New and (not quite) exclusive!! Chocolate Moose now has merchandise for all you avid followers of the blog. At $23, you can now purchase Chocolate Moose vest tops, nightshirts and pyjama bottoms as modelled (by me!) in the photo. Actually, I can't claim they are anything to do with the blog but I spotted the range in a local shop and couldn't resist the purchase as a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour. Of course, if anyone is seriously interested, I'd be happy to purchase on your behalf...maybe I could embroider the blog address on there??The past few weeks have been quite busy as Toronto leaps into spring. The weather has been warming up considerably and there have been record-breaking highs. To be honest, this winter has been so mild - the mildest since 1948, or something like that. It's brought everyone out of hibernation. I've had a few fun nights out. These included attending a St Patrick's Day party complete with Irish stew, Baileys cheesecake and shamrock shakes. St Patrick's is a much bigger celebration here in North America it seems! I also had a great night out at the theatre seeing a show called Blind Date. The whole thing was improvised and played out a date between the single professional actress and a male member of the audience who, unwittingly, was selected to take part at the start of the show. It was really very funny and clever seeing how they both responded to each other and yet managed to keep their 'date' going for two hours to the point where they were married and she gave birth!
Another highlight was an Icelandic dinner at The Drake Hotel which I was invited to and where we dined on reindeer (sorry Rudolph!) and drank Blueberry Geyser cocktails. My drink didn't stop bubbling!
My first term at the University of Toronto has now come to an end but we are straight back in to another one so I took the opportunity to get away over the long Easter weekend. My friend Janet and I headed south of the border on a one-hour flight with the very snazzy Porter airlines from the Toronto Island Airport to Chicago. We arrived easily enough and transferred to our hotel from Midway Airport via the famous El train. I was very excited as this featured heavily in my favourite TV programme: ER. Our hotel, the Palmer House Hilton, was ideally located and had the most amazing lobby. You could just imagine the Chicago mobsters enjoying a night out there.
Architecture was really the theme of our trip and Chicago certainly has plenty of amazing buildings and structures, both inside and out, to show off. We were helped in our interpretation of these buildings by tour guides from the Chicago Architecture Foundation and a boat tour we took. Here is just a sample (tip: turn on your speakers):We walked the Magnificent Mile along Michigan Avenue a number of times and I got neck-ache from admiring the towering skyscrapers of the downtown area in more detail. I particularly liked the Chicago Tribune, the Carbide and Carbon, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Rookery, the Wrigley (of the gum), the Trump and the John Hancock Buildings. At the University of Chicago, I enjoyed seeing Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House. I'm afraid seeing the Playboy Mansion didn't stir my loins in quite the same way!
I did, however, fall for Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate sculpture (nicknamed 'The Bean'), the Crown Fountains, which show images of Chicagoans' faces, and Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavillion in Millennium Park.
Other highlights included seeing a great play at the famous Steppenwolf Theatre which has John Malkovich, Joan Allen and Gary Sinese among its ensemble cast. We also went to Buddy Guy's Legends blues club and ate at Lou Mitchell's Restaurant, a well-known Route 66 eatery. I also enjoyed trying Chicago-style pizza at Gino's East Pizzeria and going Spanish at Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba.
However, being the sad celeb-obsessed type that I am, one of my absolute highlights was going to the Harpo Studios where they film the Oprah Winfrey Show. Try as we might, they wouldn't let us in and our efforts to stalk Oprah at the Stage Door also failed. However, we made up for these disappointments by sitting in the same chair as Oprah used to sit in at the Oprah Store. I may have purchased a few items but managed to resist the 'pre-worn by Oprah' designer gear hanging in Oprah's closet. That Giorgio Armani top for $35 nearly came home with me, but didn't...not that I'm regretting it now...much!
Yet more excitement was still to come as we eventually managed to track down the precise location of Barack and Michelle Obama's Chicago home. After a bit of super-sleuthing, we found the house in the Kenwood area of the city and snapped a few pictures without getting arrested. I was most impressed that I saw President Obama's basketball hoop! So, on that note, here is my parting gift to you...my Obama in Chicago trail map!Obama in Chicago Trail
Start at 5046 S Greenwood Ave (Obama's home). It's on the corner of E Hyde Park Boulevard. Walk toward the university and a popular Obama eating place at Medici (1327 E 57th St) where staff wear 'Obama Eats Here' t-shirts. Continue south as you wander through the university perhaps checking out the Rockefellar chapel or Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House. Cross the grassy Midway Plaisance and just to the west of Woodlawn Avenue you'll find the University of Chicago Law School, where Obama worked, at 1111 E 60th St.
