I woke up hung over, cause I was drinking vodka sodas Friday night with my buds Brian, Rob, and Mike. We had a little too much fun, but SO WORTH IT. I weighed groggily in and the scale said I lost 5 pounds from the week before which means I am WAY back on track and heading hard and fast toward my goal! After the weigh-in I forced my lovely lady out of bed to hit the local breakfast/brunch spot Marmalade, which I've already discussed in this blog a few weeks ago. I NEEDED to eat and fast cause I was pretty hung over and was running on very little food (not a good idea for you drinkers out there).
I accidentally ordered the same exact meal I ordered last time I went there, the fried chicken, biscuits, and gravy. Not the best biscuits and gravy in town but you can't really ever go wrong when you head to biscuits and gravy land. Plus the piece of fried chicken that comes with it is excellent and really jacks it up a notch. Liz ordered way too many pancakes and we also ordered a side of corned beef hash to split. NOTICE: the corned beef hash at marmalade is the best corned beef hash or MAYBE EVEN HASH I have ever had. If you go there for any reason at all, ALSO get a side of corned beef hash and then tell me about it!
After all that I went home and took a much needed nap. It was a nap the likes of which was so necessary that I awoke late for the recording of this week's Chooch Chat podcast! (Go click the link to listen to our latest episodes!) On my way to the podcasting I stopped by a Subway because those wrap commercials FOOLED ME! I got a chipotle southwest steak and cheese wrap. It was so bad it was good. You know how that's a genre of movie? Well that's what subway does with food. Taco Bell is obviously the king of that food category but every now and then Subway puts out a sandwich concoction that fits such a mold and the steak and cheese wrap sticks the landing. Give it a try...if you have to.
I got to the podcast and started slowly knocking back beers, you know for a little hair of the dog. Also, need I remind you, cheat day is the only day I drink beer, so I start early and I go all night. After the cast I met up with Liz, who was on a dinner break, at Strings Ramen on Belmont! This is my new local joint of the week! STRINGS, named after that old, bad Blink 182 song (probably not really but fuck it, look it up and fact check me on it). It was a quality ramen spot and it was indeed chilly enough outside that it was the perfect choice for an early dinner or Linner.
Some of you are prolly all like "Ramen?! like top ramen for 25 cents a packet?!"
No you MORONS, Ramen is super "in" these days. Real, quality, ramen is everywhere go get some.
"Oh, well, so it's over priced hipster food, is that what you're telling us?"
YES! Jesus, okay? It IS overpriced (Just like everything is these days) but it's delicious and done VERY well, so SHOVE IT UP YER BUNGHOLES!
"What'd you order dip shit?"
That's better! I ordered some shrimp dumplings which were the tits. They were just perfect. They were soft and tasty and came in a deliciously zesty sauce. As a main course I order from their house specialty "Hell Ramen." They have 5 spice levels for Hell Ramen. If you finish their level 5 in 20 minutes you win a $50 gift certificate, a T Shirt, and painful sweaty diarrhea for 3 straight days. I did NOT do the challenge.
"PUUUUUSSSSSSSY"
Assholes... because I knew better! It would not have been a good idea for me on this Cheat Day. I wasn't ready for such a challenge at all (hungover, tired, still more cheat day left to go). I got a level 3 and enjoyed it, savored it, like a real human man! Level 3 was even quite spicy, to my surprise and delight. Not holy shit fuck my mouth spicy, but spicy. I can only imagine what 5 would be like. I think I WILL try it some day, but I will work my way to it. Next I will try 4 and then I will move to 5 for the challenge.
The broth was delicious. The pork they used tasted almost like ground Italian sausage they put on pizza which made for a nice fusion-y flavor. The noodles were a tad thin for my liking, hence "Strings." I like a slightly thicker noodle to slurp up and graze my chin in my ramen. Ramen is hard to screw up. Strings might have had my favorite Ramen broth in Chicago, but I like the noodles of a competitor in Wicker Park better. Still, the dumplings were dope and it was a real nice Feng Shui in the restaurant. I give Strings Ramen a full point-and-pump. Go try it.
The next thing I ate was more beer. I knocked back 3 Miller High Life tall boys while watching the Celtics progress to round 2 of the NBA Playoffs. AND THEN the capper. I met up with friends for drinks for one Jackie Alamillo's birthday. Shout out to her! I drank, you guessed it! BEER! I had a few 3 Floyds something or other on tap from Jerry's sandwiches. I can never remember the names of 3 Floyds' beers because they are always pretty complicated. But I drank them, and they were delicious! Some fried cheese curds were ordered and so I popped a couple of those hot melty som-bitches in my face. Someone also ordered some BBQ Chicken Sandwich that they couldn't finish (losers) and I reaped the benefits of their lesser stomachs and ate about a third of that thang. It was awesome! So check out Jerry's in Lincoln Square as well.
We then moved on to a dive bar that was empty and GUESS WHAT YOU GUYS! They had liters of Stiegl and I was a happy camper. I had two more of those and a couple of nasty shots of schnapps. After everyone went home I was left alone with my bike in Lincoln Square and uhoh! when the potential judgers are away the Zach will play as long as it's Cheat mawfuggin DAY! So based on that rule I slow rolled down Lincoln to Taco in a Bag and ordered a "Big Jim Reeves" with extra chorizo gravy up in there. Now, for super late night eats, Taco in a Bag is perfect. I don't think Taco in a Bag is something I have ever reviewed in Cheat Day. Don't Care. so I might want to save a full break down for later. But, in a nut shell it is fancy nachos with different toppings. Some are good, and some are not so good. Big Jim Reeves is excellent.
I got home and passed THE FUCK out. What a cheat day guys. Tip to tail I was cheating like a maniac! That's what happens when the scale says you've lost 5 pounds! Here's to more weight loss this week! I can and will keep it together! Thank you all for believing in me! We got this! I'm gonna be so skinny it's gonna be GROSS! Take care of yourselves! Take care of each other! Eat like your life depended on it!
ELE,
Zach
