Timbers Game Redux

As some of you know I made a vow when they kicked the Beavers baseball team out of the stadium so it could be revamped for soccer I found never to go to a soccer game there. Well that lasted a little more than a year. My sister Laura is visiting this week. She thought that one of the Portland things to do would be to go to a game. Her son (my nephew) Christopher is a photographer for the Portland Tribune; he was able to score some press passes for us; so even though the game was sold out, we got in.

How fun! We more or less had the run of the place; but my pass wouldn't get me down to the field, though I had access to anywhere else in the stadium including the press box and locker room.

Timber games are sold out; I heard that this was a real happening but had no idea. There were more people at this one game than attended a season of Beaver's games the past few years. The Timbers' Army has to be seen to be believed. They sit in a general admission section in the north end zone. In baseball terms this is down the 3rd base line. We arrived about 1/2 hour before the game and they were standing, singing, chanting, waving flags; a few thousand people having a great time.

I posted an entry from my iPhone but the pictures are kinda, icky. I'll see if I can adjust them to make the people look normal.

Good thing I took my Canon PowerShot S95. I must say though I got some looks with my little camera while standing next to Christopher with his gigantic telephoto lens.

When we first arrived we headed down close to the field in the south end where Chivas USA was warming up.

Laura and Christopher

Chivas USA players warming up pre game

 The Timbers army was in the north end but a guy next to us was doing his part waving a Scottish flag and displaying his scarf. The Scottish flag is waved to honor the coach who is coach (as I understand it). Scarves are a big part of the game. At then end of every bar of the National Anthem everyone waves them very briefly. Dozens of styles are available for sale all around Portland

A scouting party for the Timbers' Army

The obverse side of the scarf

 Go figure; 20,000+ people at the game and who walks in right in front of us? My sister-in-law Linda and her date Dick. They had no idea I was going, and are pretty well versed in my (previous) feelings about soccer, so they were a little surprised to see us. But happily surprised? Look at the picture and you judge.

Linda and  Dick at the game.

One thing that didn't dawn on me is that having a press pass is different from having a seat. That was lesson 1 of the night. Just after taking the picture the rightful owners of the seats we were in came to claim their spot. Christopher went to work while Laura and I wandered around; we found a place to stand near the $150 seats!

Christopher at work. Kneeling at corner of the log stand with a white camera lens.

The Timbers won 1-nil. Here is a small part of the Army after the goal.

Timbers' Army cheering after a goal

For the second half we made our way up to the press box.  Christopher filled us in on the 2nd lesson of press access: no cheering in the press box. Quite a different take on the game; great view but very quiet. Laura and I had a blast yelling and cheering the first half; this was quite different.

Upper row of the press box at Jeld-Wenn field

All in all a great time. Who knows season tickets might be fun. They are way cheaper than Blazer tickets are and the energy is a lot of fun.

Timbers game with a press pass

Note: The pictures I uploaded from the iPhone app are pretty squished. I've imported them into iPhoto and am replacing with the better version. I need a new iPhone blogger tool. Anyone have any suggestions?

My nephew Christopher works for The Portland Tribune and got press passes for Laura and me to the Timbers game

Pretty sweet set up

Looking north toward the Timbers' Army

My sister Laura

Laura and Christopher

Chivas USA during warm up

 2nd half we moved up to the press box

From the press box

Laura, Christopher, and Lauren over for dinner

Sunday August 21

My sister Laura came up from Texas to visit Carr and Christopher. After a few days in Washington with Carr, Christopher and Laura came down to Portland. They called late afternoon and I asked them over for dinner; Christopher's girlfriend Lauren joined us. I was working on some jerked pork with cole slaw and corn on the cob. I was thinking it would be just Carla and me but what the heck. They brought over a few brats, some wine, and a big ol' watermelon.

I picked up the Dinosaur Bar B Que  book by John Stage and Nancy Radke a while back after hearing so much about the joint in upstate New York from a couple of guys in the office who hail from Rochester, NY. The first thing that caught my eye was a recipe for jerked pork. I've been wanting to make this dish for some time and figured there is no time like the present. The basis for most of the dishes in the book is the "Mutha" sauce. So before I could start on much, I had to make that on Saturday afternoon.

It's not all food pictures; there are some nice family pictures at the end.

'Mutha' sauce ingredients

A quick simmer

Saturday probably wasn't the best day to start cooking sauces; it was our first 90+ day. But we got to go over to Linda's house to hang by the pool afterward so we got to cool off.
The Mutha sauce is good but a little heavy on the tomato sauce. I think I've made some BBQ sauce that I  like better. But, I made 2 quarts of this stuff; it's good enough to keep using.

All that sauce just to use 1 cup of it for the jerk paste. After getting back from Linda's we made the paste.

Jerk paste ingredients

 I put all those ingredients in the food processor and whirlled 'em up.
Next it was time for the pork. Following the recipe, I took two pork loins and cut each one lengthwise into 3 pieces. The recipe called for 4 pork loins, but I figured it was only Carla and me so I cut it in half.

 After cutting them lengthwise, I flattened them with a mallet then hit it with the edge to make some indentations to hold the paste

Sliced and flattened.

After the cut and paste

Sunday Carla shredded some cabbage and then headed out with her sisters. I made some Asian coleslaw

Asian cole slaw ingredients

Using the shredder for the cabbage made it too small. It kind of broke down a bit.

It was summer so we needed some corn on the cob too. Laura, Christopher, and Lauren brought over some brats and more cord to make sure we had enough to eat. Heck of a note; ask them to dinner then make them bring the food.

I started the brats on a low temp while we brined the corn for just a bit. I lit the coals for the jerked pork in the Weber Kettle. No MAK smoker tonight. After a bit I added the corn to the grill

We ended up having too much fun chatting and what-not and the coals burned down a bit too much. The pork cooked okay but didn't get much of a sear. I haven't really done a lot of cooking over charcoal so still have to work on mastering that.

The jerked pork on the grill

The corn is done. Yum.

The meat is ready. The brats got a bit too much. Again, too much time visiting

 It was a perfect evening for dining al fresco; so we moved outside.

Laura, Lauren, Carla, Christopher

Great watermelon for desert

Eating, sipping, talking

A relaxing time.

We had a great time getting to know Lauren and I don't get to see either of my sisters enough, so that was a treat.

As for the food, I wasn't blown away by the jerked pork; I've got to hunt down another recipe to try. The allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon were a nice start. I think it needed a little more heat and a little more of the paste sticking to the meat.

2011 Book List

I haven't blogged every book I've read this year; let me give my (more or less) mid year book list. These are in the order read from earliest to latest. The links from the titles go to my book reports where you can find links to the books on Amazon should you desire.


Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived 

• Author: Rob Bell
• Publisher: Harper One
• Pages: 224
• Rating: ****
• Quick thoughts

Great book on the theology of Radical Grace. I don't think it is unfair to say that Bell's theology can be summed up by the last two verses of Romans 8 (Romans 8:38-39)

"For I am conviced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord""

Talk about good news. This is where my heart and head is these days.

 A very quick read. Rob Bell is a dynamic speaker; the books isn't as great his speaking style. If you don't want to spend the time reading the book, take 15 minutes out of your day to check out these two videos

• Discussion of the book. Is Ghandi in hell?
• The Lump The youth group showed this to the congregation on youth Sunday a few weeks back.

My book report on this and the next book can be found here.

Speaking Christian

• Author: Marcus Borg
• Publisher: Harper One
• Page: 238
• Rating: *****
• Quick thoughts

My reading notes just say "Awesome" I've loaned this book out so many times I don't know who has it; but I'm glad someone is reading it. Borg takes a look at the usual Christian terminology and looks at those words not as used by the first century Christians, not as we so often use them today in this post-industrial, scientific world. The word "belief" means so much less after the start of the age of reason; it gets second billing under "know". But what did the first Christians mean when they said "believe (they meant something much closer to "belove". This bood will give a whole new perspective on Christianity for many.

We left the Presbyterian chuch about 10 years ago but we are still friends with our old pastor from that church. We had a great discussion over dinner a few weeks ago about Borg; bottom line, Borg and Bell have gone a long way to helping me get closer to Christ. 

Very Good, Jeeves

• Author: P.G. Wodehouse
• Publisher: Harper, Collins & Row
• Pages: 217
• Rating: **
• Quick thoughts

A group of semi-related short stories from 1926 - 1930 compiled in novel form. If you want to read some Jeeves and Wooster stories, skip this and move on to Right Ho, Jeeves and The Code of the Woosters

Rebirth of a Nation

• Author: Jacskon Lears
• Publisher: Harper Collins
• Pages: 359
• Rating: *
• Quick thoughts

The theme of the book is "Regeneration". The author takes that theme and pushes everything that happened from Reconstruction to World War I into that framework. It's very disjointed, hoping from one topic to another and not really diving into any one aspect of the time in depth.

Thank You, Jeeves

• Author: P.G. Wodehouse
• Publisher: Arrow Books
• Pages: 263
• Rating: ****
• Quick thoughts

Working in novel form rather than short stories really lets Wodehouse stretch out and do what he does best: complications upon comlications; fantastic dialogue.

Unbroken

• Author: Laura Hillenbrand
• Publisher: Random House
• Pages: 398
• Rating: ***
• Quick thoughts

A tremendous biography of Louis Zamperini a young man who ran in the 1936 olympics in Berlin, then joined the Army Air Force at the start of World War II. His plane crashed in the South Pacific in May 1943 and he and two crewmates spent over a month in two rafts in open water beset by hunger, thirst, sharks, exposure, and a strafing. He was then taken prisoner by the Japanese and lived (if that's the word for it) in prison camps until the war was over. 

1959: The Year Everything Changed 

• Author: Fred Kaplan
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Pages: 244
• Rating: ***
• Quick thoughts

Nice book on the pivotal year that was 1959. But it's not like 1959 was the year ALL of it happened; rather, 1959 was a moment in time where a lot of influences in science, music, art, and politics that had been building or were starting to build came together.

Right Ho, Jeeves

• Author: P.G. Wodeshouse
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Pages: 248
• Rating: ****
• Quick thoughts

Here, with his 2nd J&W novel, Wodehouse is at his best.

The Code of the Woosters

• Author: P.G. Wodehouse
• Publisher:  Vintage Books
• Published: 1938
• Pages: 286
• Rating: ****
• Quick thoughts

Fire and Rain: 

• Author David Browne
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Published: 2011
• Pages 334
• Rating: **
• Quick Thoughts:

Unsatisfying. A few glimpses into the breakups of the Beatles, CSNY, and Simon & Garfunkel, but overall a dijointed story. Browne throws a lot of political, musical, and biographical information but it just doesn't seem to be a coherent whole.

Right Ho, Jeeves

Title: Right Ho, Jeeves  [Note: this link points to a different edition than I read]
Author: P.G. Wodehouse
Published: 1934
Publisher: Penguin Books
Pages: 248

The edition I read. Old; no ISBN number

The version available on Amazon

This marks my 8th book of the year! I've reached my annual goal. I gotta say that this winter after I finished the fabulous "Freedom From Fear", I didn't think I'd make it. I struggled through "Rebirth of a Nation and couldn't get in a groove. I hadn't read in weeks and couldn't find something I could really get my teeth into. But then things kind of clicked and I started enjoying reading again.

While on vacation at Andrew and Henriët's I finished "1959: The Year Everything Changed" and thought I was due for something a bit lighter. So, I opened up the next in the Jeeves and Wooster series: Right Ho, Jeeves and settled in on the kids' couch and had myself some fun.

As you may recall, one of my reading sub-goals is to read the entire Jeeves and Wooster catalog in chronological order. Getting through the first sets of short stories was not all I had hoped it would be. Short stories just don't give Wodehouse the range he needs to complicate matters and let loose with dialog and what-not. Here, with his 2nd J&W novel, Wodehouse is at his best. Two couples are having problems with their relationships at a country house. Aunt Dahlia asks Bertie down for help - meaning of course she needs Jeeves. Bertie  is cross with Jeeves over some item of Bertie's wardrobe  and things he can solve the problems better than Jeeves. Of course, it isn't so. The more Bertie tries to fix things up; toward the end he winds up engaged to Madeline Basset (temporarily), Anatole, Dahlia's fantastic cook, has quit (again thanks to Bertie) and....

Jeeves fixes everything at the end very simply.

Of course the reason for reading Wodehouse isn't the plot, it's the writing. If you've never read any Wodehouse let me share just a bit that shows the man's talents. Here is Bertie's Aunt Dahlia after her superb cook Anatolé has quit for the second time, thanks to Bertie. She is resigned to fateand is talking to Bertie.

"'Attila,' she said at length. 'That's the name. Attila the Hun'.

'Eh?'

'I was trying to think who you reminded me of. Somebody who went about strewing ruin and desolation and breaking up homes which, until he came along, had been happy and peaceful. Attila is the man. It's amazing'she said, drinking me in once more. 'To look at you, one would think you were just an ordinary sort of amiable idiot - certifiable, perhaps, but quite harmless. Yet, in reality, you are a worse scourge than the Black Death. I tell you, Bertie, when I contemplate you I seem to come up against all the underlying sorrow and horror of life with such a thud that I feel as if I had walked into a lamp post''

  [p 205, Chapter 20]

This is a perfect summer read; easily read over a lazy weekend on the back deck.
 I can't say this forcefully enough. If you've never read and of these Jeeves and Wooster books, pick one up and read it. For starters, I recommend this one, or the next in line "The Code of the Woosters".

1959: The Year Everything Changed

Title: 1959: The Year Everything Changed
Author: Fred Kaplan
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

This is a nice book on the pivotal year that was 1959. But it's not like 1959 was the year ALL of it happened; rather, 1959 was a moment in time where a lot of influences in science, music, art, and politics that had been building or were starting to build came together.

It's definitely a good description of how the old rules in whatever discipline broke down and the new "no rules" came along. In the arts the jazz broke the rules in a couple of ways. Dave Brubeck recorded "Time Out" which breaks the old rules of 4/4 time. All the tracks do weird things with the time of bars and measres. Also Miles David recorded "Kind of Blue" which broke the binds of chord structure. On our recent trip to Chicago I listened to both of these albums with Andrew and he described some of what was going on. I'm not conversant enough with jazz to fully understand, how it all works, but I do "get" how the old box of music time and chords was broken down. In popular music Berry Gordy started MoTown records.

The boundaries of obscenity were lowered with the overturning of the ban on "Lady Chatterly's Lover". Also, Philip Roth published "Goodbye Columbus"  and excerpts of William Burrought's "Naked Lunch" appeared in Esquire. New forms of expression were moving forward with Alan Ginsberg giving a poetry reading at Columbia University. Most of the Columbia literature department skipped the reading, instead holding a meeting on some departmental matters. Big changes in expression were happening and the old guard was trying to ignore it.

Significant events happened in politics as well that year: Fidel Castro took power in Cuba; the Soviet deputy premier visited the US and Nixon had the "kitchen debate" in Moscow.

Race relations were becoming more radicalized as well. Mike Wallace produced the TV documentary "The Hate that Hate Produced" which was about Malcom X and the Black Muslims. John Howard Griffin disguised himself as a black man and travelled the Deep South for the research of the book "Black Like Me" I remember reading this book in high school. More light was being shone onto the reality of the Black experience with these events and the release of the US Civil Rights Commission's first report detailing racial discrimination in America. We'd see riots in Detroit, Los Angeles and other cities in the coming years.

Science also had its breakthroughs with the Soviet spacecraft Lunik I breaking free of Earth's gravitation. The microchip was invented by Texas Instruments and the first practical business computer went on sale.

Another huge impact on the social fabric of the US and the entire world was the invention of  "The Pill" for birth control.

Sometimes, it seems a bit forced in its using 1959 as "the" year; after all I don't think "On the Road" was published that year. But all in all we see examples throughout our culture where the old rules broke down and new ways of living and thinking moved to the forefront. 1959 can be seen as the pivot point between the "before" and "after".

Direct upload from Picasa

I'm trying various methods of posting things to my blog. This is a test of getting the picture in Picasa, then clicking the "Blog This" gadget.

At Harry Caray's on Navy Pier

Sunday August 14: White Sox game and China Town

Saturday was a very quiet day. We slept in and just lazed around until early afternoon. I posted some blog entries while Henriët, Andrew, and Carla looked at wedding reception venues on the interweb.

Andrew and Henriët looking at wedding reception venues

That afternoon, we did a little shopping. We went to a little local pizza joint for dinner, then Henriët headed downtown for her 2nd performance of "The Book with Seven Seals" at the Grant Park Music Festival. The  rest of us went to Lincoln Square for some ice cream, then headed home to watch "Anything Goes", a 1956 movie with Bing Crosby, Donald O'Conner, Mitzi Gainer, and another actress. Andrew will be directing the music for the Fenwick production of the play and this was supposed to be research. Unfortunately the movie had next to nothing to do with the play other than a couple of the songs. The movie was terrifically awful with the exception of a few of the production numbers with some very, very good dancing.

Sunday Carla and I woke up to the sounds and smells of breakfast. Henriët had purchased boerewors, a South African link sausage. She picked it up at a Naperville butcher who made it on request from some South Africans. It sold well enough that they make it regularly. How sweet and thoughtful of the kids to go all the way to Naperville to pick up this South African treat.

Breakfast is served. Scrambled eggs with peppers, onions and mushrooms; Boerewors is on the plate in the middle

Our lovely daughter-in-law to be

After breakfast it was time for the daily update on the baobab tree.

Henriët showing off her green thumb

A close up of the baobab bonsai

Around 11:45 we headed to the "L" to head into South Chicago for the White Sox game at U.S. Cellular  field.

Baseball fans

Great seats. First level just beyond 1st base

Carla and Howard enjoying the day,

Chicago's China Town is 1 stop north of the ballpark on the red line. So we jumped off and strolled the streets for a bit.

The China Town gate

Looking north with Willis Tower in the background. The ledges we walked on are barely visible on the left of the building

A beautiful mosaic at the edge of China Town

 Back on the "L" platform I got one more skyline shot of the City of Big Shoulders

Looking northeast from the  China Town "L" platform

We'll munch on leftovers for dinner tonight. Tomorrow Andrew has his first day of work. We'll take it easy and Henriët will drive us to O'Hare for our trip home.

The Baobab Tree

The Baobab tree is native to Africa. Here is the Wikipedia entry.  I'm not 100% sure of the spelling; it may be boabab or baobab..

Wikipedia entry

National Geographic image

Henriët's sister has a huge one at her place that they love to climb in. When Andrew and Henriët visited South Africa last winter (summer?) they brought home a couple of seeds. Henriët is going to raise a bonsai version so she can always have a bit of her homeland here.

She planted the seeds a week or so ago and we've all been watching and waiting for it to break through. We even took it with us to Wisconsin so she could keep an eye on it.

Thursday morning it poked its little head above ground; by Friday it was really pushing up:

Saturday morning it was larger still.