MJNDrumbeat

Baked fingerling potato recipe courtesy of Food & Wine magazine. Every time I cook fingerlings I'm reminded of Andrew Bird lyrics #foodandwine #fingerlings #andrewbird

Homemade beef stew pie, fingerlings and fresh baked apple pie

Dunking on Dad part three

Dunking on Dad part two

The curious pug and the angry birds #notanapp #darladog

My daughter was singing my friend's old robot love song #royalspaceforce

Homemade orange chai latte pancakes #goodfoodfast #GOurmet

Maybe. Listening live in Chicago to a simple set from 2/3rd of Twilight Sad followed by Frightened Rabbit

Tonight's Chicago Riv concert is the most subdued show I've seen. No crowd excitement. Still aims to be one good music event #frightenedrabbit

Homemade slurpy soup from my five year old daughter.

While time always moves at the same speed, it amazes me how quick the weekend disappears. My family applied this time in fun ways with warm food to ward off the cold weather. We cooked homemade Asian chicken soup, red cabbage, carrots, pan seared chicken and long noodles with my gourmet five year old serving as chef. Playing super heroes with her too. Homemade fried wontons for my older daughter. Delicious rocky road bars from scratch. And eventually some video games with them to close off the weekend .

Old idea and new ways of executing it. After seeing some random train commuters in the morning share a picnic on the train, I kept thinking about how innovative it can be to take an old idea and add a new way of doing it. Today's example of random food sharing was refreshing to see. Even The train conductor taking tickets sampled from the picnic. Having a picnic is an old and cool past time that should come back. I've been having picnics with my wife and young daughters as a memory to forgotten eras. So urban picnic on the train is a good way to share with those around you without having a picnic blanket or shady place under a tree. The food truck craze was once an old idea turned new thanks to entrepreneurial foodies, mobile devices and Twitter. I plan to keep coming up with my own "old idea done a new way." Personally an professionally. Why not? #c'mon

Snow falling in Chicago. Resembles confetti.

So here it is. Ra ra riot is trying what others have made recent success of (2 door cinema club and Phoenix) of dance indie pop. It is good but far too short with most songs just over three minutes. Thankfully Ra ra riot also hasn't forgotten its roots with string instrument snippets and catchy sugary pop songs in between the dance songs. I hope that in live shows the band keeps this newer dance energy but also doesn't bury the beauty of its string instruments. More room for improv and solos maybe? Check out song "for once" for a nice gem. Still better than most new music out there. #betalove #rarariot

While it is 2013, I find it odd that many Chicagoans are still wearing fur. Fur hats. Fur boots. And huge fur jackets long since forgotten. There's a cowboy-esque commuter across from me on the train. He could fit in right next to Davey Crockett or at least Ted Nugent. I know it is cold in Chicago but is it that cold? #urbanjungle #furyoffur