This week in Oberlin...

Even in summer Oberlin is a happenin' place.  In addition to on-going exhibits at FAVA and Allen Art Museum, and the comings and goings of prospective students and their parents, this week we have:

• The Oberlin Chalk Walk coming up this Saturday
• Two baroque music performances, by faculty and students on Friday and Saturday
• A "Sonic Arts" recital on Saturday

(See the Oberlin College events page for more information on the recitals.)

We'll be crazy busy starting this Thursday with people coming and going all weekend.  But I think we'll try our artistic hand at the Chalk Walk.  I'm thinking of using the statue Reeny gave us as a model to create a buckeye and a frog.  Stay tuned.

Jumping the broom on Juneteenth

Sadly, my collards didn't make the cut - I think they were waaaay too spicy - but Dom and I did jump the broom, reaffirming our commitment to each other after almost 7 years.  Awwww.... 

Juneteenth in Oberlin

I've just learned from our neighbor Justin about the Juneteenth celebration in Oberlin to commemorate June 19, 1865, the day that the last slaves were freed in America.  This year it's mostly being celebrated on Saturday, June 16.

I have to admit, I'd heard of Juneteenth but didn't know exactly what it was.  It's actually very interesting and I found a web site that explains it well:  http://www.juneteenthoberlin.com/  It also lists all the events around Juneteenth, which are extensive, to say the least.

I just noticed the "Greens" cook-off.  I've got a killer collards recipe - I think I'm going to enter it!  And Dom and I should definitely jump the broom!

Our new (but temporary) 5-star chef

With Dominique in Harrisburg at his new job, it was a relief to have another cook to prepare breakfast for our guests this morning.  Mackenzie Bierman, chef non-pareil, whipped up a fantastic breakfast of huevos con chorizo, fried potatoes, and flour tortillas.
 
I contributed grapefruit with fresh home-grown mint and the usual sides of cereal, juice, and tea.  The guests ate almost every bite and sent their compliments to the chef!

Here he is, scrambling up the eggs:

And serving it up:

Looks good, doesn't it?  And the room looks so pretty; it's a beautiful spring day here in Oberlin.

Finally, the chef gets to enjoy the fruit of  his labors. Thanks, Kenzie!

The egg production team

Dominique likes to joke that we should add a surcharge to the bill of guests who don't like eggs.  It's true that we are sometimes in danger of being overwhelmed by our brown and pale green eggs from our Dominique (yep, that's the name of the breed), Mimique, and our "Easter Egger" (a hybrid variety of Araucana), Chipmunk.

Mimique (left) and Chipmunk, the egg production team

These girls are turning 2 years old at the end of the summer, though, and egg production is likely to wane, so we've got our trainees standing by.  They're 3 weeks old today and won't start laying for another 5 months or so, but that should be just in time to take the baton and enable us to keep serving omelets, quiches, and more with eggs from our very own free-range, organic chickens.

Our trainees

Lesson learned: prepare the night before

We had a little bit of a breakdown yesterday and paid for it this morning.  For whatever reason - probably just an accumulation of too much non-stop work and the anxiety of doing something new - we were both exhausted last night:  didn't go to Illumination Night, didn't even have dinner.  And, most important, did not do one thing to prepare for this morning's breakfast.

Plus we somehow failed to take into account the fact that, duh!, today is graduation and parents need to be up and at 'em to get decent seats.  So we were really scrambling to get everything ready and on the table without looking too sweaty and harried.  I think we pulled it off...but if we did, it was mainly because everyone was focused on something else - like graduation.

Despite everything, Dom made these adorable quiches in our new ramekins and they were quite possibly the best quiches he's ever made.  And the table did indeed look beautiful with all our new things.

Anyway, the take-away from all this was this:  no matter how late it is, no matter how tired we are, we simply must get the room ready the night before and start the preparations (or at least have a game plan) for breakfast.

Economizing by spending

It's Memorial Day weekend and that only means one thing:  sales.  We have realized that our placemats and napkins are pushing 10 years and showing their age, so we drove 45 miles to a Crate and Barrel - yes, that's the closest one - and bought two sets of placemats and jewel-toned napkins to go with, as well as some ramekins, wine glasses, and one or two other indispensables.  Then we found a Le Creuset store so we had to augment our little casserole set, adding purple and green to the red, orange, blue, and black that we already have.  Plus Dom bought an omelet pan and more ramekins.  Then we had lunch at an Irish pub.  We tried to come home via Lakeshore Dr. but something went terribly wrong and we just took freeways.  Our breakfast table is going to look bee-yoo-tiful tomorrow.