All posts by Barbara in Rivertown

The Baboon Congress

Altered States (of Eggplant)

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Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale.

It’s the end of harvest season in the upper midwest, and for us it was a good year for eggplant. The only difficulty with that is what to do with all that eggplant from the last picking. Since I have what we fondly refer to as “enough cookbooks”, I’ve discovered recipes for Eggplant Fritters, Eggplant Custard, Eggplant Lasagna, Eggplant Pizza, and Baked Eggplant. Some Trail Baboon readers already know about “PJ’s Eggplant Curry“. And of course there are my old standards, Ratatouille and Baba Ganoush.

I realized that Fried Eggplant is the first step in several recipes; I could get brave and try it again, then freeze it in small batches and decide later how to finally use it.

The “getting brave” part is because I’d tried fried eggplant once before, and it was horrible. Just because I consult a recipe doesn’t mean I follow it to the end. I didn’t salt the pieces and let them drain, didn’t use enough oil, probably didn’t get it hot enough, etc. So this time I promised myself that I would not deviate from the instructions, and I came close to keeping my promise. I cut the eggplants lengthwise, pretty close to the prescribed thickness, ¾”. I salted the slices and let them give up their beads of water, which I blotted away before frying. I heated the oil each time I added some, as directed. I drained on paper towels on a platter.

So I am inordinately pleased with my batch of Fried Eggplant. I changed only two things in the recipe (an un-breaded version from: The Best of Ethnic Home Cooking by Mary Poulis Wilde). Instead of frying in an inch of olive oil, I chose a half inch. (I’m rather stingy with my olive oil.) And I didn’t peel the eggplant (what, and lose all that shiny dark beauty?), so some of my pieces are rather chewy. But as I taste them, I am transported to a little corner of heaven. Wow, it worked!

Now somewhere in the middle of winter, I’ll pull out a package from the freezer and decide whether to use it for some version of Eggplant Parmigiana, or maybe even Moussaka.

When have you, successfully or not, altered a recipe?

The Baboon Congress

G.O.A.T. Notes

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Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale.

It’s a very creative group of Babooners here on the Trail, and we sometimes use words not found in your standard English dictionary. So Jacque and I (back in April) put together a little Baboon dictionary, ultimately dubbed the G.O.A.T. (Glossary of Accepted Terms). I’ve been keeping track of some real gems that have appeared since then, and here’s what y’all have been adding to the mix. If you’re a newcomer, it may help explain some (but certainly not all) things. And if you’re an old hand, it will serve as a reminder of how we talk ’round these parts.

Baader Meinhof – defined by the Pioneer Press’ Bulletin Board as “encountering a piece of previously unknown information twice within a 24 hour period.” (It’s surprising how often this comes up.) See Joy of Juxtaposition for clarity through contrast.

Blevensing – going on and on about something, as the Austin Lounge Lizards (et al.) do in the chorus of the song, Old Blevins: “Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah…” and as follows: “Niblet is sometimes described as “long-suffering”… Imagine having to spend your days listening to [Mr.] T, blevinsing away…” (See Out to Pasture in upper right corner for more on Niblet and Mr. T.)

Cannardly – a more elegant way to express mixed ethnic heritage, as in: “He said he was Cannardly – so many different ethnicities that you can hardly tell…”

Ectopic – out of place, as in: “Ectopic comments are always welcome!” which followed: “Ugh, I … meant that reply to go under Beth-Ann’s comment.”

Fusspot – a very fussy person, as in: “Fusspot is a term created by my husband, who is much more of a fusspot than I am.” See also Troublespot, and Lucy in Peanuts for the variation, fussbudget.

Hooby – either a cross between a hobby and a hubby, or a hobby that’s a hoot… as in “become involved in a hooby or something that is real…”

Incumbent bike – a bike that’s going to stick around for another 2, 4, or 6 years.

Ingrown narcissism – self-regard that has become problematically internalized, as in …“if we stop for ice cream we may not have enough money to pay for Timmy’s operation to fix his ingrown narcissism”.

Jamicized: to be clothed in your jammies, as in: “There is an ice cream truck that frequents our neighborhood. We do not patronize that [ice cream] truck (partly because sometimes he comes around after we have called it a night and are jamicized, thank you very much).”

Joy of Juxtaposition – a confluence of references to something that was already in your knowledge base; see Baader Meinhof for clarity through contrast.

Latent utility – usefulness in the future, and a reason to keep an item, as in “There are the remaining painting and carving supplies, which I may one day use, and I consider latent utility useful.”

Pawlenty (verb transitive) – to hide something from the public, and then do what you want, as in: “the masses don’t realize until after they’ve already been pawlentyed.

Punctuational – on time for the blog, and keeping track of it throughout the day, as in: “Didn’t we tell you how important it is to be punctuational?”

Rojak (roh-jark) – a Malaysian colloquialism meaning a mix or a salad, also used to describe language, e.g. using several languages/dialects in a single sentence. See also Cannardly.

Schaumkessel – a German word for boiling or foaming kettle, or a relative who acts like one; as in this interchange: “My maternal grandmother was a Schaumkessel…” “Do you know what Schaumkessel means? It has such a cool sound.” “I think it means boiling or foaming kettle… and she kinda was….”

Snort – short for “That made me laugh so hard I’m snorting coffee (or some other beverage)”. Also a baboonish substitute for LOL or ROTFLOLAWM (see New Acronyms). Snort could be an acceptable short form of the TBB’s mission statement.

Spedition – a shopping expedition that include ice cream, as follows:
”When my son was younger and had to accompany me on errands I started to call them expeditions thinking it would make it easier to jolly him into going. The name was shortened to speditions. At one point I upped the ante and offered ice cream to make the journey sweeter. Then with an elephantine memory my son proclaimed the definition of a spedition included ice cream every time. ”

Spiritual tithe – a fine paid to a good cause, as in: I even ENJOY paying my library fines because I feel as if it is my spiritual tithe to an (almost) holy space.

Storage brains – the (often older) family members who recollect the family’s historical information, “Unfortunately all storage brains… have died so we have not much more than she could find in public records.”

Troublespot – those relatives and acquaintances who have been difficult or naughty. “It would be really unfortunate to be a fusspot and a troublespot all in the same day.” (See also Fusspot)

Wikiwalk – a “pernicious online phenomenon”; specifically, an unintended, possibly long and convoluted journey through the internet, as in: “today you are a lost soul on an endless internet search on into the time tunnell where minute turn into hours and the days go by without any indication that you were ever there. a little you tube video, a piece of information from the wikipedia archive on the topic.. off into the vast amounts of miniscule detail folks have assembled on whatever the topic.”

New Acronyms:

OFTLOW – oh for the love of wool

ROTFLOLAWM – rolling on the floor laughing out loud and wetting myself

TTFN – ta-ta for now (from Winnie-the-Pooh)

WOT – way off topic

What language would you like to be able to speak, and why?

The Baboon Congress

Pretend

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Today’s guest post is by Barbara in Robbinsdale.

Welcome to a place where pine cones are medicine, a stick can be a baby bottle, a lily-of-the-valley is a fairy lamp with lots of little tiny lights.

I get to see my 8-year-old neighbor Lola each week for a couple of hours. She always has an idea for what we should do, and although we’ve done a couple of artsy projects (yes, she’s made a placemat from old greeting cards), the most fun has been pretend. And the best place for pretend seems to be out of doors.

I had almost forgotten about pretend. I did plenty of it both as a child, and when my child was young in the 80s. But that was long ago, so clearly I was a bit rusty. I found it’s a bit like riding a bike – you never really forget how. One person says something like “This stone can be the fairies’ doorstep”, and suddenly you find yourself saying “I know some seashells that can be more steps – I’ll go get them!”

When one of those last snowstorms surprised us, Lola and I converted the woodpile-snowdrift into a Fairytown, where the overturned shells became stepping stones, and later (not overturned) for fairy dishes. A hollow log was a safe haven for squirrels and chipmunks and other critters. Once it got warmer, Husband helped us build a Fairy House from some scrap wood pieces and an old squirrel feeder.

Our favorite game to date has been Ambulance. Lola created a doll hospital in a pine tree’s low branches, with hammock style beds she fashioned from tablecloths. She had brought three dolls with her that day, and the wheel barrow was enlisted as The Ambulance.

With the use of both my cordless and cell phones, I was able to call Lola the Ambulance Driver and tell her what street to zip over to (streets were named by what they were near: Garden Lane, Brick Lane, Shovel Lane…). She whisked an injured baby to The Hospital, where there were five available rooms named by the type of injury they housed: Broken Left Leg, Broken Right Leg, Broken Left Arm, Broken Right Arm, and Anything Else!

There was even a waiting room for me, the anxious mother – the garden bench out front over by Brick Lane. All babies/toddlers were successfully treated and given pinecone medicines, and returned by the Ambulance to their homes.

Do you have anyone in your current life with whom you can pretend?
If not, try it here: What would be the prominent features of your imaginary town?

The Baboon Congress

Post Thurgery* Survival

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Today’s guest blog is by Barbara in Robbinsdale.

* Husband had open heart surgery on a Thursday in late January.

Please note – I am able to poke fun at this experience because:

a. There was no impediment to my staying home to nurse Husband. I can’t imagine the experience if he’d had to stay in, say, a nursing home …

b. Surgery was successful; Husband experienced no complications, and came through with flying colors.

c. It’s how I processed this one.

1. Visitors – Expect the unexpected; be prepared for anything. Some people won’t want to come anywhere near even a diagram of what happened to Patient. Others will enter with “Hey, can I see your scar?” the first thing out of their mouths.
Have a place cleared somewhere for flowers.

2. We may laugh at those airy little hospital gowns, but for a while Patient needs clothing that you can easily get on and off him/her. Hospital did not send a gown home with you, but you can fashion your own by taking one of Patient’s soft old t-shirts, slicing it up the back with a pair of scissors, and adding a safety pin. It won’t be as long as the hospital variety, so you’ll probably need to have Patient wear a robe over it, especially for visitors!

3. Pillows – Gather every pillow you have (and aren’t you glad you didn’t give half of them to Goodwill?) into a big pile near Patient’s bed. You don’t have a hospital bed anymore with the convenient push buttons. Every size of pillow you own will be enlisted at some point as Patient sits up, tries to sleep slightly reclined, and eats in bed.

4. Accept anything and everything people offer. This is not the time to practice Minnesota Nice: you don’t say, “Oh, no, you don’t need to do that” the first two times and accept on the third. You say “Yes, thanks!” the moment it’s out of their mouths, before they can change their minds.
(This IS hard to do all this accepting without immediately being able to reciprocate. When time allows, you will write thank you notes (even if some are by email). And when the tables are turned, you will reciprocate. If it makes you feel better, you can start planning now what food you will bring to them sometime.)

5. Alter your parameters about what constitutes a proper meal. With any luck you will have many meals given to you by kind, understanding friends and relatives. You will only have to supply, perhaps, a salad. See Illustration on left for a perfectly adequate salad.

6. Cleaning – If it’s big enough to endanger you or Patient, pick it up and toss it out of harm’s way. Everything else can wait. Keep in mind, though: a large enough dust bunny can be slippery.

7. It helps if you’ve kept a few toys from your kids’ childhoods, particularly that robotic arm “grabber thingy”, which Patient can use to reach things. Also a toy flute or recorder or kazoo (anything more pleasant sounding than a shrill whistle) by which Patient can summon you when you’re downstairs.

8. Self care – If you don’t get outside soon, you’ll go bonkers and then there will be two Patients and no Nurse. So enlist help from friends and relatives (anyone owe you a favor?) – preferably people whom Patient likes and trusts – to come in for a couple of hours at a time and relieve you.
Go get a massage, or see your chiropractor; stop at your favorite coffee shop and read something you don’t have time to read at home. Each time you go out will be easier, as you learn to trust that Patient will survive without you there.

9. Ego – You had one once; you’ll get it back again. For the first few days home, however, you won’t be needing it. This experience is an “ego-buster”. Whatever you had in mind for this week of your life can wait (even that newly re-discovered guitar). In fact, a lot of things can wait for a few of weeks, or even months. Your concept of What’s Important has just been radically altered. Patient needs you. Now. It’s a little like having a newborn, except that Patient will TELL you exactly what s/he wants and needs.

10. Although it may seem like there isn’t time, take some time now and then to just lie down next to Patient and listen to something like Dark Side of the Moon – some music that is meaningful to both of you. You’ll be amazed at how soothing this is.

What care giving and/or receiving wisdom would you add to the list?

The Baboon Congress

Hey Nellie Nellie

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Yesterday Jacque got us to consider what we may have forgotten.
Now we’ll reclaim some of what was lost.
Today’s guest blog is by Barbara in Robbinsdale.

On MLK Day when Dale asked for our favorite “freedom” music, I dove back into the far reaches of my closet and found my beloved guitar songbooks, which gave me titles to the songs rattling around in my brain. It was like finding gold.

Not only were there songbooks, but there was My Guitar. Oh my! Hauled the case out, opened it to find only two strings missing. In my wisdom in some former life, I had bought a full set of strings, so for the next hour or so I tried to remember how to restring the thing. Did a messy job, but got it strung. I play by ear, so tuning is still, happily, not a problem. I was set to go.

Opened my homemade book to Hey Nellie Nellie – a Civil War song from a Judy Collins album – and tried out the C chord. Woops, that wasn’t a C chord. I’d forgotten how to play a C chord! You get the picture. It wasn’t pretty, and by the end of the next hour my fingertips were very sore (and the nails of my left hand clipped), but I could play, s-l-o-w-l-y, a C, G, D, F, A and A minor (Am), Em… I went to bed with aching hand, but determined heart.

Back in my twenties I learned from peers how to play by chording, hardly ever delving into anything complex. Guitars are like that – if you know six (6) basic chords, (especially if you can hear where they belong) and a couple of pick patterns, you can play 90% of the music you like. I got good enough to, say, lead small groups of singers (and primary school children are particularly forgiving). And I once got brave enough to sing a couple of songs with a friend at an Open Mike night at the Mirimar Beach Inn.

So this is a bit like riding a bike… it is coming back. In the couple of weeks that have passed, I’ve been trying to play a little every day. I bought a stand to hold my beautiful little Gibson when it’s not in its case, which means it’s visible and I remember to play. I have visions of learning lots of “new” songs I’ve absorbed over the years from The Morning and Dale Connelly Shows, teaching myself some new chords, maybe even taking lessons, which I’ve never done.

What kind of lessons (or classes) would you take if you had the all the time and resources needed?

The Baboon Congress

A Tale of Two Festivals

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Guest Blog by Barbara in Robbinsdale

Well, OK, we’re going to the Renaissance Festival. I haven’t been for about 10 years, since it’s crowded and hot and sticky and dirty and smelly… But Mario (my step-son) and the girls – Janaina, 4, and Elia, 7 – were here visiting, so we’ll go, on one of the last 90° days in August.

Ready to Take Wing (Photo courtesy of Mario Ackerberg)

Surprise #1 – I’d forgotten how much fun it is to go to a festival with little kids: everything’s fresh and new! Once the girls see people in costume, they put on their fairy wings as we head to the flower garland booth staffed by the girls’ aunt Lyra, and Voilά! they have garlands. Two other cousins arrive and they get to do a few rides, including The Ponies and (with Mario) The Elephant.

Surprise #2 – We usually don’t stop to watch any of the various performers, but we get hooked by Tuey the Tightrope Walker/Juggler, who it turns out is also a pretty funny guy. Everyone gives rapt attention for a blessed half hour of sitting on benches.

Surprise #3 – I’ll bet the most memorable, though, will be the booth called Vegetable Justice. As is happens, Mario’s brother Jesse has the job of being pelted with tomatoes, while hurling insults at The Pelter. The little kids even get a turn throwing at Uncle Jesse, with insults coming back along the lines of “I’ll bet you still wet the bed!” Perhaps the wildest time is had by Mario and Jesse, when it’s Mario’s turn to nail his older brother again and again, deflecting insults probably best left unnamed. (Imagine if you had this opportunity with your own sibling.)

# No surprise – The food is still fair food, but if you look long and hard you can find some very good Spinach Pie.

A few weeks later, Husband and I head out for a Saturday at the Rock Bend Folk Festival in St. Peter, on the recommendation of Krista in Waterville. Not only is the weather infinitely better, a sunny day in the 70s. There’s also less ground to cover, as it’s contained in Minnesota Square Park, and has a cozy, small town vibe. We arrive before 2:00, have already missed a couple of groups. While Husband settles in on the blanket near the Pavilion (main) Stage, I go to the smaller Joyce’s North Grove Stage and look up Krista, who seems like a long lost friend; we’ll be able to talk more later.

The Flathead Cats (photo courtesy of Joel Jackson)

Surprise #1 – What a line-up at the Pavilion Stage! Abalone Dots, four young women from Stockholm, Sweden singing and playing their brand of “softgrass”. April Vetch, who performs virtuoso step-dancing and fiddling (sometimes simultaneously), is a joy to watch. Willie Murphy in the evening as we were leaving…

City Mouse (photo courtesy of Rock Bend Folk Festival)

Surprise #2 – …and City Mouse and Friends: “Good Time Music! Their folk-rock blues” had me mesmerized with a vibrant array of musical styles – what a range this band has! – so that I almost missed this tidbit during the introductions: …” Dave Pengra on bass, and his brother Mike Pengra on drums…” I sit up and stare at the drummer – could that be OUR Mike Pengra? I sneak in closer to where I can get a good look and… yep, that IS our Mike! It explains all kinds of hints from Krista when blogging about Rock Bend… You may like to know City Mouse was inducted into the Minnesota Rock and Country Hall of Fame in 2007.

Surprise #3 – Krista had been holding out on us! (She has since come clean.) Not only does she help make this festival happen; she also plays in an acoustic folk trio called Flathead Cats on the North Stage! She has a beautiful voice, and she plays guitar, a mean mandolin, recorder(s) or flute on some of the Celtic numbers, tambourine… Love their music, a thoroughly eclectic mix.

# No surprise: – The food is still fair food, but the Pulled Pork Sandwich is out of this world.

What’s your favorite kind of Festival? Do you have a Festival tale to tell?