Thursday Interlude: Who Let the Dogs Out?

Garrison Keillor
Photo Courtesy of Wolf Trap

If you are a fan of public radio's Prairie Home Companion and you live in Washington, D.C., Memorial Day Weekend means one thing: Garrison Keillor at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. I know people who are members of Wolftrap solely because you receive priority handling of pre-season orders and they want to make sure they get Prairie tickets, which often sell out very early, even the lawn.

Now there is nothing wrong with the lawn. I remember one memorable concert several years ago when my husband son and I and two other families settled on our blankets for picnic and The Baha Men . [Crickets chirping] C'mon, You remember, "Who Let the Dogs Out?" Ok, my son was five and that was his favorite song at the time so we sat on the lawn for a reggae festival with a bunch of other little kids who sang the song at the top of their lungs "Woof. Woof Woof, Woof" and ran around a lot. It was a fun evening. The Pavillion would have been out of the question for us, though I did see little kids running around in there, too.

The aerial photo below by Robert Llewellyn, Courtesy of Wolf Trap, below gives you an idea of what a full lawn at Wolf Trap looks like. The competition to unfurl a blanket and stake out your space when the gates open is fierce indeed.



One year I got tickets for Garrison (I say Garrison because I feel like he is a friend of MENC. He supports The National Anthem Project and at our biennial convention in Minneapolis in 2004, he appeared and praised the singing of the music teachers in attendance.)

However, they were lawn seats and I had to turn them down because the couple we were going with both have severe allergies. Every other year something else has come up so I have never seen Garrison in person. I would love to, since I listen to him nearly every weekend. When I don't listen live, I catch up online. If you didn't hear the Memorial Weekend Show click here and listen. It was a great show. As EWL pointed out to me, Garrison wrote new words to the song "Memphis Tennessee," replacing the words with lyrics about senators, etc. "Long Distance Information, Give Me Washington DC." Wolf Trap is in Vienna, VA., just west of the nation's capitol.

Anyway the reason, I didn't get to see Garrison this year was because my son Matt played in a Memorial weekend baseball tournament. They played on fields all over Northern Virginia and I am happy to say his team, the Renedages, won the 13-U consolation bracket for the tournament, with a 4-2 record. Most of our wins were by 11 or more runs.

One of their losses was to the team that won the championship bracket, so we are a pretty proud of them. Theirs is a new travel team and we play a lot of teams have been around for a time. Our overall record is 13-6. So they are doing pretty well and they are fun to watch. The weather was warm but not unbearable and it was fun hanging out with the kids and parents over the weekend.

I took this kind of hazy photo at the right as they waited on the field to receive their trophy on Tuesday night.

When I returned to the office this week, it was back to work on August Teaching Music. I have some great interviews scheduled over the next few days, including one that a teacher agreed to squeeze in with me on the phone while he drives to work next week. I know a lot of you are still finishing up school with concerts, etc. So, good luck with wrapping up the school year.

I also would like send good wishes to Keokuk, Iowa, where Keokuk II: The Centennial Symposium for MENC is being held today through Saturday. The symposium commemorates the founding of MENC there in 1907. Look for a story about the conference in August TM.

Enjoy the first unofficial days of summer and I will see you next Thursday.
RF

Thursday Interlude: Rattle Those Pots and Pans

Hi Everyone,
I know you are never, ever, ever guilty of this, putting off something you kept meaning to do until it is too late to actually do it? A few months ago my good friend BS here began asking staffers and MENC members for recipes to include in cookbook to commemorate MENC’s April Centennial.


I immediately thought of a recipe to submit—"African Chicken Peanut Stew," a recipe I found a couple of years ago. My 13-year-old son Matt and my husband Steve are always happy when this dish shows up on the dinner table. The Africa Guide

I love to cook and on Sundays I often put together dishes that take a bit more time. The stew is great the day you eat it, but is even better the next day if you have leftovers. It is quite yummy, especially if you like peanut butter.

Any who, I never got around to submitting my recipe and you guessed it, the cookbook came out this week MENC Centennial. (Thanks for converting the book cover to a JPEG, MB.)

It is great fun to read and the recipes cover lots of different cooking styles. It is item #1000, $12.50/$10.00 for MENC members. You can also call MENC at 800-336-3768 for more information. KR did a great job of design and layout and the tasty recipes are accompanied by mouth watering photos from the aforementioned BS but alas, no recipe from yours truly.

The cooks who actually responded to call for recipes include Nancy K. Olson, a 12-year-member from Bottineau, North Dakota, who offers a recipe for Butter Horns or Scones that she says, “ are always big hit a bake sales,” and Karl Glenn, a 33-year member from Ann Arbor, Michigan, who submitted a recipe for “Perfect Restaurant Steak.”

And save some room for dessert. Candace Cook’s Raspberry
Chocolate Cake looks yummy, for instance. She is a retired member from Mesa, Arizona.

There are lots of great recipes in appetizer, bread and rolls, breakfast foods, cookies and candies, desserts, main dishes and other categories. Many of the recipes are accompanied by little stories and suggestions for music to listen to when you dine.

So, to make myself feel better for (sigh) missing the deadline, I present my little story, music suggestions from my son and the recipe itself.

My Story: A couple of years ago when my son was getting picky about food, I searched for recipes based on ingredients he liked. Peanut butter and chicken topped his list at the time and when I found a recipe for African Chicken Peanut Stew, I thought I had winner. I knew I was right when he asked for seconds, as did my husband and it has become one of my go-to recipes when I plan menus for the week.

Recipe for Success in the Classroom: Last year when Matt took Teen Living in seventh grade, he had to cook a meal at home and it was the first thing he thought of cooking for his project. We took pictures of him chopping and stirring various ingredients. His teacher was impressed that he had chosen a recipe that required a lot of chopping, but it’s really not a hard recipe to make. He got an A on his project!

Suggested Music: Matt believes anything by Bob Marley would be great, as would “Big Rock Candy Mountain” from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. Of course the latter is just because he likes that song and the soundtrack. He also suggested "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley .

Try the stew and let me know what you think. You can now post comments by clicking on Reply below. What is your favorite recipe? What kind of music do you like to listen to during dinner?


African Chicken Peanut Stew

One and a half hours cooking time, including 30 minutes of prep
8-10 servings, 12 cups
1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 lbs boneless chicken, cubed
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped carrots
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 sweet potato or yam, cubed
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2/3 cup peanut butter (crunchy or creamy, your choice)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 bell pepper, any color, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped


1. In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil on med-high. When hot, add the onions and sweet potatoes, stir and cook until onions are soft and translucent.
2. Add chicken, cook til opaque.
3. Stir in the garlic, curry powder, coriander, cumin, and crushed red chiles. Cook 1 minute.
4. Add the carrots, celery, ginger, cinnamon, bay leaf, salt, chicken broth, and tomato paste.
5. Bring the liquid to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for 45 minutes.
6. When the stew has cooked for 45 minutes, stir in the peanut butter. Cook another 3 minutes, uncovered for the flavors to blend.
7. Stir in the chopped tomato and bell pepper. Simmer until the tomatoes and pepper are softened but still retain their shape, 3 to 5 minutes.
8. Stir in lemon juice. Serve with the chopped cilantro on the top, and additional red pepper flakes on the side, if you like.


Around the MENC Water Cooler: Or should I say, in the third floor kitchen. I have kitchen duty this week. Every two months or so we each are assigned to take responsibility for the kitchen for a week, loading a dishwasher, restocking supplies, swiping down surfaces, etc.) It just takes a few minutes to keep the yuck to a minimum.

One day this week while on chaos control in the kitchen, I ran into TH, our intrepid tech guru here at MENC. “How is your family?” I asked, and he shared the great news that his wife is expecting their third child in October.

He has a pre-teen daughter and a younger son and said he isn't concerned about gender, just wants a healthy baby. Given the fact that he urges everyone here at MENC to “have babies,” I was happy to know he is following his own advice.

He suggested I put his news in “that thing you do,” so here it is. Congratulations TH and more importantly, Mrs. H!

One quick note about American Idol, last night. So relieved that Jordin was spared, despite her screeching performance on Tuesday. Hey, she's allowed one misstep, ok. She is 17, for Pete's sake. She has been so fab all season, and I still think she can win. Phil and Chris. Eh. For those of you who are fans, see them on tour this summer. As for me, I was happy with the way things went.
See you next Thursday
RF