Baked Eggs

I was inspired the other day by a breakfast of baked eggs that I had at Gaia, a restaurant in Denver. It was quite delicious and I knew instantly that I needed to figure out how to recreate it. I'm happy to report that my endeavor was a success!

Black beans, some onion and tomato, a little goat cheese plus this recipe for salsa verde turned into a nice little dinner for me, and to top it off I had my great little patio plants and a sunset to keep me company. I got the salsa recipe from my subscription to Sunset that my ma gave me a few months ago. Sunset is a great magazine and not intended for the geriatrics among us, despite what some people think (you know who you are).

I got a sweet deal ($4.90!) on those special ramekins at The Peppercorn.

Sea Change

As of late I have been juggling a lot of things in my mind. Some of these thing are important and meaningful (at least to me), but most are about things like my inability to eat all the bananas that I buy before they turn brown. The latter are probably distractions from the former, but regardless, both the serious and the silly have been weighing on me. A common theme of all these things is also one of my favorite words, sea change. I suppose that's really two words but I am not one for semantics anyways.

As defined by the dictionary on my Mac, a sea change is "a profound or notable transformation". It originated in Shakespeare's Tempest:

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.

I hope that as these thoughts of mine turn into actions, and these actions bring about transformations in myself and my life, all of them will be "rich and strange".

Week In Review

The first full week of May has been an exciting one for me. I had an old friend from Linfield visit me at the beginning of the week and I saw the new Star Trek, but neither of those had me experiencing the pure pleasure that engulfed me when I came home Wednesday and saw how the UPS guy "hid" a package on my doorstep:

From Week In Review 5/10/09

I'm sure no one would think to look under there.

Anyways, Saturday was a busy one as I had some chores to do along with an Elvis Perkins In Dearland show to attend that night. Elvis Perkins is new to me, but was recommended by both Qatsi and Emily so I gave him a whirl.

Before the show, I figured I needed to eat a hardy meal and fortify myself with some drink:

From Week In Review 5/10/09

A pretty lackluster crowd had gathered. I had anticipated the show being sold out, but there was maybe 100 people there:

From Week In Review 5/10/09

Despite the crowd, Elvis Perkins In Dearland knows how to put on a good show. They tried their hardest to get everyone into it. Far and away the most effective method was the giant marching band drum the drummer would occasionally play. It was a hypnotizing dance when he busted it out.

Check their website and see if they're coming to your neck of the woods, worth spending $12.

I had a great time a year or two ago when I biked through Holland. Do yourself a favor, boil up some tea and read this article. It made me want to go back, in spite of the rain. Besides, I lived in the rain nonstop for most of my formative years, and I do sometimes miss the fresh smells and greenness.

Additionally, I am blown away by Obama's pragmatism. Can you tell I'm having a lazy Sunday afternoon?

“As to when I shall visit civilization, it will not be soon, I think”

While waiting for some numbers to crunch this afternoon I came across this New York Times article. It's about a young guy named Everett Ruess who disappeared into the Utah desert in 1934, never to be seen again. Everett Ruess and I have some connection, as his story was told to me some time ago in one of my favorite books, Desert Solitaire, written by my good friend Ed Abbey. Ed (and Everett for that matter) and I never met in person, in fact he died when I was about five, but its just as well as I think he might have been a bit of a downer.

Anyways, Everett Ruess walked off into the desert with two mules and what I assume was a healthy dose of adventure flowing through his vains. I have, as probably most young men have, contemplated what such a journey would be like. I suppose in modern times, such an adventure is harder to attempt do to the lack of "real" wilderness in the lower 48 states, and of course my fear of grizzly bears and cold extremities rules out heading into the far north. That, and I am obliged to someday pay off my student loan debt from my undergraduate days. Ah crushing debt, how I loathe thee. As my friend Ben's father once said, "paying tuition is like buying a brand new car and rolling it off a cliff."

To my great sadness, it turns out that Everett Ruess was most likely killed by Ute indians near Escalante, UT. Why? No one knows, maybe he made a pass at the wrong gal or was a little too smug after a cribbage victory with his newfound Ute friends. I had always envisioned him living in some hidden canyon, watching the cloud formations roll on by (as Ed would say, "If he doesn't, who will?"). Maybe tending to a garden of corn and beans. A few years back, my friend Pete Olsen and I headed out on a backpacking journey into The Maze in Canyonlands National Park, where we both discovered the stunning solitude of the Utah canyon country. We didn't see a soul for days as we wondered in and out of the sandstone walls. In fact, one of the few signs of others we came across were eery man-sized pictographs ten feet up on a shear wall. How anyone could have painted them so high up is beyond me. Maybe erosion had ground the canyon down over time, leaving the paintings in peace to watch over things.

On the plus side, I can think of few better places to spend your last days than exploring the area around Escalante. Some of my very best times have been spent there, scrambling up sandstone bluffs, hiking through desert streams, searching for desert flowers in the innumerable nooks and crannies that dot the landscape. I am sure Everett saw many awe inspiring sights on his last journey.

Rest in peace old friend, you live on in my dreams.

Energy Issues

Now that the conventions are over, I can't wait to actually get to the debates. The most important issue for me this election is energy policy, which is intimately linked with the economy and our issues in the middle east. In their speeches, here is what each candidate had to say on energy:

Obama:

• Set a goal that "in 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East."

• "Tap natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology and find ways to safely harness nuclear power."

• "Help our auto companies retool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America."

• Make it easier for Americans to afford U.S.-built, fuel-efficient cars.

• Have the federal government "invest $150 billion over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy -- wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels." Doing so, he said, would "lead to new industries and 5 million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced."

McCain:

• Produce more energy at home.

• Drill new wells offshore.

• Build more nuclear power plants.

• Develop clean coal technology.

• Increase the use of wind, tide, solar and natural gas.

• Encourage the development and use of flex fuel, hybrid and electric automobiles.

Note the big difference, Obama gave us some specifics and set a solid goal, while McCain just spouted some nice sentences. Further, in McCain's speech he said Obama was against nuclear power, which he isn't, he just wants it to be safe. A pure lie from McCain in his acceptance speech (one of a few).

You can find more about what each said here (Obama) and here (McCain).

Can't wait until the debates, someone is going to get served:

Moving To Denmark

I like their style, and I think I've got some relatives there.