Happy 83rd birthday, Phil Lesh.
We went to Chicago Sunday to see Phil & Friends at the Salt Shed, a new venue that recycled the old Morton Salt building. I guess it was starting to fall down so good thing – a wall collapsed in 2016 and an avalanche of salt covered up some of the cars at the Acura dealer next door. The Acura dealer is still there, we went past it on our very deluxe Uber ride after the show in a big black Escalade with heated seats that had us back at the hotel in less than 10 minutes. Salt Shed had outdoor concerts last summer and moved inside over the winter.
Phil’s playing at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester tonight, for his birthday run, skipping Thursday and then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday shows. I’ve always wanted to go there but who knows if I’ll ever get a chance, so Chicago 3 days before Phil’s birthday seemed like a good compromise for this year.
Waiting for the band to come on.
It was a good show, good lineup, mostly players that have been with Phil a long time, like John Molo, and Warren Haynes, and Grahame Lesh. Someone named Jason Crosby on keyboards and a horn section, Natalie Cressman on trombone and vocals, Jennifer Hartswick on trumpet and vocals, and James Casey on saxophone, and maybe vocals as well I didn’t see. Grahame and Warren did most of the singing, though everyone had a mic, and Hartswick sang lead on Deep Elem Blues in the first set.
It was a good show, but I think I would’ve liked the Saturday set list better. Like they got Dear Mr Fantasy and we got Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. They got Touch of Grey for the encore, we got Rock Steady (though no shade on ‘Retha).
Here’s ours:
When we got to Chicago on Sunday afternoon, we called a Lyft (not my favorite of our three rides – the car smelled like a combination of weed & cigarette smoke but the guy got us there) to take us to John & Megan’s neighborhood and met them for brunch at a place called Segnatore. Megan and I got omelettes, John got the French toast, and Mark went for the classic breakfast of eggs and toast and sausage and hash brown potatoes. I thought I ordered hash browns too but I never got any. Good coffee.
We got there a little early so we went to Spinning J across the street and bought a couple of cookies and a slice of s’more pie, for later. We had the cookies before the show and the pie after back at the hotel, a little messy because we only had fingers, but it was good enough to persevere.
So altogether a nice little trip.
What else is new … work is actually starting to feel a little different since it’s my last semester teaching. Not that I think I’m slacking or anything, but no problems feel too heartbreaking any more.
In my knee healing process, I’ve taken my first few short walks around the neighborhood. I’m in a clinical trial for people like me with high eyeball pressure – ocular hypertension, properly – and I walked home from there Thursday, so that was the 3rd walk. So far. And I’m back at the food pantry on Tuesday mornings and book sale Thursday afternoons, so progress. Although it’s actually Thursday now, and my knee’s a bit sore. The walk plus lifting boxes of books might’ve been a bit much.
Me & kitty having coffee last Saturday before we went grocery shopping, w/o crutches
There’ve been various cooking adventures around here, not much in the way of pics. I tried out these 7 layer cookies from Sarah Kiefer, that have potato chips and corn flakes and mini marshmallows, and chocolate & butterscotch chips, and all kinds of stuff. As she says in the recipe they’re best when they’re warm. I thought they got a funny taste after a couple of days, kind of like beer, I think from the potato chips. I even ordered the crunchy Dulcey pearls and forgot to put them in.
There’s another recipe in her 100 Cookies book called Kitchen Sink Cookies, that has some similar ingredients: marshmallows, potato chips, chocolate & butterscotch chips, but no flour – only oats – and peanut butter. And pretzels. I think I will try that next.
And here they are – I subbed cornflakes for the potato chips & used a whole jar of my Cream Nut peanut butter. I like these a lot better then the 7-layer.
I made turkey pot pie for Pi Day.
And enchiladas on Friday.
sweet potato, red bean, corn, and roasted pepper enchiladas, also cheese of course
On Wednesday, I went over to hang out with Jasper while Emma went for a haircut, and he was a real grumpus all day. They think it’s because he’s had a cold. He was happier on Tuesday, as shown.