Bowling alleys always seem to have something magical hidden away in the corner. Occasionally you'll come across a massive selection of polka-dotted bowling balls gathering dust; other times you'll run into a toy taxi.

House on California Avenue, Chicago.


This is my favorite Ugly House ever. I especially love how it is completely surrounded by empty lots- quite the anomaly for the neighborhood these days. Maybe I can find a way to buy whatever parcel of land is for sale- that way I can sit smack dab in the middle of my newly-purchased empty lot all summer. In a lawn chair. While playing horseshoes.

Here are a couple images taken off of Cermak Road in Chicago. It was an exquisitely frigid night; so cold that I could hardly last 15 minutes without whining about the looming hypothermia. Maybe from now on I'll look at these pictures around mid-August. That's right around the time when I'll begin to suffer from heat stroke, and these images will quickly remind me of the opposite spectrum of extreme weather situations.

These pictures are from the first day I was back in Illinois- in fact, they were taken within the first few hours of flying in from NYC. It was one of those cold, gray, foggy days that are somehow simultaneously blah and magical. I still cannot believe how Midwestern clichéd these images are, but hey, it was what I was drawn to within hours of coming home for the first time in 4 months.....

Until my loan check for the new semester comes in the mail, I'm poor. Terribly poor, I should say. I am to that fun point of poor when one must make purchases with quarters dug out from the laundry change jar. Last night I was thrilled to find this 25 dollar American Express gift card I had received about 6 months ago and had never put to use- you can totally live off one of those in NYC for like 8 days, right?
Today as I walked home from school, I opted not to buy groceries for dinner, instead deciding to eat whatever scraps I thought would be in the kitchen- which I expected to consist of a bag of edamame covered with freezer burn and 2/3 of a Ritter Sport bar. Now before you start freaking out about my poor eating habits, let me stress that I had a totally balanced lunch of salami sandwich and a carrot and a stick of string cheese. Mouthwatering, right? Anyway, you can imagine my surprise to find some very tasty items in the fridge. I had bacon (leftover from my brother's visit), mushrooms (for a quiche I never made), shallots (also for the quiche), a container of grated romano cheese (maybe for pasta?) and a 1/4 loaf of multi-grain bread.
These items were pretty damn gourmet- at least for a person living off of a 25 dollar gift card for the next week. Not that these items necessarily go together as a complete meal. At this point I was happy to not have to eat chocolate and edamame for dinner. But what to do with these ingredients? Normally I would make a bacon-mushroom quiche with this stuff, but I was lacking eggs. Instead I decided to get a little, shall we say, daring. It was time to make a more creative meal- because, as I like to say, with poverty comes creativity. Ok, I've really never said that before in my life. But maybe I'm deciding to start now.

Jessie's Bacon-Mushroom Sandwich.
(kinda like a burger, but without the patty)

Melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add 1 diced shallot, cook for a moment. Add 1 carton of sliced button mushrooms and 1 teaspoon salt, cover, and cook for about 6 minutes. Uncover, add 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme and pepper to taste (I say lots) and allow to simmer until liquid evaporates. In the meantime, cook bacon to your preference in a separate pan and toast the bread. When the mushrooms liquid is almost completely gone, add about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to the pan; stir before taking it off the heat. Place bacon on one slice of toasted bread, add a good amount of mushroom mixture to the other slice. While mushrooms are hot, sprinkle a tablespoon or two of grated romano cheese on top to melt. Carefully fold bread slices together, cut in half, eat. Not too bad, eh?

I'm back in nyc...

...and I am especially happy to return to my special little "castle" across the street (pictured above from my roof).
Ok, so I should specify that this building I like to call a castle is technically one of the old New York armories still existing in my area. This massive fortress-like building across from my house was once known as the 13th Regiment Armory and is currently being used as a homeless shelter. Last month I ended up photographing this particular armory, along with a couple others in my area, for a small school project. During my winter break I came to the conclusion that I need to continue photographing and researching these buildings in the upcoming months. Until then, I will post some vacation pictures from Memphis and Chicago this week.