My Kingdom For A Cubeb!

"My name is Panurge and I have come from HELL!" They shouldn't allow me to watch Gentle Giant videos at work. Oooh! The recorder'n'bass jam is starting!

Friday night was quite mellow. Not having had much sleep, my mom and I went to Jolly Bob's Jerk Joint for dinner. Somehow she'd survived sixty some-odd years never having had Jamaican food so I aimed to rectify this. I got my standard jerk port while my mom ordered Cuban chicken and of course we sampled one another's food. It was all quite excellent, I assure you. I did notice, however, that either there's a new cook or a new owner because, while the pork was just as tasty and tender and fall-off-the-bone as I had remembered, I was given a hoolie of banana catsup along with it. You see, I remember that it used to be more along the lines of a chutney than a catsup. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, I'm just noticing a difference. We called it a fairly early night but not before cruising around downtown and showing me mum some of the new buildings that have gone up since she was last in town and just taking in the sights.

We got an early start on Saturday and headed to the Farmer's Market. My mother is very health conscious and thusly is into "natural" foods, organic produce, and the like and so she was excited to see acres of fine farm-fresh goodies. She bought some jam and a couple other things while I grabbed a bit more. Among my scores were an eggplant, some mini-loves of zucchini, pumpkin, and chocolate chip breads, a half gallon of pear cider, maple syrup, and a whole lotta berries - black, blue, and rasp. My plan is to make some a roasted eggplant compote and then to toss all the berries together and drizzle with the aforementioned maple syrup. We broke our fasts with scones. I had the super pepper jacks variety while my mom had one of those as well one full of almondy goodness. Having done the circle a couple times, we headed back to my car and over to the coop where I bought a few staples like milk and butter. We dropped the bounty off at my place where I also showed my mother our new & improved backyard (Now With 400% more flowers!) as picked some tomatoes and peppers from the garden. By the time we took off, mum had some fresh produce. Unfortunately, she wouldn't take more! The more that is given away, the less work I have to do in order to preserve the stuff. Leaving my house, we went in search of quinces and cubebs. OK, so it's not exactly the normal mother and son activity but so it goes. Our first stop was Penzey's - a world of spice. Just stepping into the store gives one an olfactory orgasm. The aroma that inhabits the place is just fantastic! Peppers blend with curries which blend with cardamon which blends with...well, you get the picture. I love the joint because there's 8 million varieties of peppercorns and even more seasoning blends. It's like a culinary apothecary and I always feel inspired to cook with a dash of this and a pinch of that. We wandered around a while admiring the fine spices and herbs. Unsurprisingly, I couldn't find cubebs anywhere. So I grabbed a much-needed phial of white pepper and a hoolie of saffron. Leaving the scented confines of Penzey's, we headed next door to a Chinese grocery store that I'd never checked out previously. It was small & cramped and just perfect! On one wall was shelf after shelf loaded with videotapes for rent. I can't read the pictograms of the Far East so I've no idea what any of the programs were. I was very pleased, however, to find some salted black beans. I've got some recipes that I'm keen on trying that call for them. And, lemme tell ya, they had a kim chee selection of extraordinary magnitude. While I like the stuff, I'm the only person I know that eats it and I couldn't find a pint of the stuff - only the super family-sized barrels. I didn't get any because A) it would take me years to eat it all and B) there's no room in our refrigerator for the container because it's full of low carb crap. I did grab some udon noodles and a can of rice punch for the road. It was then off to Brennan's.

Brennan's is a joint that sells produce, bread, and lots and lots of booze of every type and flava. Now, although they had a sign saying "Quinces 99¢ each", there were none. They did, however, have Idaho peaches! My mom and I both eyed them with lust and greedily grabbed up some baskets. As I said, Brennan's has a huge booze selection. I've been contemplating started a little wine collection. I know next to nothing about wines but would like to learn. And, while I don't drink much wine, I do enjoy a glass with a meal. And so I wanna get a small rack to fill and I already have 1 bottle - Prairie Fumé. There are a fair number of wineries here in Wisconsin and Brennan's has a nice selection from the New Glarus Primrose Winery. And so I'd like to get a few bottles of local wines and then a few from elsewhere.

As long as I'm on the topic of food, I will mention that my mom found a recipe in my Polish cookbook for Pheasant Stewed in Mead. Sounds tasty! The Dulcinea found a place here that sells pheasant and I know where to get mead so I'm thinking it might be served at my house soon.

From Brennan's we went over to visit Dogger and Mel. My mother has known Dogger nearly as long as I have and was at their wedding. Plus she hadn't seen them since Miss Regan was born so they'd get to meet each other. We walked in the back door and into the kitchen. Almost immediately Miss Regan came running in wearing only a diaper and one sock. She was all smiles! Mel came in following her and my mom gave her a great big hug. While they chatted, Dogger showed me the guest room which he was painting. It was a brilliant red called Ox Red and was chosen to go along the the costumes of a series of old Japanese dolls Mel has. They are of women all decked out in kimonos and such and they are to be displayed in there. We settled into the living room and shot the bull. And I played with Regan and her fire truck on the floor. Then she wonked me in the nose with the dalmation fireman. Naughty girl. Mel was doing well. It's hard for me to tell if she's regained more mobility in her left side or if she's just more confident with her limited abilities.

With the visit over, my mom and I headed out for a late lunch at Bunky's. It's a café that serves Mediterranean cuisine. I was surprised that my mom scarfed down her entire piece of vegetable lasagne while I could barely finish my chicken schawarma. Tasty all! With full bellies, we went down to Olbrich Park and walked along the shore for a while. We moseyed over to the botanical gardens where I called The Dulcinea who was to meet up with us a bit later and go to the Orton Park Festival. She was already there with her friend Hita and Miles & Desmond. And so mom and I strolled a bit more before heading back to my place where I took a shower and changed. We picked up The Dulcinea around 7. I think she was quite nervous but needn't have been as my mom is just a hyper-friendly person. We headed over to the fest and chatted along the way. The joint was a rockin'! Orton Park is a block square dotted with old trees and has a nice gazebo in the middle which always makes me think of Zork II when I see it. The Dulcinea grabbed some dinner and we found some seats. Robbie Fulks was rockin' the crowd. While it would have been nice to check him out, my mom isn't the type for loud alternative country even if the singer is from Chicago. Close to 8:30, we went and found a patch of grass from which we could watch Cycropia do their thing. A large tree had been outfitted with lights and two trapezes were hanging on one side while a lone trapeze hung down on the other side. It was a fun, exceptionally graceful performance. Dancers climbing up other dancers who are perched on a trapeze and hanging from them, hanging upside down from the ropes, and so on. Plus that stiltwalker guy did his schtick. He does one short hoolie per show and this time around he dressed as a lizard and had stilts on his arms as well so he could walk on all four. After the show, I dropped my mom off at her hotel and The Dulcinea and I made haste for my place...