mojosmom: (Default)
It was supposed to be in the '70s yesterday and the '80s today. It is currently somewhere in the low '60s. Which wouldn't be so bad, except that it is also raining. Just like yesterday. Seriously, both days, I'm thinking I should head downtown and run a couple of errands and enjoy the weekend. I plan my timing to miss a) the Memorial Day Parade yesterday, and b) Bike the Drive today. And both days, the minute I think it's time to get ready to go out, I hear the patter of little raindrops.

If he doesn't come through with tomorrow's promised 90º and sunny, he's fired.

However, I am taking advantage of this to get a lot of stuff done around here. In the process of switching out the summer and winter clothes (between the bedroom closet and the hall storage closet), I have piled up a ton of things that I don't wear or that don't fit and have accumulated about four bags (so far) of clothes and other items to take to the Brown Elephant Resale shop. (I haven't taken them up there, though, since there are Cubs games every day and that always screws up traffic and parking in the area.)

Before the weather turned to complete shit yesterday, I went over to the library to pick up a book ("The Hare with Amber Eyes", which was recommended on Bookcrossing. I'm think I'll spend the dreary afternoon finishing up my current read (Arthur Phillip's The Tragedy of Arthur by William Shakespeare, and start the new one. I also went by the farmers' market. Not much variety yet, though you could have fed an entire town on all the asparagus available!

NOTE: this is my first attempt at posting to Dreamwidth with a cross-post to LJ. Hope it works! (I've imported all my LJ to Dreamwidth, too.) Which reminds me. I have three invite codes to Dreamwidth. If anyone wants one, drop a comment!)
mojosmom: (Chicago)
I think winter might be really and truly over. (Having said that, it will probably snow.)

Yesterday, it was 60-ish. I went off to my AAUW meeting, a wine tasting, so what if it was only 11:00 in the morning? Well, maybe 11:30 by the time we started pouring the wine. Then I headed over to the Chicago History Museum, just a short bus ride away. See, my courtroom partner is a Civil War re-enactor, and he let slip that his troop was going to be participating in an event there. Naturally, I said I'd have to stop by with my camera, which got him all flustered and embarrassed. But when I got there and found him, he was quite the actor. He posed for me with a rather inauthentic empty plastic the vodka bottle, which was highly amusing, because he never drinks.
Ricky (a/k/a Henry Simonton)
(My partner is the guy standing up.)

In the evening, I went to a lovely concert of 16th-century Italian vocal music, with three fantastic sopranos, a harpsichord, and a variety of violins and lutes.

Today, it was at least eighty, and sunny, and gorgeous. I was inspired to heights of cleaning, mostly because I want to get the place straightened up before I leave for Washington. This afternoon, I went to a rather curious opera, Death and the Powers, by Tod Machover, with a libretto by Robert Pinsky. It's got robots performing an opera within an opera, about a very wealthy guy who dies and goes into "The System", which he has invented to immortalize himself through technology. I kind of liked it, but I don't know. When an entire page of technology notes precedes the synopsis, I have to wonder about the priorities involved.

It was a short opera, just one, 90-minute, act, and because it was such a fabulous day, and the Park Grille's outside seating area was open, I treated myself to dinner there. Salmon tartare, risotto con pomodori secchi e salsiccia, and a sweet potato chiffon (like a mousse) for dessert.

I also managed to finish two books this weekend, Laurence Cossé's A Novel Bookstore, about a shop that sells only good novels, chosen by a secret committee, and James Cain's Mildred Pierce, which contains one of the best passages ever: "Are you insinuating that my daughter is a snake?" "No -- is a coloratura soprano, is much worse."

Now you must excuse me because it's time for the new Upstairs Downstairs!

Baking

Jan. 30th, 2011 09:46 pm
mojosmom: (Kitchen)
I don't often get the opportunity to bake, so when I went to a potluck last night, I chose to bake a cake. I dug through my piles and found the recipe for spice chiffon cake that my mother used to make and that I've made in the past, and whipped one up. It came out better than it ever has before! I think it may be because, when the recipe calls for "7 or 8 egg whites", I chose to use 8. It's one of those recipes where technique is all important. You can't stop beating the egg whites too soon (they have to be incredibly stiff) and you cant' stop folding the batter into the whites soon enough. Then I made a penuche icing (butter, brown sugar, milk and confectioner's sugar). It was a hit.

The impetus for the event was to get everyone involved in Teatro Vista together, ensemble, junior ensemble and board. It was a great idea, and a good time was had by all. And I ate too much!
mojosmom: (banned books)
I was rummaging in my junk closet, looking for some Kraft paper to wrap a parcel, when I knocked a wooden clothes hanger off the bar. It hit me on the bridge of the nose (don't worry, I'm okay), and managed to break the plastic frame of my glasses right down the middle! Fortunately, they're just cheap readers, not expensive prescription glasses.

After mailing the parcels and dropping a few things at the dry cleaners, I went over to the Smart Museum to see the exhibit, Echoes of the Past: the Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan. As not infrequently happens, I'd been intending to go, and suddenly realized it was the penultimate day! It's a fascinating exhibit. These stunning pieces were carved into the rocks of the caves in the 6th-century, and remained intact until the beginning of the 20th, when Buddhist art became collectible and the caves were vandalized to obtain sellable items. The exhibit includes a number of pieces from the caves, but also has digital reconstructions. More here.

(As it happens, the exhibit is traveling to the Sackler Gallery in Washington, and will be there while the BookCrossing Convention is taking place. I'll definitely want to go to the Sackler; they will also be having exhibits on the Shahnama, on Whistler and the Victorian Craze for Blue-and-White, and a couple of other interesting sounding ones.)

What I hadn't realized was that the Smart was also showing the David Wojnarowicz video, A Fire in my Belly, that was removed from the National Portrait Gallery after a bunch of idiots who probably never even saw it got all upset over one image of a crucifix crawling with ants. Apparently, a whole slew of institutions are now showing it, thus once again proving that censorship is the quickest way to disseminate that which is censored! It's actually rather difficult to judge quality of the video itself, which is made up of quick cuts between a wide variety of images, including a lot of archival footage, because it is unfinished. It's disturbing, but it needs to be. After all, he's raging about the AIDS-related death of a friend.

They also have a new piece in the reception area, the first of what will be an ongoing series. It's a huge and gorgeous ink drawing by the Chinese-born artist, Bingyi, called Cascade, that evokes traditional Chinese landscape paintings. If you go to Bingyi's website, click on "Projects", "2010" and then "Cascade", you can see more about it.

Last night I went to a great concert, Allen Toussaint with Don Byron (sax & clarinet) and Nicholas Payton (trumpet). Mostly stuff from their album, The Bright Mississippi, but other pieces as well. Symphony Center was rockin'! Gosh, I do love New Orleans jazz. I'd missed dinner because a friend came out to the courthouse to file some documents and we went out for coffee/tea, and I got home just in time to change and head to the concert. So afterwards I went to the bar at Rhapsody (in the Symphony Center) and had steak frites and a couple of glasses of Malbec.

I see I haven't mentioned the Lyric Opera production of The Mikado. I could have done without it. Not that it wasn't well-done, but a) I'm not a Gilbert & Sullivan fan, and b) Lyric Opera isn't the house for G&S. However, Stephanie Blythe was wonderful. A friend has pointed out that updating this to the '20s is a bit odd, as the Mikado would be the Taisho emperor and Nanki-Poo would be Hirohito. I don't think the production team caught that nuance.
mojosmom: (Turning pages)
and, having writ, moves on." Where the heck did the year go? If I were a resolution-making sort of person, I'd resolve to read more, be on the computer less, except for being on it more. That sounds like it makes no sense, but I started the year with all good intentions of keeping up my LJ and my book blog, and then lapsed. I'd like to do better at keeping them up, but I make no promises.

I started 2011 with French toast (not good for my diet, but very good for using up stale bread), and doing one entry on my blog with all the books I read this year (at least I did keep a list, though I may have forgotten a couple), with some commentary. I also put away most of the Christmas décor, but not soon enough. I heard Lilith making hacking noises. She had gotten at the one, tiny bit of tinsel around, which I thought was out of her reach. Ha. Nothing is out of a cat's reach when she puts her mind to it. Frankly, though, it's a good thing she did throw it up, as cats and tinsel do not mix well.

I was going to go out walking, but it's too darn cold. Yesterday, it was in the 50s, though it did rain. A local shop that I like was having a sale, so I bought a couple of things for January birthday gifts, and then I stopped by Borders, which was also having a sale and bought a couple of books. I saw the New Year in with a glass or two of Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut, drunk from their "Fleur de Champagne" glasses, which I've had forever (well, since 1985, when I got married), and chunks of fig & walnut panforte with goat cheese. Dinner was leftover duck (we went out with friends for Chinese on Monday and I have been living on the leftovers!) that I perked up with onion, sage and green olives and tossed with papardelle.

My book to start the New Year is East of Wimbledon, by Nigel Williams, who also wrote The Wimbledon Poisoner which I read a while back and enjoyed immensely. There is a third "Wimbledon" book, They Came from SW19, that I shall look for if this one lives up to its promise.

Because I was off three days Christmas week, and three days this week (counting yesterday), I feel as though I had an entire two weeks off, and then I'm off next week doing my annual trial advocacy coaching. They'll forget what I look like! Well, they can get used to that because, barring anything unforeseen, I'm going to retire this year, likely by midsummer.

Did you know that if you tell cultural institutions that you've remembered them in your will, they invite you to all sorts of interesting events? I've been invited to an opening at the Art Institute because I'm now a member of their "Legacy Society". For all they know, I've left them $10! They don't ask; I guess that would be crass. In fact, they're getting a share of whatever's left, and, as my lawyer said, if I'm lucky, I'll be old and have spent it all! When my sisters and I went for Thai food the other day, we got fortune cookies, and mine said, "You are going to have a very comfortable retirement." Let's hope it was right!
mojosmom: (My House)
I picked Cathy up at the airport on Tuesday evening. Her plane was late, having been delayed leaving SF, which meant hanging around the airport longer than anticipated. What I had forgotten was that there is no place at all at Midway to sit down and have a drink or a cup of tea outside the security perimeter, which is ridiculous. Fortunately, I had a book with me (I know, big surprise).

We went up to the Green City Market on Wednesday, and picked up a few things, though not a lot of veggies as Stacey had warned me that she would be bringing a bunch. Then we pretty much relaxed, and Cathy made chicken with a mushroom sauce for dinner. Thursday, Cathy wanted to go to the neighborhood used bookstores, so why was it that I came home with books and she didn't? Stacey arrived in the late afternoon and we had latkes for dinner. I know, I know, you're supposed to have those at Hanukkah, but it's become rather a tradition for us. We all stayed up late to watch White Christmas.

On Friday, we all went downtown to the Christkindlmarket. I bought myself a pair of earrings and Stacey bought some cute tree ornaments for a friend of hers. It seems to me as though every year there are more food stalls, but we did not indulge. We were going to go to the Cultural Center, but they were closed, so we headed to the Art Institute. It was pretty empty, which was actually rather nice. Cathy wanted to see the new Asian galleries, and Stacey the photography galleries, so we did that and then had a cup of hot chocolate in the members lounge. Dinner was butternut squash ravioli with a light zucchini cream sauce. Then Stacey made chocolate chip cookies (also a tradition).

Christmas morning Cathy made pancakes. Delish. Presents were exchanged. Best: Stacey gave me dried herbs from her own garden and Cathy gave me a gorgeous book of paper crafts/art, Paper: Tear, Fold, Rip, Crease, Cut. The latter may cost me as one of the items in it is this pop-up book that is really a lamp! I am very tempted.

Dinner involved roasting: lamb, Yukon potatoes (I now know Cathy's trick for getting them nice and crispy), and beets, plus salad. Chocolate mousse for dessert.

We are headed out later today to another bookstore, and dinner tonight at a friend's. We are bringing a flourless chocolate cake. It's so nice to have a sister who's a chef!

Cathy is staying until Tuesday and Stacey until Wednesday. I had originally intended to take off Wednesday and Thursday of this week (Friday the office was closed), and go back to work on Monday. But I realized that I really had nothing going on early in the week, so I will take off Monday and Tuesday as well.
mojosmom: (Food)
(if you don't count the tip). When I am going out to dinner, I often make reservations through Open Table. You get 100 points per reservation, and I had accumulated enough for a $20 certificate. I needed to use it, and so I decided to take myself to lunch today, between listening to a lutenist play by the Arms & Armor collection at the Art Institute
Lutenist Joel Spears

and seeing a film about Antonio Gaudí. I went to The Gage, a relatively new restaurant that I hadn't been to before. It's relatively expensive for dinner, but lunch is more moderate. In any case, the bill came to $19 and change, so other than the tip for the waiter, it didn't cost me a cent! It was a good meal, too. A sweet potato soup, with goat cheese and toasted pumpkin seeds, and a smoked salmon sandwich with a side of very good fries, and Earl Grey tea.

The movie, Antonio Gaudí, by the Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara was quite interesting. No narrative, except a bit towards the end of an interview with Isidre Puig Boada, one of the architects who carried on Gaudí's work on the Sagrada Familia. The camera describes the buildings, and the inspirations from nature and Catalan culture, accompanied by music of Toru Takemitsu. Seeing it has reinforced my desire to visit Barcelona.
mojosmom: (sisters)
My sisters were in town this weekend. I picked Cathy up at Midway after work on Wednesday, and Stacey drove in on Thursday, arriving just about an hour before I got home. She brought scads of vegetables from her garden - zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant and bell peppers - so Cathy made us gazpacho for dinner.

I took a vacation day on Friday, and we went downtown to the Cultural Center and the Art Institute. I'd already seen the Louis Sullivan and Jazz Loft Project exhibits at the Cultural Center, but they were well worth seeing again, and we also saw the exhibit, Stranger in Paradise: The Works of Reverend Howard Finster. We had lunch, and then to the Art Institute for their Sullivan exhibit, and also the Henri-Cartier Bresson show, which was immense. Then home to rest up before going out to dinner with some old family friends.

On Saturday, we headed to my local farmers' market. I needed some garlic, and we also bought a variety of fruit, a lovely bit of lamb, some flowers and Brown Sugar Bakery's awesome bread pudding, fresh from the oven. We stayed for the chef demo, and, as always, sampled the end products, both of which were vegetarian, so Stacey could enjoy them as well.

We had thought about going to Carifete, a festival of Caribbean nations, with food, vendors, a parade, etc., but skipped it in favor of resting up a bit at home. Then I ran some necessary errands while my sisters went over to the Art Center to see a show I'd already seen and didn't need to see again. Late afternoon, we went out to Oak Park to see our friend Jeanette, a founder of the Chicago Architecture Foundation. She took us to a local art fair and dinner, and then we went back to her apartment, chatted and watched the video of her 90th birthday party. She was telling us about what the new owner is doing to her former residence, Frank Lloyd Wright's Davenport House. He's taking it back to the original 1901 configuration (there's apparently a bit of controversy about this), and the work is taking so long that six years after he bought the place, he still isn't living in it!

Sunday, we drove out to the boonies to see Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House:
Farnsworth House

I wouldn't want to live there all the time, but I can sure see why Edith Farnsworth spent every weekend there! And we could also hear why she finally decided to sell it. There was a bridge over the Fox River, right by the house, which, when she bought the land, was just a quiet, farmers' bridge. Then the powers-that-be decided it needed to be a big, modern road. And, boy, is it noisy! Quiet inside the house, but no more serene evenings on that terrace.

When we got back to Hyde Park, we went to the Medici for a late lunch. New t-shirts: "Support Elena Kagan - a judge of good pizza"! (She apparently frequented the Medici when she was at the Law School.)

Yesterday, I had to go to work, but the sisters walked down to the lakefront, through Jackson Park and then hit the bookstores on 57th St. Cathy made penne pasta with mushrooms, zucchini and pine nuts for dinner, along with thick slices of tomato with fresh basil. After dinner, she suggested that we go for a walk around the block, as it was a perfect evening to go walking. I put forth an amendment to the motion, that we walk over to the Istria Café and have a gelato. The motion, as amended, carried unanimously and was put into immediate effect. We came back through Harold Washington Park, where some young men were playing soccer and some older men were playing chess.

I dropped Cathy off at the airport this morning, and Stacey drove herself home later in the day. So now here I am with no one but the cats, which is okay, too! Marissa, who is normally quite shy with other people, took a mild shine to Cathy, briefly snuggling with her when she was trying to print out her boarding pass!
mojosmom: (Hyde Park)
But I'm not hysterical.

When I came home from work, I changed into something cooler and more comfortable than my work clothes, and walked over to Nichols Park for a jazz concert by Darrell "Sax Preacher" Wilson:

Future jazz fan

Great concert!  He does, indeed, preach, but he's not heavy-handed about it, more along an ecumenical, respect nature, and appreciate the Creator (whatever that word may mean to you) way. 

It ended at about 8:00, so I needed dinner.  I was going to give Chant, a local Thai restaurant, a second chance.  The first time I went there I wasn't impressed, but it was more the service than the food than was unimpressive, and I figured that might be because it had recently opened.  In any event, I walked in and walked right out again. The noise level was ridiculous.  Instead, I went to the Calypso Café and had Cuban black bean soup and fried green tomatoes, washed down with a glass of pinot grigio.  Where I made my  mistake, and what caused the 'I"m wet!" subject line, was having the second glass of wine.  I'd notice a couple of lightning flashes earlier, and, as I started to sip that second glass, I realized that it was absolutely pouring out! By the time I'd finished the wine and paid the check, it had eased up a little, but was still raining.  But I was only a couple of blocks from home, and I'm not made of sugar!  Besides, it was a welcome respite from the heat.  So I walked home in the rain and here I am, unmelted, to tell you about it.
mojosmom: (Birthday cake)
Birthday first (today):

I slept late! Of course, it helps that it was a Sunday, and I didn't sleep too late - the cats insisted on being fed. So I fed them and then myself. I'd bought some lovely fresh organic eggs at the farmers' market yesterday, and fried up a couple of them, over easy, had that and some raspberries - also from the farmers' market.

Read the Sunday paper in a leisurely fashion, talked to my sisters, both of whom called to wish me "Happy Birthday!", and then went over to the Smart Museum for a jazz concert. It was supposed to be held in their sculpture garden, but neither the audience nor performers would have been happy with two hours in 90º+ heat, so they moved it inside.

I stopped by Borders afterward and bought a pop-up book I'd had my eye on, and then came home and fixed a birthday dinner: boneless lamb steak, salad and sweet corn (again from the farmers' market). I have some green tea ice cream that I'm going to have later.

I have also been absolutely swilling iced tea all weekend. Best thing for the heat.

Yesterday, I went to the farmers' market (obviously!), but didn't stay long as I was meeting friends for lunch. We had tickets to a staged reading of Tanya Saracho's play-in-progress, El Nogalar, part of the Goodman Theatre's Latino Theatre Festival. It's based on Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, but is set in current day Mexico, and is excellent! It's going to have a full production as part of Goodman's next season, a co-production with Teatro Vista. TV had a cocktail party after the play for donors, potential donors, etc. in the Goodman's VIP lounge, which was nicely attended.
mojosmom: (Default)
at least momentarily. I received a new modem from Earthlink today. I still cannot connect directly, but have to use a round about way. I have the number for a "senior technician", but naturally they aren't available 24/7 and I called after they closed, so I'll try again tomorrow evening.

In the interim, I'll play catch-up here.

First up: the neighborhood in the news. NBC Nightly News visited our local farmers' market last Saturday. The story is here (you have to watch an ad first). I'm not in it (one of my sisters says that's because I didn't look "gritty and inner city enough"), despite the fact that a camera was pointing at me as I ate pork with mango salsa!
Pork chop with peach salsa

Later that day, I went to Kittenpalooza, an event during which cute little kittens are displayed in order to get suckersnice people to adopt. I did not succumb, but did ooh and ahh. I mean, how cute is this?
Yay!  I get to play!

Saturday evening, I went to see the Jules Dassin film, La Loi, with Gina Lollobrigida, Yves Montand, Marcello Mastroianni and Melina Mercouri. It's a rather over-the-top soap opera, but with that cast, who cares?

On Sunday I dropped a bunch of clothes and tchotchkes off at the Brown Elephant, and came back with a few things, as always. There's a new resale shop a couple of doors down, everything $3 except for t-shirts, which are $1. I found a pristine white linen Liz Claiborne blouse with French cuffs and a sage green sleeveless linen blouse. Helluva deal. Then I went over to my friend Kate's, whose garden was one of many on a neighborhood garden tour. But we mostly sat inside and drank iced tea or seltzer water, and ate cheese and cookies, and chatted.

Other than that, it's been a fairly quiet week. I had to pull an iron out of the fire for an idiot probation officer. She was shocked, shocked! when I pointed out to her that someone who was locked up in the jail couldn't just pick up the phone and call a treatment center whenever he felt like it. (I think she must be new.)

As usual, I celebrated Bastille Day by watching Casablanca and having a French meal. It was going to be escargots Bourguinonne, but it's been hellishly hot here* so I didn't feel much like bubbling butter and hot ovens, and had a salade Niçoise instead.


*I keep telling myself, "it's only in the 90s, not like the East coast with triple digits!"
mojosmom: (Chicago)
I made the first pesto and the first iced tea of the season. The pesto was by necessity, as some of my basil got its stem broken in Friday's storm, so had to be used. I had gnocchi with pesto for dinner, and it was yummy!

This morning, I got up earlier than usual, though not as early as planned (my alarm clock doesn't seem to be working right), and headed to the north side to a pub to watch the World Cup game between Italy and New Zealand. Since this was organized by folks from Casa Italiana, you can imagine the distress! However, being a member of one of the two groups (gay men and straight women) who, Daniella pointed out, just like watching the players, it was all good. (It's true, you know, that soccer players are better to look at than players of other sports; I don't know why, but it is so.) And we did celebrate Daniella having just become "una cittadina americana".

In not so great news, but tolerable, my dishwasher decided to stop draining, so I asked the guys to look at it yesterday as long as they were here. It's not the drain; the motor is shot. Since I've been in the condo for eleven years, and the dishwasher was here when I arrived, I think the wisest course is to bite the bullet and get a new one, rather than try to get this one repaired. Fortunately, as I do dishes for one, it's not something I feel the need to run out and do right this instant.
mojosmom: (Default)
It's been lovely.

Friday night was a second Friday, which means Open Studio night at the Fine Arts Building. Every month, different artists have open houses, and Hodge the Bookstore Cat
Hodge, the bookstore cat
holds court at Selected Works Used Books. I visited a couple of the studios, bought a couple of books, and admired Hodge.

The Fine Arts Building is just down the street from Symphony Center, where I had tickets for the L.A. Philharmonic with Gustavo Dudamel conducting. I had a bite to eat at the Bass Bar in the rotunda before the concert, which was fantastic. They played John Adams' City Noir and Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" Symphony, with two encores, the Intermezzo from Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" and the Waltz from Leonard Bernstein's Divertimento for Orchestra. It was quite delightful, particularly the Adams piece, a jazz-inflected evocation of '40s film noir.

Yesterday, I went early to the Hyde Park Garden Fair and stocked up on herbs: sorrel, thyme, Italian oregano, basil, dill, parsley, lemon balm, chocolate mint and spearmint, which I planted in containers on the back porch.

I had a few friends over for dinner (not the usual size crowd, due to scheduling conflicts and illness). I poached a fillet of salmon in white wine, and made a sauce from sour cream, thinned with a bit of the poaching liquid, dijon mustard, lemon juice and fresh dill. Served with oven roasted new potatoes with rosemary, and broccoli. My friend Margaret made a luscious frozen dessert involving pineapple and whipped cream. We killed a couple of bottles of wine, too. DeeJay won't be with us for the next couple of dinners, so she brought my birthday present two months early. Part of it was marjoram seeds, an herb I hadn't bought that morning!

Slept in a bit this morning, and will be off to the opera in a couple of hours, Jake Heggie's Three Decembers, with Frederica von Stade in her last Chicago appearance.
mojosmom: (Italian)
The day started not so great. I couldn't find my cellphone! It wasn't in my room, it wasn't in the sitting room where I'd been using the computer the evening before. Fortunately, it did turn up at the restaurant where I'd had dinner, but I was panicking there for a bit.

I began the day at the Palazzo Pitti:
Pitti Palace

Talk about art overload! Rooms full of Raphaels, Ghirlandaios, et al., and ceilings all over bas-reliefs and paintings. Suddenly, in the midst of all the religious and allegorical art, and portraits of the rich and famous, was an exhibit of still lives and landscapes - a nice change!

Only here would the Galleria d'arte moderne begin with 18th-century art! But as one goes through these galleries, it becomes clear that there are distinct differences from what went before. Portraits become less formal, religion and allegory are less important than scenes of civic and private lives. It's possible to paint ordinary people, so instead of the Virgin giving her breast to the infant Jesus, it's an ordinary woman feeding her child. There's permission, too, to try new techniques of painting, leading to pointilism, impressionism, etc.

Taking a break from art, I went down the street to the Museo di Storia Naturale, part of the Università di Firenze, with its "secular temple", the Tribuna di Galileo, so-called from the statue of him there. There was a knock-out exhibit of crystals - nature is really rather beautiful! Once again, I was sorry that photography was not permitted, but you can see some of the pieces on the museum's website. I particularly liked the crystals that were combinations of minerals. There was spinella su marmo, white stone dotted with crimson, like blood; azurite, looking for all the world like navy blue velvet with sparkles; calcite su ametista, with a group of crystals shaped almost like asparagus growing out like rays. Colors, shapes, angles, all come together to form objects of great beauty. It's easy to see why people collect "rocks"!

Upstairs, we travel from the smallest protozoa, through corals, worms, bugs, to mammals, primates, and humans. (Query: why does every museum and zoo feel the need to put a mirror in the primate room?) There were room after room of anatomical waxes from the late 18th-century. Incredibly life-like and detailed.

Outside, there is a lovely garden, which abuts the Pitti's Boboli Gardens, and which is a hangout for the students:
Garden of the Museo

I went to lunch at the Caffe delle Gallerie Pananti, a little place across from the Pitti that is also an art gallery. I had carpaccio on a bed of arugula, which was served with a bag (literally!) of really good warm bread. Then stopped at Giulio Giannini and succumbed to the lure of printed and marbled paper.

Then back to the Palazzo Pitti for an afternoon in the Boboli Gardens. Not very floral, more formal gardens, multi-level, rambling, with vistas:
Yet another view of Tuscany

and prospects and allées:
Allée

and little (or not so little) houses of repose:
Kaffeehaus

I can't imagine how le belle donne Medici got around it in those skirts! The buildings are now, among other things, a porcelain museum and a costume gallery.

There was a great exhibit at the costume gallery, Fashion: A World of Similarities and Differences, which showed similar styles from different eras. Some stunning garments, including a couple of Fortuny gowns. But there was one Gianfranco Ferré that would have made Tim Gunn cry "edit!" It was beige lace from under the bust to the knee, with a 2-level train, a coral and pink baeded bodice, a big foofy flower at the hip with pleated tulle below it, and a pink and beige striped underskirt! Weird, because there was another gown by Ferré that was a minimalist column of white with just a small sparkly flounce at the back neckline and hem, so simple and elegant.

The Gardens are noted for their cats, but I only saw two - or maybe three - or possibly four - I'm not sure if the black cat was the same cat in different places or several different cats!
Lurking
I was sitting at the bar having a glass of wine and resting when a black cat appeared in the courtyard and just preened under all the attention.

I was then saved from myself. I'd seen a pair of shoes that really tempted me, despite the €98 price, but when I went back later in the afternoon, they were gone. I was tempted by another pair on sale, but they didn't have them in my size. A dress I had been admiring turned out to be nearly €300 - no way!

I had dinner at a neighborhood place, had insalata caprese, ravioli stuffed with ricotta and spinach in a walnut/sage sauce, and 1/2 bottle of chianti. I then went back to the hotel, did as much packing as possible, left a wake-up call and set the alarm.

Up early, and decided to take a cab to the bus station, where I caught the 7:30 bus to Amerigo Vespucci airport. I arrived with plenty of time to spare, so had tea and pastry in the departure area. I'd seen a very interesting looking building on the way in from the airport on Saturday, and was able to get a couple of photos of it. It turned out to be the Palazzo di Giustizia, designed by architect Leonardo Ricci:
Palazzo di Giustizia

I almost bought Cathy some truffled lard at the airport shops. I was ready to risk getting it through security in Zurich, but then I realized it needed to be refrigerated, and, of course, I wouldn't be able to do that!

My flight to Zurich was uneventful, but while transferring to the Amsterdam flight, I noticed signs that KLM had cancelled flights "due to the volcano", a portent of things to come!
mojosmom: (sisters)
Both my sisters are in town because this afternoon we are attending a 90th birthday party for an old family friend. Cathy arrived Thursday evening, so I picked her up at the airport on my way home from work. She had a gorgeous day to walk around the neighborhood on Friday (mid-60s!) and took full advantage of it. Among other things, she did some grocery shopping and cooked us an excellent dinner, after which we watched Julie and Julia. Cathy hadn't read Powell's book, but had read My Life in France, and her reaction to the "Julie" part of the film was the same as my reaction to the book: "When is she going to stop whining?" We agreed that it was half a good movie, and wished that it had been entirely about Julia.

Saturday, the first day of spring, it snowed. And was cold. And blustery. So we stayed inside and hung out with the cats. Stacey was driving in and hoped to get here before six o'clock. However, she got to Toledo and her transmission went out. She had to leave her car at a garage there to be fixed, and rented a car to drive the rest of the way. The only place she could rent a car was at the airport, so she had to get a cab out there, and they managed to send her a cab driver who didn't know how to get to the airport! I didn't know such people existed. I mean, that's a cabbie's bread-and-butter, right? As a result, she didn't get here until about 8:30.

Cathy and I had gone out to hear the Newberry Consort (17th-century violin music, with a harpsichord thrown in), but had left her some of the excellent pizza we had had for dinner (olive oil glaze, chèvre, caramelized onions, kalamata olives and roasted red peppers). I have really gotten into using HomeMade Pizza Company lately. I can run in on my way home from work, have them create something interesting, and throw it in the oven when I get home. As easy as a frozen pizza and it tastes way better. They also had a special ice cream, Chocolate Almond Bark, which I bought.

I continue to fight a cold. Last Sunday, I went up to my friend Fran's for dinner, came home early in the evening feeling fine, but later developed a nasty sore throat. The next day, I felt rather punk, and my voice was going. I went to work, but left early, I felt so bad, and took the next day off. Felt better on Wednesday, though if I hadn't had a phone conference that would have been a pain to re-schedule, I might have stayed in bed. I'm at the point where I feel fine, but sound pretty raspy, and am mildly congested.

I've been to a couple of plays lately, one excellent, one not. Court Theatre is doing The Illusion, by Pierre Corneille, freely adapted by Tony Kushner. (Story: "Legend has it that the Hartford production was more overtly haunted by Corneille. As Sylviane Gold describes in the New York Times, the production was beset by technical difficulties until Kushner and director Mark Lamos decided to reprint the program to say not “The Illusion by Tony Kushner, based on a play by Pierre Corneille” but “The Illusion by Pierre Corneille, freely adapted by Tony Kushner.” All the technical glitches stopped on cue, save for one: Kushner’s name was mysteriously wiped from the marquee on the night before the show opened. The play continues to be performed and published under this revised heading, lest the original author return to seek his due.") It's marvelous! Love the play, love the staging, love the acting.

Rebecca Gilman's A True History of the Johnstown Flood, not so much. I'm not a big fan of Gilman's, as I find her work to be rather heavy-handed and didactic. This play was no different. It was also rather predictable. The actors were good, and there was excellent staging, but that's not enough to save a bad script.

The four of us went to dinner beforehand at 312 Chicago, a place we like a lot. They are celebrating their 12th anniversary, and each night have twelve entrées and twelve bottles of wine available at $12 each. Which is quite a deal. Usually, the least expensive glass of wine is about $9, and I don't know where you can get such a good ribeye steak in downtown Chicago for $12 on a normal night!
mojosmom: (Default)
Went to a lecture this afternoon on the work of Irving K. Pond, whom none of you have ever heard of. Neither had I, until I saw the announcement of this program! He was a Chicago architect, trained by William LeBaron Jenney, was a friend of Jane Addams, built the town of Pullman, and did some houses in my neighborhood. Architect David Swan recently edited Pond's autobiography, and he gave the lecture and showed slides of Pond's work. Afterwards, there was a walking tour of his local houses, but it was a bit chilly and the drizzle had increased to actual rain, so I passed on that portion of the event.

Took my car in for service yesterday, and I barely recognized it when I picked it up. It was clean! It had gotten really grungy from the snow and slush, so I was glad it was warm enough for the dealer to give it a wash. The car had to be there for several hours, so I went home and cleaned my kitchen floor, which was in an absolutely disgusting condition.

One of the ways that the economic situation seems to have affected cultural institutions is that they are having free, or low-cost, events in order to promote themselves. I've been to two such lately. Chicago Opera Theatre recently hosted an event to introduce the upcoming spring season. It was held at the Mars Gallery, sort of off the beaten path in the gentrifying West Loop area. Various members of the artistic staff gave brief speeches, costume and set designs were on display, and there were nibblies and drinks, including a delicious "operatini", consisting of gin, sour mix and honey. That particular event actually cost me more than the ticket price, because I noticed this cross, by Shelley Barberot, a New Orleans artist, and had to have it:

Cross - by Shelley Barberot

A few days later, Steppenwolf Theatre Company hosted a free event to promote their production of "The Brother/Sister Plays", which I'm definitely going to try to get to, probably toward the end of the run, between my trips to Europe and New York! It was held at their rehearsal space, in the landmarked Yondorf Hall, and featured excellent food from a restaurant near me, as well as a performance by the Muntu Dance Theatre, followed by audience participation:

Teaching the girls to dance

There were a couple of other events that night I was thinking of going to, but this one went on a bit longer than I expected, and I was a bit tired, so I didn't.

The people who run the Community Supported Agriculture program I was involved in last summer have started doing a Sunday brunch at a local café. Last week was their first, so I stopped by and the food was great. They do a buffet, but you can also get an entrée, together or separately. The buffet is all vegetarian, but one of the entrées is not. Last week it was salmon, and was very good.

Berlioz' Damnation of Faust at Lyric on Friday was just okay. The singers were great, but the opera isn't a favorite and the production was just so-so. They did some "updating", which generally was okay, but the descent into hell just isn't as scary when the demons are guys in suits and women with baby carriages. And, frankly, neighbors descending on Marguerite with pitchforks and frying pans because she's fornicating with Faust seems a bit unlikely in modern times! But I had an enjoyable dinner with the Harrises and Jim & Kevin. J & K were just back from a trip to Australia and New Zealand, where they had covered much the same ground as our friend Jamie (who missed this time because he's in Arizona with family) did a short while ago (visting the same friends, etc.), so the conversation had a bit of a déja vu feel to it!
mojosmom: (Steinlen cats)
Well, a week and a half anyway.

No traumatic or terrible reasons for it, just a bit lazy, and trying to catch up with reviews over at my other blog.

I've been busy with Teatro Vista board/committee meetings. We're planning a benefit in April and I'm on that committee (though it unfortunately falls during the time I'll be in Europe!).

I saw my first "Live in HD" Metropolitan Opera broadcast last Saturday. Friends have raved about them, and so I decided to take advantage of the rare opportunity to hear Placido Domingo sing baritone, in the title role of Simon Boccanegra. I had the libretto from when Lyric did it years ago, so read it ahead of time, a necessary thing because the plot is incredibly convoluted, even for opera! I loved it! The opera itself was grand, but it was worth going just for the close-ups. I loved seeing the details of the costumes, and you could see them sweat! During intermission, there were interviews conducted by Renée Fleming, but what was even more interesting was that they showed the sets being changed. The Met stage crew deserves every penny they get. It was like choreography. The only thing I missed, that you get when you listen on the radio, is the Opera Quiz. One of the perks of my Opera Guild membership is advance ticketing for these, and I expect I'll use that next season!

Both cats have been to the vet, Marissa yesterday for her annual check-up and a couple of shots (three-year rabies and distemper, so she won't have to be poked for awhile more). Lilith went this morning. She has been having pooping issues, going outside the box (though not all the time) and very loose stools. Bloodwork is being done, stool sample checked and pills have been prescribed. So we'll see.

I went by the library to return a couple of books and, of course, browsed the "New Books" shelves. I noticed a book with the intriguing title The Web that has no Weaver, which turned out to be a book about Chinese medicine. And was authored by a guy I knew in college, and had acknowledgements to two other guys I knew in college!

I had yesterday off (Lincoln's Birthday is a holiday in Illinois, so I've got a four-day weekend! Yay!), and went up to the northern 'burbs to meet with my financial adviser. We hadn't run the retirement numbers for a couple of years and, as I am approaching that time (the two government pension systems I've been under are reciprocal systems, and due to the fact that I took a pay cut when I left my last job, I'll need to retire out of the system by November of next year to maximize my pension.), she wanted to do it again. The news is very good. Between the pension and Social Security, both of which have annual COLAs, and decent investments, I don't need to worry and can actually relax about the whole thing (barring anything unexpected and horrendous, of course).

Had a taste for Thai food so I stopped off at a place I like and got cucumber salad and curry noodles to go.
mojosmom: (Default)
I was watching RAI-International, which is broadcast here for several hours on Sunday mornings. When I turned it on, they were showing a soccer match. Italian soccer players are adorable! That was followed by a segment about a production of Zelmira at Pesaro's Rossini Opera Festival, starring Juan Diego Flórez, one of the hottest tenors around.

I feel as though the new year actually starts tomorrow, as I head back to work for the first time in 2010, and also start up my Italian lessons again. I spent the past week doing my regular coaching at the Appellate Defender's trial advocacy program, and enjoying it as much as always.

As always during the first week in January, we got hit with a snow storm. I'm glad I was taking public transportation instead of driving! In fact, I hadn't taken the car out in nearly a week, as I didn't need it, so Friday afternoon when I got home, I bundled up and went out and cleaned several inches of snow off it. It really wasn't so bad, as it was the light, fluffy snow, and I had no trouble at all getting out of my parking space.

It also wasn't as cold as they were claiming it would be yesterday (being so close to the lake mitigates the temperatures), so I did the grocery store/post office/drugstore run. Then I came home and was productive. I took the Christmas stuff down to my basement storage locker, and actually made significant headway on cleaning out a closet. I had a couple of boxes full of paperwork that I hadn't even looked at in years, so I tossed a bunch of it, and the boxes, which had become unnecessary.

Then I made soup for dinner. I used chicken stock as a base, and added chopped leeks, mustard greens and carrots that I had sautéed in a combination of butter and olive oil until fairly soft. I puréed about a third of the vegetables and added that back (this makes the soup thicker). At the end of the cooking time, I also added some milk. I used salt, pepper and thyme for seasoning. It was very good, and hit the spot on a cold day.

I had tentative plans for today to meet a Bookcrosser who was stranded here due to weather in Europe. Her Thursday flight to London from JFK was cancelled, so they booked her out of O'Hare Friday, but that was cancelled, too, and she wasn't going to be able to get out until Monday! When she posted that in the forums, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Having to sit in an airport hotel in a town where you don't know anyone for an entire weekend, while not as bad as being stuck at the airport itself, would really suck. So I took pity on her and volunteered my company. However, she was able to find a flight yesterday with one empty seat, grabbed it, and is now home.

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity is going to New York! It will be at Second Stage Theatre from April 27-June 20. It may go to Broadway if all goes well. My friend, Eddie Torres, will once again be directing. Casting hasn't been announced, but if they're smart they'll use the Chicago cast. I'll be in New York in early June for my college reunion, so I will definitely go see it again then.

January 2018

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