This house may not have the most number of lights, but it surely takes the prize for the most number of yard figures.
The residents of that house are going to regret it when the snowmen and snowwomen come to life and go on a murderous Yuletide rampage.
I like this photo for its The Searchers vibe.
I had dinner with my youngest stepson earlier this week and he presented me with my Christmas gift: a moon with lights inside. You can even change the color.
It is now my night light.
The interior decoration of my place continues its slow pace. However, I did adorn a wall with this recently:
It's a scratch off poster of the Wisconsin state park, trails, etc. I immediately scratched off my beloved Chippewa Moraine State Recreational Area.
Honestly, going over the poster revealed that I have gone to precious few state parks, biked only one or two state trails. This means that A) I have gone to many county parks and B) there is traveling to be done!
Gordon Ranney came up in a conversation recently and then a couple days later as I was consolidating the contents of a couple boxes, I came across a PROG handbill and setlist. They now adorn a door.
I saw this and snagged it immediately. I suspect it will taste like the Elixir of the Gods.
I recently finished reading The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It's a required text for ILS 206 - or was, anyway, when Charles Anderson was teaching it back in the day and I am reading along as I listen to the lectures. At least here in America, I'd venture to say that The Social Contract is Rousseau's most popular work. It's a cornerstone of social contract theory and was apparently big in Japan, er, France.
It was an interesting read for its historical value, mainly. For me as an American, discourses about monarchy is something very abstract and it is very difficult for me to truly grok the sections here on the subject. I have never lived under a monarch so critiquing that form of government is just way out of my purview and feels like a purely intellectual exercise. That monarchy is bad isn't an axiom for Americans; it is true ipso facto.
Rousseau's invocation of the "general will" gave me pause. I don't recall him ever defining it to my satisfaction. It's just this magical thing for him that manifests itself and is always right and thoroughly good. Concomitant to this is his promotion of participatory democracy. When people get together in a community and hash things out, the general will materializes. Maybe in some small Swiss canton or town but teasing out the general will by finding near unanimity on anything in a country of 340,000,000 seems like a fool's errand.
One area in which I was way out of my league came when Rousseau was talking about how regions differ from one another including in the fecundity of their women. For him, mountainous regions are hotbeds of fertile women. The resources there
That is the name of an article in a recent issue of The Progressive and it is about my favorite grain, rye.
In Southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley, where farmers track rainfall and snowpack like stock prices, alfalfa and potatoes bring in the highest profits. But those crops strain the alpine desert valley’s limited water supply. Rye, by contrast, requires far less water—and it’s hardy, resilient, flavorful, and versatile, for good measure.
But there’s one major problem: Almost no one is buying it.
“People think rye tastes like molasses and caraway because that’s how they’ve had it in rye bread,” Jason says. “But that’s not the grain. Rye on its own is sweet, a little nutty, super complex.” Still, its unsung merits have yet to translate into a profit for those who grow it in the valley.
I did not know that rye used less water than many other crops. No wonder it is able to absorb so much. Well, dear farmers, please know that your crop is most welcome here. Please send it to me at ##### ****** Strasse, Madison, WI, 537##. I will personally distribute it to the brewers and bakers of Madison.
A friend of my brother's, who is a marriage counselor, Michael Glavin, has started a podcast called Resilience in Dark Times.
While down in lovely Lombard, Illinois last week I stopped in at the Qamaria Coffee Co. outpost there and got a mufawaar for a little pick me up. It's luscious blend of coffee, cream, and cardamom warmed me up and sent my taste buds a-flutter. Now that I am attending Chicago TARDIS alone, I am making new traditions for my annual trip and this is one of them.
As I was sipping the wonderful drink, I thought to myself that Madison needs a Yemeni coffeehouse. My desire proved to be a premonition as I read just 2 days later that Madison, in fact, had a Yemeni coffeehouse. Indeed it was an outpost of Qamaria.
Now, a new location has opened in Madison. The cafe is well-lit but not overly bright, has music playing — though not too loud. In the air is a sweet and spiced aroma. In short, it’s cozy.
“It honestly brings a feeling of family and community,” Alhurani said. “The whole Arabic culture and the Middle Eastern culture is all about this warm feeling and energy you get from the people around you.”
My wife and I had a tradition of having our first Chicago TARDIS meal at Portillo's but, after they set up shop here in Madison, that changed. Now that we have a Qamaria here, I might have to try out Matari Coffee next year.
When I need to get my mufawaar fix and am on the west side, I have somewhere to satisfy it. But, if I am at home, I am good, for now as I brought some medium roast home with me.
While down in Chicago's western suburbs last week, I went a bit overboard in my beer buying. I had a list of brews to seek out with Goldfinger's winter seasonal at the top of the list. It is a rye lager and I just could not resist. My stop at Binny's yielded nothing but I would not be denied. So I drove to the brewery one evening but they too were out. Thankfully I found some at Sal's Beverage Emporium or whatever it's called.
While Goldfinger was out of rye lager - not even a drop to be had on tap - they did have another brew suitable for winter, Bałtycki. Why yes it is a Baltic porter.
I also found Rauchbier, my first ever brew from Art History, I do believe.
Old Irving Brewing is a new favorite of mine. While they brew IPAs that hold no interest for me, they do other styles more appealing to my tastes and do them well. I also think it helps that they are in a neighborhood near where I grew up.
Lastly, I grabbed a 4-pack of this Polish-style pilsner from Revolution in concert with Moor’s Brewing whom I'd never heard of until I saw this beer. A leftover from the summer, it was a mere $5.97.
Seen in my loaner car this morning. I am referring to the action figures, not the coffee that I spilled.
"Krampus and St. Nicholas will be walking the streets of New Glarus starting at 6:00pm."
Courtesy of the Rusty Raven.
Ken Burns is presenting a documentary about Henry David Thoreau come the spring. It's not clear to me what his role is in the production as it's billed as "A film by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers." so perhaps he is a producer as opposed to a director.
The teaser is up at the PBS site.
It's only early December and we've gotten about 10" of snow so far. It looks lovely outside.
I am trying to inveigle my youngest stepson into making the rounds with me instead of staying at home - alone, presumably - but he's an obdurate %#@#*. Still, I love him anyway.
This Thanksgiving I feel genuinely thankful for the first time in a while. Or maybe it's more of an elevated level of appreciation.
Whatever the case, there are two people that have been so helpful and so kind to me these past several months, they've gone out of their ways and have been there for me in ways they probably don't even know. These people are helping me steer a new course in life and I am incredibly grateful.
While I cannot give their names or show you their faces, I can do so for the third (non-human) person in this trio of gratitude. This is, of course, Piper.
She cuddles with me when I go to sleep and gently taps me on the face in the morning signaling it's time for the human to prepare breakfast. Her presence brings me comfort and joy, keeps the loneliness at bay. She broke her fast on turkey this morning which surprised me as I wasn't convinced she'd go for it instead of the tuna.
Thanks to these people and others still, mirth is primary in my life instead of apprehension, anxiety, and sadness. Things truly do get better.
I don't know but the waitress was really friendly.
A friend and I stopped in at this fairly new restaurant over by East Towne the other day. Flagging your server down is easy peasy as they have a button above the generously filled condiment basket to get their attention. Being able to summon someone to serve me made me feel like something of an aristocrat.
My companion ordered wings and when asked how spicy she wanted them replied, "White people hot."
I went with a bánh mì. Upon asking for extra jalapenos, our server said, "Oh, you like it brown people spicy."
"I am white on the outside but brown on the inside," I replied.
"You're funny. I like you." I am glad she had a good sense of humor in addition to being very friendly. The spring rolls were tasty.
I appreciated the crunchy thing inside which provided a nice contrast in texture.
Speaking of things crunchy, the toasted baguette that hosted the grilled beef of my bánh mì was perfectly toasted.
Those Maillard reactions lent the perfect, well, toastiness to complement the beef and pate just right. A most toothsome sandwich.
The chicken wings look extremely appetizing.
The sauce was too sweet but I very much enjoyed the punch of umami from a nice dose of fish sauce.
Before going to see Sisu: Road to Revenge, which was great - I hadn't laughed at the movies like that in ages - my friends and I stopped at Gus's Diner for dinner. The chicken noodle soup was delicious.
I haven't been totally remiss in cooking at home. However, I haven't cooked anything particularly grandiose or labor intensive. The chicken curry was good despite the sauce coming from a jar.
Also from a jar was the jerk paste. Still, the jerk chicken was good. I fried up some cole slaw mix to got with it. This reminds me that I should go check out David's Jamaican at their new location.
Despite not everything being made from scratch, I am at least throwing some ingredients together and seasoning things instead of simply heating up TV dinners. Life is oddly busy at the moment.
A friend and I made our inaugural visits to El Sabor De Puebla - the one on Northport. A former Benvenuto's, the place is ginormous. It was sadly under populated but hope that this was simply because we were taking our dinner at an early hour.
Our table was adorned with flowers painted on the top. The backs of the benches were similarly decorated so get a booth by the windows if you go.
My dining companion ordered a sope with chicken that was simple yet tasty.
I had fajitas with poblanos, corn, and cheese. A gooey, sticky mess but delicious. The portion was, as you can see, most generous so it made for a couple meals.
Their salsas were very good and distinguished themselves from those of other Mexican joints around town with their seasoning. Less cumin, maybe? The red stuff had less of a smoky taste while the green tasted less verde than expected.
A friend and I took lunch at the Tip Top Tavern yesterday. He lives just a couple blocks from me and so we hoofed it over there in the cold and driving snow. He raved about his mac & cheese. Not only was the sauce delicious but it also came in the perfect proportion to the pasta.
"Their sandwiches are mediocre but this is excellent," he opined with a rare burst of éclat.
My fried walleye really hit the spot on that chilly, snowy afternoon. They also get bonus points for including three lemon wedges thus obviating the need for me to ask for more.
Lastly I'll note that I am making cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving at a friend's place. I'll be using orange juice and sugar but want to try including maple syrup someday.
With a polar vortex upon us, let the winter brews flow!
'Tis the season for Tippy Toboggan and Vintage has it on tap now.
Board game night down at the Pinney library last week saw me playing 2 games that were completely new to me. But before entering the community room to throw down a game, I walked by some fine art that I couldn't ignore.
Called Bestie, this piece by Savannah Starlin dates to 1991. The Nirvana poster on the wall got me wondering how it was that their t-shirts became de rigueur amongst the younger set.
And this is Abundance Tree by Sharon Tang. I really like the colors, the patterns.
Once I made it through the art gauntlet, I was regaled by one of the game night organizers with tales of his visit to the Gamehole. Alex sure has a lot of vintage D&D stuff.
When we got down to gaming instead of staring agog at photos of vintage Monster Manuals, we began with Flip 7.
It's a bit like a combination of blackjack and Uno. You have cards flipped face up before you. If you reach 7 cards without any duplicate numbers, you win the hand. Getting two of any number puts the kibosh on things for you.
A fun game with a fun group of people.
The other game we played that night was The Bucket King.
You begin by erecting a pyramid of shot glasses, er, mini buckets.
After being dealt cards, someone leads and the others have to match the card or cards color and match or beat the total. If you cannot do so, you are obligated to remove a sho - bucket from your pyramid of that color...even if it's buried beneath other ones.
It perhaps goes without saying but I lost at both games. D'oh! Still, a fun night at the library.
I bought Thanksgiving dinner(s) for Piper.
I hope she likes at least one of them but she's been a finicky eater her entire life. (Unlike Grabby who ate any and everything.) Well, since my wife adopted her, anyway. She started eating human food a few months ago so her palate seems to have expanded a bit so we shall see.
