Vermont

Ryan and I took a trip out of the city to visit Amy and Pete in the great state of Vermont. The weather was not amazing as it was rainy and cold the ENTIRE weekend, but it was amazing to get out of all the noise and dirt of the big apple.

We spent Friday in Burlington walking around, shopping, going to the "mall" and eating at our favorite restaurant. We love to eat at American Flatbread when we are in Burlington as the food is awesome and the beer is even better. Pete picked us up around 3:30 and we drove down to Montpelier where Amy and Pete actually live.

Since the last time we were there they have acquired a very cute and energetic white lab puppy named Hudson. He added a little bit of spice to the day with his puppy antics and his insistence on playing tug every five minutes. He will take the toy and actually push it into your hand, lap, arm, leg or even face to try to get you to tug with him.

I think we ate or drank in every restaurant in Montpelier and it was all delicious. I feel about 15 pounds heavier than when we left but the conversation and companionship were worth the extra time at the gym.

Yea for being able to visit Amy and Pete!

The Velveteen Rabbit

Today I went to see Velveteen Rabbit at The Manhattan Children's Theatre in NYC. I had a meeting afterwards with the General Manager to discuss a contract for me to develop the study guides for next season. As I sat down in the little storefront theatre surrounded by around 100 2nd graders and realized that this was the first time in a very long time that I was watching children's theatre that I was not involved in.

Usually I am the one behind the performance. As a Stage Manager for mainly children's theatre I am the one calling the go, making sure the cues are set and generally supporting the work that the performers are doing onstage. This was the first time in a very long time that I had absolutely nothing to do with the production. Granted- I did go see Click Clack Moo a few months ago but since I know 2 of the performers AND worked for the company last year that seems different somehow than this totally unconnected experience.

I have a history with this story so I was prepared to be quite defensive. Luckily, the show was pretty good. There were some slow parts and I think the lighting design could have been handled differently but the script was nice, the Rabbit costumes were excellent and the animation behind the performers was awesome.

The kids loved it. They watched mesmerized as a group of adults turned into the book characters and then back out again. They laughed at the jokes, gasped when a hidden door was revealed and grew somber while the Rabbit sat outside by the burn pile and cried about her uncertain future. And that is really why we do it. Through theatre you can change the perspective of a child, teach them compassion and understanding and a love of a very primal art form. Honestly- the set and the costume and the script and the lights don't even matter as long as the feeling is there and the children respond.

So Brava ! Velveteen Rabbit cast- excellent work! or as a former cast member said quite a few times on tour, "Can you believe we get paid for this?!"

Pillowfight NYC- Union Square

Yesterday Ryan and I attended the Pillowfight at Union Square for about an hour. We then went to Starbucks, Trader Joes and Gamestop and when we walked back to Union the pillowfight was still going on!

Apparently the First Saturday in April is Pillowfight Day!

Us at the Pillowfight- It was BRIGHT!

The Mass

Even kids got into the action!

Watchers. Also a bunch of Tourists who were throughly confused.

The Feathers Fly!

World Theatre Day

Last Saturday I participated in World Theatre Day- NYC. In order to not have to go it alone, I called Candice (my TU/ NYC friend) and left her a cryptic message to meet me behind the big statue at the SW corner of Central Park. For the non-NYC'ers that is the corner near Columbus Circle which features later on in the story.

World Theatre Day is a celebration of theatre arts. Madame Judi Dench made a pronouncement and many arts organizations had some sort of special event. In NYC a few people organized flash mobs throughout the day in different areas of the city. I skipped the morning events and met Candice at 3pm for "Untitled" which ended up being a song and dance into and around the lower west part of Central Park with a minstrel.

After singing and dancing our way around the park we met in the middle of the traffic circle to get our next set of instructions. Our new "director" gave us the directions for "Cheers"- we were going to disperse and meet in front of the male statue in the Columbus Circle Mall. On the signal we were all going to start clapping and yelling for 40 seconds. Then a new signal would be given and we would disperse as if nothing had happened. It was pretty awesome.

The third activity was to be a group reenactment of "The Kiss" in Times Square but apparently we missed it. It was really cold and we stopped for Starbucks on the way down from 59th.


Watch videos and get more information here: http://nycwtd.com/ or at the world-wide blog worldtheatreday.org

Life or Soup?

Terribly sorry we fell behind on the soup experiment. Last weekend my parents came to town and my super hero friend KT has been leading the improve pack with an event every Sunday night and soup just became a little less important.

Life has gotten a little nutso lately. I continue to work in the opera-development office but my employer's family has suffered a major medical emergency and therefore much of the week it is just me and my intern. Since my employer likes to have final say on all business dealings it has been more stressful at work than it probably should be. But her emergency is working out and hopefully by the time I leave at the end of the month she will be ready to take back the reins full time and enjoy her newly cleaned, organized and procedure ready office.

On the larger family homefront we are welcoming the arrival of 2 new babies. My cousin and Ryan's cousin both had the first newborns of "our generation of cousins" within the past 3 months. Couple that with my wedding, cousin Amber's wedding, my brother's wedding and Ryan's brother's wedding all happening within a year of each other and we are a busy group. We can also add Ryan's best friend's wedding in Jan 2011 and our friend Aaron's wedding this summer only one week before Brad's. It's next generations time people. Apparently we are taking over.

And in our tiny NYC homefront the main focus is on finishing the paper, getting jobs and trying to plan with little or no direction a move in May. I've had 2 phone interviews and applied to 8 or nine positions within the past month. We spend a little time each week on craigslist looking at houses but to actually move we will need a location. Ry and I are both ready for a more focused life that includes actual income.

we will see.

The Soup Experiment- Not Soup

So usually I make soup on Sundays and then try to remember to blog about it while I am eating that warm yummy liquid heaven. Well, the delicious French Onion Soup took so much effort on Sunday and yielded so many meals that Ryan and I aren't really in the mood for soup this weekend. (although it is wet and cold and perfect weather for soup)

Instead I made a Ratatouille. Let me correct myself. I faked making Ratatouille.

Ingredients-

onion- we used one chopped

oil- a bit

garlic- a spoonful

squash and zucchini- 2 zucchini and 1 squash chopped

peppers- half a red one chopped

celery- 2 stalks chopped

parsley- fresh

thyme- fresh

pasta sauce- ours had mushrooms and black olives - about 1/3 of the jar

rice- we used uncle ben's 90 sec Long and Wild Rice

saute onion and garlic in oil for 15 minutes

add pasta sauce and peppers and celery

simmer 15 minutes

add squash and zucchini

simmer 15 minutes

add thyme and parsley

serve over rice with grated cheese (we used the leftover gyere from the French Onion Soup)

Outcome-It was delicious! The taste is really complex and it fills you up for a long time but has lots of good nutrients. We rarely have fresh herbs and it makes all the difference.

I love making up recipes!

Side Note- watched Food Inc last night on Netflix. Makes me want to shop at farmers markets or grow my own food. Too bad we are poor and the greenmarkets in NYC are so expensive! But... I'm going to see what I can do to eat better for the planet.

The Soup Experiment- French Onion Soup

From: David Morgan

Times Prepared: this is the first!

Recipe:

4-5 med onions sliced into rings about 1/4 inch thick- used red and white

1 TBS butter

Some oil- I used EVOO

1 Cup Red Wine- we used Malbec

1 veggie bouillon in 3 cups of water or 3 cups veggie/ mushroom broth

Crusty Bread

Garlic

Melty Cheese- We used Gyere (sp)

Put Oil and Butter in big deep skillet and put on medium heat. Layer on Onions sprinkling salt on top of each layer to draw out the water.

Once the bottom layer onions are brown (about 15 minutes) you can start turning them over.

Let all the onions turn brown and let a good rue happen on the bottom of the pan.

About an hour later add the cup of wine and scrape all the rue into the liquid.

Add 3 cups of broth to skillet and simmer with a bouquet of bay leaf, tyme and parsley for an hour.

Remove bouquet. (this thing has a fancy name but I forgot it)

Cut bread into pieces, rub with garlic and lightly toast. Place in bottom of bowl, cover with soup and the add cheese.

Put under the broiler until cheese is golden.

Comments: Was really yummy. I think that Malbec wine added a deep flavor. As we have eaten more of it, we have added more water then another bouillon cube to keep the flavor high.

Tools note: small crocks for the soup that are oven safe.

Overall: Easy to make and yummy ! It took a long time but was worth it. Our oven doesn't broil and we don't have oven safe dishes so we were not able to melt the cheese on top but it was still very good.

Next up- Not sure but probably something from my new book- Simple Suppers given to us by Teran and John.

Not very pretty but it tastes amazing!