Windy City reunions

In an average week, I see approximately zero of my former college teammates (speaking of whom, congrats to the ladies on the team this year, who won their conference championship meet this past weekend!).  In the last seven days, I have seen not just one or two, but six. And that, my friends, is kind of a big deal.

Last Tuesday, Elissa, one of my roommates during our sophomore year, had a long layover at DTW on her way home to Houston from a work conference in DC.  Her layover was over lunch, which would have been simple except that Elissa has developed a number of food allergies in the last few years, and now she avoids gluten, dairy, tomatoes, and strawberries - and perhaps other items I'm forgetting.  After a brief driving tour of Ann Arbor, we caught up with conversations on friends, relationships, marriages, and pregnancies over gluten-free crackers, sausage, apple, and peanut butter.  It was a good few hours, but entirely too short!

Then on Friday, I took the train into Chicago to meet up with more friends... and to eat.  After an exhilarating six hours on the train, including a bonus hour and a half of delays, I headed up to Evanston to meet up with Kayla, a PhD candidate at Northwestern.  We proceeded to chow down on garlic bread and, of course, deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's.  The thick, gooey, oozing cheese and marinara sauce piled onto a crisp, flaky crust were best when hot, but we had five years of gossip to remember and catch up on so we couldn't just sit there and stuff our faces.  After dinner, we headed downtown to meet up with Lisa, also a PhD candidate at Northwestern, with whom I was staying for the weekend.  Lisa lives with two other swimmers from our team, each of whom attends a different graduate school in the Chicago area, so staying at her apartment was quite the mini-reunion.

The next morning, Lisa and I had some serious discussions on where to head for brunch before we finally selected Xoco, Rick Bayless's new venture.  I am so glad we did - it was superb.

I had the torta ahogada, or drowned Mexican subway sandwich (it sounds so much less romantic in English), a Guadalajaran classic that gets is name from the spicy arbol chile sauce the sandwich is served - and subsequently dunked - in.  The thick-crusted balillo bread was substantial enough to stand up to serious dunking and pleasantly sour - delicious.  The balillo was mostly successful in containing the mounds of roasted carnitas, black beans and pickled onions placed within it.  The chile sauce brought just enough heat to give a mild kick, but not so much to make me cry.  Everything came together perfectly - YUM.  To chase that down, I had a mug of champurrado, a masa-based hot chocolate sweetened with piloncillo (raw cane juice) and redolent of mild spices that I could not name but which brought the drink to a new level of hot chocolate I have never before experienced.* 

Bravo, Rick Bayless.  Well done.

Following brunch, Lisa played the dutiful tour guide, leading me around Chicago to see some of the sights, and then to get some tea at Fox & Obel.  As we wandered, we came across a long line stretching outside the doors of the NBC building.

We asked them what they were waiting for and were informed they were trying out for the next season of the Biggest Loser.  They told us we couldn't try out, but if I keep eating at this rate, maybe I'll be with them for the next year's casting call.

In the afternoon, I met up with Meg, a third-year medical student at Loyola University.  I hadn't seen Meg in probably almost two years, and it was wonderful to see her shining face and shiny week-old engagement ring.  Meg already had plans for the evening, but recommended La Madia for dinner.  Lisa, Kayla, and I took her up on her suggestion, scarfing down oven-roasted artichokes dipped in olive oil and mustard sauce, thin-crust pizza for Lisa, gnocchi for Kayla (her first!), and seared scallops on polenta with surprisingly delicious brussels sprout leaves for me.  We washed everything down with a bottle of fruity, floral pinot grigio and then, just for good measure, finished off the meal with a lemon zabaglione.

Our evening ended in a booth at the Elephant and Castle, nursing glasses of cider or beer and laughing about old friends and new colleagues.  Eventually we got back to Lisa's and declared ourselves exhausted, though Kayla (who also slept over) and I did manage to stay up for the entirety of Love Actually.

While Saturday had been chilly but sunny, Sunday was chilly and gray and rainy.  We started the day with breakfast at a nearby Einstein's bagels, where we probably drove the staff crazy by returning to the counter every 10 minutes to place additional orders with more nearly-expired coupons - we are nothing if not resourceful (/cheap?).  After breakfast, we took the bus down to the aquarium to take advantage of the free admission, only to find every other Chicagoan and tourist in the city had the same idea.  However, unlike the rest of them being tough and sticking it out in their longgg lines stretching around the the courtyard in the wind and rain, we didn't linger, instead heading back downtown to window shop from the comfort of the mall hallways.  The mall is at the foot of the Hancock tower, who was feeling shy and hid her face from foot traffic below.

The train that took me back to Ann Arbor didn't want to miss out on all the fun I'd had on the way out, so it, too, came in almost an hour and a half behind schedule.  But it was a lovely, delicious weekend, and I feel so lucky to have seen so many good friends in the course of a few days!  Many thanks to Kayla, Lisa, Spiros, Bob, and Meg for your time and hospitality, and to Elissa for planning her travel so conveniently.  It was wonderful to see you all!


* It gets better: apparently, champurrado is best made with a special whisk called a molinillo.  Molinillos look like they may be even more fun than spurtles - though its a toss up as to which one is more fun to say.