goods and heroes

the bird man

Just so you know, last night I stayed up until past 11:00 pm (!!!) so that I could catch Andrew Bird performing live on David Letterman. Earlier in the day I was convinced that I would be crashing quite quickly and exceptionally early since our little Ben was up and babbling away to his Tech Deck Dudes at just past 5 am. But when I heard on the radio, while washing the dishes after dinner, that Mr. Bird was going to be appearing on Late Night with David Letterman, well, I quickly changed my tune (pun intended) and tapped into that store of extra energy that you need when good things come along. Even if those good things are as simple as watching a musician live on the weird box that that we call the TV.  (Did you know that we are super old school when it comes to TV? We don't have cable, we don't have a flat screen and we don't have any plans to change that scenario anytime soon. We are going to to do the Old World Stubborn Converter Box Thing. Yes we are. Clunky as it is. Oh and when Obama was sworn in and I missed it? Ted recorded it on the VCR on a VHS tape.)

And of course, wouldn't you know it, Andrew Bird was the very last act, they practically had the credits rolling as David Letterman came over and shook his hand. But Mr. Letterman shook it heartily and for me, it was worth it. That guy can whistle and his lyrics are wild and he seems happy to be playing, kind of lost in the melodies. He makes me feel like I felt about 7 or 8 years ago when I first heard Rufus Wainwright. They both make me feel like their music (and me listening to it) can make everything make sense, or at least sort of make sense. Or just open up the dialogue to the quizzical nature of all things we face every day.  In the case of Andrew Bird by whistling or invoking snacks or insects or palindromes.

Oh and last week Ted scored two tickets to his concert in April at the Civic Opera House. I am looking forward to it very, very much. Until then I can be the dorky fan who watches his videos on-line, like this one. Or this one. And I can whistle along. And so can you. What is the music that makes you feel all right (or more at place) in the world?

looking forward

I always feel quite guilty when I let a week slip by without posting, but this time, I can say we have been so busy with all sorts of happy celebratory activities, that it is very much worth being absent for a spell.

We had a small but lovely birthday party for Ted, we honored Dr. Martin Luther King and learned a little bit more about civil rights at the Art Institute, we held a glass of champagne in one hand and piece of Guatemalan fried chicken in the other while watching our new president being sworn in. (And just so you know, fried chicken and champagne are a lovely pairing.) We played in the snow with our neighbors, we ate Chinese while listening to Grandma Fran and Grandpa as they told us about being in DC during the inauguration, re-creating scenes on the street and at the home states ball. We went ice skating (a first for both Ben and Sam) and we caught up with friends we hadn't seen in a very long time. 

And so now, it is time to come up for air and finally look forward. Ted and I are actually going to sit and look at 2009 (or the rest of it).

It feels so good right now, this looking forward. I know the economy stinks and it's cold outside. But somehow, things feel hopeful, better.

p.s. the carne deshebrada came out fine, it was a bit sweeter than I recall, I think I went a little heavy on the tomatoes, but it is such an easy dish to make for a casual gathering. The corn pudding I brought over to Sarah's (also crazy-ass easy) was gobbled up quickly by both grow-ups and the little ones. And Sarah and I made a couple of rounds of Spam Musubi, we didn't have a rice mold, so they were pretty um, free form and loose but if I could find a small mold I would love to serve them again. There were about 6 slices of pan-friend, I mean carmelized  Spam left over so I just need to get if off my chest and admit to you all that I ate Spam, eggs and rice for breakfast a few days in a row. And while my sodium levels must be shocking, it was very, very tasty.

celebratory eats

Boy, have I had food on my mind a lot lately. I mean, even more than I usually do. First, it's Ted's birthday tomorrow and I have been wondering what exactly to fix him. We are having a few friends over and I wanted it to be hearty with the frigid temps of late but easy enough so that I can prep as much the day ahead and actually have conversations with people that don't take place over our funny old stove. I finally decided to go with an old favorite that we actually haven't had all year, Rick Bayless' carne deshebrada, which is basically slow-cooked, shredded beef.  I'll serve it with lots of fresh chopped onions, cilantro, avocado, radishes, a salsa fresca and hot corn tortillas. I'll let you know how it comes out, it is simmering away on the stove as I type and the apartment smells rich and garlicky. But I'd really have to go out of my way to screw this up, I mean, it's one of those cozy, easy, slow-cooking no-brainer dishes.

Then there is the Obama side dish. Yes, we have been invited to an Inauguration potluck and celebration over at Sarah's, and she asked me to bring a side dish that had a connection to Obama and was  somehow special. At first I thought I'd go with the Indonesian connection but I realized I have never cooked a single Indonesian dish and in fact, have never eaten Indonesian food. So that seemed a little silly, if not dubious. I then thought, heck, I can always do something with sweet potatoes (I llke the Africa/America connection plus they taste so good) but was not sure if that would come off as special per se.

So now I am trying to make some connection to Kansas but all I can think of is cows and corn and corn isn't really in season right now. Oh my, I just thought of something while typing (honest) . . . I could make corn pudding! Yes I can. ("Yes we can!" Of course.)  It's pretty much all out of the can (canned corn niblets and creamed corn) and I can just gussy it up a teentsy bit and call it  . . . Kansas Souffle, perhaps. But I do think that's a nice connection to his grandparents who raised him. I have the recipe for it (from lthforum) it comes from a Salvation Army lady. (Really!) Right on, I think I nailed it. I think it's all gonna be all right. Well, thanks for listening while I processed that in "real" blog time.

Oh wait, one more thing, while trying to figure out what exactly to bring, I watched a news piece that said Obama loved Hawaiian snack foods. So I did a little googling and almost got hit in the head by a couple of cans of Spam.

That's right, Spam is huge in Hawaii (I think Hawaii might keep Spam in production!) and apparently the numero uno "fast" food or on the go food is called Spam Musube, a riff on traditional Japanese musubes (rice balls). It is a chunk of grilled Spam sandwiched on or between pieces of sticky rice, held together with a band of Nori. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is sometimes referred to as Spam Sushi. I LOVE this, I mean the concept of it, I have never had it before. But I do have an odd, somewhat loose connection. My best friend in Tuolumne, California was Lei Elkins and her mom was Hawaiian (and her Dad was an Okie). We ate a lot of Japanese/Hawaiian fusions over at her house (including salted lychees, hot dogs marinated in soy sauce and smashed avocados with sugar on toast) and yes, a lot of pan-fried Spam sandwiches on white bread with mayo. But never Spam Musube.

Anyhow, I got the green light from Sarah to bring these as well and so we are going to have these as appetizers in honor of Obama's time in Hawaii. And nothing goes with a little champagne like Spam, right? Check out this YouTube video on how to make it. This is a nice tutorial as well, the picture above is from it. And finally, this article states that sales of Spam are up (due to the economy perhaps?) and that it isn't really that evil--according to her it has very few ingredients and few additives. Well, either way, cheers to America and what a crazy quilt of different cultural influences we have in our foods and dishes. And here's a toast to the wide variety of all that we are so lucky to enjoy and the foods that we have not yet even tasted.  I think this new presidency is kind of like that. It's completely new in many ways, but something many of us are very ready to try.

random things

The snow is falling, the house is still, Ben (and maybe Ted too?) are sleeping. I am a little restless and have so many things to do but I thought instead I'd share of things that are making me happy these days.

Doug Fine, love his humor, his self-deprecating approach and his completely humble attitude about approaching a life style that is more sustainable than guilt-ridden. I very much want to get a copy of his book, Farewell My Subaru and read it while I am on the #147 bus headed downtown. (Which is truly the only place I seem to read these days. I mean, not counting Naruto graphic novels and The Little Gorilla in bed with two little people in my house.)

Check out this interview in Smithsonian mag. (Here in Chicago, there is a rag-tag group of people doing our best to secure a location for him to speak on Friday, February 20, I will certainly keep you posted.)

All right, moving on, I am not much of a beer drinker, but I love tinkerers and folks who break the rules for all the right reasons and maintain a healthy sense of humor to boot. And so here's a brewing bad-boy, Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery, who is playing with all sort of herbs and ancient fermentation methods. He made a stout with chicory and St, John's Wort and called it "the world's first anti-depressant depressant." I read this article about him in an old fall issue of the New Yorker (the "food" issue, thanks, Rachel W, my magazine swapping friend!) and was giggling on the bus (like I said, the only place I seem to read in good chunks) like a loon.

Let's break up all the guy action with a lady. I just came across my friend Nance Klehm's new website.
Lots of thoughtful launching points to get us all thinking about our food sources and choices, wild yeast, seeds, urban foraging, your poop (yep!) composting, vermiculture, (worm composting) performance art and much much more.

She also has an article on sleeping better via herbal remedies and er, life choices over here at an intriguing quasi-hippy on-line rag ("Counter-Culture for All Ages") called Arthur.

All right, that should keep you busy. Or put you to sleep. Or freak you right out with the whole worm in the hand thing. But it shouldn't, if I might editorialize a wee bit. (Sam came in as I was pasting this picture in and he was all "ewwwww" and "grosssss" but he did want me to blow the picture up so he could see it better.) And so enough of all that, I now need to tuck Sam in. He is wondering why I am posting such pictures. So I am going to go read some Roald Dahl with him. He's pretty good too, Mr. Dahl (and has a website too!, I had no idea).  Not sure where Dahl stands on rearing goats and "extreme" brewing and eating burdock (but I do know he thinks dusty old aunts are evil and witchy) but at this point, it doesn't matter. Until I get back on the #147 bus tomorrow and start thinking about all this stuff again. And so, good night!

games of memory

It's super snowy here in Chicago, I mean impressively and still sort of magically so. The big, fat flakes have been falling since early this morning. We went out and played in it after breakfast but now we are inside staying cozy. And being inside is the perfect time to play a game or two, is it not? I wanted to share with you two games the boys received over the holidays and how we are enjoying them.

Sam has been freaky into the entire "I Spy" series of books and this year he really scored, with his Aunt Jenny sending him a book and Santa giving him a board game, one of his cousins giving him the I Spy Fun House computer game and Grandma Franny gave him this I Spy memory game.

He and I played it the evening after he received it, while Ted was downstairs putting Ben to bed. I have always loved the simplicity of memory games (playing "Concentration" with a deck of cards was a favorite thing for me to do on quiet do-nothing days when I was young) but I forgot how many cards there can actually be. When we had them all out on the table, I must say, I was a little bit daunted. But Sam wasn't, not at all."Come on Mom, let's go!" he implored.

The images on the other side are catchy and colorful and we ended up playing a couple of rounds. And then we played again the next day and another day after that. It is good for the brain and it is nice in that there aren't a lot of bells and whistles. (Unlike the game Clue, which Sam is getting pretty good at while I stumble along with my not so great deductive skills.)

Ben also got a memory game for Christmas. I picked this out for him, mostly because I am a big fan of Charley Harper's illustrations and just really love the images.

Of course,I didn't expect that Ben and I would have neat rows of cards lined up just so and we would calmly turn two over, taking turns. But I thought it would be good for Ben to get used to the concept of matching images.

He was gently checking out the pictures still stacked neatly in the box . . .

when he decided it would be much more fun to dump everything out on the carpet and just go for it.

 

I certainly understand. We can work on matching another time, for now we will just enjoy the gorgeous images.

Do you have a particular memory game you enjoy? The folks over at Binth have this very attractive version. Oh and I almost forgot, my niece Claire showed me a sweet version of a memory game in a little bag when we were visiting Colorado back in December. My sister purchased it for her at a holiday sale at the local Waldorf school.  This is my attempt to re-create it. You basically have a pouch filled with little objects, think of buttons and beads and maybe game pieces, pieces from a doll house, a coin, etc. They just need to be small and there should be almost a dozen of them. You pour the pieces out on flat surface and ask someone to look at all the items. Then you have that someone close their eyes and you take one item away. They open their eyes and then try to remember or guess what is missing.

These would make super great giveaways at a birthday party and not just for little kids. I mean, the older you get, the more you need to work on your memory skills. Why, just yesterday I sent several people Ted's email completely wrong. "How can you not know my email?" he asked me in a tone that was sort of humored and sort of flummoxed. "I don't know" I shrugged, "I um, I just forgot." And last Thursday I sent Ben off to his babysitter's without a single diaper or wipe in his little bag. Whoops. Oh well, guess that means I need to have more time at the table with Sam and those I Spy cards. Or maybe I'll stick with Ben, dumping the whole lot out and just enjoying the great pictures.

the story tree

Happy New Year everybody. We're slowly catching up with the real world, getting back on our feet health-wise and dragging our pajama-covered bums to you know, "normal." Whatever that means. Tomorrow school is back on for Sam and Ted and I have work and Ben goes back to his baby-sitter twice a week and we'll be on to the next things. This past week however, there was one thing, one thing I was really craving to do. It wasn't that sexy, it didn't involve a museum or a long road trip of have a lot of splash like going to an indoor water park or even something really physical like snow shoeing or god forbid, skiing. It didn't even involve doughnuts. Nope, I just wanted to get the whole family to the North Park Village Nature Center. That's it, just go and walk the simple sweet loop and take in winter and come back and warm up inside.

It was really looking like it wasn't going to happen, what with the onslaught of viral situations and a few social gatherings. But yesterday, we made it happen.

The main activity was crawling all over the story tree. This is an old tree that had always been the site for evening story telling at the nature center. It was big and majestic and just begged to be sat under. And then a few years ago, maybe five, I am not certain, it was struck down by lightening in a storm.  They left it where it is, it is slowing rotting and crumbling, slowing going back into the earth. But for now, you can still climb it. And so that is what Sam and Ben (with a little help from Ted) did.

Ted and I were also checking out all the marvelous shapes and textures and knots and gnarls.Ted was digging this little patch of moss, so soft and green in all the freezing wood.

And I was smitten with these little holes, how they make their own loose pattern.

And we had one of those "Oh we so need to do this more often" kind of moments. And so, that is what I am hoping and resolving to do in 2009. Go to natural places and just have a good time being there. It is so simple, isn't it? We're just going to try to not make it complicated or get too stuck somewhere else. I think we can make it happen.