Busy, busy...

[altivo]

A productive weekend, more or less, but not nearly enough done.

We went up to Williams Bay, Wisconsin with friend Carol to hear the opening performance of the season by the Lake Geneva Symphony. There were only two pieces on the program.

The first was Ravel's Piano Concerto in G Major, new to all three of us and (I gather) not often performed. The piece clearly reflects the result of an American visit by the French composer, who used jazz styling and motifs throughout. The timing and nuance are almost Gershwin-like, and reminded all of us of American in Paris and Rhapsody in Blue though there were no obvious quotes from either of Gershwin's masterpieces. Pianist Krassimira Jordan was remarkable, virtuoso even beyond what I expected, and that is certainly needed for this concerto. The style is intricate rather than bombastic, and requires passages where each hand plays in a different key or time signature, as well as a lot of cross-hand work. The overall result was very fine and we enjoyed it greatly.

The second selection was Tchaikovksy Symphony No. 4 in F minor, which was all the better for Conductor and Musical Director David Anderson's advance explanation of major themes and elements of the work. The LGSO has improved a great deal (not that it was bad to begin with) under Anderson's direction, and the performance came across very well. The French horns play a major role in this symphony, and they sounded like the noted horn section of the Chicago Symphony this time.

A predicted heavy frost skipped over our small garden, so we still have green tomatoes that "might" ripen before the vines are killed, but hope is diminishing. The plants are heavily laden, but almost nothing has turned ripe yet. The pumpkins I did NOT plant have produced six usable pumpkins so far after sprouting from seeds that apparently made it through last winter in the compost bin. There are many more immature fruits on the ground, but I'm pretty sure the frost is going to cut them off soon. These are the small and heavy pumpkins that can be used for pies and soup, not the large thin-shelled jack-o-lantern variety. We will put them to good use.



On Sunday I also baked a peach pie, bought groceries, tried to photograph the fall colors though it wasn't really sunny enough, and made a pot of cholent. We haven't had cholent for a couple of years and the cooler weather inspired me to put it together. It's a traditional Jewish stew, created to cook slowly overnight from Friday to Saturday so it would provide a hot meal on the sabbath without requiring anyone to cook or light a fire. The principal ingredients of my Hungarian version include small lima beans, tomatoes, onion, garlic, carrots, turnips or rutabaga, smoked sausage (I use a turkey sausage,) and both hot and sweet Hungarian paprika. I usually bake this in a closed cast iron pot at 250°F for about 8 hours, but this time I opted for a slow cooker set to high temperature. A little red wine added near the end of cooking enriches the blend and enhances the aromas. The smell becomes enticing after about four hours and makes you drool after the sixth. As usual, it turned out well, since it is almost foolproof and requires little attention once assembled.

Comments

[avon_deer]

You did NOT plant them? And yet got some pumpkins?

[altivo]

I planted squash and melons. We buy pumpkins but don't plant them because they spread out and take so much space. These are the same type as what I buy in the local farmers' market, and I assume they came up because there were seeds in the compost we put down on the soil this spring. Pumpkins are vigorous growers, but the juvenile plant looks just like the butternut squash I intended to grow, so I didn't stop them immediately. I didn't want to pull out my squashes.

In the end, the pumpkins overran the area and smothered the squash and melon plants. The vines are now spread over more than a hundred square feet, and have at least a dozen immature pumpkins on them beyond the six I've harvested. Still, as I said, we can use pumpkins and usually buy a few, so it didn't go to waste. The vigorous growth rivaled that of the pole beans and was fun to watch. In fact, I've seen pumpkin vines that climbed small trees and resulted in pumpkins hanging from the tree branches.

[avon_deer]

I remember that now. We tried growing pumpkins here once, and it was amazing how quickly they grew and how far they spread.

[altivo]

I'm sure it helped that they were growing on top of what had been the sheep run for a decade or so. There's quite a rich layer of well-composted sheep manure under there.

[songcoyote]

We've had similar expansion / invasiveness with zucchini in our area, losing half our pumpkin vines to them! We haven't been doing much crop growing recently, though, and some household changes make that even less likely for the near future. (We gave up most of what little yard we have to essentially put up another room via a "shed" that is finished and insulated for reasonable occupancy.)

Your account of the cholent left me happily hungry! I think I'll nip across the street at lunchtime and get the special curry box from the Indian place there. Cheapest good food in the area: the portions are generous enough to be 2 meals for $5.

After reading about the Lake Geneva Symphony I am reminded again that I need more music in my life. I think I'll look into the San Francisco Symphony's upcoming events. They generally put on a good show.

Thanks for the delightful tidbits, and have a great week and more!

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

[altivo]

Zucchini here are rarely that sort of problem. Squash borers invariably kill them off before they get that big. That said, I still got a good crop before the die-off, and we had large zucchini stacked like cordwood in the kitchen for a couple of weeks. Only two left now.

I can't think of the San Francisco Symphony without thinking of naked cellists. One (or more) of their male cellists posed nude for some smarmy photos years ago and caused a minor scandal. When and who it was, I've forgotten and I don't think I ever saw the photos either.