Sweet Home Chicago

It's great to be back in the City of Big Shoulders, pan pizza, Ernie Banks, Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, Dick Butkus, Al Capone, MoMo Johnson, old cattle hub of the U.S., best steaks & ribs, fatty foods and grease, Jenny McCarthy, Denise Richards, lakeshore drive, most beautiful metropolitan architecture in the world, John Belushi, Chris Farley, John Hughes...

I love this city. After visiting dozens of cities throughout the world, Chicago is still one of the best, if not the best, places to live. The city provides a rich heritage and vibrant culture. The urban architecture is beautiful with no equal and people who present a sincere midwest attitude towards life and visitors. Friendly, warm and open.

The main downside is the weather. Its winters are harsh where visitors from Boston and Buffalo have expressed shock at experiencing a coldness like they never felt before and a biting of the ears and noses that made them tear. Summers can be hot and humid, but the mid-year months are generally beautiful with a gentle evening warmth that provides comfort to most people. The character and culture of the city makes up for these deficiencies of nature. The performing arts are only second to New York City and the food is rich and full of taste. There isn't as much ethnic diversity of food compared to New York, but everything just tastes better on average. Buttery, fatty, divine, full, and heart-attack are all adjectives people use to describe the richness of Chicago's restaurants or how they feel afterwards.

Random tangent...
I wanted to write about a recent incident with one of my good friends in Korea. We were sitting in a restaurant together eating this Korean pork dish. Basically it's about a pound of pork with some spicy vegetables. The power went out in the whole city block, so just before we started our dinner we were sitting in the dark. Some light came through from a distant street light through the windows, but I mainly saw darkness in front of me. After about five minutes the lights went back on and I was ready to eat. Looking down upon the plate, all the pork was gone. After my initial shock, I asked my friend Davis, "How did you eat all the pork in the dark?"

"From my side, I could see the plate, so I decided to go ahead and eat it."

"Ok. You couldn't wait for me? Or the lights to go on?"

"Well, I figured you would just order more."

"Yeah... I guess so. Waitress!"

I realized after writing about all these random eating stories most people that read this blog imagine me to be this 250+ lbs. Asian with a big gut and pizza in hand. Who knows if I'll get like that a few years down the road, but I simply love food and eating.