03/17/22 10:39 - ID#60884

e:uchina's bday

Late but a few weekends ago we went away to Seneca Lake for (e:uchina)'s birthday.

The house was nice with an overly hot hot tub, a short hike away at the tallest falls in New York(!) and we were treated to an impromptu Sara McLaughlin concert!

Permalink: e_uchina_s_bday.html
Words: 63
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/17/22 10:39

Category: food

02/05/22 02:35 - ID#60880

Ethiopian at West Side Bazaar

(e:terry) and I took a walk to pick up the car from getting the exhaust repaired at Forest Automotive. Side note, they are the only auto repair people that haven't felt like a complete scam. Pretty honest assessments, they give you estimates for the short-term cheap fix and the long-term real fix.

So after picking up the car we stopped at the West Side Bazaar for Abyssinia Ethiopian and a Sudanese stand I hadn't tried before. The veggie platter is so good.

I miss going to Fast and Tasty on Allen multiple times a week.

Permalink: Ethiopian_at_West_Side_Bazaar.html
Words: 98
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/05/22 02:50

Category: weather

01/26/22 12:39 - ID#60874

a real winter

This feels like the first real winter in a while. Like snow stays on the ground and no thawing.

I always feel the need to get out and walk around after it snows. One, because besides peak summer, Buffalo looks best covered in a layer of snow. And two, part of me thinks snowy winters will be mostly gone in the near future.

Permalink: a_real_winter.html
Words: 81
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/29/22 04:17

Category: holiday

01/26/22 12:36 - ID#60872

Christmas time

But this time in-person. Cookie decorating with my family, Christmas Eve with both (e:Paul) and my family and then hosting (e:Paul)'s relatives for a big famy party.

Permalink: Christmas_time.html
Words: 51
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/29/22 04:19

Category: bikes

01/26/22 12:34 - ID#60871

Christmas cookie delivery

A lil late but (e:):terry and I whipped up hundreds of Christmas cookies to deliver.

I scoop cookies small so we had a lot of plates. Scotchies, ginger snaps, raspberry thumbprint, chocolate chip and Italian ricotta cookies. Almost all delivered by bike, with (e:Paul) too!

Permalink: Christmas_cookie_delivery.html
Words: 55
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/26/22 12:34

Category: travel

12/09/21 01:36 - ID#60868

Last day in Chicago

(e:paul) left before us so (e:terry) and I had one more day before our train left at night.

Turns out in a big city you need to plan your day in advance, because a lot of things we wanted to do needed to be reserved.

We did manage to find a tasty Kurdish breakfast. Tofu scramble, fresh bread and a lot of dips. It was called The Gundi's on North Clark.

A lot of L rides and walking around. We tried to go to the free Lincoln Park botanical garden but they required tickets in advance.

Kept on walking around through the old town and eventually took the train back downtown. I showed Terry the crazy beautiful dome in the Chicago Cultural Center and the 7 story Macy's.

A quick stop in Boystown before we left, a last dish to eat some mediocre deep dish, and we were on the Amtrak back, heavy unicycles included.

Chicago is pretty amazing, I definitely think I could live there.

Permalink: Last_day_in_Chicago.html
Words: 177
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/09/21 02:11

Category: travel

12/09/21 01:29 - ID#60867

Field Museum

Saturday we spent the time with (e:terry)'s family going out to the Field Museum. It has to be the largest science and natural history museum I've ever seen, in a huge stone building near the lakefront.

We were there for about 5 hours and saw 5 exhibits:
1. A Monsanto sponsored exhibit on soil ecosystems
2. An 3D movie about a Titanosaur, the mind boggling fossil they had in their atrium
3. A lame exhibit about color in nature - basically they had a bunch of taxidermied animals and some plants grouped by color
4. An exhibit about the evolution of life on Earth
5. An exhibit about Chinese history

The evolution of life exhibit always makes me go nuts. The billions of years it took life to appear and evolve to basic life forms, mass extinctions and evolution again, all summed up in tiny exhibits, always makes humanity feel like such a blip.

Later Paul slept while (e:terry) and I gaybared. We met a ton of people and went from SoFo lounge, to Touche, to Cellblock.

SoFo was like Ohm with a big patio and kind of bear crowd, Touche was a kink/old man leather bar, and Cellblock is also sort of a kink bar (you can get your drink in a dog bowl).

Permalink: Field_Museum.html
Words: 219
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/09/21 02:08

Category: travel

12/09/21 01:28 - ID#60866

Garfield Park Botanical Garden

Friday we spent the day wandering some more. We took the blue line to WIcker Park with the intention of visiting Humboldt and Garfield Park.

First we ate at a delicious veggie restaurant called Handlebar. The vegan chimmichanga (e:terry) ordered was so good.

Then we walked over to Humboldt Park which to be honest was nothing special.

We kept wandering south down to Garfield Park, where there is a free botanical garden. Later I found out from a Chicago native that if there's a neighborhood tourists shouldn't be wandering this would be it. We had no issue though.

The Garfield Park botanical garden is amazingly tall and free. Like most of the plants have probably three times the height to grow versus Buffalo's.

The garden was designed to be less potted plants and more of a natural setting than other gardens. Supposedly there is no floor, just Chicago's dirt underneath the beds. The fern room had a rushing brook and waterfall, and cactus room was beautiful. I'd visit a lot here if I lived here.

Wandering to Boystown that night we came across a store exclusively for rabbit related things. They even boarded rabbits and had social groups for them. I thought (e:robert) would appreciate it.

Permalink: Garfield_Park_Botanical_Garden.html
Words: 224
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/09/21 01:51

Category: travel

12/09/21 01:26 - ID#60865

View from Hancock building

Thursday (e:terry) arrived so we did a lot of typical tourist stuff,

First off we walked up Michigan Avenue to the Hancock building and rode up to the 94th floor. It's a little outside the loop so you have a really good view of downtown.

Next up we took the red line south of downtown to Chinatown. They have a full vegan restaurant which was so good. Soy beef and broccoli is delicious. I love being able to order anything on the menu.

After that we wandered west through a radiology convention at the convention center, up along the lake through the museum district, and into downtown.

There was a very cute German Christmas market going on. Most of the time these things are just basically craftshows but this one had gluehwein and a bunch of food and trinket vendors from Germany and Austria.

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Permalink: View_from_Hancock_building.html
Words: 174
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 12/09/21 02:01

Category: travel

12/09/21 01:23 - ID#60864

Solo wandering

Wednesday (e:paul) was working so I had time to wander by myself. It's weird because I can't say I've ever really spent any traveling alone before. A big plus in not having to form consensus on where to eat or what to do next lol,

I spent most of the time wandering around the loop/downtown and the waterfront. So many buildings you can just wander in and look around, There's a big free Chicago Cultural Center/museum right off Michigan Avenue. Super posh hotels that you can walk right though.

A 7 story Macy's that's what AM&A's probably always wished it could be. (e:mike) it sounds like the multilevel department store you said you used to fantasize about.

I ate at the French Market inside the Metra train station just west of downtown. They have a bunch of different food stands although a lot seemed to have close (less commuters I guess).