Dave Page

On 10 July Bette and I attended the Faculty/Student Benefit Concert for the Dance/Movement Therapy & Counseling Department of Columbia College, Chicago. Why?

We responded in late spring to a letter from Alexandria, a local DMTC Master’s candidate (who actually attended Marian Central) who, for her thesis, held a series of workshops for bereaved parents, using physical activity (or movement) to bring relief. The usual attack is via long drawn out sessions of discussion, which Bette and I both found useful after Sarah died, but this was different. There was discussion, but also a lot of breath work and physical activity. The last session, we played in a 12 foot loop of a diaphanous stretch fabric, which opened our eyes to play and remembering things. She also took some video of us acting out scenes from our memory.

Her thesis was turning these experiences into dance.

The dance was called Buried Treasure, and was part of a series of recital pieces from the students and staff of the department. It was a lot of fun, and the music was very good too. I always find new music when attending these things (just like working with Poms). And I was thinking, I should have invited Poms (and alumnae) to this - they would have loved it. It was a benefit for some scholarships for students, who were awarded them after the dance was over. Just like a Sarah clinic!

Afterwards, there was a nice reception catered by the Melting Pot fondue (chain) restaurant, with a fountain of chocolate martinis and chocolate fondue with fruit and Rice Krispies treats. We were able to talk to Alexandria, who was pouring (free) wine, and she told us she had reviewed the video for our physical presentation and used that to choreograph the dancers for her piece. A lot of thought went into it - amazing. She used the best line, “Everyone grieves in their own way”. If everyone remembered that, the trip would be a lot easier.

Dance Center of Columbia College, 1306 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL
Melting Pot, 609 N. Dearborn, Chicago, IL 60654

Update– here is the playlist — I love music for these things - artists have lots of ideas!
1. Savage Acquiescence / “Fade To Black” by Apocalyptica from “Inquisition Symphony”
2. a sublimer / “Weird Fishes / Arpeggi” by Radiohead from “In Rainbows”
3. Communion / “Journeying” by Steve Halpern from ?
more to come…
4. “Nobody knows the trouble i see” / trad. spiritual
4a. “Trampled Rose” by Alison Krauss from “Raising Sand” (unbelievable)
5. Buried Treasures / “Silent World” by Donna Lewis from “Now In A Minute”
6. Matters of Self / “Hide and Seek” by Imogen Heap from “Speak For Yourself”
7. moving through / “Guaranteed”, “No Ceiling” and “Rise” by Eddie Vedder from the “Into the Wild” soundtrack.
8. Beating / “Feedback”, “So Much Betta” by Janet Jackson
9. Euphoric - Inherent - Drive
10. Shapeshifting
11. Disquieted Front / “Biscuit” by Portishead from “Dummy” (Sarah had this album!)
12. Two Moons
13. Work, Play, Love
14. BESS in Hip Hop / “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson, “Dance and Shout” by Shaggy, “Track 1″ by Dabrye, “Go Girl” by Pitbull

We arose early, to grab some coffee and fruit and headed out at 7 to the race site. We found Sara there by phone. Sam was in an early wave, and was in the water by the time we got there, so we waited on the beach for him to come out. Their running friend Gretchen was also racing, but we missed her. After Sam came out, we went to the transition area, but he was too quick by the time we got over the bridge.

We crossed the other ped bridge and chatted with Sara and her friends from East Troy and Amy, her BFF from Whitewater who arrived soon after dropping off Sara. Our Sarah’s friend from Woodstock, Alexis, now living in St. Paul, met us on the beach. Sara moved off to occupy her slot in Wave 39, and waited to go into the water. We found in her in the chute out to the water, and then moved to the other side of the beach to wait for her to come out.

After she came out in a surprisingly short 20 minutes (Sara did the sprint course, and swam much better than she expected) we tried to get thru the crowds on the ped bridge to the transition area. Bette pushed a little and butted in line, and saw Sara. We didn’t, but waited to see Sam come in from his bike. He came in about ½ hour later, and by that time we were found by Uncle Lou. We cheered, he came to kiss Karin, and he was off on the run. Sara came in about 30 minutes later, and we cheered her and she trotted off on her shorter run.

Then we headed off to the finish line, staked out our spot near the bridge, and waited. Sara came in soon, and then Sam and Gretchen. Turns out Gretchen was cramping and was feeling bad and bailed before the 2nd lap.

We headed back to Sam and Karin’s and made burgers and dogs for lunch and visited. Alexis and Gretchen headed out, and we prepared for our evening with Chef Vincent.

Sam ran this there with Chef Vincent’s team, a fundraiser for Fraser, a support organization for Minnesota special needs persons and their families. Sam raised quite a bit, including OUR donation, and all the team runners got a nice Chef Vincent running jersey and invites to the post-race party at his establishment, Vincent: A Restaurant in the Nicollet Mall. We valet parked and passed white linen alfresco seating and were directed up the stairs.

We were on time, and it was still empty, but the wine was out and some of the food was there, so we dug in. Vincent is a French native, and the restaurant leans French, but he had an eclectic combo of appetizers – and lots of them. My favorite was the Veggie tempura and the salmon toast, and the beef thingies – heck it was all good. Nothing was bad. Okay, the fries were the real thin ones, and those are very hard to keep warm. Everything else was great.

Sam and I talked to Vincent, and he is an interesting guy. Nice, and with a lot to say. We chatted about his work with the organization and his restaurant. Then I spoke with a gentleman, Joe, who is taking Vincent and a bunch of bikers to ride around Provence. Joe’s Mello Velo tours were about $3K less airfare, but the idea of waking up at 10, riding thru wonderful countryside, and returning to a chef-cooked dinner sounds really nice. Except they do 100 miles a day - a bit much for this couch potato.

We headed back to the house, and sat on the porch with some more wine discussing how weird our families are till 11. Time for bed.

The next morning, Amy and Sara, along with Lou and Joan came by for a fresh Frittata breakfast from Chef Sam. Joan and Sara rode back with us to the Fort and home.

Vincent: A Restaurant, 11th Street and Nicollet Mall

Up in Minneapolis to visit Sam and Karin and cheer them on at the Lifetime fitness triathlon. We arrived Friday from a series of thunderstorms thru Wisconsin, and the weather in Minneapolis was gorgeous, but real hot and humid.

We checked into the Casa, and visited with Sam for a while. Karin was out getting groceries. Sara was competing in the sprint distance event, but was out with her BFF Amy from Whitewater for dinner. We would see her tomorrow.

We sat around and chatted awhile and headed off to Al Vento, a local Italian place for carbo-loading. It was busy, with outside seating, we chose to be inside to stay cool. Sam was preparing for a race, of course – we have to be serious.

We started out with Truffled pecorino packets with Swiss chard and brown butter, fried pillows of Pecorino cheese with an oil sauce. Yum! Sam, Karin and I split a bottle of the house Solapaca Rosso red. Bette had a Sauvignon Blanc and Karin had some Col Vetoraz Prosecco sparkling.

Bette and I split the beet salad (Roasted beet with frisee balsamic vinaigrette and hazelnuts), excellent. Sam and Karin split the Mista with balsamic blood orange and local Donnay goat cheese salad, a collection of greens. The choices for dinner were excellent. I never heard of Radiatore, but it is a pasta resembling radiators in meat sauce. Sam had that, and I had the bucattinni, with noodles with a more spicy meat sauce. Mmm. Karin had spaghetti (Spaghetti with mother sauce and veal meatballs) with meat sauce and Bette had the halibut.

We topped off the meal with dessert. Bette & I split a pistachio Semi Fredo …..which was spectacular, but I can’t remember a thing about — I think a ganache type thing. Karin had a Chocolate Oblivion cake, and Sam had a scoop of gelato.

A great meal – Sam said the next day the meat sauce was probably more that he should have had before a triathlon, but, what the heck. This was a nice place, fun atmosphere with a young crowd, and great food. Recommended.

Al Vento, 5001 34th Ave. S., Minneapolis MN

At the Green Zebra we got a little of everything. Yes, it is loud and expensive, and yes, you may hit White Castle on the way home, but it was all good…

We had some beignets. We had two orders of potstickers (Curried Potato Potstickers, cilantro tamarind sauce, fresh coconut) for appetizers. We had roasted beets (Roasted Beets, wasabi gelee, cocoa nib foam, chippys) yum!

Good but small pricey plates. I had the chef’s selection which are all the items on hand in small quantities, each individually explained to me.

I had a rare Vos Amber Belgian-style ale — should have done wine, bottle was huge but good… Lots of wine all around. We had a Sha Na Nas, a Sundance and a Drunken Peach — sounds like Sara’s drinks! Should have gotten the wine flight, but I was smashed as it was.

Bette had a good halibut. (Vegetarian???) They have a great Tater Tot facsimile (Potato Tots, sunny-side up egg, nicoise olives, heirloom tomatoes).

I had the Thai spiced soup (Thai Spiced Carrot Soup, crispy rice noodles) and loved it. It had a cilantro foamy sauce on the surface. Actually, Brad had it too - was good to see him outside of his zone. Someone had Heart of Palm (Hawaiian Heart of Palm, blueberries, passion fruit cream, szechuan peppercorn). We had the tofu (Crispy Tofu, Thai basil, baby bok, Jasmine rice). Someone had the popover (Foraged Mushroom Popover, smoked cippolinis, Michigan cherries, manchego), a kind of pastry thing. We had artichokes (Marinated Artichokes and Feta cheese, arugula, preserved lemon). We had cucumbers (Cucumber and Radish Salad, sea beans, kohlrabi, greek yogurt panna cotta).

Desserts: French press coffee, I had ti kuan yin tea (no big deal), Alberto had a good looking cheescake, Bette and I split a chocolate cake. Someone had the Napoleon. One had poppy cake. None was poisonous.

We caught Gemma taking pictures of the food for Pro Bono Baker. She looked a little embarrassed, but I wondered how she got all those great food pictures for her blog. Now we know.

After dinner, Sara left to visit sister Liz and Alberto and Chellie invited us to their new condo on Franklin in the River North area. We cabbed back to the condo and went up the elevator to 11. What a nice place. They had nice art, a view of the buildings on the river. The club across the street was loud they said, but that what happens in the city.

Alberto talked me into some Lambrusco, a slightly fizzy wine. Good, but on top of the other wine I was flying. Good thing we were cabbing back to the Hyatt. Bad thing was I had to get up the next day for a train back to work.

They had art from Alberto’s trip to Guatemala, and also a 4-image panel from a local artist, who makes cartoony images in the style of Roy Lichtenstein. Their panels were of Chellie’s various pet sayings, but a lot of thought went into the characters and the placement. Amazing.

Chellie gave Bette her birthday presents, a small red book of Italian cooking, and a succulent e.g. cactus in a lovely pot. Very nice. We wobbled back to the hotel.

Green Zebra Chicago 1460 west chicago ave. • chicago illinois 60622

For her birthday, Bette wanted to go to the Green Zebra, a nouveau-vegetarian restaurant in River West Chicago. We heard about it, seen on Check Please, and talked about with friends, none of whom had anything bad to say. Sign me up!

Sara, Bette and I headed down on Wednesday afternoon on Metra, overstuffed heavy hanging bag in hand. Hanging bags are very hard to manage when overstufffed — bulky! Bette was attending the Delta Delta Delta convention at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, so we were staying overnight. Sara had to work the next day, so she was training back.

Since it was holiday weekend, the $5 passes were for sale. The train is so nice for going downtown. The Hyatt is a good 1.5 miles from the train, and there was no way I was carrying the bag that far without a shopping cart. So we hopped in a cab with a dour driver and were there in a few minutes.

We checked in, while I got over my feeling of deja-vu from being there the previous week for the Tufte seminar. We moved over to the assistant manager check-in desk since Bette’s Tri-Delta pals had only signed her up for one night, but things were settled, and we headed up to 2330. It overlooked the river and we could see the new Trump tower, Wrigley building, and other places. Nice room. I changed, Sara worked on her newly shorn locks for a few hours.

Plan A was to go to Chellie and Alberto’s new place, and check it out. Bette checked in with Chellie, and they were in the middle of finding a repair service to fix their A/C. So we would head over there after dinner. Plan B was the Big Bar downstairs.

Sara had been here before, and we pulled up to a table, noticing it was REAL hot there. I took off my sport coat and noticed the table was warm to the touch — maybe the sun was on it all morning, it was now cloudy. We ordered a large Cosmopolitan for $24. Well, it was large! It was a large martini glass about 1 foot tall and 8 inches in diameter with three straws. (No backwash!). Needless to say we were all a little tipsy leaving. And it was still early!

Had a little challenge getting a cab — waited too long, and the evening rush had started, soaking up most of the cabs that had been dawdling outside. We found one, called Chellie to warn her we were on the way, and called the restaurant to warn them we were late, and to expect Gemma, who is usually very punctual. As a matter of fact, she was already there!

We stopped at Chellie’s on Franklin to pick up her brother Brad who, a football player and big guy, would not fit into the back of Alberto’s Miata. 5 minutes later we were down Chicago Ave and at the Green Zebra.

Sara and Ryan gave us a gift certificate for $25 for the Rosebud Cinema Drafthouse last year. We finally got around to using it at the 4PM show of “Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull“. (The certificate had expired but Bette had called to confirm we could still use it). It looks like a small neighborhood theater, but in the lobby is a snack bar that sells *GASP* beer and wine. I ordered a Spotted Cow, Bette got some wine, Sara had some Mike’s concoction. We ordered the appetizer sampler plate with garlic cheese bread, fried mozz, onion rings and chicken fingers, took a plastic number ala Culver’s and headed into the theater.

We saw rows and rows of black velour loveseats, with nice side tables between each one to perch drinks and eats. We sat, set our number on the back of the sofa and waited. In 15 mins, our food came, delivered to the sofa. Way cool.

The movie was OK, typical Indiana Jones, he and Marion Ravenwood a bit older from when I first saw them, but with lots of crashing and smashing about. Bette liked the romantic angle. The ending was a bit bizarre, but on the whole it was fun. Especially on the sofa. With beer. I can deal with a much lower quality of movie in this environment.

We then headed out to find dinner. We started to head back to the expressway, but Sara mentioned the Chancery in Wauwatosa (or Tosa as those in the know call it), and we were driving right by. We parked, and walked across the street to check out the other restaurants along State Street. There was a brick oven pizza joint that looked good, but we walked to the corner and looked into Ristorante Bartolotta. Italian, nice bar, white linen tablecloths. Bette was all about this place. We went in, and found they were booked for dinner at a table, but we could get full service at the bar. I hesitated but Bette did not, and we joined up with Tim at the bar.

Tim set us up with white linen napkins (baby tablecloths) and knew good points and bad points of all the dishes. Bette and I got wine, me a Barbera “Le Orme” and Bette a Sauvignon Blanc. Sara wanted Riesling, but in Italy? Nein. Tim set her up with a rose colored “Bigaro”, a more dessert wine. She seemed to like it. Tim brought around the tongs and dug hunks of bread out of the bread bucket, and dished out the olive oil.

I had the Beef Filetto ($35) with nice garlic mashed and veges. Done medium rare, pricey, but good. Bette got the Pomodoro tomato/cheese salad (which we split, and Tim brought it out on two plates - nice touch) and the small order of Gnocchetti di Semola al Ragu di Crostacei ($16) for the main course. Mmm. Sara had Braciola di Maiale ($23), a huge pork chop on the bone. Nice. She had a heck of a doggy bag (for her dad). Tim answered some questions about Grappa I had from San Francisco, and let me sample one.

For dessert we had coffees and a Sundae di Gelato ($7), which was vanilla bean gelato and caramel sauce. Simple but wonderful.

Tim got a great tip, sitting at the bar was more fun than a table, and I could not think of one thing wrong. Great place, and worth the trip. Highly recommended.

Rosebud Drafthouse 6823 W. North Ave Wauwatosa, WI 414.607.9446
Wauwatosa Chancery 7615 West State Street Wauwatosa, WI 414.453.2300
Bartolotta Ristorante 7616 West State Street Wauwatosa, WI 53213 414.771.7910

Took a break from the TDI Dance Competition in which the Woodstock High Poms — sorry, Dance Team, old habits die hard — did great (to our eyes) in AAA Pom. While in Geneva, we hopped over to pick up Bette’s mom, and headed over to Honey, a new nouveau diner in the Glen Ellyn downtown area.

You walk in the corner door from the -5 wind chill and it feels like a bakery. Case with food in the front, welcoming people behind the counter. A hostess seated us. Ceiling old school tin, very sparse decorating, track lighting. Lots of wait staff in crisp white t-shirts.

We quickly got coffees - bottomless, strong and good. The menu had lots of good looking things. One was a special oatmeal, cooked then fried in a pan. Lots of good salads, sandwiches. Had to pick one.

I ordered the breakfast burrito with sausage ($8.95). Bette had the veggie burger (8.95) with fries on the side ($2.95). Grace had the steak sandwich ($12.95).

After 20 mins and another cup of coffee, the waitress brought out the two orders of fries, explaining the steak was taking a long time. We nibbled on them, they were wonderful, with some crusty salt thing and a hint of rosemary. They were, however, trending toward cold, but not cold enough to complain. They must have been sitting there waiting for the sandwiches. The table next to us spilled a huge hot chocolate and moved over and we watched them clean it up.

In all, a nice place with a good breakfast. A welcome change from the usual.

Honey 499 N Main St, Glen Ellyn, IL‎

For the Eve, we made reservations at Adelle’s near the train station in Wheaton, IL. Hard to get, even at 5PM. Plus it was snowing like heck.

They had a $75 prix fixe menu, which made me a little hesitant. We had seen the restaurant reviewed on
the local PBS show “Check Please” and everyone raved. So what the heck.

Good stuff. Nice place, big fireplace. Outdoor seating when not 15 below zero. Recommended.

Adelle’s - 1060 College Ave - Wheaton, IL

One of our favorite restaurants in Sanibel was the Twilight Cafe at 751 Tarpon Bay Rd. It sat behind an art gallery so you could browse while waiting for your table. Once inside, the decor was — unique — kind of Cheesecake Factory weird — but very nice. Very crowded, but cool entrees. Their symbol was the stylized sun, half in shadow — hence Twilight.

Our favorite was the grilled veggies accompanying each entree. Once we asked for the recipe, and the waitress handed us the business card — I guess they got asked this a lot — and there was the recipe on the back.

We lost the card, I wrote back with a SASE and they sent me another one.

I just found the card under a pile. Last year, we saw they had closed. So they probably won’t mind if I post this recipe so I don’t lose it again.

“Our World Famous Broccoli”

• Blend Red Onion with equal parts Soy Sauce and Red Wine Vinegar with 3 parts vegetable oil.
• Marinate 4 hours
• Grill and enjoy

Simple, but good. Like most timeless recipes. Thanks, Chef Robert W. Parks Jr., and I hope you have success in your new place!