Another one of my favorites, from Maho Beach, Sint Maarten:
14 February 2009, ISO-400, 1/2000 at f/8, 31mm, here.
I love the first weekend of June in Chicago, because I love ribs. Once again, Parker and I walked up to Lincoln and Irving Park. And once again, we got some ribs.
I only got four samplers this year. It's too bad I don't have time to go back today, because I'd love to try a few others. Of the ones I did try:
- Mrs. Murphy's Irish Bistro, at 3925 N. Lincoln Ave., once again topped my list. The sauce has some tang, some heat, and something else (I think it's Guinness). The ribs were fall-off-the-bone but not mushy, grilled to perfection. They won "best of show" last year. For four years now I've said I need to go there for a full slab. So, once again, I need to go there for a full slab.
- The Piggery, 1625 W. Irving Park Rd., had tender fall-off-the-bone lean ribs with a sweet-tangy sauce. They weren't my favorites, but they were worth having. I'll check them out at some point, too.
- Pitchfork, which apparently won "best of show" in 2009, had the least meat and sauce of any I tried. They had a good smoked flavor, with a little tug off the bone, and a thin vinegar-based sauce over a spicy dry rub. At the time I didn't think they were that good, but I think the lack of meat made the difference. The bones are wider at one end of the rib cage than the other, you see.
- The itinerant Chicago BBQ Co. had pretty good smoked ribs, with a spicy sauce over a decent dry rub. Their ribs were also kind of bony, but tasty. These guys go from ribfest to ribfest all over the midwest, so I expect I'll have another opportunity to try them in July.
Parker didn't have the best time, though. I didn't give him much meat because I'm already stressing his digestive system by introducing a new dog food. (It turns out, Whole Foods turkey and rice formula is about half the cost of the Canine ID he's been eating, and apparently his cranky stomach can deal with it just fine.) This, after working more than 5 km there (plus almost 6 km to get back—but he wasn't thinking about that). To add insult, much of Parker's experience of Ribfest looked like this:
At least only one person stepped on him, but in my defense the woman, who wasn't watching where she was going, bumped into me first.
Looking out from the entrance to the Sé, Lisbon, Portugal:
13 January 2011, ISO-100, 1/60 at f/8, 18mm
Another repeat, because I'm lazy, but still one of my favorite shots of Parker:
27 February 2010, Mars Hill, N.C. ISO-800, 1/1250 at f/6.3, 125mm
Shanghai, China, 15 April 2011 (reposting the photo with some new tweaks):
ISO-100, 1/250 at f/5.6, 18mm, here.
A huge temperature change putting Chicago in perspective, from HamWeather (degrees Celsius):
(And now for my Luddite readers, the same map in Fahrenheit:)
In the last 24 hours, Chicago's temperature has plunged from an asphalt-melting 35°C to a shiver-inducing 12°C:
(The chart shows degrees Celsius along the left and local time along the bottom.)
The drop right before 9am caught me by surprise. When I left the house (and it was 19°C outside), the polo and jeans I have on seemed appropriate. Three hours later, with Weather Bug reporting 10°C at the nearest station and O'Hare reporting 12°C, I really wish I'd brought a jacket to work.
WGN points out that the last three days comprise the hottest early-season heat wave since 1933.
Glad that's over...
Update, 12:39 CT: Weather Bug now reports 9°C at the Latin School, but O'Hare is holding steady at 12°C.
Surf fishing in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Sunday:
ISO-400, 1/2000 at f/5.6, 123mm. Approximately here.
Shanghai, 18 April 2010:
ISO-400, 1/800 at f/8, 47mm. Taken approximately here.
Yesterday, just north of San Francisco: