This year for the holidays, we went to southern California. My sister lives in Los Angeles, and my grandparents live in Laguna Niguel. My grandparents cancelled at the last minute coming east for last year's Christmas, so this year we came to them.
I was with my sister and her boyfriend for a few days before the rest of our family flew in. Other than seeing "Love Actually Live" (read that blog post here), we mostly hung out at their apartment watching Christmas movies like Elf, Home Alone, The Santa Clause, and the new Netflix animated film Klaus. But we did go out for ice cream to Wanderlust; I saw the owner of the shop featured in a Try Guys video (here), and since it was only about 20 minutes away, we just had to try it! I tried a hazelnut flavor, and my sister got the ube flavor.
My sister and I also did a lot of baking:
Chocolate peppermint cake. SO good!
My sister insisted that we do fancy cookie decorating. I'm surprised how nice they look!
My parents rented an AirBNB in Carlsbad for the whole family, so we headed there on Monday. It was really nice! It was perfect for just hanging out as a family. We walked around the town of Carlsbad as well, doing a wine tasting at the Witch Creek Winery tasting room (which features Sleepy Tiger Wines, related to Sleepy Tiger Coffee), walking around checking out all the cute shops (I bought a pair of snakeskin-printed jeggings from Blues and Shoes), and eating gelato at Gelato Love (the chocolate banana flavor and eggnog flavor were really good!). We also walked along the beach in Carlsbad and visited Hosp Grove Park to get some nature time in. It felt so good to get outside and be in the sunshine. Weather.com had predicted rain for the time I was there, but it mostly only rained at night, which meant we could get outside during the day.
Our Hanukkah bush!
My sister's boyfriend with our itty-bitty Christmas tree.
There was a lot of cool wall art in Carlsbad:
On our last day in California, my parents and I stayed in Dana Point. We had a picnic of our Christmas leftovers by the beach before walking along the coast and doing some more shopping.
I'm flying home today. Sad to see this trip end, but I'm off to New Hampshire tomorrow for Vacation Part II! Stay tuned for that blog post!
My sister and I in front of the Love Actually Live step-and-repeat
I am visiting my sister in Southern California for the holiday, and she surprised me with an early Christmas present! Love Actually is one of our favorite Christmas movies, and she bought us tickets to see "Love Actually Live" at The Wallis. I've heard of shows in which an orchestra will play the score of a movie while the film is on a large screen, but this was different!
There was not only a band of musicians for this performance, but there were singers, too! And not only did they sing songs from the movie (as well as others), but they even dressed like the characters and played bit scenes while the movie was playing.
One screen showed the movie, the other was the outside of a building, and the long one at the top represented his trip to "an American bar."
And the movie played on multiple screens, too! There were two split screens as well as a long narrow one near the ceiling. Throughout the performance the movie would play on one of the screens and then bounce around between scenes. And the screens would raise and lower to reveal the live actors as they mimicked the scenes in the movie, or the actors would sneak behind the screen and then "appear" on the screen as the movie.
Because most songs in movies are just clips, and the performers were singing full songs, some parts of the movie had to be cut out. That was a little sad when you know the movie by heart and pieces go missing. And some songs they didn't include, including Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You," which was disappointing (but probably due to copyright concerns). I understand why they made those decisions. At least the singing was really great! I was very impressed!
Levi Smith played Sam, and his version of "Puppy Love" was wonderful!
Aubrie Sellers sang Joni Mitchell's "River." This song isn't in the movie, but Joni Mitchell does play a role in the film. The actress' voice reminded me of LeAnn Rimes with a little country twang.
Ruby Lewis as Mia the secretary killed Santana's "Smooth," although it's not part of the original soundtrack.
I was invited to a holiday party where I wouldn't know anyone, so of course I want to make a good impression. The party is tomorrow, so I woke up early this morning to bake cookies for the hosts. I wasn't sure if I'd have enough time tomorrow between all my errands and such.
I found this recipe on the Baker by Nature website. I thought the cookies looked pretty festive, and who doesn't like soft cookies?! Here's how you make them:
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
15 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup + 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries, chopped
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F).
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the dry ingredients; set aside.
In
a large bowl combine the butter, sugars, and vanilla; whisk until light
and fluffy; about 2 minutes (you may use a stand mixer/ handheld mixer
to help if you have one).
Add
the eggs and beat quickly – for only about 30 seconds – until they’re
just combined. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes, then beat the eggs
for another 30 seconds. Gently fold in the flour mixture with a wooden
spoon, stirring only until the flour begins to disappear.
Fold in the white chocolate chips and cranberries.
Roll
3 tablespoon sized balls of dough between your palms to form a ball
(they should be big; almost a 1/4 cup), then place on prepared sheet
(make sure to leave enough room in between each cookie for inevitable
spreading). Continue this process until all the dough has been rolled.
Place baking sheets in preheated oven and bake for 11-14 minutes, or
until golden at the edges but still soft in the middle. Let cookies cool
for 5 minutes on the sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool
completely.
If you've read my previous recipe blog posts before, then you can probably guess which step I skipped. Yep: I was not going to chop up craisins. But the rest of the recipe I followed pretty closely; I even set out the eggs and butter early so that they would be (close to) room temperature. The dough is a little hard to mix because it gets pretty thick, so I'm not sure I had a good distribution of cranberries and white chocolate chips. And as usual, I over-baked them just a little because I always fear that cookies will be raw in the middle. So the outside is a bit crunchy, but the inside is still soft. I'm happy with how they turned out. I hope the party guests like them, too!
Cher is such an icon, so as soon as I heard she was going to be performing at Capital One Arena, I bought a ticket. I wasn't sure if anyone would want to go with me, so I just bought a ticket for myself. I wasn't going to miss the chance to see her live!
I met up with some friends for dinner at Bar Deco before the show (Taco Tuesday!), so we missed most of the opener. I hadn't heard of Nile Rodgers or Chic by name, but I definitely recognized their music! They sing songs like I'm Coming Outand We Are Family.
Then there was a LONG break in between the opener and Cher. I mean, we sat around for over half an hour! Cher is 73 years old; why would she want to start the show late? Perhaps because she already knew (while I didn't) that she wouldn't even be performing for 90 minutes. The woman has been in this business for DECADES with SO many hit songs, and she can't even put on a two-hour show? On top of that, she spent a good 20 minutes telling a funny story about her 40th birthday (so...something that happened more than thirty years ago); I liked the story, but again, I would have rather heard it during an interview on The Ellen Show rather than on stage at a concert.
But not everything was a disappointment. As far as her famous costumes and wigs were concerned, they were on point. She looked AMAZING. I'm half her age (not even), and I don't look like that! She rocked so many different looks:
The blue hair was insane. But check out the rest of the outfit! Image found here.
Um, what?! How is she over 70 years old?! She wore a similar look back in 1992! (see below) Image found here.
Not that different even after 20+ years! Image found here.
I still had a fun time, but the concert wasn't exactly what I had envisioned. I'm seeing Celine Dion at the same venue in March. Hopefully she won't sing too many cover songs!
I love the Christmas movie Love Actually. It's definitely one of my favorites. So I was curious to see a comedy spoof of the story. The improv group The Second City is performing "Love, Factually" at the Kennedy Center this holiday season, and I would recommend it!
Just like the movie, the show is a series of little snapshots into the lives of several couples. Unlike the film, though, they are all tied together by the writer Cassie (played by Kate Lambert) who is re-writing the stories to be more like real-life: i.e. not sappy and romantic. Throughout the show she is guided by her personal Christmas spirit, that of romance author Jane Austen (played by Inessa Frantowski). There were only eight performers, and Lambert solely plays Cassie, so that means seven people were playing all the different roles, which was pretty cool!
Most of the couples do mirror those in the film, but with a twist:
-Instead of Marc (played by Aaron Bliden) being in love with Juliet ("Keira" in this play), he has the hots for Peter.
-Instead of falling for a woman at work, Eric M. Messner's character likes the local barista.
Messner's Colin goes to not one city in America, but three (and meets women in all the locales). Photo credit: Jati Lindsay.
-Renea S. Brown is a senator rather than a prime minister, and she falls for her male assistant. And there's no Southern-charmer Billy Bob Thornton as the President of the United States, but the rival is another senator (played by Anne Bowles).
-When Sarah finally has her chance with Karl, the interruptive phone calls asking if Abraham Lincoln was a real person or wondering why a frozen dinner has to be cooked first aren't from a sick brother but are from President Trump instead.
There were no Daniel/Carol, John/Judy, or Sam/Joanna couples, but there was a story of two senior citizens who met in an old folks home. Not from the original story, but very funny!
Such a talented group! Photo credit: Jati Lindsay
Most of the show is scripted, but there were a few chances for audience participation, like:
-Jane Austen talks to a few men in the audience trying to set Cassie up with someone for a date.
-The ghosts of the spouses of the two elderly people were audience members who had to give word suggestions (on stage!) to the actors.
-While Colin starts in D.C., the two other states were determined by the audience (this time Utah and Wisconsin).
-When their versions of Jamie and Aurelia express their love to each other in the restaurant, the audience helps translate for them.
-Audience members could submit crazy stories on paper that were then used as excerpts from a tell-all book. When TV host Basil Gordon (played by Scott Ward Abernethy) interviews the washed-up rock star (played by Ian Owens) and his manager (Bliden) about the book, the audience-submitted stories become his wild tales (some were, like doing mushrooms with Lance Armstrong's wife, others were not, like calling in sick on the Monday after Thanksgiving to avoid work).
Even though Cassie tries to ruin the good ol' love stories, in the end Jane Austen convinces her that she, too, can find love, inspiring Cassie to re-write happy endings for all of the characters. And she does find love with her Amazon delivery man, à la Legally Blonde.
This show was so funny. It's not too late to get your own tickets and see it for yourself! Buy tickets here.
I love the dark-wood vibe of the Crimson whiskey bar. Image found here.
Instead of just five tastings like at RR, we had ELEVEN mini-cocktails. The event originally said we would taste twelve, but I only had 8.5 and was plenty tipsy after those. Here's what we tried:
Our first cocktail was so yummy! The fruit and floral flavors were well-balanced, and we each got a little love-note! (Shame on me for not asking if I could move the rolls; I can't remember her name or what bar she works for!)
Shelly Caviness from Crimson made our second cocktail, but it was not my favorite. It wasn't as sweet at the first, and I'm not a fan of ginger.
This bartender, Christopher Chapman-Shakra from the Coconut Club, was at the event at Republic Restoratives! This drink was like a mint lemonade, and it had a delectable Rasta man berry as a garnish!
This cute pink drink was a little watered down from sitting out on the counter. My friends and I thought the bartender, Cheston Sobande from CALICO, should have used POM for a stronger pomegranate flavor. The aroma from the large sprig of rosemary almost covered the taste of the drink!
This drink was SO vanilla-y! Emily nicely described it as "a lemon cupcake in liquid form." Jim on the other hand said it tasted like "the Pillsbury Dough-boy's butt hole." Charming, I know. Created by Ian Fletcher from The Fainting Goat.
This cocktail made by Mreaed Mengesha from Doyle Bar got my vote, and I don't even like coffee! I think the sweetness and creaminess reminded me of ice cream or chocolate milk; there was some nostalgia about it, I guess. Dessert in a cup!
This drink was less sweet but very good. It was Jim's favorite, since he likes the bitter taste of a sour. This creation from Andrew Lamkin from The Alex got his vote!
This one tasted like licorice, which a lot of people don't like, including me. The whole thing was kind of blah, to the point that Katy said it was "offensive." Needless to say, none of us finished that cocktail. Created by Aysha Scott from Landmark Atlantic Plumbing.
I liked the cinnamon rim on this one! It was pretty sweet, especially with the pear juice and syrup. I was a fan! Created by Katie Gentsch from Beuchert's Saloon.
This drink from Frank Mills from Roy Boys was one of the only ones using a flavored TRULY. While I like sweet drinks, this one was actually sickeningly so: berry seltzer, strawberry syrup, grapefruit juice...too much of a good thing.
Thank goodness all of those drinks were balanced with some food! The fried chicken sliders were delicious, the deviled eggs were good (and pink from beet juice!), and their well-known pimento cheese did not disappoint. Yummy!
A people's choice winner and Crimson's vote for best cocktail were announced, but it was so hard to hear (and honestly, at that point my head was spinning), so I don't know who won. But in the end, aren't they all winners? As attendees, my friends and I certainly were winning: for less than $30 each, we enjoyed the equivalent of four/five cocktails and great food. You can't beat that!
PS: There was a jalapeño drink made by Paul Martinez from Chicken + Whiskey, but I don't like jalapeño, so I didn't even bother to try it. #SorryNotSorry
I see "The Nutcracker" ballet every year,* and for 2019 I had the chance to see the Atlanta Ballet for the first time. While the story is clearly similar every time, this one had a twist that Marie, the little girl of the show, was dreaming of stories she had read in her beloved books.
The main difference I saw in this performance actually had nothing to do with dance or ballet at all. This show uses a lot more projected images, so much so that at points I felt like I was at the movie theater instead of the Kennedy Center. While it was interesting to see a bird's eye view of the town as if I were at an IMAX, that's not why I go to the ballet. Actually, the images were so bright and the movement so jarring that I felt a little motion-sick. And some of the images were just plain inaccurate: I liked the projected snowflakes, but we all know that snowflakes are hexagonal, or have six points, no more and no less; the show couldn't even follow that one scientific rule.
Speaking of rules, this show did not have a Sugarplum Fairy or Snow Queen. How is that possible?! Doesn't every ballerina dream of being the Sugarplum Fairy? That role was completely removed! I realize there are no "rules" for art, but I feel like the Number One rule of this show would be that a Sugarplum Fairy is there to guide us through the fantastical dreams. (Side bar: the Christmas tree that grows in size was also unimpressive.)
Drosselmeier, the creepy uncle, instead plays a larger part in the story. Nikolas Gaifullin is so good looking, so pretty, that I honestly was questioning whether a woman was playing the part! He seems to be everywhere throughout the show that I began to grow sick of him. And he may have been creepier than the character usually is: he unties her dress earlier, and then he wraps up Marie in his large cape so you couldn't seen them together underneath this "tent." Who knows what he was doing to her under there!
Despite these errors that could have been easily avoided, I still enjoyed the show very much. Here were the highlights for me:
-Party scene: Before we even come into the house, we're out front watching a couple ice skate (on roller blades) and some people skiing and sledding. That part was fun and different, people rolling around on wheels. During the party, the adults play with a Christmas-themed maypole and get wildly tangled up in it from enjoying too much champagne.
-The mice: The Mouse King wore a crown of silverware, and his fellow mice crawled along the floor on skateboards.
-The international dances: This is always my favorite part of the show. The Arabian dance had three men and one woman, which was different. She played a cobra and wore a fishnet bodysuit with gold scales on it, and all three dancers mimicked snake-like movements. The Chinese dance was performed by one woman (Fuki Takahashi) who danced with fans, and two couples performed the Russian dance instead of the usual 3-4 men.
The French dance was very funny, with the rooster and hen couple and their baby chicks. Image found here.
-The flower waltz: Their version included three couples who are dragonflies (the women) and roses (the men), so that was new. I didn't love the use of green lighting (it made everyone on stage look like frogs), but I liked the creative touch.
The botanical set was really pretty Image found here.
-The stars: This was also unique to this performance (since there was no Sugarplum Fairy). The acrobats and light-up tutus were really cool!
I was all decked out in my Dartmouth green for this event!
For yet another year in a row, Melanie Choukas-Bradley has led a nature walks in Rock Creek Park for the Women of Dartmouth Club of D.C. She is a local naturalist and author, and she leads nature walks not only in D.C. but also in places like the Badlands. She is amazing, and I honestly joke about wanting to be her when I grow up. (Here's my blog post about a previous walk she led for our group.)
I love plant identification, so I was very happy that we got plenty of that in our walk this weekend. Here are some fun facts I learned (I learn something new every time I go out on a walk with Melanie.):
The bitternut hickory has a velvety yellow bud, and the scar where the previous bud was looks like a monkey face. Image found here.
Partridge Berry is identified by its red berries, and in the spring they have white or light pink flowers. Native Americans used to use the leaves as a wash or salve for women's sore nipples from breast feeding.
I know that Spicebush smells good, but we also smelled the Beefsteak plant, which is part of the mint family. Image found here.
Eastern Hop-Hornbeam has flowers that look like hops. The tree has both
flowers and catkins (i.e. tree sperm), so the tree is monoecious (as
opposed to dioecious), having both male and female parts. Image found here.
AND there are 20 kinds of Oak trees in this region!
Melanie pointed out some good, go-to plant ID trees which I already knew about. But she did teach me a few new things:
She said the samaras on the tulip tree look like candles when the
light hits them. And the trees can grow so big that Native Americans
used to make canoes out of the trunks. Image found here.
The leaves of the American Beech have parallel veins, which can help with identification. Image found here.
The American Elm's shape at the top looks like a full vase, and I noticed that all the thin,
tiny twigs seem to meet the main branches at 90 degree angles. Image found here.
The Spicebush, which is part of the laurel family, has tiny, round buds.
They are brown or burgundy on the females (and sometimes more pointed) and greenish on the males. The
males will bloom first, and then the females will bear fruit that goes
from green to red. Image found here.
Just like the Sycamore, the Silver Maple likes to be near water. Its leaves have more teeth than the sugar maple, which can be a helpful way to tell the difference between the two trees. Image found here.
The Eastern Cottonwood is related to the Quaking Aspen, and both of these trees have leaves that flutter in the wind (the petiole, the stalk that connects the leaf blade to the stem, is flat, which allows for that movement). The tree has very chunky, block-like bark.Image found here.
The Boxelder is a type of maple tree, although it has a compound leaf that looks more like poison ivy leaves. Its samaras (winged seeds) grow on tails almost, and they make quite the shaking sound when the wind blows. Image found here.
White oaks have shaggier bark than other oaks, especially towards the top.Image found here.
When the Crane-fly orchid is in full bloom, the leaves die back and come back later. Image found here.
Even in the winter you can see the seed pods of the Eastern Redbud tree.Image found here.
Skunk cabbage is in the same family as the corpse flower. Image found here.
The Scarlet Oak, which is the tree of Washington, D.C., has leaves with very deep lobes, and the acorn looks like a child's top. The Red Oak (NJ's state tree) on the other hand has acorns that look like they are wearing little French berets.Images found here and here respectively.
We also saw a few non-native invasive plants, like the Japanese knotweed and Winged Euonymous (also known as Burning Bush), which are both pretty noticeable in the fall because of their leaves.
While we were walking, and Melanie quite poetically said, "Every day there is a new tapestry of leaves." Such a nice sentiment! It was kind of like how Pocahontas felt about rivers:
Melanie mixed in some forest bathing with our walk. She brought out a poem written by Poet Laureate Joy Harjo called "Remember." Here is the poem:
Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star’s stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away tonight.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.
What a fun group! And yes, I am always the go-to "Sorority squat" person.
