A Chicago Kind of Day

It's primary election day here in Illinois. Pretty exciting stuff, for someone whose last time in a voting booth was a ballot for Bill Bradley in the 2000 primary. Sure, there have been a few absentee ballots since then, but those never get counted. And I tried to register in DC, but it never actually went through. Bottom line: I was pretty stoked to take part in the grand Chicago tradition of elections.

Given that there have been zero advertisements for any presidential candidate here, I have a feeling that race in Illinois is pretty sewn up. Ditto for the senator and representative, both running unopposed in the Democratic primary. But what about the people who get things done around here? The city, county and state officers who make recycling impossible, shut down the CTA and decide to suddenly impose a $40 tax on owning a car just because they feel like it.

I was looking forward to making my voice heard on a local level until I saw the ballot a few days ago: twenty-seven different offices and questions to vote on, and not nearly enough information around to make a reasonable decision. I ended up abstaining on most of the choices, unless someone had a sweet name (that means you, Thaddeus L. Wilson) or ran an ad that was amusing (that means you, Jay Paul Deratany). This information probably means nothing to you, but it was pretty neat to finally have a vote that counts, even if it's being counted with a whole bunch of dead people that Daley resurrected for election day.

Aside from being Super Tuesday, it's also Fat Tuesday today, if you hadn't heard. I can't get excited for Mardi Gras ever since they tore Lulu's down. But yesterday a Polish friend alerted me to the existence of the paczki (pronounced 'pinch-key', sort of), a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened sphere and filled with plums or other sweet filling. It's a special Polish donut made to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house before Lent. And that is something I can get behind.

The big paczki vendor in my neighborhood sold out before noon, so I had to do a little searching. Sweet Cakes Bakery is nearby, but they don't make 'em. (Normally I'd make fun of a vegan bakery with a myspace page and a weird fence you had to walk through to get into their courtyard in the middle of a city. But they had this weird full-size horse statue inside the gate that I'm afraid might come to life at night and eat me.)

Luckily, there is a traditional Polish bakery a block away and they had several paczkis left. I meant to get one or two just to try, but they looked magnificently delicious, so I ended up with six. And I cannot wait to have them all for lunch.

To continue the typical Chicago day, we're expecting anywhere from two to twelve inches of snow tonight, to go along with last Friday's eight inches and Sunday's surprise four. As my semi-Bolivian friend likes to say, Holy Zita!

Happy Tuesday everyone. May your beads fly as high as your dreams.