Family vacation #2

The Torgoley's went home for the holidays. What a busy trip this has been, we saw just about everybody we wanted to with a few exceptions because of time constraints.

Chicago is just as I remember it; cold, gray and Tasty. Everything was where it should be, except all the empty lots i remember that lined every block when i was growing up. Oh and all those pesky traffic cameras that always seem to catch me off guard because of how fast the yellow lights transition out here (California's yellow lights are probably upwards of 10-20 seconds long, no joke). I don't care for those cameras much, i find them dangerous because i slam on the brakes at a yellows which can probably cause more accidents then stop them. I digress though. So, I've found the city to be bustling all over with more condos then i believe there are people that live here in Chicago. Potbelly sandwiches is now the new subway of Chicago, i remember the first one on Lincoln that i went to all the time when i was in high school. Man, Oh, Manischewitz, is the food good here though, I've eaten more good food here in the past three weeks then my entire time in California, hands down. Perhaps, we're not going to the right restaurants but man, Chicago, has most cities beat with their food. Italian to tapas, greasy spoons to pizza, and Mexican to Thai all the food here is way better. I've actually talked to people about how you can't get good Mexican food in California even though it's right next door to Mexico...again, i digress.

A little list of places we always have to stop at for good food;
Pasta Bowl (farfalle pollo, is the greatest pasta dish in the entire world, it's so good i had it 4 times)
Heaven on Seven (their souther fried chicken is awesome)
Lou Malnati's (awesome deep dish)
Duo's (not uno's but Duo's, there is a difference)
Pockets (the calzone is the best)
Pepes hotdog stand (it's all about the cheeze fries)
Cafe Iberico (best croqetues ever)
Noyes Street cafe (try the honey chicken, awesome)
Linda Thai on roscoe and Thai Village on division (best thai EVER)
Any place that sells gyros (california just doesn't get the gyros)
my mom's cooking
and apparently my brothers cooking (he made the greatest pork roast i've ever tasted)
all the while listening to XRT going from place to place.

Mehley got a chance to see snow fall, which she absolutely loved. The first day we got here it snowed 6 inches. Then two days later it dropped down below zero for a couple of days, I think it's the coldest i remember, it was -13 with a -35 windchill. "The windchill factor", that's a Chicago term, along with "Grachki" (that's chicagoese for garage key). Then Mehley got to go sledding which she thought was a little scary, she preferred to roll down the hill instead. Abraham got freaked out when he would touch the snow, I think he liked it initially but then when it started to get really cold and burn he would cry, I'd then warm his hands, then he'd do it all over again, i love that little guy.

The first couple of days was mostly spent at home on account of how cold it was. We got to catch up with my mom and have the kids "run her ragged" as she says. After being cooped up for a couple of days we decided to go downtown and spend a few hours shopping for Christmas gifts. We went to the watertower place (Mehley loved the elevator at watertower, probably as much as i did growing up) and up and down the Mag Mile. I think it was that night Grace, Scarlett and I met up with Ewa D. for a drink in downtown forest park. Always nice to see old friends. The next day Scar, Grace, the kids and I went to the "winter wonderland" exhibit at navy pier. Very fun for the kids, they exhausted themselves running, bouncing and going on some of the rides. They sleep soundly that night.

My family here (and by family, i mean mother) has moved to Cicero which is a little alien to me. I feel as though we're back in wicker park in 1982 (suffice it to say, it feels a little sketchy), although my mom lives on a nice block with my sister Scarlett and her boyfriend Nathan. 26 years of my life was spent living within a 1 mile proximity of Saint Marys hospital which will always be a landmark for me, it's the only 14 story building west of ashland for miles. Just seeing that ugly monstrosity of a building always takes me back to my childhood (odd postscript, i actually spent some time behind those walls with pneumonia as a child).

So, on Friday of the first week, my brother came into town for 2 weeks, everybody was in town for christmas, it was good, clean and fun. Everybody got along and there were no arguments (surprisingly). Our friend Mike Colon and his family (wife Camillia and son Zander) picked up my brother from the airport and stayed the weekend. Zander and Abraham are just about the same age (one and half years old), the only time they acknowledge each others existence is when one of them had something the other wanted. They always had a good time destroying my mothers Christmas tree, which she was none too happy about. It was nice to see Colonski, he seems to be doing quite well and has met a really nice woman to settle down with and his son is healthy and beautiful.

We spent a day with my aunt Marietta. We got her some nice Christmas presents. She just loved the kids, They were actually really good while she was here. My uncle Alphonse had a pre-Christmas Christmas dinner. His wife Karen made some really good spaghetti, meatballs, sausage and Spiral Ham-Baked Ham. Al showed a couple of old movies for the family, one with shirly temple (poor little rich girl) and a couple of a short cartoons for the kids.

Then my mom made her famous turkey dinner with all the fixings for Christmas day. Her turkey was super moist and succulent and her meat stuffing (which is actually my grandma's recipe) was excellent. Everything had flavor and it all tasted excellent!

I'll have to continue this post after we get back to California. Pictures and more comments to come.

All my love,
Rhett Torgoley