Odds & Ends

I have several tabs open of things I’ve been meaning to write about, so here ya go:

+My good friend Dru Clark wrote an article on microbreweries in Chicagoland. No mention of Prairie Rock, but oh well. I plan on giving some of those breweries my full support this weekend!

+This car/bike crash happened weeks ago, but I can’t stop thinking about it. If the info in the report is correct, the motorist was at fault yet no citation was issued. Not too sure what I can do about it especially considering I just missed a community police meeting. Any ideas?

+Many members of the Courier News staff won awards recently. Congratulations ladies and gentlemen!

+Tonya of the DNA is going to spend a day a week working at a different downtown Elgin business. Sounds like fun!

+This arrogant Valley View blaming Chicago parents for their children’s poor academic achievement made my blood boil. This one advocating U46 rid itself of bilingual classes definitely didn’t calm me down. Maybe I’ll write a letter to the editor.

Tags: bicycling, bikes, bilingual, cars, Chicago, CMAP, Courier News, crash, DNA, Downtown Neighborhood Association, Dru Clark, Elgin, IL, Illinois, language, spanish, U46, Valley View
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Nominate your favorite Elgin business!

If you know of an awesome Elgin business that consistently provides good service, nominate them for the Better Business Bureau Torch Award! The publicity would be good for the business and Elgin in general. This is open to all for-profit businesses in Northern Illinois.

To nominate a company, go to www.chicago.bbb.org or e-mail sbernas@chicago.bbb.org or write to BBB Torch Award, 330 N. Wabash Ave., #2006, Chicago, IL, 60611. Deadline for completed entries is Sept. 5.

Tags: BBB, Better Business Bureau, Chicago, Courier News, Elgin, IL, Illinois, Torch Award
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Kickstands represent in Chicago

On Sunday three of us Elgin Kickstands went to Chicago to participate in Bike the Drive. We rode 30 miles up and down Lake Shore Drive. Enjoy the photos.

Tags: bicycles, Bike the Drive, bikes, Chicago, Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, events
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Elgin is the best ever!

According to Best Life magazine, Elgin is the 52nd best place in the US to raise a family. Woo hoo! They looked at 257 American cities total–Honolulu is #1 and Clarkesville, Tennessee came in dead last.

Here’s how other Illinois cities stacked up:
17. Naperville
19. Springfield
52. Elgin
60. Chicago

I’m not sure if I trust the ratings though because #32 is Las Vegas. Why would Vegas rank higher than Elgin? More casinos?

Tags: best place to raise a family, Chicago, Elgin, IL, Illinois, magazine, MSN, Naperville, quality of life, ranking, Springfield
Filed under Chicago, Elgin, Illinois, Naperville, Springfield, news | Comments (5)

Treating our environment nicely.

I will spend this weekend working at the Green Festival in Chicago. It’s a great place to learn all the amazingly creative ways people are treating our earth better. If you agree with the spirit of Green Festival, but don’t feel like leaving Elgin, have no fear! Look what was printed in the Courier today:

Rain barrels and compost bins will be sold from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Elgin Public Works Department open house, at 1900 Holmes Road. The black plastic rain barrels are 57-60 gallons in capacity; feature a screened, screw-top lid and an internal PVC overflow system; and are the “Wide Overflow” model made by Chicago Rain Barrel. The compost bins are the Earth Machine model made by Norseman Plastics. Bins will cost $40 each and barrels $60 each, while supplies last Saturday, by cash or check only. Learn how to get the most out of your new earth-friendly products by attending a free seminar at 11 a.m. sponsored by the Conservation Foundation on “Creating Rain Gardens in Your Yard & Using Rain Barrels.” More information is available from the public works department at (847)697-3160, or the city’s Web site at www.cityofelgin.org.

Tags: Chicago, compost bin, Elgin, environment, green festival, Illinois, nature, rain barrel, rain gardens
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Eating raw while living in Elgin.

Note: Be reminded that tomorrow is the special election in the 14th District. Click here for more info if you don’t know what I’m talking about.
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My man and I have decided to eat a 90% or more raw foods diet for the month of March. (Click here to find out what a raw foods diet is, and here to see the before and after photos that really sold us on the idea.) I wondered, is this going to be something we have to do 100% solo, or will we find some sort of outside support? Internet searches turned up two awesome things:

1) There is an Elgin Raw Vegan Potluck/Support Meetup! The next one is on Elgin’s west side on Sunday, March 16th, at 1 pm. To find out the address you must register as part of their group on this website. It costs $3 a person, and everyone is supposed to bring a dish. Yum! I plan on attending and will of course give you a full report with photos.

2) There is a raw vegan restaurant in Downer’s Grove called Borrowed Earth! Click here for the website. Not extremely close, but a quicker drive than going into Chicago to Karyn’s, the only other raw restaurant in Illinois. Here is my review of Borrowed Earth that I plan on posting on SustainLane and Yelp:

We visited Borrowed Earth on a Monday night, the end of our 3rd day of eating raw. We were surprised to see that an hour before close the small restaurant was bumping and full of people! Right away we noticed that the kitchen is open–anyone can watch the “cooking” if they please. The staff was friendly and attentive.

We ordered stuffed mushrooms (a special not on the menu) for an appetizer and they were delicious. We figure the stuffing was a mixture of pine nuts, garlic, and other spices.

For main dishes we shared both the burrito loco and spinach frittata. My taste buds swear the burrito had beans in it, but the menu says it had sunflower seeds only. My taste buds swear the spinach frittata was loaded with a rich cheese, but the menu says it is vegan with “nut cheese.” These people are magicians!

Each entree came with more than one type of side salad. One looked like simple shredded carrots, but some how was packed with flavors. Another had fake rice (jicama?) as a base and tasted like something you’d get at an Indian restaurant. Another looked like cole slaw. I hate cole slaw, but I loved this. Amazing.

For dessert I had apple pie cake (also not on the menu) and my man had sweet tooth rainbow pie, which was made up of raspberry, banana, and chocolate layers. I thought his was too cold and that the chocolate didn’t taste very chocolate-y, but he liked it a lot.

We both agreed that the frosting on the apple pie cake tasted like the frosting that is usually on cinnamon buns, then marveled at the fact that it was free of both dairy and refined sugar.

The only downside to the restaurant was price. With tax and tip we ended up spending just over $60 total. Also, both my man and I decided that we wouldn’t have enjoyed the meal quite as much if we hadn’t already been eating raw for three days. These dishes exploded with flavor in our mouths. If we had been bombarding our senses with actual rich cheeses and sugar-laden foods in the day or two prior to eating here, who knows how these dishes would’ve tasted to us.

I definitely recommend visiting this restaurant, but make sure you prepare yourself by eating well and light the day or two before you go!

Tags: Borrowed Earth, Downers Grove, Elgin, food, living foods, meet-up, raw diet, raw foods, restaurant review
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