Sunday, March 31, 2013

Easter



I found one more tulip picture today, in part because tulips like most other things, change from day to day.  Just yesterday, they were barely blooming, but today, they are almost past their prime.  Just yesterday it was spring for me, but now, heck, I must be in late summer at least...  Interesting to think about.  If tulips had brains (and souls) would they be wondering, "I'm sagging, I'm fading, wow, is that  a new ache that I didn't have yesterday?"

It was a lazy lazy weekend for me, and I accomplished and did nothing.  I guess it was a recharge weekend after a busy week.  But honestly, I did little besides watch bad movies and eat.  And I cooked a lot so that I could eat--three significant meals, or at least significant for me.  Yesterday I made chicken with a tarragon bread cumb crust and "smashed" new (well, relatively new) potatoes.  This morning, I was up early and breakfast was broccoli, cheese, and mushroom quiche.  Apparently real men do eat quiche, and really real men know how to make it!   It was surprisingly good and it was one of those wow moments, as in why haven't I made this before.  Real men make quiche because it is fall off the log easy.  Ahh, I may be fading and sagging fast, but my cholesterol is still 48.  Bring on the eggs.

Tonight, in honor of Easter, I made rosemary and garlic braised lamb chops.  Truly a simple meal.  Braised and then baked (briefly) chops and crusty bread with Irish butter, and a salad.  Now if I only had a chocolate Easter bunny.  I would pet it and love it and pet it and love and then, bite its ears off.

Sorry to Mr. Steinbeck for that....Happy Easter/Passover/new moon/budding and fading tulips.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

If so



these might be worth 5-6,000 of them.






Errant photo


I found this on a camera card, and it is a picture of my favorite place to eat in Tarpon Springs, Florida.    It reminded me of an a column that Mike Royko, the great Chicago columnist wrote once.  In it,  he opined that the best diners and thus the best places to eat were always run by short Greek men.  If you walk into a diner, and the cook in the window is a short Greek gentlemen, you will have great food.

That is good advice, but I offer better advice for picking a place to eat.  Generally, I think that it better advice that you should always always eat at a place, any place, that has a neon guy with a spear on the front of the building.  In fact, I will promise you now that I will follow this sage advice.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Epic fail

In some ways it was a lost weekend.  Not in the sense that it was a bad weekend, but it was just a neutral  blah weekend.  Some parts were fun--I judged a National History Day contest on Saturday, and I really enjoyed it.  I was very impressed with the overall quality, but one junior high exhibit was simply exceptional.  I don't know...I have taught at the college level since 1993, so 20 years, and I have have seen maybe four examples of my students' work that was as good as their exhibit.  It gives me hope.  Seriously.  Their presentation was on the Cultural Revolution in China and their presentation was made better because they could read and speak Mandarin, and could quote parts of Mao's Little Red Book.  I bet 99% of all my students ever would even recognize the title.  And that was after they had my world history class.

The weather drags on, and I am sure that this adds to the sense of almost malaise that I am feeling.  Spring has yet to show itself at all, despite the fervent wishing of millions of Minnesotans.  And Wisconsinites and Kansans and ...  I want tulips to show themselves.  I long to not wear three layers to go get a cup of coffee, and I don't want to lose any more tires/wheels to potholes.  Before spring really appears, we need to go through gross-looking snow season, and then mud season, and, it seems likely, flood season.  Maybe Florida wasn't so bad.

To ease my blah-ness, I thought I would cook today.  I was hungry for roast chicken and I went looking for a new recipes.  I have figured out the chicken, just roasted with garlic (a little) and tarragon (a lot).  I wondered about stuffing, and found a recipe for a Southwest savory dressing with chorizo and optional oysters.  I was a little limited by local food--not many fresh oysters around here, etc.  But, as my students would say, OMG.  As in OMG this is the most terrible thing that I have ever tasted.  Ick.  What was I thinking?  The chicken was good, as were the grilled fresh green beans with olive oil garlic and sea salt.  Yum.  No wine today.

This week will be crazy.  It is eval season and I will be in classes at least 10 times a week for at least three or four weeks.  Also, changes are afoot around campus so it should be interesting as always.  I will be busy, so it will be easier to pass the time until spring finally comes.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Spring. Or not.

At 6:02 this morning, spring came to Central Minnesota.  I am glad it did, because when I heard the weather with the 6AM news, it was -2 with a wind chill near -25.  Certainly it is warmer now--by tomorrow, it should be almost 15 degrees.  I can imagine crocuses and tulips following soon, as soon as almost three feet of snow melts and four feet of the tundra thaws.

Minnesotans are not necessarily hardier folk than the soft, coddled thick-blooded people who live in say, Florida.  We have simply adapted by cloaking our bodies in high tech layers of down and fleece and thermal "this and that."  Those less capable/less durable folk in warmer climes can get by in t-shirts and shorts. All those layers have pluses and minuses.  Certainly avoiding frostbite is a plus.  Hiding and disguising our bodies is mixed thing.  I never knew that the person I see almost every day at the local coffee shop was a woman until she shed four layers one day while searching for her ringing  phone.  I am certain that I have maintained my beach volleyball physique through the winter but I really am uncertain as I haven't seen my self in less than two sweatshirts and a down coat since October.  That is why around here April is the cruelest month--people see themselves uncloaked for the first time in months without the covering/sheltering snow, and it can be a shock for everyone. Trust me--don't visit the first warm weekend without serious sunglasses and the physical ability to look away.

That is but one of the many adaptations we have made to survive.  It has even affected how we eat.  While those who actually experience spring are already nibbling on fresh new green things, we are still buying lettuce by the head and bag that was picked/packed weeks ago in sunny Mexico.  Asparagus for us right now is in a can, and the only thing green around here are leftover St. Patrick Day decorations that flutter in the still bitter breeze.

But we have lots of time to ponder and be creative, so it is perfect for a poetry challenge.  So, by sometime Saturday, come up with a poem about spring.  It can be of any format, though I suppose sonnets about spring would have to win.  How many lines are they?  You should try to use  the following words:

Incandescent
concrete
magnet
wing
journey or destination

Or not.  Throw together some ditty or doggerel and send on to me.  I will post all that are received sometime this weekend, probably when I am not shoveling or slipping and sliding in our continuing winter.