Seeking In The Zeitgeist: 7/1/09

7.31.2009

Wild Rice Frittata

Serves four:
1/2 cup wild rice (If you're lucky enough to live in or have friends in Canada, Minnesota, or Wisconsin, use the real stuff.)
4-6 eggs
approx. 1 cup of spaghetti sauce
an onion or a few cloves of garlic
cheese to sprinkle on top
a vegetable or two (I like zucchini, broccoli, carrot, or potato)

Cook half a cup of wild rice. Drain it and put it in a bowl. Dump in your favorite spaghetti sauce and stir it up until it's all moist. Then add eggs, at least four.

In a skillet, fry some onions or garlic in olive oil, and add some chopped carrots or broccoli or zucchini. (If you want a spicy version, add some pepper to the pan when you put in the vegetables.)

Pour the eggs, wild rice, and spaghetti sauce on top. Add the cheese. Turn down the heat and put a lid on the pan.

If your skillet is oven-safe, when the mix is setting, move it under a broiler and cook until it's golden on top.

Mangia!

P.S. If you've never made a frittata, there's a nice bit of advice here.

Swords to Plowshares

Missouri National Guard soldiers work with Afghani farmers to increase their crop yields, improve the health of their animals and add value to their raw agricultural goods.

7.29.2009

Indy Star Now Runs Same Sex Marriage Announcements

I write this with praise and respect for the Indy Star’s decision and hope, by pointing this out, I don’t stir up a hornet's nest.

I was reading Ruth Holladay's blog (well worth the read) and she, as a disgruntled ex-Star employee loves to hate on Gannett (and really, they deserve it) and heap praise on it’s employees as she did with exec editor Dennis Ryerson’s decision to quietly and without fanfare announce same sex marriage notices. I have a feeling the decision was as much economic as anything, but it’s still a wonderfully inclusive, timely and classy move.

Good job, Mr. Ryerson and The Indianapolis Star!

NSO to Live Twitter Performance of Beethoven

Have you ever sat in the audience for a classical music concert and wished you understood the music better -- even for a piece you were familiar with?

National Symphony Orchestra Associate Conductor Emil de Cou feels your pain.

De Cou is writing a series of messages on Twitter designed to draw the audience into Thursday night's NSO performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, better known as the "Pastoral Symphony," at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, which is the summer home of the NSO. Wolf Trap is encouraging audience members on the outdoor lawn to follow on their cell phones during the concert.

Following a similar experiment in 2007 involving iTunes and podcasts, audience members who are interested in learning more about this symphonic work can follow the Wolf Trap Twitter feed. During the intermission of Thursday's concert, tweets explaining the composer's intent behind the music will be sent both to those at the live performance and for those playing the piece at home.

This particular work was not chosen by accident. Many pastoral symphonies were written before and after Beethoven's time, but his remains the best known. It's a genre that audiences of the 1800s were very familiar with -- a context with its own musical themes that is largely lost to modern audiences. So sample tweets like "Measure 37: A grove of trees filled with singing birds" will give any listener a visual context to go with the performance.

Read the rest here

"Eastside Indianapolis" Author To Read This Friday at Irvington Bookstore

Indianapolis author, Julie Young will be reading & signing copies of her book Eastside Indianapolis at Bookmamas in Irvington this Friday @ 7 p.m. Go listen and buy a copy or two.