Chicago History

Life has gotten waaay more interesting after the last time I posted. I started making friends in the city of Chicago and have met so many international people here that it seems so strange and CRAZY (in a good way)! I love hearing about different cultures and life there with some hope of doing international travel myself. Until then, I suppose I can just listen to stories from people who are doing such things. I met a girl at the Chicago Cultural Center with my friend Akiyo and learned that she is from Paris couchsurfing her way for a couple of months in the US and Canada. I hosted her for three days in my studio before she headed off to the west coast. She is Asian and she told me that from the short time we hung out that when I am ready to do things that seem kind of crazy, I will. Haha. She also said, "You are not the person you think you are." That was probably the one line I will remember from her. She left me a key chain from Paris of the Eiffel Tower and a message that told me to believe in myself. As more people tell me to believe in myself, I start to slowly feel like I can do anything. I always knew that it was going to take a couple of months to really feel free of the mentality I had living in SF, and now that I have, I am more open-minded about things. On my delayed flight back to Chicago, I met a guy who was just coming back from his study abroad program in China. We talked for 5 hours about his trip, about food, and funny enough love relationships. I was glad I didn't have to suffer boredom on a long flight back. So much more has happened and I am now doing things instead of staying online for too long on gchat. Haha. The photos are in no specific order by the way. Enjoy!

Geek out!

With funny math equations!

My couchsurfing guest.

Slowly organizing and eating sweets and savories!

My dad brought back a lot of asian bakery goods from SoCal.

Starfruit. It taste and has the texture of a pear, peach, and plum. LOL!

Frittata with chicken apple sausage, garlic, onion, and spinach. I really wish I had a bag of kale instead... but I threw in the spinach because I wanted to up the veggie content.

Bacon, onions, string bean. I learned that bacon infused veggies are delicious!

Ken Price was the tour guide of the Palmer Hotel. He made history fun!

The Palmer Hotel. This is a statue of Romeo and Juliet. Mrs. Potter wanted the hotel to be a place that offered a little help with romance.

Falling Apart and Picking Up the Broken Pieces

So starting from last Tuesday till now, my mental shield collapsed. What I felt took the cake for experiences in Chicago caused by one person and stress. After letting myself fall apart I started to feel like my body was experiencing survival mode. My guts locked up and I couldn't get myself to eat or sleep properly due to an overload of bottled up feelings, frustration, and anguish. Today was the last day I think I needed for my body to come out of that survival mode and dissipate all that negative energy. Through much venting and counseling from friends, and a book given to my by Jean, I was about to detox and widen my perspective on dealing with people. I am very grateful to everyone who has helped me get out of this stronger. Tomorrow I am going to have to go back to work and try dealing with things in a different way. I have no idea what happens, but I don't think it will escalate to the HR department.

On other notes, I got a new table from Target. It was much better than the crappy coat hanger I bought that kept falling apart even with fishing line and chopsticks as additional supports.

My kitchen table... strangely I don't like eating here...

Cantaloupe and Proscuitto Pasta- it was better the next day

My new table for  everything :D

Salvaged shoe rack from the coat rack

The room now...

Brighter...

The silly spiderman balloon that increased my happiness during my shit week. The balloon artist told me to not let people tell me what I can or can't do, and if I was to do something, to start today.

Cute isn't it?

I had this strapped to my arm while grocery shopping. It felt silly and great for an adult to be happy because of a balloon superhero.

Christmas in Boulder and New Years in Chicago...

So I went to Boulder for a White Christmas which was lacking in Chicago. It was a lot of fun. I got to eat my sister's gourmet cooking and cookies, played with hr cat, played with the in-law's dog, and chop down a Christmas tree. Along the way, I had a really good chocolate tea made from the husk of the cacao bean shell, and bought myself a cookbook catered for one. The first thing I tried making was the Warm Spinach Salad which has shitake mushroom, corn, and bacon. I have absolutely no idea what sherry vinegar is so I substituted with my bottle of balsamic vinegar. It was a pretty light salad. I think I would add salt and pepper when I am cooking the corn and shitake next time. I can make one more serving of the warm salad so I can test it out.

I really wanted to spend the New Years with a good bottle of Smirnoff and sushi, but the restaurant was closed... so I made the worse substitute possible and got some MCD nuggets... which I couldn't continue eating after 8. HAHA! To detox this morning, I made a mushroom soup with enoki and shitake mushrooms. I added a little bit of spinach and some spaghetti noodle to the mix.

 There was a prediction of snow today on the first of January but so far it is just winds at 25-40mph. My new work table won't be here until I start work again on the 3rd of January. I really wanted it to come this weekend so I could have it all set up :(

Because I was bored and craving cookies, I did something ridiculous and purchased $75 of tea and cookies on this cool site that sells English biscuits and tea.(Online shopping is dangerous when you live on your own I tell you!) I have to have an arsenal of tea and cookies to enjoy in the afternoon. When I think back, I really didn't become crazy addicted to tea until I went to afternoon tea two years ago. I always preferred tea over any other beverage including water, but I became more interested in all the floral, herbal flavors that can be mixed with tea that gives it an essence of a fruit.

Until my table and tea and biscuits come, I will be trying to figure out how I want to layout my space again. I got a really shitty coat rack from target which I had to modify, and a shelf that is currently standing but could probably collapse. I wasn't looking for anything to fancy... and they were cheap... so I guess you get what you pay for. I'll throw pics up when I once again, change my space. Until then, Happy New Years!