In the neighbourhood

[muckefuck]

monshu and I have been meaning to try out Bananas Foster on Broadway and today we finally did. We'd been warned that the portions were small and expensive for what they were, but fortunately we didn't find that to be the case. Take off my $7 Woodbridge lemonade and we were only looking at about $20 for brunch for two before tax and tip. Granted, the presence of Standee's only stumbling distance away isn't going to make that look like a bargain and their offerings aren't exactly in the same league with spots like Orange or toast (e.g. their idea of "stuffed French toast" is essentially two pieces of sandwich bread glued together with bananas and their "Irish loin bacon" someone managed to taste exactly like Hillshire Farms), but you won't find me complaining. (monshu might have a choice word or two to say about the saxophonist next door, however. I swear to Davis he was playing the WNUA station ID ditty between numbers.)

The rest of our little outing was kind of a wash. The local "farmer's market" was your typical bogus yuppie sidewalk sale (unless we're terribly mistaken and there really are pineapple plantations and pound cake trees in northern Illinois) and the antique shops were a whole lotta ugly and not much useful. On the plus side of the balance sheet, I made not one but two trips to Metropolis for mochas (I'll be down off that caffeine high in about two or three days) and on the way ran into a dear ex-colleague (and deliciously antagonisable Cubs fan) and your man from County Tyrone, resplendent in an egg-stained vest. As I told the Old Man, it gave me a gratifying feeling of being a local instead of some interloper from the less cool neighbourhood further north.

Since I'm an idiot, the one thing I forgot to do was take alone the birthday card for my older brother that I meant to mail. No matter; it gave me an excuse to wander over to the post office around the corner. On the way out, I got sucked in by the leafy greenness of a sidestreet and for the umpteenth time came to rue not being well-off enough to afford a home in Edgewater Glen. There were several houses with amazing gardens on double lots and I spent a blissful minute or so watching a monarch (the first I've seen all season!) working over an unfamiliar and umbellate pink blossom. Around the corner, another pleasant surprise: an Eritrean Orthodox Church! (By the look of it, some decrepit Lutherans would be in for a shock if they paid a visit to the old neighbourhood!) Who knows what else is on those back streets beyond Clark, just waiting for me to uncover?

Comments

now SIT DOWN !

[decasia.livejournal.com]

gee welcome to my universe ! i live across the street from Metropolis !

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Can't say as I'd want to be THAT close. I'm not sure what would give out first--my stomach or monshu's nerves.