Mark on a Bike, AKA Heather's World

As you probably already know, Mark left yesterday for his bicycle trip from San Diego to Jacksonville. He's blogging about that trip at markonabike08.blogspot.com.

So, for a while, it's Heather's World, which is probably not going to be very newsworthy. I'm just busy getting settled in to my new job as a faculty physician at the University of Iowa and the Iowa City VA.

Simone's Plain and Simple

We've found a lot of great places to eat in Iowa City. However, Simone's Plain and Simple is quite different from the rest. To get there, you need to drive deep into Iowa farm country, which is not very far from where we live.

From Simone's

Simone Delaty is a French woman who has been living in the United States for many years. She is a retired professor who now spends much of her time during the warmer months cooking for others at her home, a ten-acre farm with spectacular views of the Iowa countryside. About once a month, she hosts a Table d'Hôte, where people can come and enjoy a delicious, family-style meal. Her table has been the subject of several magazine, TV, and radio articles, and is featured on the cover of the book A Cooks Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland by Kurt Friese.

From Simone's

Simone's home is comfortable and unassuming. It seems very French. We had a great time socializing and eating with several other groups of people. The menu of our evening is below. I'm sure this won't be our last visit to Simone's.

Effluves d’Automne’

Canapés et autres Amuse-gueules - Assorted Hors d’oeuvres.

‘Consommé aux tomates et à l’oseille’ - an exquisite icy cold Tomato and Sorrel Soup.

‘Coq au vin’’ - Galen’s Free Range Chicken baked in a wine sauce. Served with Grilled Potatoes and Braised Lettuce.

From Simone's

‘Salade de fenouil’ – Shaved Fennel Apple Salad with Fennel Purée and Mustard Seed Vinaigrette.

From Simone's

‘Plateau de fromages’ – an assortment of Cheeses.

‘Crème brûlée aux feuilles de pêcher’ – Peach Leaf Crème brûlée.

From Simone's

street sign

We saw a funny street name today. I wonder if Superman lives in the neighborhood?

Frisbee Golf

Rich is visiting this weekend and we wanted to find some fun, active things to do with him... so, we went Frisbee golfing today. We've played before - you just search around in your closet until you find an old Frisbee, dust it off, and walk outside. Then you pick an object within eyesight and state that it's going to be the first hole... a fire hydrant, a tree, whatever. Eighteen holes later you're done.

Things are different here. There are two, count'em TWO, professional Frisbee golf courses here. The "holes" look like this:

Each course winds it's way through the trees, around water traps, over hills and valleys, around clumps of trees. The course was really pretty.

Before starting, we drove over to Wal-Mart to buy a couple of Frisbees. We were SHOCKED when we saw the display. There are more than fifty kinds: drivers, putters, mid-range faders, experimental driver faders, an all-around disc. And they all looked different than a normal Frisbee. They were heavier and flatter. Of course, they cost more than a regular Frisbee. We were planning on buying a couple of cheap Frisbees and ended up spending $70.00 on discs.

That's okay, we're planning on being here for a long time and when you come to visit us you can play too!

Closing

Today we closed on our house sale in Rochester. We are no longer homeowners! We enjoyed living there, but I am very happy that we don't own it anymore. We feel very fortunate to have sold our home while the housing market is still falling. Goodbye, Rochester house!

Landlocked!

This weekend we went to the Landlocked Film Festival here in Iowa City. Film Festivals are really fun, and this one was no different. We saw 23 movies in three days (20 in two days - on Sunday we only saw three). Some of them were moderately interesting, some were good, and some were REALLY good. These are the ones we saw, with our favorites in red:

SPANISH-LANGUAGE SHORT FILMS

Estrella - an alcoholic nightclub singer and a housekeeper find they have something in common

Heroes - a documentary about a DJ who was born without arms due to thalidomide

Objects in Mirror Are Closer than They Appear - a model identifies with a street person

Made in Japan - a Spanish guy gives an excuse to his girlfriend for being late, which included a quick run to Japan to meet his real father

Porque Hay Cosas que Nunca se Olvidan - Italian kids get revenge on an old lady who punctures their soccer ball

Valkirias - a documentary about nurses. Boring. We left early.

NARRATIVE FEATURES

Cave Women on Mars -50's style sci-fi movie that fits the title exactly. Very funny!


Stash - This was a hilarious movie about a company called Discreet Removals, a business that removes porn stashes from clients' homes after they die.

The Flyboys - This won the award for best narrative feature in the festival. (justifiably) Two boys from a small town accidentally stow away aboard a Mafia airplane. You might see this movie in regular theaters soon. Starring one of the Baldwin brothers.

Who is KK Downey? - Two losers achieve fame when their novel becomes an underground sensation.

ANIMATION

Horizon Diner - a weird little cartoon about a guy who walks into a diner and experiences altered realities.


Street Musician - a Faustian story with characters that look like they came out of a Tim Burton cartoon.


NARRATIVE SHORTS

About Film Festivals - a film festival veteran gives a comedic introduction to film festivals delivered in monotone.

Bennet's Urn - An 8-year-old boy is dying and asks his parents to throw a going-away party.

Expendable - A temp gets a job as an anonymous henchmen in an evil corporation, only to encounter a British Secret Service agent


Gangster's Crib - A crime boss regresses back to childhood.

Spoonfed - A day in the life of a cafe spoon.

Sympathetic Details - An assassin has a crisis of conscience and tries to leave the business.

The Knuggle Incident - A spoof on the Snuggle bear commercials, in which the bear is murdered after ruining somebody's laundry.

The Perfect Mark - Con men target an elderly widow, but find that she has the upper hand.

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

Looking for Ms. Locklear - Two best friends go on an adventure looking for their first grade teacher, who introduced them 20 years ago. Well, not exactly "introduced" - she held both of them out of recess on their first day of school.

This American Gothic - a story of Eldon, Iowa (pop. 987) and the most famous house in town, which is in the background of the famous Grant Wood painting "American Gothic." By the way, they're not really farmers... it's the painter's sister and his dentist.


STUDENT FILMS & VIDEOS

Jean Shorts - This collection of short movies includes one in which a nerdy guy nicknamed Billy Jean Shorts comes to terms with his fashion choices. In other stories, a game of Russian Roulette involving an automatic pistol instead of a revolver, light sabers, transformers, and an MTV "Yo Momma" contest.

Baba Ganoush

We went to the Farmer's Market a few days ago and bought a beautiful white eggplant. Tonight, I made baba ganoush for the first time! It turned out to be delicious and I am posting the recipe because I know that all of our friends and family would love to try it. Ok, maybe just Melissa. And possibly Jen.

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant
2-4 cloves garlic, minced (I like a lot of garlic, so I used 4 cloves)
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice (juice of one lemon)
2 Tbsp tahini
1/2 t salt
~1/2 t paprika
dash of cumin
chopped fresh parsley if you have it - I didn't

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Slice eggplant in half longways. Place sliced sides down on baking sheet
3. Roast the eggplant for about 50-60 minutes, until very soft
4. Cool.
5. Scoop roasted eggplant out of skins and place in a food processor. Add remaining ingredients into the food processor. Puree.
6. Refrigerate (if you can wait that long!) Serve with toasted pita wedges.