Art and Tacos in Milwaukee

I made a sojourn to Milwaukee again recently to see the 30 Americans exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum before it closes on September 8. It was amazing to see the work of Iona Rozeal Brown, Kara Walker, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and many other African American artists in person. (The works are all from 1970 to the present and address themes of race, class, gender, sexuality, or history.)

The ubiquitous shot of the museum's wings

Lunch at BelAir Cantina consisted of tacos and beans and rice. If you order three tacos, beans and rice are included. I had the ninja pig (crispy, hoisin-glazed pork topped with cucumber and jicama slaw), the carnitas (crispy pork and pico de gallo), and the black bean and corn, despite my call for fish tacos. (Their fish/seafood offerings were a little disappointing: variations with lobster and shrimp, chipotle mahi mahi, grilled tilapia with mango, and breaded and fried tilapia. Tilapia is such a bland fish, I'm not a huge fan of breaded and fried fish or chipotle, and shrimp and mahi mahi are often overfished.)

Feting and Salads

Greek salad

This summer when it was excruciatingly hot, I was really into salads. I can't recall which recipe I used for the Greek salad, but here's one from Epicurious if you're interested in concocting it.

Salade Nicoise

Again, I can't remember which recipe I used for my somewhat modified salade Nicoise, but here's a basic recipe from Melissa d'Arabian of the Food Network.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Chicken

In this picture, it looks like a bit of a hot mess, but this Latin chicken with sweet potatoes and black beans from the Crockpot Guys (I saw it several other places online, too; not sure where it originated) is marvelous.

A couple of notes:
-I roasted a whole chicken separately in the slow cooker with a different marinade (an Asian marinade leftover from hoisin-glazed meatloaf).
-I omitted the red peppers and chipotle chiles in adobo because I didn't have any of the former and because I do not like the latter.

Pickling Phobias + Fender Benders

Pickling intimidates me. I'm fearful that I'll screw it up and be forever linked to a botulism epidemic ala Typhoid Mary. Except I'd be Botulism Erica. But with last weekend's Farm and Fleet purchase (jar grabber, pint and quart jars, and a few other tools), I will conquer my fear. As god is my witness, I shall never be pickle-less again. :) I've enlisted a few friends, and we might try beets and dilly beans next weekend.

And now a small recap of last weekend: On Friday night, I attended a Cock Party at the Inferno. We knew one of the four bands (The Type), so we went to see them perform. There was also an art show gravitating around....you guessed it, male genitalia. The reasoning behind the show was that male erotic parts are generally ignored in art. Well, that may be the case (with some notable exceptions such as Mapplethorpe and Michelangelo), but it's also true that you could throw a stone and hit a guy who'd be more than happy to regale you with a description of his junk.

On Saturday morning, I went to Macy's to get a bachelorette party gift. As I was waiting behind a parked SUV for another car to leave, the SUV proceeded to back right into my passenger-side door. The driver was very nice about it, though. He first asked if I was alright and then apologized, saying he's not used to driving his wife's car. He was using the camera viewer thingy to back up, but apparently something wasn't functioning correctly. "It usually beeps," he said. I didn't ask why he didn't also look in the rearview mirror. He gave me his insurance and contact info., and I've already filed a claim. So not a big deal, although I must admit that I was shaken up for awhile that day.