The World According to Muffin Face

Home Alone

2011-03-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

Yes - I might be watching American Idol. That is just because my sweetie is working the night shift and I am left on my own. Sometimes when he is gone I watch questionable TV (but what about that Jacob Lusk!). Also, on a side note, flash mobs make me cry. Like, really cry. Like Oprah being reunited with a lost Sister cry. Before I start replaying all my favorite DVR'd Glee scenes and really lose it I want to talk about food. Just because I am home alone doesn't mean I go hungry - and cooking for one is always a challenge. One that I never have conquered. Tonight, after a lusty trip to Trader Joe's, I made a herb salad topped with a soft boiled egg. I added some of my homemade croutons and a side of thinly sliced marinated pork loin. I must leave you now...I think there is a new Miami Housewives...

Back to what I love

2011-02-28T16:00:00.000-08:00

What do you do when you buy a beautiful fresh loaf of sourdough only to come home and realize you will be spending the evening alone? No...you don't eat the whole loaf by yourself. That would be bad. You can freeze it but it will never be as good. I cut off a slice to enjoy with my Sweet potato Gnocchi and then saw the wording on the side of the bread bag "please enjoy the day of purchase". Damn. It was too late to have an impromptu dinner party and all my friends were probably going to some amazing Oscar party I wasn't invited to and it would most likely make for awkward conversations.

So - back to my original question. What do you do with a beautiful fresh loaf of sourdough? Make croutons you can enjoy all week, of course.

I set out on a quest for my Husband who really wanted Fleur sel and also found some herbs de Provence for myself. Hopefully I will be blogging soon about all the amazing things Steve O. wants to use the freaking expensive salt for...but back to the bread.

I cut it into a little bigger than bite size pieces figuring it would get a little smaller as it cooks. Tossed in some olive oil, my new herbs and a small amount of sea salt and they are now roasting in my oven at 285 degrees. I guess you can also do this on 295 or 300. Just make sure it is not on too high a heat. You want to dry the bread and not burn it.

And on a completely different note - if you can please come see The Last Days of Judas Iscariot now playing at the Richmond Triangle Players - a Co Production with Henley Street Theatre. It is a mix of Veteran and Rookie actors and I must say I am having a blast with this lovely group of hard working theatre folk.

Birthday Fun and Sun and Friends and Family and pictures out of Order!

2010-06-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

This is my beautiful Niece, Marisol. We were a block away from the beach all weekend but the rain was threatening to ruin our time. We walked over on Saturday and I couldn't stop taking pictures. Maybe because I grew up around water (almost everywhere I lived) and there is nothing as pure as the ocean and children. These are just a few of my favorites.

Steve O, says the caption for this one should be "Jesus loves you this much!"

My Nephew, Jake, is wowed by the water. Or maybe he is trying to part the sea?

Who can create a caption for this one?

Thing 1 (harry) and Marisol.

Shooting hoops.

A back yard Birthday bouquet from Sophia!

My Sister Emily has a Birthday a week after mine. This year we had a joint family party at her beautiful beach house. This was her side of the birthday cake. The cake was made by Burgess - you might remember the killer keyboard grooms cake he made for our wedding - what a talent!

This was my side of the cake.

The day before my Birthday I had a few special guests stop by to wish me well. My little friend Sophia dropped in and insisted on taking some pictures. I really like the composition.

Another picture by Sophia.

This one was taken by me.

Earlier that week (I warned you these pictures are in no particular order) Steve P. came by and brought dinner he cooked himself! This salad was a scrumptious mix of field greens and brussel sprout leaves, toasted nuts and shredded Italian cheese (can't remember what kind.)

The main dish was a mouth watering sweet lasagna recipe he stole from that pretty Giada lady - not to be confused with Lady Gaga. Thanks Steve P.

The Post of many pictures

2010-04-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

My Beautiful Niece - just have to show how these shoes match the dress.

My adorable little nephew playing with the train from Grandma Bobby - plus Uncle Steve looking kinda scary.

Kitty Mom and Harry toasting

Seder Plate

A little magic with your matzo?

I think this must have been the fourth glass

"yes, I agree - Jill Bari is the best child."

Thing One and thing three!

Finding the afikomen!

Another amazing Burgess creation.

picture from the feast.

Passover was, what? About a month ago I think. I've been busy OK? Mom came down and the three of us went to my Sister Em's place in Va Beach. This is one of my favorite holidays - every year I am so excited for the Seder. The food and the company is always amazing. This year I had to go back to work the next day so I didn't drink the required 4 glasses of wine during the Seder. I took 4 small sips as to not risk my luck. This made Em ask: do you have an announcement to make? To which I said: yes - I just ate a lot and I am bloated. I had so much fun with everyone and we will be coming back soon. And next year I will be taking the next day off so I can drink all the wine I want - really, why should this night be different from all other nights?

Some good advice.

2010-03-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

I marinated a chicken and baked it with almonds instead of coating it with breadcrumbs. I promise there is a chicken under all those nuts.

My first risotto!

Go see The Full Plate Collection running at the Theatre Gym Space at the Empire Theatre for the next few weeks. It assembles a fun cast of seasoned professionals and student interns. They mix in beautifully together and come off looking like a Strong all pro cast. This is a witty, smart, hilarious, touching script. It was great to see such a fun celebration of women. Bravo to everyone involved. I expect rave reviews to be coming in shortly so do yourself a favor and get your tickets now! More info at http://www.fullplatecollection.blogspot.com/

In other news my Little friend Steve P. had a big birthday in the middle of last week so our beach group got together Sunday and celebrated at Robert's house. Per Steve's request there were no presents bought for him. So we got creative. I made him coasters out of felt and cork boards (how I wish I had taken a picture of them). Robin gave him a gift she bought him a couple years ago and never gave him - you get the point - we found a way around his rules. I also brought an appetizer that I had never made before.

Saturday night after I was totally blown away by The Full Plate Collection, Steve O. and I went to a lovely cast party for the play he is working on at the Firehouse Theatre called Crumble. At this party there was amazing food including these coconut risotto balls. I wanted to make my own version to bring to the birthday get together. I decided to omit the coconut altogether since Erin is very allergic to it. I found a recipe that included putting Mozz in the middle. That sounded good to me but I made sure to make some without cheese since Robin doesn't eat cheese. Anyway - I highly suggest before making a recipe out of risotto you actually learn HOW to make risotto. To that I just have to say Risotto is hard, y'all! Somehow I pulled it off. I had a beautiful bowl of risotto and I was so proud of myself. I put it in the fridge for a little while and cubed some mozzarella. I eventually rolled the rice into balls placing a cube of cheese in the middle of most of them (harder than it sounds) and placed them in medium hot peanut oil. What came out was pretty darn bad. Bad and ugly. Notice I do not have a picture of them. They were so tough on the outside I could barely chew them - even with my brand new teeth! I put them aside, had a glass of wine and decided I would bring them to the get together anyway and we could all have a good laugh about how bad they are.

So I did that and made sure to make a huge deal about how terrible they were. My brave friends tried them out and loved them. Steve and I looked at each other in total shock - each took a ball of our own and much to my surprise they were good! Something happened to them when they cooled. The recipe did say to serve at room temperature but neglected to say they would really suck until then. What happened is they softened up and the outside remained slightly crispy and the inside was soft and tasty. Now I wish I had taken pics of them too.

Pictured above is chicken I made with almonds instead of breadcrumbs in order to cut down on fat and calories. I was talking about this to Robin A. at Steve's Birthday and she said what about making dust out of the nuts and they would have a more breadcrumb-e consistency. We decided to package it under the name of a fictional character I made up at the beach. So you tell me - who would buy "Shit House Betty's Nut Dust"? I think it has a nice ring to it.

I will leave you with a little food at work advice. If you sit at a desk surrounded by people all day you have to get crafty about snacking without utensils and you can't put anything in your mouth that will cause you to chew for longer than a second. I found these great little yogurt packages that are tubular in shape and you just cut the top off and squeeze the stuff right in your mouth. I won't say the brand name but they are packaged for children with really stupid jokes printed on the long tube things. OK - here's the thing. I thought these would be perfect for work until I actually tried it. Lets just say when surrounded by archivists and homeless people (our major clientele) you don't want to stick the end of a long tube in your mouth and suck on it. It just didn't look right.

I'm baaaack.............

2010-03-12T16:27:00.000-08:00

A pic of me and Mr. Mayor presenting a couple awards together at The Critics Circle Awards earlier this year.

Hi folks. Guess who? To say this year has been off to a rough start for me would be an understatement of great proportions. After returning from a wonderful few weeks that took me from the mountains to an oceanfront retreat with a few of my besties - the good news is I managed to get 4 teeth implants so I don't look so back-woodsy anymore. that process took about 10 months - but shortly after returning from my New years trip I got sick - then I got some kind a awful virus a week later - that lasted about 10 days. A few days after I got over that I had some kind of sinus infection - a few days after finishing the antibiotics I got a rash all over (except my face, thank g-d!) that lasted about a week and then about a week ago I got vertigo - I went to the Dr wondering if this was related to any meds I am on or any of the various sicknesses I had - and no - just another unrelated pain in the ass - the good news is I am much better - still a Little dizzy but less dizzy than last week! So I see that as progress. This is also why I have been at home for the entire winter so far. I am sorry to have missed so many great plays and I hope my talented friends forgive my absence. Hopefully I will be getting out more often this Spring. Also wanted to share some great medical advice my mother gave me when she found out I had vertigo. It doesn't matter what age you are - your mother will always tell you what is best. She said "You shouldn't shower alone!" at which point I yelled out to my husband "Mom says I can't shower alone!" also - if Steve has to go out of town for any reason and I still have vertigo I guess it's OK with my Mom if anyone wants to shower with me.

The Oscars were so much fun - I didn't feel so badly about being overlooked this year since I didn't do anything anyway!!! I wish they gave out awards for people who can sit on the sofa watching TV for long periods of time. I know I would get a nomination for that. Steve O. and I enjoyed the awards and I had him jot down some fashion comments since he is such a fashion plate himself. He had two categories - they are "In a word" and "More than a word";

I will keep you in suspense no longer. Here is Steve's "In a Word"

Sandra Bullock - Nice

Diane Kruger - Stupid

Barbara Walters - Appropriate

Penelope Cruz - Ehh....

Anna Kendrick - OK

Mo'Nique - Nice

Maggie Gyllenhall - Aquarium

Helen Mirren - Lovely

Cameron Diaz - Great

Rachel McAdams - Pretty

Queen Latifah - Awesome

Kristen Stewart - Nice

Kathy Bates - Classy

Oprah - Lovely

Katherine Bigelow - Cute

Amanda Seyfried - Swiffer

Barbra Streisand - Aweful

and in "More than a Word"

Vera farmiga - I just want to lie her down so I can run my hot wheels all over her body - here comes the loop da loop

J-Lo - Static cling is no laughing matter. Oh wait, I guess it is....

Sarah Jessica Parker - WARNING: Do not fall asleep in the tanning booth. It may impair your fashion judgement.

Miley Cyrus - Don't want to embarrass you, sweetie, but you forgot your blouse.

Molly Ringwald - Looks like a giant dinner napkin with fancy napkin ring.

Zoey (Avatar) - This dress made me want to Bjork.

Cary Mulligan - Go jump in a lake- and catch some trout with your dress....

Sigourney Weaver - Ladies and gentleman, the kung-fu queen of the toga party.

Charlize Theron- Okay yes, I am looking at your tits.

Elizabeth Banks- OMG, its the pillar of smoke from LOST!

Demi Moore - (From top to bottom) Nice dress, nice dress, Oh I just puked.

Julianne Moore- I guess she was in a hurry. She's wearing her shower curtain.

His best dressed for the night went to Queen Latifah and worst went to Vera Farmigo. I know your life now feels a bit more complete.

Ok there is a few more but they are all mean so I will stop there - you get the point.

Tonight I have been given a ticket to go to see a special night of The Full Plate Collection in he Theatre Gym space at Theatre IV's Empire theatre. I am so excited and so proud of all my talented beautiful friends. I know I will have a great time but I will give a full report here shortly. For more information go to

http://www.fullplatecollection.blogspot.com/

I am finally feeling like I have enough energy to write again. So be afraid.

Pre - Thanksgiving food pics...

2009-11-25T22:24:00.000-08:00

Pecan Pie Steve made with a chocolate crust.

The batter showed so much promise. Steve made a cookie batter and added chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, toffee chips and pecans. But when he cooked the batter it ended up looking like this:

He followed the recipe to the T. Not sure what happened! They tasted like toffee, chewy candy. Really not bad!

I just loved grilled bread. I think I mentioned the grill pan we got as a wedding gift.

A small rib-eye roast for two. This was my first attempt at a roast. I saw these on sale and called my Mom to see how hard this would be. Surprisingly, it did not turn into a story about someone she knew who had cooked a roast and died. It didn't seem too bad so I brought it home and it was really, really good. I put it in a marinade for about half an hour. Most recipes said to put it in the oven but I started it off by searing it in a hot pan to crisp up the outside.

Steve made an amazing lemon chess pie.

Turkey is a cheap way to eat all week long. A few Sunday's ago I bought a Turkey and it worked out so well I did this two weeks in a row. Here are a few things I made with Turkey during the week.

Turkey pot pie with a cheddar cheese crust.

Turkey melt.

There was also a turkey tetrazzini and turkey burritos - they tasted good but they don't look so pretty.

More food pics to come.

Everyone have a happy and tasty Thanksgiving.

I am thankful I was not a Native American during the time of the Pilgrims - but that is a conversation for another time.

What would The Debra do? Or WWTDD?

2009-10-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

In honor of Audra's Birthday:

Beautiful day today. Sun. Everywhere.

I'm hungry. People keep having birthdays and talking about food.

My cat just barfed. X. I have lots of cats.

Why doesn't Robin A. like cheese? Wish someone would bring me something.

It is so hot in here it feels like when Joseph and Maggie brush my hair and get too close.

Ginnie let me cook a stew. Lots of things can be considered stew. I like chocolate.

Today I wore something that could only be described as delicately malicious.

I like singing and plays where I get to sing. They are called musicals. Oklahoma is one.

I like the fair. Tents flap open and pigs come out.

Ned should be my cat. I am the antithesis of Susan Luci at the Ratcocks.

I abuse apostrophes.

Hannah is a goddes's.

Babies.

Tom calls I jump. High.

I wish I was Asian.

Pies and Puppies!

2009-09-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

Parents new puppy, Pugsley

Tivel

Mulan

Pugsley again

Steve's first Apple pie

Steve's second Apple pie

My Pizza Pie

Steve's (questionable) Peach pie

Last week Steve and I headed to P'Town for Rosh Hashana. The weather was beautiful and the services were wonderful. I am not sure we could have fit anymore into the fun filled weekend. Friday my Dad and Kitty had an amazing pre-temple dinner attended by many of our favorite members of the congregation. There was fantastic food including beef bourguignon, Yorkshire pudding, velvety mashed potatoes, perfectly roasted vegetables, colorful salad, soft fresh challah and of course the traditional apples with many different flavors of honey. Kitty and Pop also set up a full bar and on the table they sprinkled many different drink recipes all containing pomegranate juice still keeping with the Rush Hashanah theme.

Later that evening my Dad gave one of his best sermons ever. I could write an entire blog post just on that.

Saturday it was back to services and then an after party at the always elegant Bonk/Rivens, where we feasted and sipped champagne on the banks of the Elisabeth river - Steve even spent some time at their beautiful grand piano. After that we headed to the beach to spend some time with My sister Gretchen, her husband and my wonderful niece and nephew.

As luck would have it, one of her neighbors had just made a bunch of jello shooters so we thought it would be rude not to have a few. After the beach we headed back to Portsmouth to have a bite at one of my favorite restaurants, Stove. I have mentioned this place in past posts but I still must say again - if you happen to find yourself in Portsmouth for any reason - go eat here! Sydney the owner/chef is famous in Hampton Rhodes for excellent, fresh food using ingredients from local farms and gardens. The small place is always full but eating at the elegant bar where you can order anything off the menu is just as enjoyable.
The next morning we had a great brunch with this view:

The restaurant is called the Flagship.
The food here was amazing too - my parents friend, Alen, is the chef.
Steve's burger

My shrimp and grits

By this time the Redskins game had already started so we headed back to my Dad and Kitty's house to watch the game. We made it back home later that afternoon - full and tired and happy.
My Dad and Kitty have a new dog to join their brood. His name is Pugsly and he is so cute I had to share his pics with all (5) of you. I didn't want the other dogs to get jealous so their pics are on here too. Trixie was also with us but looked rather annoyed at the small dogs around her. I think she wasn't sure what they were. What I am sure of is if my parents get one more dog they are officially a lesbian couple.

I am taking the time to catch up on a lot here as I recover from my second tooth implant surgery. All went well but recovery is a bit slow. I can't wait until a few months from now when I will have 4 new teeth and be able to smile all the time! I just got a phone call from my Periodontist this morning to check up on me. Not the Nurse - the actual Doctor! This has never happened to me before -

A couple weeks ago - in an effort to save money I got a great pizza crust recipe from my friend Naomi - since then I have made a few very good pizza's (if I do say so myself) the dough is easy to make and by making it myself it has much less salt and fat than delivery. It is also a lot of fun!!

Steve has been on this pie kick. I think I mentioned he made a homemade apple pie - since then he has made another one and then just a couple days ago he made a peach pie. I have not been able to taste it yet due to my surgery but Steve P had a piece last night and gave it a thumbs up. As I was puttering around early this morning I noticed a piece of fruit that hadn't made it into the pie. It looked like a peach until I picked it up and realized it wasn't fuzzy - I think Steve made a nectarine pie by accident. I am so embarrassed for him...I am sure it is still good. He tells me his next pie will be pecan. I sure hope I can chew by then.

I believe I have bored you all long enough - time to take some pain killers and lie back down.

if anyone is still reading this blog....

2009-09-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

Keeping up with this blog has been hard lately. I apologize to anyone who is still checking in to read this drivel. Not sure why I have had writers block lately - there are always exciting things going on and sometimes I get too busy to even write about them. I like writing this blog, despite the fact that I am a terrible speller, I make up my own rules for grammar, and there are a million more interesting blogs out there - some of them written by friends of mine - I still like to document some things here - if for no other reason than to get them out of my head and to remind myself that I actually have a life.
I haven't been in a play in over a year and that makes me sad. At first it was fine because the last play I did was really hard and took a lot out of me. I even thought I might just be done with the whole thing. Who was I kidding? Are we ever really over our craft? Even if people think it is not good or we don't win any awards? Do I wish I had a skill that was more profitable? Yes - it is a tough life but I guess I am destined to live it.
So I carry on.

Last night Steve P. and I watched a life changing movie - I must advise everyone I know to watch it. It was Spike Lee's film of the Broadway show Passing Strange. It is available On Demand right now before it comes to the theatres. This isn't a new story. It is a coming of age story - but it is told like you have never heard it before - in the voice of the author and composer and his wife. The artists name is Stew - just Stew. What occurred to me after the show was that even if I have nothing new to say - even if it has all been said before - it hasn't been said by me. That's what makes each of our stories different. Even when they deal with the growing pains that we all go thru and share and never stop feeling. Those feelings and self-doubt connect us as humans - but what separates us is the way we express the experience thru what we know - that makes us each unique. After seeing a work like that it is at once depressing and inspiring. I first say "Damn, I will never create anything that spectacular." Then I think "That story has been told but not by me." That keeps me going and motivates me to carry on. To keep auditioning, to write when I can and to do more creative work than I am doing now. Seriously - see this movie people!

I went to the dentist today because part of an old filling and some bit of tooth fell off the back of a molar. This was Friday so that jagged tooth was cutting into the side of my tongue for 3 days until the dentist's office opened back up today. I went into work not knowing if the Dentist could see me and even when I found he could (well he was out of town but his partner fit me in) even when he could I went in expecting them to just file it down and send me on my way. No such luck. I had an old filling removed and got a temporary crown. This was no fun and the procedure took about 3 hours - which was and hour and a half longer than they told it would take. At one point I couldn't help but think "they aren't even working on my tooth are they? They are just torturing me for fun. Nothing takes this long to fix!" Another interesting thing that happened while I was in the chair - under sedation and on gas - I started solving all the worlds problems and then at one point I discovered the meaning of life - but soon realized since I was on the gas I would forget it anyway and as quickly as the insite came to me, it was all gone. But I pulled thru the painful procedure and am now resting comfortably and writing it all down.

So much time has passed since the Lady party that I last wrote about and I haven't talked much about the wonderful wedding - but all is going well. Being married to the right person is a blessing and an honor and a daily happy surprise.

Steve's band played at the National for their CD release party this past Saturday. They were all fantastic. I was so proud of him. I will post pics. Steve also found time this weekend to make an apple pie (you didn't think I was done talking about food did you?) - his first attempt with homemade crust even. It was amazing. I have pics of the pie too but for some reason when I plug my camera into my computer nothing is happening - usually it all downloads automatically - does anyone have any insite on this?

Lauren's Ladies Party

2009-08-06T06:33:00.000-07:00

My party entry - what do you think they are?

So my friend, Lauren had to have a hysterectomy but before the operation day some of her girlfriends decided to throw her a party - and not just any party - you had to bring some kind of food that went with the Hysterectomy theme.

Well - you know I was so excited about this - I couldn't figure out what to bring - here are some of the entries lifted from Lauren's Facebook page....

The guest of honor enjoying some treats.

I really have nothing to add to this one.

Lynnie and Lauren holding a plate of something

Lauren and Jodi enjoying the treats I brought.

Lauren, Jenny and Jackie - also enjoying my treats

Just a bunch of beautiful friends!

A good time was had by all and since this party was a while ago I am happy to report that Lauren is doing great. Pics I did not get include Hysterectomy chicken (don't ask) and deviled eggs - all the food was great. period!

Mom's Birthday and a sneak peak at wedding pics.

2009-07-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

By Robyn O.- wedding Cake

My Mother Turned the big 7-o on Saturday - hopefully I will have time to celebrate with her very soon. Please take a second and visit my Sissy's blog for a beautiful tribute to my Mommy.

http://www.andtheeggs.net/

One of the things I am most blessed with in my little life is the amazing and talented group of friends I am lucky enough to know. I speak of them often on my blog because they constantly amaze and inspire me. The pics below are a few examples of the talent my friends Beth Sinnenberg and Robyn O'Neill posses.

by Beth

By Beth - dancing with my Father to "Wonderful World"

By Beth - Mom and our dear friend Virgil.

By Beth - The Maid of Honor and special guest star

by Robyn - Flower Girls

By Beth - Steve singing

By Robyn - me and my beloved.

stay tuned for posts coming soon...

honeymoon

more wedding pics

My friend Lauren had a Hysterectomy party before her operation and we all made apps - it was a theme party - wait till you see what people made!

A few special guests.

2009-07-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a crazy few weeks since we got back from our honeymoon. I had some super fun mouth surgery (more on that later) and I'm getting back into the swing of a schedule that doesn't include any wedding planning. My sweet Mom came down a couple days to hang out and then James and Christine came to visit. This was great since I felt like I did not get to spend nearly enough time with them at the wedding. I took a lot of pictures because they are really pretty people!

Although I really wasn't healed enough to chew that well - I had a few Advil and a little wine and we went to this great restaurant right around the corner from us called KOBE. It is hibachi and it was a freakin blast, I am sure the pain killers didn't hurt either. The food here is so much better than other hibachi places I have been. I highly recommend it.
We wanted to get huge, embarrassing glasses of alcoholic drinks with Buddhas on the side and flames in the middle but once we realized we could get the same drinks a lot cheaper in regular glasses sanes the flames we left that dream behind.

Christine and I have a lot of things in common - it is really startling - but one of the things we don't have in common is the fact that she has not mastered the art of chopsticks. But she seems to be doing OK here.

The hibachi master cooked our meal dramatically and beautifully. I did not want to take his picture or do anything that would make him the least bit self conscious while he was wielding knives and throwing flame so close to my perfectly sculpted eyebrows so you will see no pictures of that here.

After dinner Steve treated us to a few songs and then we all got down to business. We played a few games which were apparently very funny.

I told you they were pretty.

This one is my favorite.

Unfortunately, they weren't the only house guests we had. This fella also made an appearance in the guest room. There were a few girly shrieks (from the boys) and it eventually met its demise with the help of some hair spray, a large book, and half a roll of paper towels.

The night they left was the month anniversary of the wedding. I can't believe how fast time is flying by now that I want it to go slowly. I had a very sweet and funny gift from my husband which I will blog about soon. Thanks to my Mommy for coming to town a couple days to hang out with me while I was feeling under the weather and thank you to James and Christine for coming in town (with my favorite wine in tow - that I cannot buy here anymore) and brightening my week.

Marital Bliss

2009-06-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

So it was our two week anniversary (and they said it wouldn't last!) Steve came home from work with beautiful flowers and a glimmer in his eyes - he proceeded to tell me he ordered meet from a butcher for the first time ever - he was so excited it was the cutest thing I had ever seen.
You know once you get your meat specially cut it is hard to go back -
I love cooking and it is hard for me to stay out of the kitchen but somehow- I made myself sit on the sofa with a big glass of wine he poured for me, but, you know - it wasn't easy.
Steve was equally excited about the beautiful fresh brussel sprouts he bought.
As usual he starts searching the internet for the best way to roast them. They ended up heavenly! Crunchy on the outside and soft and velvety on the inside. Since we didn't do carbs he also threw in some sauteed zuc and squash and onions.
We used our new Rachel Ray grill pan for the steaks - a wedding gift we we very excited to use! How did I ever live without it? Or Steve?

Our sweet girl, Trixie.

marinated ribeyes cooking the Rachel Ray way.

Squash, zucchini and onions.

Steve roasted these on parchment paper until the outside was crispy. Sorry the picture is a little out of focus.

Engagment Party!!!

2009-05-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

My wonderful friends threw us an amazing engagement party. There was food (OMG the food) and drinks and great music. It was just perfect. Thank you so much to Steve P, Robert, Erin, Jacquie, Laine, Lauren, Andy, Heather, Meg, and everyone else who worked so hard putting this party together. We even had a great band called Free Beer After Nine (they were also our wedding band) - It was a night we will never forget.
Steve O. and I got married a couple weeks ago and I promise to post about that soon. I have not been posting much since the wedding planning took up all my free time - now things are starting to settle down a little and I will hopefully be motivated to continue with this blog. For now - please enjoy the pictures!

Deb, and hostesses, Erin and Laine

Steve singing!

a couple of those beautiful Timberline's.

Robin and Host Robert.

Part of the spread.

these beautiful glasses were made by my dear friend's Meg and Heather. We also used them at the rehearsal dinner.

The bar! the party hosts made sangria - it was the best I had ever tasted.

One of the hosts - Heather!!

Cupcake table

More of the food!!!

I think this must be Roberts savory cheesecake - it is so good.

Robin and Scott with bride to be.

Sundays can be such a drag!

2009-05-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

The lovely ladies

There was Lady Gaga

David, our waiter. Caught here having a moment with Naomi.

Laine and me.

Umm...I don't know who I am posing with but she was very sweet.

OK - this is definitely Tina Turner. Or Shmina Shmurner.

Having my own moment with David.

Naomi and me.

David got around to all of us.

Pretty Lady

..of course Liza was there.

I think she ate Diana Ross.

More Liza.

Last weekend Steve O. and a bunch of his pals went on a bachelor camping trip - I am sure a good time was had by all.

I enjoyed a weekend filled with more wedding planning - until Sunday when a few awesome gals went out to DRAG BRUNCH with me at Godfrey's on East Grace Street.

Drag brunch is a little something that makes me proud of our river city. They sell out weeks ahead of time - it is the place to be on a Sunday morning. The food is also very good there. Seriously - everything is fresh and made to order and they even altered a menu item to fit my low carb habits- you might be waiting for the food a while because everyone sits down and orders about the same time pre-show - but the great drink specials will curb your hunger and nothing beats the entertainment. Just make sure you come with plenty of dollar bills to hand out to the lovely ladies and makes your reservations as far ahead of time as you can.

Robert had a Birthday and Steve P. cooked.

2009-04-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

I am a few weeks behind on reporting this story - or ANY story really - and It might be like this for a few more weeks while I am planning the wedding - and going slowly crazy. Seriously - as of right now I will be walking down the isle in Pajama's.
Anyway... On Robert's Birthday (or actually before) Steve P. cooked! - I am not sure this happens very often so I wanted to savor every delicious bite.

This Lasagna was so good. Steve P. made it with sausage.

Yummy green salad

Bread with a onion cheese topping

Flour less chocolate cake that melted in my mouth. And homemade whipped cream.

and last but not least - the beautiful center piece really pulled the whole table together...

This, um, thing blows bubbles out of it's tushy.

Really - The meal was wonderful. And I way very proud of Steve P.

Happy very belated Birthday Robert. You are a Prince among men.

Please Sir, I want S'More - Pt. 1

2009-03-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome Guest Blogger Holly T.!

I have spent the past few months learning a lot about chocolate and promised our lovely hostess Jill Bari that I would share a few tidbits. I decided to do a blog entry about dark chocolate s’mores. I made these at a local chocolate shop where I was learning for a few weeks, but you can also make them at home.

You will need:
ingredients for making marshmallow (depends upon what recipe you follow)
a few tablespoons of pure, unsweetened cocoa powder
a heavy-bottomed, good quality pot
a stand mixer
a candy thermometer
a sheet pan
parchment paper
a box of chocolate graham crackers
at least one pound of good quality, pure dark chocolate

FIRST, make a batch of marshmallow.
The recipe I used at the shop is not really practical for home use because it makes so much. Here’s a link to a recipe by Alton Brown. I haven’t made this one, but I’ve eaten it, and it’s good!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-marshmallows-recipe/index.html

Additional notes:
Even though Alton doesn’t say so, I would suggest putting parchment paper in whatever pan you use.
For these dark chocolate s’mores, add 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder just after you pour in the sugar syrup and before you crank the mixer up to high speed. Sift the cocoa before adding.
When preparing the pans, add another 1-2 teaspoons of cocoa powder to the confectioner’s sugar/cornstarch mix.

Here is how the marshmallow-making process looks:

Above: Hydrating the gelatin (the Alton Brown recipe has you do this in the bowl of the mixer)

Above: Adding the corn syrup to the sugar, stirring, and bringing the mixture to the proper temperature.

Above: Sifting the cocoa and adding to the sugar syrup with the mixer on LOW (unless you want a face full of cocoa powder!) (guess who learned this the hard way. not me, of course.)

Above: Watch it change in the mixer: Marshmallow Magic!

Above: The finished marshmallow before and after pouring onto the prepared pan. This is harder than it sounds as this stuff is STICKY. You can spray a piece of parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray and lay it over the warm marshmallow, then press on the parchment to help flatten and smooth out the marshmallow.

New food and more coming soon!

2009-03-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

My talented and creative friend, Holly T. has been taking candy and chocolate making classes and I have been after her for a blog post - well, she wrote a beautiful post and I am trying to figure out how to get it on my blog - I promise to have that for you soon.

I guess the traditional time for corned beef was last week on St. Patrick's Day - since I make it all year I neglected to remember to have it on Wednesday. But Lisa K didn't. She even sent me a picture here:

She cooked it the way I do - in beer! It looks goooooooooood, don't it?
Now I am craving some. I guess I will be making it soon.

This weekend is the annual Irish Festival in Church Hill where I live. It is sponsored by St. Patrick's Church, also in the neighborhood. Every year I venture out and listen to great music and have fantastic food. Last year it rained and was cold but I still stayed out all day and had an awesome time. This year it is beautiful but today - cold but beautiful. I am stuck at work so tomorrow I will walk down the street and join in the fun. You can hear the music from inside my place - the festival is just steps from my street. I wish it happened more often.
If they have corn dogs I may stay there all day! Since I missed the State Fair this year I am way behind on my yearly Corn Dog quotas. As usual, I will let you know.

Sorry for the lack of posts - wedding planning takes a lot of time ya'll!

Happy Birthday Steve P.!

2009-03-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

One day late.....

Steve has been my close friend and BFF for a long, long time now. Here are some reasons why:

He is amazingly talented

Kind to people

Great to work with

Listens to me

cries with me

laughs with me

always takes the time to catch me up on LOST - no matter how long it has been since I have seen it last

Very generous

tells me the truth and still manages to make me feel good

He has a good heart

and tons of patience

and a mess of other things I can't put into words

Thanks Steve - I am so glad you were born -

How would I have gotten through the last 12 years without you?

Flying High

2009-02-26T07:26:00.000-08:00

OK - Today at the place where I work Leland Melvin is visiting to talk to school groups and staying for the African American Trailblazers event tonight. I just have to say he is beautiful and we have all fallen in love with him at first sight. If you don't know who he is - he is an astronaut and only 4 years older than I am. Went to U of R and then UVA.

You can read about him here http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/melvin.html

I just had a long conversation with him about people who are afraid to fly - he pulled out his phone and showed me the pictures he took of our atmosphere from the space shuttle! Then someone took a pic of us together with my phone that DID NOT SAVE! I did manage to get this:

Steve called me today and I did mention to him briefly that I was in love with another man. That's OK, right?

While we were talking Leland asked me if I was going to be at the event tonight - I said no cuz, well, I am not - I guess it is for the best. I am afraid of flying so it would probably never work. Also I apparently can't even spell astronaut without the aid of spell check. That would probably end up annoying him, than I would get angry and resentful. And he is going up there again in a few months! Yep - all for the best.

PS - I am not worried about hurting Steve's feelings because he never reads my blog!
And he knows I love him more than anything - even a flashy, smooth talking, astronaut.

Sister Envy

2009-02-25T15:20:00.000-08:00

everyone stop what you are doing and visit my sissy's blog.
www.andtheeggs.blogspot.com

I am going to save up so I can go next year.

Spookie Scary Post

2009-02-21T08:06:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago I got to mark something of my check list and help out some friends at the same time. Steve O and I love scary, gory movies. So when my friend asked me to pose for a poster promoting a show - I did not hesitate. I am personally very proud of the result and can't wait to get a copy to proudly display in our home.

Steve and I are headin off to Winchester and tomorrow we have some appointments with a couple possible reception sites. Let's hope we can make some stable wedding plans after that!

Auction / Birthday Weekend!

2009-02-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

Scallops Beth had at Sydney's restaurant. They were so good I had one bite and dreamt about them twice since.

Beth and master Harry.

Birthday boy Pop and a very excited Harry.

Harry and Aunt Muffin

Burgess and Britney

Steve O helping Harry practice presenting auction items.

The spooky, Shinning like hallway at our hotel. I can almost see the twins.

The auction is something I look forward to every year. I have missed only a few in the past, like 20 years. This year it fell on my Dad's birthday so there was even more fun to be had.

Steve and I stayed in a beautiful (spooky) hotel. The first night we got in late after being out reuniting with Pop, Kitty, Sissy and Beth (and Sydney) at Sydney's restaurant. You may remember last years post when we all ate there on my Pop's Birthday. It was really one of my favorite days ever spent in P'town. So the first night Steve and I got in really late only to realize our beautiful hotel room was situated right over where the band was playing in the club below us. At this point it was 1 am and we knew they would have to finish up soon so we went downstairs, had a drink and joined the fun until the music stopped.
The next day was the auction and Pop's Birthday. Unfortunately Kitty was not feeling well and could not be there. It was my first auction without her there and I hope it never happens again. It was sad not having her with us. Kitty works tirelessly on the auction every year and this year was no exception but by the time of the auction - she had to go home and get some rest.

The theme of the auction was Winter Wonderland. The decorations were beautiful and the food was yummy and plentiful. This is the Temple's annual fundraising event and the entire town joins us every year. I am not kidding - the entire town! There was actually a nativity scene in the main room. It made me chuckle to see one in the Temple social hall but Pop pointed out the fact that A. It was a beautiful Nativity scene and B. Most attendees were not Jewish.

Wish I had gotten a pic of it to show you - it still makes me chuckle. I had to restrain myself from running away with the Baby Jesus.

Later that night Steve and I returned to our hotel. We had to be up early to get Steve to work in Richmond. We had forgotten all about being above the band. We packed all our things up and went to the front desk and told them we needed a new room ASAP -- far away from the band.

We ended up with a huge suite on the top floor - as far away from the restaurant as anyone could get. Problem was, the room was so cool we did not want to sleep. We sat up a bit in the living room area enjoying our good fortune.

Vegetable Pie

2009-02-14T07:48:00.000-08:00

First of all I believe I owe you all a GRTC update. The bus has picked me up every day almost on time. I do believe yesterday I was in the first bus ever made - but still, it got me home so I am not complaining....really.

Second of all - I made this pie.

It was so simple - I defrosted a bag of mixed veggies and added some canned potatoes, a cup of cream of mushroom soup, some milk and various herbs and spices. I no longer have a cooking brush thing so I spooned the top with a mixture of egg wash and olive oil. As you can see by the picture of the pie - I was not able to keep the egg wash only on the crust. I went outside the lines but that only made the top of the whole pie yummier. Don't think that is a word but whatever. It was good and I got rid of some cans that had been in my way for months.

Post Updated with Pic of dirty Dishes.

2009-02-11T13:45:00.000-08:00

Steve O. effortlessly lighting a Chanukah Menorah

So today Steve got out of work in enough time to pick me up from the Library. As soon as we got in the house he said "Don't go in the Kitchen. I have not cleaned it from last night." Normally this would send my eyes rolling back in my head but since I had brought home some old used Tupperware from work - there had been a backlog of half eaten lunches I finally cleaned out of the work fridge - I just handed them over and said - "OK - but here are a few more things that need to be cleaned." Apparently one of them smelled pretty bad and Steve took the opportunity to leave the kitchen once or twice saying things like "That really smells!" and "I have a weak stomach" and so forth. Finally I said "Oh Honey - I'll do it, I am sorry." and he replied "No, I will be fine. I just wanted you to know my suffering."

I loved that line. It made me think of a couple things. A. Is it worth suffering if no one else is around to see it? And B. Is it possible Steve is secretly Jewish?

A perfect roast and being left out in the cold.

2009-02-05T18:38:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I made this pork roast. It had been in the freezer just biding its time. Although I have cooked pork loin - this was my first pork roast. I looked on line for recipes, as I have been known to do, and ended up with a mixture of different ideas. I decided since I have a tendency to overcook pork (well...really all meats) that I wouldn't let it defrost entirely in the hopes that that would give me a sort of pork handicap, if you will.

I rubbed the partially thawed roast with olive oil and then a variety of herbs. I browned it in a pan and then placed it in a baking dish and covered it with dry onion soup soup mix and white wine. I basted it once during the cooking process and actually used my meat thermometer to check for done-ness. It was tender and flavorful and so tender we only needed our forks to cut it. The next night I cubed the rest up and made a pasta salad with it. Steve and I made separate pasta dishes since mine had a little mayo and he hates all condiments. I tossed mine with mixed veggies, some capers and a little mayo and a few spices and ate it cold. Steve put the cooked pasta and cubed pork in a pan and warmed it up with a little oil and butter and salt. Guess who's was better? Not mine - but I am getting used to that.

I have been taking the bus home from work. The General Assembly takes our parking spaces at the Library away for the time they are in town. Yep - we all hate it. Most people opt to pay a little more each month to get moved to a lot on 14th and Main. We work at 800 East Broad and that walk is all up hill. Also I only live 10 blocks from that parking lot so I could not see the point of paying more money to park there. The result is that Steve wakes up every morning (even his days off) and drags me to work. In the afternoon he is usually working so I hop on the bus. Except for Wednesday. I waited for my bus on Wednesday and my bus came - but it DIDN'T stop. And it was cold out y'all! I was PO'd. I stood their dumbfounded for a minute not knowing what to do. I would have actually just started walking the 20 some blocks to my house but I could not feel my feet anymore. I vaguely remembered another bus that went to 24th from Broad street. By this time it was 5 so all the downtown folks were lining up and many buses were coming by - I knew eventually one of them would take me home or close to it. It did take a couple times of getting on a bus and actually asking the driver (while the people behind me thought I was an idiot) but eventually I found a bus that would stop on 24th. I was happy to get home that day. I forgot to mention that after the first bus passed me by I called the number they give you for GRTC for when that happens. No one answered - there was no machine it just rang and rang and rang. The next morning I called and eventually got to speak to someone - I asked them to please make that bus stop for me. Yesterday it stopped. But the driver didn't look too happy. Lets see what happens today!

Random things....

2009-01-30T11:55:00.000-08:00

So the other night Steve made dinner and I am beginning to think he is a better cook than I am. Actually - I have thought that for a while now - ever since his meatloaf kicked my meatloafs ass.

It was Tuesday and Taco night...but I came home with burrito wraps. Steve was convinced he couldn't stuff burritos with whatever he was going to put in the tacos - I did not understand. He went on the computer and found a recipe for mole sauce - from scratch - I had put out taco seasoning for the meat and a can of enchilada sauce cus that's how I roll, ya know. That wasn't good enough for Steve O. The next thing I knew there were pots flying and the mixer was running - knives were wielding - I just sat on the sofa and stayed of the way. His culinary fury resulted in a very tasty dinner.
It looked like this:

We ate it for a few meals.

I realized, although I mention Steve O. a lot - some of my friends have not gotten the chance to get to know him very well yet - he is often playing a gig while I am seeing a show or out elsewhere with my friends. Here is a list (stolen from his Facebook) of 25 Random things about Steve O.

1.) Perhaps my biggest pet peeve is when people are driving a truck down the road with junk in the back that is not properly tied down.

2) Although I'm not a big fan of "Christian Music", I think that "The Lord's Prayer" might be the most beautiful song ever written (especially when played by my mom).

3) I can make a pretty damn good mole sauce (it's not that hard)

4) There are no shortcuts in life. Talent doesn't mean a thing. It all comes down to how hard you are willing to work.

5) I have more experience judging things than I ever thought I would. A talent competition at VCU, a fake orgasm contest with the 9:55 club, and last, but not least,a beauty pageant in Keysville, VA (don't ask me how, unless you've got a good half an hour).

6) I've always dreamed of being on the Letterman show the same night as Tony Danza, so I could introduce myself to him in the green room, ask him to hug me, and then sing quietly into his ear: "Hold me closer, Tony Danza"

7) As a child, I always wanted to be Native American (pre white man)

8) It is very hard to find someone that truly loves you, and that you truly love, and I am very lucky to have that. (Thanks J.B.!)

9) The older I get, the more I realize what an amazing family I have, and how lucky I am that my parents are still together, and love each other very much.

10) It boggles my mind how Adam Sandler keeps making these terrible movies, and people keep paying to see them.

11) I am very competitive, and not a good loser. I am already anticipating a comeback for this one: "Don't sell yourself short, Steve, you're a tremendous loser."

12) I think if I set my mind to it, I could be a great tap dancer or clogger. Fortunately, I do not have such an urge.

13) As a child, I enjoyed ripping old shirts off my chest (usually with my friend Les), and pretending I was The Incredible Hulk.

14) Not a big fan of sweaters

15) The movie "Yellowbeard" has got to be one of my favorite comedies. Largely overlooked, but it is hilarious. It's got most of Monty Python, great Mel Brooks people like Madeleine Kahn and Marty Boyle, and on top of that, Cheech AND Chong. How can you got wrong with that?

16) I wish I could walk around in public with a bathrobe and baseball hat, like Ron Howard's animated self on The Simpsons.

17) I don't like *69. Ruins the ancient art of the prank call.

18) I enjoy watching reruns of "The Golden Girls" with my fiancee. It's true.

19) One day, I plan to learn a new language. Maybe some sort of Chinese or Native American language (if I could ever get the chance). Or maybe something more practical first like Spanish.

20) I would have no problem if we did like the Israelis, and had everyone perform two years of civic service after graduation. Not a bad idea.

21) I have some great friends. People I can have a good time with, play music with, or talk to about whatever crazy thing.

22) I am big fan of the absurd (if you couldn't already tell). Like Monty Python, The Marx Brothers, Mr. Show, or Steve Martin's early career.

23) I have learned this list is harder than I thought.

24) I am sad I never got to see New Orleans pre Katrina

25) People seem to find it amazing that so many of my friends I knew in high school, and that they can drink so much. Done!!!

That's a little look into the soul of Steve.

I will be back soon because I finally found the little white cordy-thing that downloads the pictures off my camera!

A Little Sillyness to hold you over.

2009-01-27T16:51:00.000-08:00

Oy! I have lost the cord thingy that connects my camera to the computer! I did not mean to leave the blog for so long. I am sad because I have many yummy and interesting food pics to show as soon as I find that darn thing.

As my friend Susan would say

"Dang".

After Steve O. and I got back from a wonderful New Years week on the beach in NC - waiting for us in Richmond was my long lost, beautiful, talented ex-roomie Christine! We we so excited to see her we didn't even care our holiday break was coming to an end. The first night Steve got lost and Christine and I caught up a bit and I introduced her to my new passion - Arrested Development. We sat and watched a bunch of episodes. That might not sound so exciting to you guys but to me and Christine it was great!

The next night I decided to share her with a bunch of folks who new she was in town. It was a fun, crazy group of people who I was excited to have over. Here are some pics. Of course - there was food too.

Sophia and Christine.

Sophia with her Mommy.

Something was really funny.

...actors!

I love this picture - I have no idea what they were talking about.

Too cute not to post.

Deb thinks something is Hilarious.

Christine with the Foleys. I know - they are hideous aren't they?

Impromptu farcical moment

Not appreciated when tried to be copied.

Holiday Jumble

2008-12-28T15:05:00.000-08:00

Steve O and me in our new Christmas hats.

A gaggle of Organ's.

The sunset behind the cabin on Christmas day.

My name on a stocking!

The beautiful tree.

Steve O. lights our Menorah.

Pop lights a Menorah with Harry and Allison.

H and A

One of my Christmas goodies from Steve O.

Hello. Remember me? I'm baaaack.

Steve O and I just got in from a wonderful Vacay in Corolla, NC.

One of my favorite people, Christine S. is visiting us from NYC and we will spend the day cooking and gabbing - so stay tuned from those pics.

Christmas was beautiful and fun and what a treat to spend that time with my future in-laws.

Chanukah was also fun and we ate so much I will now be dieting like a mad woman in order to fit into any kind of wedding dress. I actually had a "wedding nightmare" last night.

It was the day of the wedding but neither of us had bought rings, I had no flowers and everyone was dressed fancier than I was. Also - I think I was marrying someone else - that was the scariest part - in my dream it was Steve o. but when I woke up I realized it didn't look like him at all.

I am sure that is typical - I have had many "actors nightmares" but no wedding ones until now.

Anyway - we are brainstorming about wedding ideas now so we can get everything done simply and quickly.

There are also many fun pics of the beach trip. Food and crafts and champagne tasting.

Steve O. gave me a pasta maker for Christmas. I just dropped many hints like "I want a pasta maker" and "I would like a pasta maker" - subtle hints like that.

So the night after we got back from Christmas I made some homemade pasta and gave some of it out as Chanukah gifts. I also kept some which we ate the following night. I only boiled enough for us to eat and left the rest raw in bags in the fridge. So the next day at lunch time I called Steve from work and asked him what he had for lunch and said he had some of the pasta. I said "so you cooked some then?" and he said "No, I had some of the pasta you left in the fridge." and I said "so you cooked it?" and he said "the pasta from the fridge" and I said "you cooked it though?" (I guess you can see where this is going.)

He ate raw pasta. I said "OMG -maybe you should make yourself throw up...do you feel sick?" he paused for a second and said "No." so I said "was it any good?" and he said "It was better last night." and I said "Well, last night it was cooked! at any time during the eating of this pasta did you think to yourself..this tastes an awful lot like raw dough?" "No - I just though it was a little gummy."

I did warn him I had to share this story.

I hope everyone had great Holidays!

Pie

2008-12-12T10:32:00.000-08:00

Robert's Pie

Cousin Robin's Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Steve P.'s Pie

OK - we all know that Mr. Robert T. can bake himself an excellent pie - but did you know Steve P., my BFF, can also? Neither did I. I don't want to make too bid a deal out of it for fear of embarrassing him. - but probably too late for that on this blog. So -recently I was at a small gathering and we all brought something to eat. Some people (and you know who you are) made fresh pasta that was so good it nearly made me weep. I made chocolate chip pumpkin cookies. A recipe I got via email from my awesome Cousin Robin. (thank you Robin) - they turned out well and people seemed to enjoy them a lot. But back to Steve P. - he made a beautiful and yummy pie. He made all of it - even the crust. Yeah Steve P.

Way overdue Thanksgiving update

2008-12-11T15:45:00.000-08:00

View behind the house.

Steve O. and Trixie at Cross Junction.

I am thankful for so many things. I am actually one of those crazy people that think about the things I am thankful for all year long, everyday practically, so I love Thanksgiving when I don't feel like such an odd ball. Everyone is thankful on Thanksgiving, right? I mean after the gravy burns and your drunk Uncle drops by and you find the giblet bag inside the turkey you thought was perfectly cooked and then there is always that one family member who just wants to pick a fight and someone ends up screaming..."Well! Happy F- ing Thanksgiving!". I mean after all that stuff when you have a moment to look around and appreciate how much worse it could actually be. None of that stuff has really happened to me but a girl can dream, can't she?

Anyway, like I was saying, I am Thankful for so many things.

(forgive me for the length of this post and for it getting so personal but I know many people wanted the whole story)

This Thanksgiving I returned to a beautiful home just outside of Winchester Va.

Let me start at the beginning.

About 8 years ago I met a guy named Steve O. ( I will keep this short) we dated a couple years and broke up. We got along great but the timing was all wrong.

Over the past 6 years I dated a few people, Some where very nice and are still good friends and some, well one, not so nice. Needless to say I never found anyone else like Steve O.

Last year we saw each other at a Christmas party given by a mutual friend of ours - a couple we had introduced years before and are now married with kids. I think they were being a little sneaky and trying to get us both in the same room together since we were both single - just to see what would happen. Maybe we were the "entertainment" of the evening.

Their planned worked and I am thankful to them for having the "party". The way I see it they owed us anyway, we had introduced them all those years ago - they were just returning the favor.

So I returned to Steve's parents house this year for Thanksgiving. I actually got a little choked up as we drove down the long drive way to their beautiful log cabin home on the side of the mountain. I had so many fond memories there but didn't think I would ever be returning. Thanksgiving was great. I have always loved his family and was so happy to be with everyone. Ma even joined us and brought her yummy sweet potato souffle.

OK - so I don't bore you with any little details I will skip to the best part of that weekend. And even though we went to the Wizards / Hawks game and got to see my brother - which would be a highlight in any ones book - that was not the best part of the weekend!

Sunday night after Thanksgiving we drove down the dirt road from his parents house to the cabin his great grandfather had built. I couldn't wait to see it again. We had great times there including a run in with the biggest black snake I had ever seen outside of a book - but that is a story for a different time.

Shoot - I really was trying to make this short.

So we are in his Grandfathers cabin and I am looking around remembering things and making sure the snake was no longer there - Steve started saying really sweet things to me and then he went down to tie his shoe - or so I thought. I see him searching in different pockets for something, I wasn't paying all that much attention to it. Then he proposed!! - and it all happened so fast it is kind of a blurr. I was shocked and thrilled and of course I said yes.

So that is the short version.

I am Thankful for:

The wonderful community of close friends I have landed in.

My three great parents, Ma who is funny and sweet, Pop who is patient and kind, and Kitty who is creative and caring.

The opportunity to do what I love with people who I am constantly learning from and growing with.

An amazing BFF who never seems to get tired of listening to me.

And Steve O. who makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world everyday.

really, who could ask for anything more.

So much to say...so little time

2008-12-06T13:22:00.001-08:00

So - it has been a frightfully long time since I posted anything - but I have a good excuse...I was out of town over thanksgiving week and weekend and a lot of stuff went down. All that I will explain in great detail soon. I am running out of the house to see my dear friend, Jen Massey in the play at the Firehouse. I think she gets nekkid in it so I am surprised it is not selling out left and right - maybe it is - I have been a little out of the loop.

I PROMISE to return soon.

In the meantime here is a video I know you will enjoy. - Especially my Dad who I think has a massive crush on my friend Audra - but who doesn't, right? Please watch and enjoy this video by Audra and Jason. Two of my favorite peeps....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wUY8OWQzU0

Pie and brisket

2008-11-19T08:19:00.000-08:00

Robert's Pie

My brisket

A couple weeks ago I had my BFF and Robert over to play some games and nosh. I also finally got Keri out of the South side for a night.

I am a huge meat eater and love cooking for more than just Steve O. because it is a great excuse for me to handle large pieces of raw meat. This particular night was no exception.

Cooking a brisket is something my Mother used to do and we always loved it - often wanting to pick at it before it was done cooking- which often prompted a remark from my Mom about getting worms. (I am sure she knew someone who ate almost done brisket and died. )

I cook mine similar to the way my Mother cooks hers. I take the meat out and rinse it off - throw away the spice packet that comes with it - that spice packet is just an insult to me - like I can't put my own spices on it? Anyway - I place it on a large pan and cover it with a can of beer. This always makes me want to drink so at this point in the process I wash my hands and pour myself a big glass of wine. This also helps me curb my hunger and keeps me away from picking at the meat before it is done. I am sure it gives my Mother great comfort to know that I won't die from worms. The alcohol will kill them.

After the beer I put my own spices on - except for that time I drank too much wine and forgot the spices. I really could have used the spice packet that day. I usually put some white pepper and parsley. Do not add salt - this meat is very salty already. And really, it doesn't need many spices on top because the meat itself tastes so good. I cook it for a couple hours on a low temperature covered. then I add whatever veggies I want - usually carrots, mushrooms and onions. You don't want to add these right away or they will definitely over cook. I uncover it and continue cooking a couple more hours depending on the size of the meat. The meat is so tender it almost falls apart and the layer of fat on top of the meat gets crunchy and delicious.

And by this time I am tanked.

On this particular night the brisket turned out well. I was proud to serve it to my friends but I was so sure they would look at the size of it and laugh at me because it was so big. There were only 5 of us and it looked like it could feed a small army. But they didn't laugh - in fact - they ate the whole darn thing.

Also -not to be out done, Robert brought a pie he made. It was incredible. The crust was so good I asked him if he bought it - of course he made it (something I have never done) he said he put vodka in the crust to make it light and flaky. In fact the crust was so good I have now, a few weeks later, completely forgotten what was inside the crust. I think it was apples and cranberries - Robert, am I close? I guess that's what I get for mixing wine and vodka.

Steve O.'s apple butter bread.

2008-11-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

Steve doesn't often leave town for gigs but last weekend his comedy band, Dick Butt Kiss and the Tight Ends, landed a gig in Harrisburg, PA. I hear the gig went well with only a handful of people leaving early and offended. On the way back the guys stayed over in Cross Junction, in a cabin built by Steve's Great Grandfather. I find it hard to believe they all stayed there overnight and the place is still standing - anyway - I will get to the point of my story. Steve's Dad sent him home with a very large container of apple butter. He knew it would take us forever to eat it in its raw form and as soon as he got home he was on line looking for recipes to use it in. He found a recipe for apple butter bread and got to work. The result was delicious and moist -even though the picture of it is not great. And as you can see, the loaf is almost gone. Thanks Steve O.!

Welcome Guest Blogger Audra!

2008-11-14T06:52:00.000-08:00

Audra learnes some new tricks in the Kitchen.

tarts- above and below.

So the other night, some night previously this week, I'm not sure which as I was as alert as a comatose tortoise, I made tarts at the O'Willard's. I shouldn't say "I" did. All I did was unwrap hundreds of caramels, drop all the wrappers in the floor and make horrible faces while swallowing a cosmopolitan. But Robyn had "work" to do, so I was assigned to entertain Ginnie by making dangerous mistakes in the kitchen. Brett came along, and after we hassled the harried hateful parakeet, I went into the kitchen with Ginnie and Brett settled down to hassle Robyn.

On this particular evening the task at hand was to create two apple based desserts. I remember nothing. But for the sake of explaining the lovely pictures Robyn took, I will try to come up with something. The first dish was supposed to be apple bars. I peeled-WASHED-then peeled four apples, sliced them up and put them somewhere. Ginnie made some mash out of splenda, wheat flour (which I clearly remember one should never use), NO EGGS (which I clearly remember because I love to break eggs), and potentially some vanilla. I didn't see too much of what my mentor was up to as I was engrossed in unwrapping a 14 oz. bag of caramels. Then we put them in a pot on the stove and I stirred them up while they melted. Brett recommended putting a bit of water in the caramels to help them liquify faster. They looked like a liver before we happened upon that solution.

Then Ginnie put the stuff she made in the bottom of the dish, the apple slices went on top of that, then the caramel. I think. I then had the responsibility of mashing it together. Looked like a big muddy footprint. So we cooked that, printed off recipes for the tarts that were our next project, and managed to forget all about what we had in the oven until Ginnie commented offhandedly on the odor of burning popcorn. So we took it out. Only about 1/16 of the dish had turned into a tire.

The rest of it was quite good once Ginnie wrestled it out of the dish. She recommends using Pam or buttering the dish if you try this. For the tarts, I made dough. Which you make, and then wad up, wrap in that clear bendable stuff that keeps things fresh and stick in the fridge. Ginnie recruited one of her drinking glasses to serve as rolling pin/cookie cutter and I made tart crusts out of that dough after it chilled. Once again, I was not privy to the actual cooking going on by Ginnie.

I made crusts, then wandered away to flirt with Ned while she slaved on. We filled the crusts, cooked them, took them out, tasted them, and decided unanimously that they were TERRIBLE. So Ginnie got out a basin of lard, some gallons of brown sugar and perhaps an egg or two. She melted that all together and ladeled it over the tarts. Robyn and Brett thoroughly enjoyed them. Oh- we ate our desserts very daintily off of special shoe dessert plates. Oh no- we decided against the shoe plates and went with the ice cream plates so Brett would not feel too prissy.

Anyway, I very much enjoy cooking with Ginnie. Robyn amuses me when she wanders in and says something condescending and completely uninformed about the recipe. :) And we decided to open a bakery, Ginnie and I, called Lard Ho's.

(Audra and Brett are staring in Stage I theatre Company's Production of Tick...Tick...Boom! along with the awesome Durron Tyre- I saw it on opening night and LOVED it - please get your tickets today!)

Veteran's Day Challah

2008-11-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

Forgive me gentle readers, I have sinned - it has been almost a week since my last blog post. I have many legitimate excuses but none of which I will bore you with.

I am off work today for Veteran's Day and in honor of all the Veterans in my family I am making a Challah from scratch. You may think that is an odd choice for Veteran's day but to me it is not since it was a staple for the Veteran's in my family.

One of my favorite Veteran stories is one that my Kitty-Mom tells about her Father. Grandpa Jamison was a pilot in the Army Air Corps - before the Air Force was created that is where all the pilots were. When the Air Force was established he choose to stay in the Army. He was a Lieutenant Colonel. One day, during WWII time, he was traveling with his family and his Lieutenant's family from somewhere in the North to Fort Bragg and at a point on the train ride, I guess they were passing the Mason/Dixon line or something, the conductor came by to tell him that the Lietenant and his family had to move to the back of the last train car because they were black- except the last train car was then called the "colored car". Grandpa Jamison threw a fit and basically said if he is moving then my family is moving back there too. In the end, the conductor had them all stay put.

Today I am thinking about my Great-Uncle Sidney, who before the war, had received the good news that he had been drafted to play baseball for the Baltimore Orioles. My Uncle Sydney was one of 7 children. The Steinberg children, all of whom were first generation Americans, were Pauline, Miriam, Ruth, Sherman, Joel, Sydney and my Grandfather Bernard (who I am named after). Bernard was the oldest. All the boys went to pharmacy school for pre-med but due to the Jewish quotas enforced at that time none of them were able to go to medical school and all of them became pharmacists. When my Uncle Sydney was drafted into WWII he was a very young man in his early 20's. I believe he got drafted into the war within days of getting the news about playing for the Orioles. Sadly my Great Uncle never got to play baseball. Sydney was wounded during the Battle of the Bulge and became paralyzed from the waist down. He returned to Baltimore and lived with his father the rest of his life.

My Grandfather Bernard bought a set of parallel bars that would fold up and fit in his truck and every Sunday for a few years after the injury he would take Sydney to the park and have him practice using his legs but he never regained the use of them. I remember visiting Sydney and my Zadie (my Great Grand Father) in the house they lived in which was right across from Pimlico. He loved taking pictures of us and making us smile.

Sadly, Sydney never married, never played ball and lived his entire life with his Father. I struggle to find a "silver lining" in my Great Uncle's story, something that could take the sting away. I have decided it is this: Sydney lived a long life and passed away only a few years ago. He lived to see the end of the Holocaust, the forming of the State of Israel, and no doubt he heard many moving liberation stories. He was also surrounded by a large family that was devoted to him. It is my hope that he knew he was a hero. I think about him often but today I hold him very close to my heart.

The 1st Annual Critics Circle Awards

2008-10-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Please forgive the number of pics applied to this post - but there were many more I didn't post - it was hard to edit. I will be sending out a snapfish album of all my pics to the folks that are in them and anyone else who wants one.

It has taken me a few weeks to write about these awards for a couple reasons but mostly because I had to let the dust in my brain settle and try to find a good way to describe it. I am not sure if any dust has settled but I will give it a go anyway.

I was not sure what to expect out of the evening. I made a couple of index cards with some notes as to the order of the show and Dave T. gave me some things to say as far as introductions go - but I always like to put my own little spin on things. I think my friends were expecting me to be funny - and let me tell you that is the scariest thing in the world. I could barely bring myself to think about it until the day before the awards. Then I just kind of felt panicked and not ready. - you know - the usual. I had a few things I wanted to say but wasn't sure how to say them. My friend, Robyn O. was very helpful for letting me pick on her a bit (and she wasn't even going to be there) then I thought - will people just think I am being mean? Will anyone get my sense of humor? The doubt started taking over. Robert and BFF just said trust yourself - you are funny - put in all the jokes - put in even more jokes! By Sunday morning I had pretty mush decided to stick to a straight script with maybe one joke on Robyn O. thrown in for good measure.

Also I had promised her I would wear these ugly earrings because I lost a bet with her a while back. - So there I was - hours away for standing in front of 100 of my peers plus the critics, wearing ugly earrings and not having anything really funny to say.

At times like these I just stop worrying because there is too much to worry about if I did. The fun kicked in a couple hours before I was supposed to arrive at the Firehouse. Steve O. was meeting me there from work so I left early and met Robert and my BFF at White Dog for a little last minute encouragement (and a drink). I also ran into Grieg Leach who was missing the event because he was bar tending. That helped put everything in perspective for me. Then we were off to the Firehouse.

Thankfully Steve Moore was was there to get the audience laughing before I even had to step on stage. That was a huge help. Everyone looked beyond beautiful and everyone was having a great time just being all together. There were so many folks there I didn't get to see and talk to everyone I hoped to.

I had an absolute blast on stage. I got braver as the night went on and it seemed that my audience of peers did appreciate my humor and did not boo me off the stage.

In the end the awards are what they are - as Roy Proctor used to explain - they are someones opinion and that is all, but the evening itself turned into more than an award show. It was a reason for all of us to celebrate each others contribution to the theatre arts in our community - even those who could not be there and that made it worthy of the dress code and all my worrying and self doubt. I should also say that I don't believe it could have turned into such a success without the positive, happy, kind attitude of all who were in attendance (seriously - the room was full of love and not petty feelings of competition) and because of that I am most proud of this community. Critics can often divide people and companies but on this night that the critics created, I witnessed only a strong sense of respect and admiration between fellow theatre artists and I can't imagine a more successful event than that - ugly earrings and all!

Sweet and Savory - a blog post in two acts.

2008-10-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

Act One

Once in a while I get a really good idea. This treat was a creation inspired by something my friend Laine made for Erin's Bachlorette PJ party we hosted. Laine used prosciutto and goat cheese to stuff in the middle of squash. I dumbed it down a bit and used Virginia ham and cream cheese. I sliced the squash and spread cream cheese on one side of each slice and then I put ham between 2 slices and dipped in egg and bread crumbs. The results were very tasty - and a great way to make squash almost look like Latkies.

Intermission............................................................................................................................................

Act Two

My favorite cookies.

My Mom is an excellent baker - her cookies are something she is actually famous for - not just with her family but also with some NBA notables. Some call her "Mama scratch" - even though I was told that had more to do with my brothers NBA nickname than the cookies she made the players and staff - I think it is a perfect nickname for her because of her amazing cooking baking ability. Anyhoo - I wouldn't even try to recreate her Oatmeal raisin - it just wouldn't be the same. I mean, think about it for a second - who likes raisin? Who likes oatmeal? Not me. No and no. But her oatmeal raisin cookies, well, I would eat them if I found them at the bottom of a dirty dumpster. So the point I am trying to make is - I don't even try. My favorite cookies that I make are real simple but always good. Hamentashen!!

There are two possible origins of the name. The most popular theory is that the name hamantash (המן־טאַש), is a reference to Haman (also known as Homen), the villain of Purim, as described in the Book of Esther. A more likely source of the name is a corruption of the Yiddish word מאן־טאשן (montashn) or the German word mohntaschen, both meaning poppyseed-filled pouches. Over time, this name was transformed to hamantashen, likely by association with Haman. In Israel, they are called אוזני המן (Oznei Haman), Hebrew for "Haman's ears" where children are taught these tasty pastries are the ears of Haman that fell off at his execution.
Some Hebrew schools teach that Hamentashen are made in the shape of Haman's hat.

(I got that from Wikipedia - because they can explain it better than I can.)

also - I cheat and use Pillsbury sugar cookie dough - but here is the most important thing - you must use the Solo brand fruit filling in the can and you must use only apricot if you want anyone to like them. You get to roll the dough out and cut shapes - which we Jewish ones miss out on during X-mas cookie season - and it feels like you have actually made something when in fact you are just assembling.

....and scene.

Nostalgic nuggets

2008-10-21T07:15:00.000-07:00

A couple days ago my Sissy posted a story about cooking chicken squares, a dish my Mom used to make for us when we were little. After reading about it and seeing the pictures I had to have some myself - and while jenn's looked good - I decided in order for them to be as authentic as possible - I would go straight to the source. I asked my Mom exactly how they were done. It is because of this extra step that I believe mine were better -basically after soaking them in egg and covering in bread crumbs you are supposed to dredge them through flour before putting them in the pan. They tasted exactly how I remembered them. Here are some pics....

Steinberg Shrimp Cakes

2008-10-20T06:20:00.000-07:00

So - I was craving crab cakes the other day - and was not going to the store. I tooled around my freezer and found a bag of frozen jumbo shrimp. I thought, hmmm. What could I do with these? I found a recipe on line for shrimp cakes and of course I deviated from it - but it gave me some good ideas. I chopped up the shrimp and added chopped onions and one clove of minced garlic a little flour and water and a few drops of the wine I was drinking. We also had some fresh herbs so I threw those in and they added a pretty green speckling. I stirred this into a wet paste and covered it with cling wrap and let it sit for about an hour.

The shrimp cakes turned out very well. Sometimes - I even impress myself. (and they almost look like latkies.)

Steve O. loved them too so I will probably make them a regular menu item - whenever shrimp is on sale.

OK Robyn, here ya go.........

2008-10-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

This post has nothing to do with food.

My friend, Robyn, who has definitely won the first round of our weight challenge, was complaining that there hasn't been a new blog entry in a while - so this one is for her!

I recently saw Robyn as Daisy in Sideshow and she was beyond excellent. I think they have 2 weeks left so go see it already!

Muffin face is deep in preparation to host the first ever Richmond Theatre Critics Circle Awards. Sunday all my peeps (well, not all of them) will congregate at The Firehouse Theatre and yours truly will stand before them and tell them they are all winners. Or something like that. I hope to throw some lame jokes in between introducing the presenters - most of which are normally responsible for either paying me or judging me. Sounds like fun, no? I can't believe they are letting me do this - be afraid Critics, be very afraid!

The event will benefit the Theatre Artists Fund which was founded by the Richmond Alliance of Professional Theaters and provides money to local actors and other theatre professionals in need of medical care or other financial help due to situations beyond their control. Unfortunately for me, it does not cover the lipo I want on my double chin. But seriously - I am a huge supporter of the Theatre Artists Fund and am very thankful it is around. You may remember last year when I hosted The Barksdale Holiday Cabaret for a night stepping in for Erin Thomas (and in fact claiming to BE Erin Thomas) - that was also to support the Actors Fund - and to make fun of myself and some of my fellow actors. Thankfully they have all forgiven me and we have moved on. Ahh, good times.
I am sure I will have some stories to tell after Sunday about these awards - I just hope they don't involve me and humiliation.

It could only be so bad - there will be alcohol involved.

Although I was not nominated for anything, I am tickled that the Critics Circle has asked me to host. Hope it goes well!

Congrats to Chase and Stage 1 theatre company.

2008-10-08T07:29:00.000-07:00

Chase Kniffen and Ali Thibodeau

Last night I attended Ragtime in Concert to benefit Stage 1 theatre company - Richmond's newest theatre company. Chase Kniffen, the Artistic Director, I first met when he played Slightly Soiled in Theatre IV's first production of Peter Pan. He was 11, maybe? I can still remember him talking to me backstage and painting my nails. Hey - I didn't make him or anything - anyway - it is hard to not picture someone forever how they were when you met them - but after last night I will always picture Chase the way he looked when he walked onto the stage to introduce this production. He introduced himself and his new company and spoke with ease, confidence and humility. Then the show started and I began to experience one of the best times I have ever had in a theatre (on stage or off). It was inspiring as an actor and I was filled with pride knowing that all those on stage including a full orchestra had donated their time for this benefit. I am so proud to be a part of a community that supports and inspires one another to this extent. I urge everyone reading this to become a season subscriber and support this great new company. If you don't live in town than perhaps you should buy a season subscription for your daughter who does live in town. Just a thought. (they are only $70- can't beat that!)
http://www.stage1-theatrecompany.org/Home.html

Weekend Surprises.

2008-10-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

Steve O. and Muffinface had a little visitor this weekend! It is so exciting when your best friends have a baby. You can also count on not seeing them much for a while - but when you do get to see them it is amazing! I was thrilled to get a call from Erin and Tony telling me they were in my neighborhood at the Italian festival. It also got me off the sofa and motivated to do some much needed cleaning and straightening. Since my show closed Muffinface has been pretty low profile - only leaving the house for an occasional gig and, lately, to see some great theatre (The Clean House and Eurydice - for instance) so I was excited to have Sophia come see me. I look forward to hanging out with her even more in the future, now that she can hold her own head up - next Muffinface will teach her the proper way to make a martini.

Sofia with her Daddy.

And with her Mommy.

Bonding with Steve O.

Just Chillin (are the kids still saying that?)

Come back soon Sofia.
Erin and Tony are welcome too.

My Adventure at Stage 1

2008-10-03T06:37:00.000-07:00

Stage 1 is Richmond's newest Theatre company and I am so excited to attend their Gala Fundraising event. You can read all about it on their website. I suggest everyone get tickets to this event as well as buying a Season Subscription to support this great new company.

Ragtime in Concert! One night only!!!
RAGTIME IN CONCERT will star Jerold E. Solomon, currently appearing on Broadway in the Tony®-Winning South Pacific, as Coalhouse Walker, Jr., Desiree Roots Centeio, renowned theatre and jazz vocalist, as Sarah and Richmond Musical Theatre headliners Debra Wagoner as Mother and Richard Koch as Tateh. Joining these headliners will be Richmond stars Robyn O'Neill, Jan Guarino, Michael Hawke, Christopher M. Stewart, Brett Ambler, Tom McGranahan, Mark Persinger, James E. Opher, Eric Pastore and Lillie Izo. The concert staging will boast a full orchestra and an ensemble of over 50 voices led by Musical Director Sherri A. Matthews and Director Chase Kniffen
CALL 804.427.7548 or visit them on the web (link below)

On Wednesday my BFF and I headed down to check out the new space and to help out with some voice over work. The space looks great. I love a black box theatre and have truly missed Theatre Gym. This looks like it has all the intimacy of that space plus the stage is much bigger without being too big. You know?
Plus Chase Kniffen is the Artistic Director - he is so talented and posses all he needs to make this theatre the place to be in Richmond. Thank you Chase for giving us all another theatre space to entertain and be entertained. I look forward to Stage 1 sticking around a long time!

Please Visit:
http://www.stage1-theatrecompany.org/Home.html

The Biggest Loser

2008-10-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

There is not much I love more than a night alone with nothing to watch but cheesy reality programs. Last night I caught an episode of Biggest Loser family. I decided to plan a menu for myself in honor of the contestants. I am so glad I was alone. Eating fried veal , shells and cheddar and drinking red wine and crying while watching the biggest loser family. Seriously. If I wasn't crying I would have been laughing at myself. (It was a particularly sad episode Y'all - someone had to send their fat daddy home.) But at least I had the food to comfort me.

I love veal and I am always looking for new ways to cook it. Last night I made wiener schnitzel style veal. Which I thought could only be made with veal until I looked up a recipe that said I could use veal, pork or chicken. Wiener schnitzel is a Viennese cutlet. It is fairly simple. I pounded the veal until it was very thin - dredged it in flour, dipped in egg and covered it in bread crumbs. One of the tricks to wiener schnitzel is to resist pressing the bread crumbs into the meat. Heat in pan and make sure it is swimming in oil. This way the crust does not stick and forms a nice raised seal around the meat. I warmed the veal in the oven on a low heat as I pan fried the pieces in small batches. At the end I threw some lemon juice on top and added capers and ground black pepper.

This was so good it was hard to resist eating the left overs for breakfast. Very hard - OK , I just had one piece before noon. Like you've never had wiener schnitzel for breakfast before??

I highly recommend watching an episode of the biggest loser while eating your favorite high calorie dinner.

Happy 5769!

2008-09-30T19:26:00.000-07:00

Steve O. and me went down to Portsmouth again this week. We braved the Holiday traffic but luckily we avoided the Rosh Hashanah rush. Good thing. Once I was stuck in really bad Passover traffic - that was the worst. We had a wonderful time at dinner and at services. I love hearing my fathers sermons. He always has great things to say. I guess that comes with being a Rabbi. My favorite part of the sermon was when he talked about life and death, He said we should come into the world crying while everyone around us is smiling and we should leave this world smiling while those around us cry.

Harry and Allison.

My Nephew Harry kept asking where the novelty cheese was. He has very sophisticated taste.

The before dinner spread consisted of Jan's famous chopped liver, olive tapanad, marinated veggies and large olives.

candid shots of party goers.
Included in the before dinner treats were these bagel nots with meatballs inside them. Brutti (from Brutti's reastaurant) made them and brought them. They are usually done with cream cheese in the center but they did not want to risk it by bringing any dairy. I am glad they opted for the meatball center. I had three and then tried to think of a proper name for them. We all came up with, cow balls, brutti's balls, or Smagel nots.

A quiet moment of calm before the Rosh Hashanah storm.

Pop and Kitty Mom lighting the candles.

Kitty made a wonderful cold champagne and fruit soup with creme fresh on the side.

There were many kinds of honey to choose from.

Steve O. loved this pound cake.

The spread.

Fun goodie bags for our guests.

A very ugly dog. (sorry Tyvel)

Allison and Aunt Muffin Face

Allison again!!! She loves having her picture taken. I wonder who she got that from?

Kitty Mom and G.

Wishing everyone a very Happy and healthy New Year.

Weekend Gigs- updated...

2008-09-26T06:13:00.000-07:00

Steve O. will be performing tonight at Poe's Pub with his band Dick Butt Kiss and the Tight Ends.

Tonight is the opening of The Clean House at Barksdale Theatre Willow Lawn. Directed by my BFF!!! (Steve P.)

Good thing I made a pact with the devil years ago and can actually be in two places at once. I wouldn't want to miss either of these exciting events.

Also - an on going event that many talented friends are in is Side Show at Swift Creek Mill. Don't miss that either!

There are also many beautiful, great actors in the Firehouse Production of Eurydice.

And at the Barksdale Hanover Tavern (formerly Shirley's Kitchen) the amazing Joy Williams takes the stage in Driving Miss Daisy.

OMG! Almost forgot there is Scott Wichmann as Richard III at Henley Street. That will be a must see too. I will be busy for a couple weeks catching all these great shows. Yeay!

Sorry if I am leaving anyone out - there are many great productions happening in Richmond right now!!

In the category of exciting family news: Marisol (my youngest Niece) used the Potty yesterday for the first time and got a congratulatory call from Cinderella! I say - enjoy it while you can Marisol. I used the potty yesterday and the only call I got was from my Mother telling me to go to the dentist.

And my Brother and Sis-In-Law in Atlanta had a lovely article written about their house. You can find that here: http://www.ajc.com/news/content/living/homeandgarden/stories/2008/09/28/cobb_cape_cod_remodel.html

Everyone have a wonderful weekend and maybe I will see some of you out and about.

The left over king

2008-09-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

I came home from work the other day and Steve was putting the left over Corned Beef to great use. I was so proud of him. And OMG - it tasted so good. I asked him if I could take some pics of it and talk about it here. He opened a can of sliced potatoes and chopped up an onion. He threw the onion in a hot griddle with some butter and oil then he added the chopped up brisket and little pieces of potatoes. The brisket was so flavorful and some pieces had crispy edges. Real homemade corned beef hash is so much better than the stuff out of the cans. I know I have mentioned that my people don't eat meat out of cans but this is an exception - being corned beef and all.

He asked me if I wanted any while he was cooking it and I said no because I wasn't hungry but by the time he plated everything up I could not resist a taste. Once I had a taste I had to have more. I did leave him a little but next time he is making this and he asks me if I want any I will say "YES" no matter what!

A Very Special Gig.

2008-09-24T06:38:00.000-07:00

Steve O. and I went to Temple Sinai in Portsmouth Saturday night. We had been invited to entertain the crowd of WW II Veterans at a dinner honoring them and other war Veterans. I was surprised when we walked in how many people were there. The social Hall of the temple was decorated beautifully and everyone was having a great time. I wished at that moment that Steve and I could have worked more, practiced more but the time for that never seems to be enough. I was more familiar with the standards of that era (between 35 and 45) and Steve knew many blues songs from that time. We didn't have a ton of war themed songs but I think the crowd enjoyed us anyway. We had so much fun that Steve O. and I decided to take our WW II act on the road in Richmond and pledged to go to a few senior facilities with our act. I will update you on that as it happens.
We arrived there about an hour into the party because Steve had to work late and we drove in from Richmond. Unfortunately we missed the Veterans each telling their stories That is something I was very sorry to have missed but heard it was very touching. If they do this next year I will make a point to get there early. One man even brought sand from Omaha Beach.

Here are a few pics I took - I didn't take a ton because I was too busy enjoying myself and spending time with these great folks!

Steve O. belting out a tune and playing piano too.

Pop and Steve all dressed up. (There was a picture with Kitty too and she looked beautiful but Steve's eyes were shut - sorry Kitty!)

The Rivens

a section of the crowd enjoying their dinner.

A proud son and grandson.

A few of the honorees.

Successful Steak and a random brisket.

2008-09-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all your steak cooking suggestion - I will definitely try them all and talk about them. The first suggestion I took was Rich's- who said quality and thickness mattered. These fillets were very thick and came out crispy on the outside and just barely warm and red on the inside. Like butter baby. I served it with an arugula salad with shaved Gruyere on top and a potato cake. (not latkie) It was a little feast for me and BFF who has been hard at work directing The Clean House opening Friday at Barksdale Willow Lawn. I am sure it will be wonderful. Go see it!!

There is not much I love doing more while listening to football on a Sunday evening than cooking a huge slab of beef. Steve O. is a huge fan of brisket cooked in beer. Recipe from Ma. The trick here is to cook it slowly over a few hours time. It works well in a crock pot too. I leave a bit of the fat on top so it gets crispy. I also add veggies all around. These will be very salty when cooked right next to the brisket so watch out. I love it that way. I added mushrooms, sweet onions, carrots and a clove of garlic. Don't worry about making such a big piece of meat if you have a small family. You can eat it all week. Already Steve has made a sandwich wrap and corned beef hash.

The Great Steak Experiment

2008-09-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

The NY Strip steaks sizzling with possibility before I got a hold of them.

I tried to hide the badly cooked steak by covering it with sauteed mushrooms. Who was I trying to fool?

If no one helps me Steve O. will continue looking like this.

If you can help me Steve O will look like this!

I need every one's help. I have already ruined 2 different steak nights - one rib eye and one NY Strip. I want your opinions of how to cook a steak without a grill. I found some pretty fillets in the store that had been drastically marked down so I have to cook them asap. I usually don't buy meat on "special"- it is a Steinberg no-no, but these were 4 bacon wrapped fillets for 5.99!! It was like winning the beef lottery. Help me. All reasonable suggestions will be tried.

Pictures of food....the good, the bad and the ugly.

2008-09-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

Veggie Burritos I made last week. They look pretty gross here but they tasted really good. I combined sauteed chick peas, caramelized onions, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and sharp cheddar cheese in wraps - then I covered them with more chick peas, spicy peppers, tomatoes and more cheese.

Latkies I made with the pork last week.

The fancy cut pork. I simply breaded them in Italian breadcrumbs after covering in flour and dipping in egg. I brown them in the pan and then bake for a very short time.

Roasted potatoes (similar to Janine's) - I cut up small reds and toss them around in Olive Oil and seasonings - then I bake them at a high temperature until they get crispy. The inside stays soft and outside is crispy and spicy.

Baked Chicken coated in dill and lemon. I had to eat a piece right away. This was probably the best chicken I have ever made.

mixed herbs with mandarin oranges and toasted almonds. I love this mixed herbs concoction(found in bag or plastic box) - I have started eating a small bag for lunch at work. It is so tasty it barely needs any dressing.

Chicken Marsala. This was pretty straight forward. I found this Tyler Florence recipe on line and went from there. I never exactly follow the recipe but it helps as a guideline. This came out really tender and mushroom-y.

Artichoke hearts and spinach pie. Ancient Steinberg secret recipe. (or you can find it on my Sissy's blog)

Pork Tenderloin

My Sissy talked me out of buying the pork tenderloin that was already marinated as I had done in the past and she told me it is better when I marinate it myself. So I gave it a go. I let it sit overnight. It turned out so tender and flavorful - I will definitely always make my own marinade from now on. Since I don't have a grill I always brown it in a super hot pan and then bake it in the oven. It takes about an hour to cook them both.

The night before I cooked the tenderloin I made the artichoke pie, Chicken Marsala and the orange salad for Steve O and his brother Craig. I cooked enough food for a small army but we managed to eat most of it.

It is so much fun having a kitchen again and I know Steve O. was getting real tired of those subs from WaWa. (even though they are pretty yummy).

Now It makes more sense

2008-09-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

Below is the original album cover for Herb Alberts Tijuana Brass - I am clearly too young to remember when it came out in 1965. I was at the tender age of minus 3. Maybe my Sissy remembers it? (She is much much older than I am.)

Apparently folks loved to mimic it - here was Soul Asylums take on the cover:

Then they did a re-whip (mix) of the original album in 2006 with this cover:

This made me think I would like to see more parodies of this. Why don't my readers send me pictures of their own version of this album cover?

Hey - I dare you (triple dog) - use any kind of food and any person (place, or thing) It just has to somehow honor the original cover. I am not asking for raunchy -

Any takers?

PS - thank you to my Sissy and Jean A. for their research and in site into solving the mystery of the album cover.

Another Album cover I wish I owned -

2008-09-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

Sometimes - there just aren't any words.... but I did find myself staring at this for a rather long period of time just trying to figure out the message they are attempting to send. Then it made me think about the movie where the older ladies made a saucy calendar to raise money for one of their husbands cancer operation. Are these those ladies? Or are they just doing this, um, for fun.

Post Show "Shirley" Review.

2008-09-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought it was all over - Dave T. , Style Weekly reviewer, had some double-fab and mega-brill words to say about seeing "Shirley Valentine" with his Mother, Daughter and Wife in tow. Thank you Dave -
www.richmondvatheater.blogspot.com

New Post

2008-09-05T07:16:00.000-07:00

I know you have all been wanting a new post (all two of you) - frankly I could never get tired of looking at pictures of the beautiful Christine and Matt - but I have had a few complaints so here goes.

The rumours are true - I am cooking again! But you know what it is like when you haven't done something in a while- You get a little rusty, don't you? I could have written a post yesterday called "Chicken that tastes like shit and looks even worse" but I decided against it.

So last night was a little better (if not at all kosher). I made pork chops that were thick and beautifully cut with the bone shaped like a big lamb chop - maybe they were French cut or something? Anyway, you get the picture - fancy cut. I was so excited and giddy with anticipation at what Steve O. would say when he arrived home and for the first time in many months he was in a house that smelled like something good was cooking. I even made a few latkies - because I could!! I toasted some chic peas because we (me) love to snack on them while cooking and then throw the rest into a salad for dinner. I also made some broccoli with a little cheese sauce. Then I waited. It wouldn't be long before Steve O. would be home. I sat on the sofa and poured a glass of wine - so proud of all the food I cooked. I heard the door open and as soon as Steve O. walked in I could tell something was wrong. He said he had felt sick all day and wasn't hungry at all.

(I hope it wasn't the sh**ty chicken from the night before)

I ate the dinner anyway but it wasn't the same. Lets hope he is feeling better today and I can try again to cook something this weekend.

But for now - since my sissy got tired of looking at the last post - here is a great album cover I found on line. Please enjoy responsibly..........

Now - what do you think is on this album? Maybe a little Dogra Streisand? Or some Barky Midler?

Matt and Christine are NYC bound!

2008-08-28T06:44:00.000-07:00

Matt, Christine, my BFF and Muffin toasting them goodbye.

Matt and Christine

Christine backstage at the opening night of Member of the Wedding.

Before I was cast in Member of the Wedding I barely knew Christine. I knew she was Matt's girlfriend and I would see them together from time to time but that was all. Now I can't imagine not knowing her and I am thankful I don't have to. We sat next to each other in the dressing room during the run of the show and were able to spend time together we wouldn't normally have had. We would share stories that were eerily similar about growing up and we would laugh at the same things and sometimes cry. I definitely closed that show knowing I had made a close friend for life. A little while after the show closed she became a temporary housemate.

Now she and Matt are moving on. I am very proud of them and I have no doubt they will do well for themselves. They are young and talented and beautiful. But I will miss my friend. Christine is so kind and honest and funny and loving. It was hard for me to be my cynical self around someone like that....most of the time. So - thank you Christine for being such a great friend. Good luck (although you don't need it) and I will definitely be visiting often.

I used to be Shirley Valentine...I used to be Shirley Valentine...I used to be......

2008-08-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

OK - has everyone gotten tired of looking at the last post yet?

This was the last weekend of Shirley Valentine. A one person show I had been doing at the Barksdale Hanover Tavern for the past 6 weeks. It has been a crazy and rewarding ride. I think it will hit me throughout the week in spurts - when I don't have to go get that spray tan this week - as I have gotten for the past 7 weeks, when I realize at the end of the week I still have gas left in my car, when Steve O. and I get a night off together and I can remember how cute he is, etc, etc - what might take longer is getting the lines out of my head. I was running them constantly in my mind. I guess I can and should stop doing that now. I will not miss the noise I would sometimes hear during the show (ie, noise from the Tavern) But I certainly will miss the laughter and applause, who wouldn't? I will miss the friends I made who tirelessly worked on the show and made sure I had everything I needed at any given time - For a one person show I felt very supported by many folks at the Theatre. I will miss getting to be Shirley as she talks to an eager audience about living. I will miss the moments when people are howling with laughter one minute and the next so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

I got a few beautiful letters from patrons who enjoyed the show and ran into countless friends and colleagues who were lovely and supportive. It was a real feel good experience. It was truly both extremely difficult and extremely rewarding. Funny how that works out.

I started this process promising myself that this would be the last one person show I ever do and I ended it wondering what the next one could be. Typical.

Enjoy some party pics as well as some backstage secrets of Shirley Valentine....

My Stage Manager, Andrew, faithfully cleaning the grease off the fryer. He did this nightly by the end so the fryer wouldn't be too loud.

This is a magnet from Shirley's fridge with a picture of her two children "Millandra" and "Brian" but they are actually the two children of Set Designer Terrie Powers and Artistic Director Bruce Miller. The picture has been blurred for their protection (just kidding - it is just a bad picture).

Apparently this dish soap is all the rage in England. I enjoyed having a little Fairy on stage with me.

My messy dressing room.

The final "places" call from Andrew and Chris. (You can even see the clock behind them reads 1:45 PM.)

An awesome assortment of friends and family that saw the show Saturday night.

Amy, Dexter, Chris, and Andrew.

Christine, Laine, Tony, Irene (who has also played Shirley!), Erin, Phil and Bruce all enjoy a closing night cocktail.

Joe Inscoe poses with the awesome crew from the Tavern.

Muffin and her peeps.

Ma and her long time Friends- Kind of like the Ya-Ya's.

2008-08-18T07:31:00.000-07:00

This was a picture I took of my Ma with her friends right before I met them.

The group in front of the Monument. They still look like kids!!!

I was trying to get an Abby Road like shot here but I am a bit too far from them.

We saw this in a boutique on Libby - I wanted to ship it to my Sissy - who LOVES artichokes but the woman said it would probably melt on the way to Miami. So she gets a picture of it instead!

As promised, my Mother came to visit and see the play last weekend. She visited with her three girlfriends from High School. That's right - high school. How lucky to have friends that you have known since you were a pre-teen! Since we moved around so much I do not have any friends that I have known for that long. My mom turned 69 in July so she had known these ladies a long time. They came in Friday night but it was too late for me to see them. They all stayed at the Jefferson and Saturday early afternoon I went to meet them. These ladies were walking along Monument Ave until they got to the Arthur Ash Statue. I met them there and we all went to lunch. I enjoyed meeting these ladies.
It was half way through our lunch, as they were talking about things they did in High school and college, that it suddenly dawned on me that they knew my Grandparents pretty well. I thought about the fact that when they were young kids my grandparents where the parents that they were around. I told them how much I miss my grandmother and they said the nicest things about her. It was so nice hearing their stories and so nice of them to make the trip from Ft Wayne, IN ( I think they came from a couple places but I am pretty sure at least one of them still lives in Indiana) . Also - they all happen to be beautiful. I bet they were quite a hit at their 50th High School Reunion last year.

They all seemed to enjoy the play too. They saw it Saturday night and sat with Burgess and his clan. His Mother and BFF and Sister were all there too. Thanks to them for driving from P'Town.

Sunday the Brunks came in from P'Town. Regular Blog readers will remember them as the couple who have the big crab feast every year, with the cool yard. And last but not least I was finally re-united with the Organs!!!

Sandy, Craig, Craig Jr, and Aunt Alice all came to the show Sunday. Now I had not seen them in about 7 years. It was amazing to see them again and to get to spend time with them. We sat at the Tavern and talked and talked until they needed to start their long drive back to Cross Junction. I think I was in a happy daze for the rest of the day. I went to the grocery store to pick a bottle of wine and I went home without it. Why the cashier didn't stop me I have no idea. I can remember a whole play y'all but I can't remember to bring my groceries home. Whatev...............

This just in............

2008-08-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

This just in...................

New Pics of Caroline Louise and Chip!!

Kitty and Pop sure get around. They are everywhere!

My brother and Caroline on vacay.

Caroline strolls the beach constantly thinking about and missing her Aunt MuffinFace.

Do they makes those suits in my size?

looking ahead and behind.

2008-08-15T06:12:00.000-07:00

As I am still full of great memories from last weekend - another weekend approaches that is shaping up to be just as fabulous. Ma is coming in town with some of her friends and my friend (and old roomie) Burgess is coming in from P'Town too see the play too. Before I post a bunch of new pics I needed to share a few more of the pics from last weekend.

Pop passing some of his wisdom down to Harry.

I think soon they will take this to the streets so watch your wallets!

My favorite Pic of Harry from last weekend.

too cute not to post.

Pop and Harry playing on the mouth harp - just like Mr. Steve does!

Post show follies- or lots of pics of Muffinface.......

2008-08-14T07:08:00.000-07:00

I was so happy on Saturday night. So many of my peeps were in attendance and it made the show really fun to perform, if a little nerve racking (but in a good way).

Thanks to everyone who came out - most went to Davis and Main after and I was able to capture some on camera. You know how shy this group is!

Unfortunately Steve O. had a gig and even though we seriously considered all going we knew it would be hard to catch up and talk with each other while listening to the sounds of Dick Butt Kiss.

It was fun to see my Pop and Kitty talk about their travels and hang out with my friends. Seriously, those kids can hang! Sissy and Beth were there and finally got to meet Robert who entertained us with the funniest joke I might have ever heard. I tried to recreate it once but I could not do it - so I make Robert tell it over and over. Just thinking about him telling it is making me laugh out loud while I type. .

This weekend my Ma is coming with some of her friends. I can't wait to see her!

Sparky and post show Muffinface.

Pop hanging with Fern and Scott.

Pop and Kitty.

BFF with Sissy.

Pop and Muffinface.

Sparky and Robert - and part of the Dean's face.

Robert imitating the Muffinface picture pout. He's almost got it.

Sissy and Beth.

The Dean.

Family Fun at Liberty Valance.

2008-08-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

One of me and Steve O's favorite places for steak is a restaurant called Liberty Valance. It has been there so long that when they built the new strip mall- (Mexico, Starbucks, Ukrop's, etc) they built everything around this restaurant. We love going because they have an excellent prime rib and the prices are incredibly low. Saturday Pop and Kitty came in to see the play with Beth and Sissy. That day Gretchen drove down with my Niece and Nephew so we could all spend time together. Unfortunatly for her - what should have been an hour and a half trip turned into three hours due to some nasty traffic. At some point during the trip she declaired to her two small children "Somebody better be dead or badly injured up there!"

I suggested this restaurant for lunch. I often wondered what Pop and Kitty would think of the place. It is not fancy and decorated kitchie with western junk everywhere. I thought they might laugh at it but then be impressed with the food itself. Well, from the moment we walked in they loved it. Since we had such a big group we were seated in our own room to the right of the restaurant that was decorated like an old west living room. Complete with fire place and old fashioned TV. (hey - there weren't any TVs in the Wild West) anyway - it was fun and so cute. I told everyone they should order some kind of steak since that is really their specialty. Since it was the only meal I was to eat that day I had the prime rib and a salad. They make their own blue cheese dressing and it is so good I have often gone there just for that. -

I wonder what the other patrons were thinking when we started taking pictures of everything.

Pop, Beth, Kitty and Sissy in the "Family room" at Liberty Valance.

Gretchen and Alli

Alli, Sissy and Harry (with braces!)

Harry enjoyed the fries.

Beth (and many others at the table) ordered the prime rib sandwich. It is so good.

My dinner - the "pilgrim" size prime rib - very tender and full or flavor.

the TV in the dinning room makes you feel like you are eating at the Smithsonian.

Fun in the stage coach area.

It's a sign

2008-08-12T07:29:00.000-07:00

My friend (and recent guest blogger) Lee saw this sign on the road back from NC.

As he said - you can't make this stuff up.

Sissy and Beth Visit Muffinface! Part One...........

2008-08-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

Friday night my Sissy and Beth came in from Miami. I only had about an hour with them before I headed off to the show. They were going to dinner with Steve O and then off to his gig at the Triple. Beth and Sissy were hoping to see Cheenon but had to settle for Dick Butt Kiss. I got there after my show and they were just about to start. Good timing. Good times.
More weekend fun to come.

Big Weekend Ahead!

2008-08-07T06:22:00.001-07:00

The Captain

Pop and Kitty-Mom

Sissy and Beth

Sparky and the Dean

Steve O has 2 gigs - Sissy and Beth are coming to visit - Pop and Kitty are coming to visit- Sparky and the Dean are coming to visit. I will definitely have some interesting new material to share come next week!!! I can't wait to see you all as well as my other friends who are seeing the show this weekend! Thanks for all your support. Woo-Hoo!!

A missed trip to Cross Junction and Happy Birthday Sandy!

2008-08-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

A cool pic of Steve O. playing his keyboard. (Courtesy of Sioux)

Deanna (Scott's wife) and Henry(their child)

The Birthday girl!

Henry and the Birthday girl

Scott, Henry and a reclining Craig

Henry walking in the woods.

It was in 2000 that I met Steve O. He came up to me at a gig he was playing and just started talking to me. If you knew him you would know that is quite a feat for him. Anyway - he found out that I sang some and wanted me to learn this song he wrote for a woman to sing. We exchanged numbers and had a nice talk. The next day he called me and asked me to dinner. I said no. I saw him again at the same venue and we hung out and talked some more. He was funny and confident and very kind. A couple days later he asked me out again and I said yes. I never did learn that song he was talking about. I have teased him about it since but he swears there really is a song. He was my boyfriend for a couple years. We sang together, went on fun trips together and laughed a lot - but we were young (him more than me) and we parted ways after about 2 years. I knew I would miss him but I also thought "hell, I am young and I will meet other people just as cool." But I never did.

So some mutual friends of ours invited us to a party they were having right before New Years. It was the first time I had seen him in 6 years - but after about 10 minutes it seemed like no time at all had passed.

So that is the story of Steve O (my BF) , not to be confused with Steve P. (My BFF) - got it?

I used to love going to his parents house in Cross Junction. It is right outside of Winchester VA and about 10 minutes from the West Va boarder. The mountains and the land there are breathtaking. His parents built a log cabin style house located on the side of a mountain. Down the road from the house is a cabin his great grandfather built - it is right in front of a little lake. Once we went to stay there only to meet up with HUGE black snake that was hanging out in the bathroom. Guess who didn't stay in the cabin that night?

One of my favorite parts about visiting that beautiful area was how sweet his family was to me. I got along great with all of them. I loved helping his mother in the kitchen and learning great cooking tips and recipes from her and our late night gin rummy games and our interesting talks about this and that.

A few years later I had the misfortune of briefly dating a guy, lets call him Michael because that was his name, who's parents were a living nightmare and treated me worse than crap. These people were laughably rude and totally unaware of their narcissism. It was then that I came to fully appreciate The Organ's kindness. My mother and I often talked about how much we missed them and how nice it would be to see them again.

Steve went to his parents this weekend for his Mother's birthday. I was sad not to get to go with him and see everyone again. I have the show thru Aug 24th so I had to miss this trip. My Mom even made it over there for a couple hours on Sunday - I was so excited she got to see everyone again. I know they all had fun together and there is even a guest blog post in the making from my BF covering a fancy restaurant they went to Saturday for Sandy's Birthday. Stay tuned for that! - And hopefully next time I talk about Cross Junction it will mean I got to go back their myself.

shamless self promotion

2008-07-31T07:11:00.000-07:00

Well - it is my blog after all.........

http://www.richmond.com/performing-arts/25058

PS - Anonymous can suck on this!!! - (don't worry if you don't know what that means.)

Crab Louie's

2008-07-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

Bean and onion salad

sauerkraut mix

she-crab soup

Martha's salad

zucchini bread and apple-cheddar bread

Firecracker shrimp

crab cake and seafood Latkie

Fried Seafood

I had been wanting to try this restaurant for ever and a day. Last week was Greig Leach's birthday and on baseball night he told me that his family went out to Crab Louie's. It reminded me to go while I still lived on the South Side. I drilled him about what he ate - I love food details. I went with an open mind and empty stomach and my cell phone for easy pictures. (that is why they all look a little fuzzy.)
Crab Louie's is located in a small shopping area in the village of Midlothian - just a stones throw from the house. It is comfortable with the tables spaced very far from each other and very rustic and tavern looking without seeming old and dingy. We only waited about 10 minutes at the bar for a table. At the bar I had one of the best dirty vodka martini's I have ever had. I took that as a good sign.
Eventually we sat at a romantic corner table. On the table were the bean salad and the sauerkraut mix. I was hesitant, especially of the sauerkraut and wasn't quite sure why it was there. The waitress explained it was there for us to put on out bread plates and nibble on. (I guess I could have figured that out eventually) The beans were really good. The sauerkraut (which I had sworn off years ago after I sm'd a production of The Foreigner where I had to go under the stage and hand up sauerkraut through a small hole in the floor- there is more to this story but that is not for now) It actually tasted good but after a couple bites we moved it out of our way because the smell was so strong. We were so hungry we were bound to over order. And we did. But no matter - left overs are great, right?

I ordered the she-crab soup and Steve O. had clam chowder. He liked his but since I am not a fan of Clams I did not taste it myself. The she-crab soup was excellent with big chunks of crab meat though out.
I upgraded my salad to a Martha's Vineyard style salad which consisted of blue cheese crumbles and a maple vinaigrette dressing. It was excellent.

We ordered an appetizer of Firecracker shrimp. These were big shrimp, lightly fried (but still really crispy) covered in a sauce that burns the hell out of your mouth. It was tasty though and I am not one to complain about spicy. (unless curry is involved - yuck)

When the main course arrived I was not at all hungry anymore, as is often the case with me. I ordered what Greig told me he had. It was a broiled crab cake and one of their famous seafood Latkies. The name alone cracked me up. Are they trying to be Ironic? (or is that irony - I have issues with what irony is exactly) Anyway - The "latkie" was made up of crab, shrimp and lobster. It must be a reform latkie. Tee-Hee. It was excellent as was the crab cake - full of great crab and little else - maybe nothing else. OK - a few shells but I can handle that.
Steve O. got a big plate of fried seafood. It looked good to me but I couldn't taste anything else after sampling my dinner. I was full. I was glad we finally tried Crab Louie's and I would definitely go back but I will make myself order much less food.

The Braves Lose on Restaurant Night

2008-07-29T07:42:00.001-07:00

My row of friends who came to cheer for The White Dog!!

Not sure what was happening - just figured I should take a pic of the field.

Lee, newly back from his trip to Philly came to cause some havoc - at least he was dressed better than the rest of us!

More White Dog folks.

I never heard anyone scream as loud or as often as Lee!

you can barely read the sign but it says White Dog at the bottom.

The Diamond Duck gets a squeeze from a waitress.

Bruno and Sioux

Well, I was expecting it to be 100 degrees so I was surprised to discover it was a near perfect night. Not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was probably in the low 80's with no humidity. I am not a huge baseball fan - maybe in the major leagues or watching some real important game but when I go to the diamond (which is about once every 5-10 years) I go for the hot dogs, beer and company. Last night was no exception. The game was boring - the hot dogs were good and the company was great. I also wanted to get a game in before the Braves leave us for good.

And it was restaurant night - Barry and Roslyn invited about 40 people and we all tried to out yell Cary St Cafe when they splashed the name of the White Dog across the scoreboard (or whatever that thing is called)

I am curious about what will happen to the very large American Indian sculpture that graces the stadium. My friend, Paul made it years ago and it is a very interesting story how it ended up being at the stadium. He will have to write that story for you someday because it is long and involved and I don't want to get it wrong!

Anyway...they lost the game. I was so tired I went home afterwards while everyone else went out. I got situated on the sofa and I turned on the TV and Meet me in St. Louis was just starting! Oh Joy! I was so happy. I think I smiled for the entire 2 hours it was on. - Except for the parts I cried through!

Thanks Guest Blogger Lee!

2008-07-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

As you know I am busy with a little one person show so I have been neglecting my blog - I asked my friend Lee to write something for us about his last business trip. I still am not sure what it is he actually does - but I am sparing you a couple of the pics he sent that might have been offensive and just weren't very pretty. Above are the pics he sent that didn't turn my stomach. I think they even might make my Sissy a bit homesick. (Not the first pic but the ones of Philly!)

Tales from the Road 7/26/08

Philadelphia Freedom

Shalom, Y'all! (And Good Reasoning to you, Ken!)

After multiple trips to & from New York, I finally got to come back to the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia! Unlike most of my trips out of town, I was traveling as a passenger in the truck for the AAFP Maternity meeting at The Loews Philadelphia Hotel. The last time I was here, the sole detached from my right steel-toed shoe. This time, it was my LEFT sole that detached. Even though I looked like a schmuck as the sole slapped against my foot, it had the rather unintended benefit of keeping the homeless guys from hitting me up for spare change! As I was walking down to South Street from the hotel, the question was posed to me as to why someone would be homeless in a city with such brutal winters as Philadelphia. I'll let others answer the questions about the underlying causes of homelessness...because quite frankly it's not all that funny! I just don't think it's fair for the home-grown homeless in places like Orlando (ha!), Tampa, or Miami to compete with ringers from places like New York, Detroit, or Philly! Let's face it: the folks in Fla. wouldn't stand a chance against the stronger aggressive species! It'd be like introducing a predatory species in a pond that would overwhelm the native species! One thing I would have liked to capture on video (or audio) were some of the loud rants that the homeless were having with themselves. WAY more entertaining than the Bumfight videos that were being sold a few years ago! Just the audio alone would be worth it to sell as ringtones! (Not that I would EVER exploit the homeless...)

The drive up here was...interesting. I had the "blessing" to ride up here with a new driver. An individual who apparently is utterly clueless in reading body language! Now if someone put their earbuds for their iPod in their ears, crossed their arms, and bowed their head...would you try to engage that person in idle mindless chit chat? I know I wouldn't! I'm not going to give his name to protect his identity, but a couple of you know who he is! He will not stop talking! If he had something to say that was interesting, or even used different inflections to his voice! SOMETHING! Dear God, the drive up here was painful! In addition to the drone-like quality of his voice, he also drove like an old woman...and I don't mean like The Little Old Lady from Pasadena, either! Cars & trucks were passing us from the left & right. I told him to get in the right lane, but he wouldn't, for whatever reason. It was just a matter of time before he was in the left-hand lane with the turn signal on, and he didn't fail to disappoint! Just the Philly skyline came into view, there he was in the left lane! We actually drove into downtown so that he would know how to get there, as well as how to get to the truck parking lot, which was quite a few blocks away from the hotel. As we were driving to the loading dock, he commented that he thought that Philadelphia was one of the cleanest cities he'd ever seen! When he made the long walk from the truck parking lot and got back from the hotel, I asked him if he still felt the same way! Naturally, he did not. Not that there's anything wrong with Philly, but anytime you get a bunch of human beings all together in one spot, things tend to get a bit messy!

One of the places I've always wanted to visit every time I've come to Philly was the Italian Market. This time, I was able to achieve that goal! I even made it to Ralph's Restaurant (http://www.ralphsrestaurant.com/), the oldest Italian Restaurant in the country owned by the same family. The ravioli & meat sauce was quite tasty, & my Project Manager enjoyed the Lasagna as well! We also made it back to South Street, where I was able to purchase my "I Love Being Black" t-shirt! Most of you all know that shirts like that are cat nip for clones to me! I just can't resist! After getting back from South Street, I turned on the Boob Tube (in honor of the breast-feeding session I sat in on) & saw that CBS was doing the MMA (mixed martial arts...like UFC) show again. The large amounts of dried blood on the mat was a nice touch after eating Italian for dinner! Almost as nice as seeing a C-section on video immediately after scarfing my lunch down earlier in the week! (Thank goodness for the Catholic training, or I'd never be able to block that image out of my head!) ABC's idea of counter-programing? The animated classic "Peter Pan"! Ah...the wisdom of network programming!

I can't get back to Richmond soon enough! As long as I don't kill the kid on the way back...Lord give me strength...enjoy the images!--

www.myspace.com/the_rev_dr

For your daily dose of Sarcastic Sanctification...or whenever I feel like it! No, I'm NOT looking for Underage dates, nor do I want to be featured on Dateline's "To Catch a Predator"!

Wow - I am honored again.....

2008-07-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

I parked behind this car last night on Stafford. When did these come out? I am so touched. I would love to find one but I bet they sold out fast!

Happy Belated Birthday Ma!

2008-07-21T07:10:00.000-07:00

Muffin, Ma and Sissy taking a walk on the beach. (Miami?)

Sometime during my crazy weekend -

so crazy that I wish I could share the crappy details with you...but it just wouldn't be prudent.

Anyhoo sometime during all the madness my sweet Ma turned 69 years old.

And guess who forgot to call her?

Mom you are funny and beautiful and don't look your age at all. I mean you look younger than your age - not older.

Can't wait to see you in a few weeks.

Thanks for being such a great Mommy.

Hope your Birthday was fun despite the fact that you didn't get a call from your favorite child.

We will celebrate when we are together.

A Shirley Review!

2008-07-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

Well, someone liked it!

http://www.herald-progress.com/news/view_sections.asp?idcategory=1&idarticle=2329

Funny that with this show - the glowing review I get is from a man.

Cory's Farm Stand Gazpacho

2008-07-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

My friend Joy posted a pic of this recipe her son Cory made on Facebook and I asked if I could please share it here. I have also asked for a pic of Cory so you can see how cute he is!

Joy writes:

This is a photo of the gazpacho that Cory made for us and 2 guests last night.

It was DELISH!!

He also made the spaghetti sauce.

I've got quite a little budding chef!!

Here's the recipe that he made. I'll say now that we didn't have an onion, so we didn't put that in, but we put garlic in instead.

Farmstand Gazpacho:

About 1 whole clove, finely chopped.

2 cups peeled and diced cucumber

2 cups diced red bell pepper

2 cups diced ripe tomato

1/2 cup diced red onion

2 cups tomato juice

1/2 cup red-wine vinegar

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 dashes Tabasco sauce

1. Place all of the diced veggies in a large bowl.

Add the tomato juice, vinegar, oil, and Tabasco. Season with salt and pepper and toss.

Put in refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours before serving.

(You can put 1/2 mixture in a blender or food processor to coarsely puree the contents and then mix with other remaining half. We chose not to do that.)

It was delish!!! And it was great to talk and work together in the kitchen. I'll take my bonding time wherever I can get it.

(Below is a picture Joy sent me of some beautiful flowers from her garden.)

Catch Joy at Swift Creek Mill in their hilarious production of There Goes the Bride!!

A Busy Weekend

2008-07-15T06:15:00.000-07:00

My Act I wig that Susan H, from the Times Dispatch called "silly". Yes - I am alone in the dressing room so I have lots of time to take pictures of myself. Now that is silly! Anyway - it made me laugh - clearly it looks better in these shots than it probably does on stage but -come on- there must have been a better word than silly. Now the "poop hat" was silly - don't make me post that picture again!

Well, little MuffinFace has been hard at work y'all.

Due to bad weather delaying the building of the Shirley Valentine set - the opening was postponed until Sunday. I was still at the theatre rehearsing nightly and we continued to add technical elements all weekend long. It was fun and hard and (every time I pictured the house full) very, very scary. The set designers, Terrie and David Powers, worked tirelessly and their final product is beautiful. Andrew, my stage manager, was thrown so many new things and he juggled everything (plus managing me) very well. Amy Berlin, my director, was calm and cool under pressure and always managed to say just the right thing to help calm my nerves.

Friday night I asked my friend, Scott to come watch just to have someone new in the audience and get his reaction. It was great to hear someone laughing and responding to Shirley.

Later that night Cheenon played at Poe's Pub!! That was so much fun - after a crazy day - it sure was nice to relax and watch Steve O and the other talented boys play.

Saturday I was lucky enough to have Robert and Lisa and Paul come to watch. They were a great house too but I fear they saw a nervous Shirley.

Of course I woke up Sunday and just felt sick to my stomach. The day had finally arrived. I had to do this play in front of lots and lots of people. They will be watching me, judging me or maybe just taking a nap - as long as they are quiet about it I don't mind. Would I remember all the technical things that were thrown at me in the last couple days? Would I remember anything I had learned and studied over the past few weeks.

The show started and I was about a minute into the first scene by the time I realized I was OK -the energy in the room was so great I felt this rush of calmness come over me and from then on I was just OK. I thought the show went well, The audience was scream laughing so much I had to stand there a bunch of times just while they calmed down - I have never had so much fun on stage. I could tell by the audience reactions that they were gladly coming along with me on this journey. They were even screaming things out at me once in a while - and we aren't talking about kids - this audience had a medium age of 60. It was great fun. I even got a standing ovation.

Then yesterday the review in the Times Dispatch came out. Was it positive? Sure - could she have maybe picked more exciting, interesting ways to describe the play? perhaps. I met Susan when I moderated a Critics talk back and she was lovely - I am not just saying that either - she was interesting to meet and talk with - so, of course, just like a review - this comment is not "personal" and in the review she said nice things about me which I appreciate but she called the play dated which I do not agree with. Calling something dated is something I hear from Reviewers and maybe Dave can answer this for me -what is the criteria for calling something dated? - it was written in the 80's but the themes are absolutely still relevant today - that is evident by the reaction I got from the audience. Would you call Shakespeare dated? Or any other period piece?

OK - this ain't Shakespeare but it also isn't Doonesbury the Musical...now that is dated - I have no problem seeing that. It is a musical full of 80/ Reagan political humor.

When I see a comment like that it just makes me wonder what makes it dated to them and not a period piece. Is there a 20 year rule - like classic cars?

My BFF recently returned from a wonderful directing experience with Company of Fools in Idaho. Do you know they have NO reviewers there? Hmmm - Picture it - a community that shows up at everything - very supportive, a company of actors that work for the love of the craft. There is lots of other publicity for the shows...just no reviewers. Now - before you all get your panties in a bunch, I am not saying that reviewers have no purpose or that I would even like them to go away. I love me some reviewers. After all, I have been very lucky (if that is the right word for it) with reviewers. They have helped out greatly as I have produced shows. I have seen audience numbers rise and good word of mouth buzz increase with a positive review. I just found it interesting to hear that in this particular place - they have none - And I wonder how that effects the process of a production- if at all.

Anyhow, My BFF had a great time there and maybe I can twist his arm and get him to write a blog post about the whole experience. The pictures I have seen of the city are breathtaking and I am thrilled he had the opportunity and I am sure they feel lucky to have had him there- but I am damn glad he is back.

So- busy week - busy weekend and the show is up and running. Please come see it if you get the chance - if for no other reason - come see the silly wig.

And if you haven't ranked the Golden Girls yet - what are you waiting for??

Who's your favorite Golden Girl? (don't say me)

2008-07-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

So a couple nights ago after rehearsal - Steve and I are watching a show we both love and often watch together - when we find ourselves still awake at 1 am. The show is Golden Girls.

It was great to just relax and watch this great TV show. Steve asked me to rank the girls in order of funny. (I am sure there is a less awkward way to put that question but whatever.)

I didn't have to think about it for long. Betty White, Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty and Rue McClanahan. When he asked me to explain -I said it was a tough call between Betty and Bea and the reason Betty wins out for me is because Bea, as Dorothy gets most of the best one liners - she and Estelle, and Betty is forced to tell some of the dumbest stories and she has me in stitches doing it.

then it occurred to me that it has been a while since I have done a "list" post.

Lets rank the Golden Girls - and tell me why.

what other shows do you think should be ranked and I will re-post with a list of shows for everyone to rank.

Have fun. Happy ranking.

Welcome to the world little Sofia Elizabeth Foley!!

2008-07-09T07:01:00.000-07:00

Born 7/5/08- 5:53 am
5 lbs 9 oz.

I feel as though I know you already.

Congrats to Erin and Tony.
I sure missed being at your house as I usually am on the 4th - but I guess you had a good reason.

All Hail The Spring Fling!

2008-07-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

In my little city there is a lunch dive that has been around for maybe 100 years. The food is simple and real, real tasty. You can't live here without eating there at least once. And even if it turns out you are one of those rare Richmonder's who has not been yet - you have certainly heard of it. It is called Pearly's. They have everything from deli sandwiches to hearty daily specials to homemade desserts.

Yesterday some ladies at the office were talking about going there for lunch and invited me along. I was quite excited because I had been craving hot dogs all day. I heard on the radio while coming to work - that it was National Hot Dog Month - so I was thinking about eating one from that point on. Seriously, I would have had one for breakfast if any place had them. Pearly's has great hot dogs with homemade chili. I know that may sound like a lot but considering that, due to my schedule, lunch is the last meal I eat daily - I figured I could splurge.

When we arrived and ordered I was the odd man out for sure. The rest of the ladies at my table ordered something that wasn't even on the menu. It is a seasonal item and you just have to know to ask for it. They all ordered something called a Spring Fling. It is simple and brilliant! A ripe cantaloupe with their homemade chicken salad on top. It is served with a delicious pecan muffin. I swear, that muffin is made of awesome. I sat there at lunch and ate my hot dogs but secretly I was wishing I had a Spring Fling instead. So today I swung down to Pearly's for lunch again and picked myself up one. It is much healthier than my lunch was yesterday and so tasty. It was also fun to order something that wasn't on the menu - like I unlocked a secret code or something. It got me thinking what else I have been missing out on in other restaurants? I didn't dwell on that too long since I had a delicious Spring Fling in front of me.

Dr. Schmepper

2008-06-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

Steve O. is very thrifty, in a good way - when he buys soda that only he will be drinking he really doesn't care about a silly thing like, say, a name brand. But when I saw the latest generic soda he bought it made me laugh for about 10 minutes so I thought I would share.........

Really folks, I couldn't make this stuff up.

A Feast from The White Dog

2008-06-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

Strip steaks

Billy Bread

Stuffed Eggplant

Salad and peacn crusted Goat Cheese.

Marinated Flank steak.

So my BFF is out of town directing a show in Idaho and having a great time. I am checking in on his house from time to time and it has been a great respite from my terrible, stinky, bug ridden house. Saturday night after Mama Zu's Steve and I hung out with some friends and ended our evening at The White Dog. They will be closed for Vacation for the next week and a half -where will I go? Anyway, Ros and Barry gave us tons of food that otherwise would have gone bad. Of course I couldn't cook it at my house so I cooked it at Steve P's. I invited Robert and made it a party. It was great just to get to cook again. The only thing missing was my BFF. Here are some pics of the free food we scored. Was it maybe my karmic treat for having to deal with the folks at Mama Zu's?

The Mama Zu's experience

2008-06-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the episode of Seinfeld with the soup Nazi? Of course you do. The only thing I can compare that experience to is eating at Mama Zu's. There are rules people. We arrive at 6:30 on Saturday. Early but I figured if I wanted to eat before 10 PM that was a good time to show up. We are told right away there is a 45 minute wait. No problem, I was expecting as much. As luck would have it, I found a chair at the end of the bar that no one was using - even though many parties were standing around. I sat and we ordered a beer and some white wine. I normally drink red but it was warm in there. No matter - the white was tasty and refreshing. About 10 minutes in to the wait I see the couple next to me panic and one of them leaves. The lady leans over to me and says "Do you know they only accept checks, cash. or Am ex?" CRAP - I knew that once but had totally forgotten. Already I have broken the rules! So I send Steve out for cash - I told him there was an ATM near by and I knew we were looking at at least another 1/2 hour wait for a table. Well, no sooner does he leave than our name is called for a table. I panicked- taking my wine but leaving a full beer on the bar. I mentioned right away that my dinner companion ran out for cash and if he had to give the table away I understood. They basically just told me to sit and see what happened. If you have never been in here you must know this place is a dive - it is dirty and dark and no frill. They speak very short to you if they speak to you at all. I was mortified. I had my script with me so I pulled it out, sipped on my wine and basically prayed for Steve to come back quickly. Time passed. The waiter came over and said a few times - "where is he? What is going on?" I called him and found out he was in traffic due to VCU's graduation or something - once again I offered to give up my table - But they just looked at me like I was retarded and shook their heads in shame. It is important to also point out that a this point there was no one waiting for a table and there were quite a few tables open if anyone were to come in. But no matter - that is just how they are there. Those are the rules. The last time the waiter came up to me (Steve was gone for about 10 minutes at this point) he said "Please tell me what is happening - I am getting in trouble from my superiors." That's when I looked around and noticed so many empty tables, but I didn't dare say anything except again I offered to give up my table until he returned. Finally Steve came back and I tried to explain to him how I was berated and sneered at. He was in no mood and seemed to be determined not to like the food at this point. I mean, what could be worth all this meanness? Just wait, I told him, it is totally worth it. When the waiter came up to the table he gave us such a dirty look, like we had killed his mother, then he said in a very snotty tone - almost under his breath "Do you know what you want?" I ordered The arugula salad and the Veal Marsala - and Steve got the Clams and mussels. The food was heavenly, every last drop was savored. I didn't dare take pictures for fear they would never allow me to return. I can't wait for my next trip - they can treat me however they want to - that food is worth it all. But - of course, next time I will bring cash.

Happy Belated Anniversary to a great couple.

2008-06-24T06:59:00.000-07:00

I was remiss last week in congratulating my Sissy and Sissy-in-Law on their wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary!! Is it 3 years already??

I don't often get political on this blog but I struggle to understand why the rights of gays and lesbians are any different from my own. Do folks not see that it is just the same discrimination we had against women and African Americans? I was thrilled with the supreme courts ruling lifting the gay marriage ban in California.

I hope it is just the beginning.

There are many things I am proud of being a Virginian for - but equality just isn't one of them. I am aware that I live in a State where race based legal restrictions on marriage were ended in 1967. Think about that- It was not long ago - just one year before I was born.

On the positive side, you can marry your cousin here. On the State website, right after it says you can marry your cousin, it states that same sex marriages are not legal. I guess I couldn't marry any of my female cousins. Darn. They are really pretty.

For information on The Human Rights Campaign and ways you can help in your own community go to this site : http://www.hrc.org//

Tonight and Tomorrow........Cheenon Party Time!

2008-06-20T06:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have rehearsals and yes, I will be working very hard but you know what they say....all work and no Cheenon makes Jack a dull Bunny....or something like that.

If you live in Richmond, or if you are near by or if you are driving by on your way somewhere more exciting....stop in and join the party.

Tonight: Poe's Pub

9:30

$5 cover

Saturday: The Blue Bistro

9:30

no cover

Missing Savannah

2008-06-19T07:26:00.000-07:00

On the last leg of our journey we stopped in Savannah - almost a halfway point back to Richmond. I had never been there and was very excited to go. Steve O. Lived there a long time ago and I often hear fun stories about it from him. Two stand outs are when he was really drunk in public and when he met one of his hero's , Clint Eastwood. Thankfully that didn't happen on the same night. We arrived and quickly found a hotel close to river. I kept hearing about these drinks called "Wet Willies" I was intrigued. They sounded like alcoholic Slurpee's - two of my favorite things!~We walked along the river and drank the wet willies - which was good because it was about 100 degrees in the shade. No kidding. We had a blast walking all around (thank g-d for the open container laws!!) we found a cool candy store and passed a gazillion restaurants. We walked past these guys singing blues. They were great. We sat and listened to them for a long time - until we feared there wouldn't be a restaurant open for us to eat in. I wanted seafood. I knew this would be a great place for it. Our entire vacation was wonderful but Savannah was the first place we went to where there was no one to visit so it was just us. It was a great way to finish our journey and I hope to go back to Savannah again soon to spend more time there.

lots of boats

One of the wet willies

The candy store

making taffy

These guys were awesome - we sat for half the night listening to them sing. And did you notice the captains hat this guy is wearing?? Steve was so excited.

We toasted to all our friend's back home.

These shrimp were spiced and marinated in a pepper sauce. They melted in my mouth!

MMMMMMMMMMM - wish these were in front of me all the time.

Steve's meal was also good.

Steve really liked this statue

I thought it might be thirsty

We wanted to stop by Lady and Son's but the line was wrapping around the block (and it was a long block) so we saved that for our next trip.

I guess there may be a few more vacation pics showing up here and there but that is basically the gist of it. We had an amazing time everywhere we went and seeing my Brother and Sissy and spending time with their families was the best present I could imagine.

And it all kicked off with that incredible party My BFF and Robert Threw - I am feeling pretty lucky these days...................

Busy Muffin

2008-06-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

I will be back soon with pics and stories from Savannah.

I started rehearsals this week for Shirley Valentine - a one woman play I will be doing at the Barksdale at Hanover Tavern. I have never done a show at the Tavern so I am excited to have that experience. The talented Ms Amy Berlin is directing and so far we are having a fab time. It is double-fab and mega-brill. However, I have a butt load of lines to learn - and that is the easy part, ya know, so this little ol' blog has been neglected and might be for a couple days. Please don't stop visiting. I promise I will be back soon to regale you with vacation stories and pics and more from the fabulous life of Muffin Face.

read about the play and show times at http://www.barksdalerichmond.org/

Shirley Valentine

July 11 - August 24, 2008

By Willy Russell

“Absolutely smashing.” New York Post

Call 804-282-2620

Jill Bari Steinberg stars as Shirley, a wisecracking middle-class English housewife . As she prepares “chips ‘n’ eggs” for dinner, she ruminates on her life, talking to the wall about such subjects as her husband, her children, her past and, a rather attractive offer she has just received from a girlfriend to on holiday to Greece. After her unappreciative husband shuns dinner, Shirley sees her opportunity to temporarily escape the drudgery of her life and leaves a note on the kitchen table that reads “Off to Greece. Back in two weeks.” While in Greece, she rediscovers her zest for life… and a Greek fisherman. This award winning one-woman play is rich with the comedy of real life.

Tickets are $39 / $36 with a Ukrops Valued Customer Card.*

Fun Random Pic

2008-06-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

My friend Emmy keeps seeing this car in her work parking lot. I guess I have fans everywhere. How nice of that person to honor me in this way. I am truly touched.

Visiting South Beach

2008-06-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

On the last Saturday we were together we all went down to South Beach. It was very hot that day but Jenn suggested we go early so we can park and beat the crowds. It was good advice. South beach was beautiful and didn't really get crowded or too hot until right before we headed back. South Beach was also the place Steve found the famous Captain's Hat - which he doesn't like to take off, ever.

Why do I look so pissed off?

I had to visit this shop since I watched the show a bit.
I did not get a tattoo on this trip.

Sissy's drink at the Ritz-Carlton.

These ships were everywhere - I just wanted to hop on one and see where it would take me.

View from the beach.

Pretty Lifeguard stand

Steve O. outside the Ritz Carlton. Can you believe they let him in with that hat?

View of the beach from the Ritz.

Another beach shot.

Soon I will be wrapping up the Miami pics and moving on the Savannah.

I'll bet you can hardly wait!!

Random silly Birthday Pic #2

2008-06-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Through out the party the guests were allowed to write messages to the birthday girl on different surfaces, like, windows and mirrors and such. During the party I tried to make sure I read them all but folks were doing this all night so I guess I missed a few. This one cracks me up. I did a play a couple years ago where I wore a hat during one of the scenes. This was a period piece so the hat must have been from the 20's? Anyway - it looked like a pile of poop. Seriously. wait here is a pic of me in it. Judge for yourselves.......

I don't know who wrote that particular message but the hat must have made a lasting impression on them too.

Fondue night...in Miami.

2008-06-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, we had fondue for birthdays and other fun occasions when we were growing up so it has been a long time since I had some. There is a nice fondue restaurant around the corner from Pop and Kitty Mom's house that HNS and I went to last year and that was great - but I am talking about home made here. So we started off with Cheese fondue. This was made with a couple kinds of cheese.
My sissy and I were in the cheese department of Wild Oaks and we were looking for Gruyere. We couldn't find it anywhere - they seemed to have every kind of cheese in the universe so we finally saw something that said "Cave aged Gruyere". Jenn said that sounded too fancy for what we needed and wasn't sure what the cave aging would do to the taste. The nice woman behind the counter offered us a taste. Just when Jenn was about to say no - I jumped in and said Yes, please! Then this woman handed us each a piece of cheese that would choke a pig, seriously. Just when Jenn was about to say, Oh I think we can just split one piece (she got about half of that out) I reached over, grabbed the pieces and said "Thank you." Then I turned to my sissy and said "Look, when someone offers you free food, you say YES!" But I am not sure she really heard me because when I looked at her she had this look on her face of total delight. She was having a mouthgasim or something. I tasted the cheese. Oh my guuuud. I will always remember where I was when I tasted the best cheese I have ever had in my life. You don't get a lot of those special moments in life, and this was one of them. This was like magic cheese, do you know how, as you eat cheese, especially something with a sharp, distinct flavor, nothing seems to be as good or strong as the first bite? I am not sure why that is but this was not the case here. Every bite was like the first. We wandered around the store all glassy eyed and zombie like as we slowly savored our huge pieces of wonder cheese. It must have been quite a sight - all we could get out was "This cheese is freakin amazing." We said it over and over again. Good times.
Anyway - that was one of the cheeses we used in the first fondue.

Muffin preparing the shrimp.

The broth Sissy made for the steak and shrimp fondue. The steak was a beautiful, tender fillet. It really melted in my mouth.

cave aged Gruyere and another kind of Swiss.

cheese fondue pot. We dipped apples and crusty french bread in this fondue.

These strawberries were part of our desert. Of course we had chocolate fondue. We dipped these strawberries, pound cake, marshmallows and banana's in the chocolate. There was no pic of the rest because by this time I could barely see straight from all the eating.

MMMmmmmm.

Miami Memories.

2008-06-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

So - We were still in Miami, we were all discussing what we would have for dinner one night. I am sure we were eating lunch at the time. You know those vacations that just go from meal to meal? Beth got a wild look in her eye and said she wanted homemade french fries. My Sissy just rolled her eye's like she must have been joking. I knew Beth was marinating ribs for us but I thought yum, homemade fries sounds great. I asked my sissy why she had said no to making the fries and she began to explain to me what a pain in the ass they were to make. You clean the potatoes, you slice them, you soak them, and on and on. I just looked at her and said "Yea, you know what else is a pain in the ass? DRIVING TO MIAMI! Now suck on it and get busy with those homemade fries already." What can I say? I have a special way of talking to people. Needless to say- she made the fries. They were honestly the best french fries I have even tasted, hands down. And the ribs - OMG - they were tender and juicy and so tasty. Thanks ladies for another great meal!

I napped here while my sissy was preparing the potatoes.

The wall of my pool house at night with the reflection of the pool on the wall.

The final product.

The soaking spuds.

mmmm. hot out of the fryer.

lot-o-ribs.

Random funny Birthday Party Pic

2008-06-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

I thought I would break up the Miami posts by inserting a funny Birthday pic here and there.

And Robert sent me this gem today. I should warn you the pic below might scare some of you.

I find it creepy as hell.