Community Matters

(Community Matters)

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(Community Matters) hat tip: Towleroad

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(Community Matters) Returning to my hotel late last night, hot tomato soup & grilled cheese from room service as comfort, I became glued to Rachel Maddow’s MSNBCs live coverage of Egypt. I’ve been trading emails with two of my favorite correspondents (Kirk Rudy & Steve Adler) on this for the last week but admittedly, I haven’t tuned in to watch until now. Attacks on protesters by pro-Mubarak supporters seems a mistake; appears now in hands of military. The implications for world peace are overwhelming; as an eternal optimist, I’m hopeful while cautious & concerned.

Wish I was in on next week’s meetings in Austin with Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren.

(Community Matters) Milk & Honey – it isn’t really a speakeasy since it’s legit, ie., licensed, though its discretion – no signs, stenciling on a nondescript metal door which reads M&H Tailors – might suggest evasion from authority. According to many, Sasha Petrosky is credited with bringing back the art of mixology, evidently Milk & Honey led this resurgence around the world and is regarded by many as its epicenter. Originally established as a private, members only bar, they now take limited (if there happens to be space) reservations from nonmembers, but defacto early in the evening and even earlier in the week.

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(Community Matters) spoke with my husband this morning. It’s snowing and windy – 16F, feels like -2F.  well, not sure NY’s rainy cold will be better. We picked the wrong times to travel – or they picked us. I’d rather do a roaring fire and a day of snuggling with Steven.

(Community Matters) In early January, our quest for the best Italian reds was left unsatisfied (did ok w/ whites), so we scheduled another round this time at Congress Bar. Enlisted their sommelier, June Rodil, to guide us.  And, she did – quite ably and graciously. Even more than guiding us through the reds, in our conversations, she helped me further pinpoint what it is I like in reds and from where they are likely to come – colder temperatures than most Italians. The colder temps of Bordeaux, Germany and even Austria yielding earthier tastes rather than fruity. And, along with Graham Reynolds (my co-conspirator on this quest to taste and identify more wines & liquors) the three of us acknowledged, most wines available for tasting by flights or by glass are simply limited. We may make one more pass at Italians, this time investing in 3 top bottles – so maybe we should expand our tasters by 4, nah, maybe 1.

Of those we tasted (after starting with June’s required Prosecco :)), we tried a Selveplana sangiovese which was way too fruity, a Dolcetto d Alba – though from Piedmont, ditto. Moving into the nebbiolos from the northern (colder) Piedmont region, found the comforting minerals and savory herbs.

savory . . .  Chef Bull was on hand last night and concocted 3 vegan courses which left me wanting nothing more. Seriously, I’d convert to vegan if I could eat like that every day. Delivering each to our table, explaining ingredients and preparation, it felt as if we were sitting at the chef’s table . . . quite a treat especially since we were not even in the restaurant but in the bar. Just a tomato sauce he says . . . but when asked how prepared, it reminds me of the three days prep and reduction of just the Virginia pot pie – from a 3 year old hen raised on . . .

Owners Jeff Trigger and Dave Shaw also on hand, ever the gracious hosts. Hank Cathey and Ron Berry were at the bar when we arrived (Ron after his first meeting as a new member of Graham’s & Peter Stopschinski’s Golden Hornet Project). Ended the night with my first Manhattan – expertly ordered by Graham – Thomas Handy rye, Carpano Antica vermouth & bitters – & perfectly prepared by mixologist Adam Bryan. I know, I know, I’m not supposed to like fruity and this posting is overly flowery – but that’s the reality of Congress Bar, Congress Restaurant and Second Bar & Kitchen. ughh, speaking of Manhattan, I hear it’s 40 and raining, I gotta dash, I’m due there this evening.

(Community Matters) Thomas Friedman in the NYTimes: B.E., Before Egypt. A.E., After Egypt

[a retired Israeli general:] “Well, everything we thought for the last 30 years is no longer relevant.”

This is a perilous time for Israel, and its anxiety is understandable. But I fear Israel could make its situation even more perilous if it succumbs to the argument one hears from a number of senior Israeli officials today that the events in Egypt prove that Israel can’t make a lasting peace with the Palestinians. It’s wrong and dangerous

To put it bluntly, if Israelis tell themselves that Egypt’s unrest proves why Israel cannot make peace with the Palestinian Authority, then they will be talking themselves into becoming an apartheid state  they will be talking themselves into permanently absorbing the West Bank and thereby laying the seeds for an Arab majority ruled by a Jewish minority between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.

[and that will not sustain – the price potentially cataclysmic]

(Community Matters) Guests of the hospital’s CEO, Bob Bonar, Michael Barnes and I joined his table along with Development Director Missy Wood, Judy Waxler, Brett & Debra Hurt and Paul & Lawana Rothamel.

Heaps of friends, acquaintances & notables all around us – Michael & Susan Dell at the next table, Adam Dell hosting on the other side, Jan & Britt Lindelow and Ken & Kendra Gladish hosting tables to our left. The team Bob and the Seton Healthcare Network have built in Central Texas includes some of best pediatricians and specialty centers in the country.   A great cause brought to heart by the stories and videos that evening and serious fun mingling with friends and at the casino tables after. Armando Zambrano and his team created a super event, assisted by David Kurio & Victoria Hentrich – Victoria Guiterrez presiding over a fun, succinct and successful live auction. Michael Barnes’ blog here

Michael Barnes, Eugene, Debra & Brett Hurt (photo subsequently from Dell Children’s)

Michael & I walked to Graham’s Duke Ellington show at the Continental Club – added & unexpected bonus, Ruby Jane accompanied him for a set.

(Community Matters) I’d forgotten about his genius composing classical and indie-classical music – yeah, I know, how can one forget. I’ve become so enamored of his Duke Ellington and maybe come to think of him as just my friend . . .

Saturday night at the US Art Authority, Mother Falcon opened the evening’s show. Ok, double wow. “Mother Falcon is led by Nick Gregg, who directs an ever-shifting flock of classical musicians in a soundscape of strings, brass, and drums with a modern sensibility.” The Austin Chronicle describes them here

I asked Graham to describe them: “I consider them part of this broad “movement” or scene called either alt-classical or indie-classical.  Of course there were alternative composers to the mainstream before this movement, but there was also new music before “new wave”, etc.  It’s a reference to alt-rock and suggests not only a style of music but also a business style, types of gigs/venues, etc.  It’s something that’s been happening internationally.  I would put Peter, myself and Golden Hornet Project in this rough category as well.  Outside of Austin it includes groups/composers from Rachels from Louisville, Gabriel Prokofiev/Nonclassical Records in London, Wordless Music/Poisson Rouge in NYC, Tin Hat in San Fran/Portland, etc.  The list is long and the music ranges widely.”

Back to Graham’s set – he played his new work, The Difference Engine. Accompanied by 4 violins, a drum, a bass and a cello the composition of 5 movements includes a triple concerto of the piano, violin and cello. Also includes some familiar threads. Can’t recommend it enough – purchase here

After the show a few friends including Graham, John Riede, choreographer Andrea Ariel and a few members  (new friends) of Mother Falcon returned to my house huddled around an outside fire until an hour I’m usually waking up.

(Community Matters) Extreme tragedy – one of the most beloved youth in our parish, Kennedy Obilum was laid to rest yesterday after suffering a horrible accident. He & friends while trying to help two young women who’d run out of gasoline were in an explosion. Kennedy died from burns suffered in this explosion. Reading the inscriptions from his friends and fellow students at Round Rock High School, it was obvious he was as popular at RRHS as at St. James Episcopal Church.

(Community Matters)

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(Community Matters) a FB friend asked why I hadn’t posted about the murder of the David Kato, a Ugandan gay rights activist. It’s simply so horrific I’ve wanted to not think about it, nor about how mad I am at the US missionaries who went to Uganda and stoked these fires of homophobia. If you don’t know, three American evangelical “Christians” represented themselves as experts on homosexuality and “the gay agenda – the whole hidden and dark agenda.” It resulted in a bill being promoted which would result in the execution of homosexuals – more in this NY Times article