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Welp, after a full day spent taking in the flora and fauna of a ‘burban zoo, today was back to downtown Chicago and that oh-so-special place known as… TOURISTLAND!

Okay, not entirely. I may do ridiculously touristy things from time to time, (ask Packy and watch him shudder) but I always try to mix something local and unique in there to balance it out.

Today the “Local Flavor” category was quite literally flavor- of the diner variety. See, Packy and I are big fans of a little show on the Food Network you may have heard of- Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The show is hosted by Guy Fieri, a man who is both a professional chef/restaurant owner in his own right and the biggest Average Joe-type “foodie” you’ve ever met. They say you know you’re in the right profession if, after years and years in the field, you can still find aspects of your job which genuinely excite you. If Guy’s reactions to the places he visits on “triple-D” are any indication, he’s not only in the right career- he’s downright ecstatic about it.

Anyway, today Packy and I visited a spot on the west side of Chicago that Guy went to this past season- The Depot American Diner. Though I sorta thought the “small diner” thing was played up for TV, I can tell you that they weren’t kiddin’… this place is TEEENY. It actually may have been a very good thing that Packy and I got on the wrong L line and went a few blocks in the wrong direction. Had we arrived at this place during the breakfast rush we would have most certainly been waiting for a table. Don’t think size is an indication of quality, though. To borrow an over-borrowed expression, great things come in small packages!

Check this out:

Killer egg sandwich. I probably didn’t need the short stack of pancakes beside it- the sandwich was waaaaay more than enough to fill me up. And that bread didn’t mess around, it was AWESOME. When I ask for “whole wheat” I’m used to that meaning whatever was grabbed from the shelves at a supermarket- refined flour and bleached whatever. Blech. THIS, my friends was WHOLE WHEAT, GRAIN bread. Delicious.

But moving along… our next stop of the day was to a 2pm matinee of a little show that Packy and I saw together on Broadway for his birthday in December of 2008. Yes friends, I don’t care how sick the rest of the world if of the Shrek franchise, the two of us love that green ogre. My general opinion of SHREK THE MUSICAL when we saw it two years ago was that, overall it’s cute… but it could have been so much more. Kind of a missed opportunity. The book is okay (borrowing heavily from the movie for it’s best laughs), but the score is a little underwhelming. The best songs were written for Fiona, hands down. Donkey has a couple cool songs and Shrek has a great solo number in Act Two, but there’s a whole lot of “ho-hum” in between.

WARNING: THEATER PERSON RANT AHEAD!!!

The production playing here in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theater is “newly revised” according to advance press, which was enough to make me curious. Going in, I knew they had changed a few things- the biggest being the big puppet “Dragon” for Donkey to interact with. What I didn’t realize was that they have replaced a song, substantially rewritten large chunks of the book and in many ways just overhauled the show in general. I won’t catalog each and every change here, but things still hold together well. Is the NEW SHREK! a revelation? Not especially. There are still some weaknesses, particularly in Act One. Also, (and this hurts me to say since I hate people who compare “new cast” vs. “old cast”) I found myself greatly missing Brian D’Arcy James- the original Shrek on Broadway. Simply put, Brian managed to completely, 100% transform himself in to the guy (with a little help from the ol’ makeup department, of course) and I never once balked at the portrayal. His Scottish accent was dead-on and he made Shrek the kind of “heart on his sleeve”, “bark worse than his bite” fellow that audiences expect. Eric Peterson… well, let’s just say that Alan Mingo Jr. as Donkey COMPLETELY walked away with the show today. Every scene he was in was brilliant. The musical works best when Shrek is able to parry Donkey’s sideman antics… and, I’m sorry but Eric Peterson as Shrek let Alan walk all over him. Eric had some nice moments, but he needs work. Also, the accent was a bit patchy and that was very jarring.

For the record… Haven Burton as Fiona was adorable. She seemed to have a bit of the “matinee sluggishness” going on at the very start of the show, but she picked up pretty quickly and was on fire by the end of Act One.

My mini New York theater critic is done now. Promise. 🙂

THEATER PERSON RANT COMPLETED!!!!

Post-show I decided to fully embrace the tourist end to the day by heading over to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Yes, it’s ridiculously over-priced and the definition of a tourist trap, but I was just in the mood I guess. I did it for the sake of saying I went and picked up some HR swag at the end to seal the deal. Food was very good… not the best I’ve had so far on the trip, but tasty. Honestly, for the prices you pay at the Hard Rock you can have a good three meals elsewhere at other local spots with just as good (perhaps even better?) food. But for the experience, sometimes you just have to crack open the wallet and embrace the tourism around you. I mean, I can now say that I ate macaroni & cheese next to Mick Jagger’s pants. That’s worth it… uhh… right?

Aaaaanyway, I should wrap this up. Packy is snoring peacefully beside me in bed and we have a full Thursday coming up. To preview the big event? Those of you who listen to NPR, keep your ears peeled during “Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me” this Saturday. Pack and I will be in the audience at tomorrow’s taping!

In 2004 I was lucky enough to spend some time studying theater in England. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, but the hassle of traveling that far was also *hella* intimidating.

Why do I bring this up? Well, even though the trip was nerve-wracking at first, it also forever changed how I handle vacationing. Basically, I was fortunate enough to have the professor in charge of our England trip take me under his wing that first day in London and orient me in one marathon six hour session. I learned how to handle the London Tube (“underground” or “subway” to the rest of us), got my currency exchanged, learned the basic lay of the land, booked tickets to a few shows I really wanted to see *AND* arranged for a day trip to Liverpool, England… alllll in one shot.

Yes, I slept like a baby that night, but I didn’t have any plans-related stress for the rest of the trip because I had been pushed to take care of it all early on. I also never got lost ONCE on the London Underground.

Thank you, Richard. From the bottom of my heart.

Anyway, that’s basically what Packy and I spent today- our first full day in Chicago- doing. Not navigating London, but laying plans for the rest of our time in the good ol’ Windy City.

Even though we visited here two years ago and already had *some* of that “getting the lay of the land” work done already as a result, there were still lots of things to figure out. We bought our 7-day train passes, located a great breakfast spot, found the closest beach, booked Cubs tickets and even squeezed in time for me to do some important “on location” research for the play I’m writing.

Oh, yeah. And we had a rather delicious deep dish dinner. Just sayin’.

Tomorrow is Packy’s day to coordinate what we do… looking forward to getting a bit “wild”… and that’s the only hint you’re going to get. 😛

One of our relatives wrote to us to say they had questions about the honeymoon registry, so I wrote back with the following:

The prices listed at our Honeyfund registry are generally “each” – ie: 2 tickets for Billy Elliot at $90 each. For things like the hotel, it’s $65/night for both Packy and myself, so essentially each purchase of $65 will fund one night of our 7 night stay in Chicago.

For checkout, from the “Quantity” drop down menu beside each item you select to purchase however many of an item you wish. The total will be put in the cart for you. No paypal? No problem. After you’ve clicked ‘continue’ you will be taken to a page that gives you three options for checkout. Click on the icon for whichever method you choose- check (which you can mail or bring to the wedding), cash (which can be given to us directly at the wedding) or Paypal.

One of the best parts of Honeyfund is that, upon purchase, you can also select to print a ‘certificate’ for the couple which lists exactly what you purchased for them. You can stick this certificate in a card and give that to the couple on their wedding day. I really love the idea of guests being able to say that they contributed a *specific* part of the Honeymoon rather than just added their money to an anonymous collection of checks.

Hope this helps! Let me know if anything else is unclear! 🙂

I figured I’d post it to the blog in case anyone else had these questions.