2011 Chicago Auto Show

The Chicago Auto Show is the biggest auto exhibit in the US. It’s where car manufacturers exhibit the “2011” versions of their cars, their new concept cars and show off their new technologies that come along with it. It’s a lot different from the auto shows in the Philippines since over there it’s mostly newly painted Japanese cars with big rims and big speakers then there’s a small section to buy different car accessories and those Ambi pur models that my brother oh so love.

We arrived late in the event since we had to go grocery shopping at Costco. One benefit of having cold weather – you can buy a rib eye steak in the morning and keep in the car without it rotting in the evening. In Manila it would have been a pot roast by then.

Before we entered the exhibit, we signed up to test drive the Kia Optima. Joesil drove while Jaye and I rode in the back. An agent from Kia sat up front to make sure we don’t drive to the border or something. Other than the two sunroofs, I really couldn’t see anything special with it. The ride was not that comfortable and it felt like riding a horse on roller blades. What’s to expect? It’s a Kia.



When we entered the exhibit area, we lined up to play games. The first was this game where you toss a sack of beans into a hole 20 feet away. Jaye whiffed on all her three attempts. I got one in thanks to all the years I’ve been tossing my shirts into the hamper. Julius and Joesil also played this hockey game but Jaye and I got impatient and checked out the nearby Dodge exhibit. I guess we realized that we should be checking out cars on a car show.



Dodge featured a bunch of Camaros. Other than the 22 inch wheels they have, they were kinda boring.



Next up was the Kia section which I had to go through because that’s where I saw the garbage bin (oh wait, that was the Kia Soul, my bad). I saw their cool concept van – the KV7 that had comfy seats and a conference room behind. I guess “getting busy in the backseat” has a different meaning here. The van also had cool headlights which was like Geordi La Forge’s visor in Star Trek.




Mazda was next. I looked for an RX-8. Didn’t find one. Skip…

Suzuki featured the Kizashi and they wasted no time comparing theirs with the Lexus cars. The most interesting thing about their exhibit is the Tokyo2LA tour where the Kizashi together with their crappy SUV and not so crappy bike drove from Japan to Los Angeles through Russia and Canada. The actual car was exhibited together with the dirt it accumulated during the travel. You call that dirty? When it drizzles and I drive through EDSA, my car looks exactly like that.




In the Subaru section they had an engine display and Jaye asked me how Continuous Variable Transmission works. I left the area.

The Mitsubishi exhibit was more appealing to Jaye since she’s familiar some of their vehicles. I immediately looked for and Evo (they had one, looked cool) and an Eclipse (they had one, looked crappy).



I’m not familiar with Volvo cars so when we got in the Volvo exhibit, we just looked for the car that Edward Cullen must have driven. By the way, for each exhibit, we’re getting shopping bags – one for each exhibit. I was starting to wonder why there were so many cars in this shopping bag show.

In the Ford exhibit, we checked out the Ford Sync technology where you can perform functions like make calls and control the radio via voice commands. It’s made by Microsoft which means it’s possible that your car hangs in the middle of the freeway then asks for patches to be downloaded first.



Finally, I saw the Prius. I’m thankful that finally we’re getting a “green” car in production… then again, it costs 2.25 million back in Manila :S



Then there was Hyundai and their Picasso inspired concept car, the Curb. Like the Kia, this was the only interesting part and I’m not surprised – Hyundai is a part owner of Kia.




From here we went to the other exhibit where the second part of the exhibit was held. It had spaces for Porsche( very cool), Acura (boring), Mini (predictable), Saab (what the heck is a Saab?), BMW (kinda cool), Infiniti (cool batmobile), Mercedes Benz (they all look the same to me now), Cadillac (worst concept car in my opinion), GMC (trucks, trucks, trucks), Buick (they had the best… shopping bag) and Range Rover (had 1 car in the exhibit).

The Lexus LFA was featured here but instead of women standing beside it and waving, it had a guy in the suit asking the crowd to basically test him if he really memorized all the technical stuff they made him remember.



Ford had this wall climbing area where you go sideways. It says “Explorer Agility Challenge”. I don’t get it.



Last exhibit we went to was Honda and I thought the Civic concept car looked cool (especially since it was wearing sunglasses).



It was a so-so event. I missed the really really cool supercars (I was hoping to see a Bugatti Veyron or a Pagani Zonda) but they had an off-road test track where you can drive Toyota off road vehicles. I guess if you were able to line up and wait for your turn (around 30 minutes) it would have been worth it. I think it was money well spent but I’m not really looking forward for it when it comes around again next year.

Crab Rangoon

It’s basically just cream cheese and chopped crab in a fried dumpling. It’s greasy, it’s unhealthy and it’s really delicious… if properly prepared.

We got a recipe from our friend Joahn. She’s the one here near the microwave oven. She gave the basic recipe but not the details which is good because it means I'll have to improvise (bwahahahaha!)

This is her recipe:

Mix crab, cream cheese and onion leaves. Use a spoon to measure how much filling will be put into the Rangoon wrapper (less is better since so you close it better). Use the egg as a sealant along the edge of the wrapper. Since it’s a square wrapper, folding it will make it a triangle. Deep fry.

When I finally prepared the dish, Jaye told me to tell Joahn that we’ve tried out her recipe. I say we don’t just tell her...

we show her.

Step 1: Gather ingredients.

This was fairly easy since there was a Jewel-Osco supermarket two blocks away from our apartment and I bought a can of chopped crabs from there. As for onions and cream cheese, we already have those in our pantry.

Step 2: Uh, did she say onions or green onions?

Darn, I forgot the recipe called for green onions and not regular onions but aren’t green onions just onions that have already sprouted? Just place the onions in a drawer and wait a couple of days and you get this poor man’s green onion. I was about to chop them but they looked nasty while I was washing them. Hmmm, better ditch the onions, white or green.



Step 3: Mix!

Mix one can of chopped crab with whatever’s left in your Philadelphia Cream Cheese plastic container (no really, I never measure stuff). Mix them until they look like oatmeal.



Step 4: Wrap!



Take out your lumpia wrapper and place a teaspoon full of filling in the middle.



Beat an egg (yawn)



Fold the wrapper and use the egg as a sealant. No one told me how to fold it so I folded it like an envelope.

...and I learned that was wrong. I had to Google another method of folding dumplings and found this one: crane-style!



Step 5: Deep Fry!



Plop the dumplings into hot oil and watch disaster unfold. I made 15 dumplings and...
4 dumplings blew a hole and spilled cream cheese into the oil
3 were stuffed with too much crab that it unfolded while deep frying
8 were burnt to a crisp



As you’ve probably figured by now, I have no idea how to deep fry food. It turns out these things cook really really fast. All dumplings were dark brown and the cooked oil turned black thanks to all the charred remains of the wrapper.

At least they were edible. The recipe was good, the cook was just nuts.

Quitness Returns

The event was so hyped but with good reason. When the NBA schedule was released after “The Decision”, I immediately looked for the two Miami @ Cleveland games and I marked them on my calendar – December 2 and March 29. The first game is the only one that matters since the March game is just too far off to be considered.


(photo from ESPN.com)

I was watching ESPN all afternoon and the game was really overhyped – from the security plan, to the “wing flap” issue with the plane, to Mo Williams wearing a BoSox jacket to the arena, to whether he'll do the powder thing, all the way to the opening tip. When Jaye arrived from the office and I filled her in with what has already happened, we were both rooting for the Cavs to win… until we were reminded that they sucked really really bad by the middle of the first quarter.

It was so bad, I had to look closely if Miami was really up against the UP Maroons and not the Cavs.

Now what? Another Comic Sans letter from Dan Gilbert?

Black Friday

It’s what they call the Friday after Thanksgiving which marks the official start of the Christmas shopping season which means stores put lots of stuff on sale and shoppers line up at dawn, go wild inside the store once it opens and kill each other to “get it while supplies last”. It’s like Greenhills during the Christmas season though there, it happens every day until December 26.

Before this, Jaye and I would like to sincerely thank Bruce and Ethel for hosting the pre-Thanksgiving dinner at their apartment unit and then Rian and Trisha (and family) for hosting the actual Thanksgiving dinner at their house. After co-hosting Thanksgiving back in 2007, it was only then I realized how tough it was to host the event, cook the food, don’t screw anything up and have enough energy to enjoy the party (and clean up afterwards). So again, thanks guys!

Jaye and I had lots of fun shopping and basically enjoying everything that came with it! Here are a couple of Black Friday thoughts:

1. It pays to know the reputation of the stores when it comes to putting items on sale. Some stores honestly do try to empty their inventory and give decent to good deals for almost all items (like say, Old Navy). Some “scrooge” stores are just forced into the whole black Friday thing and put minor items on sale or just give you additional useless stuff (like that store along Michigan Ave with the big apple logo outside). Some stores are just jerks by pretending to put items on sale by raising their prices then “reducing” them back to normal (too many to mention).

2. Two ways to do black Friday shopping: online or going to the actual store. Online is fine but you tend to go overboard because it’s easy to “overclick”… you know what I mean. I want to go to actual stores since the Pinoy in me wants to smell, touch, feel the actual product before purchasing it. This year, we got a car (a really cool Dodge Charger) and drove all the way to Kenosha. We woke up really early and arrived home late and exhausted but there’s a certain feeling of accomplishment that comes with it.





3. Driving here in Chicago is weird. I use this thing beside the steering wheel which lights up the left arrow on the dashboard and the car on my left lets me pass. I saw this bus and it didn’t try to sideswipe me. The pedestrians were all crossing this path with all the white striped lines. Cars stopped whenever this thing above us had a red light on. It's like everyone was following some sort of traffic rule. Weird.

4. Unlike Los Angeles, Chicago is not overrun by Pinoys. There are only a handful if Filipinos around here and only 2 events force us into one place: Pacquiao fights and outlet malls. For some reason, Pinoys really love outlet malls… outlet malls and stores like Marshalls and TJ Maxx.

5. I learned that outlet malls are different from tiangge stands. I grabbed a jacket I wanted then went over to the check out counter. I asked if it was the last place, they said yes. I asked if they didn’t have any more discounts, they said that was it. I asked if it came with any more freebies, they said no. I asked if it came with a discount coupon, they said no. I asked if they can give me the hanger where the jacket was. They gave it to me.

It was really a fun day and Jaye and I were happy with our purchases even though our expense metrics indicate that we spend almost 500% more than our usual expenditures. Home metrics suck.

A City Called Naperville

Naperville, Illinois. A city found 30 minutes west of Chicago. Once voted as the second best place to live in the United States. It has one of the best public libraries in the nation and Naperville is where you’ll find the majestic Moser Tower and Millenium Carillon.

We never saw any of these. Instead, we hit the shopping areas and restaurants.

We visited our curly haired friend CheChe who works near Naperville. Jaye and I took the train from Chicago to Naperville then from there, CheChe picked us up with her Nissan Sentra. Since this was the first time I left Chicago since I arrived in the US, I immediately felt the difference between being in downtown and being in the suburbs. There were less people on the road. There were no taxis, no buses. There were just a few tall buildings and between them are wide open spaces. There are big ponds with geese munching on… whatever they usually munched on. No subway noises. No trains. No ambulance sirens. Just the noise of the tires against the pavement and the chattering of your curly haired friend. Our first stop was Cracker Barrel. I had no idea what it was.


Waiting for the train to Naperville

Ok, turns out it was a restaurant. It has a nostalgic aura which again is a welcome change from where we usually eat. We all ordered the usual all-American meal consisting of sausages, hash, grits, biscuits, jam, gravy and coffee. Food was better than we expected. Expensive, but good. We’re never eating there again anymore though... I forgot to tip the waitress.


Our curly haired friend


Jaye and me at Cracker Barrel


Jaye and CheChe outside Cracker Barrel

Our next stop was the Chicago Premium Outlets. Yep, it’s the same outlet mall as before. Unlike before though, their stock was not impressive and their “sales” were fake so we ended up buying virtually nothing. Check this winter cap I saw at Reebok:




Walking along the Chicago Premium Outlet

We left Aurora, went back to Naperville and had lunch at Olive Garden. I loved the stuffed mushrooms. I loved it so much that the next day, I went to Jewel and bought a pack of fresh mushrooms and replicated the recipe. Jaye says it tasted the same but mine cost a couple of dollars cheaper. Take THAT Olive Garden!


Outside Olive Garden. Jaye's all bundled up while I have a spring jacket on. :P

We next went to Burlington Coat Factory (where I bought a cheap running jacket), Old Navy (where I bought cheap gloves and Jaye bought a cheap jacket) and Walmart (where one section smelled like dog pee). After doing all our shopping, CheChe drove us back to the train station where we had 10 minutes before our train leaves for Chicago.
We had lots of time but while driving there, Jaye and I can’t shake the feeling that we might miss the train. What if the train left early? What if the car’s clock was late? What if CheChe got lost along the way? (which almost happened)

When we got off the car, we had a quick hug with CheChe then it was a 5 minute walk to the other side of the rail. The train hasn't arrived yet but Jaye suddenly ran because she said she didn’t want to get left behind. I ran behind because well, that’s what good hubbies do. Little did we know that there were a few people behind us that were also catching the train and when they saw us burst into a sprint, they sprinted too causing a mini panic at the train station.

The train arrived 20 minutes later. :P

Goodbye Singha :(

Singha is this Thai restaurant along Clark street and yes, it’s now closed. They lost their lease to the location and now it’s an empty space and the two statues up front are now gone.

I know I’ll only get two reactions from the statements above. Either you’ll be completely nonchalant or like me, you’ll go through the 5 stages of grief:

Denial: "Nooooo! They can't close Singha!"

Anger: "P*%#$@na nila! Bakit nila sinara Singha?!"

Bargaining: "Maybe it moved! Maybe they just changed the name to something more appealing to Pinoys!"

Depression: You start sharing Singha stories with friends like your favorite dish or who you ate there with.

Acceptance: "Hooters!"

So what's the big deal about a Thai restaurant closing down? For one thing, it's located on the same block where a magical building called "The Sterling apartments" was located. Click here if you want to view it in Google Maps. Back in the good old days, everyone sent onshore from Chicago to Manila by my previous IT company were set to live in Sterling for a couple of months. Since Singha was literally a few steps away from the apartment, it was the place we most frequently ate out at. In the winter when the temperature drops to -20c, if you go out, you'll end up frozen once you walk past Singha so you might as well eat there. Convenience is just one reason though.

Price. Compared to other restos in Chicago, Singha is cheap. If you factor in how frequent you eat out (or how lazy you are to cook), you'll have no idea how important this is.

Rice. Being Pinoys, we can't live on burgers, fries, pasta and sandwiches. We need to eat rice at least once a day (or else you get weird cravings like microwave mac and cheese).

Plastic containers. If you order take out from Singha, they place it in these sealable and reusable plastic containers and if you were like me, you have one cabinet almost dedicated to a big stack of singha containers. These are extremely useful for storing leftovers, coins and other stuff plus, they come with the food and anything free is good.

Food. Of course it wouldn't be special if the food didn't taste good right? My personal favorite is the pad see ew which is Thai flat noodles with Chinese broccoli and beef cooked in a dark soy sauce. The 2 dishes in a close second are crab rangoon which is deep fried wonton stuffed with cream cheese (yeah, as if you'll ever taste the crab there) and the basil chicken which I've been trying to cook in Manila. There's also the beef fried rice and the tom yum soup but we rarely order them.

Memories. I've eaten here with my closest friends during my onshore assignments. I've ordered take out here alone. I've eaten here to celebrate a recent milestone. I've eaten here to console myself. I've eaten here when I'm bored. We've eaten Singha for lunch especially when you wake up really late on weekends you have absolutely no desire to cook and wash dishes. We've eaten it for dinner especially when you've used up much of your cash and you want to eat something decent for less than 10 bucks. We've eaten it for lunch since it's just nice to wake up munching on a piece of crab rangoon. Jaye and I have eaten here when we were still friends.

(deep sigh)

I do have good news though. All is not completely lost. If we go back to the 5 stages of grief earlier, it turns out the third one (bargaining) is true. The same person who owns Singha also owns the "Star of Siam" which is just 2 blocks away from Jewel. For my birthday, I asked Jaye to have dinner there so we can check it out. I think you already know what we ordered.

Is it the same? Close. Pad see ew is almost identical. The basil chicken is still close but the spices are a little stronger this time. The beef fried rice is the same. The crab rangoon is a little disappointing though since when you try to slice it with the side of a fork, it flattens like a burst balloon and you find a very small amount of cheese inside. Now you're left with just a flat dumpling on a pile of white goo.

Eating at the Star of Siam is like using your friend's laptop. The keyboards are the same, the screen is the same, the applications are the same but there's a great deal of unfamiliarity and you can't stop thinking about your own laptop. Eventhough the food's the same and they even have the same weird enclosed seats, I guess nothing can still replace the original thing.

I miss Singha.

(Sigh)

The Trip to Chicago

I’ve flown to Chicago before but it’s always been with Northwest Airlines. It always leaves NAIA around 8 then goes to Narita or Nagoya then from there it goes to Detroit then Chicago. This time I was flying to Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific then straight to Chicago via United Airlines and this is the first time I’m flying with them.

Like before I never sleep the night before the flight. This means from Manila to Hong Kong, I was asleep. After I checked in, paid the terminal fee (ugh), went through customs, waited at the gate, boarded and took my seat, I was immediately out like a light. I even forgot to place my carry on baggage to the overhead bin. I don’t even remember the plane taking off. When I woke up, we just landed in Hong Kong. Time elapsed: 2 hours. Wow, it was like time traveling but without the damage to the fabric of time.

In Hong Kong I was still woozy and was very thirsty. After getting a boarding pass for my connecting ticket, I immediately went online to get in touch with Jaye so she knows we landed safely. Fortunately, I had some US dollars with me. Unfortunately, I didn’t know any restaurants in HKIA other than Popeyes and Burger King. When I reached Popeyes, it was already closed. I ended up eating in this Italian restaurant serving sandwiches. It was like a cross between Subway and Potbelly.

No more Popeyes =(

It's cool that they have these plugs where you can charge your stuff. The problem is they only have the HK type plugs and the converters cost an arm and a leg.

Free Duty?

Next was the long and boring flight to Chicago. It was forgettable since I was seated beside Mr. Smells like an Old Man with Flowers and in front of Ms Laughs at Everything (on te onboard flight movies). The flight itself wasn’t bumpy and they showed more movies here than in Northwest flights. They first showed Toy Story 3 then The Grown Ups then Letters to Juliet and another movie where I was asleep already by the time they were showing the opening titles.

First glimpse of Chicago... or maybe this was Detroit. :S

We arrived in Chicago and immigration was fast. The luggage carousel was also super friendly as it spitted out Crispin and Basilio (my two luggages) almost immediately. Then came the scene I’ve been playing and writing for the past two months: how I’m going to meet Jaye at O’Hare. I’ve always had this romantic scene where Jaye meets me at the gate then I rush to her with a hug. Did that happen? Of course Jaye and I always write our stories with a twist – I came out of the immigration area with my luggages but no Jaye in sight. I checked the other gates and she wasn’t there. I sat down and just rested in one of the chairs instead. A couple of minutes later, she arrived THEN I got my hug. It turns out O’Hare is bigger than we thought and she got lost in the maze of terminals.

We took the cab back to downtown and seeing everything again brings back a lot of memories, good and bad. I saw a sidewalk where I slipped and hurt my arm which was bad. I saw Jewel-Osco which was good. I saw La Salle St which was…uh… boring.

Either way, it’s good to be back. When I stepped down the cab and brought down my luggages, I couldn’t really believe that I’m actually here again in Chicago. Then the wind picked up, blew my luggages down and frazzled my hair. Yep, it’s Chicago’s way of telling me welcome back too.

Our first picture at the airport