NPR

I’ll admit it. I’m a super, big-time, gigantic geek when it comes to National Public Radio. I listen to it in the car, and I subscribe to three podcasts that I listen to every day during my commute: American Public Media’s The Story, Fresh Air and This American Life. If Terri Gross or Ira Glass retire (these are serious concerns of mine) or quit, I honestly am not sure how my life will unfold.

Future husband. All we do is talk news, gossip about Chicago muckety mucks and drink wine. Lost of wine and talking and kissing. 

If I could choose one person to freeze time for, it would be TGross. I can't even handle when she's on vacation for  a week. 

Seventy-five percent of why I listen to NPR is because I think it’s one of the most trusted news sources out there. The other 25 percent is because listening to soothing voices while on the train or bus really makes the trek to and from Chicago more bearable.

My soothing voice fixation started when I lived in North Carolina. The superintendent of the school district I covered had his own TV show on public access. He would interview people within the district about their jobs. The camerawork was somewhat mystical, appearing as if there were a film over the lens. And his voice could put a colicky baby to sleep. His lips would smack ever so lightly and he would get some spittle on his tongue. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

I download a new episode of The Story and Fresh Air every day and a new one of This American Life every week. Most of them, I listen and delete. But there are a handful I’ve saved on my iPod to listen to during train naps, particularly because the voices are so soothing. Or sometimes because the subject matter is so interesting, I think I’ll want to hear it again. Here’s a rundown (get ready, it’s random):

•Gail Lumet Buckley. This is Lena Horne’s daughter, who appeared on Fresh Air to talk about a book she wrote about her mother. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126805290.

•Gary Shteyngart. He’s an author who was on Fresh Air promoting his new book “Super Sad True Love Story.” http://www.npr.org/2011/05/13/136240501/gary-shteyngart-a-love-story-in-a-sad-future.

•Robert and Dana Baer. Married couple who used to work for the CIA. They were on Fresh Air promoting their book, “The Company We Keep: A Husband-and-Wife True-Life Spy Story” (a book I highly recommend reading). Robert also wrote the book in which the movie “Syriana” is based and George Clooney played him. http://www.npr.org/2011/03/07/134330700/a-covert-affair-when-cia-agents-fall-in-love.

•David Dow. Author of “The Autobiography of an Execution.” Dow is a death penalty defense lawyer. www.npr.org/2010/02/08/123491414/20-years-of-defending-death-row-inmates.

•Michelle Williams. You may know her from “Dawson’s Creek,” but in this instance, she was discussing a TV movie she was in titled “Meek’s Cutoff.” And she gets super awkward talking about Heath Ledger. http://www.npr.org/2011/04/14/135206694/going-west-the-making-of-meeks-cutoff.

•Jess Goddell. A former Marine promoting her book on what it’s like to work in a military mortuary. http://www.npr.org/2011/06/21/137304590/death-and-after-in-iraq-memoir-of-a-mortuary.

•Jose Antonio Vargas. This is the Pulitzer Prize-winning New Yorker reporter who outed himself as an illegal immigrant in an article for the magazine. A pretty amazing story since he was able to get around the country with a fake ID and work as a journalist for The Washington Post and the New Yorker, among other big name publications. http://www.npr.org/2011/07/07/137648605/a-journalist-comes-out-as-an-illegal-immigrant.

•David Kennedy. A criminologist promoting his book on techniques used to get drugs off the street in various communities and how drugs wreak havoc on towns. http://www.npr.org/2012/11/09/164732917/interrupting-violence-with-the-message-dont-shoot.

•Barry Blitt. New Yorker cartoonist, who’s drawn such iconic images as the Obama’s fist bumping while wearing terrorist gear. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/20/146996406/new-yorker-cartoonist-imagines-washington-at-7.

•Oliver Sacks. The neurologist and author discussing his latest book, “Hallucinations.” And about how he used to trip out on acid and other drugs to see how his brain and body would react. http://www.npr.org/2012/11/06/164360724/oliver-sacks-exploring-how-hallucinations-happen.

•Barbara Streisand. No words. One of my favorites. http://www.npr.org/2012/12/17/166966172/guilt-trip-streisand-on-songs-films-and-family.

•Dianne Dwyer Modestini. This one has become a new favorite to listen to. Modestini was asked to clean and restore a painting, only to discover it was an original Leonardo Da Vinci. https://thestory.org/archive/20121228_The_Story__Discovering_Leonardo.mp3/view.

•Old Boys Network. This episode was on This American Life, which each week has a theme for which they come up with stories about. This one was about a hospital in Kermit, Texas, where the nurses tried to get rid of this doctor they felt was conducting malpractice. They ended up being clotheslined by local law enforcement, who was in cahoots with each other and the doctor.

•Breakups. I only listen to the last half of this episode of This American Life. They plan an interview from an 8-year-old, conducted on NPR about 20 years prior. The little girl had written the mayor of New York City a letter about her parents’ divorce, asking him to help. She was interviewed in present day and asked to reflect on that time and how much she’s changed and learned. The second part I listen to is a divorce lawyer discussing clients fighting over kids and assets and how most of them never reconcile.

Conventions: I looked for the last podcast I thought I had saved but I guess I deleted it. Which is OK, I guess, because it makes me cry every time I listen to it. It was a This American Life episode and one of the segments was about this couple who met at a convention. Love at first sight type of meeting. The world stops type of meeting.

They have a fast love affair, and fast-forward to a year or so later, and they’re both traveling to California to attend a Grateful Dead concert. Both had been battling the flu and were still getting over it. She heads home on a flight before him, and they have one of those epic goodbyes at the airport. She falls asleep on the plane and when the flight attendant went to wake her after they landed, she couldn’t. She was dead. The flu had attacked her heart and basically ate away at it. And NOW, this guy flies as much as he can because he feels closer to her when he’s in the air. Cue to me sobbing on the train when I first heard this story.

Gluttony

I realize I’ve been absent from the Aquarium for some time. Partly because I haven’t been inspired to write anything interesting. Mostly because the last entries I wrote, and some of my more entertaining entries in the past, were about Chach, and it’s still really hard to even think about him being gone, let alone reread what transpired over the last few months of his life. Today is one of the hardest days I’ve had in awhile (started randomly tearing up about him on the bus this morning) and I’m not sure why. I just miss that little face so much!

But, thanks to my boss’s recap from a conference she attended, where she was advised to spend five minutes each day doing SOMETHING creative, I’m back. For today.

I’ve had the opportunity to visit some really fantastic restaurants in the past few months. Some in Chicago and some in San Francisco, Napa, Calif., and New York City. I’m the geek who tries to order something different and then takes a picture of it.

Looking at pictures of food is like porn to me. So is watching “Barefoot Contessa,” but that’s also partly because I think Ina and Jeffrey do a great job at insinuating what’s to come in the bedroom after dinner.

“It’s Friday and Jeffrey’s driving in from the city. He DEMANDS that we have chicken on Fridays so I’m making roast chicken with thyme and lemon.”

(Ina smirks and raises her eyebrows).

“I just know he’s going to love it.”

Just look at Jeffrey. All he had done that day was drive his stupid BMW and think about cookies. Useless.

Wipe the drool off your face. Back to the Aquarium, where I’ll give a rundown of some of my favorite restaurants I’ve been to recently.

Sayat Nova: This one’s a favorite among the ADA News staffers. It’s an Armenian restaurant at Michigan and Ohio in Chicago. I hate gyros and am not a fan of lamb, so I was a little apprehensive when my boss chose it for her birthday lunch.

The menu wasn’t any more comforting, as Armenian kabobs are not the kabobs Jan and John Soderlund are grilling in Roselle. They’re more like a pita sandwich with meat and veggies. I settled on the trout stuffed with dill, cilantro, scallions and parsley. And I’ve thought about it ever since. It’s served with rice pilaf and is so light and flaky and lemony and herby and just a delightful lunch.

We went there again last week for a co-worker’s birthday and I ordered the same thing. Didn’t even open the menu. 

Aside from my love affair with the trout, the hummus at Sayat Nova is amazeballs. I recently made roasted red pepper hummus at home in my food processor, and there’s just no comparison. I decided to be sophisticated today and order Armenian coffee, which is the size and strength of espresso but all of the grounds sit at the bottom. “When it starts to get thick and grainy, you’re done,” my boss said. You’re then supposed to read your fortune, but we don’t deal in witchcraft here at the Aquarium.

The Sentinel: This is a sandwich shop in San Francisco I ordered lunch from while on a business trip. We were all stuck in the convention center office and needed to eat, so I offered to go pick up lunch. My boss stumbled upon this place through a Google search, so we decided to give it a try.

The address kind of says it all, 37 New Montgomery St. (at Stevenson Alley). It’s hard to even call it a shop, because The Sentinel is really just a storefront shack. But when I walked up, the line was around the block (into the alley), so I figured it must be good. It’s just a counter and a guy in the back making the sandwiches.  Their indescript website, www.thesentinelsf.com, doesn’t list any sides (but does have a photo of two random guys in a headlock) so my coworkers told me to just pick up whatever they had. And what they had was about five bags of barbecue chips. No other flavor, and there really seemed to be only five bags behind the counter.

But the sandwiches …ohhhhh the sandwiches. My boss ordered a veal and pork meatball sandwich that looked hearty and delightful while I stuck with an old faithful roast beef sandwich. One of the best I’ve ever had. The meat was pink and rare with some type of cheddar spread and horseradish sauce.

Sanraku: I’ve previously shouted from the rooftops that my all-time favorite sushi place is South Coast in the South Loop in Chicago. I’m ready to climb on the rafters again and proclaim Sanraku in San Francisco as my second favorite. This was an after-hours, “we’re all traveling on business together so we might as well share a civilized meal together” trip with three co-workers.

The restaurant is about as big as my bedroom, but the food more than makes up for the ambiance. The sushi tasted like my waiter took my order, hopped on the trolley to Fisherman’s Wharf to catch my dinner then beamed himself back to serve it. So. Fresh.

My co-workers got a little crazy and each ordered the saki sampler; a drink I can’t get on board with unless I’ve had many other drinks before. I was Debbie Downer and ordered a Sapporo beer.

Fish Story: This is a cute little restaurant on the river in downtown Napa, Calif. Moogs, Lauren and I lunched there before heading up the mountain in St. Helena to taste some wines (and prior to little Moogs getting sick in the back seat of the cab from all the winding mountain driving).

Fish Story is like many restaurants in California in that they serve “sustainable” and “farm fresh” food. California restaurants are all about you believing you are putting natural, won’t cause cancer food in your body. Fish Story is less my story and more Lauren’s tale. This was the site of the BEST SANDIWCH EVER, according to Ms. Franciose. I think it was some type of shrimp salad BLT. I didn’t have a bite but I trust such an orgasmic reaction. And honestly, I can’t even remember what I ordered. Lauren’s reaction has trumped my memory.

RPM: This is the new hot celebrity restaurant in Chicago. It’s partly owned by Bill and Giuliana Rancic (of “The Apprentice” and E! fame) and it’s a chi-chi Italian restaurant in River North. I was skeptical given the hype, celebrity attachment and that it was Italian (It’s rare that I LOVE Italian food in a restaurant). RPM is also mostly small plates; a fad in restaurants I wish would go away. I want my own meal and don’t want to share!

I went this summer with a group of girls and kept it real by ordering spaghetti and meatballs. Now, I have the mom who makes the best meatballs in the world so this was going to be a tough cage match. And, I have to say, RPM’s are some of the best meatballs I’ve had at a restaurant. I brought my mom there over Christmas and she reluctantly concurred.

Il Cortile: While I’m talking about Italian restaurants, I can’t not mention the best Italian meal I’ve had out. Il Cortile is one of the dozens of Italian restaurants in Little Italy in New York City. If you’ve ever been, you know it’s hard to choose which one to dine at. Guys stand outside with their (possibly fake) Italian accents telling my “beautiful face to just come inside and give us a try.” It’s hard to pick! Luckily, when my mom and I visited New York last year, her boss recommended Il Cortile and we loved it.

So we went back a few weeks ago when we filmed “Kelly and Janice Take New York Part Deux.” I ordered the same thing as last year, spaghetti Bolognese, and we ordered two meatballs as an appetizer and man it was good. I ate until I almost threw up, and we immediately retired to the hotel for a post-gluttony slumber.

Quality Meats: Random name for a restaurant, right? Almost stupid, like you are going to the butcher? I agree, and I almost didn’t click on the link when I Googled “best steakhouses in New York City,” but I’m so glad I did. This one’s on 58^th Street near Central Park and where my mom and I dined our first night in NYC this year. It was the last night the ADA was footing the bill for my meals, so I decided to go balls out (exceeding my $85 per diem rate).

The restaurant is sleek and dimly lit and …oh, I’ll get right to why I’m writing this post: they make your freakin’ steak sauce at the table. Like, mortar pestal style. What’s in it? In my “I’ve been drinking red wine all night and just ordered another bottle” state, all I remember is fresh thyme. But I do remember it being delightful. 

Not that my steak needed it. Perfectly medium rare and just melted in my mouth (to be cliché). Which is fitting since I’ve learned from the steak cook-off that Barefoot Contessa and Jeffrey had that most steakhouses sear their steaks on the stove before putting them in the oven with a pad of butter on top. Jeffrey grilled his and was NONE too pleased Ina won the challenge.

Maison: This is a lovely French bistro in Midtown Manhattan that has become a staple for the Soderlund girls’ NYC trip. Cappuccinos and complimentary beignets. Enough said.

That’s enough for now. My signature sin of gluttony will continue …