Every now and then I make a list of things I’ve liked lately. Here’s one for spring.
1. Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Square.
Is this the best commercial strip in Chicago? I don’t live nearby, but it gets my vote. From Lawrence Avenue south to Montrose Avenue, the street is friendly, walkable, reasonably diverse and alive with the kind of local enterprises that make a real neighborhood. There’s the cozy Grind Cafe. The old Davis Theater, which shows first-run films. The Book Cellar, the kind of independent bookstore-cafe that’s almost extinct elsewhere. Among the many good restaurants are the homey Grafton Pub and the comfortably sleek “gastro bistro,” LM. The amazing Old Town School of Folk Music is the engine that keeps the neighborhood humming.
2. McCann’s Quick & Easy Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal.
I ate McCann’s excellent regular Irish oatmeal (two minutes to cook) for a while. I graduated briefly to the excellent steel cut variety, but didn’t like waiting 30 minutes. The Quick & Easy Steel Cut is a great compromise — the texture of steel cut, but only five minutes on the stove. Not your average bowl of cereal.
3. Hotwire.
I can’t vouch for all the deals on this discount travel site, but renting cars has convinced me there’s no cheaper way. The only downside is that sometimes — not always — you have to pay in advance, no refunds, so you cross your fingers your travel plans don’t change. Sign up for the travel alerts.
4. “The Water Is Wide” by Charles Lloyd.
I’m no jazz expert. All I know is that in the dozen years I’ve owned this album, by a revered jazz saxophonist, I’ve never gotten tired of its meditative, melodic tunes, which range from the folk song of the title to such standards as “Georgia.” For mellow listening, it’s up there with Keith Jarrett’s “The Melody at Night With You.”
5. Pistachios.
It’s not just the eating, it’s the opening that makes pistachios so satisfying. They’re edible worry beads.
6. “Skippy Dies” by Paul Murray.
When I mentioned to my brother and sister-in-law that I’d enjoyed the recent novel “The Art of Fielding,” they said, almost in chorus, “You have to read ‘Skippy Dies.'” Like “Fielding,” Murray’s tragicomic novel is set on a campus, but his is an Irish boys’ school. Time magazine named it one of the top 10 fiction books of 2010. I’ve laughed so hard while reading it that — no exaggeration — I’ve choked on my coffee.
7. Tortas Frontera at O’Hare.
A guacamole bar. A yogurt bar. Soups, salads, sandwiches, margaritas. With these airport food stops, Chicago restaurant impresario Rick Bayless has turned O’Hare from a food desert into a place where you might want to go early for a bite or sit awhile after you land. Terminals 1 and 3.
8. “Q” with Jian Ghomeshi.
The Canadian radio shows that air on WBEZ can be better sleep aids than Ambien. “Q,” in contrast, is constantly interesting, thanks to Ghomeshi, the wry, velvet-voiced, keenly smart host. Whether he’s talking to a hot new musician or actor or, as he did in one program last week, such vintage celebrities as Bob Newhart and Dr. Ruth, Ghomeshi delivers intimate, instructive conversation.
9. A nice verse, from Robert Frost’s “A Prayer in Spring.”
Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.
