Helping Hands

> adorable gloves via this etsy shop

Every year, our mama gets us socks for Christmas. The really cozy, warm kind that we'd never buy ourselves. She says its because her worst fear is that someone is cold. And yes, she is the best.

I sometimes feel that I'm not doing enough for my neighbors in this cold and windy city. I attempted to do some research for the sake of this post to find the number of homeless Chicagoans, but it doesn't seem that there's anything conclusive. Honestly, though, whether the number is 5,000 or 20,000 doesn't really matter.

I'm particularly sensitive to those living on the street when I find myself shivering and complaining in layers of sweaters, boots, mama socks and a parka.

But I'm hesitant to pull out my wallet after getting it stolen one extremely frustrating day a few years back after doing that, and equally hesitant to buy someone lunch or dinner after my burrito beneficiary informed me that he was sick of Mexican. (Seriously.)

So this year, I've figured out an inexpensive and easy way to help a neighbor here or there and I thought I'd share.

Duck into a Walgreens or CVS and pick up a pack of handwarmers and a pair of cotton gloves. They're almost always near the front of the store, close to the registers, and for a few dollars, you can make someone fighting our beloved city's bitter cold just a bit warmer and more comfortable for 10 hours.

And if you need a little extra motivation, you'll help my mama rest easier :)

Northern Lights Over Teepees in Yellowknife, Canada

I cannot even begin to make sense of the tragedy in Sandy Hook. But really, who will ever be able to do that? I can't stop reading the news, looking at photos, trying to understand. These are heartbreaking days, and my thoughts and prayers are constantly with the families of the 28 that we lost in a senseless act of violence.

My blog-friend Sean wrote this great post with a reminder to reach out to those who might be silently suffering, who might need a little human connection. It just has to stop going this far.

My grandfather sent me these photos in an email this morning. When I saw them, I wondered how something like this could be of the same planet that we live on today.

This blog is typically about lighter things -- food, fun, etc. so this is a bit random, I know, but I thought that the most productive thing I could contribute today would be something this astonishingly, radiantly beautiful.

(I searched for a while to try to find the original source of the images from the email. I am fairly certain they're from Aurora Village, the company that sets up these teepee viewings.)

 

Monday Motivation

Chicago's Food Truck Frenzy

> via

Chicago has an amazing food and restaurant scene – we are undoubtedly a world-class city in terms of our culinary offerings for residents and visitors. However, Chicago does make a habit of passing some baffling legislation in this area. Remember the foie gras ban? (Apparently California is going through this now. Sorry, guys!)

When I went to Austin last year to visit a good friend, I realized how much was missing from my life: food trucks! I ate breakfast tacos, kebabs, brisket tacos, cake pops, shrimp tacos… and then I went back for the genius culinary creation that is FRIED AVOCADO tacos. Chicago has long had standing ordinances making it pretty much impossible for food trucks to exist. In recent years, savvy entrepreneurs have gotten around some of this by preparing the food off-site and selling it from the trucks. Some seriously awesome eats have come from these wheels – Southern Mac & Cheese, Haute Sausage and Flirty Cupcakes are all staples in my book.

Wednesday, however, was a huge leap forward in terms of getting us up to par – though still pretty heavily regulated, Chicago passed an ordinance that allows food trucks to prepare on board. This means taco trucks are just around the corner, guys! Fried avocado tacos! You have no idea. I’ve been jipped all these years and I am hell bent on making up for it as soon as humanly possible.

Though they’ve won the battle, the food trucks have yet to win the war. Being able to cook on board is a huge coup, but there’s a few frustrating provisions that came along with this, most notably that a truck can’t be parked within 200 feet of an operating restaurant. There are provisions for dedicated truck stands in some key neighborhoods: Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Near North, Near West, West Town and the Loop.  But outside of that, if you’re hoping to get your paws on some late night grub, that’s going to mean walking a bit in areas heavily populated with restaurants. The restaurants argue that they’re paying taxes, so they shouldn’t have food trucks leeching off of their foot traffic. But duh, it’s a totally different experience. If I’m dressed up to go out to dinner on Hubbard Street and there’s a falafel truck hanging out outside, I’m not about to ditch my plans for a nice evening complete with an air conditioning, seating, service and bathrooms for a quick pita. It’s a totally different experience, and its disappointing that Chicago restaurants aren’t more supportive of the community as a whole.

Alderman John Arena helpfully threw out arguably the best metaphor of all time on this topic, stating, "The brick and mortar restaurant lobby got ahold of (the plan) and it was stuffed with protectionism and baked in the oven of paranoia.”

Stuffed and baked as the plan may be, I’m personally pretty excited for this step towards righteousness… bring on the tacos.