New Year's Eve in Naperville

Wanna win a $25 gift card? Not the biggest prize on earth, but hey free is free right?

http://www.naperthrill.com/nye/?pg=contest

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Flyers, flyers everywhere

Have you ever noticed how many flyers are on display at various businesses around town? Some of them are sitting on tables in entryways, some are by the cash register, some are posted on bulletin boards. Most of it has pretty limited appeal, but every once in while you find stuff that's actually useful.

Take a peek at what's available the next time you walk into a place like Potbelly's or Anderson's Bookstore in downtown Naperville. You might be surprised at what you find.

H-mart in Naperville!

A Korean supermarket in Naperville? COOL! Super H-Mart is in the spot where Dominick's used to be at Ogden 6 Mall. If you go there wanting to try something new and have absolutely no clue what to buy, I'd recommend these items:

a. Korean/Japanese ramen noodles that comes in its own bowl - way better than that Maruchan ramen crap they sell at Jewel.

b. Pre-packaged 자짱면 ('ja jahng myun'). Easy to make and the bag comes with two servings. 자짱면 is found in "Chinese" restaurants in Korea. See, Koreans have their own version of Chinese food just like America does. 자짱면 is basically noodles with black bean sauce. Sounds weird, looks weird, but with a little rice vinegar and chili powder, it's really good.

c. Korean pears. They're huge and brown... peel them because the skin isn't very good for eating, but the pear itself is really good. Way better than the green pears most Americans are used to.

Items A & B are basically considered Korean junk food, but going to a Korean grocery store for the first time can be a pretty confusing experience. If you start with simple stuff, you might want to get more adventurous the next time you go.

Naperville, IL: Reality TV breeding ground?

Is it just me, or does Naperville seem to be churning out reality stars with amazing regularity? First (that I can remember, anyway) was Gina Glocksen on American Idol, then came Nicole D'Ambrosio on The Apprentice, and now we have Jessica Rickleff, the *winner* on VH1's Rock of Love! Dang. How many suburbs can claim that much fame? Not many I imagine.

Not only that, what's really notable is how well our famous girls have done on their respective shows. Jessica ('Jes') was the outright winner of ex-hair-band-star Bret Michaels' affections (he was the lead singer of Poison in case you've intentionally blocked the 80s from your memory), but Gina was also a top contender on Idol and Nicole came very close to being Trump's Apprentice.

Who's next? My prediction: a Survivor contestant! Just watch, it's gonna happen eventually because that that show just refuses to die.

Naperville is cool!

A lot of people, particularly ex-suburbanites who have transplanted themselves in Chicago proper, like to roll their eyes at Naperville. Pffft! They scoff now, but when they start popping out the babies they'll be ooohing and ahhhing over the Naperville school system and all the family-friendly stuff that goes on week after week. Eye-rollers, succumb now! Save yourselves the embarassment!

What exactly is "unincorporated Naperville"??

One of the great mysteries of the universe...

Man I used to LOVE the Last Fling when I was a teenager

I still like it, but for different reasons now. Winning beer-logo mirrors doesn't have so much appeal anymore! Had awesome weather for Labor Day weekend this year which was really nice. Naperville got lucky.

Frozen chimichangas are better!!

I've recently converted from frozen burritos to frozen chimichangas. They're way better - if you don't believe me, just try them! If there was a restaurant in Naperville that served nothing but frozen chimichangas, I'd be there every single day!

Downtown Naperville Noise?

I can see why people would be mad about noise in downtown Naperville, but it's DOWNTOWN NAPERVILLE! Remember that really, really old song by Petula Clark? Yeah, it was called "Downtown". She wasn't singing about how nice and quiet it is.

Downtown Naperville parking

Free parking is awesome!!!! If I'm not mistaken, it was made free so that shoppers would be encouraged to go downtown instead of to Fox Valley mall. Good move, City of Naperville. Very clever.

My first post!

How's this for a random thought: canadian geese are jerks!! Naperville, IL is full of them, and they hiss at me. >_<