A scattering of things which have made me happy lately:
Incremental searching: I recently switched to using Firefox instead of Safari, largely for this feature. Now it drives me crazy to search using a conventional search dialog. Of course, i-search has been creeping into many other applications (iTunes, Apple’s Preview when used as a PDF viewer). The ability to “i-search” through the UNIX shell command history is also indispensible. And then there’s LaunchBar, the grandpappy of i-search applications, which has totally revolutionized my computer use.
A new source for tacos al pastor: when I used to live in North Center and Ravenswood, I was a die-hard regular at the Taqueria el Ranchito at Lawrence and Damen. I had some nearly life-changing tacos al pastor there. (They had killer salsa too, in both red and green.) Since I moved to Rogers Park, I got back there less, and somehow, was disappointed in the results as well… and now, the whole block has been razed to be turned into a giant condo/commercial behemoth. Well, on Saturday we finally tried Taqueria Chapala (in the back of the grocery store) on Clark Street in Rogers Park. Our friend Jim had recommended it as a place free of the scourge of boiled chicken in tacos, and that’s definitely true — they sell a bunch of roasted chicken in the restaurant, and apparently they just chop some up when they need more chicken for the tacos. They were definitely much better than the average chicken taco. However, the al pastor blew me away. They had a nice sprinkling of black pepper, a spin I’ve never encountered in the genre before, and the marinade was just all-around-great. Plus, it’s only about a mile from home!
Dhrupad music played on the trombone: Last week I encountered Pran’s recording of Raga, Miyan Ki Malhar a raga for the rainy season. Pran is Greg Powers (trombone) and Stuart Dempster (brass didjeridu). I love this CD. Check out these pictures of Stuart Dempster in a recent Chicago performance with Jeb Bishop. Here’s a review from Rootsworld.com. I agree with the reviewer’s perception of humor in this music, although we’re not talking “Weird Al” here. I’m just surprised he finds that uncharacteristic of classical Indian music. I mean, the performances I’ve seen haven’t been joke-fests, but the performers usually do seem to have a healthy sense of humor.