Our Athletic Prowess

My 49th birthday is next week. Good gravy. How did this happen?



My excellent boyfriend got me a new bicycle and gave it to me early. I'm pretty jazzed about it. It has more speeds than I know what to do with! And it's a lovely pearly yellow color that just happens to match my backpack. And my dining room. Matchy Matchy Poo Poo.

So now Andy's riding my old bike--the one that keeps getting a flat rear tire. Yesterday we went on what we considered to be a colossal bike ride. We rode 22 miles--all the way to Midlothian and back. Well, at least I made it back. Andy got a flat tire, of course. I forged ahead alone, and came back in the car to rescue poor Andy, whom I found wandering along Forest Hill Avenue with a blank expression on his very pink face, poor dear.

We both felt a great feeling of accomplishment for our feat of strength and endurance. I was a piece of rubber for the rest of the day! The only thing I could summon the strength for was to lift a glass of chardonnay.

I'm too tired to give this post a clever headline

Why am I so tired, you ask? My cat Maggie has this new thing she does; when she's bringing an animal into the house, she does this whimper-meow sort of noise that she doesn't make any other time. So I always know when she's bringing in the kill, and her little announcements can cut right through a sound sleep.

Last night it was a mouse, and it wasn't dead yet. It wriggled out of her jaws and darted under a piece of furniture in the living room. A piece too big to move. I tried to scare it out with a broom, opened the front door so it could run to freedom, tried everything I could think of at 3:45 a.m. No mousie. So I went back to bed, figuring one of the cats would catch it, and I'd deal with it in the morning.

As soon as I was nodding off to sleep again, Gilda (other kitty)jumped up into my bed with the mouse and started to chase it around ON MY BED. I managed to trap the poor thing under a dishtowel and scoop it up and fling it to safety outdoors. Jesus.

I'm switching the pet door to the "out only" setting tonight. They'll be able to go out but not come back in. Then the Merry Murderesses will just have to play with their victims outdoors whilst I catch up on my sleep.

Meet My Vespa

I have been riding my scooter a lot lately! Yeah, it's economical as hell, but I mostly ride it because it's cute and sexy. Andy's got one, too. His is white. Together we are an unstoppable force of cuteness. I think I just puked in my mouth a little when I typed that.

Walk Away, Muffin Face. This is About Curry Paste!

I'm a huge fan of Jill Bari, who pens a blog called The World According to Muffin Face. I post this warning for her, as she has a particular aversion to curry.

I am working like a dawg this week. Scheduling and staffing two summer camps has me stymied and I am working my second job this week on Wednesday through Sunday. Now, I love to cook and I can't stand shortcuts, but I am against the wall. Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste comes to the rescue. I don't have much time to shop. I have frozen cauliflower and broccoli and peas, so I'll use the curry paste to make a veg curry. Rice is a given, as Andy has purchased what looks like a 50-thousand pound bag of rice so we'll have something to eat when there's no more oil. Go ahead and laugh. We'll be livin' large on beans and rice while you are all reminiscing about the good old days when we had gasoline.

Anyway, here's a quick red curry for you. Sautee an onion in some canola oil. I like to add some pureed ginger and garlic to this when the onions are soft. Add the curry paste and saute it until you can smell the aroma come alive. Add broth--maybe a cup. Heat through. Add your veggies. Add coconut milk, about 6 ounces, to lend a creamy element. Get everything incorporated and just simmer until the veggies are tender. They should be just tender--not cooked within an inch of recognition. Feel free to substitute any veggies in this recipe. It's a good one for using up little bits of this and that.



These quantities are not etched in stone. If you like a really rich curry, use less broth and more coconut milk. The end result should look like a creamy broth with a generous amount of chunky vegetables sitting in it. You can use reduced fat coconut milk, but you will forego some of that wonderful coconut flavor. Serve this with rice.

The Westwood Club

I had a little gig tonight at the Westwood Club, a social/sports sort of club in the West End. Scott Wichmann (Currently killin-em as Nathan Detroit in Barksdale's Guys and Dolls) asked if I would sing a couple numbers at he party. He sang 10, and I sang 2. He was flawless, and I was not. I messed up one of my songs and the exemplary piano man and bass player covered for me fantastically.

Lemme tellya, Scott is a great singer. He is sort of known for his bigger-than-Scott presence on stage, but what a lot of people don't know is that he can just stand there and sing a dang song. The guy has range. Not just vocal range, but emotional range. And he can sing a story. I so enjoyed listening to him and watching him, and he can work a room like nobody's business.

After the music was over, Scott was surrounded by gaggles and gaggles of girls, mostly all over the age of eighty. In fact, I don't think I chatted with anybody under the age of 80 tonight. These were the nicest couples. Literally every couple I met had been married for more than 50 years, and they all said things like, "We've never had an argument" or "We're still in love." It made me lonesome for my mom and dad, who just celebrated their 52nd anniversary.

Guys and Dolls this weekend!

I went over to the theatre today to record the pre-show announcement for Guys and Dolls, which opens this weekend. I popped into the theatre to check out the set and it looks fantastic!! I'd post a picture of it on here, but I'm fairly sure I'd be violating some kind of intellectual property law.

I do most of the pre-show announcements for Theatre IV and Barksdale. They're pretty standard--okay, I'll say it--they're pretty dull. What fun it would be to do the pre-show announcement of my dreams...

Good evening, and welcome to Barksdale Theatre's performance of Guys and Dolls, performed at Richmond's historic Empire Theatre.

Please don't take pictures or tape this show. You know you're not supposed to. We tell you a hundred times and there are signs all over the place. If I catch you taking pictures, you will be shaken and have your hair pulled.

And for the love of Pete turn off your cell phone. I know you don't think I mean you. If I hear your phone ring, I'm going to snatch it from you and give it to the first bum I see on Broad Street.

If anybody in your party becomes peckish for a cellophane wrapped treat or overly chatty, we'd like to warn you that you will be required to walk the walk of shame from the theatre and made to sit in the crying baby area for the rest of the show.

We encourage you to get really liquored up at intermission. The actors will like you a lot better if you're tipsy. And speaking of tipsy, be sure to tip those bartenders generously! "Tips that go clank" (thank you Andy Boothby) are not considered generous.

Now do as you're told and enjoy the show!

Fettucine with Arugula, Caramelized Onion and Olives

We went to the farmers' market again yesterday and got more of the same lovely arugula that was abundant last weekend.



This is a dish I've made before for myself, but this was the first time I made it for Andy, too.

First, let me say that I am officially spoiled by always having fresh pasta these days. I love my pasta machine so much! It is like having a craft class and a cooking class all in one. Today I made whole wheat fettucine for the first time, and it turned out great! Much better tasting than the dried stuff in the store. Whole wheat pasta is such a healthy choice, but the dried stuff in the store tends to have a rather cardboard-ish texture. But our fresh stuff was springy and supple! Look.



Start a pot of pasta water to boil.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of canola oil, take 2 onions, slice them thinly and caramelize them in a big pan. When the onions are limp and becoming translucent, you can add a slosh of sherry or medeira if you have it, which I didn't so I sprinkled a little sugar to help the caramelization along.



Add a couple thinly sliced cloves of garlic toward the end. Then I added about a cup of halved and pitted calamata olives.



I don't usually use olives in this recipe. Normally I use dried shitake mushrooms that I've soaked in warm water, but the grocery store did not have the shitakes so I improvised with the olives. I actually recommend the shrooms over the olives--better flavor balance--so whichever thing you have, add it to the onions and garlic to heat through.

Your pasta water should be boiling rambunctiously by now. Tip the pasta in and cook it. If it's fresh, that will only be a couple of minutes. If you use dry pasta, just cook it until it's to your liking. Drain it when it's done, and add it to the pan of onions. Then put in the arugula. I use probably 6 or more cups of arugula--it's like any other green in that it really cooks down. I barely cut it up before I add it--just a few broad cuts across the whole mound. Place the pile of lovely arugula on top of the pasta and gently toss the whole mess to incorporate. The arugula will wilt from the heat of the other stuff.
As you mix the mess together, drizzle another couple of tablespoons of your absolute best olive oil and several generous spritzes of balsamic vinegar for some bite. Finally, sprinkle generously with fresh ground pepper.

I must say, the olives were a bit bossy in the flavor balance. The shitakes are a much better balance with the other ingredients, if you ask my humble opinion. But overall, it was pretty tasty and nice to look at, too.