A Good Friday

Since R's cousin's wedding wasn't until later today, R and I went out to Alexander's Breakfast and Lunch in Skokie for breakfast. Or are chilaquiles considered lunch? 🤔 Either way, both dishes were really good!

Chilakillers and Tres Leches French toast

Then we drove down Lincoln Ave. to check out the new Japanese American Service Committee (JASC) building because we saw a friend's Facebook post that the JASC recently celebrated the grand opening of their "forever home". Located in a former bank building near Lincoln and California Avenues, the intention of the space is to be a "destination that showcases Japanese American culture, history, and tradition." 

Originally founded in 1946, the purpose of the JASC was to assist the Japanese Issei and American-born Nisei who settled in Chicago following their release from World War II incarceration camps. As it was called then, the Chicago Resettlers Committee helped tens of thousands find housing and jobs, as well as rebuild community. Today the JASC has expanded its role to provide social services to a much wider and more diverse population of Chicagoans.

Their adult day care program was in progress when we dropped by, but a kind volunteer offered to show us around the building. They are still in the process of putting together their Legacy Center, but from what we saw, there will be space for exhibits, library/archives, classrooms, conference rooms, as well as a demonstration kitchen. Pretty cool - I'm glad we stopped by!

Afterwards, we headed back to get ready for the wedding. Because it was all the way out in Plainfield, we took Auntie A and Auntie J with us and hit the road early. Good thing we did because traffic was horrendous due to construction on the Tri-State! At least we could listen to the Cubs vs. Diamondbacks game on the radio as we were driving. The Cubs were leading 2-1 when they added 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th, four of them coming from an Ian Happ grand slam. But like witnessing a multi-car pileup on the expressway, the Diamondbacks somehow managed to score *10* runs in their half of the 8th inning. Cubs down, 11-7. 

Now ordinarily, if Cubs gave up 10 runs and a 7-1 lead in the 8th, we probably would have turned off the game. But because we were basically held hostage in the car, the radio stayed on. And this is not a typical Cub team... 

In the bottom of the 8th:

• Nico Hoerner was hit by a pitch
• Pete Crow-Armstrong walked
• Carson Kelly homered. Cubs down 11-10, nobody out!

By this point we had arrived at venue, so we just stayed in the car to listen to the rest of the game. (Yes, we still had almost an hour before the wedding started - did you think we would ditch it for the Cubs?! 😜)

• Justin Turner pinch hit but struck out.
• Ian Happ singled.
• Kyle Tucker homered. Cubs take the lead, 12-11!
• Seiya Suzuki hit a solo home run to add one more insurance run.  

Final score, Cubs 13 - Diamondbacks 11! You can watch the highlights here!

What a crazy game! 16 runs scored in one inning, 21 if you add in the 5 runs from the half inning before that. We're going to the game tomorrow - hopefully they didn't use up all of their runs today!

Back to the reason we're here in the first place - the venue was a converted warehouse with some cool decor. The ceremony was held outside, and thankfully, it wasn't too cold. They had two food trucks here to cater the reception, both of which served really good food and ice cream! 

So glad that we could be here to help celebrate (according to the sign outside) the "Wedding of V Featuring J". 🤣  

Congrats, V and J!