"My Kind of Town, Chicago"

Mr. Sinatra had it right when he said, "My kind of town, Chicago/My kind of people, too/People who smile at you/And each time I roam, Chicago/Is calling me home."  In fact, I couldn't have said it better myself.

I was fortunate to get sent here by work to take the last required class for my Master's certificate in Project Management and I'm loving every minute!  I just arrived today, dropped my bags at the hotel (Marriott Downtown Mag Mile!) and headed off to drink in the city I love and dearly, dearly miss!  For the first hour I just strolled the streets around downtown with my hot beverage, because it is, after all, colder here than at home.  In fact, it's always like this in the winter here.  While it might be 40 degrees there is a biting wind that doesn't quit.  It's the kind of cold that chills you through and takes quite a while and more than one cup of coffee to warm up from.  But that really is the only downside to a place where strangers smile when you pass (and they're not crazy like in DC), you can still score dinner for $10 bucks even downtown and that can, just by sharing in the city's understated but omnipresent mid-western hospitality, make you wish with everything that you are that you could still call this place home. In short, Chicago is calling me home.  And if weren't for the wonderful man and the great job I have back in DC, I'd find myself a nice little Lakeview apartment and stay forever.

But enough waxing poetic about how this city touches my heart, even though it does, instead lets move on to the heart of this blog - food!  First stop tonight was FoodLife.  If you've never been, you're missing out!  FoodLife is a food court for the wealthy, the tourist, the student, you name it and you're sharing a dining room with them.  Walk into FoodLife and get your reusable card.  Once you've been assigned a table you can walk up to any kitchen (of which there are 14!) and order from their simple, tasty menus.  Julie's and my favorite during our tenure in residence here was SoupLife, where for $5.99 (then anyway, it's $6.99 now) you could get a bottomless bowl of soup that would allow you to eat your way through all 8 of their selections should your heart desire.  But my fancy tonight was the $10 special.  For $10 I snagged a cup of soup or small salad, an entree, a beverage and a dessert.  How can you go wrong with that? $10 for dinner in downtown Chicago!!  It took me no time at all to decide on seafood gumbo, nachos made fresh in front of me and a tasty chocolate brownie.  An eclectic collection, I know, but why not sample all my old favorites for such a small price?!?

Happy and full after my not-so-fancy, but oh-so-yummy meal, I meandered back out onto Michigan Avenue and window shopped my way back to the hotel, stopping in Borders just to stand in the top floor window and look out on the Magnificent Mile, all lit up.  At certain moments I'm just another tourist, enjoying all the pretty sights and happy moments Chicago has to offer while at others I'm just a displaced Chicagoan, looking for a way to come home!