Month: February 2023

Chores as self-care for future me

From dishes to sweeping to cleaning windows, nobody that I know really likes chores. These daily, weekly, or even intermittent tasks are things we do because they need to get done, not because we enjoy them.

I had a revelation the other night as I was preparing for bed. As I approached the end of a toilet paper roll – you know, that single sheet or two left that have you wondering whether you should finish it – I realized that I would either be changing the roll in the low light of bed time prep or no light in the middle of the night. Changing it in that moment was looking after future me.

I thought about other chores that I do and how I space them out, realizing that I frequently look out for my future self. I start most mornings by emptying the dish drainer (after feeding the cats, of course), so that I have space after breakfast when I wash dishes. I wash some dishes as I’m cooking, reducing the clutter on the counter and in the sink. Since we have a policy that the person who didn’t cook washes dishes at shared meals, this also lightens the other cook’s workload.

I still don’t really like chores, but future me always appreciates the effort when she finds only one chore to do instead of two. Or toilet paper that doesn’t need changing in the middle of the night.

The Paramount Theatre presents Into the Woods

The third show of the Paramount Theatre’s 2022/2023 season is Into the Woods, which starts off with familiar fairy tales: Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Ridinghood, and Rapunzel, with a bonus story about Rapunzel’s brother, The Baker. The basic premise to the first half of the show has each of the main characters working towards their happily ever after. The second half covers the ramifications of those happily ever afters, including two princes in Agony (it’s a song), and the giant’s wife searching for Jack to avenge her husband’s death. There are, as always, a plethora of terrible character decisions needed to make a good story.

As a longtime Paramount subscriber, I am completely in awe of their ability to stun me with their set design. As we walked into the theatre, I paused to gape at the forest on stage. Wow.

During the show, the forest moves, so you feel the difference as the actors run through the forest or pause in clearings. When Rapunzel lets down her hair from the tower, it continues down into the forest for the prince to climb, ascending among those trees. And when the giant – who is never actually on stage (size different, you know?) – comes stomping through, you hear the splintering of the trees.

Into the Woods is playing at the Paramount through March 19th, so you have plenty of time to go see it.

Another delightful Capricon

What makes a delightful convention? Seeing as how I’m not on staff for Capricon, it’s mostly about seeing friends, making some new friends, and since 2019, helping to host a Box Fort-themed party.

An archway made of shipping boxes as the entrance to a hotel suite.

The Box Fort parties are always hosted at Capricon; our first two were at a hotel in Wheeling. I built a box fort in my living room in 2021, when the convention went virtual because of the pandemic, and we built our box forts in a downtown Chicago hotel this year and last. Our space this year was humongous: a Presidential Suite, which has about 2,400 square feet (almost twice the size of my house!). We didn’t use all that space, the bedroom and master bathroom were reserved for the group members staying in the room. That still left us with four distinct areas: the entry from the hall (which is where the arch appeared), the bar area (placed by the attached kitchen), the center area (with a low table, perfect for coloring or drawing), and the lounge side where we ran movies.

Assorted boxes and cat cutouts along the walk and window. In the distance, the Ferris wheel at Chicago's Navy Pier is just visible.

The convention theme was the afterlife, so our party theme was Schrödinger’s Box Fort, which meant there were cat cutouts (paper and cardboard) spread throughout the boxes. By the end of the weekend, some of them had been colored by attendees.

In addition to the parties, I volunteered to be on some panels, managed to attend a couple panels and a concert, and did a little bit of shopping. And a decent amount of walking – only about 3 miles a day, down from the Chicon average of 5 miles a day. (To be fair, the hotel layouts were different.)

I have made myself a mental note to take the Monday after Capricon off next year to recover. We estimate it took about 9 hours to build the box fort; disassembling all of the boxes on Sunday morning took about 3. (That doesn’t even include the other clean-up.) All in all, I had a great time and look forward to next year’s Box Fort, when we celebrate our 5th anniversary. (We’re not counting the virtual one, OK?)

Exploring something new through Restaurant Week

First, let me explain what Restaurant Week is: a joint marketing effort between a city and several local restaurants, presenting a fixed price menu – typically lower than regular prices – to attract new customers. I learned of this winter’s Restaurant Week from the Facebook page of nearby Geneva, and thought it would be a fine opportunity to explore something new. We were originally going to try a different restaurant on a different day, but postponed due to incoming snow. When I checked the next day, as we were getting ready to leave, our original choice was completely booked, we decided to wing it by driving to a part of Geneva that featured several restaurants, hoping that our first choice there would have space.

They did have space, so we ended up having a lovely lunch at Barrel + Rye. You’ll be shocked, I’m sure, that a restaurant with an extensive whiskey menu was already on my radar. I had walked past it one morning, over a year ago, after shopping at Geneva’s farmers’ market.

What appears to be a bland white soup garnished with snippets of something green was a delightfully tasty celery root and coconut soup.

Their Restaurant Week lunch menu had two courses with two choices to choose from: Celery Root + Coconut Milk Soup or Citrus Salad, then Italian Roasted Pork Sandwich or Chicken Shawarma. (Dinner had different entree options, plus a dessert course.) We both selected the soup. (This was also their Soup of the Day, so it’s not listed on the normal menu.)

Cheese curds are a Midwest staple. Brie cheese curds, however, are something I had never encountered before. They were tasty with the raspberry jalapeño jam.

But wait! The Shareables section of their normal menu has Brie cheese curds with a raspberry habanero jam. Since we both love cheese curds, and had never tried brie ones, we opted to include an appetizer as well. (There are also white cheddar cheese curds available as part of another appetizer.)

Italian Roasted Pork Sandwich (including broccoli) with a dipping sauce and a side of tasty seasoned fries.
Chicken shawarma and vegetables tucked into naan bread, with a side of tasty seasoned fries

After all that deliciousness, we made it to our entrees: an Italian Roasted Pork Sandwich (listed as Philly Italian Pork on the normal menu, which explains the dipping sauce) and Chicken Shawarma, both with sides of tasty seasons fries. And yes, I tried a new (to me) whiskey: Rabbit Hole Dareringer.

Given the tasty food and fabulous service, I suspect we’ll be returning to Barrel + Rye before the next Restaurant Week.