Tea in Chicago

When one thinks of Chicago, the mind naturally turns to wondrous things like deep-dish pizza, Italian beef, and hot dogs "dragged through the garden." But one of my favorite things that Chicago has to offer is actually something much simpler to make and enjoy: tea.

Tea has never been all that popular here in the United States; whatever merits it had going for it got dumped into Boston Harbor all those years ago. And it certainly doesn't help that the best-selling tea in the country is the tasteless Lipton black tea whose only claim to fame is that it is the main ingredient in southern-style sweet tea. And until not too long ago that was all I knew of tea--and all I really needed to know.

This is what tea should look like.
If it's in a tea bag, you're doing it wrong. Source.

So imagine my surprise when, about three years ago, I was taken by my friend Angie to a tea shop that had just opened up in my hometown and found not just one type of tea, but hundreds. And not that bagged crap either, this was the real deal. If you are to know one thing about tea, it is this: always buy loose-leaf tea. The bagged stuff is what is left over after they process the real tea--whole tea leaves, picked, processed, and sometimes rolled (by machine or by hand), into things of beauty. The fannings, or "tea dust," the powder that is left over after processing, are taken and bagged into the form most of us recognize as that stuff we have to drink when we're sick.

This store, Adagio Teas, was singly responsible (albeit with a little help from Angie) for starting my love of tea. And when I say love, I mean addiction. On the list of things I love, tea falls below God and above everything else. Discovering how good tea can be, and how many varieties there are to try (from black tea to green, oolong to pu'erh, rooibos to yerba mate), is enough to make me a tea person for life.

But there's more to this story, for I was in for another surprise. Once I found out that good tea existed, I figured Adagio was the only place I could go (besides Asia, or those hacks at Teavana) for quality tea. But as it turns out, there is a whole tea culture that lurks beneath the surface of modern society. And it's all over Chicago! Here are a few of my favorites:

Adagio Teas

This was my first foray into tea, and this is still where I get most of my supply. Originally an online-only supplier, they opened their first brick-and-mortar location a few years ago in my hometown of Naperville, Illinois. At Adagio, their thing is to provide shoppers with a playground to experiment with different teas.

Wall-to-wall loose tea. A dream come true! Source

They provide walls chock-full of different full-leaf teas, and from there you can smell them, brew a cup to go, or even try your hand at making a custom blend. They also have one of my favorite pieces of tea gear. I shop there so often, they know me by name.

Teas to try: Ali Shan, Chai Town, Irish Breakfast

Bello Tea

Source

Bello Tea was a recent find for me. Now that I am commuting from home, I started walking to the Ogilvie Train Station to drop a fellow commuter off at her next train. On a whim I decided to check out the Chicago French Market, and lo and behold, one of the counters happened to be for this wonderful place. Their main store in Downers Grove is larger, and has a more cafe-style feel to it, but the location in the Market is one single counter--it feels like an old-school lunch counter. And it's great! I stop by almost every morning on my way to school/work, and there's so much variety there that you could probably go an entire year without having the same thing twice. And Bello Tea is run by one of the nicest people I've ever met.

This is Tammy, one of the owners of Bello Tea,
the nicest person ever, and the only person I will trust
to make my Matcha shots! Source

Bello Tea is different from places like Adagio or David's Tea in that they do offer more than your standard loose tea. You can indeed buy loose tea here, but they're also able to offer any variation of tea you can imagine! Lattes, Milk Teas, Bubble Teas, Hot Teas, Iced Teas, and my personal favorite, Matcha shots! Matcha is a kind of green tea that is ground into a highly potent, bright green powder, most notably for use in Japanese tea ceremonies. To see how to make matcha, check out this video. For two bucks, they'll make you a shot of matcha served in a stemmed espresso glass. Classy! And a great little extra something to get you through the afternoon.

Teas to Try: Matcha (shot), Almond Milk Tea, Milky Oolong


The Tea House

Source

While not exactly in Chicago, this place is just too good to pass up. The Tea House is located about forty minutes west of Chicago in Naperville. It's a tiny place inside an industrial park. It doesn't look like much, but head inside and you'll find a small oasis with teas from all over the world. The owner, Dan Robertson, began this tea venture after heading to Asia to create a documentary on the tea trade. Once there, he fell in love with the stuff, and now he runs The Tea House along with World Tea Tours, the "pioneer of tea adventure travel," where you get to tour Asia with tea experts, visiting farms and fairs, trying tea right where it's grown!

Instagram really does not do this picture justice. You could
spend hours here tasting rare, high-quality teas. Source

And it is on these travels that Mr Robertson finds and imports these wonderful teas and sells them via his store's website and in store, where he is available to host tea tastings and even demonstrate different tea ceremonies.

Teas to Try: Ti Guan Yin (They have many different grades of the stuff, so try them all!)


These are only a few places to check out. If you are a tea-fanatic like I am, you know I am only scratching the surface. There are plenty more places to find great tea around the city--and if you're having trouble finding the perfect one, there's always the TeaMap app!

Faith Life on Campus

To many students, faith is an important part of their lives. Whether a person is theist or atheist, devout or "casually-spiritual-but-not-religious," it plays an important role in how that person lives his or her life. The odd thing is, it's one of the last things many people think about when applying to schools. Sure, academic programs are the number one priority (this is college, after all) but why is faith an afterthought?

Well, in the case of IIT, that's not a problem! Whatever you believe, we most likely have you covered (No Flying Spaghetti Monster club, though! Not yet.). The nice thing about having such an international student body is that there are clubs and groups dedicated to just about everything, faith life included.

If you visit the Spiritual Life page on IIT's website, you'll find a list of groups on campus to join, as well as a list of local worship spaces to take advantage of nearby (NOTE: Currently the Spiritual Life page is being updated, so much of the info may be outdated. Contact me and I can give you the current info). Being in Chicago means there is probably a place for you to check out. Just within a couple miles of campus, there are Christian churches for several denominations, including Roman Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, and non-denominational; as well as Buddhist, Jewish (including Conservative and Reform), and Muslim worship spaces.

Within the confines of campus there is the Robert Carr Memorial chapel, lovingly referred to as the "God Box" by the student body. It's a non-denominational chapel open for use to anyone and everyone. Many faith-based organizations hold meetings and events there, and it's a great location as it's set a stone's throw away from the hustle and the bustle of the goings-on at IIT. It's quiet, cozy, and perfect for prayer or meditation.

Carr Hall, AKA the "God Box," just east of the MTCC.

Regardless of how one approaches the idea of college and religion, there is generally a presumption that urban engineering schools are not a great place for faith formation, or at least, I hear that from incoming students. They sometime feel worried (or at least they assume) that at tech schools, faith is left at the wayside in favor of science and technology.

And that is indeed how I felt coming in as a freshman. Part of it is because now we are on our own, and we don't have our parents dragging us out of bed every Sunday to go to church. Part of it is that in today's culture, faith isn't something most people like to talk about with others (I think that's stupid, but whatever) and it's that lack of faith-related dialogue that gives the illusion of a lack of faith itself.

During my first year here, I was incredibly busy with Architecture. That, combined with a severe lack of parental guidance, meant that I would go to mass once in a great while, which, let's be honest here, is pretty sad considering my local church is practically next door to campus. In the back of my mind I kind of knew I wasn't going to be very religious after I left home.

But a strange thing happened to me my sophomore year. I found myself free on a Tuesday evening, and ended up going to an on-campus service in the God Box. I met some people from the organization running it (Catholic Campus Ministry) and they invited me back to participate in the next event. So I came back. And the people there were awesome. So I came back. Then I started hanging out with them, both at events and eventually outside events. And now, four years later, I have an amazing group of friends and I feel stronger in my faith than I ever did before I went off to school.

The point of this story is not to convince you to convert to this or that religion. It's more of me telling you that you don't have to sacrifice your existing belief system when you choose your university. If you know that you want to grow in your faith (whether that be Catholicism, Cheondoism, or Atheism), or if you're curious about another religion, you will put the effort into it wherever you are. But know that choosing IIT is not going to get in the way of that.

God Bless.

Saint's Alp Teahouse

I think it's fairly logical assumption to assume that, by now, after looking at this blog you know that I like food. So with that out of the way, we now come to yet another food-centric post. Today's "Restaurant Showcase" is Saint's Alp Teahouse! Saint's Alp is located directly across the street from China Place, the main "promenade" of Chinatown. The bright orange awning makes it hard to miss, and you're not going to want to (miss it, that is). Saint's Alp is a chain and, I know, usually I am not a fan of large chains (except Portillo's. Don't you dare knock Portillo's.), except this chain is straight from Hong Kong, and their Chicago location is one of only two places in the US. The only chain-y thing about this place is that the service is a little lacking. Well, more than a little. But it's worth it. Because this place is international (namely, from China) it's pretty safe to say that they know Chinese food (and other Asian cuisine as well). In a place like Chinatown, it's hard to gauge what's "authentic" and what's been Americanized. If you go to one of the more up-scale places, it's really hard to figure it out. Especially for a guy like me, who has no Asian heritage to speak of, and my only encounter with 100% real Asian food has been my friend Rei's homemade omurice, a food staple in Japan, or so I'm told. But I digress.

Service might be hit-or-miss, but the food makes up for it.

Let me tell you something about this place. It's not expensive by any means, but for a college student's budget, it might be a bit out of your price range. Not to fear! Their rice bowls, my favorite things at this place, are only five bucks, and they are delicious! The minced pork rice bowl comes with, well, what you would normally expect in a minced pork rice bowl, namely, rice and minced pork. But it also has one of my all-time favorite rice dish garnishes: a marinated soft-boiled egg. Holy cow. Those things are amazing. It's been marinated in soy sauce, mirin, and sake, and combined with the rice it's something to behold (or rather, be tasted).

If I have one issue with this place, it's the service. Depending on when you go, what time, etc., you might have to deal with some less-than-stellar service. You'll get seated quickly, but that's where you might run into trouble. Food takes a while, and you might be waiting a while to get your check. However! I do love this food so, and it's worth checking out.

Food on (and off) Campus

It's definitely a common question, especially considering our location. What is there to eat here? And I cannot possibly begin to give you even an inkling of all the options you have here. So I'm going to attempt to scratch the surface. We'll start with on-campus offerings, and then I will give you a sampling of both my favorite places and places that are popular with students campus-wide.

But maybe I should let you all know how the meal plans work first, shall I? I shall. Meal plans come in a few different flavors for students to choose from (including one for commuter students). There are two parts to each: "meals" and "bonus points." The "meals" are good for eating in the Commons, which we'll get to in a second. The bonus points are good everywhere else on campus for food, and can be spent like cash.

Illinois Tech has five dining options on its campus, including the Commons, which is the primary cafeteria. The Commons is located on the northeast end of the McCormick Tribune Campus Center (MTCC), and it the one place you spend your "meals" for the semester. You swipe your ID when you walk in, and from there you have free reign over all the food options we have in there. There is always pizza, pasta, burgers, and whatever other carbolicious treats you can think of. There's a salad bar, a sandwich bar, an Asian station (you never know which Asian country is represented that day, but it's always good!), a vegetarian station, a meal-of-the-day, and I'm probably forgetting more. There are even options for breakfast, which include to-order omelettes, hard boiled eggs, waffles, toast and jam.

The Commons - That guy on the right looks confused.

All the other options are part of the bonus points half of a meal plan. The most popular of them is Center Court, which is in the lower level of the MTCC. Center Court is more of a grab-and-go type place, and is open for the lunch hours. You can get subs and panini made to order, you can grab a burger or a quesadilla, a salad, or a premade PB&J and get on with your day. It's really convenient, and from Sunday through Wednesday every week, Center Court is open from 7p-11p, meaning it's a great place to go after your night classes early in the week.

Global Grounds - For all your caffeine related needs!

Also in the MTCC is the Pritzker Club, which is our fancy sit-down restaurant on campus. Three course meals, salmon filets, and the fanciest grilled cheese sandwiches this side of 31st Street. In Hermann Hall we also have an Einstein's Bagels which has typical bagel-y fare, and on the south end of campus we have 10 West, which is a little cafe on the first floor of the IIT Tower, and offers chili, to-go sandwiches, bagels, and a special meal of the day every day. Finally, back in the MTCC there is a small coffee shop, Global Grounds, which offers high-quality coffee, tea, smoothies, scones, and meal replacement shakes, to name a few items.

Okay, now to my favorite part. Not to rag on IIT food, but come on. We're living in Chicago, and it'd be a shame not to at least talk about some of the food around town!

You can go to pretty much any Chicago-centric blog and find out the best places to go all around Chicago, absolutely everything there is to know about food here, you'll be Googling for quite a while. My job right now is to give you a taste (ha ha not funny) of what's out there close to IIT. Fortunately, there's a lot!

Across the street from campus there's a Starbucks and there's a Jimmy John's, and they're great in a pinch, but why settle for "meh" chains when you have, you know, anything else.

Probably my number one go-to place is Carbon (pronounced car-BONE), a mexican restaurant under the Dan Ryan, a few minutes from campus. They are as authentic as you can get for a restaurant owned by the Ricobene family (Ricobene's is right next door, and they have some pretty good Chicago-style food), and it's also the closest Mexican place without having to go all the way to Pilsen. Carbon has phenomenal tilapia tacos served with cabbage and chile-lime sauce. And their elote is killer too.

Bridgeport, our neighborhood-next-door, has quite a few things to offer. I've mentioned Ferro's before, but also in the neighborhood is Freddies, another Chicago-food institution, as well as Maxwell Street Depot on 31st street, which is a 24-hour walk-up that has some of the best burgers you can get at 2 am.

Of course, I can't forget about Chinatown. It's only one stop north on the red line (that puts it at maybe three minutes away by train), and almost everywhere I have been to there has been great. Granted, I have no knowledge of proper Asian cuisine, so someone who knows Chinese food or Korean food or Vietnamese food  might have different opinions. But I stand by my statement that Chinatown is awesome.

Well, there you have it. The tip of the tip of the tip of the tip of the iceberg! I'll probably be posting about more restaurants as time goes on, so you can look forward to that! In the mean time, I'll be freaking out about finals and what the heck I am going to do oh goodness I'm in trouble I hate exams I'm not ready oh noooooooo

Me, Indecisive? Yes? No? Maybe? Uh....

My entire life I have been indecisive on most things. The only way I have been able to make it this far in life is  because I have developed habits that have gotten me through and required almost no thinking. For almost my entire grade school career, I had a bowl of Cocoa Puffs and a bagel with plain cream cheese every day for breakfast, and a bologna-cheese-mustard-ketchup sandwich for lunch. No Cheerios, no toast, no turkey sandwich, nothing different. Because if given the opportunity to choose what I want, I would spend so much time thinking and waffling I wouldn't be able to get anything in my stomach before the bus showed up for school. You can probably imagine how bad I am ordering food at a restaurant with more than three items on the menu.

The point I am trying to get across is that it is totally okay to be indecisive. It can be a scary thing to have to decide (in high school!) what you will spend the rest of your life doing. Some people know right away what they want to do. My sister knew she wanted to be a grade school teacher. So that's what she applied as, and for her, every day at her school now is a joy because she knows this is what her calling is.

As for me, all through junior high and high school I knew I wanted to be an architect. After seeing IIT and seeing what could be done with architecture, I was infatuated with the idea that one day I could be an architect. My first year of architecture convinced me that architecture was most certainly what I didn't want to be doing. So I switched to Architectural Engineering the next year. But sometimes I am not sure, and that is not because of anything any departments are doing wrong, but because I don't feel like I am ready to commit to anything quite yet.

Then I went and toured Greenlee with some friends of mine. It was organized by the CAE department and ASME, and a whole busload of us visited their office in Rockford, IL to see what kinds of things engineers can do. A lot, as it turns out. One of the things the president made sure to tell us was that a lot of times people might not get a job based specifically around their majors. You might get your degree in Mechanical Engineering, but you might get a job in Marketing for an engineering firm because you took a couple of business classes along the way to your degree. If all depends on circumstance, especially your ability to network and make connections with people.

It was incredibly comforting to hear that I don't necessarily have to be set on what I want to do quite yet. And if you do know exactly what you want to do, that's great! It definitely makes it easier to figure out course schedules and the like. And if you don't? That's fine too. Take a class that isn't a part of your major's curriculum and see if it's something you like. If it is, you can take some more classes in that area and get a minor, and that might come in handy in the future when you are looking for a job after you graduate.

So to all of you in high school still deciding what you want to do: if you have questions, ask us! We've been down that road before, we may have some answers! So please, give us a call at IIT, shoot us an email. We were in your shoes once. The least we can do is point you in the right direction.

Semester Eight: It Begins

Here we go!

The time has finally arrived, and honestly, it doesn't feel like I've been on vacation at all. Classes might be different this time around but it's the same old same old from what I remember last year. 'Twas a wonderful internship last semester, but it's almost comforting to be back in the admissions office.

This semester I am getting into the more specialized classes, and while I probably have said the same thing last semester, I feel like that is true once again. I am taking a "construction methods and cost estimation" class as well as a class all about concrete. If you are not interested in the engineering field, these might not seem like they would be that interesting, but for me, these are right up my alley, especially the cost estimating.

Also to look forward to in the coming months are events that my fraternity is putting on. We are holding tournaments for table tennis, video games, pool, foosball, and poker too. We are also all going to see the Chicago Wolves hockey team play, which I am excited about.

What also has me excited (and more than a bit nervous) is that now that I am New Member Education Director (or Pledge Educator, or "Pleducator," it depends who you ask) , I have to come up with a curriculum for the semester. I was going to teach the class like my past brothers have done before me, but I made the mistake of going to an Alpha Sigma Phi conference this past weekend, and now I find myself incredibly motivated to retool the whole education curriculum. Here's hoping I can figure it out enough before "classes" start in a couple weeks.

It's Time!

Well, it's January. A new year. A new semester, and all-new classes.

As with every new semester, there is a sense of excitement that comes with it. And fortunately for me, this semester is pretty light on classes. I am only taking twelve credit hours, as opposed to the eighteen I tried last semester. I know a lot of people who can handle eighteen or more hours, but for me it's a bit more than I can manage, especially with all the extracurriculars I do.

And starting this semester, for the next year I am the membership education director, meaning I will be in charge of educating our new members (makes sense, right?). This coupled with my other organizations means that my schedule is pretty full.

That's not to say that I am focusing all my time on my extracurricular stuff. Classes are my number one priority, as it should be for any student (i.e. you). But without something fun to do, I would probably go crazy, and no one wants that!

I am hoping to have my schedule very well organized so that with all my classes, my extracurriculars, and my job, I will still have time for--gasp!--friends. Last semester I was so busy with things, whenever I spent time with friends I always felt like I was getting behind on things. At least now, I will be out of class by eleven a.m. on Mondays, so that will leave me with plenty of time for work, homework, and I will still have enough time left to play some video games!

The classes this semester promise to be quite challenging, but I am incredibly optimistic about the coming months, and while that might change, I have promised myself I will stay on top of my work so that I will not get behind. It was the cause of a few issues late last semester, but no more! Homework will be finished days early! Work will be twice as productive! Fun will be had! Wish me luck!