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Weekend in Chicago

With the summer - or sort of summer - kicking in, pollen season is in full bloom. And just like Phoolan Devi wrecking havoc in her heydays, Pollen Devi was leaving a trail of sneezers and wheezers on the war path. Your's truly truly had a disastrous few days beginning of June emptying boxes of tissues along the way and making Walgreens a tad bit happier with my spending on medications. I cannot remember the years prior to this whether my health was this bad, but I am thinking I am not immune to these allergies. Sundays have been particularly bad - for K - considering I have been bed-ridden almost 2 straight weekends - while she took on the regular Sunday-tasks upon herself. Poor soul :)

But (hopefully) I have conquered the elements now. To celebrate that and the fact that the Taste of Chicago was happening this weekend, K and I decided to make a trip to the city to have some fun with cuisines from Chicago.

After a round of samplers from various outlets, we took a lesson in making tasty Potstickers from Ms. Ying (from Ying's Kitchen - who repeatedly reminded us that she has been teaching Asian cooking for the past 12+ years). The funny part was when she showed us a map of China and to the amusement of the audience indicated that China was shaped like a chicken with no feet. It is actually true - China does look like a chicken with no feet. By the way, did you know that Beijing is the neck and Shanghai is the breast and Ying is from the head.

I must admit that I have never seen quite a few places in downtown even though I have been there a few times. Guess I can check off Buckingham Fountain, Magnificent Mile, Water Tower Place and Hancock Observatory from my bucket list. Beautiful weather and a non-cranky K made my day worth it. What a wonderful city Chicago is to walk and spend a day out with folks who can tag along. Probably the only things left to do in the city is take the architectural tour on a boat and eat at one of the restaurants on the River Walk.

The peace on the ride back home was interrupted by a group of tweeners who kept to themselves (loudly) but didn't do the other tired travelers a favor by keeping quiet and in the process taking the award for Most Obnoxious Person/Group Traveling in a Train.

July 4th weekend is next up and K and I cannot wait to get out of the city. Next up: New Jersey.

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