Mattazuma's Revenge

Pickpockets 0 - M&J 2

So, I've taken the Orange line to Midway from the Loop twice with Jonnell in the last 6 months.  Twice we've run into gangs of pickpockets.  They try to isolate you with your luggage while you are trying to get on the car & attempt to take your wallet as you squeeze by them.  The first time I snuck by them and Jonnell recognized what was happening before she could get robbed.

Last week, there were four guys on the EL car and they wouldn't move away from the open door of the car.  I ended up shoving one of the guys back into the car with my suitcase.  At the same time, another person on the car had his wallet picked & noticed and started yelling at the thief.  He got his wallet back and the rest of the gang broke up.

The CTA has hundreds (at least) of transit cops and I've never seen one on a train.  They are usually driving around in their cars wasting our tax and transit dollars.  It's not like they don't know what's going on.

We'll take the Orange line again next week when we head off to Las Vegas.  We'll see if we run into another gang.  I'll take some pictures of them.  They'll love that.

Bacon + Alcohol = Delicious

Well, I'm going back to Las Vegas in two weeks and I already have one place to check out.  The Double Down Saloon has bacon martinis.  I must try one.

Back here in Chicago, there are a few bacon drinks I need to try as well.  Osteria via Stato, has the Baconcello, which is bacon & green apple infused vodka with maple syrup & lime juice.  At Sepia, they have a bacon infused bloody mary on their brunch menu.  That may drag me out of the house for brunch some time this winter.  Hat tip - Gaper's Block.

In the end, bacon + pretty much anything is good.  I bought the bacon chocolate bar by Vosges a while back, it was pretty good, but the smokiness was a little surprising at first.

Wine & Cheese - The Woot Way

Well, the big 3 pound wheel of blue cheese showed up today:

That's it next to the big 1.5 liter bottle of wine I bought off of wine.woot last month.  At some point we'll invite some people over to finish them both off.

It is a big wheel of cheesy goodness.

cheese.woot.com

I bought a 3 pound mini wheel of cheese today.  wine.woot.com is selling them as a midweek special.  It's a great deal, Point Reyes Blue cheese is really excellent.

Here's a picture i lifted from their site:

Woot has it for more than half off.  I have been told we'll have 6 weeks to eat it before it goes bad.  That's a quarter pound per week for each of us.  Not sure if we can do it.  My guess we'll start out strong and run out of steam in week 3 or 4.

If you like blue cheese, and lots of it, this is a heck of a deal.  It expires midnight Sunday.