Middling

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T12:17:00.002-07:00

N and I couldn't be with our mothers today, but decided to make a special brunch anyway. Chocolate pancakes! We used pre-made pancake mix and cocoa powder, nothing fancy, and the first batch came out fine. But then I decided to add more chocolate (is anyone surprised?) and decided to add more water with it, which made the second batch kinda weird and flat, almost like cookies. N compensated by adding more mix to the third batch and they were okay, but we learned our lesson, which is to leave well enough alone! And also that we should probably start from scratch if we're going to experiment.

But, they were yummy anyway! We topped with low fat butter, powdered sugar and syrup and/or lemon juice

Happy Mother's Day to our faraway Moms! We're thinking of you today, and how your pancakes are always perfect.

Adventures with Butter

2011-03-06T15:51:00.000-08:00

This weekend's recipe experiments were unintentionally butter-heavy, but that's almost never a bad thing in my book. First on the menu was a recipe shared by N.'s friend on Google Buzz for Egg-in-a-Hole Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. I was introduced to egg-in-a-hole by my classmate Michael while studying abroad in England, and I was instantly in love. The simplicity! The gratuitous butter! And the best part, cutting holes in bread with a drinking glass! But why oh why had I never thought of combining this masterpiece of breakfastry with a grilled cheese?? Below are photos of our toasty sandwich success. The only things I would change are toasting the bread a bit more before adding the egg, and peppering the egg while cooking. The little circles in the first photo are the bread circles which were made into tiny grilled cheese sandwiches for mid-cooking snacking. Yum.

My other attempted recipe did not go as well. Although it was edible, I'd like to try it again to see if what I think went wrong is what actually went wrong. I found a list of muffins, scones and biscuits on one of my favorite food blogs, The Kitchn, and one particular recipe jumped out at me because it had few ingredients and the steps seemed fairly straightforward. Unfortunately, I was trying to use up some leftover cake flour, and though I followed the box's directions for changing the measurement for use in non-cake flour recipes, something didn't quite work out. When it came time to move my biscuit strips into the pan, the batter was so wet and soupy that all I could was scoop it in as one big blob and try to re-cut strips before it went into the oven. The result was pretty much was I had been going for, basic buttery biscuits, but the texture was a little chewy. I'd like to try this one again with all-purpose flour and see if I can achieve true breadsticks.

Happy Sunday night! I hope you all had pleasant weekends and are ready to face another Monday.

Vegetarian Black Bean Espresso Chili

2011-02-28T08:33:00.000-08:00

Now that I think of it, this recipe is actually vegan as long as you forgo the sour cream/cheese topping options...I'm not a vegan but if a recipe is tasty and avoids animal products, then why not?

Anyone that knows me knows that I complain about Chicago weather like it's my job, but one good thing about it is plenty of excuses to make chili, which is one of my all-time favorite foods. It's easy, makes your kitchen smell great, tastes awesome and can be healthy if you want it to be.

After rigorous searching through my gmail and google reader records, I still have no idea who shared this recipe or how I came across it, but for anyone who's interested in trying, it was published on Epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Black-Bean-and-Espresso-Chili-107639.

Whoever the sharer was, they recommended the recipe because it had the heartiness of meat-chili sans meat. I have to heartily agree, it was thick, filling and yummy. We paired with pretzel bread and a Sauvignon Blanc.

Snow Day!

2011-02-02T10:42:00.000-08:00

I've heard some pretty good nicknames for our storm so far, Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse, SNOMG (personal fave) and the local news front-runner, BLIZZARD 2011!!!! Personally I don't mind the snow, because I don't have to go to work today! And having grown up in California, this is my first snow day ever.

Here are some pics of my street:

In other news, our (my roommate and I) first foster kitty Eva

was adopted two weeks ago, and our new kitten Carnegie is settling in nicely.

Stay warm everyone!

A Belated Birthday Success

2011-01-11T21:20:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to making N.'s birthday cake this weekend. It was supposed to be a surprise, but unforeseen circumstances prevented me from following through on my plans. Not to worry! It was worth the wait.

This was my first attempt making a cake from scratch and it turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself. I used the recipe found here: http://www.joyofbaking.com/RedVelvetCake.html

This was the bottom of the cake after coming out of the oven. Swirly! I have no idea why.

love

Yum!

Is this a music blog or a food blog?

2010-10-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

Last time my mom was in town, she generously purchased me a copy of The Fanny Farmer Cookbook. I flipped through the book on Sunday before my weekly grocery-shopping trip, completely intending to try something new and difficult, but I got hungry and lost my ambition and settled for her recommendations for making the skin of your baked potato extra crispy (mmm).

A baked potato makes for a wonderfully easy, cheap and hearty meal, especially if you already have yummy toppings on hand, which I did.

Per Ms. Farmer's suggestion, I pre-heated the oven to 450, and then baked my potato directly on the rack for 1.5 hours.

Just before it finished baking, (and just after my emergency run to the market for sour cream), I sauteed some frozen broccoli florets, as well as a bell pepper, and a small red onion I'd gotten at the farmer's market.

Just as Fanny had predicted, the skin was perfectly crisp while the inside was moist and fluffy.

I cut the potato in half, layered in some shredded cheese, vegetables, more cheese, and sour cream, and voile! Dinner!

I love the colors of these vegetables, especially set against my roommate's adorable black and white plates. I can't show you the picture with the sour cream for personal reasons. When you buy the lite kind it means you can use twice as much right?

7 Weeks

2010-10-05T08:44:00.001-07:00

Hi faithful followers! I'm going to try really hard to not abandon this blog, so I apologize for the almost-two-month-delay. Because autumn is definitely upon us (so say my three Pumpkin Spice lattes and last Sunday's Pumpkin Turkey Chili), I will get on to the aforementioned summer festival reviews. Brace yourself, I predict a long wind.

Pitchfork Music Festival is held annually at Union Park in the near West neighborhood. It's known for being more "indie" than Lollapalooza, and as such you'll find a majority of plaid-clad hipster boys or girls with hideous high-waisted pants, but there's also lots of regular people too--and with only three stages and the chance to see some "small" acts before they get "big," it's definitely a highlight of my summer.

Some of the stand-out acts for me were:

1. The Tallest Man on Earth. By now everyone and their mom has heard of Swedish crooner Kristian Mattson, but as of line-up time I guess not, because he was stuck in the first slot on Friday afternoon. Still, he drew a modest crowd, and despite his repeated apologies for lack of energy due to jet-lag, his five songs were some of the most enjoyable moments of that day. He is a really strange person on-stage, and really fascinating to watch. He manages an intense wild-eyed persona, with an undercurrent of a quieter passion. Fans of bands like Neutral Milk Hotel and The Magnetic Fields will be attracted to him initially for his signature voice, but if you stick around a bit longer, you'll notice an obvious musical talent on the guitar as well.

2. Robyn. Also on Friday, and also Swedish, this former pop-princess turned euro punk rocker put on an AMAZING show. Friday afternoon was relentlessly hot, and even the shade provided little relief, yet she managed to get everyone dancing and singing along. In the States, she's best known for her 90's hit "Show Me Love," (which I was a little disappointed she didn't reprise for old-times sake) but she proved she's moved beyond the sappy into the super-happy. For such a small girl she commanded that stage, and kept moving for her entire set.

3. Local Natives. I had to skip St. Vincent for this one, which I was bummed about, but felt that Local Natives' style might be better suited to the festival environment, and they came through for me. I worried I might just be waiting for the hits I knew, and some more intense heat drained the energy from this crowd a bit, but they held their own and I was glad to have been there.

4. Sleigh Bells. Rounding out my Sunday afternoon, Sleigh Bells was a surprise hit as they were pitted against the main act, Pavement. Theirs isn't the type of music I usually gravitate to, but their electronic/rock/hip-hop style is so engaging I couldn't help myself. I started this set at the back, not feeling well, but even three days worth of dehydration and exhaustion couldn't keep this crowd (and this fan) from moving forward and dancing until the very last song--which actually didn't take all that long since their entire first album was only about a half an hour long. Looking forward to more from them.

Lollapalooza was kind of miserable last year. It rained on Friday and was sweltering the next two days, and I left without any plans to return. However, we were lucky to score some "golden tickets" and once we saw the line-up the idea of selling them for profit was out the window.

Here are some of my favorite Lolla 2010 moments:

I'm not too familiar with Cymbals Eat Guitars, but I really enjoyed their set, it was smooth, easy to listen to, and had a nice bouncy beat, plus their stage was off the beaten path and shaded. Not a bad way to start the weekend.

I was looking forward to seeing Frightened Rabbit and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, but found that neither act compared with the first time I saw them (FR at Pitchfork last year, and ES at Schubas). Although both sets were enjoyable, it's hard to replace the first time you see a great band live, especially if you were at the tiny Schubas stage, and particularly if you are now surrounded by high-schoolers who only know the hit from the Ford Fiesta commercial, and talk the rest of the time. I had also seen Yeasayer at P4K the previous year, and I was far from the stage and sweating this time, so again, not great.

Metric and Gogol Bordello were two acts who I was also pretty unfamiliar with, but who drew enormous crowds, and it was easy to see why. Metric's instrumentation is super tight, combined with an interesting and talented lead singer, no complaints there. Admittedly I only knew GB's "Start Wearing Purple" from the credits of the movie version of "Everything Is Illuminated," but sitting on the hill above the stage was very pleasant.

Easily one of my favorite acts of the weekend was The New Pornographers. I was surprised at how many of their songs I knew, and it was a treat to hear Neko Case live. They are such an interesting sound, it's very complex because of the combination of lots of different and interesting instruments, along with their off-beat lyrics, but the product is catchy, fun, and thoroughly entertaining.

Okay, almost done, time to mention the headliners:

Lady Gaga was pretty much exactly what I expected - crazy, over-the-top, flamboyant, loud, and a lot of fun. Despite being a self-proclaimed pop-hater, I really kind of like her music. However, her set quickly became obnoxious, as she stopped several times to go on mini-rants about how she had sung the same songs at Lolla four years ago and no one cared, and now she's a star, and how she was ugly in high school, but now she's hot (at one point screaming at the crowd while half-naked covered in blood, "DO YOU THINK I'M SEXY??!!!"). I wish she would have performed more and talked less.

Phoenix put on a great show, and I definitely had a lot of fun. They definitely did too, and it became especially apparent when the lead singer thanked us at the end of the set, you could tell he was overwhelmed by the enormity of what had just happened (the crowd was MASSIVE). I did feel however, that they weren't quite prepared for their sudden burst of fame. The songs sounded good, like they always do, but they didn't bring much new to the table. Still, a really solid performance. If you don't think you know them, you do, "1901" was the electro-pop background in that Cadillac commercial that played non-stop for about three months last Spring.

What can you say about Arcade Fire that hasn't been said a billion times? They're simply brilliant. I knew only a small amount of their music, and had, to be honest, kind of the wrong impression of them going in, only owning "Neon Bible" (their sophomore album) at the time. I hate to use the word, but it's hard to think of another adequate descriptor for their epic set. They are truly a rock band in the grand old tradition--they have great stage presence, know when to talk and when to sing, and are supremely talented musicians, lyricists, and performers. Even the order of songs in their set was impressive, it kept us guessing while pleasantly surprising us, and then rewarded us for our patience by false-ending with "Keep the Car Running," and giving us "Wake Up" in the encore. Simply put, they rocked.

More Cooking Adventures

2010-08-17T16:23:00.000-07:00

I promise the compulsory summer music festival review is forthcoming, but I didn't take any photos at those, and I do have photos of my most recent cooking endeavor, so here we are.

Having just moved into a new apartment, ingredients were sparse, but I decided to pan fry some potatoes and saute some asparagus to go with them. I had already purchased these adorable tiny multi-colored potatoes on a previous grocery trip-

-and supplemented that with some garlic and shallots, which I chopped and browned before adding the potatoes. I know from previous appearance trying to cook potatoes that they take forever to cook on the stove top, so I took the internet's suggestion and cut them as thin as possible. Unfortunately, I had so many potatoes, I ended up needing two pans! (my photo of that did not turn out)

Once I felt like the potatoes were mostly done, I removed them and added a little more oil and sauteed the asparagus for a few minutes with salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes.

To top it all off, shaved parmesan cheese, my favorite :)

So I can't exactly call this a quick meal since it took awhile to prep the potatoes, including cutting out the eyes, and also took awhile to cook them, but it was relatively easy and pretty tasty. Now, should I eat leftovers, or make the pasta with sun-dried tomatoes I was thinking about...hmm....Either way there's always New York Super Fudge Chunk to guarantee a happy ending.

Top Chefs

2010-07-06T13:00:00.000-07:00

I won't even try to guess how often during my teenage years my Mom suggested teaching me to cook, but sadly I just didn't make time for it. This fact, coupled with the all-too-convenient Dining Commons on my undergrad campus, (affectionately known as the "DC" or "deece"), resulted in a 22 year-old college graduate with barely enough kitchen know-how to effectively boil water.

My roommates and I made dinner for each other occasionally the first couple of years I was in Chicago, but only recently have I really branched out and tried my hand at some pretty serious recipes. Thanks to N. & Co.'s spacious kitchen (and hospitality), N. and I have produced several successful dishes, including but not limited to: "Healthy Green Soup" (I Like Food, Food Tastes Good), "Emeril's Cajun Jambalaya" (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/cajun-jambalaya-recipe2/index.html), and "Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos" (http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/addictive-sweet-potato-burritos/Detail.aspx).

Our most recent endeavor was Curried Lamb Shanks, and it was AWESOME (if I do say so myself). Admittedly, we used prepackaged mixes, but, baby steps, right? We started by putting Thai Jasmine rice and butter into the rice cooker:

Mixed a few spoonfuls of TJ's Greek Yogurt with Patak's Biryani Curry Paste, and just kept adding and mixing until we liked the color and flavor:

Using a BBQ brush, we spread a thick layer of our curry yogurt over the meat, a pound of unseasoned lamb shanks from Trader Joe's, (after spraying the pyrex dish with cooking spray):

At this point the oven had been pre-heating at 425 for about 15 minutes, and we put the meat in and set a timer for 13 minutes. Then we moved on to the vegetables:

N. pointed out that the cucumber likely wouldn't cook well, so we snacked on it while quickly sauteing the broccoli before adding the Tasty Bite Good Korma Simmer Sauce:

For once the timing worked out perfectly, and the broccoli had time to finish simmering while the rice fluffed and the meat rested, after a few additional minutes in the oven (I like my meat a little more well done). Here's the finished product:

Unfortunately the simmer sauce was a little bit past its prime, so the broccoli did not have a strong flavor, but the lamb was very tender, juicy, and flavorful. Success!

Please feel free to comment with a great recipe you've tried lately, or maybe just some suggestions for the next time I'm craving Indian.

I'm with the band

2010-06-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

"It's okay, I'm with the band." Haven't you always wanted to say that?? Sure I've watched my brother's friend play in a church multi-purpose room, but that's not quite the same...anyway, a couple of weeks ago my friend Christi got to do just that. She asked if I'd like to join her to see her co-worker's band at The Empty Bottle, and I jumped on that since I've only been to EB once and wanted to go back, and because their $5 cover can't be beat (and the Bite Cafe next door is a great, and vegetarian-friendly, place).

We came in just after the first opener, The Gentleman's Guild, ended, so I can't say anything about their performance except that Christi's friend said they were good when he came over to hi. So take that for what you will. Since there was no music playing at the time, I took stock of the room, and noticed that most of the kids seemed to be friends, with each other and with the bands, (they too, like Christi, were "with the band") which made for a nice, "one big happy family" sort of atmosphere.

Next to take the stage was The Names That Spell, self described as, "poly-rhythmic, afro-punk, psych-rock, space-hop, free-jazz, emo-sludge, country-blues." Their lengthy list of styles has a list of instruments to match-- their performance included a ukulele, a sitar, and an mbira (I don't know either) along with the standard drums, guitars, voices, etc.. Their songs bordered on chaotic and at times their lyrics were impossible to decipher, but I thoroughly enjoyed their performance and there's no doubt that they are extremely talented.

Finally the band we came to see, Athens, appeared and though we'd waited for hours by the time they came on, they did not disappoint. The members were very comfortable on-stage and laughed and joked with each other and the audience, which I always appreciate--I like to think the bands I see are having as much fun as I am. Unexpectedly, two girls who weren't in the band, came on-stage to introduce them, and then announced themselves as the "Athens dancers." I didn't have long to wonder what that meant before they scurried into the audience and began performing a series of choreographed moves to go along with the songs. After the initial surprise wore off, these dance-ambassadors helped create a very fun dynamic between the audience and the band, and several people joined in the dancing, either copying the girls or inventing their own moves. The music was of a genre I don't know what to call, but in which the lead singer sounds more like he's talking than singing (i.e. Cake, Everyone Was In the French Revolution...Now!). It's not always my favorite style, but for Athens it worked. They were a really fun band to watch, and their songs managed to be simultaneously catchy and original.

Someday I hope to cheer for my friend as they seek their fame, but if I can keep seeing bands like Athens, I won't mind at all being the friend of the friend of the guy in the band.

Mumble-what?

2010-06-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

So N. (bf) and I are leaving the movie theatre on Monday and while discussing the film ("Greenberg," starring Ben Stiller), he mentioned the term "mumblecore." Not understanding, I went to the source of all knowledge, Wikipedia. There I learned the following:

Mumblecore is an American independent film movement that arose in the early 2000s. It is primarily characterized by ultra-low budget production (often employing digital video cameras), focus on personal relationships between twenty-somethings, improvised scripts, and non-professional actors. Filmmakers in this genre include Lynn Shelton, Andrew Bujalski, Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, Aaron Katz, Joe Swanberg, and Barry Jenkins. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumblecore)

I had forgotten this connection--Mark Duplass is an actor/director, along with his brother Jay, who works with N's cousin, Jay Deuby, a film editor. A few months ago we were lucky enough to see their most recent film "Cyrus" (John C. Riley, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill), and Mark also had a supporting role in Greenberg.

As I watched Greenberg, I was struck by the similarities in the two films, and yet came away sure that I had enjoyed Cyrus significantly more. Of course I am aware I could be biased because N's cousin was involved, plus we went to the Ann Arbor Sundance premiere, which was really fun, so the whole experience could have influenced how I felt...but I don't think that's the whole story. Here are some thoughts:

1. How I felt going in
Greenberg: I was impressed by the trailer, I had seen and liked Greta Gerwig in Baghead, and have always liked Ben Stiller.

Cyrus: Historically unimpressed and annoyed with both John C. Riley and Jonah Hill, like Marisa Tomei but not expecting much, Catherine Keener....ok I'll see anything with Catherine Keener.

2. How I felt during the film
Greenberg: I kept wanting to like Roger (Stiller), and just couldn't. He was trying to be the flawed broken human who earns our sympathy and who we end up rooting for in the end. Instead I fluctuated between pity and irritation. I liked Florence (Gerwig) and kind of wished the movie was about her instead.

Cyrus: John (Riley) was immediately characterized as vulnerable and likeable. It took me longer to warm up to Cyrus (Hill), but I think as an audience we were supposed to be weirded out by this kid, as much as John is. I was disappointed that Molly (Tomei) was such weak character, shown as gullible, emotional, and almost stupid at times--but she was definitely contrasted against the stronger Jamie (Keener) in a way that served the narrative.

3. The take-away (Spoiler Alert)
Greenberg: I think the message of this movie was summed up in Florence's last line, "This is you." Roger has to accept himself and his life and move forward, instead of hanging onto the past. Unfortunately, the audience was force-fed this message, and the more the director tried to make me feel for Roger, the more I just didn't care.

Cyrus: The trailer made this seem like most of Riley/Hill's other work i.e. ready-made comedy that's easy to enjoy and has very little underneath. But this movie has so much more depth and heart than that, and I came away from it with a real desire for the happy ending that the directors allude to.

To sum up, I didn't hate Greenberg, it just didn't meet my expectations. It was either too crass to be sweet, or too sappy to be sad, (I haven't decided) but either way something didn't quite click for me. While I think it's worth seeing and I definitely laughed out loud, it just wasn't great. On the other hand, I truly loved the story of Cyrus, and I thought it was told simply and wonderfully. There were a few quiet moments that verged on boring, and a scene or two that felt too long, but the rest more than made up for these lapses.

My Favorite

2010-05-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to get myself out of my 9-5 rut, I joined a website called ecopywriters.com. I haven't decided yet if it's legit, but their application asked for 250 words on your favorite activity. Since this blog will probably feature primarily reviews of shows I've seen (note: this is your fair warning), I thought it might be a good place to start:

It always seems to be a Thursday. Sometimes it's a Friday or Monday, or the rare Sunday here and there. But if it's Thursday, you're more than bound to find me there. Half-dried beer sticking to the soles of my shoes, squinting against the bright stage lights, purse thumping gently on my hip as I sway back and forth to the beat. Another day, another show, another hour of my favorite thing. A concert.

Where doesn't matter, though I have my favorites--The Vic, Schubas, Subterranean. I prefer the intimacy and the local feeling of the smaller venues, but I won't snub my nose at a bigger place if it means I get that to have that moment. I crave the lightness, the ineffable sense of pureness, when the band and you are one. Just for a moment.

It's not real, I know. Those players can't see the happy glow of my face as I jump, clap, smile, and sing along. I like to think they know, though, that it's happening, that I'm out there, that the words resonate in my soul while the notes reverberate in my pulse, that part of the reason they do it at all is for that connection, with me, with everyone.

Moments like that don't always happen. My own tiredness, loud patrons, or a disappointing performance can get in the way. It's okay though, because it can be about other things, I can feel glad I supported a band trying to make it, or glad I spent time with a friend, or simply glad I went out after work instead of lounging around my apartment eating cookies.

But I'll continue to hope, and to expect, Thursday and every day, for the next time it will come, when I'll skip home humming the last refrain, sure that the world exists for music and nothing else at all.

Introduction

2010-05-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

Hello internet!

This is my first post on my first blog, unless you count Xanga, which I suppose I should. In any case, I chose the title "Middling," because this blog is going to center around my experiences here, in the MidWest, and also chronicles my life in general, as one who feels like a middle child of Life-- sort of treading water (admittedly I probably thought of this because middling sounds like paddling, but still), waiting for the day when I discover my calling. Until that day, I'll be here.

Mel