Matthew Perryman Jones - New Favorite Song

When it Falls Apart by Matthew Perryman Jones off the Swallow the Sea CD. Great stuff. Thank you, The Ark. Check him out - http://www.myspace.com/mpjmusic

Fall Colors, Great Breakfast, Chickens

Saturday we took a little drive to check out the last of the fall color, pick up some freezer chickens from Turk Farms in Fenton (http://turkfarms.com) to get us through the winter for chicken and made time for a fabulous breakfast at The French Laundry in downtown Fenton. I had the Flavion Vax (eggs scrambled with parmesan cheese, basil, and roasted tomatoes with roasted potatoes and a slice of tremendous whole grain toast). I could have eaten a whole plate of the roasted tomatoes. My perennial dining companion had the Norma and Floyd's which was corn beef hash and eggs over easy. Wonderful food, service and atmosphere. If it were closer, we would eat there frequently. Good friends live in Fenton and we often get carryout from The French Laundry while visiting. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. http://www.lunchandbeyond.com

Great Music at the Ark in October

We saw three acts at the Ark in Ann Arbor this October. The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Ingrid Michaelson and the warmup act for Ingrid Michaelson, Matthew Perryman Jones.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are amazing. We saw them at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival last winter and were charmed and impressed. Charmed is the word I keep using with this band. The band IS charming and engaging and remarkably talented, playing a variety of instruments with tremendous fluency and acumen. We fell in love and you will too. They are a must see whenever nearby:

http://www.carolinachocolatedrops.com/

Then, we saw Ingrid Michaelson for a midweek show (preceded by a 2 Hearted Ale and tempeh burger at the Old Town Tavern on Liberty - YUM! http://www.oldtownaa.com/ - happy hour prices on Bell's on tap from 4-6). Ingrid Michaelson was more than entertaining. The music was excellent, the band tight and obvious closely knit, the show sold out. But Michaelson herself was terrifically funny and original. My perennial dining companion was actually crying from laughter at one of her interludes and at one point one of Ingrid Michaelson's band members couldn't start a song because she was laughing too hard. Good stuff.

http://www.ingridmichaelson.com/

The most anticipated part of seeing a show at the Ark is the warm up act. For truly singular acts like the Carolina Chocolate Drops, there may be no warm up band. But for most of the shows, look out! You may find yourself at a concert looking forward to seeing the headliner and walk out 25 dollars lighter in the pocket but 2 CDs richer in music by the warm up band as we did tonight. Matthew Perryman Jones (http://www.myspace.com/mpjmusic) hooked us almost instantly with the catchy singer/strummy guitar fare I so enjoy. Check him out if you can.

Hockey

Our season tickets arrived this week for UofM hockey showed up in the mail this week - I am so excited! Between Michigan's hockey games and playing hockey Fridays myself in Ann Arbor, I should be watching and playing hockey just about every weekend in my favorite city. Good stuff.

Mike Farris at the Ark

I was expecting to like this band. Funky gospel revival style music with a full band and backup singers. I wasn't expecting to be dancing in the aisle at The Ark unable to sit still. Even more remarkable, my perennial dining companion was up dancing with me. Previously, the closest I'd come to dancing at the Ark was to a Joe Pug cover of Warren Zevon last winter (When Johnny strikes up the band) . Mike Farris and the Roseland Rythym Revue. All I can say is WOW! You are missing out if they come to your town and you don't see them. Their home base gives me another reason to visit one of my favorite cities, Nashville, TN.

http://www.mikefarrismusic.net/

New Cool Song

BellX1 - The Great Defector. Love It.

The MBA Widowhood Diet

With my perennial dining companion at Michigan State doing his first MBA residency week in East Lansing and with a refrigerator overflowing with summer squash coupled with a hectic work week, lots of sports to play, and extra household chores to attend to, I tried to decide a strategy to efficiently cook healthy, tasty snacks for myself using up the produce at hand. Feline preferences not withstanding, I resorted to vegetarian fare - and came up with a nifty little recipe. The results can be used in several different ways (I would have the Quesadilla one night and the pasta for lunch the next day).

1 medium summer squash - sliced thin (ovals cut into halves or quarters if too big)
1 medium zucchini - sliced thin (ovals cut into halves or quarters if too big)
1 onion diced medium
2-3 jalapenos, diced (seeds removed on preference)
3-4 mushrooms sliced thin
Garlic Powder
2 tsp Cumin
Olive Oil
1 can black beans rinsed/drained

Heat approximately 2 TBSP olive oil in large skillet

Add onions and saute 1-2 minutes. Add remaining veggies, season with garlic powder to taste and cumin, and saute until soft but not mushy about 10 more minutes over low heat. Add black beans and saute 2-3 more minutes until heated through.

Serve 1 of 3 ways:

Pasta:

Toss 2 cups of mixture with 2 cups whole grain fusilli pasta cooked as per package directions (optionally top with grated parmesan cheese).

Quesadilla:

Spoon about 1/2 -3/4 cup of mixture into flour tortilla, add a small amount of shredded jack cheese and fold over in half. Heat in a preheated Forman Grill for 5 minutes. (serve with optional salsa and sour cream).

Plain:

Terrific as a stand-alone dish.