Recipe: Angeletti

I was going to go to a friend's place for a Bachelorette girls night, and I didn't want to come over empty-handed. So I looked up "unique cookie recipes," and I found this recipe for Angeletti on Real Simple. I'm sure there's some history as to why these sprinkle cookies are called that, but let's just say they're fit for angels.

Ingredients

Cookies:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

½ cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for rolling the dough

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Glaze:

1⅓ cups confectioners’ sugar

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons multicolored nonpareil sprinkles, for decoration (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375° F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, granulated sugar, vanilla, and eggs until blended. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until just combined (do not over-mix).
3. With floured hands, roll level tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls and place on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Bake until puffed and the bottoms are pale golden, 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
4. Make the glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons water, and the vanilla until the mixture forms a thick but pourable glaze (add more water if necessary).
5. Dip the top of each cookie into the glaze and let set, rounded side up, on a rack set over a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle with non-pareils, if using. Allow the glaze to set, about 20 minutes. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

These cookies are quite yummy! I didn't bother flouring my hands when rolling the dough; it's pretty easy to make roughly-shaped round balls for the cookies. And I will say that I had to add A LOT more water to make the glaze even somewhat of a liquid, but I did end up with some extra icing, so...not sure I got quite the right balance.

I'm not sure why the recipe says the sprinkles are optional: those are what make these cookies!

Play Review: Flying V Fights: The Secret History of the Unknown World

Image found here

I saw this play on a complete whim at the Writer's Center in Bethesda. I knew there was a little theater like that in the area (a friend of mine goes all the time), but I had never actually gone to see a performance there. I'm under the impression that the small group from Flying V Theatre wrote the play themselves and acts it out, so I was very impressed by their creativity and how much work went into the production.

This is a VERY physical play! I think all the actors had several bruises... Image found here

The play is broken down into many parts, each with a little mini-story (some of them do come full circle at the end, though). They are a mix of history and sci-fi, taking us from the late 1800's to today. For example, "The Devil of Two Cities" part clearly is in reference to the Dickens story; the two cities are London and Chicago, and a female Detective Holmes chases a bad guy across the Atlantic to discover he is Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. I loved seeing all of these famous characters in new stories: the Bride of Frankenstein is a burlesque dancer and a WWE-like fighter; the Three Musketeers include Zorro, the Lone Ranger, and a wanna-be John Wayne cowboy; Tarzan meets King Kong while James Bond falls for a female Indiana Jones; a "Wolfside Story" pits teenage vampires and werewolves against each other à la Grease or Thriller, and of course lots of knock-off superheros were involved; Agent J from Men in Black made an appearance (or was it Neo from The Matrix?), as did Dr. Who's TARDIS, the birds from The Birds, and Nancy Drew herself. The cast took well-known characters and stories and made them their own! How cool is that?!

Superman had a "P" on his chest, but I never figured out why... Image found here

Because this is a small theater, not everything can be high-tech. Some of the effects were a little campy, like the puppet squid and monster from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. But I was still impressed by much of what I saw. There were three large screens near the ceiling that would show drawings or images from the different time periods, which kept you engaged during the set changes. There was part of the set that was a big block that was used in different ways: it was just a large step for most of the time, but could be a table in the middle of the stage or give the illusion of a deep hole if pushed out a little from the edge of the stage. The set also included a metal, upright grid that actors climbed upon throughout the play (the play was very physical, from climbing to jumping to crawling, and of course lots of fighting!).

The only things I didn't like were quite minor, and some could hardly be controlled. The guns used in plays are so loud and startling, so I never like those. And I think in one of the skits that was supposed to take place in 1968, there was a voicemail played; voicemail wasn't invented until 1979. One of the cast members had a horrible dragon/double helix tattoo across his back, so that was very distracting every time he had his shirt off (which was often, because he's a big, buff guy); the bad fake facial hair used for some costumes also detracted from the play. But all of this must be taken with a grain of salt, since this is a small, rather new theater company, and in the grand scheme of things for such a fun, imaginative production, these blips don't really mean much. I was overall so impressed that I joined the Flying V Fan League! I can't wait to see the next show!

Here's a review from DC Metro Theater Arts: http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2017/06/13/review-flying-v-fights-secret-history-unknown-world-flying-v-theatre/

Movie Review: Wonder Woman [SPOILERS]

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I'm usually not into superhero movies, but as a strong, independent woman, I HAD to see Wonder Woman. And this movie did not disappoint!

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I've always been fascinated by ancient mythology, so I loved the Gladiator-like feeling of this film (even Connie Nielsen is in it!). The scenes with the strong women warriors practicing their fighting skills were some of my favorites. And I liked the discussion of ancient gods, and how Wonder Woman (named Diana) was made from clay and Zeus brought her to life. I did a little research into the goddess Diana, goddess of the hunt and childbirth, but I'm still not sure if she is any inspiration for Wonder Woman, or they just happen to share the same name...

The main gist of the movie is that the Amazons live safely on their own little island, but a pilot crashes there (he's an American spy during World War I). Diana saves him, and insists on going to the war to help stop the fighting (she believes the war is the cause of Ares, the god of war). There are lots of impressive fight scenes, but of course stopping the war isn't so easy. In order to help save the day, Chris Pine (the love interest in the movie) has to sacrifice his life. The bad guy does die in the end, but now Wonder Woman (who is immortal?) lives on in modern day without the man she loves. Sad.

BUT I still liked the movie, even with the sad ending. I love the juxtaposition within Wonder Woman's character of her strength and honor along with her naivety of the outside world and mankind. It was really fun watching her see a man for the first time, learning about what kind of clothes people wear (instead of armor), carrying her sword and shield around in the streets of London, things like that. There is definitely humor sprinkled throughout the film which I really enjoyed.

She's never seen a man before, let alone a naked one! Image found here

Also, I loved that we see a naked man in the movie, but not a naked woman. How many times can you say that? Usually female nudity is much more common. Maybe that's what happens when you have a female director!

I think the only thing that really bothered me was that I felt like Wonder Woman wasn't using her full powers all the time. She discovers that she can create an enormous blast of force when she crosses her arms, and yet she only does it a couple of times throughout the film. Why doesn't she just use that power every time she needs to kill?

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The movie wasn't too long, and it wrapped up nicely. No cliffhanger ending, finally! But, one of the previews was for Justice League, so you kind of know what's coming next (2 hours and 50 minutes of it!). Not sure I'll see that movie, but 5 stars for Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman!

I also love that one of the previews was for another girl kick-ass movie, Atomic Blonde with Charlize Theron. I want to see that one, too!

*All GIFs found on giphy.com

PS: Here's my blog post about Batman v. Superman, where we first met Gadot as Wonder Woman: http://confidenceiskeyblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/movie-review-batman-vs-superman-spoilers.html

National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center

I got an email last week from the Kennedy Center to see this performance for just around $30 a ticket. What a steal: I had to go! Here are the pieces I heard that night:

Mason Bates' Garages of the Valley

He was at the performance; he looks like this, but with gray hair now. Image found here.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find a video of this piece. But here is some information from his website:

PROGRAM NOTES
Much of the Digital Age was dreamed up in the most low-tech of spaces. The garages that dot the landscape of Silicon Valley housed the visionaries behind Apple, Hewlett Packard, Intel, and Google. The imagined music of these tech workshops begins hyper-kinetically yet sporadically, filled with false starts. It soon flashes into a quicksilver world of out exotic textures and tunings that is informed by the music of Frenchman Gérard Grisey (whose imaginative orchestrations sound electronic but are completely unplugged). The exhilarating finale reflects the infectious optimism of the great inventors of our time, who conjured new worlds within the bright Valley’s dark garages.


INSTRUMENTATION   

3 flutes (2nd = alto flute, 1.2.3. = piccolo)
2 flutes (2nd = alto flute & piccolo)
2 oboes (2nd = English Horn)
2 Bb clarinets (2nd = Eb clarinet & bass clarinet) 2 bassoons
2 horns in F 2 C trumpets
percussion (1-2 players)
marimba (with low C extension), woodblock, sandpaper blocks, djembe, sus. cymbal, bongo, glockenspiel, triangle, xylophone, hi-hat, bass drum
strings

Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23

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Alice Sara Ott was the pianist, and she was SO into her performance! I was lucky enough to find a video of her playing the same piece, just with a different orchestra:

Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44

Because I was able to take a nap that afternoon before the performance, I actually stayed awake for the entire show (which never happens!). I did enjoy the music, but honestly, it's hard to go wrong with Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. Bravo!