I couldn’t really come up with a better title.  I had ideas for posts this week and now none of them seem worth writing about or inspiring or something.  It is quite possible that the recent events of the evening had an effect on that.  I had been thinking about writing something about election day, but that didn’t happen.  It would have been something about how I don’t really know enough about local politics to make educated decisions, though I know that there is too much religious influence on politics here.

Then I thought that I could write about how I ought to start my own Apple-Fix-it service business.  When it comes down to it, though I am not an Apple Certified technician or an Apple “Genius,” I am very good at fixing both software and hardware issues with Macs.  This week I was commissioned to help migrate one of my co-workers to a new machine.  A relatively easy task, all things considered.  Swapping out hard drives and optical drives on the old iBook G4s on the other other hand, is quite the project.  I like working on computers, it is fun, and it is always very satisfying when everything gets fixed.

I had also considered writing about how I think that it is so strange that here in Utah everyone celebrated Halloween a day early, because heaven forbid that anything should happen on a Sunday.  I get that some people justify it as a “school night,” but if you are over 18 and out of high school, there is no excuse.  Then, to top it off, since I totally forgot that Utahans are crazy, I didn’t have any candy for the first time since I moved into this apartment that I actually had trick-or-treat’ers.  Go figure.  I felt really dumb having to tell kids that I didn’t have anything to give them.

I could also have written about life at the theatre and how we just finished Dracula and are moving on to White Christmas. The show went well and people enjoyed it.  In other theatre news, Ruth’s show, Hay Fever, opened on a very high note.  It is great fun and I would encourage anyone in the area to go see it.

I could have written about all of those things, but my mind isn’t quite with any of them anymore.  While I was sitting around at home, killing time before strike, I decided that I would bake some cupcakes.  Now, when I say cupcakes, I really mean mini cakes, because we have the really cute tube-pans that are really fun to make “cup-cakes” in.  As I was about to start pouring the batter I get a phone call from Ruth’s mother.  Her grandfather, who has been very ill, was in the hospital and she wanted Ruth to come up after the show.  She wanted me to go up and tell Ruth because we thought that would be better than a phone call.

So, I rushed up to the theatre to make sure that I was there when her show ended.  This meant that I actually left the oven and the TV on in my apartment.  Yeah, I know it isn’t the safest thing to do, but it was important.  At least I hadn’t put the cakes in the oven before I had to run out the door, that would have just turned into a charred smelly mess.  I did still manage to burn things when I finally got home after strike and baked the cakes.  Some of the batter rose over the sides of the pan and burned in the bottom of the oven.

It has been a long week.  At least I get an extra hour of sleep tonight!

I find that when we get deep into production, my eating habits get tossed aside.  It is possibly worse for my wallet than for me as I still try to eat decent foods, but no matter how you spin it, it isn’t the best of habits.  I like to cook and I like home-made food, but I often find myself on a schedule that doesn’t leave me enough time to go home and make something.  I also often end up needing to eat at odd times due to when I need to be at work.  Ah, the joys of working in theatre.

Look at a day like today.  Fairly typical for a production week.  I tend to have breakfast sometime mid-morning, usually consisting of cereal and a bagel.  Sometimes, when I think about it I get some bananas to toss in my SpecialK.  I don’t usually eat lunch, and then, since I have to be at the theatre at 5:30 I end up eating an early dinner or a rushed dinner.  Dinner usually comes from someplace local to the theatre.  Every now and then, when I think about it, I will throw something in the slow cooker in the morning and then run home and grab a bite.  Sometimes, when I am lucky and our schedules are not similar, Ruth makes dinner, which is great.

I know that I have at least one crewton who will read this and tell me that I should just bring more “fuudz” with me to work.  It isn’t that easy, though it should be.  I am often more diligent about not eating out when I am not in production.  I keep lunch stuffs in my little fridge in my office regularly.  It is really just dinners that I need to figure out better.  I haven’t quite worked out how to re-work my schedule so that it is more conducive to creating better food habits.  Aside from  leaving earlier in the day or making some of our calls later in the evening I don’t have any great solutions.

Beyond that, things at the theatre are going quite well.  I have done two of the three photo shoots for Hamlet and I have also done photos for the U of U Department of Theatre’s production of Alcestis.  We have started to think about our next show, Dracula and I am expecting to get the plot and paperwork tomorrow.  No rest for the weary yet, just heading from one big show to a bigger one!

Once again I come to you with a post inspired by Mama Kat’s Writer’s Worksop.  This week, the prompt that struck me was number 5: “Describe a home cooked meal that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.”  I like to cook and even more than cooking, I love to eat.  Home cooked meals are definitely the best and I have to say, I don’t eat enough of them.  It would be much better for me in terms of my health and my wallet if I ate more home cooked meals.  I think that I really need to figure out how to make my schedule next year such that I can!

I come from a family that sat down every night to a family dinner all through my high school career, yet when I read this prompt, my mind immediately went to my grandmother’s house.  She is always ready with a meal no matter when you come over, planned or unannounced.  I suppose it is kinda the “Jewish Grandmother” thing to do, but it certainly was great.  I was lucky enough to grow up only minutes away from all of my grandparents, so we spent a lot of time with them and celebrated many holidays with them.

This post pertains to my maternal grandmother.  I have posted before on the subject of corned beef, mostly just giving my grandmother’s recipe and talking about making it.  This dish though, is one of my all time favorite.  I don’t remember what holiday I really associate corned beef with, I think it is Hanukkah.  In any event, it used to be an annual treat to head over to Nana’s house and know that we were going to be having corned beef for dinner.  usually served with mashed potatoes or Latkes.  Can’t go wrong when it is with latkes!

This home made corned beef is unlike any that you get at the deli counter in the supermarket.  I think it has a lot to do with the glaze that we make for it.  Ham glaze, mustard, brown sugar… It makes such a sweet glaze.  I think there is probably something also in the cooking the meat in ginger ale as well, but I am not a food scientist (might be a fun job).  All I know is that, when made right, this corned beef is so sweet and tender that it might even convert some vegetarians. (Well, that may be a little extreme)

I can’t think of any other food that really makes me feel as warm and fuzzy as my Nana’s home made corned beef.  It reminds me of my family and being together and it is quite yummy-in-the-tummy.  It isn’t terribly hard to make and it is lots of fun to eat!

I am dedicating this post to a blogger friend of mine, Ella Unread as she has been longing for good cookies.  This recipe is one of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes.  The original recipe comes from the people at America’s Test Kitchen.  That is probably what makes the recipe a little more technical, but it is really yummy.  It is kind of a fun recipe to make as well.

You don’t have to do some of the things like bake on parchment paper, but it does help you clean up.  I did have a friend who, when making this recipe forgot that she was using baking sheets with no sides so when she went to turn the pans, the cookies (on the parchment paper) went flying around the kitchen.  I got a phone call that went something along the lines of “Ummm, Alex, how do I get chocolate chips off of the ceiling?”  Yeah, you should pay attention to that.

[recipe-show recipe=tcchocchip]

I haven’t actually had the time to bake this weekend yet, but I may tomorrow when we have a day off from the theatre.  I do get to do some fun cooking today though as I host a BBQ at the theatre between the shows.  It has become a tradition that we started during Les Mis when we didn’t have a lot of time between shows.  Now of course we just do it for fun on the two-show-days.  So, I get to be grillmaster for the afternoon and then smell like BBQ for the entirety of the second show.

So, if you enjoy some good chocolate chip cookies, let me know!  Also, don’t forget that if you have a recipe to share you can submit it.  I may try it out and feature it!

Shhhh!  Did you hear that?

Yeah, that was my silence for the last couple days.  I suppose it is no biggie as I never claimed to try to blog every day!  However, we are into one of those weeks where time is very short.  We are into working on the final show of the season and then couple that with the fact that it is Passover and guess what?  I have not a lot of time to surf the tubes or write.  So, since I have a few minutes I thought I would let you know what is going on.

Monday night I was invited over to the Cantor’s house for the first Passover Seder.  For those who don’t know, the Seder is a service and dinner to celebrate Passover.  This is the second year running that I have been invited by the cantor and his wife to celebrate with them and their other guests.  Thankfully, with the current schedule for hang and load-in at the theatre, I was able to move around my work calls so that I could go to the cantor’s for the seder.  There are definite benefits to running your own department!  While it is not quite the same as being with my family, I don’t know if there is any place that is any more welcoming and fun to spend this holiday!

In my traditional style I arrived early and was happy to be put to work helping to set up and prepare food.  I like helping out around the kitchen, and given that the cantor’s wife is a little to short to see over the pot of soup, she was very appreciative of the help.  Besides, it is matzah ball soup, you just can’t go wrong with that!

The Seder itself was very fun and interesting.  I really enjoy the insight that is brought to the text and the ritual by the cantor.  We had a lot of very interesting conversations and of course we had plenty of singing.  It is actually written in the text that the rabbis of old would sit up and tell the story of Passover over and over until it was time for the morning prayers.  Form this we learn that there is always something to learn no matter how well you know the story.  Also, I think it is the justification for how long the cantor’s seder goes.  I don’t think we got to the eating part until about 10PM.  It didn’t really matter though as we were having a good time.  I ended up bowing out at around midnight and they were still singing!

Tuesday started off with a bang.  I totally forgot about the production meeting that we were supposed to have that morning until my computer and my phone started beeping at me.  At least I was awake!  I threw on some clothes and raced up to the theatre and made it in time to not owe donuts or bagels next time.  I was also really happy to see that our TD had brought bagels, since I hadn’t had the chance to eat anything as I rushed out the door.  In fact, I was moving so fast I didn’t even tie my shoes!  Ironically, it was probably a meeting that I could have gotten away with not being at and I didn’t really have anything to say and no one really hand anything for me.  Such is the way of things I guess.  After the meeting I had time to head back home to actually shower and put on clean clothes.

So we started hang a day late (yesterday) and things are moving along well.  This show is not super huge even though it is a big musical, so we are happy.  I even managed to find the time to head over to Skyline High School to do a little workshop on VectorWorks yesterday as well.  It is just the being at the theatre until after midnight that is a killer.  If we hadn’t had to ferry weight up to loading deck to fly out our last to electrics, life would have been easier.  It happens.

So this is what my life is looking like right now.  I should have a little free time next week and then back to the grind.  I am sure that I will find some time to do some writing in there, so stay tuned!