Accommodatingly

…I’ll be attending a cool poetry reading at Magers and Quinn bookstore in Minneapolis, at 31st and Hennepin: Macalester legend Alex Lemon, author of the much-admired Mosquito, and West Coast-East Coast poet Jon Woodward, author of Rain, will go on at 7:30pm this Monday March 5. I review Woodward (favorably) in the current Believer; you can read the review here.

Later, but not much later, on Friday March 9, I’ll be reading for Intermedia Arts at a nature center in Fridley, at 7:30pm. I’m delighted to be reading alongside Moorhead’s Thom Tammaro. More news as it happens!

We have recently given away something like 7 or 8 bags of clothes and household linens, 3 boxes of records, and a computer desk, and have sold at least 10 bags of books and a sofa. Yet it has made nary a dent in the ridiculous amount of crap we have around this house. Why do we own so much stuff? I don’t feel like we’re particularly materialistic people, but I guess all evidence points to the contrary.

I also have about four big boxes full of clothes that Nathan has grown out of that I will not get rid of yet, on the chance that if we get around to giving him a sibling it might be a boy. Not that I won’t go out and buy more stuff if I get pregnant again. Sigh.

The cleanup from last night’s awesome spinach salad wasn’t bad at all: bacon grease, yes, but not much of it, and eminently worth it. Mmmmm, spinach salad.

Cold Front, a new webzine devoted to poetry criticism, runs a review of me, by one Melinda Wilson: neatly inverting half the other positive reviews the book has received, Wilson likes the poems that don’t involve pop-culture references, and disses the ones that do. If you’re not reading Cold Front and you do read contemporary poetry, why not read it now?

Another neat litmag with an online presence I hadn’t noticed before: CutBank, from the U. of Montana. Word is they’re looking for poetry reviewers– if you want to review contemporary poetry and you’re not reviewing enough of it, you might try contacting them. You might also mention that their home page needs an update: I’m pretty sure they’ve had an issue since 2005.

Speaking of colds, Nathan has had one: a scary virus shot his temperature up to a sleep-destroying 104, though it came back down (so far) this morning.

And speaking of cold fronts, the Twin Cities are supposedly about to get hammered by snowstorms: I’m not looking forward to the potential traffic jams (though the Twin Cities are better by far about plowing and clearing than anywhere else I have lived)– but I am sorta excited to see the predicted thundersnow.

Made a good supper tonight and thought I’d share it. It’s easy, though since bacon is involved, the cleanup could be a bit greasy.

Serves 2

Software:
3 strips of bacon
3 eggs
1 onion, sliced in rings
2 carrots, bias cut into reasonably even slices
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 TB dijon mustard
1 (5oz?) bag of baby spinach
Freshly ground black pepper

Hardware:
1 pot
1 large cast iron skillet
1 pasta server
1 set of tongs

Fill a pot with water and place over high heat. When it comes to a boil, use a pasta server to gently place eggs in pan. Lower heat to simmer and set timer for 12 minutes. When eggs are done, remove from pan with pasta server, rinse in cold water and peel.

Set large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Don’t have a cast iron skillet? GO OUT AND BUY ONE. You can even buy them pre-seasoned. You need a cast iron skillet, so just go get one already. Take care of it and it will take care of you.

Skillet hot? Good. Add bacon slices. Cook until browned, then flip with tongs. Cook until other side is browned, then remove to a plate lined with paper towel.

Lower heat under skillet to medium. Add onion slices. Sweat onions until starting to brown, then add carrots. Cook until onions are fully browned. Remove to plate. (You can use the tongs for this step, but a spatula might also be helpful here.)

Whisk together balsamic and mustard. Add spinach to pan, pour balsamic mixture over, mix with tongs once or twice, then begin moving the spinach to plates. Mound half of spinach on each plate, surround with slices of hard-boiled egg (1 1/2 eggs per plate), mound onions and carrots on top of center, and crumble bacon over all. Add an extra splash of balsamic and fresh ground pepper. Enjoy with a dry white wine and crusty bread.

***Thanks to Scott for noticing my omission! This is why I shouldn’t write cookbooks…

A really, truly sweet and talented guy, Chase Korte, was killed by a drunk driver on February 10th. I met Chase while we were both students at the University of Minnesota in the theatre department. Chase wasn’t someone I was good friends with (honestly, I had a hard time making good friends there given the age difference between me and most of my peers), but he really won me over when we worked on The Rehearsal, which he starred in and for which I did costumes. Not only was he side-splittingly funny in the Dryden-inspired role of Bayes, he was also so eager, full of energy, and genuinely enthusiastic, it made my job a whole lot more fun. It’s really the best show I worked on while I was at the U, and he was no small part of that.

Chase moved to L.A. after graduating to have a go at acting professionally. I’m sure he would have been a big star someday. You can see some of his work on YouTube.

So long, Chase, and my heartfelt condolences to your friends and family. I hope your memory is a reminder to all of us that we should not take lightly the responsibility of driving. It’s all too easy to take a life when you’re behind the wheel.

The front page plays music (pretty indiepop, so far!) so turn off your sound if you’re in a public place– and then go read it. Read the Don Revell poems, and then read Noelle Kocot (I’m mixed on her new book, but these are startling and neat). And then keep reading. (UPDATE: And Kathleen Winter, too!)

Also, Silliman on the new Rae Armantrout, a book I think I like as much as he likes it– and he likes it a lot.