Roasting Winter Squash
It’s winter squash season! I drew this using butternut squash, but this method works for pretty much any winter squash: acorn, autumn frost, delicata, carnival, hubbard, etc. You can roast it whole for an easy puree to use in soups and pasta sauces. You can also cube it and roast chunks to add to salads or stews. It’s delicious either way!
I love to make a pasta sauce with roasted squash, with a little bacon, some parmesan, and a little crispy sage. Maybe I’ll follow this up with a recipe for that pasta sauce next week!
⭐⭐⭐ A word about Chicago: ⭐⭐⭐
I don’t usually address current events in my comics or social media. I’m happier writing about the things that bring us together around the table, and I figure there are smarter people out there: activists, historians and community leaders who are better educated voices than me.
But I feel the need to say something about what’s happening in Chicago, because I’m not sure accurate news is getting to everyone. And right now, the government is lying to you about Chicago and what’s happening here.
Like a lot of US cities, we have issues with crime, but there are more than 20 cities with higher murder rates than ours, including St. Louis, Memphis, Albuquerque, and Little Rock. I’ve lived in Chicago for 23 years and the only crime I’ve experienced is someone stole my bike once.
Like a lot of US cities, most of our violent crime is localized in a few neglected, under-served neighborhoods. But the government agents in Chicago right now are not in those neighborhoods, targeting violent criminals. They don’t seem to be going after criminals at all.
In Logan Square, my neighborhood, they’re arresting the elderly ladies that sell tamales on the street corner and going after grade school children. They’re casually tossing chemical agents onto residential streets where people are walking their toddlers home from preschool. They’re arresting local alderman and arresting journalists and indiscriminately causing property damage. They’re masked and ID-less, driving cars without plates, detaining US citizens and non citizens alike without warrants or probable cause. And they won’t let anyone into their detention centers to see how they’re treating their prisoners. The protests I have personally witnessed have been completely peaceful; the only violence instigated by masked government agents with no oversight.
When the government tells you Chicago is a hell hole or a war zone, they are lying to you. This is a city of community gardens, summer festivals, block parties and farmers markets. I’ve seen complete strangers in this city help dig each other’s cars out of snowdrifts, and run out into a downpour to help each other clear leaves from the sewer grates so the streets won’t flood. One time I was biking and my tire seemed a little flat, so I stopped to inspect it and three different cyclists stopped to offer to pump it back up for me.
This is a city full of kind, creative, hard-working people and it doesn’t deserve this. No one deserves masked secret police violently snatching law-abiding people off the streets with no oversight or accountability. This should be front page news nationwide, but I can’t even tell if this news is getting out of the city. I also can’t escape the feeling that Chicago is a test case: that if they can get away with this behavior here, they’ll be rolling it out everywhere.
So. The government is lying to you about Chicago and what they’re doing here. If you enjoy my comics at all, just know that this beautiful, brash city is where those comics are made. Chicago has shaped my life and my work and my outlook and it’s living right there in my lines and colors. I love this city with my whole heart and we don’t deserve this.
Upcoming Things:
October 18: I’ll be exhibiting at SLICE in St. Louis!
October 24: I’ll be in Madison speaking at the Wisconsin Book Festival in conversation with Ian Gurfield of Ian’s Pizza!
December 6: I’ll be speaking on a few panels and selling books at Sulzer Regional Library in Chicago!
What I’m into lately:
This bit from Chicago comedian Chris Higgins has been making me pretty happy lately. Looks like he’s going to be at the Lincoln Lodge soon too! That place rules, I think we’ll try to get out and catch that set.
What Toki’s into lately:
He’s in his renaissance era, experimenting with some pretty dramatic chiaroscuro!
