Cake and Commerce

What to imbibe on a Monday night?

I don't know. But I'm going to bet that Drinktown knows exactly what will fit my budget and taste on any given night.

If you happen to be lucky enough to live in Chicago, Milwaukee, Baltimore or Washington DC, Drinklog can tell you where the specials are flowing at bars all over the city.  Combining bar listings with with Google Maps, Drinktown is indispensible for anyone looking to get liquored up every night of the week. Or even just a single night. In Chicago alone there are 381 bars listed! That could, potentially, keep you novelty-seekers busy for the better part of a year, or less if you happen to like pub crawls.

The Burrito Bracket

Reading through a blog today, I came across The Burrito Bracket, one person's entirely subjective March Madness-style competition between 16 burrito joints in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago.

The blog launched late last week and promises to be a 15 week quest to find the best in Wicker Park. There's a bracket and a map for folks wanting to play along at home.

Good Luck, Nate. And take lots of antacids.

My sister's dog looks like a chocolate lamb

And here's the proof.

Sage Garden Advice

This summer my garden went off without too many hitches. I've made pounds of pesto, gallons of tomato sauce, and even dried my own camomile for tea this winter (see photo for camomile in various states of dessication). Yes, I had to pull up the summer squash after a particularly hairy infestation of what I previously thought to be a benevolent insect (turns out their grubs ain't so sweet), and yes, I didn't do well fighting the red spider mites on the tomatoes. Had I any foresight I would have turned to Dave's Garden, a pretty fantastic resource for garden enthusiasts. Dave's is a great source of heirloom breeders, garden tips, advice, and yes, roach identification and eradication.