Chicago loose ends

Wherein I share photos of folks who are not strictly ALA folks and I share photos of meals outside of the major meals I wanted to spotlight.

Loose ends.  Oh, Peter.  I have a general practice of just writing what I write and not worrying about whether the prose is all that good.  I have no illusions of this blog being optioned for publishing deal or a film or television series.  Can you even imagine?  So I write what I write and look back and cringe and laugh.  But it does remain true to at least part of me, so I keep it all.  The loose ends it is.  That will teach me to write placeholder titles days in advance!

Friday morning in Chicago, and it was breakfast with Matt and Kim at a place we could all walk to, a Chicago Waffles location.  So much on the menu to choose from, but I opted for an omelet, something I rather like but seldom have.  Broccoli and cheddar in this one, and it was enjoyable. 

I liked the potatoes on the side as well.  That was a filling start to the day.

Friday evening, and we met up with Courtney and Robert along with Courtney's sister, Chelsea; Chelsea's husband, Andy; and their two daughters.  The family had driven down from the Madison area, and we were supposed to be joined by Courtney and Chelsea's parents as well.  They couldn't make it up from Indiana, alas, so it was just the eight of us at Eataly in downtown Chicago.  A fun time!  I hadn't seen Chelsea and Andy in at least a dozen years or more, and I had never met the girls.  Conrad had never even met Andy!  We shared some light bites and pizza, pasta, and wine.  Conrad and I also enjoyed their version of Last Words. 

After dinner, we headed over to the Langham Hotel with Courtney

and Robert

and shared a bottle of wine at Tavelle, looking out at the river and catching up.

Saturday lunch was with ALA folks whom I like very much.  Five of us had a leisurely (very very leisurely) lunch at Southern, not far from the convention center.  Great company.  Maybe a little pokey there, but the food was terrific.  I had a Hugo Spritz to start

and settled on two appetizers for lunch:  deviled eggs and fried green tomatoes. 

Oh, and we all shared a cornbread that Kathy, the southerner at the table, refused to accept was proper cornbread. 

Whatever it was, she liked it.  We all did.

Sunday lunch was with Robert (not the same Robert as above) at Apolonia.  Conrad was there for that one.  I thought my blue crab eggs Benedict were nicely done - I always appreciate it when the yolks are still runny, and these ones were. 

We shared pastries that looked lovely but were honestly kind of dry.  Ah well.  I really did like my eggs a lot.

I have no photos of my sandwich from Danke in Sterling Food Hall from my lunch with Michael on the Monday.  It was a good sandwich, and the food court was pretty cool (and pretty busy).  Just so great seeing Michael, though. 

It's been far too long.  We met years ago through our work at each of our libraries in Chicago on digital collections and hit it off - he became someone I would go for occasional happy hour drinks with.  Good guy.

That brings us to Tuesday lunch and a reunion with Rachel and David. 

We met up not far from Rachel's work, dining at The Gage.  It's such a reliable restaurant, especially since it's in such a touristy spot on Michigan Avenue.  There's something of a classic bistro feel to it.  I've enjoyed cocktails and food there several times, and this one was no less good.  A gin and tonic on a hot and humid day was sweet relief, indeed. 

I opted for a cold sandwich as well, a lobster roll. 

No, not a typical thing for Chicago, but it sounded so good.  It was tasty, a little wet.  I devoured it happily.  Rachel and David were such excellent company, too.  It's always a treat to see the online happy hour folks in person, and I will see all of them in person this calendar year!

Conrad and I also had a very nice dinner at The Publican with his colleague, Nate, and Nate's wife, Allison.  I didn't take photos of that meal, but we did enjoy it.

That, friends, wraps up Chicago.  I hope it does.  It was quite the ten days away, and although there was a lot about the time away that just sort of off, there were great friends and wonderful meals throughout.  I'm glad we had those. 

it's about the people, and it always was

I went to ALA Annual this year thinking that it would be my second-to-last time, planning on Denver 2028 to be the last.  Other than the annual deans and directors meeting I go to in Sacramento, no other conferences planned.  Retirement in 2029, after all.  But I came out of ALA Annual this year realizing that this year was, in fact, likely to be my last conference.

When I was a bright young thing, I loved going to conferences.  I loved going to programs and dozing off in the back but also hearing about things I could aspire to do at my library.  I loved listening and using that as a springboard to ideas to follow up on for research when I was on tenure track.  I loved seeing presenters talk about things that were completely outside of my area of work just for the fun of hearing about those things.  I loved attending key note sessions and feeling a little thrilled at the big names that were sometimes up on that stage.

Even before 2010, my ALA life took at turn.  I'd always wanted to be involved, and the added need for tenure to do service at a high and national level meant that I sought out such opportunities.  From inauspicious beginnings on an ACRL section committee and an NMRT committee (where I met the awesome Aaron Dobbs, who was chairing it).  In 2010, I was elected to ALA Council, and in the years that followed I spent a total of 13 years on that body, six of them as a member of the Executive Board, three of those six as the Treasurer of the association.  I chaired committees and served on others since then as well.  Conference became a place for meetings, lots and lots of meetings in some instances.  I stopped going to programs.  Annual (and Midwinter) became different for me than for most people.

At this year's Annual, I had no obligations.  None.  I am not elected to anything, I serve on no committees.  I came in with so much freedom to schedule as I wished.  And that was weirdly disconcerting.  I combed through the program and tried to find the things that would interest and even excite me, and there wasn't much.  I attended programs, and I came away uninspired, not having seen much that I wanted to bring back to my workplace.  I appreciate all those who presented - thank you to them! - but I just didn't feel engaged.  On the last night of conference, I was at a hotel bar later on, sitting next to one of the association's senior staff members.  She asked how I enjoyed the conference, and I hesitated before deciding to be honest.  I told her that the time had come for me to stop going to ALA and instead encourage and support my library team in going to conference and then in facilitating the new things they want to try as a result of their attendance.  But me?  No, I was done.

I also came to Annual with a real desire to lie low, to avoid running into so many of the people who made my last years of governance work so unpleasant, so acrimonious, so personally draining.  I don't swear much on this blog, but wow, did I fucking hate dealing with those people and those matters by the end of my time.  So I came to Annual, and I made the deliberate choice to seek out the people I really like and care about and wanted to see.  Dinners, lunches, coffee breaks, drinks late at night, morning walks.  I made the most of those, I tell you.  And it was awesome.  Because that's what ALA still has to offer me:  the incredible people.  Let's not call it networking.  Let's call it what it is:  real friendship.  That was what made Chicago so worthwhile for me.  I loved my time with them and how Conrad could plug into it at times (no, no Van at the conference - he didn't see the need to be towed along, and I don't blame him).  True, I avoided people at conference, almost entirely successfully, but I saw so many that I love dearly.

And I don't need Annual to see them again.  To stay in touch, to send emails and texts and cards.  To do online happy hours.  To visit.  So that is where I will focus in the future.  I won't go back to ALA, and it is weird that there are so many professional associates in my life whom I will never see again in person, but I hope to see my friends time and again.

That's a less sunshine-y dump of my thinking than I usually do on this blog.  Sorry about it.  Let's course correct a bit, and let me share some photos of my friends with my thanks to them for the time we had together.  There will be other friend photos to come when I post about a few special meals.

Matt and Kim! 

I had such a great morning with them, grabbing breakfast together and heading to a day spa where Matt had his first ever facial.  We then wandered down to my old place of work, and I showed them around a little there.  A few days later they finally got to meet Conrad when we had a quick evening drink.  Van and I had dinner with them when we were in Montana a couple of years ago, and I would love to go back for more of a visit.

John! 

I got to see John earlier this year when he gave us a tour of his library at Dartmouth.  This shot was when we crossed paths near the exhibits hall.  We had breakfast a few days later as well.  I always delight in seeing him.

José! 

I'm sorry April wasn't with him to catch up with as well, but it is always great when we can get together.  Much chat about concerts and tenure and the like, and a good coffee break with him.

Amy!  Karen!  Kathy!  We were missing Sara from our little cohort reunion, and I for sure will get to see Sara her way (and look forward to her coming our way).  Lunch together that included Stephanie, who is now a Board survivor like us and who is another person I really enjoy seeing. 

What a terrific cohort we were, though.  Bonded through that experience and now beyond.  Amy and Karen were morning walk stalwarts this past trip, and Kathy and I got to have one last coffee together as well.

Peter and Matt! 

It should be easy to see them again and again so long as we are in SoCal and they are in Sacramento.  And I have Peter on my guybrarian text message thread.  Conrad got some time with Matt one day when Peter and I each had other obligations, and I'm glad the two of them had that time.

Robert! 

Our country's acting Librarian of Congress, but also someone I've know for years.  The three of us had a good lunch together and talked all over the place.  I do hope we can get to DC next year or soon and see him and his John there.

Ed! 

(And Amy, again)   I feel very lucky that I connected with Ed at Council and then through additional work within ALA.  That has turned into messages and postcards and dinners in Fullerton - hooray for that happening again next month! - and even a trip to Rhode Island.  One of the most thoughtful people I know in so many ways.  I'm rooting for Cabo Verde for him.

Lessa! 

So close-by in SoCal, but we see each other far too seldom.  I think Lessa must be my favourite ALA president I have ever worked with, but she is a friend a delight all around, and I look forward to our dinner plans with her and Christian next month.

There were other folks I didn't get photos of:  Brett, Ann, Steven, Sophia, Maggie, Christina, Ana Elisa, and more I can't quite think of at the moment.  People I'd love to see outside of a conference setting one day, and perhaps I will.  There were friends I know more from a non-ALA setting, like Gary

and Phil,

more people I would love to hang out with one day and not have to travel across the country to see at a multi-day event.

I'm going to be busy in years ahead with seeing folks, I hope.  But maybe some lazy Saturday this summer I'll get busy with some notecards, some snail mail hellos to friends.  Conference behind us, friendship rolling ever forward.  That would be nice.

I will miss these people

Last week I finished my last trip to Chicago to fulfill obligations to ALA.  I still have a little under two months to go, concluding my work at the end of the annual conference in Philadelphia next month.  And I have to say, it's been a turbulent three years of work with ALA.  I still believe in the association and what it can and should do, but I will be happy to walk away from the work and eventually become nothing more than a regular paid member.  And I will never return to the divisions.  Seriously?  Fuck them.  Maybe one day I will edit that last bit.

But I will miss these people.  Oh, I know that I will see them at conferences and outside of ALA.  For sure I will.  But gone will be the morning walks.  The meals.  The evening drinks.  We've built up real bonds, friendships.

My cohort:  Sara,

Kathy,

Amy,

Karen,

as well as Emily.  Plus there's Sam. 

And Peter. 

And the others, like Steven

and Sophia and Stephanie and Corinthia and Nick and Cindy and am I forgetting anyone?  But my cohort are the most special to me, I admit, and I will miss them most.

Thanks to all of them for riding out these past years with me.  We all needed each other.

Back to baking

I sat on writing this post a handful of days. Surprises. Always well-intended. I had meant to surprise both Conrad's sister Karen and TK with shipments of cookies baked on the weekend. Two small wrenches in the cogs: I clicked the box to notify Karen that she had a shipment, and I sent the cookies to TK's work. Which sounds like it should be fine, but a day after delivery, no one had alerted him that the cookies were there. A nudge from me spoiled the surprise but got him cookies.

Anyway, I've been in a baking mood lately. As Jeph commented to me today, it's fun and freeing not to have to do it out of some holiday obligation. I do like the holiday baking, I swear, but it also burned me out a little.

Sunday afternoon I got busy in the kitchen. Up first, an old standby, a favourite: buttermilk ginger cake. I diverge some from the recipe, but I think it works well. No, but don't ask me, take the word of one of Conrad's colleagues - I had sent the cake in with him to work on Monday: "Be sure to tell Peter how divine his cake is. Wedding dress be damned. I’m going to take a second piece."

Unlike, say, Luis and scones, that woman is welcome to my baking ALL the time.

:-)

As for the cookies, well, I had thought it would be appropriate to send TK some cookies from the cookbook he got me for Christmas. Not many cookies recipes in it, however, and I wasn't inclined to make tuiles. Instead, I opted for the chocolate chocolate chip recipe. Different than the chocolate chip recipes I've done before, but word back from Baltimore is that the cookies are good.

The other batch was of peanut crisps. I love these cookies immensely because they hit the salt/sweet bingo in my mouth. An easy recipe, too, this one from Martha's book.

Scones for Smelts will continue this weekend before a two-week hiatus for the Olympics. I'll also likely get some more cookies shipped off to hold friends over while I'm gone - TK, how many of the cookies have you eaten already, I wonder...

family celebration

Another overdue post from the UP trip of earlier this month, this one to show off the family a little and spread some good cheer. You see, Conrad's birthday fell a few days after our trip up there, and so we had a get together with pizza, salad, and Conrad's cake.

Yes, Conrad's cake. I love this: Conrad, like me, had a special birthday cake while growing up. In my case, it was a chocolate-flavoured mayonnaise cake with green, mint-flavoured frosting. For Conrad, his Mom makes a white layer cake generous frosted with a chocolate fudge frosting.
And, because Hallowe'en is near, some seasonal candies for decoration.

Really, how can you not love it? And love it we did. We shared dinner in Conrad's Mom's kitchen. Karen was there (Terry was laid up with a dreadful cold). Justin and Tonna, too. Dan, Conrad's other nephew, was at a wedding that evening with his girlfriend, so no cake for him. Happily, he recently had a birthday and got his own special cake from Conrad's Mom.

After such a lovely evening, then, you'd think I'd let the birthday boy have a good night of rest. Sure. Mostly. Until around 7ish when I stuck the phone camera in his face and caught a little smile crossing his face. Poor guy, stuck with a morning person like me. Ah well. More cake makes everything better!

Traunik

I've written about this place before, but I'll keep singing its praises as long as I can. Lily's of Traunik. Check it out.

Conrad and I have been there a few times now, always with his sister but this time with his mother along for a sunny Friday ride. Somehow, at a "town" or "village" that is nothing more than a crossroads in the middle of the UP, there's this historic building (on the National Register) that now houses a cool little mostly-organic store run by a friendly couple.

It's funny. In some ways it's not a well-stocked store. That is, it's not crammed to the gills with merchandise. I tend to keep circling around inside, finding treasures bit by bit. Some are easy: candied ginger slices, bagged and selling for a marvelously low price. I think we bought ten bags. Organic wines that Conrad spent much time talking with the one owner about. Cards and good coffee and baked goods and...

Fun times. It may be a very small store, but we spend a long while there each visit, and happily so. The next trip up is scheduled for August, and with luck, we can get Justin and Tonna there and again enjoy the browsing. Such an unexpected gem, though. I can't rave about it enough.