This week started with the election and is ending with the WI Film Fest. I took two days off to work at one, and volunteer at the other.
Tuesday I worked the election and it wasn’t terribly busy – it was the election for mayor and school board so seemed like really only permanent residents were voting, in Madison WI where the student population is 40 or 50K, so the students are about a fifth onto our total population, who did not vote this election. There also was the Supreme Court Justice election, that the press is already calling cementing conservatism in formerly progressive WI, but the liberal justice has not yet conceded. That race doesn’t seemed to have got the voters out.
By not busy I mean that the polls opened at 7:00, and when I left at 1:30 we’d had about 400 voters. I went back to help close at 8:30, and I don’t remember the total, but I think it actually slowed down a bit. I think we have about 3000 voters in our ward.
On Friday I volunteered at the Film fest. It was pretty fun, if kind of a long day. I was scheduled 11:00-5:00, and I actually worked more like 11:00-5:45. There was a dearth of volunteers for the late shift. We saw the first of the two movies we’re going to see, Mike Leigh’s Peterloo. It was beautifully shot, but I guess I agree with the NPR reviewer, that there’s a mess of people in the movie, but no characters that truly stand out.
I almost took another film fest shift Saturday, but wanted the day to myself. I went to yoga, finished grading an assignment in one of my classes, and then big excitement – got out on two wheels for the first time this summer. First I pumped up my tires and went to the spice store for kosher salt. Then, since nothing went flat or anything, I biked over to the High Noon Saloon, a bar on the east side, to see a local cover band do Gram Parsons. Which was fun, but I only stayed about 45 minutes. I didn’t have my front light anyways – I’d carefully left the pannier with the rear light clipped on, on the bike, but forgot to get the front light from where it’s been tucked in with the canisters and its charger, on the kitchen counter all winter.
Evidently the trend to more culturally respectful names has not affected the manufacturers of bathroom floor drains as much as it has sports teams
I’ll go back Tuesday for my second film fest shift.
And what about food? We have become the house of leftovers.
Somehow I must be a sugar-sweetened cereal craving mode, that airy, crunchy, sweet, taste. First the Ashure cereal (current blog banner, too, with apples and yogurt) and Saturday morning I made rice krispie treats. When you make them you always get to eat what sticks to the bowl after you have pressed the marshmallow-butter-cereal mix into the pan. It’s a scraper full of extra marshmallow covered krispies, usually only a mouthful, but just enough. I packed one up and took it with me for after-yoga breakfast in the car. I remembered my cup so I could buy more coffee at the co-op to wash it down.
Saturday morning rice krispie treats
Monday there was a MACN event at this place a few block away, Pasture & Plenty, which has taken a long time to get open, but is shaping up to be pretty cool – it’s a restaurant, but it also has cooking classes, and lots of “theme” nights, like street food, and you can go in and buy stuff to take home, quarts of soup, or other sort of take and make meal kits. Anyways, the event was pizza and bingo, and I thought I could stop in and grab some pizza to take home, and maybe play a game, in between dropping and picking up Anna at soccer practice. Well, not quite. I got there about 5:15 and had to be back at soccer by 6:15, and bingo didn’t start until 6:00. But I got two Salvatore’s Tomato Pies, a margherita and one with sausage & greens. That I baked and Anna & I ate some of, but there’s still at least 5 or 6 slices left.
Tuesday was me working the polls, and soccer practice, and soccer meeting. For eating at the polling place, I took the chocolate chip scones from Sunday, and I had made banana muffins Monday night and took those too. When we got back from the soccer meeting, I pointed out the various leftovers that could be eaten to Anna, Spanish rice, cream of chicken soup, the pizza, but of course she made a box of Annie’s while I went back to the election.
Wednesday I was home on the early side, and I made a version of the Broccoli Mushroom Casserole from Moosewood. No mushrooms, ricotta and cream cheese in place of cottage cheese. Mark got home on the early side, too, and the three of us ate about half of it for dinner.
Thursday I went to see Robyn Hitchcock at the Stoughton Opera house, with Steve & Heike and Heike’s brother, Eric.
We ate at the Viking Brew Pub. Like Heike said the beer was good, but the fish tacos needed a bit more jazz. And the food came slooowly, in segments. I had the pattie melt, and I got my food first then there was an awkward gap until the fish tacos came, in which I shared my fries. The manager blamed a new POS system. We dashed out the door and were in our seats with moments to spare. Steve grabbed the last my fries and Eric the second half of my sandwich. Good thing because Emma Swift did not open the show, Robyn did two sets and Emma joined him in the second set for Glass Hotel, Trams of Old London, and Queen Elvis.
I left for the concert before it was time to pick up Anna at soccer practice, and just as I had done Tuesday with Anna, I showed Mark where all the leftovers that they could eat for dinner were, but they had Culver’s instead.
Friday was film fest, and I thought we could come home after the movie and have dessert. I have scooped oatmeal raison cookies ready to bake in the freezer, and was thinking warm cookies and ice cream, mmm, but Mark and Anna wanted more like dinner, and that did not mean going home and eating leftovers, to them. I met them at the wood-fired pizza place, Porta d’Alba. I got a nutella pizza and a glass of wine, and Anna ate the leftovers of the Nutella pie for Saturday breakfast, but there are now three slices of the pizza Mark bought in the fridge with all the rest of the leftovers.
Leftover nutella pizza. It had a little too much nutella for me – I wanted the crust to shine through
I’m going to try to get them to eat the chicken Spanish rice tomorrow, by accompanying it with cornbread, and I’ll try to eat the Moosewood noodle casserole for work lunches next week, but Ugh, I see food throwing away in my future.