Weekend 4-1-1 Chicago Style

November 7, 2019

Weekend 4-1-1

Drea Stein
La Belle Vie Journal

It's the weekend and it's time to kick back, relax and enjoy some well deserved time to rest and relax. We've got you covered at the LBV Journal with the 4-1-1 on what to read, watch and eat this weekend.

The theme - Chicago - yup the Windy City, the City on the lake or Chi-town. Why? I recently snuck into Chicago for about 30 hours this week and thought it looked like a fun place - I'll have to go back to be sure but I did see a drawbridge go up over the river, Lake Michigan, and had the chance to try some deep-dish.

Read - The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger is set in Chicago and spans multiple decades f Chicago landmarks. It's the story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who inadvertently travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare’s passionate affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love. (This one was made into a movie starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. Get out your hanky!)

If YA apocalypse novels featuring strong female characters are your thing, check out the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, which is set in a Chicago of the future. The books were made into movies starring Shailene Woodley and other cute young things.

And if you like urban fantasy you might enjoy the Chicagoland Vampire series by Chloe Neill. They feature a strong female lead who's the cross between a body guard and a private eye...who just happens to be a vampire. No movies for this series, alas, but I could totally see a CW series filled with cute young things playing vampires.

Watch - it's time for a classic rewind. Ferris Bueller's time off is the perfect ode to the ennui of suburban high school seniors trying to figure out who they are during a 'road' trip into the big city.

Mathew or John? Broderick or Cusack? If John Cusack's your fave check out High Fidelity, set in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Cusack plays a oddball record store owner and compulsive list maker who records his last 5 breakups, including the one that's happening right now. Great soundtrack and delightfully quirky.

To Eat - Make Pizza...Or order it. Deep dish, thin crust, grandma's pie or Sicilian, go ahead and have a slice or two. Grab some dough from the store and make it yourself or pick up a slice. You can try to make the deep dish - a Chicago classic - and it more like a pie crust filled with cheese and sauce, than a pizza dough. Or roll out some pie crust super thin and cook it on the grill (my tip - make several small pie and pre-cook them on the grill on a hot oven and then add your sauce and toppings and cook again!)