Volume V – Issue 23 May 31, 2006
In this issue:
- This Fri., June 2 –Dinner and BYOB Wine Tasting at *Sabor a Cuba* in Chicago
- This Sat., June 3 – Al Fresco Italian Dinner, Dancing at *Casto’s* in Tinley Park
- Next Sat., June 10 – Italian Dining and Dancing at *Vic’s* in Oakbrook Terrace
- “Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back Into the 20th Century …”
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This Weekend: BYOB Wine Tasting/Cuban Dining at Sabor a Cuba in Chicago Friday; Italian Dining al Fresco with Dancing at Casto’s in Tinley Park Saturday
This weekend, we have two terrific parties planned. The first is one of our “Casual Friday” events on June 2. It’s a family style “Wine and Dine” dinner and BYOB wine tasting at Sabor a Cuba, a cozy restaurant on the north side of Chicago’s Lincoln Square. It’s a very affordable $35 for members and $37 for guests for a salad, sides, 3 appetizers and 3 entrees. Bring a bottle of $10-$15 red or white wine to share. These family-style dinners are always great fun.
This Saturday, June 3, we’ll be back in the south suburbs at Casto’s Ristorante in Tinley Park for a magical Italian dinner on their beautiful patio, followed by dancing to live music. This complete party is a mere $38 for members and $40 for guests.
Next Saturday, June 10, we’ll be near the Oak Brook Mall for dinner and dancing at Vic’s Classic Italian Steakhouse just west of route 83 on 22nd street. It should be a very full and entertaining evening for a mere $40 for members and $42 for guests.
Sign up online for any of our Gourmet Advocates parties at www.gourmetadvocates.com/singlepage.html .
Also check out the “Singles Notebook” columns on “get-real” dating and relationships for those over 30 at the new Web site, http://www.singlesnotebook.com/
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This Friday, June 2, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
“Casual Friday” Authentic Cuban Family Style Dinner and BYOB Wine Tasting at
Sabor a Cuba
1833 W. Wilson (at Wolcott, block west of Ravenswood Tracks) in Chicago
Share a wonderful and very affordable evening of fine food, wine and camaraderie with single friends old and new. Enjoy a variety of traditional Cuban dishes at Sabor a Cuba, surrounded by a delightful Caribbean-themed atmosphere. Enjoy a feast of traditional dishes that blend a variety of spices with beef, roast pork, chicken and seafood. These are served family-style and accompanied by a BYOB wine tasting. Bring a $10-$15 bottle of red or white to share – no pink.
For all this, your evening is a mere $35, for dinner, corkage, taxes and tips for advance reservations. Guests, non-members and walk-ups (space permitting) are welcome for $37. Dressy casual attire. Park on the street.
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This Saturday, June 3, 7:00 – 11:00 p.m.
Dining al Fresco on Delicious Italian Cuisine with Live Music for Dancing at Charming
Casto’s Ristorante
16846 Oak Park Ave. (between 168th and 169th) in Tinley Park
Meet, mingle and socialize with other singles while enjoying the culinary pleasures of Casto’s Ristorante a well-regarded neighborhood Italian restaurants in the south suburbs. Weather permitting; we’ll dine on the restaurant’s charming outdoor patio. Your delightful evening includes a cocktail party (cash bar), followed by a sit-down dinner. Choose from seven delicious entrees along with sides, and a choice of house salad or soup. After dinner, dance to live entertainment until 11:00.
Your party is $38 for members and $40 for non-members or guests for dinner, entertainment, taxes and tips for advance registrations. Walk-ups at the door are $40 (space permitting). Dressy casual attire. Park in the lot.
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Saturday, June 10, 7:00 – 9:30 p.m. Followed by Dancing till Midnight
Kickoff Summer with a Dinner Party with Northern Italian Cuisine, Plus Dancing at
Vic’s Classic Italian Steakhouse
17W400 22nd Street (a block W. of Rt. 83 and Oak Brook Mall) in Oakbrook Terrace
Meet, mingle and socialize with other singles while enjoying the culinary pleasures of Vic’s Classic Italian Steakhouse. Vic’s prepares Northern Italian dishes utilizing fresh ingredients and traditional recipes, all served in their newly remodeled, spacious atmosphere. It’s an inviting ambiance conducive to both comfortable dining and post-dinner dancing. Enjoy a cocktail party (cash bar) in the restaurant’s lounge area, followed by a sit-down dinner. Choose from seven sumptuous Italian entrees, plus your choice of soup or Vic’s House Salad and sides, plus coffee or tea.
After dinner, enjoy more conversation and dancing to the John Truncali musical combo. Your evening is $40 for members, and $42 for non-members and guests, which covers dinner, entertainment, taxes and tips for advance registrations. We are expecting a very large crowd, so walk-ups will be accepted at the door for $42 only as space permits. Dressy casual attire. Park in the lot.
Sign up online for any of our Gourmet Advocates parties at www.gourmetadvocates.com/singlepage.html
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Your Most Up-to-Date Listing of Parties and Events
- This Friday, June 2 – 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. Gourmet Advocates Casual Friday Authentic Cuban Family-Style Dinner and BYOB Wine Tasting at *Sabor a Cuba* at 1833 W. Wilson in Chicago. Feast of traditional Cuban dishes. Each person brings a bottle of wine to share. $35 for members; $37 for guests.
- This Saturday, June 3 – 7:00 – 11:00 p.m. Al Fresco Dining on Delicious Italian Cuisine with Live Music for Dancing at *Casto’s Ristorante* 16846 Oak Park Ave. in Tinley Park. Weather permitting; we’ll dine on charming outdoor patio. After dinner, dance to live entertainment. $38 for members and $40 for non-members/guests.
- Next Thursday, June 8 – 6:00 – 10:30 p.m. Friends of Friends “Famous Martini Party” at *Dover Straits* 1149 W. Golf Road in Hoffman Estates. Heavy appetizers, drink specials and live music by guitarist Jery Rite. $7 ($5 for Premier members) to get you into the party and into the mood.
- Next Saturday, June 10 – 7:00 p.m. – Midnight. Delicious Italian Cuisine with Live Music for Dancing at *Vic’s Italian Steakhouse* 17W400 22nd St. in Oakbrook Terrace. Dance to John Truncali. $40 for members and $42 for non-members.
Sign up online for any of our Gourmet Advocates parties at www.gourmetadvocates.com/singlepage.html
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Singles Notebook – “Get-Real” Thoughts and Opinions from Jim “Senny” Senhauser
A Nostalgic Look Back
“Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back Into the 20th Century …”
Over this past holiday weekend, I attended a party where one of the activities was playing a game called “Songburst.” To play it, you identify a number of songs from the 1950s and 1960s, by title, artist and year, using only a few words from the lyrics as clues. It was sort of an “I-can-name-that-song-in-x(number)-of-words” exercise.
This game, and some of the other conversation during the day, reminded me of a few of the things growing up that shaped us over the years. For better or worse, many of these are now buried in a nostalgic history. Yet, they act like generational rings in a cultural tree to bind us together by our common remembrances. Here are a few that I recall. Perhaps you can send me others to further “tax and tickle” all of our memories. You may find these welcome reminders or scary reminiscences.
Do you remember when the largest retailers in the country included names like F.W. Woolworth, W.T. Grant, Zayre, TG & Y, Richman Brothers, Thom McAn, Robert Hall, Gimbel’s, Montgomery Ward, Chess King, A&P, J.J. Newberry, Bonwit Teller, Kroch’s and Brentano’s, Child World, Ben Franklin, Gold Circle, Woolco and Hermann’s Sports?
Going back further, when I was a youngster, I used to collect the trash and trinkets packed inside cereal boxes. Some of my favorites included Navy frogmen that you filled with baking soda to make them move around a bowl of water. They were on Nabisco cereals like Wheat Honeys and Rice Honeys. Another favorite was the plastic dinosaurs that were later added to those same cereals. All of these were advertised on T.V. shows like “Captain Midnight,” “Sky King,” and “Fury.”
Competing cereal box pr.izes included plastic miniature 1957 Fords in Grape Nuts Flakes and metal sheriff’s badges from the show Wild Bill Hickock in Sugar Pops. General Mills cereals, like Jets, Cherrios and Kix were advertised on the “Rocky and Bullwinkle Show,” and sometimes included trinkets with their likenesses.
On weekends, we watched shows like the “Flintstones,” the first primetime cartoon on Friday night. Mom would make us popcorn to drink with our 16-ounce RC Colas. My brother and I got soft drinks only on weekends. Sometimes, the popcorn was Jiffy Pop, which came in the self-contained aluminum pan with the expandable foil collar on top. In other cases, Mom chose TV Time, that had its own kind of margarine-like substance in a half of the plastic envelope, with the corn in the other half. I guess it all depended on your view of which brand was the most convenient.
On Sunday night, it was always “GE College Bowl” for us (oh, so that’s where this trivia thing got started) and “Ernie Kovacs” followed by “Rocky and Bullwinkle” and “Mr. Ed” (”Hellloe, Willlbburr”). Finally, we’d watch the “Ed Sullivan Show” or the “Steve Allen Show.” I thought
Sullivan was too stiff, but really liked Allen’s “man on the street” interviews with Tom Poston, Louis Nye and Don Knotts. They were hilarious.
In later years, “Bonanza” worked its way into the Sunday night mix. Some of our friends could actually see it in color, but for several years, we could only view it in black and white. Finally, Dad spent what was then a princely sum to get us a 26-inch Magnavox color television in a solid walnut cabinet. As I look back, the 1950s and 1960s were a time that, with limited channel choices (3), television could actually create a bonding routine for a family.
As I reached my early teenage years, I began to notice girls and started dating. My girlfriend and I would go to the high school dances, meet up at the youth center or go to the movies on Saturday night (the movie changed each week). Friday was reserved for doing things with the guys. All the guys would wear our tightly “pegged” pants, grip-tab collared shirts (open) with a white T-shirt and shiny black shoes. I remember trying cologne for the first time. I chose Jade East, while others wore Hai Karate or English Leather. I tried English Leather, but my girlfriend leaned over part way through the night and asked, “Jim, have you been sick or something?” It was Jade East after that!
During the summers we would hang around the city park, when we were not working. We’d sit around in the heat talking about cars (and the day we would get one) and sports and drink Lemon Blend, served from one of those bubbler machines that made it look so appealing in the heat as it ran down the side of the basin. You could get Lemon Blend syrup in a bottle to make at home, but it didn’t ever taste as good that way. Fizzies made a better option for home use.
When we got old enough, or almost old enough, we drank beer. The largest selling brands at that time were Budweiser, Schlitz, Pabst, Carling Black Label, Miller High Life and Stroh’s. Imported beers were virtually unheard of. Lite had been introduced as a diet beer and failed miserably. Later, Miller would purchase the rights to Lite and it would save their company. Bud essentially drove the others into oblivion.
I also fondly recall the junk food we ate back then. What were we thinking? I loved eating Hostess Twinkies, Cupcakes and Fruit Pies. Hostess Snoballs, with the pink and white coconut-covered marshmallow, were a bit too stale for me. Later, we discovered warm glazed doughnuts and cream-filled éclairs when a new shop opened in our town. Finally, we could enjoy this convection in a form that wasn’t so stale as to allow us to play ring-toss with the product.
This talk has made me so hungry, I think I will go eat a roasted chicken breast, with some French green beans and a glass of wine. And rest assured, the wine won’t be MD 20-20, Annie Green Springs, Boone’s Farm, Riunite or Lancer’s Rose, or that sophisticated college choice, Cold Duck!
Here’s to fond memories of our past and the blessings of our present and future!
