Sunlight

It was a glorious afternoon.

About 75 degrees, a cloudless sky, warm sunlight, beautiful aquamarine-colored lake... everything bar studying never will be.

My goal for this afternoon was to go to Taste to watch Martin Yan cook during his demo, and then maybe get his autograph. I unfortunately didn't make it to the demo, but I got to meet Martin Yan!

The picture's a little out of focus, but it works. :) He's really nice. They were out of his book, so I had him sign my program. Yay!



So why didn't I make it to the demo?

I thought I'd take the lakeshore path to Buckingham Fountain (where the demos are), since it's more direct and would be faster. When I was leaving, I saw that the Lake Shore Bridge was up to let some sailboats through. I estimated that, since there were so few boats going through, the bridge would be down by the time I got there and I could easily walk across.

But... no. There was some technical problem, so I ended up waiting for the bridge to open for 15 minutes before I gave up and went around the long way. Not much fun waiting, but I did get to stand right in the middle of the road. :)



The long way over the river with a view of the bridge I would have crossed:



After meeting Martin Yan, I got some tickets and then had a small lunch at Taste. I got the vegetable pakoras from Zam-Zam. A lot of people drop a lot of money at Taste, but you don't really need to spend so much to get a good filling meal. Based on the number of tickets spent on lunch, I dropped about $2.50. Not bad. And it's a "full" portion too, not just a taste portion. But no picture of the food because I was by myself and only have so many hands. (I want to try the Frontier Chicken pita too - it sounds yummy.)



After lunch, just spent some time basking in the sunlight in view of Buckingham Fountain. When it's not hazy out, the fountain and the city look so beautiful:



I thought this was cute. Sort of staking out a spot. Ha.



I took the lakefront path back toward the apartment, and wanted to go sailing so badly. I really torture myself sometimes walking past all the boats, just dreaming of what it would be like to be back out on the water. Being near the water is pretty calming though. Maybe once my outlines are done, I'll just take them and sit at the harbor studying. Good atmosphere.



And because the sunlight was so bright and the afternoon had been so beautiful, I decided I didn't want it to end just yet, so I spent some time at Navy Pier. I don't quite know what this sculpture is - any ideas?



There's a lot of packs of people walking around the Pier with matching t-shirts. Definitely a good way not to lose anyone. Especially when you pick a unique color.



Came home and met Alvin for a wine tasting at this new store down the block. Truly a glorious afternoon. And it's not like I didn't do anything bar-related. I memorized the requirements of second degree burglary. That's something. :)