Soup of the Day

This is Mike, making my debut as an official blogger on Adventures in the Midwest. I know you've all become great fans of Melissa's blogging style, so I hope I don't disappoint you, our faithful readers, this week. If you're interested in new and interesting food, I think you'll like what you're about to read.

Melissa and I love to try new recipes, and the soup recipe we attempted a few days ago turned out so well, we knew we needed to share the goodness. When I first tasted this soup, I immediately thought about my parents and brother, who are currently freezing their @*$es off in Alaska. Mom, Dad, Nick, and other culinary adventurers out there, I hope you like the "Easy Mulligatawny Soup" from our Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup chopped apples (2 small)
1 cup chopped carrots (2 medium)
1 7 1/2-ounce can tomatoes, cut up (we used a 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes)
1/2 cup chopped celery (1 stalk)
1/3 cup long grain rice (we'll probably use twice this amount of rice next time)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup raisins
1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley (dried works too)
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground mace or ground nutmeg (we used nutmeg)
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey

Instructions:
In a large saucepan combine chicken broth, apples, carrots, undrained tomatoes, celery, uncooked rice, onion, raisins, parsley, curry powder, lemon juice, pepper, mace or nutmeg, and 1 cup water. Bring to boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in chicken or turkey; heat through. The recipe says it makes about 4 main-dish servings, but we found that it made closer to 6, probably because we added the extra tomatoes and a little bit more of a few other ingredients than what the recipe calls for.

If you like vegetable soup, apple cider, and chicken curry, you're bound to enjoy this invigorating combination. It's great for a cold autumn or winter day.

Bon appetit!

Tornado warning

Tornado: Violent, low-pressure storm, relatively small in diameter but with very rapidly rotating winds and an intense updraft near the centre.

The relatively low pressure at the centre of a tornado's funnel-like vortex causes cooling and condensation, making the storm visible as a revolving column of cloud, called the funnel. Tornadoes normally travel at 30–40 mph (50–65 kph). The winds around the vortex average nearly 300 mph (500 kph) and have been known to reach 500 mph (800 kph). Tornadoes often occur in groups. (Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise)

I don't know anything about tornadoes from experience, just stories that I keep hearing from others. I hear that the sky turns greenish, the air gets sort of thick, and as one librarian keeps telling me (in a very dramatic voice), "You can just feel something coming."

Thursday night I was working at the library and a tornado watch was in effect. The weather radio under the desk kept on going off, warning people in several Illinois and Indiana counties (including Champaign County) that a tornado may be coming our way. At about 6:45 the watch became a warning and we evacuated all library users to the "tunnel" -- an underground passage from the main library to the undergraduate library. It was crowded and hot down there, so I was glad that the warning expired after about twenty minutes and we were able to go about our business.

In other news, the Primary program today went really well. The kids performed their songs and spoken parts even better than I had hoped they would -- and all fourteen of them were there! I was so proud of them. They were adorable and earnest and very, very sweet. I'm trying to think of a favorite moment to share, but I'm afraid I can't. I just loved the whole program too much to pick a moment that stood out.

Franklin County is too, too small

Here's proof:

I was working at the library at the reference desk tonight and had forgotten to silence my cellphone. Since it was Dad calling, I answered: "Hi! I'm at work at the library!"

"I just have one question. I was sitting next to R.W. at county commissioner meeting today and he said congratulations on becoming a grandpa."

"What?! Are you kidding me?"

"He said his daughter read on your website that you're expecting, but I was just hoping that you'd tell us before you put it on a website."

"Well, of course I would tell you first! But don't expect any announcements! Don't expect anything!" (While logging on to Facebook and checking my blog for anything that might have been misconstrued . . . Also feeling some passing resentment towards persons who may have misread and misinformed . . .)

I got off the phone and told M., the librarian I was working with, what had just transpired. Laughed somewhat hysterically for a few minutes; resentment passed, disbelief set in.

In conclusion, in case anyone is wondering, I am certainly not "expecting." Thank you and good night.

How to talk to kids -- and how not to

I stole the above title from This American Life. Their show last week was all about how to talk to kids: how to entertain kids, how to answer questions about sex, how to instill fear into kids without using physical force. I'll admit that I was most interested in the final act, in which parents discussed why they yell at their kids and why it's an important disciplinary tool. One of my concerns about having children (not in the immediate future -- maybe 3 or 4 years down the road) is my lack of patience. It's a quality that I lack, to say the least. I've tried to work on it, but it seems to be just a part of my modus operandus to want things to happen really, really fast. I'm most impatient with myself. In fact, when I was in 5th grade (warning: this is a really pathetic story) if I wasn't the first kid done with my test or assignment, I'd get so angry at myself that I'd cry. It's a bit sick, I know. So one of my major concerns about childrearing is: What will I do with them when they don't do what I want them to do and/or they don't do it quickly enough? The answer: Probably scream like a banshee.

My current role at church is leading the children in their singing. Next week the kids are doing their yearly presentation to the whole congregation: they'll be speaking and singing for about 45 minutes. We practiced today and, although the practice went more smoothly than I expected, it was pretty exhausting. There are several older boys (9-12 range) who are a bit too cool to be up on the stand in front of everyone and they don't always pay attention when it's time to sing or to come to the microphone. There are three little three-year-old girls who also have a hard time paying attention. Do I scream at the kids? No. Because we're at church, I hold up a little stop sign on a popsicle stick and they know to stop whatever they're doing and look at me. Surprisingly, the stop sign on a popsicle stick works pretty well. But I can't help thinking that getting the kids' attention with volume might have a more lasting effect.

So, maybe the point is that I'm learning there is another way, besides yelling. But a good scream can be cathartic . . .

Food, Glorious Food

The new documentary The Hollywood Librarian was released last week to coincide with Banned Books Week. The film was released at libraries and library schools nationwide and Mike and I got to see it at GSLIS -- a fundraiser for the Library and Information Science Library at UIUC. The film juxtaposed images of librarians in movies (Party Girl, The Desk Set, It's a Wonderful Life, The Music Man, etc.) with real librarians talking about their work: what they do and why they do it. I really enjoyed the film -- it was more serious than I had expected and actually brought a couple of glistens to my eyes. The filmmaker spoke with very dedicated, very inspiring public librarians who work hard every day to keep their doors open to as many people as possible, to have storytime for children, to have literacy programs for prisoners, and more. It made me very proud to be a part of that community.


Before we went to the movie we tried a restaurant called Milo's that has been recommended to us several times, ever since we first visited town. It was magnificent. Really. If and when any of you come to visit us here, we'll take you to Milo's. I had apricot stuffed chicken breast and Michael had pan-seared scallops in a creamy pepper sauce -- so delicious.

I'm very pleased to report that I am once again a member of a knitting circle! A few library students decided to get together weekly on Saturday afternoons to knit and yesterday we were at Anna's house with a delicious quiche, apple bread, and a couple of hours of dedicated knitting. I'm working on a brown cabled cardigan for which I bought the yarn one year ago at a little-bitty store in Driggs, Idaho, where the yarn was on clearance. Now I'm just hoping that I have enough yarn to finish. If so, this will be a VERY cute sweater. :)

Speaking of knitting, I got the most exciting package in the mail this week. My dear sweet friend Wendy sent me a beautiful graduating/going away/getting married present that she made:

A lovely lacy pink wrap that I will wear as soon as it gets below 70 degrees. We're having unseasonably warm weather here and actually set a record this weekend with temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s. By mid-week, though, it's supposed to be "below normal temperatures" according to the guy on the morning radio. But what is normal?

We enjoyed staying home and watching General Conference this weekend. We were reminded and inspired to be a little kinder, more patient, and especially more grateful for all that we have.

The coming week should be calmer than last week was, for which I am grateful. On Friday I did a presentation in my reference class (on biographical resources) that went really well and tomorrow morning I'm doing a group presentation on research ethics. Now I don't have another really huge assignment due until November.

Still no sign of the handsome Dobler. I miss him very much.