Tater Tot Hot Dish

 Next up in my effort to reclaim childhood comfort food is a dish my Engish mother learned to make at St. Olaf’s Catholic Church from Mrs. Maria Norton.

The original is made, as so many one-dish meals of its time were, with Campbells cream of mushroom soup. That was the first change I made since I love making a good cream sauce. Second, the original is topped with both Tater Tots and onion rings. I love browned onions, and I thought that would make a nice upgrade. I’m pretty sure having a non-deep-fried vegetable makes this count as healthy.

About Tater Tots. Don’t substitute something healthier. Just don’t. Eww.

Mom, of course, made this in one big baking dish, but since I still live on my own pending my husband’s move, I made individual servings. This recipe produced enough for five dinner entrées.

 Tater Tot Hot Dish

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons fresh garlic
• 1 1/3 cup half and half
• 2/3 cup chicken stock
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 2 large white mushrooms finely chopped
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil
• ~1 pound ground beef
• 1 package OreIda Tater Tots

Melt your butter in a medium sauce pan and saute your garlic for a minute or two over medium heat. Add the flour to form a roux and stir constantly. When the roux begins to darken, or when the aroma changes so that it smells more cooked, remove the sauce pan from heat and add the half and half and chicken stock. Return the pan to a medium high burner and stir constantly until it reaches a rolling boil while being stirred and has thickened. Add the salt, pepper, and chopped mushrooms. Stir to combine and set aside.

 In a large covered saute pan, fry your onion in the neutral oil over high heat while stirring constantly until the edges begin to brown and crisp. Remove from heat and crumble your ground beef. Return the pan to medium heat and cook until the beef begins to brown.

Drain the cooked beef and onion mixture thoroughly. I know, I know. Do it anyway. You’re about to replace the lost yumminess with the mushroom garlic cream sauce. Keep them both and you’ll have a grease pot.

Add the mushroom cream sauce to the drained beef and onion and stir. Add the mixture to individual ramekins, or to an 8 inch square baking dish if you prefer. Add an orderly layer of Tater Tots to the top. Follow the directions on the Tater Tot package to finish your creation.

If you want to make this ahead for later use, just pop the assembled dishes in the freezer with tinfoil over them before the Tater Tots thaw out.

Thanks, Mum, and thanks Mrs. Norton.

 

Thanksgiving 2012

Oh my goodness, where do I begin?

This year has brought a fundamental transformation in the way I view myself and my future. Before the CD and After the CD are really two different worlds. At 45 years old I went from doubting myself as a musician and waiting for the first person to be honest and tell me that I'm not very good, to honestly believing that I have talent and skill that rivals professional musicians. I'm grateful to everyone who helped me get through the recording project in one piece, most especially my cherished companion in life, Doug Barr.

Then, as if that weren't enough, another huge boatload of great things happened this year. If I go into detail about all of them this post won't be done until First Footing, so I'll be brief:

• 11th Anniversary trip to New York - Manhattan is my idea of heaven. Being with Doug is my idea of heaven. I had a double-heaven week.
• Played Folklife for the first time in a very long time as myself!
• Féis Seattle 2012 - a respectable success by any measure
• The Ohio Scottish Arts School - It was even better than 2011 and has gifted me with lasting friendships.
• Team Member of the Year Award from NOAA's National Ocean Service
• First trip to Hawai'i - I wasn't expecting to fall so deeply in love with the place
• Last minute opportunity to be a presenter at Dusty Strings Harp Symposium
• A full year of funding for work at NOAA
• My favourite presidential candidate was re-elected
• Marriage equality won at the ballot box for the very first time in my country
• Lots of opportunities to sew and grow my tailoring skills
• Lots of opportunities to perform, and more yet to come this year

It hasn't been a perfect year, of course, but on balance it has been the best one in a very, very long time.

Ding! Level 46!

As I've been thinking about writing this birthday blog post I have reached the conclusion that this year for me was about recording Baile Àrd and producing the CD release concert. Lots of other things have happened, but this was a life-changing experience.

I stopped writing updates about my recording project a really, really long time ago. From the point at which I realized I needed to do serious work on my singing skills I stopped most activities that weren't directly related to the project because I had this horrible anxiety that I was going to fail and that it would break my spirit to do so. I was terrified of how deep a depression I would fall into if I gave up on my CD. I went into a strange kind of survival mode and it has had some repercussions.

I finally started recording at Empty Sea Studios last September. Getting all my harp tracks down was just the beginning. As I ran into obstacle after obstacle I got very good at letting go of long-held wishes and finding a different way forward. I probably wouldn't have made it through without the wisdom and support of my engineer, Michael Connolly. He reassured me that what I was going through was normal and that it would be worth it, and he was certainly right. He expressed his view of the process once by saying "Making a CD is like pooping a diamond. It's really, really hard, but then you have a diamond."

CD package design, liner notes, and convincing the manufacturer that I really had the necessary license to record the copyright protected tracks took lots of effort and time while I was simultaneously producing and promoting the concert.

Posters, postcards, rehearsals, volunteers, CD sales, AND a big vinyl banner! It's one of those experiences that I look back on and wonder how I managed to do all those things. One at a time, I suppose. It was a magical night from load-in to cast party. There so much more I could tell about it, but maybe this is enough to make the point and bring me back around to the subject of my birthday.

It is my birthday, and in sharp contrast to many others, I'm actually feeing OK about it. There's something about having proven myself by making this CD that I love and am proud of that has changed everything. I can finally say to myself, "Self, have a happy birthday. You've earned it."

Project 18: Blue Linen Shirt with Inset Silk Basket Weave Panels

AKA The Missing Link.

This project started with a simple idea. Weave panels of silk ribbons, inset them into panels of linen and use those panels to make the front of a dress shirt. While you're at it, why not make the collar from the same silk? With that kind of a lead up, you're probably thinking that it was a stressful disaster, but it actually worked. I washed it by hand after it was done and the silk basket weave got a little funky, but it's as strong as heck.

On my weaving cork board I made a muslin frame, and glued the ends of each of the ribbons to it first. The frame and all the excess was trimmed away when I serged the linen to the panel on each side. With a row of top stitching to secure it, these panels were ready to use.

Here is the finished product. I also made the white (blindingly white) jersey shirt underneath.

The two-piece look was originally for the first guy who was going to play cello on my CD to wear in the concert. The young fellow who wound up doing that recording and will be in the upcoming concert is about the same height as the first guy, but significantly more athletic of build. Undaunted, I was able to take in the side seams from the under arm to the hem and make it fit really well. I was proud of myself for figuring out how to take out the hem, make the new vents and put the hem back together.

The only thing I would do differently is pre-wash the silk. I know that silk isn't washable, but shirts have to be washable.

Recording Project Update

There's a guy who can fix that

I haven't written about the recording project in a while, but I have been working on it fairly steadily. It's been a twisty road, though. Recording yourself is a great learning tool, as long as what you want to learn is how far you are from where you want to be.

I've spent the last several months practicing harp, fiddle and voice intensely. My initial vocal recordings were shaky at best, which was a blow to my confidence. I did a lot of singing in college, but haven't done much since and my old skills were very rusty. I was not making much progress, and I was starting to wonder if I should give up on the effort and make a straight-forward harp recording, leaving the rest of my creative work behind.

Then something wonderful happened.

I taught at the Big Sky Folk Harp Festival, and while I was there I attended a workshop by a Blues / Jazz harp player called Deborah Henson-Conant. Blues and Jazz aren't my thing, but I was interested in learning more about this woman who had risen to such prominence in the harp world. I was expecting her to be witty and entertaining, but what I got went much deeper.

She told the story of her own journey of singing with the harp, which she didn't do at the start of her career. When she decided to, however, she was discouraged by friends, audience members and critics. She was told that she should not sing; that her voice was terrible and that she was holding her career back by insisting on doing it anyway.

At this point I was on the edge of my seat because what she was describing was my own inner dialogue on the subject.

She then shared a story about something that had happened to her years earlier. She was teaching at the Edinburgh Harp Festival and met the members of Síleas, Patsy Seddon and Mary Macmaster. Patsy and Mary are a singing harp duo, and Deborah asked Patsy why they sang on their CD, since in her opinion, the singing wasn't as strong as the harping. Patsy answered "It's what we do."

Punch in the gut. Tears. It's what I do too.

Side note

I've always enjoyed Patsy and Mary's singing, but I do agree that it has gotten stronger over time.

Deborah went on to say that Patsy and Mary's singing got better and better over time and now rivals their excellent harping. The theme that Deborah came back to several times was "There's a guy who can fix that", referring to getting help when you need to do something better than you are currently able.

Message received.

As if to confirm that receipt, a few hours later at dinner, I was sitting at a table with another harp presenter (the fabulous Verlene Schermer) and several other friends and the subject of playing the fiddle came up. I remarked that as a self-taught fiddler, I wished that a friendly violinist would put together a program of just the parts of classical violin technique that fiddlers need. Verlene turned to me and said, "I don't usually teach violin, but maybe I can help you with that."

Verlene spent an hour with me correcting the worst problems in my technique and the results were astounding. Intonation problems vanished. My tone warmed up. Fast bowing passages that had always sounded sloppy started to resolve like an image on a web page slowly going from a blur to clarity. I had found the 'guy' that could fix that.

That evening it was Deborah's turn to entertain. Again, I'm not into Jazz or Blues music, but the woman is a jaw-dropping performer. And the voice. The voice on her! That was the part I couldn't believe. This was the person that was told not to sing? Madness!

And so, in a couple days I'm starting voice lessons for the first time since college. I have to sing on my CD. It's what I do.

Thank you, Deborah.

The Automatic Screw-Up Button

After about four hours of intense practice on Friday and Saturday I was able to play Fairy Dance cleanly up to tempo. It had even started to sound good. Then I got the recording equipment set up and spent three and a half hours today trying to re-record it. As soon as I pressed the record button, it was back to square one. I'm sure I'm about to make some great breakthrough with this but it doesn't feel like it. Arrrrgh!

Update: I actually did make a huge breakthrough.

The Dashing Pink Sergeant

This track presents a new challenge: it's not straight out of a Féis Shiàtail songbook! The previous two tune sets were all pre-packaged with complete instructions by the fine folks at Slighe nan Gaidheal so it was just up to me to bring them to life with plenty of cowbell.

This new tune set is from the Féis Shiàtail 2006 songbook, however it has an issue. The third of the four reels in the group doesn't belong there. It's really a march, and when attempting to play it at reel speed it became an ungainly mess.

So I omitted it. That left me with a different problem: the set was too short! These groups of tunes are carefully crafted to have the right number of measures for the figures in the dance, so I had to find a substitute.

The one I picked was Fairy Dance. It's a great tune, and the name sealed the deal. It also doesn't hurt that my favorite gay fiddler from Cape Breton, Ashley MacIsaac, has an awesomeness-filled recording of it!

Willow the Stripper

Another good recording session last night. This time, a set of four jigs using my first-ever downloaded drum loop collection! GarageBand doesn't include any percussion in 6/8 (apparently not cool enough a time signature for Dear Leader) but I found some good ones.

Fiddling went OK. I'll probably do some clean up later, but it's good enough for the dance class I'm leading on Saturday. Next up: The Dashing Pink Sergeant.

Punch In, Punch Out, Clean Up

Much of the weekend was spent behind the Tweed Curtain, taking counsel with Lingoman's Aged Maternal Fossil (a pseudonym she coined for herself). It was lovely. For the first time she and I acknowledged that our first impressions of each other were dubious, in the context of having firmly changed our minds on the subject. Very nice.

Monday was spent back with my friend GarageBand. I found out how to do a "punch in" on a previously recorded track. In standard Apple fashion, it was easy and elegant.

I cleaned up all the fiddle flubs in Hella Gay Gordons and got a first draft down of a tuneset for Baile Ard, Mo Rún. Both of the tunes in the new set (Hut on Staffin Island and The Clumsy Lover) are copyrighted, so I'll have to do some research on how to deal with that before getting too attached.

I can't believe how much fun I'm having working on this.

Hella Gay Gordons

Living in 21st century North America our ears are insanely narrow. If there's a 4/4 drum beat behind something we like it, if not it's weird.

Turns out it works with Scottish dance music as well. Just a couple drum loops and my cheesy fiddle and harp rendition of a set of dance tunes for Gay Gordons sounds all cool.

Crazy

Update OK. Maybe "cool" was an exaggeration. "More accessible to modern pop-music sensibilities." Yeah, I guess that's closer.

Half Way Back

Well. Almost half way anyway! Recording went well last night. I re-did all the instrumental tracks for Is Truagh Leam ar Scàradh and they came out so well I popped a vocal mic on the line and gave it a shot.

I'm not yet back to my respectable-but-not-amazing vocal chops, but I'm on the way!

Destroying the Evidence

After a day of listening to the CD of my disappointing vocal track I've decided to delete the track from Garage Band and destroy the disk. I've learned what I can from it and now I'm just torturing myself.

I know I can do better than that, and I will do in the near future.

The Diva Has an Off Night

Setting up and tearing down the recording equipment is getting quicker and easier, but re-building my faded vocal technique isn't quick or easy.

The plan last night was to record the 'final' vocal track on Is Truadh Leam ar Scaradh but unfortunately the pipes weren't cooperating. I was getting progresively more discouraged, so I decided to stop fairly early. Listening to the track this morning in the car, it wasn't terrible, but also wasn't something I would play for someone with pride.

In the WTF category was the fact that there are two places in the melody of the song where it goes up to the D above middle C (not impossibly high for a baritone like me). The first one I nail every single time. The second sounds like someone is jabbing a fork in my thigh. Grrr

Cut back on the smoking, walk around Greenlake more frequently and keep trying.

Dance, Cracker! Dance!

Last weekend, while getting ready for my gig as fear an taighe for some nice people's summer ceilidh, I realized that I had no appropriate recorded music for social dances. I thought I had a ready-made solution in the Féis Shiàtail songbook teaching CDs, but quickly realized that they were (for very good reason) limited to just the melody being played by an electronic piano.

Ooops.

Being pretty good at last-minute inspiration, though, I came up with the idea to rip MP3 files from the teaching tracks on the Féis songbooks and import them into Garage Band and then use them as guides. It worked really well! I recorded myself playing the tune sets on the fiddle multiple times (for that forgiving chorus effect) then added harp and bòdhran parts.

Sin agad e! My own self-produced CD of tune sets that I know inside and out designed for the specific versions of the dances that I know and teach. And the name? Dance, Cracker! Dance!

I know; I'm bad.

Weekend Recording

Boy, it's hard to add a post after the one below. How do I put a chatty, about me one above my announcement of the Grand Plan to unite polytheistic religions in an urban framework?

Oh well. Maybe doing this will inspire me to write another First Restored-themed post afterward.

Anyway, I stayed in Seattle last weekend to do a gig as fear-an-taighe. I decided that since I was going to be here anyway, that I should make some progress on scrach tracks for my solo CD. I really want to get all my creative decisions on solid ground before paying a recording engineer.

It went pretty well! I'm realizing that each track is going to have its own unique issues around sequencing and I just have to jump in and get started in order to figure that out. For example, in a big epic song I would normally want the vocals recorded first so that as accompaniest I could respond to the singers treatment of the melody. But, if I'm the singer, then I need some kind of a reference track to keep myself on pitch. Kind of a chicken-and-egg problem.

So, I got a decent rough-draft of Is Truagh Leam ar Scaradh done. I was hoping to have more than that to show for the weekend, but there was a complicating factor; I spent three hours on Saturday recording dance music for the gig that night. More on that later!