I had a meeting in downtown Chicago on Friday at 2:00 PM. The office is on the other side of the Loop from Union Station. There was a train schedule to arrive about 20 minutes before the meeting, but I didn't want to run across the Loop and show up out of breath and sweaty. Especially if the train was five to ten minutes late it would be even worse.

At that time of the day the trains run every two hours, that meant I had to get on a train around 10:30 AM for a 2:00 PM meeting, which meant a fun day for Brad!

I went to my office to do a few things for a couple of hours first thing in the morning before I got on the train. I got into the city around 11:00 AM. I think I wrote here before about my quest for a place like Krema Nuts in Columbus that roasts their nuts fresh daily and locally. I finally found the place. It is called Ricci & Company. I walked from Union Station to the Quincy Street L stop, took the Brown Line around the Loop and got off at the Chicago Street stop. I walked one block east on Superior Street and there it was. A small little store front. As I was walking in three guys were walking out each with an armful of nuts. It was not much to look at inside, just a small little room with a counter to a little office and a counter to the back room. I ordered three pounds of jumbo peanuts, a pound of Spanish peanuts, and a pound of salted blanched almonds. The guy wrote this down on four plastic lined brown paper bags and handed it to another guy. The second guy filled and weighed my bags while I waited. Nothing pre-packaged. I love that! The first guy wrote up an invoice by hand for me and I paid him while my order was being filled. The nuts are delicious. Sweet and crunchy. Lots of flavor. I am going to try and make an effort to go their regularly.

After I got the nuts I got back on the L to the Loop to the area near my meeting. I finally got to go Central Camera after hearing about it for years.

For lunch I walked around the corner and had a great sub at Fontano's.

I wanted to review some documents before the meeting so I walked across the street to DePaul University, got a Diet Coke, ate some peanuts and read some documents for an hour or so. Then I walked to my meeting.

After the meeting we all went to the bar across the street for a few drinks.

That evening I picked up some pizza on my way home and we watched a bad movie.