Top Chicago dishes: Guacamole at Frontera Grill

Today's top ten dish has been high on my list for a long time: the Guacamole at Frontera Grill (website). Frontera Grill is one of Chicago's top restaurants, owned by superstar chef Rick Bayless. There's no surprise that a dish from this restaurant would make it to a top ten list. Yet I bet you may have been surprised that a simple dish such as guacamole (and not the other wondrous items on Frontera's menu) would be the one.

If you talk to someone from Mexico, he/she would tell you that guacamole is everywhere, and everyone can make it. But Frontera's guacamole is special. After you eat it, no guacamole is the same. I'm sure part of the secret is the use of top quality avocados (how do you get good ones all year long??). And perhaps it's their blend of ingredients such as sun-dried tomatoes. Whatever it is, you're in heaven when you eat it. And to top it off, it's just an appetizer to one of the best quality (and not terribly expensive) meals you can get in Chicago.

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Marilyn Kesler's Opus

Last weekend, I went back to my home town of Okemos, MI to attend my orchestra teacher's retirement party and concert. One could wonder what's so special about one teacher, but Marilyn Kesler was just that special. She turned a sleepy suburban town's orchestra program into one of the best. She gave me an outlet for my musical interests and provided a community of like-minded musicians for me to grow up with.

The weekend was a great tribute to Marilyn's career. Here's a Lansing State Journal article about her. There was a nice retirement dinner, of course. But the big thing was the concert. Over 100 alumni, spanning her 42 years of teaching in Okemos, came back to play a three hour concert for her. There were around ten soloists performing in the concert. We put together an alumni symphony orchestra and played three pieces as well. One of these days, I will scan the program and put it online.

I didn't originally plan on playing in the concert. I hadn't touched a violin in over a decade. But during the retirement dinner, old friends convinced me to play. How could you turn them down? The experience turned out to be great. Luckily my friend Brad had an extra old violin in his parents' basement. I was a bit surprised by being able to play. I was able to play the pieces without having seen the music before the day of the concert. I think I played mostly with the right rhythm and in tune. And I remembered a bunch of little things, like various bow techniques and watching the conductor for tempo changes and dramatic effects.

It was amazing to see how many people ended up becoming professional musicians. There were many music professors, members of professional orchestras, and teachers who came to the event. I did not choose a musical career, but it was great seeing friends who did. Sometimes I wish I had the love and the tenacity to do it; I greatly admire those who have such qualities.

The best thing for me was just having a chance to be with this musical community one last time. I saw many old friends at the events. We played together, with Ms. Kesler, every school day for seven years in a row (6th-12th grade). How many teachers did you have who taught you for so long?

I have so many fond memories of music-related things during school. Not only did I do orchestra - I was also a part of the Suzuki program, and I took private lessons. I fondly remember staying after school on Fridays for Suzuki - playing euchre in the hallways, killing time on my friend's Nintendo, and playing Suzuki repertoire pieces as a group during "play-in." I remember going to my lessons with a sense of dread most of the time, fearing that I didn't practice hard enough. My teachers had us play in recitals pretty often. Once during a recital, I drew my bow too far that it popped in the air. Luckily I caught it and was poised enough to continue. I attended a few string camps too. In one camp at Michigan State University, I got to know some of the music stars from neighboring schools. At another camp, I got to experience freedom far from home while playing fun music with other kids from all over the region. We traveled a bit too. There were various solo and orchestra competitions to go to, not to mention trips to places like Chicago and even Germany. Over the weekend, we reminisced about some antics we pulled on these trips, such as short-sheeting other people's beds and playing "superman" in the hallways of a German high school.

Why do I mention these things? At the concert, I heard all these great things that Marilyn Kesler did for my school's orchestra program. I can't top those stories. What I can contribute is my memories of these great times. It wasn't just Marilyn Kesler. Kesler formed the community and brought so much good talent here, but other individuals also made an impact on me personally. Shirley Ploughman (Waverly school district) helped foster my interest in music at an early age in elementary school. Elizabeth Febba (Waverly) got me started in violin in the 4th grade. Jan Burchman was my first private teacher and my first Okemos teacher. And Lyman Bodman was the teacher who helped me elevate my violin playing to a higher level. The last two teachers have passed away; I don't know about the first two. But I hold all their memories dear to my heart. If any of you are reading this (on the internet or in the afterlife), my sincere thanks!!!

P.S... I think I'm going to start playing my violin again. I haven't touched it in so many years. But a few months ago, I took it out of my parents' basement. It's now sitting in my bedroom, close to my bed, but untouched. Stay tuned for future blog posts about my violin...

Xi'an and the Terracotta Army

The main reason we went to Xi'an was for the Terracotta Army (Wikipedia). It's supposed to be the 8th wonder of the ancient world or something. Perhaps the most significant archaeological find of the 20th century. It was pretty amazing to see how much effort they put into crafting these figures. Different types of soldiers, weapons, uniforms. And each one had unique facial expressions!

I was not super impressed, however. All I could think was "why did they do it??" Basically it was so this army could join Emperor Qin Shi in the afterlife. One big ego trip!!! Yes, Qin was a great emperor, being the first to unite China, standardizing language and measurements, and building the first of the Great Wall segments. But still - the dude must have had a god complex! What gives??? Not to mention - they call his reign the Qin dynasty, even though the dynasty consists of only one emperor. That seems a bit silly. At least Mo was able to buy a Terracotta soldier figurine at the market...

If the Terracotta Army was not that impressive, was Xi'an worth the trip? Absolutely. I have already written about how lively and interesting the city is. The other excellent landmark was Hua Shan (Mount Hua), one of the five sacred mountains of China (See Wikipedia). The mountain is about 7000 ft high (2100m) and features five peaks, four of which we hiked.

The hike itself was strenuous but awesome. We took a cable car up to the lowest peak, then we hiked between peaks for about five hours. It would have taken another four hours to hike from the base. Various websites have stated that this mountain is really dangerous. I was a bit worried myself, after reading them. But it really wasn't that bad. The mountain actually gets a lot of tourists, many of which did not appear to be in great shape. There was even a guy yapping on his cell phone as he hiked up. The one warning is that there is very little hiking documentation in English. You don't get much of a sense of how far any of the trails were, or how long it would take you. For example, if we had hiked from the base as we had originally planned, we wouldn't have had time to hike up all the peaks. Oh well. At least there were vendors on the mountain selling food and drink :)

Yet another interesting thing about Xi'an is that it was the eastern end of the Silk Road back in the day (ya know, Marco Polo?). Check out the Wikipedia entry. Not only is there historical significance to this, you could see its effects even today. Most notably, there is a Muslim Quarter in Xi'an. Within the quarter is the Great Mosque. In this photo, you can see us having stumbled upon a funeral at the Great Mosque. It was a bit interesting to see Chinese people wearing Islamic garb. You could even tell that some people in this area had facial features that came from mixed blood with west. Now that I think about it, it was also a unique multicultural feat that my Mexican friend whose name is Mohamed but isn't Islamic was visiting a mosque in China.

I will stop raving about Xi'an - after this last tidbit. The final cool thing about Xi'an is that it has fully intact city walls that surround the city. And you can ride a bike on them! It's a great way to appreciate life, living conditions, culture... and smog! I think it's about 15km all the way around. It took us about an hour at a leisurely pace.

Photos available online here.

Onwards to Xi'an

Greetings from Xi'an, China!  Xi'an is located in north central China.  It was an ancient capital city (complete with city walls!), the seat of the empire for several dynasties.  It is most well known for being the home of the Terra Cotta Soldiers, considered the eighth wonder of the ancient world.

Sometimes it is hard to appreciate the fact that China has over one billion people.  When we were planning our trip, we considered going to Xi'an first.  But then we thought it would be a good idea to go to a big city first, before going to a small one.  Well - big and small are relative in China.  Beijing is huge indeed, with over 10 million people.  Xi'an is smaller - but it still has a whopping 3.5 million people!  I don't think there are 10 US cities (including their suburbs) that would be any bigger.


As I wrote earlier, Beijing was not what I expected to see.  So modern, so clean, so orderly - so dull.  I think the combination of Party HQ and the Olympics has made Beijing boring (or perhaps it has always been boring).  Xi'an, on the other hand, was exactly what I expected.  Xi'an is full of life.  Right outside my hotel room, you can see a busy intersection.  There are small vendors selling things like squid on a skewer.  There are clothing stores, cell phone stores, and restaurants.  When you walk around downtown, you don't really feel like a tourist.  You're just another person in a crowd. 

It's really nice to see so many people walking around all the time.  In the States, it seems that everyone cloisters themselves at home.  Once in a while, they may go shopping or out to eat, but they go right back home afterwards.  It seems that people spend more of their time outside in Xi'an.  You see lots of people just taking a stroll, hanging out on a park bench, grabbing a snack from a street vendor.  Perhaps it's due to tighter living quarters.  Or perhaps it's just culture.

Traffic is pretty amusing here (it's like this in Vietnam too).  The streets are full of cars, buses, mopeds, bikes, and pedestrians.  It seems like the rule of the road is "just do it."  People will turn left with oncoming traffic.  They don't stick to driving lanes.  While we were waiting for a train to cross yesterday, the drivers (including ours) queued up on the wrong side of the road so they could cut in front of everyone ahead of them.  As a pedestrian, it's a similar deal.  To cross the road, you just start walking at a steady pace.  Cars will avoid you.  You just shouldn't make sudden moves or hesitate.  And if you wait for traffic to clear, you may have to wait forever.

Photos available online here.

Last day in Beijing

Today is our last day in Beijing.  We've been here just for three days so far, but it seems like a whirlwind of stuff to see!  It was great seeing all the tourist things like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.  But it was also great to check out local stuff like all the markets and restaurants.

I have to admit that I was a bit surprised about Beijing as a city.  Although I knew it was a huge city of over 10 million people, I didn't think it was as modern of a city as it really is.  It's full of large buildings - skyscrapers, office complexes, and high-rise apartments.  The streets are arranged in a grid pattern, with "Ring Roads" running as beltways around the city.  Aside from the smog, the city is very orderly and clean.  When I told one of my friends about this, she was shocked; everyone else seems to think it's a dirty city.  Perhaps they are trying to change their image for the Olympics. (check out the new Olympic stadium).   I didn't even see as much public spitting as I thought I would see (though it still happens).  One advantage about being a communist state is that you can choose to build anything or to clean anything up, and the people will comply...

Taxis are really cheap in Beijing.  You can go all over for just a few bucks.  This is amazing, considering the exorbitant fares I pay in Chicago.  One downside, however, is that traffic can be pretty bad (well, I guess it's bad in all big cities).  What's even worse is that the taxi drivers don't speak English.  Public service people speak English, so do market vendors, so do the local farmers who hang out with you at the Great Wall.  But not the taxi drivers.  You have to hand them printed names of where to go (or get the hotel concierge guys to talk to them).  We thought we were fine, but then apparently lots of taxi drivers either can't read or have such poor eyesight that they couldn't read our pieces of paper.  We've had to get out of at least five taxis because of this.  What a nightmare!

I'm proud of my non-Asian travel companions Mo and Ryan.  Not only did they eat funky foods, they were able to haggle successfully at the Chinese markets.  If you can haggle in China, you should be set for life!

Yesterday we went to the Great Wall.  What an amazing place!  The Great Wall is actually multiple walls, constructed at different times by different dynasties, and located in different places.  Most people go to the wall at Balaling, where it is fully restored and is very tourist friendly.  We were sick of the crowds and wanted a more natural view.  So we did a 10km (6mi) hike between the Great Walls at Simatai and Jinshangling.  It wasn't a long hike, but man was it tiring!  Up and down, up and down, along the countours of mountains.  It was the most strenuous hike I have ever done.  It was well worth it though.  The scenery was spectacular!

Now it's time to close out our visit to Beijing.  Tonight we fly to Xi'an and visit the Terracotta Army.

Photos available online here.

First impressions of China

Ni hao from Beijing!  I've spent what seems to be a whole day flying, plus a full day hanging out in Beijing.  It feels like I've seen a today already!  And I'm wiped out.  But I have to write a blog entry to get these impressions written down.

If you've never flown to Europe or Asia, it's quite the ordeal.  My nonstop flight from Chicago to Shanghai was over 14 hours in length.  Not to mention a 2 hour delay due to some plane problem.  Once we arrived in Shanghai, we had a 3 hour layover and then took a domestic flight to Beijing.  Long day!!!  The biggest thing to deal with is the time change.  Luckily (or unluckily), I had so much stuff to wrap up before leaving that I stayed up all night the night before.  This helped me fly, because it made it easier to fall asleep.  The other thing I like to do is carry a toothbrush on the plane so you can sleep/wake up with fresh breath.  Add your ipod and a good book and you're good to go!

One thing I try to do is understand something about the language of the place I'm visiting.  Three days before my trip, I started learning some Mandarin from the Internet.  There are some nice sites with free mp3s of spoken Mandarin!  Westerners find Eastern languages funky because they are all about intonation/inflection rather than conjugation.  Mandarin uses monosyllabic words consisting of a starting consonant-type sound and a "final" sound.  There are many  sounds, and the phonetic rules are different (but very consistent, unlike English).  Even though I understood the basic structure of the language in theory, I was still pretty useless in practice.  A 50-word vocabulary only gets you so far.  Funny thing was that everyone thinks I'm Chinese so they'd start blasting words at me and I'd stare at them dumbfounded.  I think they thought I was my friends' tour guide :)

A bad stereotype about Chinese people is that they are pushy and don't care for things like lines or personal space.  It never bothered me before.  But after just a couple days, it has annoyed the heck out of me!  People will just shove past you to get to wherever they want to go.  I thought it was just limited to markets, but I saw it at the airport, at tourist attractions, everywhere!  I didn't even bother to check out the most crowded parts within the Forbidden City.  Sheesh!

On the bright side, you can't go wrong with Chinese food.  Chinese food and Italian food are perhaps the only truly global foods out there.  Well, I guess you can count American chains like McDonald's and KFC too.  Everything has been so good.  Tonight we had the king of all feasts, Peking Duck, right in the heart of Beijing.  Yum!!!  It's super cheap too.  I think I've spent less eating out this whole time than I would have spent in one night drinking in Chicago.

One exception on the cheap front, however, is Starbucks.  In an effort to increase market presence, Starbucks has arrived in China in full force.  Are you surprised?  My grande vanilla latte cost me 33 RMB, which is almost 5 dollars with the crappy USD (7 to 1 ratio now).  In contrast, a whole plate of Mee Goreng at a Singaporean restaurant ran me 30 RMB!

My friends and I went looking for some good nightlife in Beijing.  Apparently, Beijing was a very sleepy city even just 10 years ago.  Since then, bars and clubs have opened up.  We stopped by a couple areas last night and tonight.  The bars are very touristy, and very quiet still.  Maybe we just aren't going to the right places?  But these strips are supposed to be the right places :(  Also, we were endlessly hounded by people on the street to come to "lady bar, lady massage" (for me, it was the same but in Mandarin haha).  It really turns you off from wanting to be in that area.  We did finally enjoy ourselves at a place last night, where it seemed like locals (at least Chinese people) hung out, listening to pro musicians sing cover tunes.  But now we are on a quest to find some hip nightlife.  Any suggestions welcome!

Photos available online here.

So I finally completed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

It's funny.  I pre-ordered the book, like many people.  Eager anticipation of one of the most highly anticipated books ever!  I started reading.  Got a couple hundred pages through.  And then it sat on the shelf.  I'm one of those people with the rare talent of being able to postpone anything.  I daresay it is related to procrastination.  But it's a step above, since you actually stop in the middle of something enjoyable.  It sat for many months, til last week, when I went out of town.  I am a much better reader when there are no distractions from home.

Anyways, it was a good book.  If you haven't read it and intend to, please go no further.  I will have SPOILERS!  Well not big ones.  But there will be some, oh yes.

Let me start with the bad side.  Unlike the Harry Potter fanatics, I actually don't blindly enjoy these books.  There were a few things that annoyed me.  First of all, it seemed that Rowling invented the last two books to pretty much stand on their own.  Yeah, there were some things the led up to them, but the horcrux thing plus the deathly hallows solely came out of the last two books.  In the first five books, it seemed as if You-Know-Who was more like that-bad-guy-you-could-never-get-rid-of in cartoons.  You know: Wile E. Coyote, Gargamel, Megatron, etc.  Then all of the sudden, Harry gets a clue and starts figuring out the bad guy.  In Rowling's defense, I guess she needed a way to wrap it all up.  Maybe it's because the first couple books were way too simple; she just didn't have much of a story arc to work with.

The other big thing that bugged me about Deathly Hallows was that there was too much explicit explanation.  Yes, everyone wants to understand what happened and see all the loose ends get wrapped up.  But do you have to make it so obvious?  Like the pensieve scene.  It just seemed that the plot got so complex that it needed a long-winded, complex resolution as well.  Maybe this one time, this story would be better suited as a movie, since you could easily do a  dream-sequence-that-reveals-everything.

Now that I've had a chance to whine, let me talk about the good things.  It was still quite an enjoyable novel.  Rowling did a great job tying all the components of the Harry Potter universe into the last book.  It seemed like every good guy and bad guy you met ended up in the book.   It incorporated parts of past books, like the Room of Requirement and Dumbledore's Army.  The final battle was epic and spectacular.  It was a true fight between good and evil, and everyone showed up.  Reminded me of the final battle in LoTR.  I can't wait to see a movie version of that battle.

Harry did a lot of growing up too.  And it was about time.  It got a bit annoying seeing him stumble about all the time.  He was like a wizardly Inspector Gadget.  But in this book (and the previous one), he and his friends actually think strategically.  Harry figures out the complex relationships and lore regarding You-Know-Who.  And he won over enough people through his actions and his defiance of the bad guys that they would come join him in the final battle.

So, a couple of annoyances aside, Deathly Hallows was a fine ending to a fine series of books.  The books are kinda strange as a series - they don't really fit together.  The first ones are simple and cater to young children.  The last ones are dark and complex, probably way above most 10 year olds' heads.  I guess they show a good transition from childhood to adulthood.  And thus it ends, with Harry walking away in the sunset.  Oh wait - there's an epilogue.... maybe it's not all over... JK Rowling is gonna make more money!!!

Top Chicago dishes: Zeppole at Quartino

Chicago is a wonderful place to eat. It has food from every nation, every style, and every price. For a long time, I have thought about having a Top 10 dishes list. It's quite a challenge, since there's so much food! I'm going to have a series of blog posts to share some candidates for the list. One of these days, I will complete the list and share with you all!

Today's Top 10 candidate dish is the Zeppole at Quartino. Quartino is an Italian restaurant in River North (website). It's a nice blend of family style, pizzeria, wine bar, tapas bar, and upscale River North. The Zeppole is a dessert dish - hot Italian doughnuts sprinkled with powdered sugar and dipped in honey. The dough is amazingly fresh and comes right out of the oven. And how can you go wrong with honey? It's a great way to end a meal at one of my favorite Chicago restaurants.

(Sorry for the bad pic - I only had my cell phone on hand to take a pic).

Reviews of Quartino:

• Yelp
• Metromix
  

A review of Naked Economics

Ok ok ok, I guess I should post something if I'm going to have a blog.  So here we go.  I figured I should start out with a review of Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science, since it was what got me thinking of blogging.  Amazon has a bunch of reviews of this book.  But you should really read mine, cuz I am cool.

Naked Economics is an introduction to economics.  As the title suggests, it introduces economics in an down-to-earth and interesting way.  Instead, it's a 250-page paperbook book that is clear, concise, and witty.  Charles Wheelan writes for The Economist.  Unlike long-winded, formula-ridden college textbooks, Naked Economics reads like a magazine you would find at the hair salon.

What does it cover?  From the table of contents: markets, incentives, the role of government, information, productivity and human capital, financial markets, organized interests, national economies, the Fed, trade and globalization, and development economics.  Ok, these topics may sound a bit stuffy.  But each topic is covered in an engaging way.  Wheelan uses lively yet relevant examples to explain all these topics.  Examples include how difficult it is to open a business in Mozambique, how a Chicago congressman found federal funds to build a parking garage for the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry, why we are ok with giving our money to a bank teller we've never met, why Bill Gates is richer than we are, how Wheelan's condo association prevented the city of Chicago from building an El stop next door, and a civil case in India that finally got to court after both parties had died.

Wheelan also brings up some controversial examples.  Ethanol subsidies in the U.S., the protests against the World Trade Organization, the globalization of labor (including NAFTA), and may more.  One could conclude that this guy is biased (aside from being a capitalist), based on his commentary on these issues.  The funny thing is that on one page, you could think he's really conservative, while on another page you could think he's a socialist.  How could this be?  Because he's just using these as examples to illustrate the topics he's explaining.  He states that economics simply tells you how all these things are related.  Policy is often a matter of opinion and preference, rather than an economic truth.  For example, a classic economic tradeoff is between taxes and providing public services.  Economics won't tell you how much you should tax and how much to fund services; it just tells you that if you consistently spend more than you collect, you're in trouble.

So how did Naked Economics affect me?  First of all, I learned a bit about economics.  But more importantly, the concepts were very relevant to my own thoughts and values.   Some ideas were reinforced.  I've had to re-evaluate some others.  Let me list a few things that came to mind:

• I thought that powerful interest groups were just an American phenomenon.  Who knew that they are predicted by economic theory?
• Why I don't consider myself a conservative, liberal, or moderate when it comes to economics anymore
• How so many Americans have such strong feelings on topics (like taxes or government "intervention") but they have no clue about economics
• Maybe the U.S. isn't as bad to live in as I once thought - just because other countries could be even worse off
• The Fed won't be able to prevent a recession this year.  Only the government can, but it probably won't, because it would involve massive spending

The list goes on and on!  Juicy stuff, eh?  Well, I worded some of them to sound controversial.  But you'll have to wait to read more - I will dedicate future blog entries to these topics.  Stay tuned!