Doesn't Some Fish Get Flushed Down the Toilet?

A theme emerges...

Enjoy your catch!

Progress report

We've slowed down a bit on the Cosa Nostra cooking. Baseball and migraines get in the way. Angel has started and while it isn't Buffy, it is capturing our attention. Although it has to be taped downstairs and watched when there isn't a Cubs game. Priorities. It would never happen that way with Buffy! I'm off today so am blogging in real time instead of edited. Looking forward to a bit of Shakespeare plus Cubs and perhaps some cooking.

Battered Halibut

Last night's game was a pleasure. Prior. Great offense. Baldy Red Sox during the commercial breaks.

And, finally, able to make a baseball/cooking connection. Stacey got some frozen Battered Halibut at Trader Joe's sometime recently. OK. On to Florida, and let's fry some fish. (Well, I think it will be oven baked, but let's not spit gills.)

Weather and Quarts Get in the Way

OK, so this was going to be a lot more about cooking, but it has been (mostly) about the Cubs. That's life, and that's just going to be the case for a while. But, to let you know we haven't totally lost sight of the Cosa Nostra, two thoughts are, uh, simmering: A Glaze that Will Amaze, and Chicken Curry Sondhi with Apple Chutney. Curry was put aside for the time being when we realized the Chutney recipe makes a QUART and a HALF! (Volume of food is becoming a big theme here--how to cut down the recipes to a reasonable quantity for two people in a condo.) And the glaze--well, it's beautiful high seventies weather, and the grill calls one more time. We will be back to the Cosa Nostra, but meanwhile, it's Eamus Catuli!

And...again...Eamus Catuli!

Thank you, Arnold!

Minnesota is not longer the gubernatorial joke state.

Hell is STILL Freezing Over

OK, it's one game, and most people were predicting that Zambrano would come up, short, still, but I'm not ready to become a doubting Thomas. Here's an alternate point of view.

A Beautiful Day to Be Alive in Chicago

Sky blue sky, warm weather. Winds will be blowing out at Wrigley.

The Cubs.

Progress on the unemployment (oops, I mean consulting, Ma) front. Did my first paid gig over the weekend, and have a meeting today that could lead to a key part of my immediate future.

Ron Santo makes me happy, wishing him the best.

Caught Napping!

Bye, bye, Braves. You're ficked.

Memo: Kerry Wood to Prior. "Anything you can do I can do better."

Goal for the week: figure out how to change the color of "Burn My Clothes, Ma!" to Cubs blue.

Onward! If We Can't Play Two, Let's Play Another Day!

Have you noticed there's very little cooking lately? (I mean on our stovetop, not in the playoffs world.) Last night was takeout Chinese.

Baseball. OK, so I can't say I was disappointed yesterday. My post-season attitude is "anything can happen." (Billy Beane, quoted in Moneyball as saying: "My s*** doesn't work in the playoffs. My job is to get us to the playoffs. What happens after that is f****** luck.") So just watch it and be amazed. Stacey's totally into it. Today she said "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want baseball to keep going." I think she's just trying to kill time until college basketball season, whatever.

Pray

God is not a Yankees Fan.

Finally

The cold avocado soup was eaten tonight. It looked a little brown but that disappeared with mixing. I suspect it would have tasted a bit better if eaten the day it was made. Oh well. Patrick liked it but maybe he was just being nice.

Chicago: It's All About the Architecture

No Cubs game tonight. So, what do I do? Watch the tape from Monday night's Bears vs. Packers game on the occasion of the "new" Soldier Field.

Do I love the Cubs because they are the Cubs, or because it's Wrigley? Easy answer, when we were in Boston, we went to Fenway. When I was in Seattle...no. When I was in Cincinnati...no. When I was in Pittsburgh...no. (OK, but I did ask for a room facing the park.) OK, so I do love the Cubs...even Alfon-sucka...but as everyone knows, Wrigley counts.

Last night, while the Cubs were losing, I went to a lecture by Peter Eisenman, the architect of the Wexner Center and other notables, at Archeworks. Archeworks is a remarkable, small school led by Stanley Tigerman. It's about architecture, but it's about much more.

Anyway, I joined my ex-Wex-Plex pal Laura for the lecture. It was mostly high theory for the architecture students. But Peter is after all, designing a football stadium. NO one asked about football or Soldier Field.

And then, I'm watching the tape of the opening ceremonies from Monday, and Tigerman is the first face you see for the whole friggin program saying "I think it's ugly."

OK. I probably agree, but liked this point of view from the NY Times.

The Govenator and Language Removal Services

Check it out--a company has taken audio from the California Recall debate and removed the language from the speech of the candidates. Arnold and Arianna are not to be missed.

Cubs, Byes , and Videotape

Thank golly-gosh the Cubs could alter their rotation by clinching on Saturday. It was like getting a bye on Sunday. (OK, I just needed something to justify the "bye" in the title.) Kerry Wood--most valuable pitcher, glove, and hitter.

So, I'm trying to imagine how many videotapes are running in Chicago over the next few days--I know I'm not taping over anything. And then, yeah, right, I'm going to assemble it into a master highlights tape. Right.

And speaking of videotape and TIVO...Cubs and the season premiere of Angel tonight. What is the Wooldridge household going to do? It's upstairs, downstairs for us.

Leftovers

I somehow can't face the avocado soup tonight either. Patrick is not here, having gone to a lecture about architecture. Maybe tomorrow.