July 2, 2005

Tasting Chicago

I went to the Taste of Chicago with the brothers today. The Metra is so much cheaper than northern California's BART, although I suppose that goes for just about anything between the two regions. We got unlimited train passes for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday for just $5, though I should mention we sat next to a few crazies on the way back, and the ride was significantly slower due to all of the residential stops.

We got to the city around noon, and walked the 6 blocks or so from the LaSalle St. Station towards Grant Park and the food. Near the borders of the grounds were these unicolor men and women that did robotic impressions all day. It didn't seem as though they were part of any official entertainment troop or had any specific cause, but they were pretty successful in getting audience attention. The bronze cowboy would freeze in a limp pose until some spectator left a dollar or some change in his matching bronze bucket. Then he would wake up, spin his bronze guns while making kazoo-esque sounds, crack a few poses for some photos, and then return to the ragdoll stance he started in. We watched him for no more than 5 minutes, and saw 4 people drop at least one green bill each into his bucket. At that rate, he was making over $40 an hour. Not bad, not bad at all.

My brothers and I made a pact to only try interesting food from the vendors (ie. NO pizza). For only $28 in tickets, the eats of the day included:

Honey Mustard Chicken Kabob with Curry Rice, Kasia's Deli
Samosa, Arya Bhavan
Sauteed Goat and Fried Plantaines, Vee-Vee's African Cuisine
Cajun Alligator, Grizzly's Lodge
Barbeque Tips and Link, Robinson's #1 Ribs
Funnel Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream and Apple Topping, Celebration Creamery
Eli's Chocolate Chip Crunch Dipper, Eli's Cheesecake
Lemon and Strawberry Italian Ice, Mazzone's

We trekked over to Millenium Park between meals, and saw the new space-ship stadium. The entire park is beautiful. The lawn is sectioned off with walkways that are bordered by very shallow ponds for people to cool their feet in. We walked over to these huge towers built of glass bricks and covered in a streaming fountain of water. Behind the bricks were screens with random images projected upon them. After we saw a rain forest scene, a child's face appeared on the screen. He smiled and giggled for a while, and then his mouth opened and a spit stream of water came out. I wanted to see the big steal bean, but it was covered by a tent of canvas for I'm guessing some type of contruction. Ah well, next time.

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