Impressions of Chicago continued

Well Possums. In my home city of Melbourne, you could expect to find the best coffee in the world. We Melbournians appreciate our coffee. Now I have learnt in Chicago that their attitude to coffee is very different. They just don’t take it seriously enough. If you ask for a Latte, they give you weird choices like, would you like a honey vanilla latte or regular?

We went to a very classy cafe for brunch yesterday called the Grand Lux. The Grand Lux is on the first floor of a building on North Michigan Ave in The Golden Mile. Now if you haven’t been to Chicago before and you don’t know about The Golden Mile (like me about 36 hours ago) then I suggest you google it because it’s a famous shopping presinct here in Chicago and there is sure to be heaps written on it.

Well, I did agree to the honey vanilla latte for novelty value. My colleagues also agreed to various modifications to their usual coffee choices. What we received were coffees in tall, large, white mugs – these mugs were bigger than any cup in Melbourne, I’m sure. Our various coffee choices all came topped with creams or sweeteners. Mine was overlayed with creamy stuff and lots of honey drizzled in a criss cross pattern – no classic coffee bitterness for us that day! One of my colleagues couldn’t abide by the cream and asked for a plate to scrape it off onto. I drank mine but was left craving a coffee because I felt like I had just had dessert. And by the time we got a third of the way down these enormous cups, the coffee had cooled down.

I noticed on our way out at 11.30 that as well as tucking into enormous meals, people had already begun to order cocktails! I left wondering whether it is a common thing in America to be tucking into cocktails before midday, or whether because it was Easter Sunday, people were binging after abstinence during lent. But I didn’t know when lent ended because its not a common thing in Australia.

Outside the restaurant I checked what my colleagues knew about lent. Mid-way through a discussion on this topic with one colleague, she suddenly paused to point out the hilarity of the conversation. She is a Melbournian but is originally from India, an athiest and an ex-Hindu! We walked back down Michigan Avenue then in fits of laughter. I said, its funny that you knew more about it than me. She replied, I think its funny you even asked me!

We peeled off in laughter then and everytime we looked at eachother it just got worse. I was having to stop and cross my legs, wishing I’d gone to the dunny in the Grand Lux before we left (the pelvic floor can’t take the extra stress so easily after four kids, Possums) . And the jet lag was starting to kick in at that stage. When I’m tired I get the giggles. The same thing happened lining up at customs. Yes, I call it nutty power, but its a kind of delirium caused by lack of sleep, and maybe too much sugar!