You won’t find Don Giovanni on the list of operas of the 2004/2005 season on Lyric Opera of Chicago’s home page. I suppose that should tell you something. I did find a page for it on Lyric’s web site by prowling around a little. Here it is. It takes some ingenuity to find it.

Last night my wife and I attended the second opera of our subscription to Lyric’s 2004/2005 season. I was a little disappointed by Lyric’s new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Cartoon sets. More-or-less-realistic period costumes. Rather haphazard-appearing lighting and effects. The blocking we’ve come to expect from Lyric (lousy—particularly in crowd scenes).
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But does he have to say it this way:

Moreover, the behavior of pre-1994 white Southern Democrats, though certainly an interesting subject, doesn’t tell us much about contemporary circumstances, since their behavior was idiosyncratic at the time relative to northern politicians, southern Republicans, and southern African-American Democrats, they largely don’t exist anymore, and insofar as they do exist, they’re a rather different breed from their predecessors.

A semi-colon here or there would really have helped that sentence.

Gerard Vanderleun of American Digest has posted one of the strongest blog essays I’ve read in a long time, Yearning for the Mud. It’s well-written, beautifully constructed, and insightful. Even if you disagree with the sentiments he’s expressing you’ve got to admire his skill.

I don’t have much to offer in exchange for the gift that this essay is. The best I can do is to add American Digest to my blogroll. Browse around. He’s really on a roll right now.

Carnival of the Recipes #10 is now up! This week it’s being hosted by Allan of Inside Allan’s Mind. While you’re there browse around to get an idea of what’s inside Allan’s mind.

This week’s submissions seem to focus on comfort food with recipes for Tuna Noodle Casserole, Frozen Waldorf Salad, Sugar Pie, and Pound Cake. I’ve bucked the trend and submitted my Spinach Campagnola. Check it out!

Texas toast or French toast? Steven Taylor is back with the Toast-O-Meter.

Hat tip: Fark:

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A 61-year-old woman has admitted that she submitted a request to the Lancaster County Election Office for an absentee ballot in her late mother’s name. But Carolea Adams said she just wanted the ballot for a scrapbook of her mother, Marguerite Adams.

Adams was putting the scrapbook together when a notice to request an absentee ballot arrived for her mother.

Adams told the Lincoln Journal Star that she thought, “Since voting for Mummy was such an important thing, I’ll send it back through and get her ballot back with her name on it, and I’ll keep it for her scrapbook of materials I’m putting together.

“I had no intent of voting on her ballot,” she said. “I simply wanted the ballot and was going to put it in her scrapbook.”

Well, that explains all those deceased voters we keep getting absentee ballot requests for here in Chicago. Their relatives are just making scrapbooks. Lots and lots of scrapbooks.

They’re stars! I just finished watching a streaming video from Illinois Board of Education Starnet Animal Assisted Therapy for Young Children (Quicktime required). My wife and two of our dogs, Jenny and Tally, are featured. Clink on the link to view it.

Some years ago my wife and I dined at the fine restaurant Campagnola in Evanston with a dear friend of ours. We were served a spinach dish which impressed me tremendously both with its taste and its straightforwardness. Here’s my recreation of the dish we were served that memorable evening.

Spinach Campagnola

9 oz. baby spinach, washed and drained
½ medium onion, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, crushed and minced (optional)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
3 medium plum tomatoes, cored, seeded, and chopped
Pinch oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Steam the spinach (covered) in ¼ cup boiling water in a medium saucepan for 8 minutes. Remove to a strainer and allow the water to strain out. Press with a serving spoon to get more water out.
2. Saute the onion in the olive oil over medium heat until it just begins to brown.
3. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
4. Add the tomatoes and oregano and saute for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the balsamic vinegar and spinach, cover, reduce heat, and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.
6. It’s ready to serve!

I made this with the last of my summer tomatoes last weekend and it was incredible.

I’ve just finished reading Glenn Reynolds’s interesting column in The Guardian in which he speculates on the prospective foreign policy of a future Kerry Administration. He outlines three alternatives:

• Kerry as GWB (continuing the policies of the current administration)
• Kerry as Carter (pursuing a pacifist or isolationist course)
• Kerry as Lyndon Johnson (out to prove how macho he is)

I’ve suggested that third alternative myself.

I wonder if the real concern isn’t that Mr. Kerry will try each policy out in turn to see which one fits best. Isn’t that what his history suggests?