• I’m still catching up from four very long and productive days at Computers & Writing. Madelyn got sick the night before the conference, literally; two times I woke to help her throw up, then get cleaned up, settled down, and back to sleep. (Poor girl. Something she ate, I think; she was better a day later.) So I arrived short on sleep, and did nothing to catch up during. A good problem to have: excellent sessions and conversation. Easily the best C&W I’ve attended. I’ll have a more complete post about the conference in a few days.
• The day before the C&C book award was announced for From A to <A>, we were #1,200,000 on their best-sellers. The day after, #141,000. So I guess a few people bought the book right away. Cool.
• In the next few days, I hope to put a few beers now in secondary into bottles: IPA, session pale ale, and spiced pumpkin honey wheat. The Saison Chris and I brewed May 7 is still fermenting away. After a week, it looked dead, but when I racked it, it woke up enough to build up a second krausen. I’ve read that’s typical of the yeast I picked (WLP 565): it has a tendency to stop and start. I hope so; the saison had only moved from 1.054 to 1.032 when I racked it after 12 days. I’d like to see it under 1.020 before bottling.
• My new profile pic on Facebook is this snap from our mothers’ day trip to the Peoria Zoo. We smile with our whole faces!
• We are in minimal child-care zone, now that WIU is out for spring and the girls’ day care is closed. Madelyn will be doing pre-K and YMCA day camp this summer in between our travel, and we’ve planned some playdate trading and babysitter time for the girls as well. For those of you in Macomb, we’re always looking for more of the former…
• Speaking of travel, we’ve planned a three-plus week road trip this summer. Arkansas, where we’ll meet my brother and sis-in-law to camp; northern New Mexico; Pagosa Springs then Denver, Colorado; Rocky Mountain NP, and maybe Rapid City after that. Many miles will be driven, trails hiked, DVDs watched, craft beers consumed.
• Madelyn and Amelia have been getting some grandparent time lately. Bits and Eric were here for five days or so last week, and my parents are coming next week. I’m very pleased about both visits, and I hope for more.
• My running injury troubles are returning, or continuing, depending on the way I think about it. Lately my feet have been bugging me. Erin was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, so that’s on my mind. Suck. I think I need to start another cycle of swim and bike only pretty soon. But I want to finish being a Couch to 5K volunteer first. I haven’t made it out for as many runs as I wanted. Maybe half of them. Regardless, it’s been a lot of fun. Now if my body would just cooperate.
• I’ve been trying to update rsync on our Mac Mini today, which means I need to compile it. Which means I need developer tools. So, credit card in hand, off I go. No. fun. at. all. I can’t believe how shoddy Apple Store / Apple ID / Apple Developer / App Store / iTunes integration is. Trying to get an update for Xcode, I finally got a download started–then realized I had created a new Apple ID, rather than updating my existing one (despite using the same credentials). Great. Now I’ll have to log in and out to update different pieces of software.
• Making ice cream today, I overheated the custard. Gack, scrambled eggs. First time I’ve done that. Well, we get to see if Lebovitz’s prescription for that mistake–into the blender while it’s still hot!–is a winner.

Swirled strawberry & sour cream ice cream

• 1 lb frozen strawberries
• 1/2 c + 3 tbsp sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 2 c cream
• dash of salt
• 1 c sour cream

Thaw strawberries and drain any liquid into a small saucepan. Smash the berries and transfer about half to the saucepan. Add 3 tbsp sugar. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes, stirring as needed, until reduced and thickened. Chill in the refrigerator.

Make a custard with the eggs, cream, salt, and 1/2 c sugar. (See Lebovitz’s directions, from the aforementioned book or his weblog, if you need to.) Add the remaining strawberries and cool in an ice bath. Once cooled, the sour cream, mix well, and chill until thickened.

Churn the ice cream until it sets up. Return to the freezer, and move the strawberry sauce there as well. Stir both occasionally until they are almost hard, then fold the sauce into the ice cream and let it set up. (Don’t stir it too much!)

Madelyn said this was better than chocolate. Now that’s a compliment!

Add that to Lumper’s death and other family matters, and that’s why I wrote on Facebook: Dear September, I see you out there on the horizon. Please be less intense than August. Thanks! With that in mind, let’s shift to the many things in my life which, like my girls, are pleasantly intense:

• I am getting into a good rhythm for sabbatical leave. Each day last week, I did some research and writing, worked on the house, did a little busy work (like sorting old files), and enjoyed some family time. Yes.
• Being on sabbatical and still on campus is a little weird. The usual busy-ness is just a backdrop, not a force pushing me forward. I am not participant, only observer.
• Amelia’s first week of day care went extremely well. She’ll be in Horrabin thre days a week. When I dropped her off Wednesday, one of the student workers laughed, “Here comes the party!”
• Not surprisingly, Madelyn also had a fantastic week, though we had to hold her out Thursday because of pinkeye. She’s over that now (and hopefully I am too). This fall Madelyn will be in four days a week.
• Yesterday I ran 4.25 miles, alternating quarter-miles walking and half-miles running. This morning, none of the foot pain I was dealing with since mid-April. I still have two splinters in my right foot, and those spots hurt a little. But nothing else. My GP should take care of those in a week or so. Hopefully I will be able to continue to add miles and get back to regular running. I have missed it terribly. I’ll be keeping it slow and short for quite a while. No speed work until November, at the earliest.
• Our annual August home repair push, focused on our front and back porches, is almost complete. The front porch is finished, and we’ve got one finish coat left to do on the back porch. I’ll keep investing time in housework every week, but don’t plan any of the 12-hour days I booked in early August any time soon.
• Erin and I ate at Shiloh’s on Saturday, the restaurant which replaced Il Spazio. There were a few more glitches than we’d hoped for, but the food was quite good: I had blackened fish, and it was fresh, well-seasoned, and nicely presented. I hope they make it, given that Macomb continues to be restaurant-challenged.

And now back to that reading and writing.

Travel

• Before I left, it was pouring, and I fell, twisting my right ankle and landing on my left shoulder. They are still swollen and bruised, respectively.
• Instead of the usual US67, I drove IL336/US61 to avoid flooding in southern Illinois. All the creeks and rivers I crossed were swollen and moving fast. Later, I found out I missed flash foods and the closing of US61 in Hannibal by less than two hours.
• Just after Jeff and I began our light rail trip from PDX to downtown Portland, a homeless hipster wearing a suit hopped on the train. He discussed drunken escapades and compared shelters with a fellow who got on a few stops later, then handed out cigarettes to a few people. We saw him two more times during the trip–once smoking a gigantic cigar.
• Best travel experience: a cab ride with Radio Cab’s Bobby A., who drove his cab at 99.9% of its limit and punctuated our conversation with a series of “You guys” and other colorful expressions. My gut hurt from laughing when our trip was finished.
• Our return flight from Denver to St Louis was delayed because of flight crew issues. The Frontier agent herding passengers said to nobody in particular, “This hurts me more than it hurts you–I’m supposed to go home now!” Jeff scowled and fired back, “What? So are we!”
• “We have a full flight. Help us out–we’ll gate check your bag for free,” announced the Frontier agents every time we boarded the plane. Doubly absurd: (1) they want $25 for a bag each way, and are surprised when nearly everyone carries their stuff on; (2) they expect travelers to wrangle bags through security and to the gate–and then check them?
• Going home, I got out of STL at 7.20p. Drove by a few fast food places and decided to skip them all–I bought a quart of milk and drank that instead. Arrived at 10.30pm to a dark house and sleepy girls.

Breaktimes

• On our way to the gardens in Washington Park, we came across the Oregon Holocaust Memorial. Incredible. I thought about it the rest of the day.
• Between pubs Tuesday, Thomas bought a long-sleeve shirt at the American Apparel store, while Jeff and I stood around and looked completely out of place.
• Wednesday morning, we enjoyed R. Crumb’s The Book of Genesis Illustrated and a nice roster of contemporary artwork at the Portland Art Museum. I could have stayed at the museum a lot longer; I particularly liked the photography.
• After a fellow with a oversized hat and neon-green sunglasses walked by us late Tuesday, we begin rating the hipsters we encountered on a 1-10 scale. Portland is thick with ‘em. It would be easy to generate a year’s worth of material for LATFH in a weekend.

Bars and pubs (in order)

Deschutes Brewery Public House: we got there around 7.30p on Tuesday, and it was swamped: line out the front door, and just a few seats at the bar. Excellent beer (cask bitter!) and good food, too–elk meatball appetizer and mussels. Jeff and Thomas got elk burgers.

Henry’s 12th St Tavern: we visited several times since they had a long list and it was close to our hotel, Park Lane Suites. Solid pours, and good service, but very noisy, and too many beers on the list were out. I almost left my laptop there Thursday night; returned to find it hiding under our darkened table. (Whew.)

Laurelwood NW Public House: our first stop Wednesday. We ate on the porch, enjoying a very fine roster of beers which, though they were similar styles, had excellent differentiation. Small samples (3oz), so we got two trays. Thomas particularly liked the red ale; I preferred the Hop Monkey IPA. Very good food; we all opted for the fresh greens with our sandwiches.

New Old Lompoc: our first (and most surprising) disappointment. Nice to see hops growing outside, but the place was very grimy, with people smoking on the patio and sticky menus. Worse, several of the beers had quality issues. We were in and out in less than an hour.

Lucky Labrador Beer Hall: a huge place, almost empty in the early afternoon. I’d been to the original pub on Hawthorne years ago, and remembered that I used to have a Stumptown Porter shirt. Generous samples, almost half-pints. Roots “kolsch” was really a gruit (which is why Thomas and I complained about it). We munched peanuts and enjoyed the “Super Dawg” IPAs.

Living Room Theaters: waiting for Tugboat to open, we stopped here so Thomas could get an espresso, and discovered they had Ninkasi on tap. I had water.

Tugboat Brewing Company: very disappointing. No pale of any kind on tap–in Portland, Oregon?!? Fewer than 10 handles. I liked the cheesy books at the table, and the great slogan: “Small, dependable, hard working”–but no sample pours, and lousy ESB. I left half of my half-pint on the table.

Bailey’s Taproom: across the street and miles ahead of Tugboat, a fairly new place with a very diverse roster of taps (about 20) with one of the few sours we enjoyed on the trip (Cascade The Vine). They offered sample trays, and again we got two, with a super variety of styles: Upright #4 saison, Fourth St Vienna Lager, Cascade Imperial Wheat IPA.

Harborside Pilsner Room: nightcap for Tuesday. We arrived fairly late, after our trip to Salty’s and back (see below), shortly before the place was closing. Terrific location right on the Willamette River. They offered a variety of Full Sail beers and a few guests on tap, which was fine, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Horse Brass Pub: the first place we visited Wednesday, after a long wait for the eastbound bus after leaving the museum. We had half-pints and a plate of outstanding fries–hand-cut, skin-on, nicely seasoned–then returned after lunch at ¿Porqué No? to find several beers on tap not there when we first arrived. Nice conversation with our server. I particularly liked the Beer Valley Pigskin Pale (cask) and the Double Mountain kolsch–very close to style.

Belmont Station: beer nerds’ heaven. A small bar connected to a store jammed with amazing beer. To support the Oregon Craft Beer festival, all their taps but two were Oregon beers. Amazing stuff. We each had three different half-pints. Heater Allen Isarweizen: wow.

Hopworks Urban Brewery: got here at the wrong time; the place was jammed and our palettes tired after Belmont. We had a half-pint and headed out for dinner.

Food

Portland Bagel Company: flavorful, light bagels and pastries. Thomas and Jeff split a bear claw, and raved about it. But whatever they were using to mop the floor just wasn’t cutting it. Sticky: ew.

Salty’s: recommended by our waiter at Laurelwood, right on the Columbia River near PDX. After a $30 cab ride there, we guessed the place has been riding on reputation for years. Menu, decor, and food right out of 1978. Way overpriced. The waiter was overbooked and the service slow: as Thomas said, you could tell he had just given up. Thankfully, the wine list was good and the sommelier helpful.

Kornblatt’s Deli: unlike PBC, traditional bagels, doughy, chewy, and more my style. Excellent service at this “breakfast all day” deli I’d visit regularly if I lived in the neighborhood.

¿Por Qué No?: amazing tacos. We got there just after 1:00 and there was a line–and there was still a line when we left. Not a minute after we’d been in the place, a server put pints of Hopworks Red Ale into our hands. Sooooo fresh and delicious: guac, chips, fish tacos, pork tacos. And very reasonably priced.

Ten-01: Thomas picked this restaurant. Outstanding service and very good food. I had halibut, and it was perfect: buttery, crisp on the outside, flaky, tender and juicy. Excellent desert wines, too.

Next time:

• Amnesia Brewing
• Country Cat
• Green Dragon
• Hair of the Dog
• Hop & Vine
• Malay Satay Hut
• McMenamins Edgefield
• Produce Row Café
• Saravesa
• Traveling with my girls

(Pictures belong to Jeff. Check out his posts, too.)

• Good sessions. I didn’t skip a single time slot. I enjoyed Bump Halbritter’s talk, which used Donald Murray to talk about what it means to be innovative (rather than just saying, hey, what I’m doing is innovative). The research project Shirley Rose, Barbara L’Eplattenier, and Lisa Mastrangelo are starting looks fascinating–updating surveys about WPAs from the 1980s. Several interesting discussion sessions focusing on dual enrollment. And I was very interested in the MA in Teaching Writing Michelle Sidler and Elizabeth Woodsworth are developing at Auburn and Auburn Montgomery.
• On the other hand: I went to (part of a) session which began with the presenter complaining about the hotel, apologizing for the poor quality of the talk, and distributing a handout which approached something completely different than the program. I suppose I should be used to this by now, but it still irks me. I left and found something better.
• My panel, with Jeff and Joe Bizup, went well, and I had good follow-up conversations with John Brereton and Jim McDonald. More on that soon; I’ve got more ideas about the slow numbers we’re seeing at Western–given that many others are dealing with similar issues.
• Time well spent with Susanmarie Harrington, Duane Roen, Chuck Paine, Charlie Lowe, and many others. I also met Dylan Dryer and Carra Lee Hood, both recently published in Composition Forum.
• No running–I’m still resting my feet and hoping I don’t have a serious case of plantar fascitis. Until today, I’ve had no symptoms, but this morning my right foot is bugging me for no apparent reason. I rode a stat bike once, and I’m getting home early enough today to ride as well.
• As usual, traveling with Jeff suits me. We both get up early, and we both like to eat. Thursday we headed to Monk’s Cafe right after we hit Philly. Mussels, belgians, sour ales, yum. We split veal sausage and duck sandwiches. Walking back to the hotel, I spotted a Russian River handle at Tria. It turned out to be Russian River Registration. Jeff nearly leapt over the bar. “We’ll take two!” Delicious.
• Given that I seem to have survived eating red meat, I may have to try some more soon. It’s been a while.
• Friday, the WPA organizers wisely skip hosting a meal, so everyone gets to enjoy the city. I went to Eulogy and Triumph with Jeff and Michael Day. Russian River Consecration at the former, and IPX, a good double IPA, at the latter.
• We left the hotel this morning at 9.10am. Thirty minutes later, we were at the airport and through security. Wow.

Kudos to Linda Adler-Kassner, Eli Goldblatt, and the other CWPA folks involved; they did a fine job. I don’t remember hearing where next year’s conference is. But I expect to be there.

I’ve been sitting on some odds and ends blogging for a few weeks now. Time to catch up.

We stayed in Macomb for Thanksgiving this year. My parents visited Monday through Friday. They arrived late Monday and left early Friday, which means we only saw them three days. I wish they would stay longer. But we are happy to see them. Madelyn and Amelia got along great with Grammy and Grampy, and didn’t terrorize their dog Scooter too much. Tuesday we hung out; Wednesday we took a daytrip to Galesburg for the childrens museum and lunch at Landmark; Thursday we cooked and ate. The whole time (and all break week) Madelyn resisted naps like crazy, which means my parents got to see her in full-on spaz mode. More than once, my mom looked at me as if to say, “Um, you were a little hyper, but this girl takes the cake.” Yes she does.

What did we eat for Thanksgiving? I cooked a pair of chickens in our (salvaged from the trash) electric smoker. Erin roasted potatoes, onions, and brussels sprouts, and made whole wheat buttermilk rolls–a day after she made a cheese and butternut squash strata. So. much. bread. But I loved it. For dessert, Erin made apple-cranberry pie, pumpkin pie (using pumpkins from our yard, though not the tree pumpkins), and I made vanilla ice cream. Yum, yum. Since then, I’ve been trying to put in some extra miles–and not by making trips to the refrigerator.

After my parents left, I spent Thanksgiving weekend grading (web projects and essays), watching football, and doing laundry, with some break time to take care of the girls.

And speaking of football, it is championship Saturday. Big East (de facto), Conference USA, SEC, and then the Big 12/ACC double bill. Obviously, I’ll be watching the SEC championship attentively. For me, neither Florida nor Alabama have distinguished themselves in the manner they did last year, and the game could go either way. Poo on Carlos Dunlap for getting loaded and kicked out of this one. But last year, Florida beat Alabama without Percy Harvin. They can beat Alabama without Dunlap. And I hope they do.

Winter seems to have arrived, so we probably aren’t going to finish the back porch painting this year. We’re really close, though–just some touchups after the second coat. I’m sure our neighbors are much happier to be looking at the back of our house now. Right now I’ve got a few dilapidated storm windows in the basement for a quick couple coats of paint. Just hoping to get another year out of them.

I am still not brewing. Feh. I’ve had some conversations with some friends about a group brew. Maybe that’ll kick me in the butt and I’ll get something going.

Edit 12/5: Alabama 32, Florida 13. I was wrong about Dunlap not being missed. Alabama played extremely well and Florida played miserably. The Tide were better in all phases of the game.

The sun set just after I arrived. Kelly (and Aiden) got there just before I did, and we walked around the garden together, munching and harvesting.

John always plants a few rows in curves. I love the contrast of the dried-out, dead crops with the crisp greens wandering along.

We can never get enough baby greens, especially when they’re this lovely.

So begins the garden’s sleep.

2 c cream, divided
1 c milk
1/2 c sugar
3 egg yolks
1/3 c real peanut butter
1/2 c sweetened ground chocolate
1 T vanilla

Make a custard with the sugar, milk, and half the cream, tempering in the egg yolks (low heat!). Remove from heat, stir in the peanut butter, then add the rest of the ingredients. Chill. Then freeze.

This is Jeff’s recipe, not mine. It is very, very good. My comments in parentheses.

3/4c sugar
2c heavy cream, divided
1c milk
1c coffee beans
5 egg yolks
Vanilla bean

In a saucepan gently warm the sugar, milk, and 1c cream.

Crack the coffee beans. Don’t grind them all the way. (I used a mortar and pestle and decaf beans. Madelyn doesn’t need to be louder than she already is.)

Turn off the heat. Add the coffee beans to the saucepan and scrape the vanilla bean in there too. Throw the vanilla bean shell in the mix after it is scraped. (I skipped the vanilla. I wanted just coffee.)

Let the beans steep for 1-3 hours. (I did 3.)

Then reheat the mixture, beans and all, and temper in five egg yolks that have been whisked in a bowl. When the mixture coats the back of a spoon, strain it all into another cup of heavy cream that is in a big bowl. A good sieve will help so that you get all the beans out. (I strained out the beans before adding the eggs.)

Chill. Then in the machine.

I stayed at Club Quarters, which worked out well: they don’t nickel and dime on wireless and stuff like a lot of hotels. Though I was sick for much of the conference, and passed on more sessions than usual so I could get some sleep, I was able to get a lot done in my hotel room and on the train. I heard a good panel on standards-based information security, and really liked the poster session, which included a team from Eastern Illinois who are working on software to automate captioning. Their project matches a provided transcript to silence/sound breaks in the audio stream, so synchronizing the two can be partially automated.

On Tuesday night I walked to Brasserie Jo with Jim La Prad. Bad weather, so we decided to stay close to the conference hotel. No disappointment. We ate small plates and appetizers–mussels, sweetbreads, baked Michigan brie (from what part of Michigan, we wondered), a fantastic quiche. And excellent beers: Dogfish Head sixty minute, which I’d never had off draft. Far more floral and complex than in the bottle. A farmhouse ale from Two Brothers and Bells Double Cream Stout were also great. Our last beer was the best: Flossmoor Station Brewer’s Whim IPA, a simply amazing double IPA, complex from start to finish. Hoppy and malty, a little sweet up front then spicy, even a taste reminiscent of rye in the finish. I read that Flossmoor is getting a new brewer; if this beer is representative, Matt Van Wyk will be a hard act to follow.