Hiromi Usagi!

ahhh…Chicago is definitely my second home. I felt so relaxed and nostalgic when I arrived at O’hare airport. Everything seemed spacious and relaxed in Chicago, compared to Tokyo. Here I am sitting in my room in Tokyo in a rainy day, listening to Pinback’s “Summer in Abaddon”, sipping a cup of detox tea, doing laundry, using dry mode on the airconditioner, I miss Harper, my friends, and Chicago already.

What did I do in Chicago? Many things, but not so many. I hang out with Harper a lot, Becca a lot, and with myself a lot as well. I intentionally didn’t make any solid plan this time. I decided what to do when I woke up on the day. Harper was working and so was becca and other friends, so I wondered around in Chicago just as I did on my day off before.

I ate a lot this time, well, surprise? not really, hahaha. Well, the best place of dinning in this trip was at Green Zebra. Harper took me there on Friday! and it was a date which I haven’t gotten for a while. They are vegetarian friendly, but meat eaters can enjoy their food as well. I loved vegan dish on the day, Black bean cake with stingy fennel. ohhh so yummy and I crave for it. They have province Rose wine! What a surprise! I had it when I went to Nice, France several years ago with my friend, Yurie. Her friend (she is French) told me about Province Rose which is inexpensive yet different from standard rose wine. It is not sweet like regular rose and goes really well with meal. I was so excited to try it at Green zebra and it was delicious. If you like dry wine, go for it! It is a perfect Spring/ Summer wine I think.

Anyhow, Harper spent a lot of time with me after work and on the weekends, and I had a great time with him. I was jet lagged again..ahhh, but I woke up not too early, so I felt as if I became a morning person which made me feel good. I took a nap to stay up late, but I basically passed out every night, ahhhh. Now at the apartment where I used to live, there are new roommates of his and Matiss moved out. The things are diffirent now. Chicago seemed the same, but there are many small changes like that. Those changes made me feel nostalgic and sad and excited at the same time, you know, how that is.

I had a nice dinner with Matiss and Erica at their favorite Italian restaurant. It was nice and delicious, and I had a good time with them. It was nice to see them being happy together.

There is a nice small farmer’s market at the logan square on Sunday (they started right after I moved, of course) and I had great ripe strawberries which I almost ate up by myself, haha and a vegan muffin with berries. yummy.. Becca took me to the farmer’s market on Lincoln park and I bought great mixed green salad, spring onions, and baby beats. Harper liked them when I made salad and steamed Greek style vege dish with green olive. I have been into organic, local, sesonal vegetables lately.

I bought a book about Macrobiotics at the women’s book store in Anderson ville. The book is very funny and it’s called “the Hip Chick’s guide to Macrobiotics” by Jessica Porter. yeah, it’s about me (j/k)…the book started off talking about how the author loved junk food and how difficult yet easy to change her diet. She is really cool and I really like how she wrote it. There were several times I laughted while reading..
For me, it is easy to do macrobiotics because it is based on japanese dietary and I have an easy access to most of the foods she mentioned. If you go to a health food store, you can find them easily too. Since I get organic vege and food delivery, I can do macrobiotics easily, but I have to think about what my body needs now. The book was educational and makes me think about listening to my body more. It taught me that I shouldn’t be controlled by strict diet, but think about how to balance my body with the environment. great book..

It was very nice to see becca too. I missed hanging out with her on my day off. We cooked, had coffee, chatted, did yoga and hang out with Alva together. We both bought a dress. it was fun! We talked about many things: moving, acupuncture, organic, food, relationship, family.. I love spending time with her. too bad we don’t live close anymore. oh well, we can visit each other. yeah..
On the tuesday, I went to yoga in the morning and walked to my friend, Valentina’s house and we had a yummy korean lunch. I had hot stone cooked dish with black rice with tree nuts. I love eating korean food with her because I usually have so many questions about food, haha… it was nice to see her again.

I had a lot of thinking and feeling happy when I was there. This was my best vacation. I am sure that a lot of thoughts will come out soon..I will save them for later entries.