Lentil Loaf= Hiking Fuel?

1 onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp oil
2 cups cooked lentils (or one large can)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp sage
2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup water
2 tsp vinegar
2 tsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute onion in oil until slightly brown. Mix all ingredients except sesame seeds and place in greased loaf pan. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake 30 minutes covered, then 10 minutes uncovered.

“Great recipe! This is the easiest (and tastiest) lentil loaf I have tried. The walnuts were great, adding a little crunch to every bite. I added 1 shredded carrot and a pinch of celery seed to the original recipe and served it with steamed veggies & vegan gravy.”

Well, somebody apparently likes lentil loaf. And I hope somebody (actually, four somebodies) on our 2007 Grand Canyon hike will like this stuff also. We sent in a reservation request back in 2005 for 20 spaces at Phantom Ranch (at the bottom of Grand Canyon) in May 2007. And we were lucky enough to get all 20 spaces. I also requested 20 steak dinners at the Phantom Ranch “canteen” for the evening of the day that we hike down to Phantom Ranch from the South Rim. The reservation confirmation said that we would get 16 steak dinners and four vegetarian meals with “lentil loaf.” That sounded ominous, but the reservation person said we could call later and swap out the lentil loaf meals for steak meals.

Last week I received the following message:

“Dear Paul Gales,

Unfortunately, there are currently no steak dinners available for the night of May 18, 2007. A maximum of 16 steak dinners are made available for hikers, on a given day. Mule Trips reserve 20, until the day prior, when some may be released to the public, if not all mule trips are sold. You may inquire upon arrival at the Bright Angel Transportation Desk if any become available, but it is highly unlikely any will be made available prior to a day or so before your arrival.

That is the main reason I substituted the vegetarian dinners to complete your dinner meals for that date. They are served at the same time and include the same side dishes. If you (we) are unable to switch them, thereby guaranteeing you steaks for all twenty, you can still request (upon arrival) to have a steak substituted for the lentil loaf. If there are extra steaks in the refrigerator, I'm sure they will make every attempt to accommodate.

Best regards,

Barry Read
Xanterra South Rim, L.L.C.
Phantom Ranch Group Sales
PO Box 699
Grand Canyon, AZ 86023”

Sounds grim. Could there really be extra steaks in a refrigerator down there? If so, what condition will they be in? If not, how will we allocate steaks and lentil loaves among the starving hikers? Or is this gentleman hinting at some sort of gratuity to "fix" the situation?

Whats going on in MN?

The natural order of things was disturbed last year. The Twins have reliably rebuffed the White Sox as long as I can remember . . . until 2005. Now things appear to be getting back to normal. The screenshot from today’s game (conclusion of three-game sweep) confirms things (and it was fun learning how to capture it).

Then there’s this Mauer kid (he of the ridiculous batting average). I saw a reference to a blog by “bat girl.” I understand that she focuses on the Twins and, in particular Mr. Mauer. She calls him “Chairman,” even though he looks nothing like Mao Tse Tung. In the spirit of the Great Leap Forward, there was a contest for “best slogan” involving the Chairman, including the following entries:

• The Chairman is a shining son in the heart of the people's line-up


• Mauer to the People OR Mauer to the Meople


• Long Live Chairman Mauer's Bats O' Plenty and it Will Be Poured On


• Once All Struggle is Grasped, Base Hits Are Possible--Chairman Mauer


• Chairman Mauer's Great Guidance Gives Us Unlimited .OPS.


• Crouching Mauer, Hitting Dragon


• In Mauerist Minnesota, Sideburns Grow You.


• The Chairman uses his bat and his arm to fire benevolent beams of distress against his AL Central foes


• Sideburns, lumber and the gentle joy of victory. Vote Chairman!


• The Chairman's Bat is Benevolence to the People and Misery to the Opposition

I’m guessing this all is quite fun for folks in the Twin Cities, not so much White Sox fans (especially bandwagon riders).

I fell for it

I noticed that today was the date on which man first set foot on the moon, back in 1969. So I checked my trusty diary. I wrote: “Great Day for history – Apollo XI landed on moon!!!!!!! Neil Armstrong was first man to set foot on moon. Watched it live on TV. Pictures were real clear. We could see everything. Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin (2nd on moon) did [sic]. Historic day.”

Of course, we’ve since learned that this whole performance was faked. (Even though none of the actual conspirators have been identified in 37 years, and it must have taken quite a few to pull off the deception.) As a 13-year-old, I clearly fell for the whole thing, and it was great Sunday-evening TV fare. I was pretty much into understatement in my diary entries, and still gave this event seven exclamation points.

The next days we were back to events of a more earth-bound nature, including separating 12 and 18 chickens, respectively, from their heads on Monday and Tuesday. Not to mention hauling corn for Barney Thilges and his brothers and some bean-walking.

You can click here for a video clip of Armstrong making his not-so-spontaneous quote about the giant leap for mankind.

Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in C Major

O Schmerz! Du Alldurchdringer!
Dir bin ich entrungen!
O Tod! Du Allbezwinger!
Nun bist du bezwungen!
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen,
In heißem Liebesstreben,
Werd’ ich entschweben
Zum Licht, zu dem kein Aug’ gedrungen!
Sterben werd’ ich, um zu leben!
Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n wirst du,
mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen,
zu Gott wird es dich tragen!

(O Pain, all-pervading,
I have escaped from you!
O Death, all-conquering,
now you are conquered!
With wings which I have won
In love’s ardent striving,
I shall soar upwards
to the light which no eye has penetrated!
I shall die in order to live!
Rise again, yes, you shall rise again,
my heart, in an instant!
Your beating
shall lead you to God!)

(Concluding lines, Symphony No. 2 in C Major)

Way back on April 28, our chorus (ASU Choral Union) performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C Major at Gammage Auditorium. I started writing this up about a week later and have had trouble describing this event. Probably because music like this doesn’t lend itself well to description in words? So I’ll just describe what I can.

Mahler was especially good at putting together big works utilizing large groups of performers. This piece, which primarily is orchestral, is in that style. The orchestra had over 125 performers (some of whom performed offstage). Our chorus was joined by various other ASU choirs for a total of over 285 singers. Plus two dynamic soloists. Over 400 performers total.

Here’s an anecdote that gives a sense of what was going on in terms of intensity. At about the 2:20 mark in the video, you can (barely) hear the Gammage pipe organ’s entrance. Prior to the performance, they preset the organ to a volume level that complements the volume of the rest of the orchestra and chorus at the organ’s entry point. When the chorus was warming up at rehearsal, no one had brought a pitch pipe. So the conductor used the organ (with volume preset as described above) to lead the warmup. That is, he used it only until he realized no one in the chorus could hear a word he was saying (and eventually attempting to shout) over the organ. The organ – one small piece of the overall ensemble – was set that loud.

The music involves quite a bit more than lots of performers and occasional very loud moments. Mahler’s program notes discuss his goals for the five movements. “The first movement represents a funeral and asks questions such as "Is there life after death?"; the second movement is a remembrance of happy times in the life of the deceased; the third movement represents a complete loss of faith, and belief in life as meaningless; the fourth movement, a song, is a rebirth of faith ("I am from God, and will return to God"); and the fifth movement, after a return of the doubts of the third movement and the questions of the first, ends with a realization of God's love, and recognition of everlasting life.” All this is explored by the orchestra for about 65 minutes through the first 4+ movements while the choir sits quietly and waits. I can tell you that it was quite a buildup.

Toward the climax of the piece, we sing for about 15 minutes total (approximately the last three minutes are on the video). Mahler asks a lot from the chorus during that time. I’ve posted a couple pages of the score (click to enlarge). I enjoy his admonition “Mit hochster Kraft” (with maximum force); and I haven’t (tried to) hit a G in many years (bottom line, page 14). You can see how the four basic parts are subdivided as we approach the conclusion.

By the time (at 2:08 in the video, bottom line of page 14 of the score) that we reach the climactic message in the 5th movement– Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n wirst du,mein Herz, in einem Nu! (fourth line from the bottom in the German text above) – and after all that build-up now over 75 minutes and counting – I can report that this is an excellent moment to be in a chorus. I don’t know how you beat it.

And it was great that the crowd got into it. This easily was the longest, most spontaneous ovation I’ve ever experienced at any performance, including ND Glee Club days. As often noted, live performance has a power . . .

Patrick came up from Tucson to attend and videotape. Patricia came to our rehearsal on Thursday evening, back for the concert on Friday evening, and ran the usual post-concert party. This support makes for a nice event. A goodly number of friends also attended.

If you pause the video at 4:40, you can see a “photo” of the three performers. I’m just to the right of the fat bald guy in the second row from the top; Paul Jr. is to the right of me in the same row; Christopher is in the row ahead of us, just to the left of me.

(Information about Mahler is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Mahler. Information about this particular symphony is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._2_%28Mahler%29.)

Will post information about 2006-07 season later.

Happy 4th of July

The 4th of July certainly is an excellent holiday. When I was a kid, we always celebrated at the farm place of my Grandpa & Grandma Gales, up on the hill just west of St. Joe (Iowa). Lots of cousins milling around, lots of food; sometimes a baseball game; plenty of ice cream; mosquitoes; also sparklers, firecrackers and a few more interesting (though possibly illegal) fireworks courtesy of my truck-driving uncle, Daryl Baker, and his interstate travels. But we never had a poster or decorated cake as awesome as those in the accompanying photos (taken July 4, 1991).

Movie (sort of) review

We were going to the movies pretty regularly for awhile but have fallen out of the habit. But Saturday evening we went to see the movie version of the "Prairie Home Companion." Garrison Keillor wrote the script (not surprisingly). Robert Altman directed. As in several of his movies, he lined up a pretty long list of big name actors who presumably are performing at cut rates. Patricia and I both like it a lot. The story line rambled some, but I don’t think that was entirely unintentional. And sometimes they seemed to stretch a bit to work in the vagaries of live radio (e.g., the sound effects guy, what do you do when script papers are dropping all over the floor etc.) But those are very minor complaints. Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin were very good as singing sisters, and Woody Harrelson and some other guy were funny as faux cowboy performers. Kevin Kline was funny. Etc. Then we had dinner at Chelsea’s Kitchen, which I can also recommend. Especially the roast chicken and Howie’s burger. Click here for info on the movie, and here for info on the restaurant.