Newcastle Table-Climbing Watch and A Taste of Heaven

With so many topics on this blog now (3) it's going to be hard to keep lines of thought. But I'm going to do my best. I've only been writing about one a week though so it can't be all THAT hard. Today we've got two topics.

Yesterday, Newcastle played Reading which always had "tough match" written all over it. We've come off four great performances in a row, the last two of which both tabbed 3 points. All of Tyneside was on a high, and pretty much everyone fully expected to get another win, but Reading was a team who could kill any giant. They always come to play, they play with their heart, and they play difficult, physical football. I rearranged plans with my bud on Saturday just to watch this match. So they had better perform for me. And that, they did. We went ahead after about 20 minutes with another beatiful Oba Martins goal. On 43 minutes, Michael Owen made it 2-0, and Mark Viduka finished the scoring for the afternoon in the second half, and Newcastle ended up being OVERWHELMING winners 3-0. Habib Beye, the ex French leaguer, had a fantastic match, and was involved in seemingly every play going forward.

Newcastle are now 12 points clear of the drop zone, and the fear that I felt just a month ago feels miles away. It's quite clear, when you look at the schedule, that Keegan came in at CLEARLY the most difficult point in the season, with not only the toughest part of the schedule, but also the most depleated side at his disposal. We lost consistently to teams above us. And now we're consistently beating teams below us and around us. This is absolutely typical for a mid-level team, which is what we are. We're no giant killers. We don't deserve to be in Europe. But we also don't deserve to be relegated, and now it's clear that we won't, and the boys can look forward to the next 5 matches and realistically think that we can win any one of them. Not only that but we can think about the off season and who we'll buy, and how we'll get back in to Europe, either with this coming season or the next.

For my second food entry, I'm actually going to write about food this time. Mrs. Architecturefootballandfood (her name is getting longer) and I went to a wonderful place called "A Taste of Heaven" (5401 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60640 / 773-989-0151) for brunch this morning, for our second time. Now, let me say, I'm a breakfast lover. Since my mom came out with this scrumptious sausage/bread/egg/cheese casserole thing in the late eighties, I've been hooked on breakfast, and while I don't eat it every day, I know a good one when I taste one. And this is a good one. All the food is made on the premises, the service is not only fantastic, but so fantastic that it actually elevates the dining experience from great to amaaaazin'. It's in a very interesting area of Chicago called Andersonville, a place where Mrs. Architecturefootballandfood and I seriously considered calling home, which used to be mostly lesbian population but is now primarily inhabited by gay blokes and young families. It's a great place to stroll around and some of the best little boutique shops and restaurants are there. It reminds me a lot of Park Slope, Brooklyn, if anyone is familiar. The customers at this restaurant usually fit that bill to a T, and the wait staff do everything they can to make every single person there as jovial as possible. It always puts a smile on my face -- and I haven't even gotten to the food yet.

Today I had the peaches and cream french toast and the missus had the special omellette - turkey sausage, spinach and goat cheese. I had some reservations about the french toast being too sweet before I ordered it, but decided to dive in and oh my goodness, was I happy I did. the french toast was almost more of a french cornbread, and the peach preserves used were thick and sweet and made me feel warm all over. But the crown jewel of the dish was the homemade whipped cream cheese that they slathered all over half of the plate. It was light, fluffy, and not too sweet - and made the dish sing.

The wife's omellete wasn't as nice as the french toast - but really, what could be? It was amazing as well though - it tasted as good as you could imagine, came with some nice hasbrowns (which, to be fair - this place doesn't have the best hashbrowns in my opinion - which I'm an absolute stickler for - but they're not half bad) but with most breakfast dishes in this place, they serve a green salad with green beans and vinigarette dressing on the side. It freshens up every plate and gives it an attitude all its own.

So if you're ever in the far north Chicago neighborhood of Andersonville on a Sunday morning (or any morning I think) PLEASE stop by my favorite place up there called "A Taste of Heaven." There's seating outside, it's a fantastic area, the wait staff will make you feel like family, and you'll have a meal like you haven't had in years - or months - or decades - depending on how well you like to eat....