My Favorite Restaurants in West Suburban Chicago

This is the list of the restaurants that I have personally visited, and have consistently wowed by their mouth watering delicacies .... You say you have a place that will beat my list? Well let me know...... Next, Indiana Lafayette Area.

Katy’s Dumpling (Chinese dumpling and noodles)
665 N Cass Ave
Westmont, Il 60559
630-323-9393

The Capital Grille (Steak)
87 Yorktown Center
Lombard, Il 60148
630-627-9800

Los Burritos Tapatios (Mexican)
1410 E Ogden Ave
Downers Grove, Il 60151
630-271-1150

Omega Restaurant (American)
1300 Ogden Ave
Downers Grove, Il
630-963-0300

Dali’s Café (American)
5130 Main St
Downers Grove, Il
630-724-0900

Yokohama Restaurant (Japanese)
13 W Burlington Ave
Westmont, Il
630-810-0022

Kamehachi Sushi Cafe (Japanese)
311 S. Wacker Ave
Chicago, Il
312-765-8700

Honey
499 Main St
Glen Ellyn, Il
630-469-0000

Always put some kind of identifying mark on your photographs

I would love to give credits to photographers who took these adorable, heart warming pictures. But I can not, because I found them on the Internet without any identifying watermarks. Probably original photograph was posted with some kind of captions that clearly identified who captured the images but whomever saw it only copied the photographs and decided to post it on their site, and next person did the same and by the time I found it, no identifying marks of any kind was apparent.

On the photograph below, it does have the URL address of the internet site that was posted, but not the photographer. When you post a photographs on the Internet, it is a good idea to put some kind of marking on your photographs to identify you as a photographer. Get credit for the photographs you took time and effort to post it, you deserve it......

Creative Photographs

Taking photographs has become much easier in recent years with the introduction of new digital cameras that do almost everything for you. But what makes the difference between good photographs and excellent photographs are its creativity. Look what the sleeve face did with these record album covers, isn't this so much interesting than another snow covered landscape? Be creative... have fun with photographs.....

The Getty Center

The Getty Center in Brentwood, California is a must visit place when you are in Los Angeles. I wanted to see the exhibit by F. Evans the photographer, so on my last visit to LA off we went.



The place is easy enough to find even for a person like me who always gets lost. Not a good thing in LA where one wrong turn on a freeway can easily take you half an hour just to get back to where you took the wrong turn. Anyway,The Getty Center is located just off I-405 north of Sunset Blvd. at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains above I-405. Exit at the Getty Center exit and just follow the easily marked signs.




You will be directed to the gate where you pay $15 for parking (yes, it is steep, but that is all you pay no entrance fee to the museum). You go into this cave like structure and look for a place to park. The day we went, we kept going down, down, and down wondering how far does this go? Well, it turns out that the structure is 7 stories deep underground. After you park and get back to the surface via elevator, there is an automated 3 car tram waiting to take you to the museum. As soon as you get off the tram, you are memorized by the view and the travertine and aluminium clad buildings with bubbling fountains that seems to be tucked in numerous places. The collections of art are large, and it is housed in 4 exhibit halls in 9 buildings.



What most of the people seems to be doing is just enjoying the view. On the day we went, it had been raining for a few days, and had just cleared up. So no smog to obscure the view and we were able to see all the way to the Catalina Islands. It was just gorgeous.

The Shape Collage Program -- perfect for a technology challenged person

I am totally technology challenged but whenever I come across books and magazines with neat way to manipulate photographs I think "Yes, I can do this. It shouldn't be too hard" but as soon as I try to follow the instruction... nothing turn out the way it should.

For example, I was making a postcard for my upcoming photo exhibit. I decided rather then just putting two photos on the back of the card, I would try to inlay them in Polaroid like boxes. So I went on line and found the instructions on how to create a Polaroid like box with drop shadow in the Photoshop. Well, I thought I was following the instructions step by step, mind you the instructions had photographs and illustrations as to where and what to use in Photoshop, but that didn't help. I got something soooo different that I had to give it up..... so when I came across this program "The Shape Collage"

I thought cool, but is it really easy to follow like it promised? with huge skepticism, I downloaded the trial program and started to play with it. And you know what? it is easy to use, and it actually is fun.

All you do, really, is to prepare a file with all the pictures that you want to have in the collage and save. Remember where you put it (that is another of my problems) open the shape collage program. Click the "+" sign at the bottom left to up load the folder that you have just created. Now go to the top left and pick the shape you would like for your collage. Once you have done that, Click "Create" lower middle, small window will appear, name the collage and pick where you would like to save the collage. Then click "Save" and watch the magic. The result is what I posted on Valentines day. Doesn't it look great?

I have not bought the actual program but I am thinking about purchasing it. Trail download collage has a watermark on it, and unless I buy the program I can't remove it. But wouldn't it be fun to use the program to make collage note cards or use it for the cover of a client's photo book?

Happy Valentines Day

Los Angeles Flower Market

With Valentines Day just around the corner, I decided to go to the Los Angeles flower market to find the perfect Valentines Day Red Roses. What I found was a warehouses filled with flowers as far as the eyes can see. There were so many places that sold every kind of roses that I totally lost track of what I came to find. If you are having a party, or planning a wedding, this is the place to find that one extraordinary to unusual colored flowers.
Public can get in for a $1 and buy flowers at a discounted retail price. Great deal……I wanted to buy car loads of flowers and surrendered myself with beautiful and vibrant colors…..

Off to LA

I am off to Los Angeles for the weekend. I was hoping to soak up much needed sun and walk on the beaches, but unfortunately they are predicting two days of rain. Don't get me wrong, after being in the frozen tundra for the last two months I will take rain over snow any day. Anyway, I am looking forward to eating some delicious Sushi and visiting with families....

A Deer in my neighborhood

My backyard is connected to a forest preserve and every winter we have group of deers that comes through looking for food. This deer looks to be a really young one as she was very curious and kept coming closer and closer before she ran away....