Publico and Tony Desare

My friend T, whom I met on my Grand Canyon trip, came to town recently for dinner and a concert with S and me.

We met for eats at Publico, a tapas-style place in the Loop.  We had the half-chicken, an open-faced quesadilla, and the avocado arapes, as well as flan for dessert.  They were all tasty, but I will say that some of them (the chicken and the quesadilla) were difficult to divide between the three diners.  For a place that is designed for sharing, that should be thought through a little more thoroughly!  I had a couple of cocktails off their specialty menu as well, which were good but not the best I've had.

Then we were off to the Sheldon for the Tony Desare concert.  I didn't know much about him before I saw him on the Sheldon's concert calendar, but when the concert is titled, "From Sinatra to Prince," it gets my attention.  And that's really what the show was: a jazzy review of popular music from the 1920s to the present.  Tony plays the piano, and he was accompanied by a 7-string guitarist, as well as a stand-up bass player (apparently a local guy he met that day at the cabaret festival which brought him to town).  He has a lovely singing voice, as one would expect from such a character, and a corny and slightly geeky stage presence.  The show was a ton of fun, with a fair amount of audience interaction, and we all really enjoyed it.

Tony puts a lot of his stuff up on YouTube, in case you're interested.

Random Links

Cumberbunnies.  For real.

The trouble with dams.

Injuries of a different caliber.

Stop Grand Canyon development.

Dunkin' Donuts power rankings.

The Neil DeGrasse Tyson you didn't know.

Blog Changes

Yesterday, I was messing around on my Blogger site, and accidentally made some template changes to my blog.

I liked it the way it was before and really felt no compelling need to change it, but now that it's done I can't seem to figure out how to undo it, and it appears that the polka-dot pattern that I had before is no longer available.

So, as with all good things, they change.  I may continue to futz around with the design a bit until I'm satisfied with the new version, but fear not - the blog will go on!

And, a bit of excellent news: remember how I used to post my random links in the sidebar, rather than as blog posts in batches of six?  The sidebar (which I long ago gave up on) is working again!  So now -- except for tomorrow's post, which is already scheduled to publish -- you will find my Random Links to right!  Yay!

What I Watched -- My Dinner with Andre

My Dinner with Andre is one of those cult classic films that everyone knows about, but very few people have actually seen.  Until recently, I was one of those people.

The movie "stars," if you can call it that, Wally Shaun and Andre Gregory.  The whole film is the two of them having dinner and talking.  It's mostly Andre who does the talking, and it is mostly blather.  He talks fast, about obscure places he's been to try to cure this disease or experience that awakening.  Very professorial, navel-gazing type stuff.  There is an interesting bit at the end where Andre talks about really knowing yourself, examining your likes and dislikes, your motivations, and making sure you're not just an actor in your story, but that you're really living.  That part was worth listening to.

The whole thing is available here, if you want to check it out

Bottom line: other than the part about knowing yourself, it was mostly like listening to a spoiled rich kid try to make his less-wealthy friend feel bad about all the things he didn't get to do on his summer vacation.

Talk amongst yourselves; I'll give you a topic...

You get the unexpected opportunity to go back to sleep after an early-morning obligation is cancelled.  You can't fall asleep to save your life.

As soon as the alarm goes off, you drift off with no trouble, and oversleep by 45 minutes.

Discuss.

Edibles & Essentials

I met a couple of girlfriends at Edibles & Essentials recently for dinner.

It's a small place, with a small menu, but the cocktails were well-crafted, the food was tasty, and the shelves - though a bit sparsely stocked - were carefully curated.

First, the cocktails.  I had a maple old fashioned.  Or two.  Enough said about that.  There were also a jalapeno margarita and a rum-based cocktail on the menu, neither of which I tried.  The bottles behind the bar, though few, were quality.

We were there on a Monday, and they have a prix fixe option, which I took advantage of.  My selections were the wedge salad, pulled pork sandwich, and a homemade Moroccan snickerdoodle cookie.  Nothing absolutely killer, but all quite tasty.

The shelves and refrigerator cabinet contained a range from fresh local eggs to corkscrews.  The selections were not plentiful, but they were thoughtful without being snooty.  For example, the spice section had some hipster craft blends, but also Old Bay.

Here's to not taking yourself too seriously.

Shalimar the Clown

E came in town for our annual summer opera. Her pick was a world premier: Shalimar the Clown.

The thing about a world premiere is that you never know how the staging is going to work out.  In addition to that, this particular show is based on a Salman Rushdie book, which I had not read, so other than reading the synopsis (which, in fairness, is pretty comprehensive), I had no background for the show.

I thought they did a wonderful job.  It's a fairly classic tale of love and revenge.  What makes it interesting is that it's set in both Pakistan and Los Angeles.  There is a little bit of Hindu-Islam conflict at the beginning, but that quickly fades in favor of the tale of a scorned lover's revenge.

The big surprise to everyone, E and me included, was that Salman Rushdie appeared on stage at the end of the show, which closed to thunderous - and well-deserved - applause.

What I Watched -- Hello, My Name is Doris

S and I Redboxed Hello, My Name is Doris this past weekend.  It was slightly pathetic, and a little bit cute, and also weirdly inspiring.

The title character is played by Sally Field, who did a phenomenal job as a 60-something part-time hermit, 3/4-time hoarder who develops a crush on a much younger coworker, and decides to go for it after attending a self-help seminar.

**SPOILER ALERT**   Things end predictably, but Doris's brief crush inspires her to shake things up in her life a bit.

Other than Sally Field's performance, there isn't a whole lot to the movie.  The object of her crush, John, is played by Max Greenfield.  I know he's been in other things, but the only thing I know him from is New Girl.  His performance is fine, but his task in the movie was easy.

Bottom line: a light flick that you could fall asleep during and not miss much.

Goals -- Progress Update

Garden: Look, things are growing!

I got a late start due to my Grand Canyon trip, so I don't know how much harvest I'll get, but it's still fun to see things getting bigger.

In the raised bed are tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, basil, chives, lemon balm, and mint.  The mint is shortly going to get pulled out and put into its own pot, to keep it contained.  S sent me a picture the other day of some little tiny tomatoes, which I'll post soon.  Yay!

Planted around the outside of the garden I had two marigold plants and two lavender plants, to help keep the pests away.  Well, it turns out that one of the worst pests of all, Japanese beetles, are not the least bit put off my marigolds.  I have pulled so many of them off of one of my marigold plants -- but just the one; they have left the other one alone.  I am fighting to save one of the lavender plants, which ended up in sort of a soggy spot in the yard and was drowning.  I pulled it out and potted it, so it gets better drainage.  We'll see if it makes it.

I started two little spruce trees in pots early in the season.  One died from drought while I was gone, but two seem to be doing pretty well.

The canna plants out front are also being attacked by the Japanese beetles, so I have been dutifully killing the bugs and spraying the plants every chance I get.  S got me some organic, food-safe beetle spray, so I can use it on my veggie plants if needed.  They already did so much damage to one of my basil plants that I just pulled it out and tossed it.

There are also a few wildflowers popping up from all the seeds L planted in the cul de sac, but I still have to decide what to do along the front walk.  Maybe more canna plants in the spring, if I can get the beetles under control.

Gym: no progress.  I've been enjoying the out-of-doors!

Craft table: my original plan for a craft table I believe has changed a bit, but it's still in the air, so no news yet.

Recipes: S ran my typewriter back by the shop, and I have typed a few more recipes since getting it back.  It seems to be in better repair, although I have to get better about actually using it.  Perhaps this weekend, since it's supposed to rain.

S found me a lovely cedar log that he is going to make me a recipe box out of, and it is currently drying out in the garage.

Pictures: still nothing.

Olive + Oak

S and I bagged our plan to go climbing one day last week in favor of dinner at Olive + Oak, one of the hip, new(ish) spots around town.

A caution: the restaurant is incredibly noisy.

A tip: it is on Lockwood in Webster Groves, which is a lovely place to sit at the sidewalk tables and watch the cyclists go by.

It was a bit warm to be outside on the evening we were there, but if the door was opened just right we got a nice blast of A/C that cooled us off. A spring or fall evening might be a better night to go.

As for the food: we started with the beef carpaccio, which was good, and it's a shame to say that the big takeaway from it was how good the bread was. It was brushed with olive oil and grilled. It had just the right amount of crunch - enough to give it texture, but not so much that it cut up the inside of your mouth the way day-old baguette does. It had a good, smoky flavor from the grill, but was not over-charred.

We mentioned to the server how much we liked it, so she brought out some of their regular bread and butter. It was rye bread, which I'm not normally a fan of, but this was pretty good. The butter was 1) soft, 2) very salty, and 3) herb-infused. In my book, that's a winner on all three counts. I might need to reconsider rye bread if it comes with delicious butter all the time.

We each had a pork sandwich as our main course; the menu was seafood and pork heavy.  I had the Hog, which it appears by looking at the menu now, changes periodically.  My version had slightly overcooked pork, which I overlooked in favor of the delicious fried green tomato that was on it also.  S got the Dip, but we both agreed that mine was tastier.

For dessert, we got vanilla ice cream over mascerated peaches, with ginger basil cookies. So wasn't a fan of the cookies, but I liked them and ate every last bit.

All in all, a win, if you can sit outside. I won't be going in the winter.

Happy 4th of July