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Alright, so most of you may know that I was the Location Manager for an amazing movie called The 5th Quarter, directed by Rick Bieber. I used my “skillz” to get you guys the inside scoop on the Chicago filming of the 3rd installment of the Fockers movie, Little Fockers (starring Ben Stiller, Robert DeNiro and Jessica Alba) to get you this inside news:
Filming is slated to begin on the platform of the Sheridan El stop tonight (Wednesday) for a scene in the movie. A very friendly rigging crew let me in on that hint after I flirted shamelessly with them! Right now they are filming at the intersection of Dakin and Sheridan, and you can see a HUGE film crew, plus all of their cameras, tools, etc, right around there!
Go take pictures for me and enjoy!!!
Dev xx
Looks like Little Fockers is now having a night shoot over at Sheridan El Stop (Red Line).
I spotted star trailers and the director’s set up right across the street from the main terminal. My bet is that this shoot may last until 2-3 in the morning! Get over there and see if you can spot Ben Stiller!!
Dev xx
Do you like apples? How about apple butter, apple cider, hot caramel apple drinks, caramel covered apples and other apple-related recipes?
Courtesy of The Sun Blog
Then you will LOVE Green City Market’s Apple Fest being held tomorrow at Clark and Menomonee.
The event will start at 9.30 am and will also feature chef tastings with Patrick Sheerin (Signature Room), Alex Cheswick (May Street Market) and Sarah Levy (Sarah’s Pastries & Candies).
See you there!!
If I was not a complete nerd before, I am now. This is because I actually really, really enjoyed my time at Medieval Times, a dinner and theatre show that features bad (in a “so bad it’s good” kinda way) acting, amazing horses and terrible (but edible!) food. Right now, they have a Buy 1 get 1 Free deal that you should snag. Otherwise two tickets are going to cost you $120. Worth it? Yes, but even better to get two for $60.
Located in Schaumberg, only about 45 minutes from Chicago-proper, you are greeted by MT from the highway when you can see plaster castletops above the tree line.
Upon entering and navigating your way through the confusing ticket lines, you will be given a paper crown with a colour on it. This designates the knight you will be cheering for. Tim and I were assigned to the Green Knight, who, for this blog, I will refer to as Knight Hottie. :-)
We sat in the green section and Tim went off to the bar to grab a couple of beers (let’s be honest…it will enhance your experience!) while John, our flamboyant server, poured “Dragon Tail soup” into soup bowls. It was really tomato bisque, or at least was supposed to be, but it was watery, salty and bland. The garlic bread was good, but only because it was dripping in butter which, coincidentally, makes everything better! The rest of the food is not worth mentioning but I will say that however bad it is, it should do the trick of filling you up. Oh, and no silverware!!! This is Medieval Times, so to be as authentic as possible, silverware is not provided.
Pepsi, the official drink of the Medieval ages is served, though. ;o)
The show starts with a dramatic light show and the opening scene is of the Prince being taken captive by some evil dudes. The whole premise for the show is to bring peace back to the kingdom, ironically enough, by holding a tournament where knights try to kill each other. Hmmm…
The Green Knight turned out to be the badass bad guy, stabbing jousting people in the back and defying the king’s orders. Although he ended up losing the whole thing in the end (Gorgeous Black and White Knight won all), we on the green side were all proud to have supported him.
The real treat though, wasn’t the eye candy knights but the horses. They performed these amazing tricks of agility and skill that kept me in awe. They cha-chaed, could do these cool kick moves and pretty much wowed the audience. Most of the show was spent in celebration of horses and showing off the neat, athletic things they could do. They are even trained to run “backstage” when a rider throws himself off onto the sand. Neat!
There is also this crazy falconeer who lets a falcon loose in the arena to perform tricks. Watch your chicken dinner!!! ;o)
If there was a star rating, I would give this event 4 because it was just so darn entertaining!
Dev xx
Just walked down Halstead and on the intersection before Lill, the third installment of the Fockers movies, Little Fockers, starring Ben Stiller is filming near an aparment complex!!!
Yay for films in Chicago!
Dev xx
I love autumn weather. Before I go to sleep at night, I open all of the windows and throw extra blankets on the bed. That way, in the morning, I can feel the crisp morning breeze wrap around my sleep-warmed skin. If I am lucky, my skin will get cold enough to produce steam when the hot shower water pours over it.
After a few 75 degree days, you can imagine my excitement one morning when I felt extra cold air swirling through the half-open windows. Indeed the temperature was 46 outside and the high would be in the high 50s. I threw on a sweater and made my way to Green City Market (it was Wed.) and stocked up on the gorgeous gourds you see above (from Leaning Shed!). Although I will miss tomato season, there is so much to be thankful for with the autumn harvest. Apples, pears, carrots and eggplants are just a few of the highlights.
Here is a list of my favourte new things popping up at Green City Market, as well as a few items you should grab and freeze before they stop making an appearance!
1. Seedling’s hot apple cider with caramel: Gabriel hand-makes the most delicious caramel that he adds to the already amazing apple cider. If you are really nice to him, he may even add an extra spoonful. :o)
2. Seedling’s apple butter, blueberry lavender jam and peach vanilla jam: The two jams are complex and sophisticated while the apple butter is sweet, creamy and is dying to be paired with a buttery croissant from Bennison’s!
3. Floriole’s Sea Salt Caramels: I almost ran into a pole while walking down the street because of this confection! Generous squares of gooey caramel are enhanced with coarse sea salt, bringing out the buttery, sweet flavour and enhancing the already gorgeous texture.
4. River Valley Ranch’s Tomato Soup: The perfect fall food and complement to grilled cheese sandwiches. The best thing is that this soup is made from heirloom tomatoes.
5. Leaning Shed Farm’s garlic
6. Stoney Run Field’s Bittersweet: You could be like everyone else and pick up an icebox “fall bouquet” from Jewel, or you could head over to Jerry and Jill and let them wow you with their autumn country flower collection. The Bittersweet is charming with little orange berries studding every slender branch.
7. Leaning Shed’s gourds and pumpkin selection
8. Smit’s Mums: hardy, colourful and the perfect flower to decorate your front porch or window box.
9. Granor Farm’s carrots: They are crisp, sweet and perfect for a carrot-apple cake!
10. 1st Orchard and Greenhouse’s Honey Crisp apples
11. Oriana’s Oriental Orchard’s asian pears
12. Heritage Prairie’s flours: Milled by Ted’s Organic Grains, you have to arrive early at GCM to score some of this amazing flour. My personal favourite is the whole wheat. It is a courser ground flour that is delicate enough for pancakes and hardy enough for cakes and breads.
13. LAST WEEK for Nordic Creamery’s summer butter!!!! Freeze it and have delicious grass-fed cow’s butter the whole winter!
14. Seedling’s cinnamon apple cider
15. LAST WEEK for peaches!!! Grab some Flamin’ Furys
16. Pumpkin-on-a-stick AND the adorable wreaths from The Flower Garden: Because adorable comes on a stick. In pumpkin form. Get on that!
If you have a favourite autumn item, let me know and I will post it up!
Rich injecting pig parts with juices. Sounds appetising, no? :o)
Of course, the highlight of last week was when I helped out at Mado, a restaurant in Wicker Park run by Rob and Ali Levitt! There I got to see what goes into butchering pigs and I picked up a ton of useful skills like how to cube bread, follow a “hero”, slice beets, etc. It was an invaluable learning opportunity and I really enjoyed myself. It is so cool to see what goes into preparing a kitchen for dinner time.
Sous chef Chris was hilarious, picking on me for taking FOR.EV.ER to cut things into tiny pieces, but finally rewarding me with some of his corn chowder that was perfect. Where do these people come from?! I will be joining the Mado team again this week! I wonder what we will be butchering?
More photos below!!! Click link to see more butchering! Mmmm-mmmmm!!
Dev xx
I was in the middle of Daley Plaza when the information was revealed: Chicago had the lowest amount of votes and thus was taken out of the running for the 2016 Olympics. As Ileana, my co-blogger would say, “Womp womp”. And that was exactly the sentiment of other Chicagoans who had spent the morning at DP waiting (im)patiently to see if Chicago would win the bid.
I think that this picture perfectly sums up how Chicagoans were feeling before the let down:
Look at those people on the jumbotron! Flags waving, mouths wide open to scream and yell their support. The guy in the forefront of the picture was so dang happy, his eyes are glistening with tears. People were all smiles and filled with Chicago pride and I was really happy to see so many people come together for something.
When we lost the bid, it was so unexpected and the announcer was so nonchalant as he blandly rattled off that we had the least amount of votes, people were silent. No boos. No jeering. No nothing. They all just…left.
It was a mass exodus from Daley Plaza as people tossed aside flags and fans with the Chicago 2016 logo on the concrete and said nothing. It was so barren after the announcement that a reporter from a Chinese station in Chi had to interview…ME. The only person who was obviously sticking around.
I expected to see a little more reaction from Chicagoans, but I didn’t. Most people just shrugged when I asked for a reaction on camera or said that since Chi was out of the running, they hoped Rio would get the bid.
It got me thinking: Did Chicagoans (not just the Obamas, Oprah and Billy Dec) really want the Olympics to be held here? There was, from the start, a huge pull from No Games Chicago, an organisation made up of volunteers who vehemently opposed the Olympics being held here.
What does everyone think?
I will post a video of reactions from the celebrations later! :-)
Daley Plaza's fountain bled Olympic orange for the bid day festivities Friday. Now that Chicago has lost, I wonder if the fountain will go back to normal, or if the city will keep it orange in honour of the Bears.
Dev xx
Will Chicago score the 2016 bid?
I will be in Daley Plaza today conducting video interviews of people and their feelings on the bid!
Check it out later right here! :-)
Dev xx
