The Joseph Mitchell shortcut.

So you’re an avid reader of history, but you’re also a professional educator who doesn’t have all the time in the world.  Somebody is making you read a 716-page collection of short (mostly) non-fiction pieces from the 1930s-1950s.  They’re interesting, but you don’t have all the time in the world!  What do you do?

You read the following pieces before April:

1. The Old House at Home

2. Professor Sea Gull

3. The Cave Dwellers

4. King of the Gypsies

5. Obituary of a Gin Mill

6. Houdini’s Picnic

7. All You Can Hold for Five Bucks

8.  A Mess of Clams

9.  Up in the Old Hotel

10. The Bottom of the Harbor

11.  Mr. Hunter’s Grave

12. Joe Gould’s Secret

Then you finish the book later when you have more time.

The “master” needs a blogging lesson.

So who wants to explain to me how to use the “gallery” function?

If you’re reading this you probably already know.

Your blogs should be finished by the beginning of next week.  I hope to start grading them while I’m in Wyoming and Montana.

Hull House’s cream of mushroom soup recipe.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 head garlic, minced

1 pound scapes, chopped

2 yellow onions, small dice

10 pound mix of Crimini, Button, Shitake, and Oyster mushrooms, chopped

3 quarts of Vegetable Broth

1 quart Heavy Cream

Salt and Pepper

1 bunch of Fresh Herbs, chopped

1. Add 2 Tbsps of Olive Oil In a heavy saute pan on medium heat, Add garlic, scapes, and onions. Cook until Translucent.

2. Add chopped mushrooms and saute until tender. Remove from heat.

3. Blend Mushroom mixture in a Food Processor, keeping it it chunky and larger pieces of mushroom.

4. Pour mixture to large stockpot, add Vegetable stock and bring to a simmer.

5. Cook until mushrooms they are completely cooked. When cooked, add cream, salt and pepper to season. Bring mixture up to barely a simmer, be careful!! The cream can break if heated to a boil.

6. Add herbs to finish and serve!

Lisa says the amounts are for a really large amount of soup, so you probably want to cut them down proportionately.

Follow the link above (on “Cream of Mushroom Soup”) to find more recipes from the Hull House kitchen.

Nominations for the “Trip to Chicago” awards.

Here are the categories:

1. Best historic site.

2. Best presenter.

3. Best restaurant.

4. Best blog post.

Nominations for any or all of the above categories can be made by any trip participant in the comments below. All you need to do is explain why you think your nominee is deserving.

Group picture.

Anybody have one in which the head of the statue isn’t cut off?

PS Extra Credit to the first person who leaves the name of the statue in the comments below.

On Wisconsin!

Here are two resources that came up in Wisconsin yesterday:

1. The Wisconsin Death Trip photo Flickr set.

2. Stan Schultz’s History 102 online class.

Food resources.

I had nothing to do with the lesson on food at Hull House today. Really, it came as a surprise – albeit a happy one. That said, here are a couple of resources for you. First, a 60 minutes interview with Alice Waters that actually made my wife cry she was so happy to see such things said on TV:

A short article called “Can a Turkey Be a Historical Artifact?” by a really great historian who blogs often at a Chicago Panera.

Homophobia.

Recognizing that Lisa said this morning that Jane Addams’ sexual preference is an established fact, do you have an obligation to bring it up in class? If so, why? If not, why not? If you do bring it up in class, how will you do it?

Comments.

A lot of you have been telling me that you are still having problems with your comments posting on other people’s blogs, including this one. Thanks to Dave Hazlett, I figured out the problem. Would all Colorado teachers reading this please execute the following steps:

1. Go to your dashboard.

2. About half-way down the left side of your dashboard is a button called “comments.” Click it.

3. Under the words “edit comments” is the blue word “Spam.” Click that.

4. If you see any comments by your colleagues down there among teh offers for cheap pharmaceuticals, check the box to the left of it. After that, drag the box that says “bulk actions” down to approve. Then press “apply,” directly to the right.