La Casa Grande Colectiva

Author: metaclown

  • La Casa Real Food Olympics: Mayonnaise!

    For a while now I’ve imagined a sort of La Casa Real Food Olympics:  a series of foods that we in “this” “culture” usually buy already made, but which could be made from scratch, that every green La Casan would go through the experience of making from scratch just for the fun of it.

    I just brainstormed 10 things that I have personally known people ’round here to make, excluding alcoholic fermentations:

    1. Mayonnaise
    2. Komboucha
    3. Yogurt
    4. Bread
    5. Granola
    6. Ginger ale
    7. Pesto
    8. Ice Cream
    9. Seitan
    10. Kimchi

    I don’t know if this is the optimal order of execution, but it’s clear that making these all from scratch at least once would be a substantial accomplishment of (s)elf-reliance.  Of these, I have only made mayonnaise and bread.  Tonight, I teamed up with Kim (La Casa ’08 welcome back to town Kim!) to make both mayonnaise and bread again, but the bread didn’t turn out perfect, so let’s talk about the mayonnaise!

    Like Kristina before me,  I used the basic mayonnaise recipe from Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything: mix an egg, some lemon juice, some mustard, maybe some salt and pepper to taste in a food processor. Pour in a cup of olive oil in a slow stream—if you pour too fast you’ll get runny mayo! This time I used half olive, half canola oil, but it still tasted too too extra virgin for me. Still, one of the better batches I’ve made.

    NOT a photogenic food

    I used the mayonnaise in Deviled Eggs, which of course involve more eggs and more mustard.  They turned out great:

     

    Delicious!

  • Kleismic Joy…

    Sometimes I like to proceed by innocence. I have never made a music video before. But this track totally needed one. Enjoy.

    “Kleismic” refers to the Kleisma, a musical interval made slightly more significant by this composition.

    Remember: If you reject or even ignore Christmas, you are still using it.

  • Look out, photojournalists.

    I have a digital camera, thanks to the dumpster-diving prowess of my friend Jackie in Richmond, VA.  Unfortunately the camera cannot take a picture of itself, so I offer this instead:

    The look in Maria's face knows that her time as the best La Casan life photojournalist has come to an end.

    The camera takes three AAA batteries.  I got some rechargeable batteries and a charger, so if you need your aaa’s charged you know who to come to.

  • What I made for Christmas

    Greetings from my familial home in the early morning of Xmas in Virginia Beach, VA, to wherever and whenever you, dear reader, read this.

    Among the Xmas traditions I have observed since being home is the Xmas Eve dinner, wherein the “kids” (ages 19, 21, 24 now, not including the firstborn who is at the in-laws’ this year) cook for the “grown-ups” (the two ‘rents, plus Dad’s sis Chris, a.k.a. Auntie Santie).  We did some vaguely Mexican things, including this recipe for sweet-and-spicy black beans. A big hit, it was, even if the beans weren’t cooked “a la casa” (from scratch).

    Also some flan for dessert—my first flan!  Sorry for the lack of pictures; I’m still not in the habit of snapping much.  Perhaps I’ll find a picture of the fam’, some of whom visited back in March 2008 on the occasion of a House Concert…

    There are plenty of tidings to go around, don’t worry…

  • cArLy’S bIrThDaY << open thread

    Carly’s birthday & party happened here on October 27th.  These pictures bespeak a fraction of the unfolding mirth.  Add pictures; comment!

    andrew carly emma(the Jackalope)

    carly

    sweet tatt

    a pictoral timeline of Carly’s birth mythology.
    carly and andrew being cute

    Surfing the certainty gradient…
    or
    being cute

    jeanie and carly

    cute like a red-head bear/cat mop thing: Putting the “costume” in costume party.

    jacob on computer

    What was I thinking?… or maybe what weren’t you thinking?

    garlic peel

    No party’s complete without it.

    hand clap

    Traditional La Casa hand slap game.

  • My pre-existing condition was no health care access

    (Rob wrote this song in the direction of the health care debate. It is the product of less than 24 hours of work.)

    Jacob, “MC Utterbot” and udderbot
    Andrew, “Professor Heathwaite” and 23-tone electric
    Rob, “Hello” and drums

    Lyrics:

    I need a lever, cause yo, I’ve got a fever
    Need some accessibility to the health care facility
    What’s the public option when the option ain’t publicized
    I’m still waiting in line you better recognize
    your health is mine, to deny it’s a crime
    50 million in urgency so check the emergency… **CRASH**

    All the other wealthy industrialized countries have universal health care systems — that means, every citizen has access to health care. Except in the United States. Yo! MC Utterbot, I think they need some contents to make some sense out of this nonsense…

    The clock ticks… I’m talkin’ ’bout one-in-six
    Only hard to understand with insurance in hand
    When y’read they propaganda, s’hard to understand-a
    They take our activism and they call it socialism
    Or portray the U.K. as a place with no x-rays
    where you wait in line for days but it’s worse here I dare say…

    Excuse me sir, we only assist robots in this emergency room — WILL SOMEONE TURN OFF THAT CAR ALARM. What’s that? You are a robot. Oh. I’m sorry but your insurance doesn’t cover that procedure. Please see the secretary down the hall and fill out more paperwork…

    My pre-existing condition was no health care access
    I had to treat myself based on my best guess
    While corporations are playing me like a game of chess
    Still I’ve got to say, nevertheless
    I want health care parity and solidarity
    A social contract yo this ain’t no frickin charity
    The blue dogs know they’re gonna have to go
    and when I get to the do’ I wanna hear something just like

    Hello…
    Hello…
    Hello…
    Hello…
    Hello…
    Hello…
    Hello…
    Hello…
    Hello…
    Hello…

  • A Playlist

    I had a radio show for four years at KTRU Houston, Rice University’s 50000 watt indy radio station. Since coming to Urbana, I hadn’t caved to the temptation of joining Radio Free Urbana (104.5 FM), a four-year-old free-form low-power community station. Until tonight, when I decided to take an hour and fill in for the Sonic Asylum show. I have no idea what the Sonic Asylum show sounds like, but I did pretty eclectically (though typically, if you know me):

    “Summertime” – Allen Savedoff – Contradiction (Capstone)
    “Caravan” – Allen Savedoff – Contradiction (Capstone)
    “Five Short Improvisations” – Robin Goodfellow & friends – The Early Years (Experimental Musical Instruments)
    “Camping in the Backyard” – Skip La Plante – La Plante (PITCH)
    “Exotic Harp, Vibraphone” – Warren Burt – 18 New Fuguing Tunes for Henry Cowell (self)
    “Malizi v Parizi” – Iva Bittova & Bang on a Can – Elida (Canteloupe)
    “Abstain With Me” – Roy Zimmerman – Faulty Intelligence (Metaphor Records)
    “Who Are Parents” – The Shaggs – Philosophy of the World (RCA Victor)
    “The Dead Bird” – Dan Sedgwick – Shepherd Student Works 2006 (self)
    “Burning Monk’s Waltz” – Catler Bros. – Crash Landing (FreeNotes)
    “into the woods” – Astroid Power-Up! – Googleplex (self)

  • Tour of the Secret Prairie in downtown Champaign

    If you ever wander the streets of downtown Champaign, with just the right kind of aimlessness, you may suddenly find yourself in a tiny forest, which opens up onto a tiny prairie, complete with wetland, glacial till, and authentic hobo markings.  This is the Pocket Prairie, which Dave Monk (a.k.a. The Prairie Monk) takes care of and uses as a demonstration of the ecosystem.

    Dave came here from Australia decades ago to study the prairie ecosystem, only to find that it was rapidly being swallowed up by farming and development.  Today, less than 0.1 percent of original prairie remains.  Dave stresses that the sheer genetic variety found only on the prairie may very well contain future cures for cancers, as well as plants with the potential to be good biofuels.  The research will take years, as it does, and of course it is up to all of us to ensure the prairie is still around when we need it.

    From neverending battles with landscaping racketeers and those who hire them, came the slogan “Grow it, don’t mow it!”  This spirit is reflected across Urbana, which has more un-traditional and wild-growing lawns than I have seen anywhere else.

    At any rate, I helped Dave produce a virtual tour slideshow of the “Pocket Prairie” in the springtime, and here it is (original post):

  • Sound explorers hit BBBBQ

    (cross-post from ODDMUSIC-UC)

    This is the second day of the second year of the Blues, Brews, and BBQ festival in Urbana. Big names coming tonight, and it’s free this year. Too bad it’s the same evening as the West African dance/drum circle/potluck/bonfire at La Casa. I must catch some of both.

    This recording was made today under the auspices of “Sound Explorers”…

    “Sound Explorers” is an idea I had for a student club back at Rice; the group would take trips to local places of particular sonic interest. One way of learning more about your locality could be by making a map identifying these places of aural uniqueness.

    At any rate yesterday I found myself wanting to try out the IMC production room’s Zoom H2 recorder, & I found a blues festival at my front door. The wandering took me to a Freebird kazoo-along, a porta-potty, and a small tree.

    Mildly interesting…

  • Live Blogging Jacob’s Haircut with Hairdresser Maria

    listening to cliqhop.

    oh here comes heather.

    oh noes! maria cut herself. “oh it’s fine. i just don’t wanna get blood on you.” the assistant has gone missing. she wipes the blood on her leg.

    a bluish purple car pulls in across the street.

    maria thinks the music is too creepy.

    i would like my hair to not look like a clown. maria finds this funny & we snap a picture in the photo booth.

    Photo 231
    note the clown like hair on the sides of my head

    “i don’t know what this is turning into.”

    the music takes a turn for the worse.

    hair falls on my right arm.

    “i need a third hand.” “i know the feeling.”

    a moment of clarity as the music recedes & maria blows hair off my neck.

    “oh sweet, another cut.” wipes it on her leg again. ew!

    we discuss the differences between awkward and quirky. quirky can be cute. there is hair on the keyboard.

    “it sounds like you’re just snipping into the air.” “i’m shaping it, i’m giving you volume you’re gonna love it you’re gonna love it!”

    maria just cut herself a third time. i’m getting worried.

    here comes heather! the most prominent feature at this point is a puffy tuft on the top of my head. heather recommends trimming the tuft.

    Photo 232

    “it’s not really that hard to cut hair if you just…take your time.” today i thought the same thing about html coding.

    time to go make food.

    *Look for before & after shots soon!

  • fruit fruit everywhere

    Today as I biked through Champaign running some errands, I decided to be leisurely and leave room to notice what fruit trees I could.  To my delight I found serviceberry trees in several places, as well as mulberry bushes and trees, two cherry trees I didn’t know about, and even a plum tree!

    I was eager to update the Urbana-Champaign Fruit Map before I forgot the locations.  The UC Fruit Map is a community map on Google Maps, which anyone can add to.  Here’s what we got so far:

    Serviceberries, a.k.a. juneberries, marked with blue circle-dots, are turning purple in some places, seeing as it’s June already.  They are roughly like blueberries but have larger seeds which might taste like almonds.  Some call them even tastier than blueberries, but not me!  We have some in our garden, but they’re also found around town in droves, especially in landscaped areas around town in droves.

    Mulberries, marked in cyan circle-dots, are just coming in now. They tend to grow on the edges of lots, fortunately for sidewalk harvesters. Later in the season you can find them by the dark purple stains of fallen fruit on the sidewalks.

    Urbana-Champaign dwellers past and future, please enjoy the map and add what you know!

    UPDATE: I exported the kml file of the fruit map. KML is way of storing geographic data in XML. I’m trying to find a way to get the Fruit map on my handheld device, and this is a step towards that. Also its a way to get to the data on the fruit map without going through Google’s server each time. Link just tested it and it works!

  • Hi house.  Andrew & I have just arrived home from an 11-day stint in the Bay Area, mostly as part of the ensemble An Exciting Event, which got its name from our habit of putting everything together in a few days of very intense rehearsing.  In a week we worked up the Moondog Madrigal Puppet Show, a 90-minute extravaganza involving stick/shadow puppets, projections, 20 rounds by Moondog, and about 30 instruments juggled between 8 players.

    I was delighted to bring along the extra digital camera Heather loaned me recently.  Not only did I not lose the camera, but I even remembered to take some pictures with it!

    Bonny DoonOur first leg of rehearsals happened in this lovely house in Bonnie Doon.  It was a little cramped, but then again, An Exciting Event has a way of expanding to completely fill any space it occupies.

    We were fairly good remembering to break up rehearsing with run-around time, at one point playing pickup ultimate at UCSC’s Field on the Edge of the Universe:

    don't fall off!We shopped at a nearby farmer’s market and traded off making delicious meals:

    bean burgers in bonnie doon
    Dan, Robin, Jacob, Lembit, AndR

    Later in the week, we rehearsed at our performing space, a beautiful hall at the SF Community Music Center that Dizzy Gillespie reputedly held in high esteem, and we stayed in the immensely spacious basement of an office space being renovated (also very good for frisbee).

    Paul and AndR in dungeon

    One couldn’t be sure if the deterioration of our health and wellbeing had more to do with sleeping in “The Dungeon” or with our hectic practicing, but somehow we were able to muster up the wherewithal to give one heckuva performance Friday night, which was well attended and very well received.  Just ask Heather!

    On Saturday we were off to the Maker Faire, where we were shuffled around confusedly before getting into a nice roundsinging groove and making a number of udderbots to demonstrate.

    Sunday and Monday were filled with more informal activities and explorings and friend-meetings, including a Cybernetics/Somatics dinner party and a meeting with Tyson Ayers, musical healer and creator of such things as the Piano Cave:

    the piano caveThe top and sides of the cave are made up of the innards of upright pianos which are tuned to (among other things) harmonic series based on the sub-audible tone emitted by the earth when struck with a lightning bolt (!)

    That’s pretty much it.  Now we’re back.  So much to do.  My plan with the camera is to start a roadkill photoblog–we saw 19 roadkill on the trip from the Indianapolis airport–keep your eyes peeled!