Six degrees?

OK, so it is supposed to get down to six degrees tonight...today it was a whopping 13 and I got home wanting to get into a vat of soup (basically). So that means...tonight Lev and I are making everything-but-the-kitchen-sink soup! Pearl barley? Why yes. Mushrooms? What would we do without them? Leeks! Carrots! Parsley! And, of course, our friends onion and garlic. 

Behold!

Last night Lev and I had our first group fitness class. I am so sore I can't even tell you...and Lev just asked me how many pushups I thought he could do, right now. I can tell you this much, 24 hours ago at this time I was SUFFERING. But that's the only way to do it, right?

the view from here

18th Street Park

Friday was awesomely warm and Lev was positive that we were done with winter. *BUT* this is Chicago (where we're never done with winter), and last night he came into bed and said, "It's gotten really cold and there's two inches of snow on the ground! What IS this?" It ain't over till it's over.

To fend off Lev's winter panic, today I'm making beef stew. While researching beef stew on the Internet (I abandoned all my cookbooks when I moved across the country...I regret this) I came across a "Cuisine of the Midwest" recipe trove. It was worse than I thought--like, I always joke that moving to Chicago from the west coast is a shock because once you get here the locals hand you a brick of cheese and say "Welcome to the Midwest." I mean, I can get down with the occasional macaroni and cheese, but these recipes? The main ingredients are Campbell's condensed cream of mushroom soup and mayonnaise. Apparently, a beef stew recipe is enough to make the Internet think that what I'm really looking for is more ways to ingest heavy cream. Hmmm...

Along those lines (i.e. crummy midwest foodstuffs), a really, really great thing happened Friday night, which is that Lev took me to the best grocery store I have ever been to in Chicago! Seriously. Great, organic produce, organic dry goods and, best of all, affordable. This is huge! Since we moved here from Portland we have been looking for an acceptable grocery store that is NOT whole foods. We live on the south side, which apparently makes things harder (?), but upon setting foot in La Casa Del Pueblo I decided that we are STAYING! Because as you may know, I semi-compulsively fantasize about moving--be it to a different neighborhood or a different city. It's been looking like we are going to remain here in Chicago, though, because of the (omigod let it be) hopeful job and because Lev is onto some brilliant job and school-related stuff as well. New York may be on hold.

And today while walking back from the store, I started seeing summer in my neighborhood. Warm reds, oranges and yellows. I took some photos, enjoy.

Pilsen Window

18th Street, Pilsen, Chicago

Los Libros Bookstore, Pilsen, Chicago

The New and Used Store, Pilsen, Chicago

Mini Mariachi, Pilsen, Chicago

Small Summer, Pilsen, Chicago

the long and winding road...

This morning was long-winded. The sun seemed to talk about rising and think about rising, but it stayed dark in our bedroom until after seven. In the winter the covers are warm and way too inviting--I get up and brush my teeth and then I think of something that I need to do that involves going back to sleep. And then I am back in bed, pretending to use under-the-covers time to think about what I'm going to wear.

Lev gets up later than me and leaves the house earlier than me. It's magic or something. While I'm still selecting a pair of business casual pants to wear to work, he is outside warming up the car and scraping ice off the windshield. When I finally managed to get myself together enough to leave the house this morning Lev was already in the driver's seat, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. He held my hand on the drive to work. Today is going to be a great day, I can feel it.

Our Chicago street in full February winter