My Life with Food 1: Glory Days

My life changed forever when I moved into the room next to Chris Wu's on the second floor of Bennett Hall. I started helping him in his Shimer Saving duties, answering the phones and typing his newsletter (kind of funny since he is a much better typist than I).

There was no hot water for showers. Everyone showered at the Moons' house on a less-then-ideal regularity.

There was no food service so we cooked our own in Bennett's small kitchen or, like Chris, ate out.  We started hanging out which involved a lot of me watching Chris eat since I had no money. And, despite all odds but as you might guess, eventually we fell in love - but you knew that already.

When, also despite all odds, Shimer reopened in the Fall, Chris moved back into his room on first floor Howe and I moved in upstairs. I was hired to run breakfast service and sometimes would bring Chris breakfast in bed when I was finished.

Since I was finally being paid, I could actually partake of the restaurant fare when I joined Chris.

The choices were limited: breakfast at Dot's (great donuts and pie),

cheeseburgers (and pinball) at Eisenhart's ("Want onions?") for lunch,

 

pizza for dinner at Sievert's,

followed by a late night cheese plate at Poffy's Tavern.

Once in a while, we'd trek to Savannah for pizza or greasy tacos at the Riverboat. For special occasions, we went to the Brunswick for broasted chicken (famous for Kim Conley stealing Chris's crunchy chicken skin) or the Black Angus (no relation to the chain) where we hosted our rehearsal dinner years later. The nearest Chinese food was 30 miles away at the Freeport Hotel. For a really big weekend, we'd drive for three hours into Chicago for a concert or first run movie, deep dish pizza and Greek food.

I celebrated Christmas with the Wus and Chris gave me a culinary tour of Kansas City:

burnt ends at Bryant's BBQ,

a pork tenderloin that overhung the bun by inches at Joe's Grill,

burgers and shakes at Winstead's.

  

The whole family (except for Frankie who slept in) joined Dr. Wu (whose patients were cooling their heels in his waiting room) for french toast at Waid's.

Frankie, Chris's mom, made Stone Soup (beef vegetable with a side of folklore) and spaghetti sauce (her secret was not to brown the meat first). We had a traditional holiday dinner, including three kinds of dressing (oyster, chestnut and plain) none of which I liked since I hate wet bread. The whole family made jaio tze (pork and shrimp dumplings) on New Year's Eve.

After winter break, Chris and I moved into a first floor apartment near downtown Mt. Carroll. Chris stole some pots and pans and gold silverware from his mom. I started cooking more, most notably chili so hot that the leftovers had to be saved in glass jars marked with a skull and crossbones.

I didn't have a cookbook or any real skills so I limped along, often derailed by a fridge from the 1950s that was was broken most of the time.

When Chris graduated from Shimer in 1978, we packed up his Maverick and moved to California. The Bay Area had EVERYTHING (except deep dish pizza). I had shrimp for the first time and actually got tired of Chinese food. We didn't have a lot of money so Kam's in Berkeley offered a huge menu at reasonable prices. As a student at UC Berkeley, I got addicted to fancy coffee drinks and scones and Top Dog.

We tried Ethiopian food (not a fan) and Thai food (loved it). We celebrated at Cafe Venezia, a tiny Italian restaurant decorated with trompe l'oeil buildings festooned with laundry lines. I bought a couple of cookbooks at the used book stores on Telegraph. One was a beginner's guide to Chinese food and I tried making egg rolls and sweet and sour pork. Life was pretty good.