Three Beautiful Things 02/25/18: Learning About Chicago, Splachcocked Chicken, Dinner with Paul and Carol

1. More snow. Snow in the morning. Snow in the afternoon. I surrendered. I decided to stay indoors with the Deke and we listened to podcasts. The latest episode of Reveal, entitled "My Town, Chi-Town" looked interesting -- it is a nearly hour long examination of current life and life in the past in the south and the west of Chicago, in predominantly black neighborhoods. The episode covered a lot of ground: the number of shooting deaths is down, but the number of shootings has increased -- how could this be? What is the impact of neighborhood schools being closed? In 2013, the city voted to close 50 public schools, creating great difficulties for many children and families. In the the last segment, host Al Letson interviews reporter and author, Natalie Moore who is a third generation Chicagoan. She has published three non-fiction books about the city, the latest being, The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation. If you listen to this episode of Reveal, you'll learn more about how policies and practices in Chicago segregated the city and how segregation continues. To hear it, click here.

2. The Deke braved the snow by climbing into Liz's rig and going uptown to knit at Radio Brewing. I stayed home and splachcocked (or butterflied) the whole chicken I had thawed out and let it sit out for an hour after I covered it with a light coat of olive oil and salted it and seasoned it with Old Bay Seasoning. I peeled a couple of sweet potatoes and cut them into chunks to roast. When the time was right, I browned the the breast side of the flat, spineless chicken and popped it in the oven and fried up a couple of slices of bacon to enhance the green beans I prepared. I also mixed up the contents of a Caesar salad kit.

3. Carol and Paul traveled to Nelson, B.C. on Friday and returned to Kellogg this afternoon. We siblings had decided to cancel our usual Sunday family dinner, but left it open that Carol, Paul, the Deke, and I might eat together. Sure enough, Carol and Paul were happy to have a dinner prepared for them after their travels today, so we enjoyed the chicken dinner I prepared and talked about a wide variety of things, including their trip to Nelson, podcasts we'd listened to, mining and labor history, and the challenges Paul faces as he directs a Readers Theater version of Richard Sheridan's 18th century comedy of manners, The Rivals at the Sixth Street Melodrama.