Posts filed under 'Uncategorized'
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!
February 24th, 2008
Rockford has thankfully been getting a lot of new restaurants and cafes lately. Ember, just off of Perryville, is one of those new restaurants and it seems it has been flooded with people since its recent opening. It’s great to see everyone willing to try out the new eating options available! Unfortunately, our experience this past weekend at Ember was not spectacular.
First of all, we waited for about 45 minutes to get seated. Normally, this would be expected; however, we had made reservations in advance, so we were a little disappointed. Obviously, we would recommend making reservations, but in our case they really didn’t help much. Just be prepared to wait.
After we were seated, it took awhile to get our drinks too. We seriously aren’t even that picky, but it seriously took AWHILE. Fresh pretzel rolls were brought fairly quickly, though, and were possibly the best part of the meal. We tried the Frisco Burger and a calzone. The Frisco burger was pretty boring. Usually, we like Frisco burgers because of the Thousand Island dressing and sourdough bread make it interesting. For some reason, this one was unexceptional. The calzone was huge! You definitely get your money’s worth, but I was only able to eat ¼ of it. It tasted good, except the cheese was a little overpowering. Overall, our food wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything superb either. The frisco burger was $8, and the calzone was $6. Next time we might try some of their appetizers. They had a great selection from Parmesan Garlic Zucchini to more traditional Spinach and Artichoke Dip; both of these appetizers are $8.
We couldn’t help but notice a similarity between Ember and Granite City (out by Cherryvale Mall). The atmosphere, tall glass windows by the exposed kitchen, and Sunday buffet option constantly reminded us of that restaurant.
Hopefully our experience wasn’t the greatest because they were so busy, and this was an exception to the norm. Granted, we did go on a Friday night at 6:30, but still, the food taste and service were a little lacking in our opinions. Try out Ember for a (seemingly) fun bar atmosphere, but unfortunately for us, not much more.
[Ember is located at 6957 Olde Creek Road in Rockford. You can call them at 815-316-4000.]
February 20th, 2008
One of our favorite local bands, Scatteredtrees, plays this Friday at the Rock Box. After a two-month break, their concert this Friday comes highly anticipated. We have seen them play once before at the Rock Box, and they were amazing! Their mellow sound seemed us like the perfect music for a coffee shop. And ironically enough, their song “Sparrow” is actually featured on the Starbuck’s CD Off the Clock, Vol. 1…I guess Starbucks agreed with us.
We encourage everyone to come out to the Rock Box this Friday at 6:30 to see Starlite Radio and Jason Harper opening, and then for the headlining performance from Scatteredtrees. See you there!
[The Rock Box is located at 317 W Jefferson St in Rockford.]
February 18th, 2008
We love dance movies and thought the first Step Up was fun, so we were really looking forward to the release of this sequel.
The main character, Andie (Briana Evigan), is forced to attend Maryland School of the Arts to avoid having to move to Texas. There, she learns that while her street dancing is good, she lacks classical technique and doesn’t really fit in. She doesn’t have many friends besides Moose (Adam Sevani) and has a sarcastic, bitter relationship from the beginning with the director of the school’s brother, Chase (Robert Hoffman). In typical movie fashion, though, she learns to overcome her differences with Chase and work together toward a common goal – winning the Streets, a dance competition. Yes, that part is cheesy and predictable; we thought so, too.
Overall, the film may have lacked in plot a little, but it made up for it in awesome dance scenes. The final scene, hip hop dancing in the rain, was our favorite. The relative unknowns that make up this cast did a decent job with what was given to them and impressed us with their dancing. It has a few laughs and a few “Aww! Cute!” parts, but you should probably go into this movie just expecting amazing dancing.
February 10th, 2008
On Saturday we went to Lucille’s Tea Room on Newburg Road. This adorable tea room is located in a Victorian-style house that is well over a century old! When we went it was decorated in a “Victorian Valentine” style, which included a lot of themed antiques with hearts and other Valentine’s Day accents.
Upon first arriving, we were asked to choose a hat that we liked. All of the hats were sanitized between uses, so no worries! This added to the “tea party” feel. Once we had picked our fancy hats, we sat down and were introduced to the different ways to drink tea. My style is “tiffy queen, ” meaning I put the tea in first and then add milk, while Cathryn’s was “boring”, meaning she drinks it black.
We were then served a 3-course lunch. It began with roasted red pepper soup in a tea cup. Then, we tried a variety of tea sandwiches, roast beef croissants and cream cheese and cucumber. We then sampled many different desserts. Our favorites were a cranberry scone with apricot jam and the lemon tarts. The delicious lunch was finished with a brownie topped with whipped cream and raspberries. It was all very tasty and we left the tea room completely stuffed! The cost of this amazing meal is $20 per person.
Since Lucille’s is first and foremost a tea room, a large focus of the lunch is the tea. In the spirit of trying new things, we decided to experiment with how we drink our tea. I always use milk, so I tried different sugars. They had cubes of plain cane sugar and brown sugar. Cathryn tried as hard as she could to like tea any other way besides boring. She tried milk, sugar, and even lemon, all to no avail. I guess she’s just a boring tea kind of person…
If you don’t like tea, we kind of wonder why you would be going to a tea room, but if you really wish to, they do serve another drink. It is always a cold drink to accompany the hot tea. For our lunch, it was a delicious raspberry beverage.
After your meal, make the journey out of the house to the garage area – the location of Nooks and Crannies. Nooks and Crannies has an antique store feel and sells an eclectic variety of gifts. Some are tea related like cups and pots, but others are more inside and outside home décor, including candles and a variety of bath products.
This was such a unique experience. We felt like we were in England in the olden days having a quaint lunch with the queen. All of the guests who were with us really made the afternoon! It was such a great way to meet new people, and to have fun in an enjoyable atmosphere. Unfortunately, they are closing in May by choice of the owner so that she and her husband can move in to the adorable house. So visit it while you can. It will definitely be missed!
[To eat lunch at Lucille’s, you need to make a reservation. They have two lunch servings at 11 and 2 Wednesday through Saturday. Call them at 815.484.9906. They are located just east of Perryville at 7066 Newburg Road.]
January 31st, 2008
We had a great experience at this casual restaurant located at the corner of Alpine and Harrison.
The menu definitely keeps with the casual feeling of the restaurant - there is nothing too fancy on it. Out of the variety of choices they offer, including salads, steaks, pastas, and sandwiches, the pasta and sandwiches looked the most appealing to us.
We decided to try one of each. Out of the pasta category, we tried the cheese tortellini with feta cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and spinach. This was a different combination, but was actually quite tasty. If you don’t like feta cheese, though, we wouldn’t recommend it because it is a strong flavor in the pasta. We tried the grilled chicken bruchetta sandwich. It came on an herb focaccia that completely made the sandwich. It was delicious and the focaccia added an extra boost.
Our service here was excellent. The staff was all very friendly and fun.
The food is not expensive at all, only costing between $8 and $20. We really enjoyed Michael’s and recommend it to anyone looking for a casual restaurant with excellent food quality and service.
[Michael’s Bar and Restaurant is located at 4578 Harrison Ave. Call them at 815-229-6096.]
January 27th, 2008
Just Because is a pretty new coffee shop located on the corner of Riverside and Owen Center roads. It’s right across from the new Super-Walmart, which is great because there really aren’t any coffee shops on that end of town.
Just Because is a fairly large location. There weren’t too many tables inside so it feels fairly spacious. It would be an ideal place to work on group projects.
The food menu had a good selection. They offered a sort-of “build your own panini.” You could choose the meat: turkey, roast beef, ham, or salami; cheese: cheddar, provolone, mozzarella, or Swiss; and pesto: parsley basil, garlic artichoke, or roasted red pepper. We definitely recommend the garlic artichoke over the parsley basil. The parsley basil was rather overpowering. The garlic artichoke was subtle but extremely flavorful. All panini creations are $4.75. You can also get their soup selection for $2.
To accompany our paninis, we ordered chai tea - our favorite! They have many different flavors that we thought were fun, because you can create a more unique flavor. We decided later that next time we will try something outrageous next time like chocolate cherry or raspberry coconut instead of our traditional vanilla. They also offered traditional coffee drinks, fruit smoothies, and a variety of cold blended coffee drinks.
Our experience at Just Because was great. We had an excellent panini and chai tea. The also have a drive thru for quick coffee runs! Go out and try this exceptional new café!
(Call them at 815.316.2510)
January 20th, 2008
Katherine Heigl’s first outstanding movie performance was in Knocked Up. Her latest movie, 27 Dresses, was even better than her summer hit. She is sure to become a solidified movie star with this awesome movie.
The main character, Jane (Heigl), is addicted to being in weddings. She has been in 27 weddings, and keeps all of the ridiculous dresses in a closet. Her obsession with weddings is kind of weird; she even cuts out wedding announcements from the newspaper and keeps them. Her love of weddings, coupled with her pushover tendencies, make Jane unable to say no to any wedding. She is asked to be in the wedding of the man she loves and her sister, and she accepts. This becomes quite a problematic situation, and Jane struggles to cope.
This movie is very enjoyable. It has its touching chick flick moments, but it’s mostly light-hearted and funny. Katherine Heigl is a really talented actress, and she is perfect in her role. The leading man, James Marsden, is also fun to watch; this role is very different from his last few roles in Hairspray and Enchanted. This is one of the better romantic comedies we’ve seen in a while!
Go see 27 Dresses for a fun girls night out, because it probably won’t be at the top of any guy’s “to see” list. You’ll really enjoy it!
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