January 6, 2009 - Winter Comfort Foods

I love a good stew, soup, or chili in the depths of winter. And I make a big batch to freeze and get me through the long cold months. I was watching the CBS Morning Show and they had a segment on Ultimate Winter Comfort Foods by Sheila Lukins, writer of one of my favorite cookbooks the "Silver Palate." The link has recipes from her new book "Ten: All the Foods We Love and 10 Perfect Recipes for Each." You can get recipes for Chickpea Stew, Minty Lamb Kabobs, Chicken Tangine with Eggplant Tomatoes and Onions, and Red Carrot Ginger Soup at the link above.

I just made this Spicy Black Bean Soup from the Oprah's web site (pictured above). I added more spices I had on hand and it came out great. Try adding some chili powder, cumin, and some powdered chipotle pepper (I use Chipotle Ground Red from Penzeys Spices), and a touch of cinammon. Another great one I got from a friend is Curried Sweet Potato Soup from Epicurious. Check out the reviews for some additional spice suggestions. My friend added some sauteed garlic and onion in some olive oil, more broth, one teaspoon of curry, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, ginger and tumeric. And feel free to use canned vege broth. Very good. There's a Curried Pumpkin Soup on Epicuious too but it looks a little more complicated. I haven't tried it yet but I love pumpkin.

The same friend also gave me a recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash Rosemary and Garlic Lasagna. I haven't tried this yet but she loved it. I'll let you know my review and the recipe when I make it this week.

I'm also looking for the ultimate squash and apple soup recipe if you have any suggestions. When I was in Chicago we had the most wonderful soup at a Atwood Cafe and we vowed to find something similar. The first spoonful was as good as the last, not to mention some incredible croutons on top. Keep warm inside and out. m

January 1, 2009 - The State of My Technology

So, it's New Year's Day. I did not do much celebrating last night due to a really womp'n sore throat and general feeling of rottenness. I think I'm over the hump but you never know. The way my colds go is that I get the sore throat first but no congestion, then the congestion, then we go into the coughing stage, then the throat tickle stage which is absolutely the worst stage because you'll be sitting talking to someone and get this horrible tickle and you know if you give in to the coughing you may never come out of it. So you resist and tears start streaming down your face and you wonder if the world will end. Meanwhile the person across from you is confused.

And this is really a long post because it's just that important.

So it is time for life assessment. This is where you evaluate your life from the bottom up. So, let's begin with the "State of Remotes." This is the one where you gather all the remotes in your home and remind yourself as to why you have them and what they belong to. Please use the picture above as reference. We'll be going from left to right.

1) The big Hitachi remote is for my 32" TV that I bought in 1992. It works great but weighs a ton and to move it is a very big deal. The remote no longer works. It just sits and gathers dust.

2) This is the VCR remote. It's kind of like an 8 track player at this point but you know you still have a lot of VCR tapes in that back closet that you may or may not ever play again. Mostly it gathers dust too.

3) Now things get interesting. The third remote is for this kick-ass surround sound system I bought around 2005 from the "Refurb Depot." It was also a multi disk DVD player and CD stereo. Wow! I'm set. It had these fancy skinny tall speakers that you put around the room along with a womp'n big woofer thingy. About this time the remote for my TV stopped working but lo and behold the remote for the new DVD/CD/RWR/WR/CC/SR unit worked with my old TV. Now I'm down to one remote except for those rare occasions when I watch the VCR.

4) This is the DVD remote for the other DVD player I had in my basement studio. But what happened is that the kick-ass DVD/CD blah blah blah died one day so I had to move the DVD in the basement upstairs to the main viewing area. Meanwhile I had to move all the speakers and woofers and tweeters to the 2nd bedroom which doubles as a graveyard for dead technology, books I'll never read or am too embarrassed to put in a public space, and gifts I'll never use or think I may re-gift some day. There's a bed in there too for guests. So now I'm back to really two main remotes—3 and 4. Yes I'm still using the kick-ass blah blah blah remote even though there's nothing left of what it came with. 

5) Enter the latest technology, HDTV. So the world has decided to turn the world upside down and require everyone to evolve to HDTV. Here's the thing. Even though I would love to buy a brand spank'n new flat screen 32" Samsung 1080 resolution TV (yes, 32" is totally appropriate for my viewing room size) I have a TV, actually two TVs, that work just fine. I don't have cable because I did once and just never really found much to watch but just kept flipping channels whenever commercials came on so I never saw a show in it's entirety. My solution: Netflix. So this last remote is for the HDTV conversion box that I set up yesterday. The good news is that the reception is great! And with my old rabbit ears antennae. By the way, I have no idea how I got it all to work because I did not follow their directions I just went by my gut instincts. Here's what they don't tell you. Yes, you get more channels but every channel is either letterbox, full screen, or something really small that brings the picture down by 1/3. In other words there's a big thick black border around the entire picture. I'm guessing this will all change on Feb 19 but for now it's a little disconcerting. You can change the display to fill the screen but it's confusing in a way that I really don't feel like explaining right now. And you can be watching the same channel and some shows will be in letterbox, others will be that small screen version so it's very confusing. And it's pretty silly to be watching a show that only fills 2/3rds of your screen so why have a big TV but then that's why you should buy a flat screen TV. See how they manipulate you into buying things.

Yes, I do have even more remotes but look how much I've written already and it's not like anyone's going to read this whole thing anyway. So on to our next assessment: why do I have a closet full of cloths but only wear one pair of jeans and two shirts. And you're wrong if you think I actually make any decisions based on these assessments. It's just what I do for the first couple days of a new year. It will not last. Have a great day.

December 31, 2008 - In Memorium

In the early 70's I was in high school. A young couple came to our church and took on the task of leading our youth group. They were committed, open minded, creative, and fun. Just what we needed. As it happened 4 of us became quite close to them. One summer we met at their home in the evening once a week and talked about everything and anything. And they listened like no one else had. All this while raising 3 kids of their own. In fact Cheri was born during our time with them. Over the next 10 years of so we remained close friends and enjoyed reunions with them whenever the opportunity came. They were truly a big brother and sister, family. 

Phil Rieman (64) and Louise Baldwin Rieman (63) went on to become pastors in the Church of the Brethren, not to mention mission workers in the Sudan from 1992-1996, pastors at churches in Iowa and Indiana, and peace witnesses and war tax resisters for decades. They gave 60 percent of their taxes to civil rights and peace programs, despite internal Revenue Service threats of liens against bank accounts, wage garnishments, and seizure of the family van. In an article in the New York Times on the subject, Phil was quoted saying "We will look back on war someday like we did on slavery." 

Phil and Louie were most recently pastors at the Northview Church of the Brethren in Indianapolis. They were killed on December 26th in a car accident on a highway north of Indianapolis on their way to a family gathering. They are survived by their 3 children. 

We did not see much of each other over way too many years but I still heard word of them and their kids and I still considered them very close friends. They will always have a very special place in my heart. A funeral service is available for viewing on the Northview Church of the Brethren web site. 

And those 3 friends who grew up with me on those summer nights are some of my dearest friends. We don't get together often but they live in my heart and it has been a joy to connect with them during this sad time. Happy New Year everyone! Live life to it's fullest.

December 30, 2008 - Joy and sadness

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I spent the last week with some of my family amidst much turbulent weather—ice, snow, fog, rain, cold and winds. But all in all we stayed safe and happy, ate too much, and enjoyed each other's company. Another Christmas past.

Madison is breaking records with snow fall this December. We're not jumping for joy but at least we've had less ice and a lot of the snow has melted. But there's much more on the way and we're all bracing for a long winter. I'll keep you posted.

Over the past years movie watching has been a big part of the Christmas holiday for me and family. Lots of leisure time means lots of time to enjoy movies. I have no idea how many movies we watched but here's a few. First there was "Wanted". A totally bizarre fantasy about a group of assassins with extraordinary and totally unbelievable skill sets. It didn't do much for me. We also saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and I liked it a lot. I had seen a review that didn't recommend it so I was hesitant. But it was a really nice story about love, growing old and growing young. It's very long but it held my attention and it kept me guessing as to where it was all going. And my sister finally talked me into watching "Mama Mia." Although I resisted you can't help but get into it if only for the catchy songs. There were more including marathons of "A Christmas Story" which has been a part of our family Christmas for many years.

The hit of the holiday was experiencing the Wii game machine. My brother-in-law  got one for father's day and my niece got her husband one for Christmas. I was curious having seen all the buzz about it over the last year. And it is fun. We played tennis, golf, archery, figure skating, volleyball, snowboarding, go-cart racing, bowling, billiards, and the silliest of all, cow racing. I have to say it was as entertaining to watch as it was to play. I get it now. It's great entertainment for small and large groups as well as on your own. Worth the price? I'm still deciding. And as far as the exercise benefits go, you do get a great work out for one of your arms. But be careful. I came home with a sore wrist from all the twisting and erratic movements. It does get you off the couch and laughing at the very least but it's hardly a substitute for the real thing.

And now the sadness. I came home to an email from a long time friend. It said that two friends of ours were killed in a car accident on their way to a family Christmas in Indiana, not far from where I was. I'll leave the details for my next post but it was a shock and terribly sad. So with joy comes sadness. And that's life.

December 13, 2008 - Tales of Chi-town

Spent a bit of time in Chicago recently. Some friends and I decided it would be great to see a live taping of one of our favorite radio shows on NPR—Wait Wait Don't Tell Me. Each week on the radio you can test your knowledge against some of the best and brightest in the news and entertainment world while figuring out what's real news and what's made up. It's a great show and very funny. The show is taped in the Chicago Chase Auditorium right next to Daly Plaza in the Loop. We had a blast. It takes about two hours to tape the show. There are 3 celebrity panelists, an MC, Peter Sagal, and Carl Kasell, a legendary newscaster who's been doing NPR's Morning Edition since 1979, and you've never heard him like this. In fact the main prize for the call-in contestants is Carl recording a greeting for your home answering machine. Every week they have a celebrity guest who plays a game called "It's not my job", a series of questions that have absolutely nothing to do with the guest's background, just to make it interesting. In the past they've had Tom Hanks, Tom Brokaw, and Michael Hayden, Director of the CIA. Sometimes the guests are on the phone but we were lucky to have a live appearance by Denise Leary, a very irreverent comedian who is currently starring in the FX channel's Rescue Me. Check out Wait Wait Don't Tell Me on the weekends if you ever get the chance. And even better get to a live taping. I haven't laughed that much in a very long time. Below is my mug in front of the stage before the taping courtesy of Kristin. She also took a photo during the show, and after they warned us not to take any flash pictures her flash accidently went off. No one was more shocked than Kristin. Ed and I would have denied knowing her at that point if it meant missing the rest of the show. We also saw Jersey Boys, a musical about the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, had some great food and went to the One-of-a-Kind Show at the Merchandise Mart, one of the best art fairs in the Midwest. 

The shot above is out our hotel window and shows the progress of the newest skyscraper, The Trump Tower. Below is the Famous "Bean" sculpture in Millennium Park. The last time I was in Chicago, almost 3 years ago, they had it covered up for repairs. I guess they also had to add some texture to the top of it as it was blasting intense sunlight into quite a few office buildings. 

And one more little tidbit leftover from Thanksgiving. I made a few deserts for the big dinner—a Pumpkin/Orange Bread Pudding, a Maple Pecan Pie, and a Pear Cranberry and Pecan Pie. All on my stove top ready to go. The bread pudding was supposed to have a rich whip cream topping with white pepper but I'll save that for another time.

November 26, 2008 - Thanksgiving

This is to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. My life is full and content and all of you have made it so. It's a tough year for many. I feel truly blessed that I have so much and hope to give much back over the next year. I'll be spending the day with a great group of friends and I'm sure the food will be amazing. 

We had our first snow of the season this week. So I went outside and took a few pics near my house. Tonight I'm making a few pies and of course one of them has to be pumpkin. I like to try something new every year so I found a recipe for a pumpkin/orange bread pudding and a great pie that combines pears, cranberries and pecans. I'd better get to work.

For each new morning with its light.

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food,

For love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

--Ralf Waldo Emerson

November 20, 2008 - I'm bad.

I'm bad for not blogging for the last two months. Sometimes you just run dry. And nobody reads this anyway. Especially when I don't put anything new in here. So I'm back. Next week is Thanksgiving. The best thing about a holiday like this is sleeping late and really not feeling compelled to do anything. Working at home the temptation to do work is pretty powerful. You're in the office so why not get something done. But on holidays…nothin. Don't want to lift a finger. 

So I start the day with a big leisurely breakfast. It's just one of my favorite comforts. So I'm going to share. Here's one of my favorite recipes:

Corn Meal Pancakes

Put one cup of white or yellow cornmeal in a bowl and add

1 teaspoon of salt

1 to 2 tablespoons of maple syrup

Stir in 1 cup of boiling water, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

In another bowl beat

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons of melted butter

Add these to the cornmeal along with

1/2 cup of all-purpose flour and

2 tablespoons of double-acting baking powder.

Give a few good strokes and fry em up on a cast iron skillet.

Cover with hot maple syrup.

A few sausage links on the side make it great. And coffee.

And lay around in your robe and stocking feet near a sunny window. 

Enjoy. m