Why I Oughta...

With the election for Chicago's Mayor set for tomorrow, it is all everyone is talking about in the papers this morning.  My employer was fortunate to have Rahm Emanuel come by for an hour and a half of tour and discussion with my fellow employees about a wide range of issues including bike lanes, CPS, wind energy, crime and more. I was able to host him and his staff on the tour and speak to him about issues and the city.  While he certainly is qualified to lead our city, I came away from my time with him impressed by his knowledge of the issues he cares about and his clear passion for getting the job done.   Are you voting tomorrow?  I don't live in the city, so I can't, but of the choices, I think he'd get my vote.

Now that you've seen some of the seeds , I figured I should show what they're growing in:  my non-peat coconut coir temporary plastic greenhouse.  These things are pretty slick:  you place a pod in each compartment, pour water on top and they grow like Sea Monkeys .  They eventually stop being so cylindrical and fill up the whole compartment much like what would happen if you just poured soil into each one. There's 72 little compartments - each with a few seeds.  We'll know in a week or so if anything pops up or germinates. By the way...did you know we're not supposed to be using peat?  This dire warning came with the kit.  It takes 220 years to regrow the amount of peat we use for gardening purposes?  That's crazy talk.

Sadly, the original Home Run Inn didn't make the top 25 pizzas in Chicago, but it should have.  We went down to the restaurant and checked out the place in all of it's glory for a Score 670 live radio appearance.  It was A LOT of fun and made the experience more interesting. As you all know by now, I have a go-to pie:  sausage and pepperoni.  The good folks at Home Run Inn are VERY deft and churning out that particular pie.  It is very tasty. The store has expanded to cover the corner, but look at this old photo!  They should bring that old-school logo back.  "The Pizza King".  Pretty rad.  Oh...and is that BI.7 the phone number?   

Vegetable number two for my seed experiment are these Big Max Pumpkins.  As you can see, they're billed as "Competition Size" and the package boasts of pumpkins with 70" circumferences and 100 lbs of weight.  I'm doubtful, but I'm willing to give them a shot!

After having a lot of fun with my first-year garden, I figured year two warranted more attention. Some time last fall, I decided that I was going to try my hand at growing my own crops from seeds.  But, since the little plants are pretty stinkin' cheap, growing vegetable plants from seeds doesn't generally make a lot of sense.  But...the one catch is that plants that they generally sell at most garden centers are hybrids and common varieties that grow well and aren't all that unique.  However, even if they don't make a lot of economic sense to grow,  I still want to grow unique or hard-to-find seedlings.   And that's what I'm going to do!  There isn't a better project that I can think of for mid-February, right? First up?  San Marzano Tomatoes.  You know the ones:  the perfect pizza tomato ! Anyone know where I can get some volcanic ash to add to my soil?

Happy Birthday to me!  Well...not exactly me, rather my blog! Today marks the 7th anniversary of my first blog post .  Some of the older years (2004-2006) archives are scattered across the web and with the help of the Way Back Machine, I've been trying to rebuild them all over here at JakeParrillo.com. Courtesy of said Way Back Machine, here's what it looked like back in 2005 at RhodesSchool (below).  Some of you old timers may remember these days.  Lots of terrible posts, but plenty of laughs along the way. Last year, I used the occasion to debrief my first month back at blogging every day - and I'm happy to say that I've kept at it in 2011.  Here's to another year of living life with a great wife, amazing daughter and a really fun job.

Via Google's new Androidify Android app comes this self portrait.  What's with the turkey leg?  I figured I had to include something fun.  Aside from that oddity, what do you think?  Top-siders and baby bjorn?  Seem about right, don't they?