Loud Future

Modern Wing of the Art Institute

2008-07-26T06:37:00.002-05:00

Each morning when i bike in, I walk past Renzo Piano's newest addition to the Art Institute on my way from the millennium bike station to the santa fe.

Chromophobia

2008-07-21T23:33:00.009-05:00

Johannes Itten - modernist color theorist, strict vegeterian, gymnastic educator and follower of the fire-cult Mazdaznan- is my obsession of the week. This frightens me. Is this my future? And if it is, should I resist it? Afterall, Itten was kicked out of the Bauhaus which is supercool. Gymnastics could only be good for design, I think.

Richard Rorty (October 4, 1931 - June 8, 2007)

2008-07-16T06:09:00.009-05:00

It recently came to my attention that Richard Rorty, one of the best American philosophers, passed away last June. An advocate of pragmatism, Rorty is one of a handful of contemporary philosophers I can read and walk away thinking I understand the issue. I may or may not agree, but that is okay. He got me thinking in a way I appreciated. There is little I can write that can do justice to what he means to my own pursuits, let alone American intellectual life, but it is a voice that will certainly be missed.

"In Memory of Richard Rorty" by Jürgen Habermas
New York Times essay "Thinking Cheerfully"
Articles in Dissent magazine
And in a time in need of hope, I am currently reading Philosophy and Social Hope

Beet Grillin'

2008-07-08T07:03:00.003-05:00

Summer is officially here and I am excited that I grilled our first batch of beet's last night. Never grilled beets before but they are damn tasty. Beets were fresh from our CSA (community supported agriculture) with farmer Rob at Montalbano Farms.

rainbows over chicago

2008-06-22T19:08:00.000-05:00

saw this on our way home from some grocery shopping.

Wilco Winter Residency

2008-02-20T07:47:00.004-06:00

From February 2008

Last Friday night was the first of 5 Wilco shows at the Riviera. We were fortunate enough to go and we were not disappointed. Almost 3 hours of Wilco. We missed the last ten minutes for an early escape to Fiesta for dinner. Last show is tonite.

Something cheery...

2008-01-24T18:03:00.000-06:00

So if you are ever looking for something to make you happy go to the Chicago PAWS website, click on adoptions/dogs available for adoption, scroll to the bottom and look at all the pictures of the dogs and cats that just got adopted this week. I probably check it out once a week now and it always makes me smile.

I started going to the Chicago Paws website cuz my good friends just adopted this cutie dog named Ginger and I was obsessed with seeing if their photo had been added to the website. Anyway, it's a fun way to spend 5 minutes looking at all the happy happy cats and dogs. Unless you are looking for a dog or cat to adopt don't look at the pictures of the animals needing homes cause it will just make you sad :(

Heartland Cafe

2008-01-07T21:21:00.000-06:00

We had to go up to Evanston on Sunday, so we decided to eat breakfast at the Heartland Cafe. I haven't been here in about 8 years and I remembered really liking it, so I was quite excited. Heartland is not strictly vegetarian, but they have pretty many vegetarian options. However, since eating there 8 years ago we switched from being lacto-ovo vegetarians to being vegan and it was not "all that" this time around. There were 3 different type's of tofu scrambles that we could choose from on the breakfast menu. The tofu scramble sounded good and I would have ordered it except it came with cornbread and the cornbread was not vegan. So, that kinda bummed me out. The other two options were both "pan-handlers" - Heartland panhandler and the Veggie panhandler. Both pan-handlers sounded about the same to me except the veggie panhandler had spinach and broccoli. They also have a buckwheat pancake on the menu which is vegan. Andy and I both ordered the veggie panhandler and coffee. It is supposed to come with bread, but the waitress pointed out that the only bread they have that is egg free is the wheat bread, but that has honey in it. Andy does not care about the bees, so he was quite comfortable getting the wheat bread. I decided to abstain. In retrospect I wish I had substituted a scoop of brown rice instead of the bread, but in the end I was quite full and really didn't need any bread at all. The panhandler was good! Besides for spinach and broccoli it had mushrooms, potatoes, green onions and tofu. It came with salsa on the side which was a nice addition to the scramble. Some things I did not like - 1) when the waitress brought Andy his bread it had 2 packets of butter on the plate. At this point we had made it quite clear that we did not do animal products, so it was a bit flabbergasting when they brought us butter. Maybe he confused her when he said he wanted the honey wheat bread? 2) Why do they not have 1 vegan bread?? Is it that difficult?
I really wanted to like Heartland cause it's a pretty cool concept - they have the cafe, a bar, a store, a theatre, a radio show, a food stand at Lake Michigan in spring and summer, plus they host political and musical events. My main complaint about Heartland would be they seem to be vegetarian friendly, which would lead you to believe they would be more accomodating to vegan's, but that was not really the case. It was annoying that the cornbread and all the bread had dairy, eggs or honey in it. I would go back to Heartland if I was up in Rogers Park, but otherwise there are plenty of just as good if not better veg*n friendly places in our own hood that do a better job and have more choices. I will probably go back to check out the dinner scene cuz that seemed like it might be a bit friendlier to vegans.
If you are up in Rogers Park and you have never been there before it is worth checking out, but be careful when ordering...

Christmas Post...Finally

2008-01-07T18:46:00.000-06:00

We were out at my parents house for a couple days to celebrate Christmas and we did a lot of cooking. We made 2 batches of Vegan Yum Yum's mini donuts and ate them Christmas Eve for breakfast. They were a big hit with the omnivores. Andy still prefers them frosted with chocolate, but my new favorite is to dip them in cinnamon and sugar.

Andy has been really getting into making pizza the past month or so. We've been using the Vegan with a Vengeance pizza recipes for the most part. I think the dough turns out really well, especially when cooked on a pizza stone. (We just got one for Hanukkah - thanks Dave and Nancy!) On Christmas Eve we were out at my parents house and Andy and I had volunteered to cook dinner, so of course we decided to make pizzas. We had just gotten the pizza stone and my mom has a BIG kitchen with 2 ovens, so we figured it was the perfect time to have a pizza factory. We made dough for 6 pizza's, but there were only 5 of us so we decided to ONLY make 5 pizza's. We each got to design our own pizza's that way. This was appreciated by the omnivores cuz they got to use whatever toppings they wanted. It was kinda a lot of work for Andy cuz he volunteered to roll out all the dough, but for the rest of us it was just fun...

Meg & Andy design - Tempeh "sausage" crumble, fennel, and potato (VWV recipe)

Mom's design - mozzarella, pepperoni, green pepper, mushrooms, and onion

Shannon's design - Green pepper, mushrooms, olives, feta and blue cheese

Dad's design - Pesto, feta, olives, shallot, green pepper

Another Meg & Andy design - our favorite adapted from the Dolce le Vegan cookbook - Pesto, spinach, shallots, parma, and "faux" feta. Everyone liked this pizza.

Flying Saucer

2007-12-30T12:15:00.000-06:00

We have not been the greatest at adding posts to our blog of late. I think it's due to the holidays, or at least that's what I'll blame it on. It's not cause we have nothing new to say :)

We received our first issue of Herbivore and it was the travel issue. Pretty cool. Chicago was one of the city's they covered and they had some good restaurants listed. I think they could have done a better job with the Chicago section, but I'll reserve that complaint for a future post when I have more time to elaborate. At least they mentioned Flying Saucer which I had not been to in several years, so it prompted Andy and I to go back and try it out again. It was very good. I am actually obsessed with kale now because of it. We went there on Thursday and I had the sweet potato hash which had kale in it. Then we went there on Saturday and I had the breakfast burrito with the seitan chorizo and the sweet potato hash as substitutions and that was also delicious. Andy had the Bazza Bowl which had brown rice and tofu and lots of veggies. He was kinda sad cuz it didn't have seitan chorizo in it and he loves that stuff. Anyway, on Saturday they said they brought us soy milk for our coffee, but it was actually cream. That made me mad, but I didn't say anything to the waiter. I hate complaining in person. The coffee there is actually really good and you don't need soy milk for it anyway, so we drank it black.

According to Herbivore, Milwaukee has some good vegan eats, so we'll probably go check it out soon. We'll let you know if we agree. Our Christmas pizza post will be coming soon, so be on the lookout...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2007-11-23T09:35:00.000-06:00

Sunday Pancakes

2007-11-18T12:22:00.000-06:00

So to cheer ourselves up after the Dill Pickle benefit cancellation we made our favorite vegan pancakes from the Vegan with a Vengeance cookbook. This is our favorite pancake recipe and we make them many Sunday mornings.

Remmy loves them too!

My new coffee mug from Lobi. She makes them by selecting vintage pieces and then hand drawing or painting on the designs. They are super cute. I need to get more. I got it at the DIY Trunk Show in Chicago this weekend. This is the first year I attended and it was pretty cool. We also got vegan organic chapstick from Lotions and Potions and a vegan apple ginger cupcake from Bake and Destroy. We ate it in like 5 seconds it was SO good. By we, I mean Andy ate it in like 5 seconds. I was only allowed one bite before it was all gone :( Check out her blog for a picture and the recipe!

Footnote - If our pictures look a little blurred in the upper left area it's because we accidently got a bit of syrup on the lens of the camera. Oops.

Dill Pickle Benefit CANCELLED!

2007-11-17T23:52:00.000-06:00

The benefit was cancelled due to a last minute venue change leading to 2 of the bands (Pit er Pat and Bobbie Con) thinking they would not be able to draw a big enough crowd to fill the Logan Square Auditorium. This was very depressing for us, so we did not do much for the rest of Saturday. Although we did make it out to the Small Bar for a few PBR's and a basket of tator tots or tator barrels as our waiter referred to them.

DILL PICKLE FOOD CO-OP BENEFIT CONCERT & MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

2007-11-15T07:50:00.001-06:00

8pm Saturday, November 17th
at LOGAN SQUARE AUDITORIUM
2539 N Kedzie

$15 suggested donation
All ages
Donation bar (ID required)

Music starts at 9:30pm

PIT ER PAT
Trio of keyboardist Fay Davis-Jeffers, drummer Butchy Fuego and bassist Rob Doran.
http://www.myspace.com/piterpat

BOBBY CONN & MONICA BOUBOU
Tongue-in-cheek chameleon-like pop that genre-hops with a decadent flair.
http://www.myspace.com/bobbyconn

WILLIS P JENKINS
A one-man band with live sampling, looping, and simultaneous playing of musical instruments.
http://www.myspace.com/willispjenkins

The Dill Pickle Food Co-op offers healthy food choices and the benefits of cooperative practice to build a vibrant local community and more sustainable world. We meet community needs and strengthen area diversity through products, services, and education.

The 125 members of The Dill Pickle Food Co-op are raising funds in order to open a store at 3039 W. Fullerton, across the street from the Logan Square Library. We hope to open the storefront in 2008 with money from members, local loans, and national grants. The money will be used to renovate the space, obtain all necessary permits, and purchase equipment. For more information, join the co-op's free email list at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/foodcoop.

Dill Pickle Food Co-op
http://www.dillpicklefoodcoop.org

Vegan Donuts Rule!

2007-11-11T21:29:00.000-06:00

So we finally made our first batch of donuts this morning. We had to wait for the mini donut pan to arrive from amazon. Luckily it didn't take 4 to 6 weeks like they claimed it would when we ordered them. We used the recipe from vegan yum yum. We used 1/4 cup applesauce and 1 teaspoon baking powder as our egg replacer. We did not grease the donut pan and they popped right out. No sticking. The donuts turned out quite delicious. We topped them three different ways:

Chocolate covered. We used a 62% Scharffen Berger semisweet bar
Powdered sugar
Glazed with sprinkles. Powdered sugar, soymilk glaze with sprinkles (again from vegan yum yum)

My favorite was the chocolate, but Meg preferred plain with just powdered sugar.

Halloween

2007-10-31T23:05:00.000-05:00

Our dog, Remmy on Halloween night. She was not at all happy to be wearing a tutu. However the kids were sure happy to see her. Especially since we had lots of candy.

meditations of an armchair activist

2007-09-25T07:48:00.001-05:00

grant kester's course on visual culture of american reform

i plan to take this course (in a self-study kind of way). currently thinking of a research paper topic:
time magazine in the 70s (or whenever it was 'classic')
rolling stone magazine
photos of my parents home under construction
paul feyerabend's "against method"

other ideas ??

here is the criteria:

A description of the historical period you will be researching, identifying some of the key issues related to political change and reform. Explain why you selected this period in particular.

A description of your object of study (film, survey, maps, book, etc.). Why have you selected this object? What do you hope to learn about it? What role do images play in it’s function relative to political reform?

A description of the archival source or sources for your research (on-line archive, LA-based archive, inter-library loan source) and your plans for accessing this material in a timely and efficient manner.

A description of your main thesis (if you haven’t provided it in responding to questions #1 and #2). What do you hope to learn through your analysis? What is your hypothesis about the function of images in the particular example you’ll be studying?

and there is grant kester's vis seminar in aesthetic theory

concentrating on kant, hegel and heidegger the class will "explore the symbiotic relationship between modern art and aesthetic philosophy. Why, for example, does aesthetic philosophy emerge in its modern form at the same time that art is becoming increasingly detached from the praxis of daily life? Does art, in fact, require the discursive supplement of philosophy to make itself relevant to a modern public? We will also examine the complex interaction between the aesthetic and the political within modernity."

lastly, the best website design i have seen in quite some time:
PARK(ing) Day