Category: Dani

News and activities involving Dani

Songwriters Showcase

Last night we attended the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Showcase, where 16 incredibly talented young songwriters show off the songs they’ve written during the past week’s workshop. Last year it was the highlight of the summer shows we saw, and it didn’t disappoint this year. Every song was a winner.

Tonight we attended Applause! Applause! where the best of those songs were presented to a larger audience, along with professional performances from the songbook of Charles Strouse, who was honored with an award. Strouse wrote Bye, Bye Birdie, Applause, Annie, and quite a few other musicals, as well as the theme song from All In The Family. At the end of the evening he received his award and entertained at the piano and told some hilarious stories; he’s quite the card for an 83 year old.

Earlier today Dani and I walked through the closed streets of Evanston, where there was an art festival, and then walked up to Central to buy some spices at The Spice House and some cheese and bread at the gourmet market. All together it was a five mile walk, and her ankle held up well, its first real outing since taking her cast off and starting physical therapy.

During our walk we revisited some of the fallen trees from last week’s storm, which have now been cut up and cleared. It’s not hard to figure out why this large branch—that I photographed previously—broke off:

Father’s Day at The Stained Glass

Dani and I spent a pleasant day in Evanston before the start of summer session at Northwestern. We walked up to Al’s Deli for lunch. Al’s is an interesting place, because it sounds very American, but is, in fact, French. They make wonderful soups, and sandwiches on  baguettes or croissants.

On the way back, we picked up Dani’s German class notes and restocked at CVS. In the evening we swapped some books at Market Fresh Books and then had dinner at our favorite Evanston restaurant, The Stained Glass, where we were served by our favorite waiter, the extremely knowledgeable wine instructor, Scot Morton.

 

Deep Purple at the Ravinia Festival

Ravinia is an outdoor music festival founded in 1904. It’s a few miles North of Evanston.

Dani and I went to see Deep Purple with the Ravinia Festival Orchestra and opening band Ernie and the Automatics.

Dinner at the upstairs restaurant was quite pleasant. It’s amazing to have to kick start a fine dining restaurant every summer.

It was an unexpected treat that two members of Ernie and the Automatics were the guitarist and drummer from Boston, who played a Boston medley.

Deep Purple was excellent– very talented guitarist and keyboard player– and it was fun to hear them with an orchestra.

Owl City

Dani and I went to see Owl City at The House of Blues. The first warm-up band, Unwed Sailor, consisted of a talented drummer and three people who stared at the floor.  In the absence of any melody or words (no singer) all of their songs sounded like the first five seconds, repeated for five minutes.

The second act was Mat Kearney, who was quite good.

But the audience was clearly there to see Owl City. This was a very different audience than I’d ever encountered at House of Blues, which normally attracts—how can I put this—drunk Gen Xers. Owl City attracts ages 8 to 60, but the average was probably 14. We also noticed the audience was essentially 100% Caucasion. The place was packed, upstairs and down.

I was afraid Owl City would turn out to be one guy (Adam Young) with a Macbook, but there were actually six talented musicians, and an assortment of instruments: two drum sets, many keyboards, cello, violin, bass, vibraphone, xylophone, and many guitars.  Since there is almost no guitar in their music as first I thought the guitars were just props, but they did play a couple of songs where Adam demonstrated excellent guitar proficiency.

It was surprising that the music sounded completely different when played live. They used almost no auto-tune on the voices, and there was much more acoustic stuff. Definitely more complex than the typical tween band. They played two hours, which was great, but it meant we were standing for four hours. House of Blues is still the worst venue in town, but this was an excellent concert.

Bull and Bear

Ron organized a last dinner before my trip to Evanston, and we met at The Bull and Bear at the Waldorf Astoria. Dani flew in Friday, so she was able to join us. The five of us spent a lovely five hours in the private room, with great service by Arnaud. Even though Chef was out of town, Arnaud found plenty of interesting selections to keep the courses coming.

The Wines

We need to stop pouring the Burgundies first! These were mostly great wines, but the memory of the 49 Burgs blew everything else away. Those two continued to evolve for hours. I selected six wines from our cellar, and Ron matched them:

Mumm de Cramant Champagne (Ron)
Citrus, cream, 93

2005 Henri Boillot Corton Charlemagne (Ron)
Ash, vanilla, floral, lemon, hibiscus flower petal flavor, expect butter but ends with citrus peel, 96

2001 Ch. Carbonnieux (Steve)
corked

1949 Liger-Belair Charmes-Chambertin (Steve)
Earth, complex, bacon fat, campfire smoke, iron, mushroom, citrus, forest floor, dried fruits, vanilla, dessert room at Berns (bananas foster and barrel), slightly faded, 96

1949 Ponelle Corton Clos de Roi (Ron)
Cherries, rose petals, soy sauce, meat, mint, sawdust, fruity, smoke, fresh, 98

1955 Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve (Steve)
Young, peppers, fruity, leather, 95

1965 Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon California Mountain (Steve)
Dusty, wax, musty, black pepper, 88

1962 Château Gruaud Larose (Steve)
Leather, worchestshire sauce, soy, complex but unusual, (low fill) 90

1966 Chateau La Mission Haut Brion (Steve)
Lead pencil, peppers, tobacco, 95

2000 Ch. Pavie (Ron)
Parker 100
Meaty, vanilla, chewy, lanolin, very tannic, candy, a huge wine, drinkable in 2044, 96

1983 Ch. Suideraut (Ron)
Peach, citrus, dried orange peel, 90

1982 Bodegas Toro Albala Montilla-Moriles Don PX Gran Reserva (Steve)
Syrup, chocolate, raisins, 92

Victoria & Albert’s Anniversary Celebration

On our 33rd anniversary we invited our friends Ron & Bev Siegel to join us at Victoria and Albert’s chef’s table. Ron and Bev just celebrated their 36th anniversary, so it was a dual celebration. Maitre d’ Israel Perez managed to rearrange his schedule to host us, and Chef Scott Hunnel outdid himself, preparing some of our favorites and introducing us to some new creations.

The Food:

Sour Cream Ice Cream with Caviar
Chef Scott tested a new sturgeon caviar from Florida on this dish, one of my favorites from last New Year’s. He also placed the ice cream on tiny flakes of potato. Amazing dish!

Buffalo served under a glass filled with smoke
Tuna Tartar on a salt block
Scallop and Octopus nicoise
Lobster panna cotta
Simply an amazing course. The buffalo in particular is extraordinary, because of the fresh smoke. The charred (and tender) octopus is also great. The tuna tartar is new.

Curry Lamb
The lamb is warm in the center, but the dry ice under the plate chills the outside, when the juice is poured on. A favorite of ours.

Alaskan King Salmon cooked tableside on a very hot salt block
Another favorite, introduced when they opened the Victoria Room

Pullet Egg with Pork Belly
This was a pretty edgy course, with Chef Scott playing around with “sous vide” low temperature cooking in a bag. The egg was semi-raw. Fun, but I probably wouldn’t have it again!

Maine Lobster in Coconut Curry
This was a completely new dish, and a really neat presentation. Delicious.

Quail with Apples
Boy, does that name under-describe this dish. One of the best game bird dishes ever. A mixture of quail and duck, served on an amazing puree. This experiment is a keeper.

Herb Crusted Niman Ranch Lamb
Just a wonderful piece of lamb.

Australian Kobe Beef with Garlic-Potato Puree
Monterey Abalone with Toasted Capers
A great entree. The abalone was pounded thin and delicate. The Kobe had that grass-fed slightly gamey flavor. But I’ll be glad when we can get Wagu from Japan again.

Cheeses
Israel opened both dessert wines for this, and it was fun to see how the white matched the aged Gouda while the port matched the Stilton

Vanilla-Poached Pear
This was new and delicious. A nice light addition to the dessert offerings

Chocolate Mousse Timbale
Perfect with the port

Assorted Friandises
There’s a new banana-filled chocolate that’s really good

It was fun to try so many new things. We were lucky to go on a night when Chef Scott had time to experiment.

 

The Wines:

For the evening’s theme I chose vintages with special meanings for us, and Ron matched them.

NV Billecart-Salmon Rose (purchased from V&A’s list)
Hard to believe this is supposed to be a rose, no pinot noir character at all.
Very pale, citrus, caramel, 91

93 Haut Brion Blanc (Ron)
Initially corked, but if left to sit and not swirled, the nose blows off
Citrus, creme, stone, wax, caramel, vanilla, 93

2008 Aubert Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay (Steve)
White pepper, citrus, toast, butter, lemon finish, chalk, vanilla, brown sugar, 93

56 Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon (Steve)
Linda’s and my birth year. Unfortunately, a terrible year for wine, worldwide!
Good color, smokey, metallic, some fruit, slightly bitter finish, wood nose emerged after 1 hour, 92

91 Dominus (Ron)
This is the wine I’ve been acquiring for Dani, as it’s regarded as one of the best California wines ever. It was nice of Ron to bring this for her.
Very Bordeaux-like nose, olives, tannic, burnt coffee grounds, 96

1964 Leroy Pommard (Steve)
Classic old burgundy, good fruit balance, spicy nose, mint, spicy, iron, coffee, sweet, 98
My “wine of the night”

78 Corton Renandes Gaunoux (Ron)
Good structure, asparagus, mint, leather, vanilla wafer, fennel, coffee, 98

78 Ch Mouton Rothschild (magnum) (Steve)
I have very few magnums in my cellar, so it was a treat to see how much fruit this had.
Smells just like the Dominus! Coffee, lots of fruit, lead pencil, wax,wood, 96

95 Ch Mouton Rothschild (Ron)
Really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really tight! It was simply impossible to drink or evaluate this wine, and this will likely continue to be the case during my lifetime. Check back in 2040 or 2050. 94?

88 Grange (Ron)
Mint, phenolic, vanilla, spicy, still, huge, tight, tannic, 93

2004 Grange (Steve)
Woody, very big but drinkable, menthol, chocolate, vanilla, more open than the 1988.Grange must have made a stylistic change, because this wine is more drinkable than most old Granges, 97

91 Rivendell Tear of the Clouds late harvest Vidal (Steve)
The only wine to ever be a unanimous best of show winner at the Florida State Fair.
Youthful, medium sweet, great acid, not cloying, apricot, 95

92 Guenoc Port (Steve)
Wow, this is holding up well! We should try this against a vintage Fonseca. Youthful, not too sweet, good acid, citrus, great match to chocolate, vanilla, mint, 97

Whenever we go to Victoria & Albert’s chef’s table I always say it’s the best event ever, and this one was no exception. A truly word-class restaurant.

Christmas 2010

We had a lovely Christmas, leisurely opening our packages all day.  The best gifts were homemade. Dani wrapped up a LOST-themed Dharma pillow in DHARMA “Standard Wrapping Paper” that she made herself, and she also gave us a world map she framed herself and inserted push pins into, marking 100 places we’ve traveled to. We had our traditional breakfast burritos for lunch, and then Martin and Nicole came over for Christmas dinner.

Christmas Eve at Victoria & Albert’s

Christmas Eve we went to Disney’s Grand Floridian for our traditional dinner at Victoria & Albert’s. We’ve gone every year for more than a decade. Here, Dani poses in the lobby in front of the jazz band. The enormous gingerbread house is on the left. Downstairs there was a long line to great Mickey and Minnie in their Victorian Christmas garb.

Gingerbread House

Dani’s annual tradition of making a gingerbread house got a bit more complicated this year, as she baked the gingerbread herself. We were all a bit skeptical of whether it would hold together for final assembly, but we shouldn’t have doubted. What a lovely job of decorating it!

England, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, New York 2010

By Land and Air and Sea

And so we set out for a three week adventure, first to London, then a peculiar repositioning cruise that will take us to odd places on the way back to New York. Our morning flight from Orlando left us a loooong layover in Atlanta, the price to be paid for free first class tickets on the red eye to London. After hanging out in the Delta lounge we head out over the Atlantic.

Mission Acomplished!

Dani took her chemistry final this morning. While she was away I put up the banner Jackie made for her. She was very surprised when she arrived home to find that, and my lame excuse at cake decorating.

In all fairness, the cake is only about four inches across.

Bombay Indian Grill and Merle’s #1 Barbecue

For lunch I was going to try the local JK Sweets, which is the bizarre combination of an ice cream parlor and Korean restaurant, but it looks like they’re on vacation. So I walked over to Sherman and on a whim went into Bombay Indian Grill, a narrow storefront that used to be a Dunkin’ Donuts.

Bombay Indian Grill is a small restaurant that offers quite tasty and authentic Indian food, and at least at lunch the prices are quite fair. I had the Chicken Korma. There seems to be some disagreement about what goes into Korma sauce, with some places adding spices that turn it pink or red, while others make the traditional white. This was the pink variety, and it was savory and delicious, and mild as advertised. I love garlic naan bread, so I ordered that, rather than the plain naan that comes with the lunch, and took rice instead with my chicken. Both the rice and the garlic naan were excellent, and the two chutney accompaniments — tamarind and cilantro — were perfect. A tiny salad was as also on the plate, really just some shredded lettuce that might have been lightly dressed, but it actually served well to clear the palate. The two fried bits of smashed and breaded cauliflower aren’t really my thing, but they were good with the chutneys. A lot of food for ten bucks. Service was attentive and friendly. There’s free wifi, too, due to the fact that Starbucks is next door! No complaints, and I’ll be back.

Today they’re washing the windows of the condo building (they actually weren’t very dirty), so a guy dangling from ropes is passing by. It’s amazing how fast he goes from floor to floor, dropping down the side. Then I guess he takes the elevator back up!

Today Dani gave her chemistry lab project presentation about a UV light exposure sensor to prevent sunburn and got voted best presentation by her 14 classmates, so she won a Northwestern Chemistry hat.

For dinner we ordered ribs from Merle’s #1 Barbecue. Dani thought there wasn’t goof barbecue in Evanston, but the “spare ribs, falling off the bone, mild sauce” were terrific, as were the accompaniments: corn bread, baked potatoes and very bacony baked beans.

The Cellar

Not much happening here today. Dani’s been reading, and I’ve been installing WordPress on my website. Once it’s up I’ll transfer all these journal entries over from the iPad.

We went to Chili’s for lunch; Dani had a craving.

For dinner we went to The Cellar. It’s a place I’ve passed a dozen times on the walk from The Hilton Garden Inn. It’s a really narrow storefront on Clark, just around the corner from The Stained Glass. What I didn’t realize is that it’s owned by them. It’s a casual place that serves essentially the same food, tapas style. In fact, they had exactly the same special as at the Stained Glass last night, and many of the same desserts. It was terrific, and inexpensive, and everything is served the same way that we order at the Stained Glass anyway. It’s a definite must for your next visit.

A Perfectly (Awful) Musical

We had a quiet day of reading. We went to Kansaku for lunch and had the salmon ceviche roll again. We also had a north shore blvd roll, which was rolled in soy paper rather then seaweed, something I never had before. We had dinner at The Stained Glass, and then went to see Not Wanted on the Voyage at NU.

The show was unlike anything I’ve ever encountered. The score is beautiful, the casting great, the performers flawless, the set and lighting design interesting, costumes great, and direction thoughtful and inventive. The result was terrible. A hundred ideas, none of them integrated, all coming together in a meaningless train wreck. I can’t say one bad thing about the production. It simply should never have been made. I can’t imagine how so much talent could be applied without a foundation. Weird.

Moto

We went to Chicago for lunch, a play and dinner. Lunch was at Petterino’s, in the heart of the theatre district. It’s a lot like Sardi’s, right down to the decor.

After lunch we walked across the street to see Billy Elliot at the Oriental Theater. It was interesting to see it in America after seeing the original London production several times. Minor changes to the presentation and blocking had been made throughout, and there was some background provided in the introductory film clip. All of these changes worked well. The only thing that didn’t quite work was the accents, which seemed to come and go. Overall, the cast was very good, and it’s an excellent show that was very well received by the audience.

After the show we went to Moto, which is just an incredibly fun restaurant, where molecular gastronomy turns things into completely different things, all tasty, and served without any stuffy pretense. It was nice to see them very busy, they deserve it.

Les Nomades

Today was the hottest day so far this summer, at 93. I guess Linda brought both the rain and the heat from Florida. For lunch we walked down to Davis Street Fishmarket, which has a wide range of non-fish items. Incompetent waiter.

For dinner we drove into Chicago and went to Les Nomades, the city’s top rated French restaurant. the five course meal was excellent, and one of the most beautiful I’ve experienced, in terms of the composition of each plate. However, we couldn’t help but compare it to the pleasure we had the previous night at The Stained Glass, at one fourth the price.

Books by the Pound

The place that sells used books by the pound, Market Fresh Books, has opened a second location only two blocks from their original spot. The rents must be cheap on theses abandoned storefronts. I bought 12 ounces of book this afternoon.

I fixed a couple of quiches for dinner and to freeze the leftovers. They turned out really good. The ingredients were ham, bacon, brocollini, green onions and the secret ingredient: Chinese five spice.

Chef’s Station

We had a quiet day at home while Dani got caught up on her online chemistry study and prepped for her Monday lab. We walked over to the Celtic Knot for lunch, where I had a ploughman’s lunch, which is cheese, bread and salad. Oddly, the music was Cajun. It’s not a completely authentic Irish pub, though, because it lacks one food we encountered at every pub we visited in Ireland: nachos.

I downloaded a free app for the Mac called Jing, and used it to make a demo video of my ed2go processing app, which I sent off to see if there is any interest in it; it’s sure saved me a lot of time over the past few months.

For dinner we tried a place called the Chef’s Station that is under the train station. They have a nice outside area and it was a beautiful evening. Good food, used to be the highest Zagat rating in Evanston, but I suspect The Stained Glass has surpassed it. On the way to dinner we crossed through a bike race, with the pace car, a hundred cyclists and a chase motorcycle going round and round downtown Evanston.

The Doobie Brothers and Chicago

I walked up to Windy City Garden Center on Green Bay Road. It’s basically a fenced lot with some tables of flowers. My goal was to find some flowers to put into the two planters where the seeds I planted are doing nothing (the third planter now has little sprouts coming up). So I bought a flat of impatiens and carted them back in the wheeled shopping basket and planted them. It’s nice to have a bit of color on the porch. I asked the guy at the garden center if anything I could plant would come back after the winter. He just laughed.

Dani felt good about her chemistry midterm.

In the evening we went to The Stained Glass (superb, as always) and then caught a limo to the Charter One Pavilion on the shore of Lake Michigan to see The Doobie Brothers and Chicago. The important members of both bands are still kicking, and it was a good show, and we had excellent seats, fifth row center (ear plugs required). The best part was the last half hour, when all sixteen members of the two bands came on stage and played non-stop hits.

Brussel Sprouts Are Edible. Who Knew?

I walked down to Jewel and bought their pesticide-laced bananas because they taste better than Whole Foods‘ organic ones. On the way back I spent an hour at Cafe Mozart sipping coffee and reading articles from Instapaper, including an interesting one about an art forger named Biro. Then at whole Foods I picked up supplies to make basil chicken and oven roasted brussels sprouts, which turned out surprisingly good.

Spiaggia

We took advantage of having a car and drove North to Wilmette, a rather tony suburb, where we had lunch at Hackney’s, an old fashioned restaurant that reminded me of the places we used to go when I was a kid. Next door we shopped at Trader Joe’s, and then stopped at Sam’s Club.

For dinner we went to Spiaggia, which is supposed to be the best Italian/Continental restaurant in Chicago, although it is owned by Levy Restaurants, which is a bit worrisome. Spiaggia was good, not life changing. The place is a bit like Per Se, but with an Italian focus. Their tasting menu had an interesting theme, of the development of balsamic vinegar, with each course using a vinegar from farther along in the life cycle. The wine pairings were mostly so-so. It was a nice evening.

James Taylor and Carole King

Dani said that her final exam went well. It took all three hours for her to do it and check it.

We rented a car and picked up the footstools I bought at World Market, which are very nice.

It’s really a challenge to find a place to park the car, though. I think we’ll use it tomorrow and then return it rather than try to figure out what to do with it until Sunday.

We drove down to little Italy and strolled up and down restaurant-laden Taylor street, finally choosing Francesca’s. Great choice. We had an authentic Italian meal, a great bottle of Barbera, and one of the best desserts I’ve ever had, an ice cream and nut and caramel and Oreo crust concoction that combined salty, bitter, sweet, warm, cold, crunchy and soft all in each amazing bite. The restaurant was packed, with many patrons headed for  the same concert.

After dinner, we went to United Center to see James Taylor and Carole King.  What a terrific concert they put on. It’s amazing that he’s 62 and she’s 68! They played for three hours, with their original band from their 1971 Troubador show plus many others. I had forgotten how many hits she wrote, all the way back to 1960. The concert had robotic video cameras all over the arena, high def screens, LED walls, and good sound (for an arena). Yet even with probably 20,000 people, it seemed quite intimate, and it was clear that they were really enjoying playing, and enjoying the enthusiastic audience response. Dani really enjoyed it, too.

Let’s Celebrate By Blowing Stuff Up

A quiet 4th at the condo, particularly since the Comcast cable/telephone/Internet was out for seven hours. It hasn’t been quiet on the street, though, with sirens every 15 minutes or so.  Lots of people busy blowing off their fingers, I suppose.

We grilled burgers and had Dani’s special 4th of July cake for dinner.

Last night there was a Disney-quality fireworks show visible from the balcony. It must have been up at the stadium. Tonight the crowds headed past the condo for the show at Clark Street Beach. It was a surprise benefit of Dani’s condo that we could see the whole show from the balcony. They were really close, and really big.

All The World’s a Stage

Today was pretty quiet, working at home. I walked up to the Theatre and Interpretation Center to exchange some tickets because Dani wants to go to a drama in Chicago this weekend. On the way home I dodged a troop of kids being shepherded on bicycles (there seem to be a lot of kids’ activities in town and at Northwestern) and swung past Whole Foods to get ingredients for several dinners. Tonight I made shrimp and pasta primavera, which turned out pretty good.

We’ve been trying to puzzle out who’s who in Dani’s Shakespeare picture, All The World’s a Stage, by James Christensen. I finally gave up and opened it up to extract the key. Linda bought the signed print for Dani when we visited Shakespeare’s birthplace.