Blog

This recipe is easy and quick, and a good way to feed a pile of people.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 1 lb. penne pasta
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tbsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 2 tbsp. capers
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 stick butter (8 tbsp.)
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion or 2 shallots diced
• Grated parmesan cheese to taste

Directions

1. Fill a large pot halfway up with water. Add salt to taste. Cover and bring to a boil. Add penne and cook al dente.
2. Cut or break off tough ends of asparagus. Cut into angled slices, 3 or 4 per stalk, so they are shaped like the penne.
3. Dice up the onion.
4. Cut the chicken breast into thin, flat pieces. Try to cut crossways as many times as you can to get wide, long but thin slices. I can usually get at least five from each breast. It helps if the chicken is partially frozen.
5. Add 1/2 cup flour, salt and pepper to a large bowl and stir.
6. Dredge chicken slices in flour mixture until coated.
7. In a large pan, turn to medium-high and add olive oil. Once that’s hot, swirl in 2 tbsp. butter.
8. When butter is melted, add chicken slices in a single layer, covering the entire surface of the pan.
9. Brown for 3-4 minutes, turn and repeat.
10. Set aside browned slices and repeat until all chicken has been nicely browned.
11. Add 2 tbsp. butter to pan. Add onions/shallots and saute until soft. The pan should be really hot.
12. Pour in white wine to deglaze pan, scraping browned bits up.
13. Add the chicken broth and remaining butter.
14. Whisk in remaining flour. Add water/wine/butter/broth to build up a nice sauce.
15. Stir in the chicken, asparagus, and capers. Whisk remaining flour into chicken broth and remaining flour. Cover and turn heat to low.
16. Check occasionally. It’s done when the asparagus is bright, green and tender.
17. Serve with grated parm. I like red pepper flakes as well.

Mix salt, pepper, oregano, or whatever with some olive oil and brush it on some flour tortillas.

Place face down on a baking sheet.

Spoon on tomato sauce.

Sprinkle mozzarella cheese and any other toppings.

Bake at 400º for 15 minutes or whatever.

Icons are everywhere. As the contexts within which we interpret content become more unpredictable, so does our reliance on iconography to communicate ideas and messages. The use of iconography has exploded as dissemination of information must reach a multitude of user contexts. Icons can summarize universal ideas and complex actions with a few shapes.

Icons undergo intense scrutiny. They clearly “work” or “don’t work”. If someone is confused by a message, icons are often to blame. An icon which is not understood may be assigned the undesirable label of “mystery meat”; the stuff found in the lore of public institutions tasked with filling countless sandwiches to feed cretinous populations.

What we are experiencing is the construction of a new, universal language. But instead of taking millennia to evolve, it’s happening as you read this post. Symbols that best express universal messages are hotly debated, not only regarding what index they carry (see Meggs’ History of Graphic Design), but on whether the style they carry is appropriate (google skeuomorphic design for more on this).

My question is, who has the loudest voice as this language is constructed? The answer may carry insights about who determines what, as well as how, we communicate.

The speakers are good, but it is hard to sit still for hours at a time. I like workshops much better.

Jeanne and I were talking about how we have no idea what we did a year ago on any given day, and it’s time to start writing stuff down. So here we go.

Today I:

• Met some cool people in Lockport
• Worked on a few projects
• Ate a chicken wing
• Drove to Canada on a picture-perfect evening
• Taught Nancy how to mow the lawn

Teaching has shifted to administration

The huge migration is nearly done

My wife and kids are beautiful