Dear Everyone,
We’ve been home for a couple of weeks now, so it is time for
another entry. Our first week back was pretty busy. Before we left on our European trip, I had
signed up for the Hinsdale Public Library spice club. Each month we get a small container of a spice,
and we are expected to make a dish with it.
At the end of three months all the members are supposed to get together
at the library for a potluck and I suppose to show off their successes. I picked up my spice for the month just after
we got back (on my weekly book trip).
The spice this month was cardamom.
Cardamom is an interesting spice, because though it has a fairly strong
flavor, it usually plays the ‘bass’ notes as part of an ensemble, for instance,
in a curry. So far I made a dish that
was baked chicken marinated in Greek yogurt with cardamom, salt, black pepper,
orange zest and mint. This came out all right, but the recipe called for
entirely too much black pepper (I should have used half as much), and perhaps I
should have added something ‘red’ like smoked paprika or harissa. I also made French toast with cinnamon,
vanilla and cardamom, which turned out perfectly fine. Next on the list will be a chick pea coconut
curry with a medley of ‘Indian’ spices, including, of course, cardamom.
A week ago Wednesday we went to the Brookfield Zoo for a ‘lunch
and learn’ program available to us as donors to the park. It was all about owls. The keeper had about a 20 minute slide show
on owls, and then walked around the room (filled with retirees, mostly female)
with a Great Horned Owl and two Screech Owls.
These owls are used for programs only, and are not normally out in
public display. They are all animals
that were re-homed at the zoo from rehabilitation centers and have permanent
injuries that keep them from being reintroduced to the wild. Neither Great Horned nor Screech owls are in
any way endangered owls in Illinois or the US.
It was fun to see the owls up close.
On Friday I visited the Greater Chicago Food Depository
for the first time, although I have been donating money to them for the last 20
years (I had been planning a visit in 2020, but then Covid). They have a tremendous facility just south of
the Stevenson (55) highway on Pulaski.
There are bright conference rooms and a big warehouse with a fleet of
trucks. They have groups of volunteers
come in every day to help repack food for redistribution throughout Cook
County. It’s an efficient operation that
has big plans for the future.
This last week has been quieter, and the temperature has
really dropped in the past 3 days. We
went out to Barrel and Vine and
afterwards One Eleven martini bar
with the Walloch last night, and left in a combination of food coma and
alcoholic stupor. I had a Sazerac and short rib Bolognese
with pappardelle; Cindy had a blueberry Moscow mule and jambalaya. At the martini bar I had another Sazerac, and
Cindy had a vodka martini with pomegranate, mango and jalapeno.
This morning we drove out to Evanston, where we had a picnic
brunch with Aaron, Ariana, Enoch, Cyrus, Tamara, Jeffrey, Andy, and Gail. Cindy made couscous with peas, sun-dried
tomatoes, feta, and mint. Altogether
there was too much food!
I have read some fun books lately: Thank
You Mr. Nixon by Gish Jen, a set of interconnected stories (like Jennifer Egan)
about several Chinese families and their interactions with China and the
US. A
Guardian Angel Recalls by Willem Frederik Hermans, a Dutch author writing
about the Dutch in the first week of the Nazi invasion - - ironic dark humor.
Last, The
Second Book of the Tao compiled and translated with commentary by Stephen Mitchell.
Wickedly funny, if you go for obscure Chinese sages.
Tomorrow we are going to the Lyric Opera to see Ernani. I forgot to listen to it ahead of time.
Love, H
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