Deb's Lunch … and dinner and breakfast too

I hung new blinds in the kitchen today, replacing the 13-year-old ones that were there. I still need to go over and do E. Wash. If I was really a landlord, I guess I would’ve taken the old ones over there, instead of buying all new. But the old ones were really dirty and faded, and there’re only two, and the sunroom at E. Wash needs 4.

New Blinds

Got some new tulips, too.

New tulips, right; tulips from mom’s day, left

And I made this asparagus tart that I’ve made many times before. This time in the tart ring, rather than loose bottom tart pan.

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And, I’m probably going to regret this, but instead of going to see the Rousers’ 30th anniversary show, we went to Godzilla. They sure smashed a lot of stuff – part of Tokyo, Honolulu, Vegas, and San Francisco – not to mention trains, planes and automobiles.

I’m in Sheboygan for the state public library conference, half-listening to a panel of earnest librarians discussing the Sheboygan Children’s Book Festival. Later today I am on another panel of earnest librarians, discussing non-fiction books. I am doing food writing. With no technology – we’re going to be talking and holding up books. OK.

I left my wallet at home so I had to ask Mark for $$ so I can go get a coffee at lunch. I’m going to try to find this place.

Now we’ve moved on to the WI Book Fest, that was run by Madison Public Library, for the first time in 2013, and scaled down, after years of being run by the WI Humanities Council. 140 events down to 60, the guy just said. And he’s doing a nice job of speaking with no tech, so perhaps there’s hope for me.

Use Above the treeline to research authors who might have connections to your home town, to lure them to your book fest, he said. And, no duh, get authors who are already on book tour. Pair authors & illustrators, audiobook narrators, cookbook authors & trip to farmers market. Have bikers ride out to meet an author of a book about a bike trip, who’ll be arriving be bike. My brother did that one 15 years ago. Paper insert in Isthmus is expensive but works for like 80% of the audience so we do it.

Targeted marketing based on subject matter of author’s book – that’s a good idea. Like market a math author to the math department at the university. Pitch your book fest as not just the 4 days of the fest itself – Madison had a year long authors series. Count the school kids who get dragged to the author events whether they want to or not, into your gate count.

I walked on the river path, and got lunch at the Weather Center Cafe. It was OK, if a bit “up North” – Colectivo coffee, and I had a breakfast burrito. It came with really good chips, and had a bit too many onions, and dried herbs – that’s the up North aspect. And the free wifi kinda went up and down a lot. I picked a table by an outlet, but discovered that in addition to forgetting my wallet, I also forgot the little brick – I had my iPhone cable, but only USB.

Breakfast burrito – mine looked just like this, but too cold to eat outside, and Alterra is now Colectivo

I went back to the conference, and sat in on a program by a librarian from LaCrosse, who also teaches for the Library School some – she called it “stealth programming” – stuff that your library can do to provide interactive experiences for library patrons – especially kids – that sort of run themselves. Like asking teenagers to post spring break selfies on a wall at the library. She did a great job of presenting with technology – she’s also a storyteller, so a lot better speaker than the usual at library conferences.

Then I had to go do my panel on non-fiction. I think it went OK, except rather than giving synopses and related info about 5 or 6 books, like everyone else did, I planned to read excerpts of 5 books. But I didn’t time my excerpts, and only had time for three. Here’s my list; I talked about Allison Carruth’s review of Michael Pollan’s Cooked, and read a funny Good Read’s review of him; then read from Susan Chang and Alix Witchel, and that was it for time. I had planned to read Ed Behr (olive oil) and Anya Von Bremzen, too.

We stopped at a Starbucks on the way out of Sheboygan, had La Boulangerie oatmeal cookie that was every bit as good as your average pre-wrapped grocery store cookie, and made it back to Madison in time for me to take all the library books back and pick up Chinese takeway for dinner.

started on my iPhone at conference on Thursday, and not finished until Monday, on my laptop during the academic staff assembly meeting.

First I went to a meeting that evidently had two agendas – the one that I was working from, that  said we were meeting from 9:00 to 10:30, and another one that said 9:00 to 11:00. I was so confused when the meeting ended at 10:50 and everyone said we were early.

I had to go have a brief side meeting after, so by the time I got to work and could have my bowl of cereal (plastic tupperware of cereal, actually, with milk carried in the fancy schmancy stainless steel coffee dealie, a WPR dealie that Mark regifted me at Christmas) I was just starving. And I just couldn’t get straight what time it was, all day.

I got a phone call about one of my students, who’s in a bit of trouble academically, from the two instructors who are team teaching one of his classes. It was funny because they must’ve been together in one of their offices and one was on the phone, talking to me, and I could hear the other one reminding her of what to say.

I picked up this funny looking ball of wire and played an art game with the Wisconsin Union.

I did an exit interview with another one of my students – a young woman I like a lot – so the phone call lasted more than an hour instead of than 30 minutes we planned.

But things got better because I finally made it to yoga. I bought a 10-class pass for Jules Pilates, during Jules’ grand opening open house in January, or whenever that was. I’ve been feeling so guilty about not going, and the pass doesn’t last forever.  I just had too many of my own online classes that ended up scheduled on Tuesdays this winter. Last Tuesday was the first time in weeks I could make the class, but Mark had the car in Chicago and it was too rainy to bike. I almost didn’t make it this day – sore throat, must be post nasal drip – and had a comforting thought. Even if I don’t use up the pass – so what? means I invested $100 in my friend’s new business, and that’s all good, right?

Jules Pilates – in the strip mall next to Jimmy Johns subs

Nigel Slater’s lemon ice cream – what’s left on Saturday after we all had some. He says to freeze it a plastic container, stirring occasionally, but I broke the lid of one my Tupperwares doing it that way last time – it got stiff from the cold and cracked – so used a metal bowl instead.

Yesterday – Friday – I bailed from work early and just came home. It was the last day of a long grey week. I woke up with intestinal distress, and have been feeling like I have a sinus infection for what seems like forever – tired, headachey, gunk in the back of my throat.

I decided to NOT go to the symphony with Mark, and just laze around the house. I was hoping that maybe Toni would take my ticket, but she wanted a night in too. Mark was no unhappy, since it meant he could walk downtown for the concert.

I made Nigel Slater’s lemon ice cream. It’s whipped cream, purchased (or homemade if you have it) lemon curd, Greek yogurt, and smashed meringues. It’s kind of like this recipe, but from his Kitchen Diaries, from a menu for early May, so seemed appropriate. It’s the one where he says whip the cream short of stiff, so it’s in “slovenly folds”. I discovered that the American Spoon lemon curd I had in the closet was out of date – expiry date was in February of 2013. Not enough to kill you, just enough to not taste very good. It had a funny, cheesy smell when I opened the lid, and tasted only slightly lemony. Good thing I had another jar, of another brand, so I used that, and, with just a spoonful of the out of date stuff, had just enough.

I ate wheat thins and an apple and a big spoonful or peanut butter for dinner. Then I cut up the pint of strawberries that was in the fridge, and made a sauce by mashing up the 12-oz. clamshell of raspberries I got at Trader Schmoes on the way home with 1/2 cup of sugar. So at 8:00, I had lemon ice cream with berry sauce.

My happiness would’ve been complete if Netflix had been working and I could’ve had a Mad Men marathon. I should’ve just gone upstairs and reset the wireless access point. Instead, I did what the Netflix trouble shooting web page told me to do, which was completely power down and then power back up the TV, and found the pink massage ball when I was digging around behind the TV – I guess that’s a bonus. As it was, I watched some of the movie CBGB – it wasn’t good, but it was surprisingly not terrible, and the sound track was good. They used all the original artists, and did not attempt to recreate. Even though kind of miscast, I like Alan Rickman so much that I liked him as Hilly Kristal. Probably the worst was the actress they had do Patti Smith reading Rimbaud and getting booed – she just couldn’t do the true Patti powerful voice that let all the boo-ers know they were the idiots, not her – but they quickly cut to her lip syncing the real Patti doing Because the Night. Then I watched what I think is the last episode of Parenthood, because David Bianculli said it was the best drama on TV, and because Mark recorded it. It was often hard to tell the show from the commercials, as I fast forwarded. Then I watched Deadwood which is in re-runs on HBO.

I went to bed at 11:30 and slept right straight through from when Mark came in at 1:30 all the way to 5:30. Then my eyes opened up at 6:22 and I just couldn’t go back to sleep. But I felt so good from four hours straight that I got up and made coffee cake. I just read this Louise Erdrich story in the New Yorker, about a guy who divorces his wife who snores and marries a woman who sleeps like “a drunk kitten”. When he starts getting enough sleep he is amazed at how great he feels – who needs drugs when there’s sleep. Maybe I’ll get a chance to experience that sometime – I am sure I’d lose some weight if I slept better than I currently do. My normal is waking up every two hours.

Saturday AM coffee cake: prunes, brown sugar, walnuts, all in original recipe; I added lemon glaze

I took Friday off because I had had two days in the prior week when I worked until 9:00 PM (even though I did work at home on Monday). On Wednesday I had to chair a pretty important meeting. On Thursday morning, I hoped to finish all the emails I had to send to place 37 students in internships this summer, but I didn’t quite finish before I had to leave – I had to attend a lunch hour committee meeting, to evaluate proposals for MOOCs, then go on a site visit in Sun Prairie, for a student who is placed there this semester, then go to the Teaching Academy induction ceremony and introduce one of the new inductees. Didn’t  get home until 6:30, and then I still had to do the remaining placements. Which are all still tentative – I’m sure I’m going to be moving students around next week.

On Friday I got up and walked with Ann. Then did various stuff around the house – I had ordered some new summer dresses, so I cleaned out my closet and dressers and did a run to Goodwill. Then I put gas in the car and got it washed – which would’ve been more satisfying if there hadn’t been scuff marks on the back bumper when I got home – from their vacuum hose maybe? I scrubbed those off, and then actually lay on the couch and read magazines for a while – although I got a couple of work phone calls and emails. I made tuna melts and Ovens of Brittany tomato-dill soup for dinner, and then we went to UW varsity band concert in the evening.  4oth anniversary – where else do you get to see an old man in sequined clothes? As Mike Leckrone said.

On Saturday, we biked to the outdoor farmers market. It was crowded, because Saturday was also the annual Crazy Legs Run. Somehow, I was oblivious to Crazy Legs this year – other years I’ve walked or even run it. It was still nice to get out for a ride. After, I had breakfast, and puttered around the house, did a little work email, and made another batch of chocolate covered matzoh. So I could take it over to Belinda, when we went to E. Wash, so Mark could  do a few minor plumbing repairs and I could measure for new blinds, to make up for the vegan buttery sticks batch she made for our late Passover. I biked over to Whole Foods while the matzoh cooled and hardened, and got fruit – bananas, apples, strawberries. Lemons & limes (very expensive limes). While we were over on the east side, Mark needed one little washer for the faucet, so we went to the Ace on Willy Street. I had to restrain myself from buying a 12-inch cast iron skillet. I only have a 9-inch. It was less than $30 ….

And, oh yea, I ordered some test swatches  for the new blinds.

We went out for dinner at Nostrano with two bookish friends from Chicago, here for the Caxton Club meeting at the UW Libraries. We split a charcuterie platter, and it was all delicious, especially the two patés – a country and a chicken liver mousse. Mark got the bunny and I got the quail. The rabbit was a Boudin blanc, and it was more like a dumpling than a sausage – light and delicate. There were some pan-browned gnocchi and shredded bunny and vegetables on the side – all really tasty. The quail came on a bed of lentils, that had been cooked with a ham bone, wth some dandelion greens mixed in. Nice meal, nice company. We got asked, politely, to give up our table two hours later, so they could seat the 9:00 reservation. We could all think of times when we wished restaurant staff had done that for us – especially this one time in Denver, that Mark remembered.

We came home, and I got into PJs and poured a small glass of Port and watched Mad Men, and then Saturday Night Live. I poured a second glass, and then knocked it down and broke it when I got up to go to bed. I got most of the glass and stickiness up, and then got the rest in the morning.

On Sunday morning, it was rainy and dark, but I was pretty awake at 6:30 so I made the dough for these raspberry pinwheels from the new Saveur. Then I went back to bed, until 8:20.

Raspberry Pinwheels

The pinwheels came out pretty well – they spread a little too much. Probably because I did the thing where you read the recipe, and it says “one egg + one egg yolk” and I put both into the dough, only to read on and realize the yolk was for mixing with cream to brush on the pastries for a glaze to make the sugar stick. Sigh.

I also made a potato, spinach and roasted red pepper fritatta, based on a Tamsin Day-Lewis  recipe from the same magazine (not online yet). I forgot to get out the ham and fry some – but we were pretty full anyways.

All day I’ve been feeling the effects of a Negroni and 3 glasses of wine at dinner, plus the Port when I got home … I took a walk, but I’m still not feeling that great. And my right hand hurts – this funny tendon-y pain I get when the seasons change. Ever since 1980, when I broke my hand – and my nose, and bruised my sternum, and had stitches in my knee – in a  bike accident. Maybe a shower will help. Then I’m going to try making graham crackers for dessert with Game of Thrones.