Chicago Day 2 - Navy Pier

After a casual breakfast, we went totally tourist style today and headed to Navy Pier. Ferris wheel, lake cruise, lunch, the whole 9 yards.

We got on the brown 'L' line and headed to town; switched to the red line after a bit; got off downtown near the Magnificient Mile and walked over to Navy Pier which juts out into Lake Michigan.

After a little bit of a walk around we decided it was time for lunch. We figured since we were in Chicago, Harry Caray's bar was the place to go. For those of you not in the US, Harry Caray was the long time broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs baseball team. His trademark expression was "Holy Cow" which he would shout whenever something amazing (or semi-amazing) happened on the field.

Holy Cow!

Since I had the camera, I took advantage.

The adorable couple. Henriët made Andrew tone down the
shenanigans when it was time for a picture

After lunch it was time to ride the 15 story Ferris Wheel. This thing is huge; we could see it all the way from Andrew's old place up in Lake View.

Waiting in line

Up, up, up they go.

After the ride, we walked to the end of the pier. Along the way we saw a bar with flags of many countries.

Nice juxtaposition of SA and USA flags

Carla, Henriët, and Andrew at the end of the pier.

There was a nice cool breeze out at the end of the pier; Andrew and Henriët said it was beautiful weather; I'm glad we weren't here when it was hot.

Then we went on a short cruise up the shore of Lake Michigan. It really afforded a nice view of the skyline.

Navy Pier in the foreground with the City of Big Shoulders behind.

A view of East Chicago from the tour boat.

Coming back to the pier. The tall building with 2 towers is the Hancock Building

From here we took the Lake Shore Path south toward Grant Park. Lollapalooza was going on so there was a mass of people around. Grant Park is Henriët's office this summer; she is a member of the Grant Park Symphony Chorus this summer. We'll see a concert next Friday. When we got to Millennium Park (part of Grant Park) we were hungry again so we headed over to "Hot Woks, Cool Sushi". It was a hot day so we all opted for sushi.

Making dinner plans in front of "The Bean" at Millenium Park

Dinner! I got the picture before we started eating for a change.

 Tomorrow morning we'll head up to Egg Harbor in Door County, Wisconsin. This is a peninsula that juts up between Lake Michigan and Green Bay. Not sure if we'll have internet up there; posts may not come until early next week.

First Day in Chicago

We had a nice flight from P-Town to the Windy City and Andrew was there to pick us up. Henriët had rehearsal and met us at home shortly after we got there.
We spent a few minutes hanging out.

Carla brought her needlepoint; Andrew is hanging out 

Henriët hanging with me on the couch wearing a beautiful Africa shirt

I'm working a crossword puzzle

After a bit we headed downtown for dinner. Henriët is part of a South African expatriate group. Through the group she heard about Cafe Dodo; a little diner that occasionally spends a month or so on new cuisines. We were lucky enough to be in town when they are doing South African food.

The waitstaff were great. I wish we wouldn't have dug in so fast. I didn't get any pictures of the plates.

The menu lent itself to having a number of small and large dishes and sharing family style. They even renamed the cafe for the South African theme!

As appetizers we had biltong, black-eyed pea salad, and carrot salad. The black-eyed peas were fantastic, as was the biltong; we got 2 orders of biltong to take home.
For dinner we had small dishes of umfino which were similar to collard greens, and mealie pap which are kind of like grits. but better. They were very creamy and tasty. For large plates we had the ginger beef ribs, groundnut stew, and potjiekos. My favorite was the groundnut stew. I tried to keep it by my plate so the others couldn't get to it. We were not big fans of the potjiekos; Henriët and Andrew say it was way too dry; it should have been much more stew-like

For dessert we had Melktart. They've been working on this dish for a couple of months and keep getting hints from the South Africans who eat there. They obviously were paying attention as it was delicious.

Sorry I didn't get pictures of the plated food; I'll work on it.

After we got back we wanted to stretch our legs a bit so took a walk over to Lincoln Square which is about 1/2 mile from their place.

As when I visited in May, there was a festival going on with a fun band and lots of people hanging out.

Our plan for tomorrow is to hit Navy Pier and take a cruise up the short of Lake Michigan. Henriët has rehearsal at 7:00 PM so we get to spend the day together.

Summer Vacation 2011 - Day 1 (or is it 2 or 3)

Wednesday August 3, 2011


As noted in yesterday's entry, we opted out of the train when it became apparent the ride from Portland to Spokane would be on the bus and the rest of the ride might face delays up to 12 hours. We decided that for all the money it costs, we want our train travel to be perfect. So we got a refund and made plane reservations. I admit it's hard to give up the train travel this time because I was so looking forward to it.

We made Tuesday and Wednesday "Staycation" days. Tuesday we went to the movies and saw Friends With Benefits: a romantic comedy with Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake. It was fun. Seems to me that Mila is the one member of "That 70's Show" who has gone on to real acting. I don't count Ashton Kutcher because he seems more of a celebrity than a movie star. I like the definition of celebrity as someone who is "famous for being famous"; that about sums up Ashton. I like Topher Grace as well but other than "Wing Man" with Harrison Ford I haven't seen him in anything. And that woman who played "Donna"? Worst actor ever.

Wednesday we went back to the Cinetopia at Progress Ridge and saw the Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris. Owen Wilson did a great job playing the "Woody Allen" role. This was the better of the two movies IMHO. We watched this movie in one of the "parlours" at Cinetopia. It was a fun little room with sofas and easy chairs. We chose a sofa in the back; not as comfortable as a traditional movie seat but we did get to put our feet up.

 I hope we get to see Cowboys v. Aliens and Captain America when we are in Chicago.

Our plane leaves early Thursday morning so we thought we'd make a vacation of it. We got reservations at an airport hotel. Starr brought us over after dinner (she is so sweet).

Here is a picture of our room.

It's no sleeper car room, but it does have lots of space, a comfortable bed, and free wi-fi!

We are looking forward to getting to Chicago tomorrow and seeing Andrew and Henriët. We leave 2 days later than the train and will end up beating the train to the Windy City.

I'll be posting as we go along.

Summer vacation! with a monkey wrench thrown in the works

In the grand scale of things, it's not a big deal I suppose. We are headed to Chicago to visit Andrew and Henriët for a week and see her in a concert. Since I was about 10 years old I wanted to take an overnight train; this was to be the time. In the spring we made reservations on the Empire Builder from Portland to Chicago; we splurged and got a large (well large for a train) room with its own bathroom. I've been looking forward to this trip like a kid looks forward to Santa Claus.

Unfortunately, there have been service disruptions this summer. The entire Amtrak route was discontinued for about 6 weeks earlier in the summer. But service restarted in late July and it looked like we would be okay. The train we were to leave on Tuesday August 2 was the return of the Amtrak trip that left Chicago Sunday July 31 headed to Portland. I figured things were going wrong when the westbound train left Chicago over 6 hours late on Sunday. By the time it got to North Dakota it was over 12 hours late. Late last night they cancelled the rest of the trip and worked on getting people on busses to Spokane and Portland,

This meant that there is no train to pick us up this afternoon in Portland. The workaround was to take an 8 hour bus ride to Spokane to catch the train and try to catch the train there. On the train they would have fed us dinner; but not on the bus. Then we would run the risk of another 12 hour delay getting back to Chicago making the kids come pick us up in the wee hours of the morning.

Ummmm; no thanks.

So, we cancelled our reservations. Because of the service disruptions we get a full refund and are working on making alternate arrangements to get to Chicago by Friday.

It's like Christmas vacation but finding out that Santa isn't coming.

We'll still have a blast in Chicago and Wisconsin; but getting there won't be the fun we had planned.

Sunday July 30 - Birthday dinner

We celebrated Christie, Kim, and Dianne's birthday with a barbecue over at the McD's house. Herb did a great brisket with some really nice sauces. The other guys took charge of the rest of the meal (except I think Dianne probably made the cake).

Here are the cooks

Left to right is Norm (Bud), Herb, me, Mark

It was a perfect Oregon summer evening so we got to eat outside on the deck with the overhanging tree. It's a great place for a summer party.

Left to right are Kim, Carla, Herb, Dianne, Mark, me, Christie, and Bud

Great dinner; great group; great discussions.

Pulled Pork for Paul

My nephew Paul was hosting a bachelor party on Friday July 22 and needed to provide dinner. I was sooo touched that he wanted to work with me to cook up some pulled pork. Best compliment of my cooking ever.

 told him to pick up a couple of pork butts and come on over. He made up some barbecue sauce earlier in the week. The plan was to cook them overnight Thursday and have them ready for the faux cambro Friday morning to be pulled in the afternoon. I figured if we were firing up the grill anyway, I might as well cook one as well. Three pork shoulders; most I've ever done at one time.

I mixed up some Chris Lily rub

We injected with some Chris Lily injection (apple juice, water, brown sugar, salt, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce). Then we slapped them on the MAK

 Here's Paul

That water pan really sucks up the heat. After a couple of hours I took out the pan and moved the butts to the bottom rack.

I had to go to work Friday morning so I didn't get "after" pictures.

My first beef brisket

I've finally gained the courage to try my first brisket. I went to Gartner's Meat Market out at 74th and Killingsworth to picke it up. I also picked up a 7 lb pork shoulder I'll be cooking along with a couple my nephew Paul is bringing over to prepare for a bachelor party he is hosting.

The butcher was a big help, showing me the difference between a flat and a full packer. I wanted the full packer so bought a 9.5 pounder. Here it is in the wrapper. It is "choice" grade.

First task is to trim it; it has a thick layer of fat.

Trimming one has been a stumbling block. Oh well, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. The goal was to leave a 1/4" layer. Well, in some places that worked and in others, not so much.

I trimmed some of the silverskin from he underside:

I trimmed off that bit on the lower left side after taking the picture.

I put it back in the refrigerator to rest and mixed up some of Meathead's Big Bad Beef Rub.

Around 7:00 Saturday night I'll inject the brisket with some beef broth, rub it and slap it on the MAK's upper rack over a water pan. It will cook at 225* overnight.

Here it is after it's been injected with beef broth.

Then a light film of vegetable oil and the rub is put on

On the smoker. That's a chunk of lemon with a smoker probe plugged through it. Two temp probes; I'll probably get confused. Like Lewis Carroll said "a man with 1 watch knows what time it is; a man with 2 watches is never really sure".  

OMG. That took a long time to cook. 7:30 at night until noon  Sunday. The temp was 15 - 20 degrees cooler on the upper grate than the built in probe measure. 

Here it is about 8:30 after I removed the water pan and moved the brisket ot the lower grill. I don't think I'll be making lemonade with that lemon.

at 10:00 in the morning it hit 181 so I put it in a pan with some beer; then covered with foil to let it steam a bit.

Out of the cooker at noon. Wrapped it in a double layer of foil and put in a towel filled cooler where it will sit a few hours.

Remember that little nub I trimmed off yesterday; I just ate it and its like buttah.

After sitting in the cooler for about 4 hours, I busted it out.

I split the point from the flat as best I could and sliced up the changes

The flat is on the far right; it's a bit tough. But the slices from the point and the thicker part of the brisket were like butter. I was pretty worried about this cook, but I'm pretty satisfied.

Dinner is served. Carla is up in Victoria with her sisters so I dined alone.

Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand

The complete title is:
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

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 crew mates 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.

This isn't one of the great works of literature or biography but it is a fascinating glimpse into the POW experience under Japanese control. I couldn't wait to get home from work every day to read until bed time.

Laura Hillenbrand also wrote the book Seabiscuit that was turned into a movie. Her writing isn't like Richard Russo, or David Halberstam, or Larry McMurtry where my first thought upon finishing is "I've got to find another book by this author" But it is very enjoyable. I imagine it will be turned into a movie in the next year or so.

I've got it if you want to borrow it.

Friends over for a BBQ

Sunday July 10, 2011

Summer, beautiful summer. The day was gorgeous. We invited our friends/neighbors the Watsons and Lees over for dinner and I thought I'd do some baby back ribs, potato salad, and corn on the cob. It was a chance to bust out all 3 of my grills: the MAK smoker, the Weber kettle (for the corn), and the Weber gasser (for finishing the ribs).

It's best to have the barbecue sauce made a day ahead of time so the ingredients can meld. I made some Kansas City sauce which is a little sweet, but people love it.

I haven't blogged about this sauce before, so I'll go through the process. First line up the ingredients.

The wet stuff goes together, the onion is diced fine, and the chili powder and garlic are held aside for later in the sauté

 Sauté the onions in a little oil for about 5 minutes; then add the garlic for a minute, then add the chili sauce for about 2 minutes. A nice aroma is emanating from the kitchen.

Add the wet ingredients, whisk and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Then pass through a fine mesh strainer to remove the onion bits; we just want the onion essence. Some people like the chunks o' onion in the sauce. I like it a bit smoother. I forgot the tamarind paste today. If you make this sauce,use the tamarind paste. It's delicious as is, but the tamarind takes it to another level.

I've been pretty happy with my ability to turn out consistent ribs. The night before Carla and I unwrapped 2 packets of 3 ribs each she  picked up from Costco and rubbed them down with Meathead's Magical Meat Dust then wrapped in plastic wrap. After a walk Sunday morning, I unwrapped the ribs and let them come up to room temperature while the MAK warmed up.

Onto the smoker. The smoker was set to "Smoke"for 30 minutes then raised up to 250* for about 5 hours. I've used a water pan the past couple of smokes and I'm happy with the results. I also did a new thing this time and spritzed them with apple juice a few times.

Then the 2nd best part of barbecue. I sat down on the deck and read a book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. This is a fantastic book about a guy in WWII who... well, read the book or wait until my book report on it. It has 5 stars on Amazon with over 1,400 reviews.

Sitting on the deck watching the MAK do its thing.

Five hours later, more or less. This picture makes them look much redder than they were. At this point, I've removed the water pan and am preparing to grill them. 

To finish, I turn on the Weber gasser to medium high, slather some of my sauce on the ribs and grill them, monitoring them closing to make sure they don't burn. This gets a nice crust on them.

Smelling good in the neighborhood.

Ready for cutting. 

Meanwhile, the Lees (Karen and John on the left) and Maryann and Jay came over with beers and wine.

They had a busy day. Karen and Mary Ann spent the morning in a triathlon up in Federal Way, Washington benefiting Ovarian Cancer research. I hope one of them comments on this page giving the link. Then the Watsons went to the Timbers soccer game. A full day for them.

Dinner is served

 I totally messed up and didn't get pictures of grilling the corn. Doing the corn like this was fantastic. After grilling a few minutes, we brushed them with a little melted butter. The sauce is served on the side.

After dinner we had ice cream and strawberries on the deck (well on a table on the deck)

Radical Grace

I recently finished reading Rob Bell's Love Wins and Marcus Borg's Speaking Christian. My understanding of and belief in the concept of radical grace grows stronger and stronger. Simply stated, radical grace is the idea that God loves us wholeheartedly and has no intention of letting us go to hell.

The problem over the past 50 or so years, as Borg points out, is that our scientific, western culture expects everything to be factual and provable by the scientific method. A literal, factual interpretation of the bible was never expected; the notion would have been very foreign to the first century Christians who wrote the books that became the New Testament. They had a rich use of metaphorical language.

In the 20th and 21st centuries we've become very rigid on what is truth and knowledge. We come to understand truth as "facts",  as things that could be videotaped or otherwise documented as really happening in the physical world. This leads us to take the bible as a literal, factual transcribing of events and speeches. This literal/factual interpretation ends up making it difficult to compare different stories on the same topic in different books of the New Testament.

The other trend that springs from this tenet over the past 50 or so years is that God will turn his back on us if don't think and say and believe the right words. If we do wrong we go to hell, forever: one trip, no return. My problem with this heaven-and-hell dichotomy  is that it puts the emphasis on the wrong part of our relationship with God and Jesus. We end up in a one-on-one relationship, worried so much about believing the right things and spending all our time on this one topic. Jesus really had a lot to say about this. The Pharisees are the ones who spent time trying to follow God's rules spending their lives worrying about not associating with the wrong (non Jews) rather than on distributing justice in the world. This takes their minds and hearts away from the work that needs to be done in this world to make it a better place: feed the hungry, heal the sick, clothe the naked.

I've been thinking of two bible verses when considering this topic

The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37)
Jesus tells the parable of the man walking between towns who was beaten and robbed. A Jewish priest and a Jewish lay associate both crossed the road to pass him by. It was an unclean, hated, foreigner; a Samaritan who helped the beaten man.

This means, to me, that Jesus is rejecting the notion that we need to spend all our effort focusing on the supposed rules God has set out for us. What is important is helping others; actually doing the work of God in the world.

Over and over again we see the key story of Jesus. He rejects the teachings and lifestyle of the hyper-religious Pharisees to work with the needy people of the world. He works to bring about distributive justice which will bring peace (rather than peace through military force). He is focusing on morality, not theology.  He consistently associates with and dines with the very people the Pharisees (leading religious leaders of the day) had to connection to.

Spending your time following God's supposed rules in order to get to a future promised land later takes us out of the world of need today. I don't see this as God's will

The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)


This story answers the question of whether God ever gives up on us and consigns us to hell. A man's son takes the unusually bold step of asking for his part of his inheritance and strikes off on a life of his own. Eventually he squanders all that his father gave him and is reduced to living with pigs (not a great thing if you are a Jew). He sees the error of his ways and sets his mind and heart on reconnecting with this father. As he comes back it is evident that his father has been faithfully looking for his wayward son every day since he left. It isn't as though the son left and the father forgot him and let him go. He was always there on the lookout waiting for the son to return.

The son gives up on the father just as we may give up on God. We consign ourselves to our own hell But God's love is steadfast, neverending, always watching. Who is to say once we die that God gives up on us? When we are ready to see God, God will be there for us.

Literal Factual Stories?
A note on the two parables. If we are to believe that the Bible is literal and factual, then are we to believe that Jesus was just relating two interesting events here? Did these two events actually take place? Could we have videotaped it if we had the recording equipment? I don't think so; if Jesus is just relating a couple of stories from the news, these stories have nothing to tell us. If they are stories crafted to give us a bigger, richer meaning of life and our connection to God, they mean so much more.

Demoting sin as the dominant metaphor for our relationship with God (Borg p 140)
Borg argues that sin is but one of several images for the human condition. Other images are the release from bondage in Egypt and their return from exile in Babylon.
"The ancestors of the Jewish people were not in slavery because they had sinned. As slaves, what they needed was not forgiveness, but liberation. Imagine that the story offered them forgiveness, but left them in bondage. That would be a very different story"(Borg p 140)

Similarly the story of exile in Babylon shows the primary image used for their predicament was exile, not sin.  Though sin may have played a part, What they needed was not forgiveness, but a path out of exile. (Borg p 140)

I think sin is not the primary problem of many people today. I think of people who were victims of abuse as children or in relationships. When they go to church where the focus is on sin rather than rescue, they take that problem and put it on themselves making them feel unworthy of love. They need liberation from bondage, not just forgiveness of sins (Borg p 151).  No wonder so many churches are dying away.

My Conclusion
God loves us and wills us to lead lives where we take this notion of love and put it in place throughout the world. Instead of spending our lives worrying and trying to believe the right words, believe in God's love and go out and spread some of it around, like Jesus did. "If the Christian life is not about measuring up [sin], then what is it about? It is about liberation from that concern so we can particiapte in God's passion for transformation - of ourselves and the world"(Borg p. 156)

One paragraph in Borg's Speaking Christian gets to the heart of the matter of the problem I see today with evangelical Christian churches.

"Heaven-and-hell Christianity with its focus on the afterlife and its individualism obscures the dream of God for this world. God's Word became flesh in Jesus not to take us out of this world, but to redeem this world. Recall that redeem means to liberate from slavery - to liberate the world from its bondage to the powers that obstruct God's dream of a transformed world""