Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: buffalo wild wings, buffalo wings, hooters, jewel, wings
Thanks to decades of overindulgence in fried foods, fries and other heart attack-inducing foods, I now have to work on changing my diet. But that doesn’t mean I can’t reminisce about some of my favorite foods. In this edition, I look back at my top three wing spots.
1. Buffalo Wild Wings. This is by far my favorite spot for wings. They are just the perfect tecture – not fried, but the skin’s not too thick or greasy. The mild wings are perfect. I can’t handle anything too hot, but these mild wings have just the right amount of kick.
2. Jewel. I literally stood in front of the Jewel display case for a good five minutes today, staring at the wings and debating if I should get some or not. In the end, the little willpower I have kicked in and I walked away empty-handed, but trust me, it would have been worth it to relapse at Jewel. They have some really good fried wings! They have the perfect amount of batter so that the skin is crunchy but not too thick and greasy.
3. Hooters. I wasn’t always a huge fan of Hooters, but my last time there, the wings just seemed so delicious. Maybe the late night visit after a few beers was a factor, but I’m sticking to my ranking. Their fried wings are a little dryer but they have a very unique texture and a subtle but specific flavor.
I prefer ordering all flats (the non-drumstick wing) with a side of celery and ranch. So, go out, order some wings and eat a couple for me! Let me know what other spots have good wings.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 4 rebels vodka, alhambra palace, cafe magazine, chicago, cprmn, forrester, forrester consumer forum, la pasadita, morton's steakhouse, networking, peter shankman, prcci, reik, the shrine
I’m not sure what I was trying to prove to myself – maybe I was just trying to recapture my youth – but for some reason I decided to go out every day this week. My goal was to get out and network – something I suck at! Oh, and have a little fun in the process…
Night 1: Forrester Consumer Forum Chicago Tweet-up
I was lucky to snag a ticket to Forrester’s Tweet-up (via Twitter of course), so even though I didn’t have a chance to attend the forum, I got to meet some cool people at the event. I forced myself to network by attending by myself and not knowing anyone else there. And I had a yummy glass of Spanish wine – for $23.
Night 2: CPRMN Social Media Event & Reik Concert
I had the chance to see Peter Shankman speak at the ChicagoPR & Marketing Network’s social media event. I even won a Poken thanks to my knowledge of the answer to this little question by Shankman: Who has run this country for the past 100 years? Answer: Rich White Men (or Old White Men – same difference). Now I just need to find more people that actually have a poken!
After the event, there was a nice networking event at Morton’s Steakhouse. This time, I had a nice glass of Malbec – $10. And again, I went to the event alone so that I’d be forced to talk to strangers. On a sidenote, Wacker has got to be the most confusing street in Chicago. It has an upper part and a lower part, an east/west direction and a north/south direction.
But the night didn’t end there. U.S. Cellular was sponsoring a private Reik concert at Alhambra Palace that night, and I got the chance to attend! I knew I was on the list, but I didn’t realize I’d get a lanyard, a wristband and a personal escort to U.S. Cellular’s special VIP section! It was an awesome night, and Reik’s lead singer is one good-looking man. Unfortunately, they only played for about 20 minutes, so it was a super short performance.
Night 3: Cafe Magazine Pick-up Party
No, it was not a party to pick up a guy or girl – the purpose of the party was to pick up the latest issue of Cafe Magazine. The party was at The Shrine, a new club in South Loop I’ve been wanting to check out. It’s a nice spot, and for future reference, Wednesdays are Latin night. Although it was a bit super crowded, I had fun and won Bulls tickets in a raffle! Erika won a basket full of Wrigley gum, so she gave me half her basket and I’m taking her to the game. Funnily enough, there was also a party going on in the room next door bring hosted by Tyrus Thomas.
I guess I didn’t really network that much this night, but I figured I did well enough Monday and Tuesday to earn the right to stay in my comfort zone and stick to talking to my group of friends!
Night 4: Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce & 4 Rebels Vodka Launch
Towards the end of the workday, I was starting to have second thoughts about going out again. But I had two fellow SJG-ers by my side and made it. The Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce was hosting an event at Loft 610, where there were actually a lot of people from the previous night’s event also (including us).
After a pit stop at La Pasadita for burritos & horchata, we headed out to Y Bar to celebrate the launch of 4 Rebels Vodka. I’m not much of a vodka drinker, but I did try vodka & club soda and it actually wasn’t bad.
Night 5: Kasey’s Tavern
There was originally no plan for Night 5 , but I couldn’t resist keeping the streak going! So I was a trooper and went out to this little Printer’s Row spot for a little bit.
That was my week of socializing! Even though I like meeting new people, I find it really difficult to “network” and small talk with people. It just feels so forced. But I guess the more you get used to talking to people and not being anti-s0cial, the easier it gets (hopefully).
Now the big question – do I go for Night #6 tonight or stay in and watch scary movies? To be continued…
As we boarded our train in Barcelona, we were so close to being home, yet so far away! First, we flew to Berlin. Luckily, I knocked out and slept through most of the flight. After a layover in Berlin, we boarded the plane to Chicago. And we waited. And waited while engineers fixed some kind of technical problem – with the bathroom! Forty minutes later, we finally took off.
Unfortunately, this time I couldn’t fall asleep. First, we ran into some really bad turbulence. I was silently freaking out as even all the flight attendants had to sit down and buckle up. Finally, we got through the turbulence and I managed to refrain from having a massive panic attack (just barely).
Then, there was a medical emergency on the flight. They literally made an announcement asking of there was a doctor on the plane. Meanwhile, the asshole sitting next to me (not Adrian) is betting that the emergency is a heart attack. Then, he complains that he hopes this doesn’t mean we get re-routed and stop somewhere. I never found out what the emergency was, but we made it all the way back to Chicago in the end.
And my weirdo neighbor sure had quite an assortment of hobbies. Throughout the flight, he read several enthusiast magazines, including biking, scuba diving and woodworking ones.
After the long, stressful and sleepless flight (although I did watch several movies during the trip), we finally made it to Chicago! And it was freezing! I heard it was cold here, but this is just ridiculous. Vacation is definitely over (insert sad face here).
After lunch at Don Jamon’s and a much-needed nap, we decided to make the most of our last night in Madrid. But first, of course, we had to eat again! So we stopped by Museo de Jamon (no, not a real museum), where I had a sandwich mixto (grilled ham and cheese with a fried egg in it). I don’t think I’ve ever eaten as much fried eggs as I have in Spain – one of my most favorite dishes is meat (pork chops or veal milanesa) with fries and a fried egg on the side. Yum!
After our snack, we tried to find a flamenco show to see but it was a little out of our budget. Especially my budget, since I was down to my last dollar (literally) and therefor didn’t even technically have a budget left. We ended up just walking through Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor back to the La Latina neighborhood. This time we found two streets (Cava Baja & Cava Alta) lined with bars and just hopped from one place to another, having beers and free tapas (a lot of places will hook you up with a free tapa to go with your beer, anything from calamari to tostas with chorizo or ham).
On the way home, Adrian was being a smartass becuase I accidentally started taking us back completely the wrong way – but the important thing is that I realized it and got us turned around into the right direction. So I let him lead the way back to the hotel with absolutely no input from me, and amazingly, he got us there!
After stopping at the hotel and then deciding we weren’t finished partying it up, we went out again to a nearby bar. On the way, Adrian felt the need to poke his head into some shady bar that had an orange curtain covering the entrance. And thus commenced the second time during our trip that Adrian said “Hola!” to a group of prostitutes.
I’m glad my mom told me about this website, Venere.com, which lists hotels, hostels and B&Bs . It’s proven to be really helpful! Especially since we’ve been doing everything last minute. Everytime we switch cities or one hotel gets too expensive, we just check out, head online to reserve a new one through Venere, and go to the new hotel. Not bad booking online and checking in an hour later.
So today we headed to a cheaper hotel. We got a great deal, but that’s because the entire hotel was under construction! At least the room was really big, which was good because by this point, I definitely needed my space!
Today, we took a bus to Segovia. That is, we took a bus after dragging ass getting ready and eating “breakfast.” (On a sidenote, we ate at VIPS for the third time in two days. Not that I minded, because I love me some VIPS!) Unfortunately, when we arrived to Segovia, itwas raining. When in doubt, eat. Adrian was hungry again, so we just ducked into a restaurant to eat and hoped for the rain to pass. Luckily it did! And the restaurant was a cute little hole in the wall, very reminiscent of an “obiady domowe” (home cooking) spot in Poland.
Our first stop in Segovia was the Cathedral. Then we visited the Alcazar, which was really nice. It had some awesome wooden ceiling designs and beautiful stained glass windows.
And there was a gorgeous view of the surrounding town. Especially from the top of the Alcazar’s tower, which we reached by climbing an exhausting number of spiral stairs. Incidentally, I’ve realized that climbing spiral stairs makes me really anxious for some reason. And it’s actually worse going up than going down. Luckily, I refrained from having any kind of panic attack.
When we finished at the Alcazar, we headed back across town. Segovia was definitely another one of those charming, quaint and quiet towns, similar in feel to Toledo and Girona.
On the way across Segovia, we stopped at a little tavern for water, which I desperately needed after the climb up that tower at the Alcazar. Turns out, the place I randomly chose was a nice little wine bar. We even got to meet Lucio de Campo there, who was named the best sommelier in Spain in 2002 and seems to “reside” at the bar. Naturally, while we were there, we had to have a couple glasses of wine. So we tried a nice Cabernet from Segovia and then a Cabernet-Tempranillo blend, which I liked a little more.
After that pit stop, we continued on to see the great aqueduct of Segovia. Yes, the very one I didn’t see during my last trip to Spain because me and my roommate overslept the day of our Segovia field trip due to some late night drunken debauchery. But that was college. Anyways, it was a pretty large and impressive structure, but I have to admit – I still have no idea how it works or its real purpose.
At this point, it started to rain again, so we hopped back on a bus and returned to Madrid.
As our days in Madrid stretched on and my funds continued to shrink, I decided to pass up a couple museum trips and hang out in Parque del Retiro instead. I’m actually really glad I had a chance to go relax in the park - it definitely brought back memories of hanging out there after class, and allowed me to catch up with my journal writing. I strongly recommend making time to walk through the park, row boat in the little lake or check out the vendors if you’re in Madrid.
After Toledo, we returned to Madrid to run many, many errands. None were fun. First, we drove back to Madrid with no breakfast once again! And we had to take five million detours on the way since apparently every road leading into Madrid is under construction. That was followed by a lot of running around in circles trying to take care of things before offices closed.
Once that first round of errands finished, we checked into a hotel and FINALLY went to eat. The day was a true test of my patience. A lesser person would have had a complete meltdown – being dragged all over the city, hot and hungry. And I’m convinced that half of all Madrid is under construction! Each block is halfway dug up with loud machines drilling into the cement. I damn near lost it! And to top it all off, while we were walking around, a bird shit on me!
Filed under: Travel
We decided to take a trip from Madrid to Toledo, which is just a 30-45 minute drive away and used to be Spain´s capital.
Although if you´re driving, let me warn you, navigating the narrow, steep, winding streets of Toledo is no fun in a car, especially driving stick shift! I know, because that´s exactly what we did. In Adrian´s search for premium parking near our hotel (which of course was located in the area of Toledo most difficult to access by car), we encountered streets that were less than 2 meters wide, and often times our little rental car barely made it through!
The good news is we found a parking garage and then walked over to our hotel, Hotel Eurico. The better news was that it was a cute little hotel and our room was nice, spacious and clean. The best news was that we actually had a view for the first time! And it´s a view of the huge Cathedral in Toledo, which we are literally one and a half blocks away from. This is truly a prime location!
Once we finally got settled in, we walked around Toledo a bit and saw the Cathedral. I definitely recommend visiting this attraction, since it´s truly impressive and shows off the power and wealth of the Catholic church. After the Cathedral, we had dinner in the main square, where the restaurant even offered a Mexican paella. Not sure what that is exactly, but I commend them for being creative.
We relaxed after dinner and then headed back out to experience Toledo at night. I think some of our best moments have been in places like Girona and Toledo, where we´ve been able to walk the quiet, history-filled streets at night. It´s such a relief from the crazy days of sightseeing and tourists.
We ended up finding a really cool bar that had a cave-like interior (literally, the walls were those of a cave) and had a few beers outside. It was an awesome atmosphere to relax in!
After some very philosophical and deep discussions (fueled by beer of course), we walked back to the hotel and had a chance to walk past the huge cathedral, which is all lit up at night. There were even bats flying around near its towers.
Thanks, Hotel Eurico, for the unforgettable stay!
