East Side Gems

When the kids went back to school this fall, I set a goal to walk every street in Oak Park.  So far I've walked every street south of the expressway.  Today I "crossed the canyon" and began walking Austin north of the highway.

I must admit that seeing my village from a walking pace has made me notice things I never realized were around.  Usually when I'm on Austin Blvd., I'm speeding down the street in my minivan at 30 mph, and I'm not paying the least bit attention to the architecture that's flying by my windows.  I never realized the diversity in the buildings in a two-block stretch before today.

There's fancy classic:

There's fun (how can you not see a Mr. Potato Head face in this building?!)

Then there's classic with clean lines.

I can't wait to see what else I discover on my walks around Oak Park!

Gina's

One of our favorite destinations on a hot summer evening is Gina's.  There's simply nothing quite as refreshing when the heat index pushes 100.  We discovered this place back in 1990 when we first moved to Oak Park, and we've been frequent patrons ever since.  Gina's the sweet Italian lady who runs the place.  She makes all the ice herself, and there's real chunks of fruit in each flavor.  Tonight she had peach.  It was simply to die for. 

One of the really fun elements of Gina's is all the pictures hanging up on the wall.  Look at the wall behind us.  Those are all pictures of Gina's customers.  There's shots baseball teams, brownie troops and families.  It's so much fun to find the pictures of our family that have been posted thru out the years.  Thanks, Gina, for all the years of friendship and sweet treats!

Side Show

Les, the skink who made a bold move to domesticate himself last year, has survived almost a full year under our care.  About every third day or so, at least one member of the 5 Ring Circus walks over to Suburban Pet City to get Les a dozen live crickets.  Suburban Pet City is an independent pet store and supply center in Oak Park.  If you're sick of the puppy mill places with employees who don't know anything about animals, this place is a welcome respite.  It's become a fun summer ritual to walk over there with a child or two.  If you have the good fortune to be helped by Dave while you're there, all the better.

This evening Baird, Drew and I took a walk over to the pet store to buy crickets for Les.  An added bonus was the side show of a green parrot who was hanging out at check out, and decided to get to know Drew a bit better.

Bounty from the Farmer's Market

It's impossible to fully experience summertime in Oak Park without visiting the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning.  I love the sense of community I feel when visiting!  No matter what time we go to the market, we always run into people we know.  After Baird and I greeted several people we knew, Drew ran into a buddy he played soccer with this spring.

When the Farmer's Market first opens in May, the pickings are a bit slim.  By mid-July, however, the bounty is huge and varied.

When I'm planning meals for the week in the summer time, Saturday usually reads, "Farmer's Market Surprise."  This meal is almost always vegetarian, and includes whatever we picked up earlier that morning.  Large portions of the meal are grilled, and we often dine outside on the deck.

Tonight's menu:

Sweet Corn on the Cob

Hint-of-Lemon Green Beans

Peppery Grilled Eggplant

Classic Bruschetta

Grilled Portobellos with Sliced Garlic

Fresh Mixed Berries

I Scream, You Scream

Ben & Jerry's ice cream is legendary, and so is their generosity.  Every year they have Free Cone Day.  I love that they've kept up this tradition, even in these tough economic times.  This isn't just a chocolate-and-vanilla-baby-scoop kind of free, this is decent-size-any-flavor-you-want kind of free.  So tonight after supper I took the kids up to Lake Street to Ben &Jerry's for desert.  Kelsey and Erin went thru one line and Drew and I went thru the other.  The girls were done with their cones before Drew and I even got ours!  That's my ice cream cone that Erin's holding.  Yea, there was a lot more ice cream on my cone when I handed it to her for the picture...
Gotta love Ben & Jerry's!