Very soon after moving to Chicagoland, we found ourselves a wee bit lost in that we’re not lost but we don’t know exactly where we are sort of way. I think it might have been right after we dropped the u-Haul off and we were headed home. Or headed home via some cicuitous route that would lead us to find some place new and interesting, something to eat and also provide us with excuses to not be at home unpacking boxes in a house we didn’t want to live in.

Whatever. We were driving around and instead of heading toward Cook County, we headed toward Lake County and found ourselves in Northbrook right on the edge of Deerfield. I remember seeing a sign for Nickel City and thinking a) arcade? b) some discount kind of shopping place? c) something else entirely? and not thinking about it again.

Shortly after, in some junk mail circular or junk coupon mailing, we discovered Nickel City was in fact an arcade. Every week there’s some new coupon for Nickel City savings and I’ve mostly ignored it.

Last month I actually visited the website to see if it might be worth checking out rather than ignoring. It seemed to be, worth checking out, I mean.

Arcade games that use nickels and not stupid tokens.
$2 admission fee per person.
Ticket games.
FREE old arcade games.

It sounded too good to be true so I didn’t take any real initiative and plan an adventure. TW, on the otherhand, decided this would be a fun outing for Liz’s birthday. So… we went.

I forgot the coupon at home, which was stupid but whatever it was still cheap. It wasn’t crowded AT ALL. The games did in fact take nickels and there were really free arcade games available. Lots of them. Pac-Man and Miss Pac-Man, even.

The games cost anywhere from one nickel to six. We each had a $5 bag of nickels and a couple dollars of nickels that I grabbed from our change bag. I didn’t use most of mine and gave them to the girls, who both ran out of nickels at just about the same time. TW also ran out of nickels and put another dollar or two into the machine to grab some more (because she couldn’t find me, which was weird but possible in that TW can’t find anyone sort of way.)

We all had a good time, playing games. The girls got more tickets than they’ve ever gotten before from an arcade experience and were pleased with the prizes they cashed them in for.

We spent right at $20 for four of us to spend about two hours playing all the games we could possibly play.

Nickel City = WIN.

The first time TW and I were shocked by the site of the Baha’i Temple was when we were here house hunting, in April ’08. I say shocked because there are a lot of Chicago travel guides that will tell you stuff like…

don’t run off the road when you see it… you come around the corner and there it is… and there’s a shock factor….

It’s true. You know it’s coming, but it surprises you. Every time.

I never really thought about going to visit it, on purpose. Getting out. Walking around. Looking inside. I mean it seemed cool but I just wasn’t compelled to visit.

Thankfully, my mom wanted to go.

It is one of the coolest buildings I’ve ever visited. It’s hard to explain why. You just have to go. Walk the gardens. Go inside. Look. Listen. Think. Just do it.

A couple more photos.

I’ve never met a Botanical Garden I really loved. I’ve visited quite a few and while they were nice to visit, I never felt compelled to go back. That all changed with a visit to the Chicago Botanic Garden and boy was that a shock.

Who would have guessed the arctic north would have such a wonderul place. Just a few miles from my house? And, as our fabulous tour guide said (over and over again) it’s all FREE! And we definitely intend to take advantage of the FREE! Pst, she really was fabulous. Great fun. The right type of attitude and personality for a tour guide. (More Videos of Chicago Botanic Garden, including a bunch of train shots.)

OK it’s only free if you don’t need to park a car. If you do need to park a car, it’s $20 a shot. Or if you don’t want to take one of the trams that carries you around the gardens. But, with a membership, the parking is FREE! And the trams come at a discounted price.

We did in fact buy a membership and we’re looking forward to many more visits this year – maybe even in the winter, when it’s snowy and icy.

The day we took my mom, we were there for hours and hours and we didn’t even make a dent in seeing everything – and we were exhausted. I think TW and I are going to make a spreadsheet and pick one piece of the garden to visit on each trip. That’s the only way to see everything. There’s just so much and it’s such a lovely place to visit.

The cafeteria isn’t great (but it has Wifi.) The library looks interesting but by the time we got there, we just wanted to sit in the air conditioning and rest for a bit. We were there during an orchid show and that was pretty interesting too.

We went back today, just me and TW, for the Farmer’s Market and that was nice. Small, only about 8-10 booths, including the Youth Garden kids who work at the Botanic Garden and sell the stuff they grow. I think we’ll probably sign up for a CSA box this fall… now that will be interesting.

(More photos from the Chicago Botanic Garden.)

The other bakery on Central St, in Evanston… the one we thought we’d buy stuff for the meet up… is Tag’s Bakery. They definitely had good stuff but nothing that screamed “meet up”. If I wasn’t already aware that Jamie was bringing cupcakes, I probably would have grabbed some but who needs 500 cupcakes at a BlogHer meet up of 15 people?

We did buy stuff just for us to eat. The lemon bars were excellent and the kids really enjoyed the eclairs. Some of my crew sampled their Florentine cookies and said they were fabulous.

Last month, we went in search of some sort of treat to take to the Pre-BlogHer meet up in Chicago and found ourselves on Central St, in Evanston. There are two bakeries on that street (not counting Foodstuff which has baked goods but is not just a bakery) and Great Harvest Bread Co was the one we did not think we’d buy anything from.

We were wrong. I think we spent $50 there!

We grabbed huge sticky buns and toffee chip brownies to take to the meet up and there were plenty for us to eat before and after. These things are HUGE so I cut them into quarters and a quarter was still huge. And they’re amazingly good.

We also grabbed a loaf of Apple Crunch bread, based on the recommendation of Prince J and RJ. They were right, it was awesomely delicious and I could eat the entire loaf (but didn’t.)

It’s a good thing this little bakery is not in the most convenient location for us (parking stinks) or I’d probably be there every week.

We ended up at Oz Park for a pre-BlogHer meet up and I was kind of excited to check it out. I am a Wizard of Oz fan. (Nobody else really is – well Jenn is but she wasn’t in town during our meet up.)

I loved the Dorothy & Toto statue and the Tin Man statue. Those were the only two I saw. And was there supposed to be a yellow brick road somewhere because if so, I missed it. (Not hard to do since we were there for a meet up and didn’t take much time to explore the park itself.

It was pretty crowded, lots of kids in the play area. And we did walk past the Emerald Garden which did look quite appealing. I’d go back to hang out (and grab an Orange Julius from across the street.)

I don’t seem to blog very often about places we don’t like, possibly because there are very few places we don’t like. The Dixie Kitchen is a place we did not like. Some of us liked it less than others. None of us have even the first clue why President Obama enjoys eating here. (Did he get a kickback?)

It’s not bad food, but it isn’t great food. I’ve never seen Fried Green Tomatoes the way they made these. The Plantains were excellent but is that really southern cooking? Not anywhere north of Florida, really.

I enjoyed my taco scramble a good bit, very spicy. I think I am the only one who didn’t walk out of there with mean things to say about my meal. But, that’s because what I ordered isn’t in any way shape or form traditional.

TW’s fried green tomatoes and her mom’s oyster po’ boy were disappointments because they expected “real” fried green tomatoes and oyster po’ boys. They didn’t get what they were expecting.

The L & L Snack Shop has been on my short list of breakfast spots to try. All of the restaurants on this particular list have to be near the assisted living facility we go to every weekend in Des Plaines. The L & L is the last on this little list I’ve been accumulating and I found it by shaking the Urban Spoon iPhone app.

Greasy spoon food. Our favorite. A restaurant people seem to LOVE – or hate. This spot was right up our alley. Boy was it.

When we got there, closer to lunch than breakfast, all of the booths were full and about half of the counter stools. TW’s mom was with us so a counter stool was out, though if it had just been me and TW we’d have grabbed those stools and been happyyyyy.

So, we stood outside and waited for a free booth. One emptied but it was a tiny booth for two, jammed right up against the counter stools with no way to get a wheel chair in, so we waited some more. Finally a party of three left the booth right inside the door – a two seater with extra room for a chair.

We knew what we wanted since TW and her mom had read the menu while we waited. I knew what I wanted from watching everyone order and eat.

While we waited for our food (and discussed the waitress in detail – fascinating woman, errr. Heh) I pursed the reviews and was reminded of the chef’s love of ham. “You’re going to get ham whether you ordered it or NOT.” Damn, none of us ordered ham and I was thinking we totally should have.

It didn’t matter, the reviews were right. We all got ham – even TW’s mom who ordered eggs, wheatcakes and sausage got a chunk of ham. Even TW who ordered an amazing looking egg n cheese sandwich with hashbrowns and a side of corned beef hash got a chunk of ham. And yes, I who ordered no meat at all with my french toast got a hunk of ham.

The ham… fabulous.

In fact all of the food was fabulous. The corned beef hash… freaking amazingly good.

I have been trying to get TW to agree to dinner at Booby’s for WEEKS. For some reason she had it in her head that it was a hot dog place and that’s why she kept turning up her nose at the suggestion. It doesn’t matter that I rambled off all sorts of things I’d seen on their menu, none of which were hot dogs. It didn’t matter that it had a great name or that everything I read indicated this would be a place TW would love. She just kept making that face… the one that means we should find some place else for dinner.

Finally, she grudgingly said yes to Booby’s. On a Wednesday night, which is not a convenient time for me to go out for dinner due to a standing date. But whatever, I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity – who knows when she’d be game to try it again.

So we headed out. For some reason I thought it was much further from our house than it actually is. I also thought there was less parking than there actually is. Win. Win!

It wasn’t crowded at 6pm on a Wednesday. But, the folks eating there were interesting. Older folks. Men in suits grabbing their Boobys’ to go. A couple of families.

TW and I ordered Big Boobs and we ordered a Cheeseburger (that doesn’t seem to have a special Booby’s name) for TW’s mom. We ordered a side of onion rings, a side of cole slaw, a side of fried mushrooms and a couple of rice puddings.

It wasn’t fast but it wasn’t slow either. I ate my onion rings on the drive home and they weren’t great but they weren’t bad either.

The Big Boobs on the other hand – amazing. Best. Burgers. If not ever, than definitely the best burgers we have had in ages. They have slaw and onions on them. BBQ sauce that is not exactly BBQ sauce but something else. And, the dill pickle… I need to order a side of dill pickles next time. Awesome pickle. Oh yea, did I mention the slaw was fabulous and I was so glad I ordered an extra side.

As for the rice pudding – I thought I heard TW’s mom say she didn’t like it. Turns out I mis-heard. She loved it. She was comparing it to some fabulous rice pudding from some place else. I know squat about rice pudding (except that it’s disgusting) but TW and her mom liked it and that’s saying something since they are picky about their rice pudding.

I love Booby’s.

After our weekly trip to the assisted living facility, we were almost home and TW mentioned the Little City Used Book Sale. I’d planned for us to go but didn’t think TW’s mom would be up to it after a very long morning/afternoon out. But, she heard “used books” and she was ready to roll.

So, I made a quick right onto Glenview Rd and after driving through the parking lot at Old Orchard Mall (a parking lot that I hate almost as much as the Butler Plaza parking lot in Gainesville) we found ourselves at the big tent.

It was late so there was plenty of parking right close to the tent, which is good since we had a wheelchair and the weather was beginning to look very much like rain.

We rolled into the tent, grabbed a shopping cart, and took off.

An hour later, we had a full basket of books and I was dragging TW out by her jacket. As I dragged her, she just kept saying “But I didn’t have time to look at any books!” Err, then how did we come home with five dictionaries, one of those huge one volume encyclopedias, eight cookbooks and a whole lot of paperbacks?

We’re pretty jaded when it comes to used book sales. We come from the land of the famous Gainesville Friends of the Library Book Sale and it’s hard to please us. Little City’s book sale tried hard to win us over and it did… even though there weren’t quite as many books, it’s in a tent, and it’s more expensive. This is a used book sale that’s a really nice replacement for our old favorite. We’ll be looking forward to next year’s sale.