The Empire Strikes Back at the Beach
So last week I went back to good ol' Chi-town to visit folks and play in Sandblast 2009. I was recruited to the dark side by Cap'n Joe of The Empire Strikes Back and version 2.0 was fabulously fun, spreading the joy of Pimm's and strawberry gin and tonics to all.
The first thing I did when I got to Chicago, however, was make a batch of lemon bars using the excellent recipe a la The Joy of Cooking. Fresh squeezed lemons, mind you...don't be using that bottled nonsense. Using some of the farm fresh eggs that Joe had resulted in the best batch of lemon bars to date. Sorry, no photos of it. Too much excitement for food porn.
Then onto Piece for some tasty pizza and microbrews. Oh Piece, how I have missed you. We were able to catch up with some folks post-league as well which was nice. The kids are getting younger or I am getting older. Or maybe a little from column A and a little from column B.
Thursday was dim sum at Shui Wah (very yummy) and then some serious museuming. We went to the Field and saw the Pirates exhibit. Very interesting and informative. Did you know the pirates went as far north as Canada? Unsurprisingly, Providence was also a haunt of theirs. Interesting to learn that conditions on the pirate ships were actually better than on the slave trafficking ships. Then it was to the astronomatarium (aka, the Planetarium) which is way bigger than I thought. Some cool exhibits and we also got to see a show about COSMIC COLLISIONS narrated by the Sundance Kid. Too tired at that point to hit the Art Institute and we headed back just prior to some major rain so that I could make dinner.
Dinner was homemade chicken lettuce wraps made from a small fryer that I butchered. Jacques Pepin and Julia Child would have been proud, I think. Such cute little breasts. Hah! Add some crusty bread with homemade aioli and some Piece beer and it was a perfect treat for an educational day. There's the lord of the manor with part 1 of his delicious homemade meals. Dessert was a mix of lemon bars, strawberry cake and peanut butter pie. Yummers.
Friday I spent part of the mornign pitting the sour cherries Joe had obtained for 1 of the dishes I wanted to make and headed out later in the day to meet up with Robert and Beth. I got to examine the havoc wreaked on his right thumb from his unfortunate ultimate misadventures. After getting them settled in somewhat, addressing the vehicle snafu and generally harassing JH and Crispy, we went and gallavanted around Chinatown before meeting Crispy at Lao Schezwan for dinner. Very good spicy food and an extraordinarily long menu. They do not skimp on spice or garlic there.
Saturday and Sunday were Sandblast days! Since I had the use of Robert's car but needed to get him in order for him to fulfill his volunteering duties, I was able to get to the beach wicked early both days and relax and strech in the cool summer morning. Got some nice shots of the crews at work.
I must say, however, that I am a big proponent of having 1 tall (6'4") person pace all the fields to ensure adequate length, width and general consistency. Just a thought. The Empire Strikes Back v 2.0 was super-fun with lots of great folks and although we went 0-4 day 1, we went 3-0 day 2 and improved our ranking by 4 or 5 spots. Sweet. We had some great plays and I had 5 scores (including a "sky" over the 1 gal I played that was shorter than me) and some good D's. Even dove a couple times, but I wouldn't call them lay-outs.
Sunday night, I made Little Lamb Meatballs with Sour Cherries from "Good Day for a Picnic" 
and sauteed some swiss chard with onions. Toss in some toast, more aioli, the remaining Piece beer and some dessert and it was a nice way to end 2 days at the beach. I had forgotten just how pervasive sand can be, however. All that ultimate meant no energy to take any pictures of the meal. Oh well.
Monday was my last full day. I got up and endeavored to make Joe's pre-lated birthday cake and then Joe made some delicious French Toast (the key is in the ratio of milk to egg, I am told) and superb farm-raised bacon. Fortified with a fantastic breakfast (the best meal ever!), we hobbled out to catch the Metra and stroll the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I really love the Japanese gardens and the Fruit and Vegetable gardens there. We even saw borage, the traditional garnish for a Pimm's cup! Although Joe could not decide on a favorite tree, I decided his favorite flower was the dahlia, also known to us as the purple explosion. At the aquatic gardens, we spotted a giant fish hiding among the lilypads, but no frogs jumping on the lilypads. We managed a game of Scrabble by the lake (I lost) and got our achey selves back to the city for some well-deserved burgers, fries and beers at Monk's Pub. I like any place that lets you throw peanut shells on the floor. I iced Lemon-Blueberry cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (a top 5 requested cake these days) and thus concluded my 6 days of kitchen servitude. What a great time....
The first thing I did when I got to Chicago, however, was make a batch of lemon bars using the excellent recipe a la The Joy of Cooking. Fresh squeezed lemons, mind you...don't be using that bottled nonsense. Using some of the farm fresh eggs that Joe had resulted in the best batch of lemon bars to date. Sorry, no photos of it. Too much excitement for food porn.
Then onto Piece for some tasty pizza and microbrews. Oh Piece, how I have missed you. We were able to catch up with some folks post-league as well which was nice. The kids are getting younger or I am getting older. Or maybe a little from column A and a little from column B.
Thursday was dim sum at Shui Wah (very yummy) and then some serious museuming. We went to the Field and saw the Pirates exhibit. Very interesting and informative. Did you know the pirates went as far north as Canada? Unsurprisingly, Providence was also a haunt of theirs. Interesting to learn that conditions on the pirate ships were actually better than on the slave trafficking ships. Then it was to the astronomatarium (aka, the Planetarium) which is way bigger than I thought. Some cool exhibits and we also got to see a show about COSMIC COLLISIONS narrated by the Sundance Kid. Too tired at that point to hit the Art Institute and we headed back just prior to some major rain so that I could make dinner.
Dinner was homemade chicken lettuce wraps made from a small fryer that I butchered. Jacques Pepin and Julia Child would have been proud, I think. Such cute little breasts. Hah! Add some crusty bread with homemade aioli and some Piece beer and it was a perfect treat for an educational day. There's the lord of the manor with part 1 of his delicious homemade meals. Dessert was a mix of lemon bars, strawberry cake and peanut butter pie. Yummers.
Friday I spent part of the mornign pitting the sour cherries Joe had obtained for 1 of the dishes I wanted to make and headed out later in the day to meet up with Robert and Beth. I got to examine the havoc wreaked on his right thumb from his unfortunate ultimate misadventures. After getting them settled in somewhat, addressing the vehicle snafu and generally harassing JH and Crispy, we went and gallavanted around Chinatown before meeting Crispy at Lao Schezwan for dinner. Very good spicy food and an extraordinarily long menu. They do not skimp on spice or garlic there.
Saturday and Sunday were Sandblast days! Since I had the use of Robert's car but needed to get him in order for him to fulfill his volunteering duties, I was able to get to the beach wicked early both days and relax and strech in the cool summer morning. Got some nice shots of the crews at work.
I must say, however, that I am a big proponent of having 1 tall (6'4") person pace all the fields to ensure adequate length, width and general consistency. Just a thought. The Empire Strikes Back v 2.0 was super-fun with lots of great folks and although we went 0-4 day 1, we went 3-0 day 2 and improved our ranking by 4 or 5 spots. Sweet. We had some great plays and I had 5 scores (including a "sky" over the 1 gal I played that was shorter than me) and some good D's. Even dove a couple times, but I wouldn't call them lay-outs.
Sunday night, I made Little Lamb Meatballs with Sour Cherries from "Good Day for a Picnic" 
and sauteed some swiss chard with onions. Toss in some toast, more aioli, the remaining Piece beer and some dessert and it was a nice way to end 2 days at the beach. I had forgotten just how pervasive sand can be, however. All that ultimate meant no energy to take any pictures of the meal. Oh well.
Monday was my last full day. I got up and endeavored to make Joe's pre-lated birthday cake and then Joe made some delicious French Toast (the key is in the ratio of milk to egg, I am told) and superb farm-raised bacon. Fortified with a fantastic breakfast (the best meal ever!), we hobbled out to catch the Metra and stroll the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I really love the Japanese gardens and the Fruit and Vegetable gardens there. We even saw borage, the traditional garnish for a Pimm's cup! Although Joe could not decide on a favorite tree, I decided his favorite flower was the dahlia, also known to us as the purple explosion. At the aquatic gardens, we spotted a giant fish hiding among the lilypads, but no frogs jumping on the lilypads. We managed a game of Scrabble by the lake (I lost) and got our achey selves back to the city for some well-deserved burgers, fries and beers at Monk's Pub. I like any place that lets you throw peanut shells on the floor. I iced Lemon-Blueberry cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (a top 5 requested cake these days) and thus concluded my 6 days of kitchen servitude. What a great time....
Comments