Category: To Occupy my Time

Portland Center Stage: Clybourne Park

Clybourne Park is about how neighborhoods change over the years.  Outside the theater was a map of Portland where people were invited to write their comments.
 
Here’s my neighborhood.  The yellow post-it says “the cows used to travel through here.”  I didn’t focus the camera enough to be able to see what the blue post-it said.

As for the play itself, it was very good.  The writing was both funny and uncomfortable, which meant I laughed and felt twisted up the entire time.  That said, I recommend you see it not only for the subject matter, but because over intermission, the crew “ages” the house that is the main setting 50 years and it is fascinating to watch.  That alone is worth the price of admission.

I attended this play to see Andy Lee-Hillstrom (the mashed potato eating actor who inspired my current Lint project) and he was fabulous as Jim/Tom/Kenneth.  But Sal Visccuso was brilliant as Russ/Dan and Sharonlee McLean was also incredible as Bev/Kathy.  I had last seen Brianna Horne as Laurie in Oklahoma and it was fun to watch her transform from “getting along” maid Francine to empowered Lena.  The rest of the cast was also wonderful.

Because of the uncomfortable subject matter Director Chris Coleman had a talk back after every show.  It was interesting to hear about how the actors felt about their characters.  Also worth the price of admission was the essay “The House on Clybourne Street” by Beryl Satter which discussed the only way black people in Chicago were able to purchase a home in the mid-twentieth century.  The essay was a punch in the gut for me.  I understood that things were unfair, but was outraged at how unfair this particular practice was.  Do yourself a favor and read the essay.

I make a pizza.

Matt is out of town and I have the day off, so I will make pizza for dinner.  It’s also the end of the month which means there isn’t much left in the grocery account, so I’m going to make a pizza with what I have.  I picked some asparagus from the garden and sliced that up and sprinkled it on. Then I opened a can of sardines and added them.  There were Lima beans that needed to be used up, so on those went.   I had some leftover shredded mozzarella, which was good.  Then, after I baked all of that, I cracked four eggs on top.

This was a very fine pizza.

Requiem: Bookmark

At some point during the Kenton Library Book Group, David, our book group leader, offered us free bookmarks he had received.  They were promoting the 2011 Jane Eyre movie and had a  picture of Mia Wasikowska and a pretty blue tassel.  Sentinel pulled off the tassel right away, but I started marking my reading goals on my bookmark and just kept using it.
 
As you can see, this carried on for quite some time.
 
Here’s Mia’s profile peeking out from a reading goal.

I’m taking a three-month hiatus from book group because a writing class conflicts with the time.  I’ll be back in August, and I’ll find a new bookmark to keep track of my progress.  This is a good time to let this bookmark move on.

Only Twenty Dollars?

Kristyn Schiavone is a new-ish fashion columnist in our paper and I’m on the fence about whether I like her or not.  Cons:  she’s not local (she seems to be out of Chicago), her writing style is a bit too “sorority girl” for me, and she’s quite peppy.  Granted, those last two might be a given with fashion columnists.  Pros:  Um, I keep reading her?
 
But today a sentence in the article took my breath away.  Check out #4.

Only twenty dollars?  To me, a fully-employed professional, there is no “only” about a twenty dollar bill. There’s not really an “only” about a five-dollar bill in my world.  So to read that a manicure is “only” twenty dollars is pretty jarring.  I think columnists/commentators make this mistake a lot.  They think that all their readers are in the same demographic as they are.  It’s not a good thing.

More Aprons

So I’ve come to my senses (a bit) regarding the “new uniform” project, slated for this summer.  In my mind, I was going to have time (and money) to make dozens of aprons.  But I realize that isn’t going to happen and, if I’m lucky, I’ll get the two shirts, two dresses and perhaps ONE apron done.  But I found this great book and here are more awesome aprons, including my apron of choice.
 
I love the circle skirt aspect of this and the very awesome pockets.
 
Very cool side pocket.
 
Good high waist.
 
Excellent Handkerchief example.
 
This yoke is fabulous.
 
Good details here.
 
So cute!  Like a flirty 50s party dress, but an apron!
 
Good gathers and a cute pocket.
 
I love the movement here.
 
Good detailing.
 
This is cute, but I think would lead to massive hippage on me.
 
 
I like the full body cover of this one and the ruffle.  It’s also reversible.
 
 
 
Sort of your classic “diner waitress” look.
 
 
But this is the winner.  I love the yoke, I love the pockets, I love the criss-cross in the back and I love that it has no waist.  I’m not so into the waist right now, at least not mine.
 
Awesome apron, here I come.  Just as soon as I finish the reunion dress, two work shirts and two work dresses.
 

Potato recipe

So the Lint Project is going along.  Eating mashed potatoes every day has been easier than meditating every day, but I’ve been doing my best to do both.  It occurs to me, that someone might want my mashed potato recipe, so here it is, in all its glory. This is adapted from Cooks Illustrated.

Boil three pounds of skin-on potatoes (of similar size, if possible) in salted water until they are soft.  I check to see if they are soft by fishing out a larger candidate with a spoon, and poking it with a toothpick.  If the toothpick goes all the way through, they are done.

Drain the potatoes in a colander.  Put your potato boiling pot on the counter and get out your ricer.
An aside:  I used to always roll my eyes at mashed potato recipe instructions including references to using a ricer.  I had a potato masher, and why should I spend 20-plus dollars on a rather large kitchen gadget that only did one thing?  Then I made a few batches of for-public consumption mashed potatoes that had bits of unmashed potatoes in them.  And the next thing I knew I was forking over $20-plus dollars for a rather large kitchen gadget that only does one thing.  And let me tell you, that was money well spent.

That said, if you cook your potatoes well and mash enthusiastically, you will be fine.
 

Now before you start the peeling process, get out a stick of butter.  Yes, that’s half a cup. Yes, you are putting that entire stick in the recipe.  Don’t argue with me, here I know what I’m doing.  Get out a small pan and melt the butter (a low setting is best) while you are peeling the potatoes.

To peel the still-hot potatoes, take a fork, stab a potato and use your paring knife to slip off the peel.  Throw the naked potatoes in the ricer, and press, or throw them in the pot, ready for mashing.
 

When you’ve pulled all the skins off (if the potatoes are small and there are many, they will cool down enough so you don’t have to use the fork after awhile) and riced or mashed, pour in your half cup of now-melted butter. You ricer people, now is the time for you to get out your masher and mash in all that delicious butter. Take one cup of cream and pour about one half of cup of the cream in and mash some more.  Add cream a little at a time, until the potatoes reach your favorite consistency.   For me, that’s at about 1/2 cup of cream, but you might like more.  Mash in some salt, not too much, and you are done.

For this project, because I don’t really want to eat a TON of potatoes every day, I portion them into 1/2 cup servings using the smallest jelly jars you can buy in the canning section.  Then I store them in the refrigerator. But first I serve myself up a bowl of delicious, hot, homemade mashed potatoes.

To sum up:

3 lbs potatoes, boiled, peeled and riced/mashed
1/2 cup butter melted and mashed in
1/2 cup to 1 cup cream, mashed in
Salt.

Mmmmmmmmmmm.