Illinois, USA: Random musings from DeKalb, Illinois

DeKalb, Illinois is a university town playing host to Northern Illinois University. We'll be leaving DeKalb in a few days. I can't imagine this has been my home away from home for the past four weeks! Did you know that barbed wire was invented in DeKalb, Illinois? There are a lot of heritage structures in DeKalb which remind us of this aspect of its history.

Some of the highlights during our stay were a barbecue picnic where we grilled some steak, nights out and karaoke in Starbusters every Wednesday, home-cooked dinners, and a picnic hosted by the Filipino community in DeKalb and Sycamore. Thank you to the Fil-Am community and to all the friends I met along the way. I had one hell of a time!

Illinois, USA: Puerto Rico and Mexico in Chicago

Today, we visited more neighborhoods of Chicago. Aside from Little Village which I visited weeks ago, another Mexican community of Chicago is Pilsen. The group did a lot of walking to check out the Mexican street art which is all over Pilsen. The murals are wonderfully-done and very symbolic, filled with a lot of elements from Mexican culture and history. Some are expressions of the situation of Mexicans in the United States.

There are a lot of fresh fruit stands around and we tried their local mangoes which taste like our Indian mangoes in the Philippines. It was raining at times so we weren't able to maximize our tour around Pilsen. But I sure did enjoy the street art.

We went next to the Puerto Rican community along Paseo Boricua. The funny thing about Chicago weather is that it is so unpredictable since the sun was out by the time we got there.

Just like in Pilsen, we walked around and explored the street. I made sure to try the local food. I had been tipped about a fried banana and meat snack called alcapurrias unique to the Puerto Rican community and was happy to find it in one of the shops. I also had some morcillas (blood sausages) which are different from the ones I had in Spain since the ones here are made mostly out of rice. After a late Puerto Rican lunch, we proceeded to Oakbrook Terrace, IL since we were going to watch the Buddy Holly Story at the Drury Lane Theatre later in the evening.

Illinois, USA: Chicago-style hot dogs

They say it's taboo to put ketchup on a genuine Chicago dog. A Chicago dog is a steamed or boiled all-beef hot dog on a poppy seed bun. Toppings include mustard, sweet pickle relish, onion, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices, sport peppers, and celery salt, but never ketchup! So since I was in Chicago, I made sure to try one.

I found a hot dog stand in Navy Pier which serves different types of hot dog sandwiches from across America. On the menu of America's Dog are the following:

• Chicago dog - mustard, relish, onion, sport peppers, tomato, pickle and celery salt
• Buffalo dog - Buffalo sauce, bleu cheese and celery salt
• Dallas dog - chili, onion and shredded cheddar cheese
• New York dog - sauerkraut and brown mustard
• Baltimore dog - deep-fried dog, melted cheddar cheese and grilled onions
• Kansas City dog - melted Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and yellow mustard
• Louisiana dog - BBQ sauce, grilled onions and tomato
• Green Bay dog - melted cheddar cheese
• Atlanta dog - coleslaw, chili, mustard, ketchup and onion
• Pittsburgh dog - chili and yellow mustard