What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today?

[jp1]

And I'd cut out (C) because veggies are awful.

Okay. So Kabobs are out of the picture.

You could make an incredible sub/hero with the tips*, braised in red wine and rosemary and topped with a horseradish sauce. Plus the toppings of your choice, but if you quickly saute the tips* in olive oil, add a splash of red wine, stuff it in a bun, wrap it in foil and put it in an oven at 350 for about ten minutes...and then top it with a horseradish sauce...oh boy. Make sure you just barely sear the tips as you do want it to be a bit medium rare.

OR!

Cook some pasta. Then sear the tips*, remove them from the pan and add a TBSP of flour, a TBSP of butter, stir it around, add some red wine and make a thick pan gravy. Top pasta with tips* and sauce.

OR!

Marinate the tips* with an even mix of hoison sauce (please use Koon-Chun), soy, and rice wine vinegar. Cook quickly, serve on rice, and top with cashews and green onions. Simple and delicious.

OR!

If you feel lazy, cook some egg noodles. Top it with cooked tips*, with a sauce of mayo, nutmeg, and brown gravy mix and make a lazy Swedish meat chunks.

*just the tip

This was really making me hungry until the part about mayo, nutmeg, and brown gravy. Overall though some great tips*.

[MrPopo]

That sandwich sounds amazing. I'll have to give that a try.

[jp1]

That sandwich sounds amazing. I'll have to give that a try.

That and the pasta sound great. I'm tempted to sidetrack the health food a little for the night and go get some steak tips. I wouldn't know the first thing about picking a decent wine to cook it with though.

[mjmjr25]

Chicago is probably great if you live there - but for a tourist; it's miserable. They are very accommodating to bike / pedestrian traffic (which is good), the elevated is efficient, but for a vehicle unfamiliar with the wackiness - it's crazy.

Last Friday we drove - we opted for I-90 straight through the heart of the city because it was 9pm when we hit Rockford. From Rockford to Elkhart, IN it was 6.5 hours - straight shot (198 miles - that comes out to 30mph for 6.5 hours...on a 3-4 lane interstate). The suburbs are out so far now that you hit traffic just after Rockford and it doesn't let up until you are through Gary, IN...even at midnight, 1am, 2am. Insanity.

On top of that - the politics of Chicago ensure the city is ALWAYS under major construction - even at night.

On Tuesday we were going to stay in the heart of Downtown - we KNEW it would take 90 minutes or so to get from South Chicago to our Hotel near Navy Pier (12 miles) at 3 in the afternoon. At 430pm we were just over one of the one-way bridges and were 1 block from our hotel - could literally see it, point at...and for the next 90 minutes we drove around a 12 block radius trying to get to it. Downtown Chicago is a series of one-way bridges, long-dark underpasses where unless you know where it comes out...you have no idea, one-way streets, 4 lane one-way traffic where 2 lanes instantly (like in middle of a block) become street parking and the other 2 lanes MUST turn left and right (even though the road you want is ahead of you). Some of the blocks are half blocks, some are 2 blocks long, some are straight, some are not. Random parking attendants jump in front of you to try and shoo you into their parking garage at $22/hour until 6pm, bikes whiz in and out of traffic despite having dedicated bike lanes, people cut in and out when you stop, stop signs are sometimes well before where you are supposed to stop, so you're not sure if you stop in the middle of traffic, or up at where you think you probably would stop, and there are massive steel pilings randomly in the middle of streets to support the Elevated - and they just come up on you. We stopped at one of the parking garages and asked the security guy how we get onto the West Mart one-way in front of that hotel - they guy said, "No idea bro, that's a tough one. Good luck." This is downtown Chicago - you can't just park and haul your luggage - you park on the street and you'll be towed or get a ticket/boot; or you pull into a garage and pay $22/hour until 6pm and then $19 the rest of the night but you need to be out by 7am.

Long story short - we left; despite having non-cancellable reservations for 2 nights. Took 4 more hours to get out of downtown to the Belvidere oasis (85 miles away).

I've been through LA only once - wasn't difficult. Cleveland, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, Portland, Omaha, Philly, Orlando, Miami, on and on - never a single issue. Yes, some traffic, but nothing like this.

Atlanta i've done a few times and zero issues really - I mean, my only issues were we are 6 lines wide, bumper to bumper, and everyones doing 80mph. I can handle speed though, much better than not moving.

EDIT: And what is with tolls? This is the INTERSTATE - a federally managed system, built by federal government tax dollars; repairs done by federally funded tax dollars. Where do Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana get off putting tolls on the FEDERAL interstate? Seriously. You hit Wisconsin / Minnesota and west you never see them. We paid $89.90 in tolls this trip. Ridiculous with what we already pay in vehicle tax and tab fees.

[stickem]

The worst driving in the US is probably Los Angeles, though Atlanta is working its way up there. I've heard it compared to LA traffic in the 1990s. Compounding matters, public transit isn't up to snuff. The MARTA bus system is big, but the rail system is bare bones, and the taxi services around here are God awful.

the same design team constructed nashvilles interstates i do believe. i can believe that having drove in both. rain only makes it 100 times worse. lol

[Key-Glyph]

I hate cooking so much that I actively seek out food situations that require little effort beyond chopping vegetables, if even that. I eat a lot of miso soup with random veggies and noodles thrown in and lots of fruit/vegetable smoothies. Before I got to this advanced stage I ate a lot of cereal.

The funny thing is that I could literally decide on five or six simple things to eat and leave it at that for the rest of my life, and yet I love food when it's made for me and like trying almost everything. I am ridiculously lucky that one of my husband's hobbies is cooking. We joke that I might have died of malnutrition if I hadn't met him in college.

Also, mjm... that is a nightmare. The detail of being able to point to the hotel but not being able to find your way to it is particularly awful. Glad to hear you didn't have any accidents or anything and that you're finally home! (You are home now, right?)

[noiseredux]

At 430pm we were just over one of the one-way bridges and were 1 block from our hotel - could literally see it, point at...and for the next 90 minutes we drove around a 12 block radius trying to get to it.

[marurun]

Late to the party, but... My local grocer (local chain) actually does the best raised, glazed donuts. And those are my favorite kind. Never had better. They are doughy and heavy and yeasty.

Grew up with Krispy Kremes. Good when very fresh. After that? Meh.

[Cronozilla]

I found a Charizard amiibo, first time ever.

It's board back is bent up!

I like having these displayed in the boxes, even if they've been opened.
At least until I build some nice themed displays (not happening anytime soon)

[Luke]

Chicago is probably great if you live there - but for a tourist; it's miserable. They are very accommodating to bike / pedestrian traffic (which is good), the elevated is efficient, but for a vehicle unfamiliar with the wackiness - it's crazy.

On top of that - the politics of Chicago ensure the city is ALWAYS under major construction - even at night.


EDIT: And what is with tolls?

All of this is true.

I'm not sure how you planned your trip, but you can't just "go" to Chicago in a car without being familiar with the city. You need to know where to park, or your wallet will be empty when you leave. A lot of people pay upwards of $15k a year for parking alone. All my Chicago cronies who know the city very well still check an app before going anywhere in the city as there really is construction going on all the time.

Some toll booths can be avoided by an alternative route, others are simply unavoidable.

The absolute best way to visit Chicago is to fly into O'hare andtake the blue line to a NW stop, all of which have nice or cheap hotels in walking distance. Drop your stuff off, get back on the L, and stop downtown.

I can see how visiting in a car and going downtown could be hell. Even going to Rosemont can be a pain in the neck as the exit signs are poorly placed. As soon as you see your exit, you just passed it. I know that feeling of "I can see it, so how I can't I get there?"/

Wrigleyville, on the other hand, is very car friendly.

If you ever plan on flying into Chicago, shoot me a pm. I know that city as well as I know the Starlight zone in Sonic.