While we know that our home has a kitchen, we’re not entirely familiar with it. We usually use the refrigerator for storing beer and the stove for storing bags of potato chips. Based on our knowledge of the “beer and potato chips room,” it’s easy to understand why our summer diet hasn’t exactly gone as planned, which is why
we’re checking out the Chopping Block tomorrow night for a healthy cooking lesson.

Put together by the editors of SELF magazine’s special SELF Dishes issue, the evening promises cocktails and a hands-on cooking class followed by dinner. On the menu for the evening are Pepper Coriander Scallops with Tarragon, a Pepper Golden California Raisin Salad, Soy and Citrus Marinated Flank Steak Kebabs and Mini Yogurt Coffee Cakes. Chicagoist is a little afraid of what might happen if we were left in the “beer and potato chips room” by ourselves with pepper, tarragon and raisins, so we’re happy to have the guidance.

We’ll let you know how our Pepper Flank Steak Coffee Cake turns out on Thursday.

The SELF Dishes cooking event takes place tomorrow night, June 20th from 6:00pm – 9:30pm at The Chopping Block Merchandise Mart location. To register for the class, go here.

Looking to go to Taste of Chicago and come away satiated, while having paid less than you would have inside the restaurant? It is possible — if you do your homework ahead of time. Or if you let the Sun-Times do it for you.

The annual food festival starts June 29 and features more than 70 restaurants serving up taste-sized and regular-sized portions of food. If you have been, you know; Taste of Chicago creates its own mini-economy where 11 food tickets at Taste sells for $7, or about 64 cents a ticket. As the beers get consumed, figuring out how much a Taste ticket is actually worth becomes increasingly more complicated, so Chicagoist thinks it is best to create a plan of attack early on.

First, the good deals:

• At Robinson's No. 1 Ribs, a half slab of baby-back ribs is $9.95. At Taste of Chicago, a little bit less than a half slab is $6.40, or 10 tickets.
  
• At the Abbey Pub a corned beef sandwich is $8.30. At Taste of Chicago, the sandwich is $5.76, or nine tickets.
  
• At Connie's Pizza, the meatball sandwich is $7.71. At the Taste, it will set you back $3.84 or six tickets.

Now, the bad deals:

Pretty much everything else is a bad deal, from what we could tell. Harry Caray's offering seems particularly egregious: their fresh-cut potato chips will sell for $5.12 at Taste, but you can get them for free any time you like in the restaurant's bar.

Taste of Chicago runs June 29-July 8; in addition to the food, the festival offers a free (er, yawn-inducing) concert series.

Photo of last year's Taste of Chicago via Flagtothefloor.

Although many here in Chicago don't celebrate today as a holiday, June 19 marks Juneteenth, a day commemorating the announcement of the abolition of slavery Texas, and the end of slavery in the US. On June 19, 1865, 2,000 Union troops arrived on Galveston Island to take possession of the Texas and enforce the emancipation proclamation, more than two years after it took effect. Recognized in 14 states (including Texas) as an official holiday, it is not always considered a "legal holiday", meaning that state business continues unabated. Officially it's a state holiday in Texas (although really just a "partial staffing day" there - meaning that government offices aren't actually closed).

In many way, today marks a day of more than just memory: for many it is a day of personal and spiritual growth, a day of national reflection and local focus. 142 years after the end of the Civil War, and 43 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, we have come far as a society. Equal rights and protection under the law are guaranteed, and generally people in the US have the freedom to be what they choose. Notions of racism and discrimination have become, at least institutionally, shameful, although in many parts of the nation (including here in Chicago) they continue to thrive behind closed doors.

As we look forward on another year of struggle and hopefully progress, we hope that today will remind us of where we have come from, and that all of our tomorrows will carry forth with notions of liberty and equality. Without the basic goodness of mankind, and the inherent hope of our forefathers, what do we leave for future generations?

Image via Ernest Berry

Well, the list started leaking last week for the (far superior) North Stage at this year's Wicker Park Summerfest, and now we have the full line-up. Not bad ... not bad at all. We're looking to sipping beer with the hipsters AND the yuppies that weekend.

Saturday, July 28th
The Thermals
Man Man
Centro-Matic
Maritime
Catfish Haven
Skybox
Fancy Trash

Sunday, July 29th
High On Fire
Russian Circles
Pit Er Pat
Sybris
The Race
Don Caballero
Mannequin Men

On both days there's also a "Kids Show" going on from 12 p.m. until the big boys take the stage at 2:25 p.m. I hope at least a few those toddlers sticks around to be wowed by High On Fire!

We took a break from our Dungeons and Dragons to check out the competitive gaming taking place at the Chicago Cultural Center this weekend, which played host to the 2007 U.S. Open. We’re not talking about tennis here. We’re talking about the Rubik’s Cube Championship, where the winner of the 3x3x3 Speed Solve gets an all-expense-paid trip to the 2007 World Rubik’s Cube Championship in Budapest.

The competition was was sanctioned by the World Cube Association, and included sub-categories, the one-handed speed solve and the blindfold solve, as well as solves for Cubes of all sizes. Competition was fierce, with those not qualifying with a single solve in 24.00 seconds being relegated to the consolation round. It’s where we separate the men from the boys, people.

As if those competitions are not exciting enough, they had a number of side events, featuring Square-1, Magic, Master Magic, 3x3x3 Fewest Moves, Pyramix, and Clock. And of course, there were the trading cards. Trading cards of cube champions. Competition spanned both days this weekend, with the qualification rounds on Saturday and the final rounds on Sunday. And in case you’re wondering how the Rubik’s Competition Season will end in Budapest, you can follow the rankings on-line.

The competition is part of Art of Play, a collaborative effort of Chicago cultural organizations, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Chicago Office of Tourism, the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Bureau of Tourism. The summer-long festival, of sorts, highlights interactive play and gaming with special events and exhibits throughout the city, highlighting that some of our country’s best toys and games. (Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys) grew up right here in the Chicago area.)

"Exotica was a round-trip ticket departing everyday for something more fabulous. It had the feel of distant places, but it took you to spots never before trekked by man ... All this cultural production promised a world more primitive and less mediated than life in the burgeoning white collar states. Exotica was more than a sound, it was design movement, and a pop art reaction to a Cold War paradigm that said all that was evil lurked barely outside our sacred borders. 'Let's cross over!," exotica replied." --RJ Smith, from "Ultra-Lounge, Vol. 1: Mondo Exotica"

According to James Teitelbaum, author of the brand new book Tiki Road Trip 2, in the mid-'60s Chicago boasted no less than two dozen tiki establishments. In its heyday it was as ubiquitous, perhaps, as karaoke is in ours. But changing tastes (including the quagmire of Vietnam) saw tiki going out of favor during the '70s. The last remaining vintage Chicago tiki palace, the Palmer House Trader Vic's, closed on New Year's Day 2006; it had been there almost 50 years but the hotel's new corporate owners decided that the Loop needed more underground shopping space. It's set to reopen in a new location but that may not happen until next year. Although The California Clipper does have a "tiki room," for real exotica action you have to head to the burbs. Places such as Hala Kahiki, the Tiki Terrace, Chef Shangri La and Tong's Tiki Hut still offer wonderful escapism for the discerning lounge tourist.

A hardcore group of aficionados, using sites such as Humu Kon Tiki and Tiki Central to stay connected, has kept the tiki torch burning bright. And since summer is the perfect time to indulge in tropical libations, surf-music and the wearing of Hawaiian shirts, tiki fans Duke and Amy Carter have organized Exotica 2007: Surfin' in Chicago, a four-day festival.

The main event is Saturday July 7th at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn, which starts off with a Tiki Bazaar. Vendors will be displaying everything from vintage and contemporary Tiki mugs, to Aloha attire and hand-carved tikis. Later, guest DJs will spin the best of Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman in preparation for the headliners, the legendary Minneapolis group The Trashmen. In 1963 they mashed up two songs by the Rivingtons, named it "Surfin' Bird," and rode the charts to #4. Other bands include The Bikini Beachcombers, The Reluctant Aquanauts, The Volcanos, The Neanderthals and Los Santos.

Modern tiki doesn't have to be the stereotype of sorority girls getting wasted on sugary sweet "jungle juice" while their boyfriends drunkenly sing-along with Jimmy Buffett. Instead it can be a fun appreciation of vintage cocktail classics such as the Mai Tai and Shrunken Skull, the musical arranging genius of Les Baxter and the utterly relaxing environment of an ersatz tropical paradise. So let's cross over.

Full details and advance tickets available at the Exotica 2007 site. Image via ROCKOVERGRACELAND.

Pitchfork has announced that the super-affordable three-day passes for their festival, along with tickets to Friday night's bill (featuring one band we're really excited to see), are already sold-out.

Tickets for Saturday and Sunday are still available. But believe us when we say that with a line-up including (and this is just a teensy sampling) Cat Power, Girl Talk, Oxford Collapse, The New Pornographers, Stephen Malkmus, De La Soul, Klaxons, and The Ponys, we're sure that won't be the case for much longer.

In other Pitchfork related news, The Reader dropped news of some killer afterparties going on at The Empty Bottle during the Pitchfork Festival weekend -- our pick of the three shows would be Saturday's bill with Flosstradamus, Chromeo, and Thunderheist -- so we're really trying to figure out just when we're going to be able to fit some sleep into that weekend's bulging schedule.

UPDATE: Perhaps Sissy Boy Slap Party will be added to the bill at the last second?

“I promise you, this story is going some place. I’m not simply blogging,” said author Erik Larson at the Printers Row Book Fair, which was in full swing today.

What we love best about hanging out with author-types like Larson is that they just know how to tell a damn good story -- the stories about trying to write, or the stories that don’t fit into a particular cookie cutter format. That is, if you don’t count ‘hanging out’ as a particular format. So before a standing-room-only audience, the author of the Chicago-themed Devil in the White City and now Thunderstruck told a story about traveling to Italy to research Thunderstruck and being awe-struck when President Clinton walked into the dive restaurant where he and his daughter were dining. As Larson foreshadowed, there’s no way we can do this story justice in a blog post, so we’re just gonna have to leave you hanging.

Larson was one of the more than 150 authors who are being featured throughout the weekend. Chicagoist found many literary heavyweights: Studs Terkel, Walter Mosley, Joyce Carol Oates, and Sara Paretsky to just name a few. “Conversations” between Tribune reporters and authors, readings, and Q&A sessions are scheduled throughout the day, and are free for the having.

You won’t find many elephant ears at this festival, but there are more than 150 writing groups, literary journals, and booksellers, including resellers of rare and collectable books. The fair runs again tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. along Dearborn between Congress and Polk.

It's our 3rd Anniversary Party at Subterranean tonight!

We are very, VERY excited to finally be past our twos!

We are even more excited that this event is open to a broad swathe of our readers since it's open to everyone 18 and over. (And for those of you over 21, we're sure you're excited about the $2.50 pints of Goose Island available all night long.)

We've spent the past few days talking to and previewing the acts that will be performing tonight so be sure you catch up with Milk At Midnight, Sweetish, We Make Thunder, and The Hood Internet DJs before you come out tonight.

And, of course, we'll have free stuff for our guests, giveaways, and other surprises, so get there early and stay late so you make sure you don't miss ANYTHING!

Just a quick reminder ... we're celebrating our 3rd Anniversary with and 18 and over show at Subterranean this Thursday. We've lined up the musical talents of Milk At Midnight, Sweetish, and We Make Thunder to get your toes tapping with tunes catchier than a cross-continental tour of TB. And we've got The Hood Internet DJs STV SLV and ABX spinning until the wee hours of the morning. And we'll have the staff of Chicagoist there for you to pat on the back / argue with animatedly throughout the evening!

Also, with the help of Goose Island, we're bringing you $2.50 pints of Goose Island 312 all night long to limber you up, loosen your lips, and provide plenty of social lubrication.

So, we'll see you this Thursday! Doors are at 8:30 p.m. so get there early and to take full advantage of our generous drink special and general bonhomie.

Part of an international movement, Chicago’s fourth-annual World Naked Bike Ride is set for this coming Saturday. Check-in will be from 6 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. in Union Park, near 100 N. Ashland, at the statue of former Mayor Carter Henry Harrison, Sr. He would be so proud. The official e-mail announcement arrived in Chicagoist’s mail box today, and warns non-participants and disruptive people will be turned away, suggesting you’re not welcome if you’re just a gawker. Apparently, the route is secret until the ride actually commences at 9 p.m., suggesting if you’re just there to watch, you should be “on Clark or Halsted near Belmont” (?) around 10:45 p.m. or Rush at State around 11:30 p.m.

“The WNBR’s objective is to create a fun and conspicuous event promoting freedom from oil dependency as well as positive body image,” says the e-mail from Andrew Bedno. We can’t think of anything more conspicuous than riding bikes through the city in the middle of the night butt-naked.

“The event is bare-as-you-dare. Outfits from thong and body paint, to fanciful costumes, to street clothes are all fine,” continued Bedno. “Past rides...covered about 20 miles of high visibility tourism and recreational areas,” Bedno indicates, in case participants might forget they will be riding through the city with few clothes on.

He includes a few precautionary tips for riders, pointing out that running around nude is illegal, but naked bodies can take steps to reduce the risk. Such as arriving clothed, or not carrying open alcohol. “Exposed genitals or female nipples may make you a target for arrest,” he writes. “Do so at your own risk, and not until the ride is underway. Even naked butts may be risky.” We wonder what might make one naked butt more of an arrest risk than the next.

And finally, “For maximum 1st amendment protection...integrate nudity with your message.” He includes an example, “this naked body burns calories not oil.”

Even the most naked of riders are encouraged to wear the very minimum - a helmet.

Image of Vancouver's Naked Bike Ride courtesy of freetoeknee.