I’ve been craving artichokes lately, and trying to incorporate them into meals any way I can. Since I’m getting really serious about thinking-about-starting-to-try-being-vegetarian, this is a good thing.
And, as I’m on my own for dinner tonight (my honey-love is working 2nd shift), I don’t have to worry about any whining for the lack of meat. Yay! This is what I made (up on the spot):
In my hometown of Grand Rapids, MI, we have an aging building that used to house our public museum. Since the completion of its replacement in the 1990s, the 1940 Art Deco/Art Moderne museum of my childhood has acted as an archive storage and cobweb garden.
Until last month, that is. Throughout much of May, the old museum was open to the public. While only a few of the original exhibits were still intact, the rooms were enhanced with conceptual pieces created by local art students. Most of the artwork incorporated crumbling artifacts, or mimicked them in some way. There were also events like fashion shows and behind-the-scenes tours.
In addition to being a simple excuse to let people back into a building filled with memories, the reopening was part of a progressive agenda. It seems that the 70 year-old structure is creeping into the awareness of those looking to sustain what we have, and at the same time develop new venues. Allowing the art students to demonstrate the building’s potential gave us a taste of what could be.
My husband’s mother died.
And before anything else, I’m telling you that she was a damn fine mother-in-law, the best I could have asked for. She always offered wisdom from experience, but never imposed her opinions in a way that made me feel like the child I probably was. She happily gave me her son, and regularly invited us over for excellent meals. Her character was the epitome of southern hospitality mixed with the class of the educated. Plus, she liked the Traveling Wilburys.
A few months after she retired and turned 60, her life paused, and then stopped.
And I felt so oddly distanced from that.
Filed under Death etc.., Of Family and Children
Today I received our monthly statement from the credit union. As usual, the envelope contained the glossy newsletter along with the actual statement.
One thing in particular caught my eye: a note about the changes that would eventually be implemented on our checking account overdraft protection. Overdraft protection is basically a loan that automatically goes into effect if we overdraw our account. It must be paid back, and charges a fee for each transaction.
It has saved our butts more than once.
Because of government reforms, the service is no longer going to be quite as automatic. Members have to ‘opt-in’ to the service if they want to keep it as it is now.
Filed under Current Events
Tomorrow is May 5, also known as Cinco de Mayo. In a fashion similar to that of Saint Patrick’s Day, many people celebrate a heritage that is not their own through the food, drink and music of a different culture, namely, Mexico.
This post will be about the food part. In a minute, I’ll give you a basic recipe for guacamole, which is a tasty and healthy compliment to tortilla chips and salsa.
First, here’s a quick look at what Cinco de Mayo is: On May 5, 1862, the Mexican militia defeated the French army in the Battle of Puebla. France had been working its way through Mexico, threatening to take over because it had stopped receiving loan payments from the Mexicans. Long story short, a poorly equipped 4,500 patriots were able to hold their own against 6,500 Frenchies at forts Loreto and Guadalupe near the city of Puebla.
Filed under History Buff, Recipes, Seasonal
Upfront: This is experimental.
“I am one and all of these, as they were all of these after being just the one.”
I
I am a product of the western European ooze effect. My ancestors slowly crawled over borders, into the lands of others, and assimilated themselves while foreigners crept into their lands and did their best to blend in. The result was a curling of culture around culture, name around name. The Dutch started sounding a lot like the Germans, and the Germans noticed their own resemblance to the French.
Like water, and blood, the branching and entwining bred life, and divergent livelihood. But in reality, they had all come from the same place, and simply made gradual alterations to a once common disposition.
Filed under AutoBio, History Buff
You could call this one of my haphazard recipes. I figured since everything in it would taste alright in spaghetti, they would go well together in soup.
It all started with the experimental veggie dish I made for Easter dinner. I wanted something healthy and colorful, and ended up combining:
Filed under Recipes
I know nothing about mining. I’ve been in a few caves, and even the local gypsum mine, but my experience is that of a suburban-urban air breathing nerd who thinks of caves and quarries as the place where gnomes and dwarves live.
This is why the recent tragedies in the mining communities of West Virgina are not events with which I can identify. Plus, I’ve never lived in a place where everyone has the same job – the job that their fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers had.
The most dangerous job my dad ever had was cleaning up the glass after naughty teenagers broke into our church basement.
Filed under Current Events
Born in a mitten
Wants an island
Dislikes extreme temps
Decides Ireland is perfect
Spends a week as the interesting foreigner
Is ok with being heritage-hyphenated.
Filed under AutoBio
On a Micromanaging God:
I do not think that is the way
a Universal Mind
would do things
When I hear a sermon
on coming back to Church
that seems directed so perfectly to me
I deem it a Happening for which I have uncommon Applicability
and nothing more
When the major Religions
and most major humanist Philosophies
and Economies
have a Cycle of Redemption
I’m sure there is no reason for the Mind
to focus so intensely on that moment
my mind Suffices
