Archive for March, 2008
March 23rd, 2008
This small café and bar opened near the Metrocentre in November. We stopped by for a quick dinner last weekend and had a great time.
The menu features mostly sandwiches. You can build your own by choosing the bread, meat, cheese, and toppings or pick one of their choices. We first tried their Kiwi Café club panini. This delicious sandwich has turkey, ham, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo on Italian panini bread. Even though it was not a warm, melty panini straight off the grill, it was still a high quality sandwich that made for a great dinner. The second sandwich we tried was a meatball sub. This sub was perfectly sized with four great-tasting meatballs on a soft bun. All sandwiches come with a choice of a side. We suggest chips over pasta salad if that becomes a debate for you. Both of our sandwiches were $6; everything is very moderately priced!
We went at dinnertime so there was a strong bar feeling in the restaurant. However, if you go earlier for lunch, the café feel will be a little stronger.
The food and service were both excellent. Overall, we loved our trip to Kiwi Café and Bar. Being located so close to the Metrocentre, try Kiwi for a bite to eat before an Ice Hogs game or a concert.
[Kiwi is located at 211 Elm Street. Call them at 815.968.5494.]
March 21st, 2008
Our Spring Break officially began on Thursday, and we’ve thought of a few fun things to do. We’ll share a few of our ideas in case you’re looking for some ideas.
Springtime is the perfect time for road trips, and while the weather may not scream spring quite yet, we still enjoy them. We’ll probably head near Chicago for some shopping and dining. Our two favorite suburban malls are Woodfield and Oak Brook. Unless it warms up, we will definitely be going to mostly indoor Woodfield to check out H&M, Nordstrom, XXI Forever, Urban Outfitters, and DSW Warehouse. Check out the sale and clearance racks at DSW. Here, you find incredible deals on Puma, Steve Madden, BCBG, and many other adorable shoes. We cannot stress enough the values found in this store!
Shopping makes you hungry, so you will naturally want to grab a bite to eat. One of our favorite lunch spots in Woodfield is Stir Crazy, where you pick the noodles, meat, vegetables, and sauce for your own stir-fry. If you go here, try the passion fruit spritzers! Besides Stir Crazy, there are many other enjoyable chains around the mall, so you won’t have to venture too far from I-90 to find really good food. Maggiano’s Italian restaurant has huge portions, but the food is delicious. If you’ve never been there, we highly recommend it.
If you still want great food and don’t want to spend too much money on it, try making your own fun dish. To do this, visit Valli Produce, the new grocery store at Riverside and Alpine. All of their fruits, vegetables, and deli selections are very fresh and it’s quickly becoming our favorite grocery store. Plus, they have bakery-made, authentic Italian and Polish cookies. Delicious!
Something surprising to us is the number of people who have never been to some of Rockford’s finest offerings. Have you ever been to the Burpee Museum? How about the Discover Center or the Rockford Art Museum? These are all classic Rockford places that should be visited. Boring Spring Break days are the perfect times to do this.
Take some time this Spring Break to explore Spring Break and beyond. And just keep in mind: summer isn’t too far away!
March 9th, 2008
This week, we had the opportunity to sit in on one of Guilford High School’s rehearsals for their Spring musical. This year they are performing “Urinetown.” The name surprised us a little, but we were definitely interested in finding out more about the play. The story takes place in a city suffering from a severe drought. Because of the drought, no one is allowed to use private restrooms. Urine Good Company is in charge of the public amenities, which require a fee for every use. The people living in the slums around Public Amenity No. 9 find it difficult to come up with the money they need to pay the fee, but the tough money collector Penelope Pennywise (Mingkhwan Zehner) shows no pity. The janitor Bobby Strong (Kevin Conklin) wants to let them in without money; unfortunately, he can’t even help his own father (Derek Mallow) when he doesn’t have the money. Old Man Strong refuses to pay, and after using the amenity, he is taken by the police to “Urinetown.” No one knows what happens when you are sent to Urinetown, but they know it is a horrible punishment. The head of the Urine Good Company’s daughter, Hope Cladwell (Krystal Castaneda), stops by Amenity No. 9 and meets Bobby on her way to work. The sparks of the romance are evident in their first meeting and her affection gives him strength to resist the fee. The head of Urine Good Company (Matt Miller) is furious and demands Public Amenity No. 9 follows the rules. Trouble starts in this complacent city and its future is soon at stake…
“Urinetown” has a satirical wit about it that made this play so much more than others. This isn’t just a love story; it has a strong message. All of that seriousness aside, though, it is a very humorous comedy. Songs like “Urinetown” and “Peeing is a Privilege” keep a consistent, light tone throughout the play. There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek comedy, as expected in a satire. One of our favorite aspects is the blatant way Officer Lockstock (Robert Kisting) discusses the musical with Little Sally (Aly Burgess). He makes comments like, “We can’t have too much exposition,” and “Well, it is the end of the first act” to point out important tips about musicals.
We were very impressed with Guilford’s cast. Even without sound and lighting perfected, we thought they looked and sounded like professionals. The voice quality of the cast was incredible, and the dance numbers were very well put together. The director, Melissa Thomas Wolf, is a great leader to the young actors and actresses and the pit was masterfully led by Rick Nolting. The two leads, Kevin Conklin and Krystal Castaneda, have great chemistry and personalities that shine in their roles.
We spoke with the leads for a bit in between acts. It is the first time having lead roles for both them and Krystal is excited to be playing such a nice, sweet character. Kevin told us how thrilled they are to be doing a fun and different musical. They have been practicing since January, and we’re sure they are excited to see how the audience will react to their hard work. You can (and should!) see one of their performances, either this Thursday and Friday at 7:00 P.M or Saturday at 2:00 or 7:00 P.M. The cost is $6 for students and $8 for adults.
If “Urinetown” doesn’t strike your interest, there are plenty of other local shows to see this weekend (March 13th - 16th). Boylan will be performing their musical, “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Are we a little biased about Boylan’s play since we go there? Probably. But we always are impressed with their musicals. They have three performances: Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 2:00. The cost of admission is $8.
North Boone High School is performing “Pirates of Penzance.” On Friday, the show is at 7:00. On Sunday, the show is at 2:00. Both of these shows’ tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students in advance, $10 for adults and $7 for students at the door. Saturday’s show is preceded by a Beef Stew dinner at 5:00. For this night, you can buy show-only tickets (like for Friday and Sunday) or you can purchase dinner-show tickets for $12 for adults and $10 for students. Dinner tickets must be purchased in advance. (EDIT - this information was previously wrong. We’re sorry for the confusion, but we messed up with the whole dinner thing. If you have any questions call Laura Kosla or Scott Aska at 815.765.3311.)
Belvidere North is putting on their first performance, “Once Upon a Mattress.” They have performances this Thursday through Saturday at 7:30. It costs $7 for adults and $5 for students.
Stillman Valley is performing “The King and I” this Friday and Saturday at 7:00. Tickets cost $8.
Byron has performances of “Brigadoon” this Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 and Sunday at 2:00. The cost is $5 for students and $10 for adults.
So come out to any one of these great performances and support our young, local talent!
March 8th, 2008
On Friday, March 21st, Auburn High School’s National Honor Society will be hosting a citywide dance-a-thon. This dance is to take place at Clock Tower Resort and Conference Center (7801 East State St.). Registration starts at 4 PM, and a ballroom dance instructor will be giving a little lesson at 5:30. After that, dancing begins to music by a 97 ZOK DJ. Dance as long as you can; hopefully, you can make it to the end of the dance at 12:00 AM. Yeah, we know - it’s a long time, but the chance of winning great prizes should motivate you to keep going!
Raffles will be drawn throughout the night for those who stop dancing in that time period. The longer you dance, the better prizes you’re bound to win. For dress, they recommend semi- formal attire (dresses for girls, dress pants and shirts for guys.) Keep in mind it is a masquerade theme, so you can have some fun with your apparel! It’s only $15 for a dancing couple, $8 for a dancing individual, and $5 for a non-dancing individual. All the money goes to cystic fibrosis.
This isn’t just a “date” dance. So get a group of friends together, and you’re sure to have a fun night. It is open to all teenagers; make some time to come dance for a good cause!
March 6th, 2008
In regards to our post on February 24, 2008, we have been informed there were a few misprints. First, the rolls we were served were NOT pretzel rolls- they are called knot dinner rolls. Secondly, Ember does not take reservations; instead they only offer a call-ahead service. Unfortunately, there was confusion surrounding this during our visit and we were not aware it was only call-ahead. We do apologize, though. This was our mistake and we stand corrected.
March 2nd, 2008
Charlie Bartlett may be a movie about a teenager, but we would never classify this movie as a teen flick. It follows suit of Juno as a kind of “new” comedy, with intelligent conversation and humor replacing crude jokes and played out story lines.
The movie starts with a clean-cut prep school student, Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin), being expelled from an expensive boarding school. It’s obvious that the root of Charlie’s problem is the fact he is an overly matured teen trying (and failing) to fit in with his age group. So, upon his return to his gigantic house, he decides to give the public schools a try in order to find some friends. Unfortunately, that didn’t start off too well when he is faced with typical high school problems: bullying, cliques, and disagreements with the principal. He soon discovers his niche, though, and his situation improves dramatically when he realizes the gift he had for listening to other teens. After experiencing many extreme high school situations, he finally finds friends and his identity in that world. We enjoyed this movie. Charlie Bartlett is completely loveable – his character made this movie. Yelchin worked some Ferris Bueller into the character, which was awesome. The plot is enjoyable and exciting and the cast was fun. We definitely recommend seeing this movie if you haven’t already!
