Recent photos

Foodies

Some go-to edibles as of late

Chicken & ginger-miso dish

 Blueberry-cream cookies

Cookie watch (dog not edible, but they say the red ones taste good)

Roast chicken

Mitsu x Beethoven Collaboration

Last week, I was playing the piano, and Mitsu starting vocalizing when I played the theme to Beethoven's 7th. I've been playing this piece, a Nodame Cantabile version, for about half a year now so it's become the one-trick-pony piece I play when I feel like playing something but not really practicing. At first, I thought Mitsu was telling me to shut up, and then I thought she had to go outside. But then she sat and lied down by my bench, so I continued playing. When I started a section that involved a crescendo, Mitsu joined in by howling. Her face, looking straight on, is super cute when she stretches her howls out. I started to give her treats when she would sing along to my crescendos, and she performed for Mordecai a couple of times. I was finally able to capture all of this on camera tonight with minimal mistakes on my part. She doesn't seem to care for any other pieces I play, so I like to think that she and Beethoven are basically best friends.

You kind of have to wait for her to hear the howls clearly. She warms up a little throughout the song, misses my conducting cues in the middle, but then comes through at the end (~1:00 mark)!

This is our one hit wonder, guys! We won't be coming on tour near you! You might hear about a comeback 10 years from now! Good night!

Mitsupocalypse!

Chicago and its inhabitants are being severely punished right now by a massive snowstorm. The last time we were assaulted like this was in 1999, and I remember having about a week off from school. But I don't remember phrases like "potentially life-threatening," or "thundersnow" being thrown around back then. I am not looking forward to the aftermath, but my parents report that Oji is shedding a little early this year, which hopefully means spring is coming sooner rather than later. I'll put up with a thundersnowstorm and a day (or two? or three? please?) off of school if spring arrives sooner than usual.

Mordecai and I took Mitsu out for a quick potty break. She was very displeased. Mordecai had to carry her out to the front, where there is less snow because it gets blown away. She quickly realized it wasn't going to get any better anywhere else, so she got to business and then immediately started whining to go back inside. I'm glad we have a dog with human-ish sensibilities. Also noteworthy about Mitsu and the elements: she seems to be able to sense patches of ice and water on the ground far sooner than I can. I wonder if she has good eyes, at least for a dog. This has actually helped me out a couple of times when I hadn't even noticed the ice. We don't need a repeat of 2008 of ankle breakage. Thanks, Mitsu!

Platonic forms

I've been searching for the ideal dessert. I like to believe that I'll know it when I eat it, so I figure I'll just make lots of desserts and see what pleases me the most. So far, the front runners include my standard strawberry tart, grapefruit cassis, and macarons. (I find La Boulangerie's to be the best in Chicago that I've tasted so far.)

Last week I saw Giada making angel food cake. It seemed like a nice, light dessert, so I tried it out. I like angel food cake because it involves lots of egg whites and sugar, like marcarons, but the yogurt honey sauce didn't seem to go all that well with the cake. I added fruits for garnish (blackberries one day, cara cara oranges the next at my parents'), but this didn't add or take away from the cake. Basically, while it wasn't bad, I will never make this again.

Next up: Ina Garten's coconut cupcakes. I really want cream cheese frosting...now! I wonder how it will fare in comparison to Emily's frosting.

Unrelated to my desserts, but I guess it's a kind of dessert, or snack, is cotton candy, now apparently available on campus. Seriously? In January? It sells? Is class at UIC now like attending a sporting event?

***

Sleeping princess; sleeping fools

Certain corners of the Internet are in great debates about raising children. (Don't forget this take on the story.) What I find interesting about all of this is how in many ways, the discussion parallels dog training. Do you praise your children and let them be picky eaters; do you train dogs exclusively through positive reinforcement like Victoria Stilwell? Or do you call your kids garbage and make them practice piano without bathroom breaks; do you make your dog submit to you or expend their energy on treadmills like Cesar Millan? My mom let me be a picky eater and showered me with praises, but at the same time, a lot of Amy Chua's explanations in her WSJ excerpt made sense to me (and why it might not make as much sense to "Western" parents). And likewise, positive training works well with Mitsu, but with nipping/mouthing/biting, merely walking away and ignoring her briefly does not seem to cut it. I try to teach her "kisses" by rewarding her for licking my hand, but this process is usually preceded by unpleasant biting. How do I know she's not learning to bite, then wait for "kisses" command to receive treats? Puppy, please.

Roast puppy de cassis

Today Wendy DeCarlo came to our house for some puppy consultation. We have books and cable TV, which all let us know that we aren't horrible dog-parents or that Mitsu is a she-devil. But all of that provides only general information--even the Shiba Inu book--so we wanted a trainer to meet her and assess our particular situation. I don't want to be one of those parents who brag about their dogs and children, but I think she did pretty good today. It helps that she came to us crate-trained by the breeders, and that she naturally has an outgoing and confident personality. The more I think about it, the more it seems like Poo Monster Dud exhibited more skittish behavior--"I see you but I don't really feel like acknowledging you"--whereas Mitsu was much more willingly interactive with us when we hung out with the two pups in the breeder's living room.

This evening, Mordecai and I made roast chicken. It wasn't difficult! It helped that the Food Network posted Ina Garten's roast chicken episode on YouTube. This was our first time, so our chicken-carving skills are pretty non-existent, and the bed of vegetables was more like jail-cell-bed than Ritz-Carlton bed so most of them overcooked. I wish there was a way to practice cutting chicken without actually using meat. (...Is there?) Dessert came from a recipe in Maida Heatter's book, which was the super easy grapefruit and crème de cassis with a little bit of honey (above). I don't know what it is about it--it's like raspberry and grape combined?--but cassis is one of my all time favorite flavors ever. It makes me feel nostalgic, but I don't know for what. Like I grew up with it. Or maybe I was a little black currant in my past life.

Puppy Frosting

That's a lot of cupcakes. I made red velvet cupcakes but with Emily's cream cheese frosting: 

1/2 pound (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a mixer until fluffy then add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and mix well. Then, try not to eat it all.

As usual, Emily's cupcakes are better. At least my frosting is sufficiently good.

Tomorrow is TRON LEGACY in 3D for IMAX. And laundry. And the usual puppy antics. 

Brothas From Anotha Motha

If you know me, or have been to Golden Nugget with me on more than one occasion, then you know that I will likely order the Guadalajara Skillet (first photo). It is a skillet of potatoes, onions, peppers, chorizo, cheese, tortilla chips, topped with a fried egg, accompanied by a side of salsa and a hot pepper, and it also comes with corn tortillas.

Today, I encountered the Guadalajara Skillet in burger form, or its "brotha from anotha motha." At Maddi's request, we went to Kuma's Corner for lunch (best time to go? Sunday, 11:45AM), and I ordered the "Megadeth," named after the band (second photo). It is a burger topped with a chorizo and potato hash, tortilla chips, and a cayenne avocado mayo-ish sauce, served on a pretzel roll. I had the handmade chips, as you can see. I imagine the Guadalajara Skillet and the Megadeth writing letters to each other, reunited without ever knowing they were separated.

Dearest Megadeth,
I hope you are well. At Golden Nugget, they continue to ring the annoying bell every hour so the employees know to wash their hands. I don't know if they actually do. The funny-looking Asian girl continues to order me, regardless of the location. She always takes me home, and I feel special. Maybe one day you will meet her.
Best,
Guadalajara Skillet

Hey Guaddy, Yeah that little lady came, ordered me and took my creamy cayenne avocado top off. She just SHUT IT DOWN. I guess she likes chorizos and potatoes a lot. Over here the music is still loud and I saw a waitress rub her nose a lot with her hand, so I was like Oh Shit It's Dirty Up In Here but then I saw another lady with blonde and black hair find a stray strand of hair and she properly took it to a garbage can, or at least out of my sight so I was like Oh Snap Maybe It's Alright Here. Sometimes I sense that big old devil dog but it stays outside and doesn't eat me. My worst nightmare is to be devoured by the Beastmaster. Anyway this crazy little Asian girl had me BURNT! The waitress was like Watch Out Now but your girl was like Oh You Don't Know Me Honey. Okay I'm sick of writing to you because I'm a burger and I shouldn't be and don't want to do this,  I'm gonna go smell good now, so bye. MEGADETH

We saw Senshi, an Akita, behind Kuma's Corner. I know Kuma was an Akita, and I wonder if Senshi is to Kuma like what Oji is to Yuki for my family. He looks like Oji's "brotha from anotha motha" so I felt compelled to pet him, but I knew better than to stick my hand in between the bars. Not that I ever knew a mean Akita, but you never know. That combo of black head and golden eyes is amazing.

Now I will continue to imagine what life will be like on Wednesday and on. Will the Shiba puppy hate me for the first couple of days? "How dare you take me away from my littermates and mother! Who are you and why do you smell bad?! SHIBA SCREAM!!!"

PUPPY

Which one of yous is coming home with us???

Are you the lucky star?

 Everyone guesses that you're the boy, which means you won't come home with us. And you've got soy sauce on your face, bro. 

All photos kindly sent to us by Glenchester Kennels.

YouTube has been a useful resource for researching puppies. You can read about a breed, and that's really great, but it's nice to be able to see the breed in action. Did you know Shibas elict a kind of scream?! Here's the best one (go to about ~1:40). Anyway, there's this one video of an 8 week old Shiba puppy who is being introduced to some human friends. I like the commentary provided by a man in the video:

"Oh man, I mean, seriously like...I dunno...I guess I've seen a few dogs that are pretty cute but this one seems to be...this one seems to be like top 5 percentile of the cutest dogs..."

THAT'S RIGHT, TOP 5 PERCENTILE. That means ELITE. I think that's a pretty accurate description of the Shiba puppy. What is it that makes it so cute? Its furriness, tininess, the foxiness, the pointed ears, the curly tail, the beady eyes? Next to a Lab or Husky puppy, would the Shiba automatically win in a Battle of Cuteness? How do you walk away with only one?

After Thanksgiving, Mordecai and I plan to drive to Ohio to Glenchester Kennels, where we will meet two of these puppies shown above, and pick one to come home with us. I suppose it's possible that we'll have three or four more puppies in the next litter, Danica's, to choose from, but I also suppose that the breeders would rather us take a 9 week old puppy than a 7 week old puppy. I mean, after we take our pick, who's going to want a geezer 9 week old Shiba puppy over a 7 week old one? Actually, Yuki was 12 weeks old when we got her. She was a talker ("Ooo ooo ooo" which meant, "Love me!" but sounded more like, "I'll kill you!"), and apparently that was not appealing to a lot of people. I thought it was her best attribute, and picked her over Pinto, a younger male, with black pinto bean prints on his white coat. I'm sure Pinto was a good guy, but that was the best decision ever in the History of Decisions.  

It seemed criminal not to share these pictures (house? painted walls? resodded backyard? new floor in the sunroom? PUPPY!). This may turn into a Shiba puppy blog, but whatever, YOU'RE WELCOME IN ADVANCE!

Today

As I noted earlier today, here's a log of today, inspired by Richard. Yesterday I watched two episodes of Nodame, read four pages of philosophy and graded zero exams. Today I repented.

7:27AM Wake up, reluctantly get out of bed.

7:45AM Leave with Mordecai; he goes to work, I order medium soy latte at a nearby Caribou. The foam of my latte tastes a little like tofu. I eat my croissant I brought from home in a Ziploc bag.

9:30AM I've graded two exams, set out a short stack of papers that I don't think will be difficult to grade (i.e., good students' papers) and started reading Axel Honneth. I've got about 25-30 more pages to go. It's an essay on reification and recognition, and there are moments that make me sad. Why is philosophy so caught up in knowing things, like the world and its people are the subject matter of a standardized test? I note in the margin "REQUIEM" of some page and draw clouds, a stick of lightening, rain, and wind. I have in my mind Mozart's Requiem Mass that he was singing to Salieri at the end of "Amadeus," but only the second movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony comes to mind. I don't know much Mozart, come to think of it.

10AM I check Twitter to see confirmations of Mariah Carey's pregnancy. I anticipated a good "article" on the matter on Dlisted, and whoever that genius is, delivered. I tweet that link, tweet again about how sad it is that Mimi had a miscarriage two years ago. 

By this point, I've also probably checked to see if Glenchester Kennels has updated (or "pupdated," as I almost accidentally typed) their website with a recent photo of six puppies, one of which will come home with us soon (more on this for another post)!

11:30AM Finish Honneth, skim the responses to his essay, get annoyed by them. I start to bother Mordecai with texts about lunch. Also, I've been at this Caribou for about 3 hours and wonder now and then whether anyone secretly notices cares, because no one apparently does. Wonder why I don't do this more often.

12PM I meet Mordecai in the car at the parking lot between Caribou and his office, and we go to some place called Jason's Deli, which is basically a variation of Panera. I think I prefer Panera. I have a BLT with potato soup; Mordecai has a "Chicago Club" and some red-colored soup. I see a bulldog running in the parking lot outside, people chasing after it. A young man was able to grab it by it's collar, and patted it while the owners caught up with the leash. The bulldog appears to appreciate the petting; it looks happy to have had its ephemeral moment of freedom.

12:45PM I get dropped off at the Roosevelt red line, take it to Fullerton, and take the Fullerton bus home. Someone on the bus is coughing up a storm. By the time we get to Clybourn, I start to think about Nodame. She asks, "What's so wrong about playing the piano freely, for fun?" I think this is a good question. What's wrong with her original ambition of being a preschool teacher? I love Nodame so much. I wonder if I'll grade that little stack I set out for myself earlier.

2PM I get home, watch the last episode of the Nodame drama series, cry, look for the Europe specials. I can't find them on DVD, which I know I have somewhere, but they seem to be on Mordecai's external hard drive (mine is almost full with HD version of Glee, Season 1). At some point I practice piano--working on a simplified version of the first movement of Beethoven's 7th. I've got it down, but can't play it through without slipping on the black keys.

3PM I blog, gchat with Emily, gossip about the Regenstein staff, clean the kitchen somewhat, prepare things for dinner. No more papers will be graded, but two is better than zero.

5PM Start cooking rice. Prepare potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, tofu in a light stew of soba tsuyu, miso, sake, sugar. The ginger is no good. 

6PM Mordecai comes home, helps with dinner, and we start watching World Series Game 2. Mordecai laments that Jeff Francoeur is not starting in right field, and Daniel Murphy is instead. I expect that Jorge Cantu will warm the bench. For dessert, we share an almond croissant and a plain croissant.

8PM Mordecai installs the blinds in our sunroom. I practice some more piano, this time a theme from "Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind." 

8:30PM I blog, watch Edgar Renteria hit a home run, the Rangers continue being unable to produce anything offensive, and C.J. Wilson get pulled for a blister on his finger. I note to myself that I should shower and get ready for bed--I want to watch the first Nodame Europe special and go to bed early to leave with Mordecai again tomorrow morning.

9:15PM PUPPY PICTURES OMG OMG OMG