I had a fantastic weekend, which was most needed. I spent the whole weekend with friends and made a new one by the end. On Saturday, I got it into my head that I wanted to have a cat again. I haven't had one since my ill-fated experience with Trinity which just didn't work out. We weren't a very good match. Trinity was young and rambucous, while what I needed was a cat that was a little older and mellow. I never realized you could go to a shelter and talk about personalities, traits, and the like and they can invariably match you up with the "purrfect" cat. I found, through my neighbor, an awesome no-kill shelter near my house called Felines, Inc. It's this nondescript two flat on Devon and Paulina that is just brimming with all sorts of cats and kittens. They take them in from other shelters and folks who are no longer able to care for them. I highly recommend them to anyone who may be looking for a companion cat. Anyway, I went there and found Wick, below. We bonded immediately! He's quiet, loving, beautiful, and unusual. He's a manx, so really not much of a tail. He looks a bit like a Lynx. His name coming into the shelter was Badger, but neither he nor I cared much for that name. It has the word "bad" in it. I asked him if he'd be cool with Wick and he took to it right away.
On other parts of the weekend, I went out with my friends David and Arthur for Indian food at Hema's Kitchen near Devon and Oakley. I had heard mixed reviews about the place. Actually, most of what I'd heard was quite good but my friend Jamie, who has been to India a number of times, didn't really care for the place. Although, I think it's mostly because they are a northern Indian cuisine place and she much prefers southern-vegetarian Indian cuisine. I swear they made the absolute best chicken vindaloo I have ever had. The spicyness was so complex. Not overpowering. It came upon the palette slowly, carefully building in heat and could be extinguished with a little bread or yogurt. We ate a bit too much which put us all into a food coma after. But, again, highly recommended. Service, food, variety - four stars!
On the last part of the weekend, I went to the Chicago Antiques Market in the Foulton Market district. Wow! What an amazing collection of vendors and artifacts. And, great deals to be made. No matter what you're looking for, they have it or something close. Jewerly, art, furniture, clothes, music, etc. And, yesterday, Ethel's Chocolate was giving out free samples. OMG! I think I sampled a bit too many. PB&J chocolates, martini chocolates, mojito chocolates, keylime pie chocolates, banana rum chocolates, and more fab flavors. I spent the day with my strikingly beautiful friend Tamara, who is also a buyer/seller of antique jewelry. We had a blast. You should check it out too.
