Old McDonald Had a Farm

One of our goals for our Grand Adventure was to do a cultural immersion in a place that was different than the Bay Area, so the French countryside was an obvious combination of developed enough for me to feel comfortable going with my baby and different enough that I wouldnt feel like I was living my usual life in a different place.  I, however, was not expecting to feel culure shock coming to Chicago, a city I spent two years of my adult life living in.  I guess I have changed a lot in the past few years.

First, the food.  The cuisine here was always humorous to me, but I now find my stomach turning at the mere thought of a Chicago style hot dog, and other meals based on meat.   I think I'm gonna stick with Lilahs yogurt and oatmeal for the next few days. 

Then there is the wind.  Whoever says that Chicago is called The Windy City because of the politicians has never actually been in Chicago during the winter months.   It could literally knock you on your ass.  Kate was kind enough to drive us to the restaurant where we were meeting our other friends for lunch and the wind was insane as we pushed out of the car.  As we got out, we realized that Lilah's stroller had not been reassembled correctly after the plane ride so we are trying to put it together in the middle of the street in the middle of this wind storm.  Somehow in the middle of it all, Lilah falls dead asleep.  We do a happy dance cause, hey, sleeping baby during lunch.  Score!!!

So, we walk across the street to the restaurant and learn that they have been taking lessons from our friends at United Airlines because they have a No Strollers Inside policy.  They want me to wake her up, valet my stroller with the man standing outside, and come in to eat...Yeah, Right.  We huddled in the Starbucks foyer until our friends showed up then walked a couple blocks to this hole in the wall Indian restaurant that was entirely populated by families with small children (other stroller rejects?). They had nice waitstaff and GREAT naan.  Score Again!!

The other cultural thing that stood out today occured during our visit to the little farm at the Lincoln Park Zoo. 

 White Chocolate Space Egg

Most of it was similar to our little farm back home however inside their barnyard, rather than animals is the largest piece of propaganda I have ever seen, sponsored by the Soybean Growers of Illinois.  I know that coming from CA, I might have an especially negative view of the role of soy in the US food supply, but this was over the top.  I am trying to imagine what would happen back home if an agribusiness company ever dared sponsor an exhibit at the Little Farm, let alone one with obvious political bias.  Occupy the Little Farm!!

Ode to Soy