It's So Kewl

I've now rented twice from RedBox and I had to say, it's pretty darned easy. It doesn't get much easier than picking the movie out, swiping your card and *poof* out it pops. And at $1 a night, it won't get much cheaper than that. So far I've rented:

• Twilight
• Blindness
• Slumdog Millionaire
• Eagle Eye

She's Crafty

I never knew I had it in me. I made these 3 floral headpieces for the girls in the pit for "Once Upon A Mattress". It took me a good 3 hours, but I just sat in front of a few movies and worked my little fingers off. It was actually way easier than I thought it would be. Look out Martha Stewart.

And The Beat Goes On

I recently dug "The Light in the Piazza" out for a spin or two. I love that show. It rivals "The Last 5 Years" in my all-time favorite cello scores list. But when I was listening to it, it struck me how the music is intangibly linked with the memories from doing that show. When I listen to it, I get goosebumps in just the same spots as I did when I played it. I remember the way Cara would conduct from the piano, the way Susan and I would glance at each other when we played the coolest unison parts, all the little in-jokes and nifty musical moments. When I listen to it, I'm instantly reminded of summer and how warm it was upon exiting the theatre. Just like when I hear anything from "Cats" I think of Christmas tree lots, baking for the pit and laughing at just how....inane the music from "Cats" is. When I hear music from "Ragtime" I think of hanging out with Jill and the crew afterward and the oboe heater that blew a fuse in the pit right before intermission, knocking out both keyboards. I know smell is a a sense that is highly linked to memories, but for me it's hearing music. I hear the song, "Abracadabra" and think of the time I heard it at Adventureland and watching the 'big kids' on the giant swing. I hear "You Oughta Know" and think about walking down a street in Chicago on a warm, summer afternoon.

Mmmmm....Kobe beef

We finally checked out Burger 9 Point 5 last night. I love seeing independent restaurants doing well - when we got there it was fairly empty, but by the time we left, it was packed! The food was amazingly delicious, the service was incredibly attentive and it was just a cozy little place - I don't think you could fit more than 50 in there at once, if that. But we were just amazed at how good the food was. I splurged and had a Kobe beef burger (probably the closest I will ever get to Kobe beef), which was really tasty - I could tell there was a difference between your garden-variety burger and that one, but I don't know if I'd order it again (I'd probably opt to try a bison burger instead). And I had them cover it with caramelized onions that were so well cooked they just melted upon eating them. I didn't even get to make a dent in my fries - which were so yummy that I took them home.

In Like A Lion

March is one of those odd months. Not quite winter, not quite spring. Everyone's going nuts over St. Patrick's Day (which I just don't get). But it brings with it Easter Candy (yes, I had to capitalize both words). Mmmm...chocolate marshmallow. Mini Eggs. Peanut Butter Eggs. It's the worst time for me willpower-wise. I stash them in my desk and break them out when it's about 2:45 and I'm trying to proofread or reconcile or typeset. But I digress..... I gave up buying unnecessary beauty products for Lent. I'm not Catholic, but I always feel like if I do without something, it's a teeny step towards trying to be a better person. (I also don't eat meat on Fridays - or sweets.) I'm also trying hard not to purchase anything that's unnecessary, be it sweets or something indulgent. So I can just lust over this: It's this nifty, Jetsons-like device that carbonates your water. Could I be more of a foodie geek? I could make delicious lemon-lime 7-Up without having to wait for it to go on sale. I could just make seltzer for using in egg creams. I want one. And it's on sale. I guess I'm hoping that my dear sweetie will see this sad plea since he's now on facebook and my blog rolls right over there and take pity on me. Or reward me. Either one works for me.

But there are other cool things about March. I'm doing "Children of Eden" with a local high school. Never played it before, but the MD is one of my favorites and I don't foresee playing "Wicked" any time soon, so CoE is just about the same anyway. (Seriously. I was gufawing at the blatant theivery going on from himself.) And.......my favorite columnist from Bon Appetit is launching her first book. I don't purchase many books, mostly because if I can grab the new Stephen King (although I will purchase his short stories since their re-readability is pretty good) from the library and save $$$ I do that. But books about food??? I've read Ruth Reichel's "Garlic and Sapphires" a million times. And I love love love Molly Wizenberg's writing. She inspired me to make homemade mayonnaise. And....she's doing a book signing in NYC on March 18. So I'm excited to go pick up her book and praise her with love.

Say Cheese

It's not even 11am and already I've had a CT scan. On the plus side, it's out of the way and I can enjoy the rest of the day. On the minus side, I had to drink 2 of those barf-inducing smoothies. Ugh. I get the dry heaves just thinking about it. If you've never had to have a CT with oral and iv contrast, let me lay it out for you (sadly, the picture to the right is a good approximation as to the phoney cheery face I put on the whole time. Luckily, my favorite tech was on today, so it really wasn't too phoney. The tech is a SPITTING image of Anthony Edwards, so all I can think is that Dr. Mark Greene is giving me my CT scan.):

*You drink 2 bottles of this lovely stuff. One at bedtime (whereupon you realize you won't be eating anything until AFTER your appointment and are suddenly ravenous after you started drinking the contrast.) and one the next morning. You take a swig. You think, "This isn't as bad as I remember" and proceed to try guzzling. After the first prolonged guzzle you feel woozy trying to get past the sensation that this stuff is coating your insides. You whimper as you trying thinking "chocolate milkshake, chocolate milkshake" to no avail. You try all sorts of breathing techniques while drinking, but realize it's not the taste, but the texture and no kind of breathing will get you past that. (This is of course after trying to add chocolate syrup to it thinking that will surely help. It doesn't.) You slog down the first bottle and go to bed. The next morning you dread that second bottle. It stares you down. You open it up and just the sight of that viscous while stuff is enough to make you cringe. You shudder as you force it down.

*You get to the CT scan place and sign in and fill out the same paperwork for the umpteenth time.

*By this CT scan, you've wised up and wear nothing metal so you don't have to change.

*You go into the freezing room where the machine is and glug that last bit of contrast down. (By this point you're ready to pass out if that stuff touches your lips again.)

*A few passes through the machine.

*Then a nurse (if you're lucky) comes to hook you up to an iv to administer the iv contrast.

*They start the iv and you get a hellacious taste in the back of your mouth, reminding you of the disgusting taste you'd get when you had the chemo.

*Then comes the flooding warmth through the lower half of your body.

*Then after the pass with the iv in your arm (still hooked to the machine as seen in the picture to the right), they remove it and you lay on the table for 15 minutes with nothing to do but stare out the dirty skylight. If you're lucky, there's clouds in the sky that day. (Today there weren't.)

*Then one more pass and you're free to go wait in the waiting room for the disk with the images.

*Disk in hand, you are on your way.

Repeat again in six months.

Luckily, these are to make sure I'm still healthy. But it still dredges up the same emotions and feelings and memories from back when I had my first CT scan when we were trying to figure out what was wrong with me. So even though this morning was quick and (relatively) painless, it still sucked. Not to mention the lovely things the oral contrast does to my digestive system. *Ahem*

More Baking

Since I tried an apple galette from Boston Market I've been dying to make one. So the other day I bought some gala apples and I had a refridgerated pie crust in my fridge. (Don't judge - I have insecurities in even attempting to make my own pie crusts. It's one that I will get over once I have a larger kitchen. And perhaps a food processor.) And the funny thing is, I'm so not a pie person. I'm not a fruit fan. I'm not for fruit in my desserts. My thinking is, if I'm having dessert, it better be gooey, chocolatey or decadant. And fruit doesn't fall into those categories.

Tonight I had the means and time to assemble it. I Frankensteined a few recipes together - added a layer of frangipane under the apples and popped in the oven.


It looks so pretty. I love how it looks so rustic because I pleated the crust around the filling. I'm actually quite proud of it.


It will be making its tasting debut during tonight's episode of Heroes. Which I wasn't loving last week because I was falling asleep during it, but after a second viewing, I'm hooked once again.

Easy Like Sunday Morning....or Afternoon

Sunday was one of those perfect days. Luke and I snuggled in bed. We read books. He took a nap early. And I had the classical station on while he slept. He woke up while I was finishing up getting dressed, and I heard Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune by Debussy. Beautiful. So I was happy he was awake while it was on. Then I made breakfast for us all, got the classical station going on in the living/dining room/home office/kitchen and we all ate together, enjoying a Brandenberg concerto.

*sigh*

Luke and I then picked up leftover cake from Grandma's, went food shopping and hit the library where we discovered we can go to a Mother Goose singalong next week.

It was a good day all around.

They're Cousins...(Un)Identical Cousins

Cuties. They had a grand ole time chasing each other around and being silly. I bought them matching pajamas for the holiday season so I pounced on the chance to take a picture of them wearing them at the same time in the same place.

For some reason, Luke was unhappy about the paparazzi.

Then, once it was apparent that it was a party, he warmed up a little.

A good time was then had by all.

Some Enchanted Afternoon

I actually got to work the system and chaperone a field trip. (Which means I had to behave, make sure the same number of kids came home that left on the trip and make sure everyone got home in one piece. They're super kids, I had to do almost nothing in the way of yelling.) The trip was to go see "South Pacific" and lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was fun, the kids were great and I got to see a Broadway musical. I was actually impressed with the revival. The coolest part was that the orchestra was not only revealed during the overture and entr'acte, but that they were in concert black - tuxes and nice black - no tee shirts! And Kelli O'Hara was still there singing her heart out - I liked her version of Nellie. Not too corn pone, and not too dopey and love-struck. Plus, I mean, she was the original Clara Johnson, so I got a thrill out of seeing her perform live.

Here's me and Kerry (Curly Girl) in the lobby of the theatre at Lincoln Center (we could see Julliard from the windows which was also a thrill.) She's much too enamoured with her iPhone to pose.

Miscellany

Here are photos I found on my camera that I meant to include in posts but never got around to doing so:

This was the marquee at the theatre when I was doing "Grey Gardens" over the summer. I just felt so cool that there was a real marquee - one with a picture and everything. Not just a name of the show that used backwards '3's because they ran out of the letter 'e'. Smithtown is like that though - they're pretty on-the-money.

This is Bea. She's the only Bea I know. She's one of the violinists in my quartet. She's also a party animal, hence how she fell asleep, sitting in a chair during a performance of "1776" at Hofstra. So it's also a photo of what the inside of the pit at the big theatre at Hofstra looks like.

These are amazingly delicious peanut butter cookies that I made. I had leftover ganache frosting from the birthday cake I made for my mom, so I decided to dip the cookies in the ganache. It resulted in tastiness.

A Minute A Day?

Even I can do that. I read this article on ways to change your life in 31 days. This one chick (who was an aerobics instructor) did a minute of pushups every day. And saw a difference. Sounds reasonable, right? So I'll have to give that a try.....starting tomorrow.

And not for nothing, but if you have a Starbucks addiction that's so bad that you save over $120 a week by not going to Starbucks numerous times a day, well, that's just sad.

A Budding Art Critic and Suzy Homemaker

We took the Lukey-Bear to the Islip Art museum yesterday to catch the last day of "Fashion Forward" a group show where all the pieces were about fashion. It was a great show and a bargain at $6 for the 3 of us to enter. (Plus, the $$ goes to a good cause) Lukey seemed to enjoy just being somewhere different and seeing unusual things.

He decided to get a little closer to some pieces. I think he felt a certain kinship to the monkey-girl, being that she was his size.

Later that night I was feeling decidedly domestic and made homemade sauce and homemade peanut butter cookies that I just had to dip in chocolate ganache. Mmmmmmmm.

Free Lush and Being Green

So, I'm trying. I really am. I try to recycle. I try to buy local produce. I try to cook healthier meals for my family. To that end, I have a slew of empty baby wipes containers in my linen closet. Every time I buy a 'economy size' box of wipes, it comes with a free wipes container. So I had like 5 of them stashed away. I know that in years to come they'll be a great home for crayons, or matchbox cars or the such, but right now, they're just in reserve, waiting to be called upon.

That being said, there's an issue I've had since Luke's been big enough to toss his toys around. I keep a bunch of toys near the changing station to keep him busy while I'm tidying his heiney up. But invariably they'd land between the wall and the dresser since he'd get a little overzealous winging his toys around. I've gone on many an excavation to recover 2 lambs, a reindeer, 2 books, a monkey and a puppy. But then, a lightbulb went on! The wipes container would fit nicely in said black hole entrance without falling through and hold the toys. Voila. Done. Now those toys have a nice, neat home and they're safe from the great unknown. (Maybe the dust bunnies get lonely now, but I unfortunately can't be concerned by that.)

Yesterday Diane and I made a pilgrimmage to the Valley Stream Lush. (Note to those not from the area: Valley Stream isn't as peacefully and buccolic as it sounds.) Little did we know it was the last day for their huge, inventory clearing sale. Buy-1-Get-2-Free. Yes. Seriously. Pay for one, come home with 3. Needless to say, this created much squealing and indecision and grabbing. I bought Big shampoo (which gets my hair surprisingly clean without drying it out and leaves ringlets), Honey I Washed the Kids soap (which I used on my kid that very night and couldn't stop sniffing his hair), Snowcake soap (delicious soap that smells like marzipan and is only out during the holidays), and an Ickle Baby Bath Bomb (for the Lukey-Bear who was grossly uninterested in its fizzy goodness). I also bought 1 emotibomb (which you can use in the shower to make it smell yummy) and got 2 free.

So when I got home and was trying to find a nice home for my new treasures....all of a sudden it came to me. I could stash them safely in....another baby wipes container. And keep them fresh as can be!

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a Figs and Leaves bar of soap in my shower calling my name.

Mmmm....smelly soap

So, Thursday night Lucas and I went to the grand-opening party of the Valley Stream location of Lush.

What? You don't know what Lush is? I used to be a certified Lushaholic. It's soap and shower gels, bath fizzies and bubble bars, hair products and lotions. And they're all made by hand, from natural, organic ingredients. They smell good and make you feel good.


Being that it was a party, of course there were goodies. What I got for free:

*a cookie with the Lush logo on it

*an Avobath bath bomb

*a Pop in the Bath bubble bar

*a mystery massage bar

So I got about $15 worth of stuff for free! I bought many a Christmas present and induldged and got myself a Figs and Leaves bar of soap and a small piece of Spice Curls soap.

There was a DJ, so Luke was rockin' away in his stroller and flirting with the salesgirls, and I even came away with a free sample of Big shampoo.

Mmmmmmm....soap.

Are You Lean Like a Lynx?

So, Lucas LOVES puppets. Of any shape, sort or size. He cracks up at the Muppets. He loves the puppets on the Baby Einstein videos. He even loves it when I play with the puppet on his exersaucer.

He loves singing. He's even starting singing along with me when I sing. (He attempts to sing the alphabet by going "Ah, ah, ah, ah, ahhhhhh" - it's so cute I can't stand it.) He loves music and his new thing is to hit one object against another to make a sound.

He LOVES singing puppets.

So I have a theory. I want to get Cats on DVD from the library and play it for Luke.

My thinking is this:

Huge, grown-up sized puppety things

Huge, grown-up sized puppety things singing nonsensy songs

I think he'll love it.

Poor kid.

Getting My Latin On

So two weeks ago (I know, I know, I'm a delinquent blogger) I participated in the Hispanic Heritage assembly. It was really quite neat - kids from all nationalities participated. We had 2 speakers, one of which is the conductor/musical director for "In the Heights", the Tony-nabbing show of 2008. The kids sang a song from the show called "Piragua". They were singing and dancing and the MD from the show was playing piano. Knowing of my musical prowess, they asked me to play some auxillary percussion and who am I to decline small children? So I jammed on the guiro. I rocked so well, that I didn't even need cues to tell me when to come in or drop out. Each time the MD went to cue me, I was already there.

So, that makes TWO Broadway musicians I've played with.

I am sooo kewl.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

I'm sorry I've been away so long. I was playing every weekend in a row from August until October. This is my one weekend off before my big, huge event next weekend. Luckily, after that I'm free as a bird.

But all is well in the Curly World. We're all healthy. Tom is loving student teaching. Luke is growing like a weed and I'm just hanging in there. I'm proud of us for getting this far. The end of having a full time student in the family is near!

More later I promise. More about new shows I'm watching (How did I NOT watch 'Pushing Daisies' last year????). More about my culinary escapades.

I promise!

Best. Birthday. Ever.

So not only is it a super birthday because I spent it with my baby boy. (And awesome husband) But it's restaurant week here and a dozen restaurants had 3-course prix fixe menus for $25. So I got to try this neat little restaurant Lucy's, which has a great tapas menu and had the yummiest options for each course. It was a cute little jewel box of a place, with mismatched chandeliers and a tiny, 4-seat bar. Luke LOVED staring at the lights and ceiling fans, the french doors were all open and the weather was perfect. It couldn't have been a nicer evening. I had amazing steamed mussels, organic pan-roasted chicken with the creamiest polenta I've ever tasted and warm molten chocolate cake. (If you can't eat warm chocolate cake on your birthday, when can you eat it?) Tommy hesitantly ordere a pork chop that came with figs and plums, mashed potatoes and spinach. Now, he's really a cheeseburger and fries kind of guy, so I was very happy to see him going out on a limb. He LOVED it! He said he was wary at first, but he said the food was amazing. And...he said, "We can totally come back to this place." Which I whole-heartedly agreed with, if nothing else, but to sample the crabcakes and the truffle mac and cheese. The service was amazing, my food was unbelievable and the atmosphere was perfect. Lucas was an absolute angel. Diners all around us kept commenting on how adorable and well behaved he was. Our waiter even took a photo of the 3 of us for us.Lucas decided this was the perfect occasion to start saying, "Ma ma ma ma ma" which I know doesn't really mean he's referring to me, but was wonderful to hear just the same.

And yes, there is an amazing difference in taste when you pan-roast an organic chicken!!

I Am So Kewl

So, I listen to WFUV, Fordham University's radio station a lot. They do various fun morning stuff. The last time they had asked what would be on George Orwell's iPod since it was the anniversary of his birth. I emailed that any animal song on The Beatles' White Album would sure be there. This time they asked what would be on Alfred Hitchcock's iPod. I HAD to think of something cool. Had to. So at first of course I think of "Psycho Killer". But that'd be way too obvious. So I delve deeper. And *poof* the line "She looks like Eva Marie Saint, in On the Waterfront" pops out at me. I think of it in terms of the cover by Tori Amos of the Lloyd Cole song "Rattlesnakes". So I send off my email stating, "Curly Glamour Girlie of Her Hometown (you have to include your first name and hometown) thinks that Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Cole would be on Alfie's iPod since he loved his icy blondes and would want to carry a song that payed hommage to Eva on it." Or something like that. So I'm sitting in my office with 2 tech guys from the new software package we're moving to who are training me. And I'm listening to 'FUV not expecting anything. All of a sudden, I hear very familiar lyrics. THEY'RE PLAYING THE LLOYD COLE SONG!! I get very excited. I try explaining to the 2 guys that this makes me so freakin' cool. Then I don't let them speak after the song is over, since I know now that they're going to say my name ON THE RADIO! Not only does the coolest morning dj ever Claudia Marshall say my name, but she reads practically my WHOLE email! I think the 2 tech guys were even mildly impressed.

I felt cool for the whole morning. It even held over until the afternoon. Then I was bummed by Kelli being aufed on Project Runway.