The tradition continues

This year’s cookie tray includes eggnog cookies, starlight mint surprise cookies, apricot brandy balls, peanut butter cookies, rye pecan thumbprints with orange marmalade, raspberry nut pinwheels, brownies, lingonberry tarts, caramels, cranberry pistachio cookies, and a new favorite, Grandma Dorie’s ricotta cookies.  This last recipe comes from Italy via Brooklyn, as reported in last December’s New York Times.

All the lonely people

Over the last nineteen years, the Internet has changed my life in ways great and small. I've learned things I wouldn't have known.  I've met wonderful people from all over the world. I've enjoyed newsgroups and chat. And I've enjoyed reading thoughtfully-written blogs and fondly recall the days of Geocities websites.

I can't say the same about "social" media, particularly Facebook.

Recently, a friend of fifty years told me that he isn't interested in my friendship unless I join the Facebook. That would be stunning, except he isn't alone. Do I need his friendship and that of his ilk? What am I missing out on?

I've elected not to join the Facebook for several reasons:

• First, generally speaking, it is a ridiculous waste of time. 
• Second, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook are not trustworthy. This is why the USMC and others have banned Facebook. Too many times the Facebook Company has disclosed confidential information by altering privacy settings without warning. It's put them at odds with privacy commissioners in several countries, including Canada. Such a venue is inappropriate for personal messages, and it is inappropriate to publish a list of one's acquaintances. (I think we all know the story of Barack Obama and Bill Ayers.) 
• Third, Facebook (and others) are, simply put, in the business of gossip. My private life should be my private life. So should yours, including whether (or not) you choose to read my postings!

I publish two blogs and a website. Anything I publish over the Internet (other than a private email or similar message) is free for everyone to read. You don't have to register to read my sites; why should I have to register to read about your pets, children, science fair projects or toilet habits?

If you want to publish something for the whole world, publish it on a site like this or start a web page! It isn't at all difficult.  If you want a select audience, use email and send to multiple recipients, if appropriate.

If you're just lonely, make someone happy and be a real friend: Call them up, send a text, an email, Christmas or birthday card!

House Hunting

The ground breaking Glessner House (1885) on Prairie Avenue was one of Henry Hobson Richardson's last projects. It had very few street-facing windows and is built around a central courtyard. The house very much influenced the work of Burnham, Sullivan, Adler, and later, Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Emil Bach House was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as a Rogers Park vacation home with a view of Lake Michigan. Rogers Park is now part of Chicago and the city has grown up around the house. The home is Prairie Style, but one of the first to exhibit the later cubist and oriental forms favored by Wright in later designs.

Inglenook, Emil Bach House.

That toddlin' town

The Green Mill is a legendary Chicago jazz joint where Al Capone hung out.

Remodeling

Regular readers of this blog will notice a few changes. After nearly three years, I am giving this and my sister blog, Beyond Form 1040, a facelift. The tax blog now has a search feature allowing you to type in a topic and see if I've already answered your question.

The new colors and format match my websites.  Enjoy.

Considering the conversation

A fortnight ago, a colleague invited me to attend a film at Rockford's ornate Coronado Theatre. The film is entitled "Consider the Conversation" and focuses on the end of life. The Southeast Wisconsin filmmakers stress not just funeral arrangements, living wills or powers of attorney, but the importance of making one's wishes for spending one's final days known.

Recalling the 1970s cliche, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life," it made me think that we all should consider how we want to spend not just the end but the rest of our lives.

The recipe collection

As requested, my Mother recently brought me the collection of Grandmother's loose recipes. A big box of 17 large envelopes and two grocery bags full. Thousands of them and completely random.

I had long ago decided this was my legacy from Grandmother. While I could have just pitched it, I knew that there were many fine treats hidden in that maze. My grandmother was a good cook and an excellent baker. She had at least a dozen "signature" recipes that she was known for. She was very good at evaluating recipes and avoiding duds.

While sorting through, I came across several of my grandmother's signature recipes that I thought were lost: Apple cake. Starlight Surprise Cookies. I made both of them and instantly remembered the tastes from a quarter century ago! Sheer bliss.

Probably some of you have inherited similar collections. For years, I've been overwhelmed at the thought of organizing that mess. After just over a month's work, I now have a filled bankers' box of kitchen-tested, useable recipes!

First, I divided the world into sweet and savory. While sorting, I found a lot of "food porn" that contained both on the same page (or on the back of a page). So I created two more super-categories, "holidays/entertaining" and "breads." Nearly all of the food porn belonged in holidays/entertaining.

Second, I divided the recipes into 16 traditional categories (meats, cakes, etc.) and establish a folder for each. I established one for "luscious desserts" that looked like things that I'd like to go through later. Finally, within each traditional category, I paperclipped 104 subcategories together: (chicken, chocolate cakes, no bake pies, etc.) At this point, I was able to weed out a lot of duplicates. (14 sets of instructions on how to roast a turkey!)

Now I get to make and share these wonderful treats! It's probably going to take years to establish a "best" recipe for everything, but now those recipes are a resource rather than a millstone! Unlike the Internet, these are all kitchen-tested.

Going through the otherwise-wonderful recipes from the 1940s onward, I noticed so many of the newspaper clippings and magazine articles preyed on women and their insecurities. So many were about pleasing a husband, getting finicky children to eat things, impressing hypothetical party guests, and similar nonsense. I admit to laughing, but my heroes are those who demystify the kitchen and put cooking in a positive light. Making a festive spread should be a gift, not an occasion to overwhelm snarky guests or smart-aleck husbands.