. But it's dead center on the lens, and while I seem to be able to compensate for the problem spot if I had it off to someone else for a photo forget it. Sadly it's only a little over a year old - just out of warrantee of course!  So rather than getting that full frame DSLR, I had to shift my focus to a new p&s.

I landed on the Leica D-LUX 5. It's some serious fire power in a designer package. It might just be the perfect camera for me! Since I only shoot RAW format and post process via Lightroom and Photoshop, I needed something that would give me as close to DSLR results as possible. In reading up, the Leica digital family seems like it's the perfect fit. It arrived just in time for the holiday weekend, so I've been out shooting like mad.

Snapped a few self portraits - very happy with the results! Went and walked around Architectural Artifacts, 8000 square feet of architectural salvage. Holy shit is that place amazing! Some seriously old and really amazing stuff. It was a dream to wander and photograph - even while sweating (90+ inside the warehouse!). Way more photos to post from this place, but I'll give you a little teaser - loads of old sign parts and letters, mannequins and medical equipment that makes you go 'hmmmm.'