Notes on Chicago in Winter (Part One)

December 21st, 2008Blog0 comments

I like Millennium Park better when it’s cold. The Bean (pictured above) looks nicer when it’s a frosty bean.

Here’s another picture of it from a distance:

It looks like a Titan Egg nestled in the woods.

So it’s nine degrees one day — winter snow’s coming down in heaps. The next day it’s 35 degrees, and everything starts melting. I had forgotten that snow doesn’t just disappear — it has to go somewhere. So now there are these big pools of frozen, grimy water in the streets. Perfect for stepping in and catching pneumonia.

Again, winter boots are the best thing ever. It reminded me of how the importance of good shoes is stressed in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

One night I had my first Italian Beef, and I liked it so much that I had another one the next day.

The first one was a fairly clean and dry example constructed in Lincoln Park. The roll was good and crispy and it was covered with melted cheese.

The second one was an ol’ dirty classic example of street food that was slapped together in a hot dog place downtown:

Its interior is covered with pictures of dogs. This is the sort of hot dog place from my dreams. There is something really great about street food — dirty water hot dogs, catering trucks, those nut carts in NYC. You get the feeling that it’s the real deal, and the real deal is always a good feeling.