Grilled what?
I’ve taught several cooking classes about grilling, for which I developed a guide to grilling vegetables and fruits. It’s pretty comprehensive, covering a wide range of produce with specific instructions for each. The fruit section says, “Most fruit is too delicate to stand up to the dry heat of the grill,” then lists the fruits…
Snow job
Jerrad Pruitt pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to distributing more than 500 grams of cocaine in Springfield, Bloomington, and Carbondale between June 2000 and October 2003. In open court, Pruitt confirmed that the cocaine was obtained from Danny Sidener Jr., one of six people charged last fall in an ongoing federal cocaine investigation. Though…
Scavenger hunt
We’re approaching the fifth anniversary of an event that forever changed the fabric of American life, an event that shook us to our core — or might have, if anybody had bothered to notice. No, I’m not talking about 9/11. I’m talking about the disappearance of the Big Chief tablet. I got to thinking about…
Life and debt
Before embarking on a five-nation tour of Africa last week, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama expressed concern about the perception that he could deliver to the continent, as he told the Chicago Tribune, “the largesse of the U.S. government.” Though one of the most prominent and respected black politicians in America, Obama frequently tries to underplay…
Letters to the Editor
We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address, and daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length, and clarity. Send letters to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. A FRIEND TO ALL Kudos to Lawrence Crossett for his excellent story about Pat O’Neill from…
Sage advice to cut thyme
As a group, culinary herbs are my favorite garden plants. Easy to grow, they require little care, are subject to few insect and disease problems, and generally prefer moderate soil fertility levels. They also add fragrance and beauty to the garden. Many herbs, such as lavender, sage, and purple basil, are ornamental and work nicely…
Conglomerate journalism
The new managing editor of Time magazine has a rather grandiose sense of his publication’s place in the scheme of things. He declared that Time is for people “looking for one source to speak with authority and explain the world.” Perhaps he could start by explaining (authoritatively, of course) why Time Inc. dumped Bartlett and…
Depp in the past
How could a film starring one of the biggest box-office draws in the world slip by without a trace? In between his Pirates of the Caribbean blockbusters, Johnny Depp starred in a true oddity titled The Libertine (2004), which received a negligible release in late 2005 and earlier this year. The public would never embrace…
Hopped up
There’s a warning at the beginning of Broken Lizard’s Beerfest, the comedy troupe’s latest celebration of bad taste. The drinkers portrayed in the film, it advises, are professionals, and “if you attempt to drink this much, you will die!” This is the only courtesy afforded the audience, which, for the next hours and 50 minutes,…
Memory of the Flood
Hurricane Katrina’s winds shredded the Gulf South like a giant scythe, but it was the flooding in New Orleans that jolted the national psyche, leaving the deepest memory. The flood turned the Big Easy into a disaster zone, planting the image of a Third World backwater. When has the persona of a city been so…
Get your Goat
Last year the Mountain Goats released The Sunset Tree, an aural exorcism inspired by the abusive childhood of the band’s frontman and only permanent member, John Darnielle. Like its predecessor, the speed-freak saga We Shall All Be Healed, The Sunset Tree was loosely autobiographical and boasted a professional-studio sheen, especially compared with earlier Mountain Goats…
“Only one vision”
Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin has weighed in on a proposed initiative to redevelop part of the city’s East Side by reassuring residents in a letter that the city has not backed the idea. The proposal, known as Raising South Grand Avenue, “is only one private developer’s vision,” Davlin writes, referring to Mike Suhadolnik, head of…
Hoorah for okra!
Amid the bounty of late-summer vegetables, there’s one that tends to get the short shrift, and her name is okra. In India she’s quite the lady’s finger, in parts of West Africa she’s known as ngombo (which is how gumbo got its name) and in the Middle East she’s got the beautiful melodic name of…
People’s Poetry
lakepoem #9 it’s so humid here I have to toast each sheet of paper before the heater or it will jam the printer even though it’s ninety degrees I have an idea the oven has a pilot light maybe if I put paper on a cookie sheet the pilot will be sufficient to dry it…
Bob, John, Rodney and Chris
Today, Thursday, Aug. 24, 6:30-9 p.m. on the patio of Cheddar’s (3151 Horizon Dr., 217-525-3820), Bob Katt and the Missing Lynx entertain with a wide variety of vocal jazz tunes featuring the brilliant sax playing of Mr. Katt (a.k.a. Kevin J. Cox). Good food and music outdoors, and before 10 o’clock — Cheddar’s is taking…
Author! Author?
Fifteen years ago: I quit golf and try a less expensive hobby to humiliate myself. I’ll write a book. A long habit will lead me: Whenever an odd thought passes by, I grab it and force it into a gorilla-head jar. I’ll pull out a jar-thought, stretch it out until I tire of it, call…
Sticking it to the bricks
Dear Gene: We have a brick fireplace that was painted white but has become sooty and drab. We want to repaint it. I have had different opinions on whether I can use regular paint or must buy expensive high-temperature paint. What do you say? You should be able to use regular water-based paint unless you…
Vinyl Static
CD EXCHANGE OutKast is back, finally. Last Tuesday the Dirty South duo unleashed Idlewild, an album to accompany the new film, set in the Prohibition era, that’s coming out Aug. 25. The release finds the pair’s house divided — another split disc of Big Boi and Andre 3000 tracks — and rarely do the two…
To persevere
To pursue advanced business courses at Lincoln High School, freshman Pat O’Neill first needed to complete the marketing requirement. He signed up and was put in a class with mainly older students — most of them girls. His classroom work that semester was fine, but the final exam for the course consisted of a 40-minute…
A little goes a long way
Is it dirty art rock or arty dirt rock? Rock music you can dance to or dance music you can rock to? Whatever you want to call Derdang Derdang, the Archie Bronson Outfit’s second full-length, the word “rock” had better be in there somewhere because, whatever its other qualities, rock it most definitely does. Pitched…
Restore your floor
Dear Gene: We have older wood parquet floors that look shabby and need treatment. We have been told that we can “screen sand” them and refinish them easily. I have always heard that it is very difficult to resurface floors. What do you think? Whether you can screen-sand depends on the condition of the floors.…
Garlic-o-rama
Rare is the opportunity to truly experience an ingredient and eat it several different ways in one sitting. Not only is it challenging to pull off for the cook, it can also be overwhelming for the eater. But it’s being done: In the past few months, I’ve heard about chefs playing with asparagus five different…
Our cup runneth over
August always seems to be one of the busiest times of the year, and this year is no exception; the coming weeks are filled with glorious opportunities to enjoy some fine live music. On Saturday, Aug. 19, the Underground City Tavern hosts a unique show aimed at the music lover and the history buff in…
A passion for friendly competition
When I was a child, my mom shared her love for gardening with me. She gardened simply because she enjoyed it and because her garden provided our family with fresh vegetables during the summer and extra produce for canning or freezing. Although I now enjoy gardening, as a small child I saw it as a…
School for slackers
If I were to compare the new college “comedy” Accepted to a food item, it would be a saltine cracker — bland and about as exciting as a senior-citizen rocking-chair contest. Directed by first-timer Steve Pink, the film tries to sport a hip attitude, but it’s a tired retread, a pale imitation of funnier, smarter…
People’s Poetry
lakepoem #8 I have two wires in my heart no big deal but they have altered my actions for a while also my observations this dawning I sat in the shallows not allowed yet to soak my sutures stretch my swimming arms after gazing a time over the still surface I noticed the action in…
Cold comfort
“There are two kinds of people in this world,” says Bill Murray in the movie What About Bob?, explaining why he’s divorced, “those who like Neil Diamond and those who don’t. My ex-wife loves Neil Diamond.” It’s a line that’s become part my family’s unique lexicon, an inside joke we repeat to each other with…
Vinyl Static
SINGLES ONLY John Legend has doled out the first single from Once Again, the yet-to-be-released 2006 follow-up to his Grammy-winning debut Get Lifted. “Save Room” finds the dapper piano man channeling Nat King Cole and Otis Redding in a vintage tune bearing traces of cocktail-lounge smoothness. That’s no disrespect: Legend channels the Rat Pack’s head…
Heating up
Dear “Earth Talk”: In what ways is global warming already affecting us in North America? — Tyler Merson, New York, N.Y. There are many examples of climate change’s real and present impact. For one, the 20 hottest years since recordkeeping began in the 1880s have all occurred since 1983, and until this year 2005 was…
Literary twist
Classic novels were once a primary source of material in Hollywood back in its more original days. The moguls had a penchant for raiding everyone from Brontë (Wuthering Heights) to Tolstoy (Anna Karenina) because they were an easy sell to the public. Eventually the public stopped buying, and disinterest may be attributable to a series…
