With the advent of March in Chicago comes the slow roll toward the summer festival season, starting with St. Patrick's Day and the Macy's Flower Show. We've written about both of these events before, but each year is slightly unique.
Michel: Imagine, if you will, taking in this view while standing in front of the dumbest family in America. The mom of this family was convinced that each plane in a very normal flight path toward O'Hare was on the verge of 9/11-ing Trump Tower.
This gentleman was getting a lot of attention.
Notre Dame Pipe and Drum Band
And, of course, the dying of the river
Michel: We may have covered this last year, but I can't be bothered to go check. Either way, it bears repeating. Chicago becomes the sloppiest, drunkest place in the entire world on St. Patrick's Day. We are fairly certain we saw a guy in his last moments on earth due to severe alcohol poisoning.* Luckily, his friend pulled an ad off the train wall so that he might vomit into it.
Elizabeth: The above underlines why we may be done with this tradition. But it was definitely worth doing at least once! On to the Flower Show. This year's theme was artists through time. While last year had a really great Dali section, this year each section represented a different artist from Michelangelo to Mondrian. I didn't like it quite as much as last year, but it's still pretty cool what they can create from flowers and greenery.
Michel: I don't know that the Flower Show was actually better last year, but after last winter, I think we needed it more.
Lichtenstein
This looked a little like the chocolate room in Willy Wonka
Van Gogh
Michelangelo
(Different floral patterns were projected on the statue of David)
Picasso
(This frame is actually a hole in the wall looking into the rest of the Picasso section)
More Picasso
(The real baboon sculpture is installed in Daley Plaza here in Chicago)
Mondrian
Elizabeth: But March was not all pre-gaming for the the summer festival season. We did indulge our inner Julia Childs...
Michel: Or "Julias Child".
Elizabeth: ...Julia Childs and take a knife skills class. You know that scene in the movie Julie and Julia where Julia Child is learning how to chop onions, and, after a Rudy-esque montage, she finally masters it and chops a huge pile of onions really fast?
Michel: Nope.
Elizabeth: Yeah, that's not us. But at least now we know how to chop better and what we are doing wrong, even if we're still not very good at chopping.
Michel: I'm very good at chopping.
Elizabeth: Sure.
The class was at The Chopping Block in Lincoln Square and was part of my Christmas present for Michel.
It was an early Sunday morning class, so they gave us a little biscuit as a snack to start.
We got to use all of the different types of super nice and super expensive knives The Chopping Block sells.
We have very good taste in knives now.
Michel: I chopped these onions with my bare hands. No knife needed.
Elizabeth: I don't even have to look when I chop.
Michel: All totaled, only six people lost fingers, although a seventh lost an entire hand.
Elizabeth: And the best part was we got to keep all of our chopped veggies, so we made soup that week. It was better than usual because the vegetables were all properly chopped.
Michel: I don't chop with the speed of a TV chef or anything, but I do feel like this class made me a much more competent knifesman.
Elizabeth: Agreed. Our chopping may not be perfect, but it definitely goes a lot more quickly now, which makes cooking dinner a more enjoyable experience. I guess we'll just have to go back for the advanced knife skills class!
*We don't think that guy on the train actually died. But we bet he was hurting the next morning.
