Mr. StripeyPants bolted off of his gentle resting spot, purring and catching some z-z-z-z’s on Liz’s side this morning. I knew he’d heard a noise. With the frigid, stony, -24 degree skies, and all the creaking and popping ice on the roof this weekend, I got up to see what the fuss was. The kitchen cabinet [...]
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Posted in Food, Haiku, Photography, Place, Poetry, Random, tagged dining out, downtown St. Paul, Mickey's Diner, Minnesota, nightowls on January 12, 2008 | 34 Comments »
Dining Out, Mickey’s Diner, downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved
out to lunch weekends
ah, it’s nice to have a break
blue nightowl sandwich
-posted on red Ravine, Midnight, Saturday, January 12th, 2008
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Posted in 25 Things, Art, Culture, Everyday Art, Food, Home, Memoir, Personal, Photography, Place, Things That Fly, Vision, tagged Basilica of St. Mary, Claes Oldenburg, Coosje Van Bruggen, Frida Kahlo, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Southern cooking, Spoonbridge and Cherry, Walker Art Center, ways to start the New Year, White Elephant Cafe, white elephants on January 5, 2008 | 44 Comments »
White Elephant Cafe, Augusta, Georgia, June 2007, photo © 2007-2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I don’t have much energy for writing. Liz and I spent the day at the Frida Kahlo Exhibit at the Walker Art Center. Then romped around the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and Conservatory, snapping photographs of:
That’s our idea of a FUN day. [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Bones, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Holidays, Personal, Place, tagged black-eyed peas, end of the year rituals, family traditions, Good Luck rituals, history of black-eyed peas, New Year's Day, Southern cooking on January 1, 2008 | 27 Comments »
It’s New Year’s Day. And it wouldn’t be New Year’s without black-eyed peas. Black-eyed peas aren’t peas at all but legumes, a member of the trusty bean family.
My family makes Traditional Black-eyed Peas every New Year’s Day for good luck. And black-eyed peas are also the prime ingredient in Hoppin’ John which spices up the [...]
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Posted in Death, Film / TV / Video, Food, Gratitude, Great Places To Write, Growing Older, Holidays, Laughing, Personal, Quotes, Seasons, tagged A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Christmas Story, Bob Clark, celebrating the Holidays, Holiday classics, Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol, never eat December snowflakes, nostalgia, Peanuts, snow, Vince Guaraldi, winter on December 24, 2007 | 17 Comments »
A Charlie Brown Christmas, snippets on YouTube by FlyingForGlory
Patty: Try to catch snowflakes on your tongue. It’s fun.
Linus Van Pelt: Mmm. Needs sugar.
Lucy Van Pelt: It’s too early. I never eat December snowflakes. I always wait until January.
Linus Van Pelt: They sure look ripe to me.
I love to watch the snow fall. I’m a [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Holidays, Home, Photography, tagged Amelia's kitchen, baking Rocks, Holiday recipes, passing down family recipes, Southern cooking on December 23, 2007 | 12 Comments »
Baking rocks for the Holidays is a tradition in our family. The name “Rocks” sounds kind of iffy. But trust me, they are delicious.
Liz had never had them before. I turned off the computer, turned up the Christmas music, and convinced her to bake up a batch to take to Solstice. I was the [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Home, Laughing, Life, Memoir, Personal, Place, Relationships, tagged Amish foods, history of food, how the Whoopie Pie got its name, how to make Whoopie Pies, Labadies Bakery, Lancaster County, Maine Whoopie Pies, passing down family recipes, Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Red Velvet Whoopie Pies, tradition on December 14, 2007 | 33 Comments »
Whoopie Pies, Falmouth, Maine, photo by alcinoe, 2006, image released to public domain.
I’m having way too much fun with these old family recipes. The comfort foods we grew up with connect to memories. And memories connect to family stories. In a comment on Memories, Writing, & Family Recipes, Mom mentioned the delectable Whoopie Pie and my [...]
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Posted in Family, Food, Home, Life, Personal, Practice, Recall, Wake Up, Writing Practices, tagged attention to detail, what's in front of me, writing the details on December 2, 2007 | 11 Comments »
What’s in front of me is a list of the four ingredients for roasted broccoli:
salt
pepper
garlic powder
olive oil
I wonder why I left off the main ingredient.
I wrote the items down in my notebook on Friday night, and on Saturday late in the day I cut the broccoli into florets and used my hand to coat each [...]
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Posted in Creative Nonfiction, Essay, Family, Food, Laughing, Place, Wake Up, tagged coffee, coffee beans, essays about coffee, humor, OmbudsBen, red Ravine Guests, social beverages on November 28, 2007 | 19 Comments »
By OmbudsBen
Yesterday Part 1 ended with my newsletter story “Coffee Muggings,” about the misappropriation of coworkers’ coffee cups. Little did I know, that was one of the more peaceful brew-hahas the stimulating bean would initiate for me. This was back in the years B.W. (Before Wife), and for a while I dated a lively young [...]
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Posted in Creative Nonfiction, Essay, Family, Food, Laughing, Place, Wake Up, tagged coffee, coffee beans, essays about coffee, humor, OmbudsBen, red Ravine Guests, social beverages on November 27, 2007 | 35 Comments »
By OmbudsBen
I’ve known a lot of women who rely on coffee for ignition. A kind of starter fluid, rise and grind. In my experience, it’s enough to draw a tenuous gender distinction, so long as I draw it carefully, or at a safe distance. Of course coffee can be starter fluid for men, too, but [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Family, Food, Home, Laughing, Photography, Random, Relationships, Secrets, tagged candy, Family, fun, Laughing, Pixy Stix, The Pixy Stix Challenge on November 24, 2007 | 17 Comments »
Steve Almond would have loved this! I was visiting with my brother in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago, when my niece and her friend charged in the door, all excited for a great scientific experiment: The Pixy Stix Challenge.
My brother prepared a wonderful dinner in the kitchen: mashed potatoes, brined chicken, sweet tea, apple cider, [...]
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Posted in Family, Family Recipes, Food, Gratitude, Holidays, Home, Love, Memoir, Personal, Photography, Practice, Seasons, Writing Topics, tagged Family, Food, memories in food & cooking, Meringue-Topped Southern Banana Pudding, Original Nilla Banana Pudding, passing down family recipes, Practice, Southern banana pudding, Thanksgiving, traditions, writing about food, writing practice & food on November 23, 2007 | 38 Comments »
Stirring the steaming, liquid vanilla pudding as it warms on the stove is kind of Zen for me. The silver spoon gleams and swirls through currents of milk and cornstarch. I stare, mesmerized.
Liz was bustling around the kitchen, dicing and dashing, mixing the Dijon, OJ, and honey basting sauce, chopping bananas, basting the naked Cornish [...]
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Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Food, Gratitude, Holidays, Life, Photography, Seasons, Things That Fly, tagged blueskydesert, Frank Reese Jr., heritage turkeys, Jana L'Esperance, pet turkeys, raising turkeys for food, Thanksgiving Day, turkey lovers, turkeys on November 22, 2007 | 26 Comments »
Happy Turkey Week, Mama Azul on the plum tree, November 2007, photo © by Jana L’Esperance (blueskydesert). All rights reserved.
Last Saturday my friend Jana L’Esperance, who goes by the Flickr moniker blueskydesert, came to the house to shoot the turkeys. “What’s she gonna shoot ‘em with,” Jim asked, “…her huntin’ rifle?”
We — Jim and I [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Growing Older, Holidays, Home, Life, Love, Memoir, Personal, Place, tagged Amelia's kitchen, Family Recipes, Food, passing down family recipes, R3, Southern banana pudding, Southern cooking, Thanksgiving, traditions on November 21, 2007 | 24 Comments »
Old family recipes remind me of the good parts of childhood. The smells are familar and warm, enveloping me in a giant culinary hug. The tastes are like ancestral footprints, distinct to each family, passed down for generations. (They don’t call it comfort food for nothin’!)
My 5 siblings and I have started pulling together Mom’s [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Growing Older, Holidays, Home, Memoir, Personal, Photography, Place, tagged Amelia's kitchen, dumplings, favorite cookware, Food, passing down family recipes, Southern cooking, Thanksgiving, traditions, turkey on November 18, 2007 | 24 Comments »
I was sitting in Amelia’s kitchen with the smell of Southern style chicken and dumplings pouring through my nostrils, when it occurred to me I should be writing her recipes down. I’ve never been much of a cook. But all of my siblings carry on the tradition of Mom’s cooking. That was in mouthwatering evidence [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Body, Bones, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Gratitude, Growing Older, Home, Laughing, Life, Love, Personal, Photography, Relationships, tagged birthdays, daughters, Family, Food, Gratitude, home & hearth, Mom's 70th Birthday, mothers, surprises on November 14, 2007 | 46 Comments »
Cutting The Cake, Amelia’s hands cutting the cake on the day she turned 70, Central Pennsylvania, November 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I’m sitting in Amelia’s kitchen. The smell of homemade chicken and dumplings spins across the room. My brother and sister-in-law stopped over for breakfast. Amelia made Canadian bacon, grits with [...]
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Posted in Animals & Critters, Family, Food, Home, Laughing, Seasons, Things That Fly, tagged bunches of turkeys, raising turkeys, Thanksgiving, turkeys, turkeys for sale on November 8, 2007 | 8 Comments »
Hey, look, it’s Mom, she’s home for lunch!
Hi, Mom, d’ya got anything for us? What d’ya got?
What d’ya got there, Mom? D’ya got anything??
She dudn’t got anything, let’s get the flock outta here.
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Posted in 25 Things, Bones, Culture, Death, Family, Food, Great Places To Write, Growing Older, Holidays, Laughing, Life, Personal, Photography, Practice, Random, Relationships, Spirituality, Vision, Writers, Writing, tagged 1 Year Birthday of red Ravine, All Souls' Day, anniversaries, birthdays, celebrations, Day of the Dead, Food, Halloween, Happy Birthday To You, rituals, writing relationships on November 3, 2007 | 25 Comments »
Day Of The Dead Birthday Celebration, detail of Halloween bouquet, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
We went out to dinner at Mysore Cafe in Uptown to celebrate a friend’s birthday last night. It was All Souls’ Day, day after All Saints’ Day, and both days following the Celtic rooted celebration [...]
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Posted in Culture, Death, Family, Food, Haiku, Holidays, Photography, Poetry, Seasons, Skies, Things That Fly, tagged Boo!, Family, Food, Haiku, Halloween, Holidays, mask, moon, Poetry, Seasons, sky on October 30, 2007 | 20 Comments »
Boo!, All Hallow’s Eve by the fire, one year ago, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 2006, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
North
pumpkin-faced Milk Duds
Willy Wonka candy corn
12 tricks for a treat?
South
Dead flash toothless smiles
2 Grandmothers walk the earth
Spirits dance on fire
East
gloved hands wipe chafed lips
crooked teeth eat twisted stems
shadows swim through oaks
West
hollow frosted rose
Hunter’s Moon [...]
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Posted in Food, Gratitude, Great Places To Write, Photography, Random, Relationships, tagged Dairy Queen, ice cream, Mudslide, Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, writing relationships on October 26, 2007 | 8 Comments »
Twin Peaks, at a Dairy Queen in southern Minnesota after a hot day of geocaching, August 2005, photo © 2007 by SkyWire. All rights reserved.
Vanilla (sans flecks) for ybonesy. She makes me smile every day.
-related to post, White Bread Revival
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Maybe it’s the cooler weather, but every morning this week I’ve been starved.
One morning I ate waffles with blueberries and plain yogurt. It was almost perfect. Except the blueberries were frozen and after I defrosted them in the microwave, the juice turned the waffles mushy. Other than that, though, perfect.
Another morning I had a chocolate [...]
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Posted in Food, Great Places To Write, Memoir, Photography, Place, Quotes, Random, Writers, Writing, tagged Ann Patchett, diners, Memoir, Mickey's Diner, Minnesota, St Paul, Truth & Beauty, Writers, Writing on October 24, 2007 | 7 Comments »
Mickey’s Diner In The Rain, Rainpainting Series, outside Mickey’s Diner near the Fitzgerald Theater, St. Paul, Minnesota, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
It’s been a long couple of weeks. Mr. Stripeypants has started to eat hard food again and seems to be on the mend. (Thanks for all the good energy [...]
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Posted in Culture, Food, Holding My Breath, Holidays, Laughing, Life, On the Road, Personal, Photography, Place, Seasons, Structure, Things That Fly, tagged All Hallow's Eve, Family, friends, Grantsburg, Halloween, Holidays, Home, minerals, pumpkins, rocks, Siren, The Great Pumpkin Catapult, The Midwest, Wisconsin on October 14, 2007 | 24 Comments »
The Great Pumpkin Catapult, The Lee Roberts Farm, Grantsburg, Wisconsin, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Yesterday Liz and I traveled out to Siren, Wisconsin with friends to check out Verne Peterson’s lifelong rock and mineral collection. It was a beautiful Fall day and the almost two hour drive flew by like [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Animals & Critters, Art, Culture, Family, Film / TV / Video, Food, Laughing, Money, Personal, Photography, Place, tagged Fair booty, Fair food, food on-a-stick, Food On-A-Stick videos, Minnesota history, Minnesota State Fair, summer on September 1, 2007 | 18 Comments »
Foods On A Stick At The Minnesota State Fair 2006, YouTube Video by TKordonowy.
Whoa! After 8 hours at the Minnesota State Fair, Liz and I made it home at 10:30p.m. last night, not much worse for wear. Unless you count the fact that we could hardly walk and had giant food hangovers!
Here are our MN [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Art, Culture, Family, Food, Home, Personal, Photography, Place, Seasons, tagged 57 foods on-a-stick at the Minnesota State Fair, Butter Queen, Fair food, Minnesota history, Minnesota State Fair, Minnesota State Fair Press Kit, summer on August 26, 2007 | 74 Comments »
-Minnesota State Fair Button 2007, quick snapshot after breakfast (notice the little piece of dirt on the middle right edge!), Minneapolis, Minnesota, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
It’s Minnesota State Fair time! And after over 150 years, it’s a Minnesota tradition. The Minnesota State Fair is the 2nd largest State Fair in the [...]
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Bethanny and Grapefruit, pen and ink on graph paper, doodle
© 2007 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
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Posted in Bones, Culture, Death, Food, Fotoblog, Home, Life, Love, Personal, Photography, Place, Structure, Wake Up, Writing, tagged Bridge To Nowhere, bridges, Ceresota building, community, connection, Gold Medal Park, Harry's, letting go, Minneapolis bridge collapse, Minnesota history, Mississippi River, mourning, Old Mill Ruins on August 5, 2007 | 10 Comments »
Gold Medal Park, August 3rd, 2007, blue light from the Guthrie, and the old Gold Medal sign, a few blocks from the I-35 bridge, Minneapolis, Minnesota, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I ended up in downtown Minneapolis Friday night, by the I-35 bridge. I didn’t plan to walk down by the river. But [...]
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First Strawberry, out on the deck, July 28th, 2007, Minneapolis, Minnesota, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Liz and I like to plant our perennials in pots on the deck, then transplant them later into the gardens. It gives us the advantage of enjoying a summer full of thriving foliage, bursting blooms, and wispy [...]
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Breakfast at Beto’s, pen and ink on graph paper, doodle © 2007
by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
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Posted in Authors, Culture, Food, Politics, Quotes, Random, Structure, Word Of The Day, Writers, Writing on June 24, 2007 | 5 Comments »
The responsibility of the writer is to excavate the experience of the people who produced him.
~James A. Baldwin
From A Dialogue: James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni (1973).
You can see more excerpts from their conversation in this post, and you can see other quotes from Baldwin here and here.
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Posted in 25 Things, Art, Body, Bones, Culture, Food, Politics, Practice, Quotes, Silence, Spirituality, Structure, Work, Writing, Writing Topics on June 18, 2007 | 14 Comments »
-Arms Behind Back, drawing © 2007 by
ybonesy. All rights reserved.
If writing practice were art, it would be a gesture drawing.
-red Ravine, 2007
I remember doing gesture drawings on a rainy day in winter, sitting in front of my pad of cheap newsprint, thin charcoal stick in my right hand. The room had high ceilings and a gray cement floor. Our nude [...]
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Posted in Authors, Bones, Books, Culture, Death, Food, Gratitude, Life, Love, Money, Nature, Poetry, Politics, Quotes, Random, Silence, Structure, Writers on June 12, 2007 | 8 Comments »
This Wednesday is our dramatic reading of Pablo Neruda poetry. All day I walk around the house reciting the poems, stumbling over words in Spanish. I have to say them over and over, first to learn to enunciate each word, then to hear the rhythm of the words together, finally to understand their meaning.
Our performance [...]
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Posted in Authors, Bones, Family, Food, Nature, Poetry, Politics, Quotes, Random, Structure, Writing on June 9, 2007 | 8 Comments »
I run after certain words… I catch them in mid-air, as they buzz past; I trap them, clean them, peel them, I set myself in front of the dish, they have a crystalline texture to me, vibrant, ivory, vegetable, oily, like fruit, like algae, like agates, like olives… And I stir them; I shake them; [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Home, Life, Love, Memoir, On the Road, Personal, Photography, Place, Relationships, Travel, Writing, tagged Amelia's kitchen, food and culture, GRITS, passing down family recipes, Southern breakfasts on May 30, 2007 | 8 Comments »
-Breakfast at Amelia’s, May 30th, 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
What could be better than fresh grits, hot from the stove (smothered in butter and cheese), scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, and French Roast? For lunch we had pimento cheese sandwiches, peanut butter pie, and sweet iced tea.
For the family gathering tonight, my [...]
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Posted in Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Maps, On the Road, Place, Random, Secrets, Travel, tagged Amelia's cherry pie, Betty's Pies, Minnesota, Pies Across America, places to find great pie, Two Harbors on May 17, 2007 | 13 Comments »
I love homemade cherry pie. I remember when I was growing up, there was nothing like the smell of Amelia’s homemade cherry pie with the criss-cross lattice, cooling in the kitchen window.
When Liz and I were up at Lake Superior in Duluth a few months ago, we were longing for the extra energy to take [...]
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