Weekend Jaunts

By Timmy Watson in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 13, 2007 2:30PM

In order to allow for better preparation for your weekend jaunts, we are, from now on, going to combine our "what to do" posts into one article on Saturday mornings. We figured, no better weekend to start than when 90% of the city will be watching the Bears kick ass on Sunday anyway. Be sure to send us any information on events, we can search for things all we want, but you are the ones that know what's really going on.

• We've been hearing lots of buzz about Veggie Bite in the past few months. It's quite a trek for us, but we are finally making it out there today, which will hopefully satisfy this ridiculous compulsion to eat fast food. Veggie Bite is a vegan fast food restaurant with some awesome-looking cheese fries. Vegan fast food is a stretch, vegan fast food at 3031 W. 111th is a damn death wish. But, according to the owner in the Reader article, "We figured if we could make it in Mount Greenwood," says Watycha, "we could make it anywhere."
• McSweeney's and Dave Eggers released What is the What? in October, and while we normally act like hard covers don't exist, we snatched this one up pretty quickly. In McSweeney's — authors are the real rock stars — fashion, Eggers will be appearing at 826CHI, 1331 N. Milwaukee, with Valentino Achek Deng, the inspiration for the Sudanese character in the book. No tickets are necessary, and the book will be on sale at the event, which takes place on Sunday at 7 p.m.
• The beautiful bluish baby belugas are calling our name with their cute-ass little click noises. Today starts the Shedd Aquarium's free week in January. General admission is free to all guests, and the Oceanarium and Wild Reef tickets are available at a discount. Beluga watching is free though. The Shedd Aquarium, 1200 S. Lake Shore, is open from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.