Adobo-Rubbed Tuna Steaks

Steph found a really interesting preparation for the Gulf-caught tuna she snagged at the Farmer's Market last weekend.  An adobo rub (many spices, including turmeric, coriander, cayenne, ginger and allspice) added a fiery depth to the tuna.  There's also an avocado salsa here, with scallions, roasted red peppers, and orange and lime juices.  Finally, it's on a bed of lightly pickled English cucumber.  Delicious.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Shannon!

Here's to a great upcoming year. Cheers!

Halloween Yet?

My Big Backyard

RJA and Stacey have already done a good job describing the cool new playground/park/garden at the Botanic Gardens-- not a lot that I can add. The kids absolutely loved it (as did me and Bwana). If you haven't seen it yet, you need to.

 

 

 

 

 

See the whole set here.

Kitchen primpin'

Rehearsal

Picture everyone in fancier outfits, and you'll get the idea.

You should know that I took these pictures. I'd hate to ruin Chip's reputation.

At the Park

 

  

  

  

  

 

Web Slinger

Peace on Earth

We caught the Tibetan Monks at the Shell on Sunday night, which was very interesting.  I can't say that the sounds they make are all that pleasing to Western ears, but we did have a good time.

The opener was my old guitar teacher, Lily Afshar.  Spectacular, as always.

 

  

Connor and Chloe thought the horns that the monks played sounded like amplified bodily functions:

 

The biggest hit was this thing-- they called it Snow Leopard, but it looked more like a dog.

 

Love of My Life

Songs that make me think of Chip

All I Want is You, U2
Hey Jupiter, Tori Amos
Lump, Presidents of the United States
Grace, Me'Shell NdegeOcello
What a Fool Believes, Doobie Brothers

Joining the Music List Movement

SAM and Sassy have made music lists recently, so I guess I'll join in. If there's one thing I have always taken seriously, it's music.

Albums which I have absolutely burned a hole in from repeated listening, at various times of my life:

1. Paul’s Boutique, Beastie Boys
2. Bitter, Me’Shell Ndegeocello
3. Cocoon Crash, K’s Choice
4. Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos
5. Music, 311
6. When the Pawn..., Fiona Apple
7. Rockin’ the Suburbs, Ben Folds
8. Tales from an Acoustic Planet, Bela Fleck
9. All 3 of Nickel Creek’s records
10. Transatlanticism, Death Cab For Cutie

Acts which lots of folks had brief flirtations with, and I have stuck with:

1. XTC (finally broke up recently, but released incredible albums into the 00s.)
2. Prince (there ARE brilliant records after Purple Rain, people)
3. Incubus
4. Indigo Girls
5. Weezer (The latest red album is their best ever)
6. Michael Penn (Has made continued to make great music AFTER becoming Mr. Aimee Mann)
7. Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket)

Acts which were very important to me at one time and now I don’t care for all that much (These people still make music, but they have all released more than two consecutive albums which I don’t care for):

1. Red Hot Chili Peppers
2. Tori Amos
3. Sarah McLachlan
4. Ani DiFranco
5. Fishbone
6. Me’Shell Ndegeocello
7. R.E.M.

Bands that wowed me and then disappeared:

1. Spot
2. Digable Planets
3. Fastball

Songs which invariably give me goose bumps and lumps in my throat:

1. Hide and Seek, Imogen Heap
2. Eat for Two, 10,000 Maniacs
3. Deep as You Go, October Project
4. Wood Song, Indigo Girls
5. Eveline, Nickel Creek  (Such otherworldly harmonies... love this.)
6. Tell Her This, Del Amitri
7. Rebel, Garrison Starr  (Sorry, no link... find her Stupid Girl CD.)
8.  You Had Time, Ani Difranco

Bands seen the most times live:

1. 311 (30? 40? Lost count.)
2. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (10?)
3. Nickel Creek (6)


Extremely Talented Memphis-Connected Songwriters With Whom I Have Made Music:

1. Garrison Starr
2. Doug Wamble
3. Mark McKinney
4. Wayne Leeloy
5. Chris Anderson

Bands which I like ok, but everyone else seems to like more than I:

1. Coldplay
2. Wilco
3. Led Zeppelin

Favorite Radiohead songs, since Radiohead is really important and for some reason they don't appear in any of the lists above:

1.  Idioteque (The link is the live performance of this on SNL-- legendary.)
2.  Paranoid Android
3.  Everything in its Right Place
4.  Kid A
5.  15 Step

Listen Up

For years, my in-laws have touted the joys of reading books on their Kindle or listening to audio books. While I doubt I’ll ever have a Kindle, I am always interested in hearing how they fit audio books into their lives. I enjoy reading aloud and being read to. Chip and I used to read books to each other on car trips, and there was a time when I listened to Dick Estell’s Radio Reader almost every night. This time coincided with the time when I didn't have kids- it hasn't really worked out for me since then, and I've missed it.

The success of my in-laws’ experience with audio books also seemed intrinsically tied to the absence of small children in their daily lives. They listen in the car, on their nightly walk, as they sit quietly in the evenings knitting, etc. These situations do not occur naturally in my life, but it’s not totally hopeless. I do have two afternoons a week with no kids in the car, so that’s 45 minutes or so a week that I could bank on listening to a book. (I don’t have a fancy iPhone dock in my car like a lot of people out there, though so I had to get over my misgivings about wearing headphones in the car.) And though I won’t ever listen when I’m jogging, I do take nice walks fairly regularly. So I decided that it might work, and I gave it a try.

I went to audible.com, which was recommended by Roy and Sherri, and signed up for their special introductory offer- for $7.50 a month, I can download one book a month. That price is for the first three months- after that the price goes up to $15 a month. (I'm not sure I'll stick around once the price goes up- I'm still trying to decide if it's worth it for me.) So far, I’ve done one month, one book. And it was pretty cool. I listened to Rain Gods by James Lee Burke, read by Will Patton. He was a great narrator and I really enjoyed the book. I did listen in the car and while taking walks- that worked fine. I also liked listening while I was doing the dishes, cleaning up, etc. I hadn’t planned on that, so it was a pleasant surprise. However, I found it weird to sit with the kids and listen to a book while they played or watched cartoons or whatever, times when I would usually be reading a book that could easily be put down when they (frequently) interrupt me. I still managed to pull it off, though, thanks to the “back up a few seconds” rewind button on my iPhone. (Just like the one on my TiVo!)

Because I tend to be lazier about reading non-fiction than I am about reading fiction, I’m thinking that next month’s Audible download should be something like Outliers that I might otherwise kind of drag myself through. Any other suggestions? Do any of you “read” audio books regularly? Where do you get the books? What genres work best? What should I put on my to-read list in this format?

Air

 

More from the post-Rock-n-Romp festivities here.

Rock-n-Romp Season 4, Episode 4

It was a beautiful day for a Rock-n-Romp, this time at one of the best backyards in town-- the Kerrs'. Our attendance sure has come a long way from the 100-or-so people we started with! As usual, we all had a great time, and the music was rockin'.

Slideshow of all the pics here.

Bad Medicine

Actual conversation with my nurse practitioner:

Her: Your bloodwork came back normal, the fluid in your ear is still clear.
Me: Good!
Her: First thing, stop taking Claritin. It's hurting rather than helping. You need Mucinex D, to loosen stuff up.
Me: Good to know.
Her: And I'll get you an antibiotic-
Me: (interrupting) Didn't you just say my bloodwork was normal? Why on earth would you give me an antibiotic?
Her: Pretty much no one leaves here without one. (Notices crazed look in my eye) But, uh, also you've been fighting it with OTC stuff for a week, with no results. If this had just started yesterday, I might not prescribe an antibiotic yet.
Me: But didn't you just tell me I was using the wrong OTC stuff? Shouldn't I just give that a try first, since there's no infection?
Her: Sure. I mean, that's what I'd prefer you do anyway. But I'll give you this prescription just in case.
Me: Sigh.

Saturday Night Dining

Steph and I hadn't had a cook-eat-drink-ourselves-silly night at home alone in a couple of months, so that's how we rolled this past Saturday.

For starters, we had local Cucina baguette bread two ways-- with Gruyere and fig preserves, and with shrimp butter spread.

 

Let me focus on the second one, because it really knocked my socks off.  Steph got 1-day-outta-the-water gulf shrimp from the Farmer's Market, sauteed them up with some onions, chopped them in the food processor.  Then blended with the butter, a little fresh lemon juice, cayenne, salt and pepper.  Mmmm.

 

With the apps, we had 2006 Domaine Lucien Boillot & Fils, Les Grands Poisots.  It's an interesting wine-- a White Burgundy not made from Chardonnay.  The grape is actually pinot beurot, which is also known as pinot gris.  Bright and clean tasting, with notes of apple, pear and almond, nice mineral depth on the finish.

  

The main course was also delicious-- cedar plank-grilled salmon over a bed of lentils and leeks, with dijon- herbed butter.  This is definitely my favorite way to cook salmon, and the herbed butter really brought it all together well.

 

  

With the main course we had a 2007 Plungerhead Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel.  Huge, jammy, and lightly sweet.  Lots of cocoa, raspberry, and even a little cedar, echoing the salmon.  Great for the price.

 

Saturday at Overton Park

 

  

  

  

Chockley Dinner Discourse

Chloe:  "Mom, I want my nickname to be dweeb."
Steph:  "Whaa?"
Chloe:  "Yeah, Chloe Bess Chockley Dweeb.  Hahahahaha!"
Chip and Steph:  "Ummmm..."

...

Steph:  "And I have cinnamon rolls in the oven too!"
Chloe:  "Boom Boom POW!"

...

Connor:  "I wish we lived in Florida.  And I wish it was Christmas everyday.  Yeah, Christmas and Florida, every day."
Chip:  "But Connor, if it were Christmas every day, it wouldn't be so special.  Part of what makes Christmas special is--"
Connor:  "--that we get PRESENTS!"
Chip:  "--is that it only comes once a year.  If it were every day, it wouldn't be very special."
Connor:  "Well that doesn't make any sense."
Chloe:  "And we lived next door to Michael Jackson!"
Chip and Connor:  "?"
Chloe:  "I wish we lived at (sic) Florida, and it was Christmas everyday, and Michael Jackson lived next door to us."
Connor:  "Yeah, that we be awesome.  But Michael Jackson would have to come back alive."

Tiff and Mark

If you read this blog, you probably know that Tiffany is more like family than friend to us. Though I'm sure we'll be saying this much more artfully in the days to come (Steph and I are both in her wedding in October), we're very happy that she found Mark. They really are a perfect match.

So this past weekend, I did an engagement session for these guys in downtown Memphis. Thanks, Mark & Tiff-- I had a great time!

 

  

 

Random Thoughts from Planet ChockleyBlog

Chip and I are currently watching season four of The Wire, and I have to say that it is probably the best season of a television show that I have ever watched. I urge you all to watch The Wire if you haven't already! In general, I am a big fan of shows with a 13-episode season (like they do on cable, where The Wire originally aired). In fact, after two of my favorite network shows shortened their seasons, I can argue that they got much better. I think network shows are over-reaching with the 22-episode-season.

I recently listened to a podcast that debated the defining movies of the past few decades. And it was easy to pick the quintessential 80s movies, or even agree on movies everyone loved from the 90s, but they struggled with the 00s. Then Chris Connelly posited that the great movie of the Aughts was actually television- that The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, Lost, etc. were what we will remember from this decade in terms of great drama. And I think I agree. I used to spend every weekend at a Malco, now I spend it watching DVDs of TV shows. I'm watching them like cinema, and I'm not missing the movies at all.

As you may know, we finally broke down and got iPhones a couple of weeks ago. Although at first I was reluctant, I now totally believe the hype. Tuesday Connor brought home a homework folder, and it contained lists of the Dolch Sight Words. I was like, The internet is so cool- I can just search for those, print off the list, and make some flashcards for the words he struggles with. Then I thought, There's probably some kind of flashcard app for the iPhone, right? He'd probably enjoy it more if it involved a gadget of some kind. Then I went to the app store, and on a whim I typed in "Dolch Sight Words." And there they were- $0.99 for an app that has the same word list in Connor's homework folder, only he can just touch the word to hear what it is rather than asking me. And he can choose what color he wants the background to be. And he has a valid excuse to "play" with my phone. And I didn't have to put in any effort at all! Totally crazy.

Wednesday night we went to Salsa Mexican Restaurant for dinner. . . and dancing. I reviewed it for Stacey over at Dining With Monkeys, if you're interested.