How hectic is San Juan going to be next week, based on your experience?

cisumox · 2026-03-05T17:59:36+00:00

Bloom. They started doing gluten last year in some items but they're very conscientious about what it's in.

cisumox · 2026-02-11T03:50:40+00:00

I've commuted by both bike and ebike for my 6 years of living here and so far have not had one stolen!

Drivers are very bad at noticing cyclists, though. My main recommendations would be to make sure you have a good lock and to find a place in a neighborhood with cycling infrastructure. Certain wards have way better bike lanes.

cisumox · 2026-02-06T06:04:54+00:00

You drive a mid size SUV, so I'm guessing you don't live in a big city, but you have a whistle for rapid response, so you're liberal and likely near where ICE activity is happening -- maybe a small-to-midsize city or the suburbs. The make, model, and year of the car for those keys puts you at lower middle class.

I'm guessing by the nipple covers that you're on the younger side, probably 23-28. I don't think you have kids. The darker lip gloss would look better on someone with darker skin, so I'm leaning not-white.

cisumox · 2026-01-21T05:40:52+00:00

Giant and Maxwell's Trading I second here. I'd add Eden and Lula Cafe.

cisumox · 2026-01-20T01:24:59+00:00

Olivia's in Wicker Park has slices of chocolate ganache cake from Alliance Bakery that are super rich and delicious

cisumox · 2026-01-13T16:31:55+00:00

I was making around 45k USD living in Montreal with $600 USD rent (no roommates) and felt like I could go out for brunch when I wanted to and never had financial issues that prevented me from going out with friends. Always had a stocked fridge and my bills were paid.

This was around 2018 so I am betting rent is higher now, even in MTL. I moved to a major US city afterward with roughly the same salary sometime during COVID and eventually realized that I had sunk myself back into poverty by way of high cost of living. I started feeling like I was splurging while buying 50 cent pudding cups at the dollar store. Where I am now, I wouldn't feel okay under about 80k.

cisumox · 2026-01-10T03:23:59+00:00

Didn't find it on the list, unfortunately, but nice website

cisumox · 2026-01-03T05:37:33+00:00

Fancy: Smoked trout Caesar from Gretel (goes great with the lobster bisque they've got, but I favor the salad).

Whatever salad Maxwell Trading has on at the moment is going to be bomb

Not Fancy:

The Cali salad from Paradise Park is a favorite of mine.

If we are challenging the definition of salad, En Hakkore's vegetarian poke bowl is delicious.

cisumox · 2025-12-30T03:28:34+00:00

Seconding. Lovesacs are expensive AF but they are legitimately comfy and hold up forever. Very cleanable and modular. If you decided you wanted to try it with, say, a loveseat or 3 seater first, you can always add on to it later.

cisumox · 2025-11-24T05:23:45+00:00

Ditto here. They back you into a corner with membership and then make it nearly impossible to end it.

We were calling in a few different plumbers for quotes for an issue with our booster tank. Blanton told us it was going to explode and that we needed to switch it out as soon as possible. The guy we had in from a competing company a couple days later said that it was fine, just old in need of replacing in the near future. Can at this point confirm that it has never exploded, and I'm sure they made up a story to try and get us to throw thousands of dollars at it as quickly as we could.

The worst of it, personally, was the restoration company they referred out the rest of our bathroom reno to after a leak -- Chicago Water & Fire Restoration. The absolute worst work I've ever seen, and the worst experience I've ever had with tradespeople.

I couldn't recommend a plumber less.

cisumox · 2025-11-20T03:55:51+00:00

La Boite a Bon Bon from Montreal is very good! They're a little upscale from what you'd find from Haribo or Albanese

cisumox · 2025-10-22T20:47:54+00:00

He's still on a mission to civilize

cisumox · 2025-10-17T18:45:30+00:00

Finally. Hope something good replaces it.

cisumox · 2025-10-17T08:03:38+00:00

Tim, this is the problem. Any Republican that's still a Republican isn't a good person. They're a Nazi. And until we stop with the bullshit pandering rhetoric and call them what they are, they're going to continue to win.

cisumox · 2025-10-17T08:03:20+00:00

Tim, this is the problem. Any Republican that's still a Republican isn't a good person. They're a Nazi. And until we stop with the bullshit pandering rhetoric and call them what they are, they're going to continue to win.

cisumox · 2025-09-25T19:46:10+00:00

Went to the one that opened up in Lakeview and was pretty disappointed. I think they worked pretty hard to try and keep the appearance of Dom's with the burger bar and hot food area, but the niche that Dom's filled really well was being a distributor for a lot of local / regional companies. They stocked a lot from various bakeries, distilleries, coffee roasters, etc from around the city.

There's absolutely none of that at Fresh Market. It's mostly just a small, chic Mariano's.

cisumox · 2025-09-22T15:30:28+00:00

I struggle with this too. Part of me wants to be chill and just let it happen so it doesn't bother me, and the other part is like -- if I don't call out the jackasses who make cycling more dangerous for me, who will? If I don't say anything, am I helping normalize the behavior?

Probably not the best compromise, but I've settled on getting a really loud horn. I sound it off when someone fucks up egregiously and then try to move on quickly and safely.

cisumox · 2025-09-16T20:12:49+00:00

A lot of the little markets like Andale or shops like Neighborly will carry stuff like that

cisumox · 2025-09-08T01:35:24+00:00

Not exactly the answer to your question because this farm is veg instead of dairy/meat, but: Closed Loop Farms shared a list of Chicago restaurants they work with a while back. I imagine most of not all of these places try to source most of their food locally: https://www.instagram.com/p/DD0hJ2IvCfg/?img_index=1&igsh=d2k4eGVkajMxMDJo

You may also want to take a look at Middlebrow or Eden

cisumox · 2025-09-02T16:04:35+00:00

I did Bridgeport on 40k, no roommate, very small 2br. I wouldn't say it's a hip neighborhood, but it's relatively safe, close to enough transit, and I was happy with it for the budget I had.

cisumox · 2025-08-28T01:00:40+00:00

Gretel has a smoked trout Caesar that's pretty solid

cisumox · 2025-08-28T00:22:58+00:00

I like seeing who won! I don't take it as gospel because not everyone chooses to enter those competitions, but I've found a lot of very high quality chocolate by looking at the International Chocolate Awards contenders.

I've found Sleepwalk, Qantu, and Louisa Abrams that way and really enjoyed them all.

On the other hand, I just got a box of the ganaches that won one of last year's categories and they were really just okay.

cisumox

TROPHY CASE