During Safeway's Monopoly game, I got a coupon for a brick of cream cheese. But I didn't want to eat more bagels, so I wasn't sure what to do with it. Cakescottage had my answer. These cream cheese cookies really are easy to make!
Ingredients
½ Cup Unsalted Butter (*room temperature)
3 oz. Regular Cream Cheese (*room temperature)
1½ Cups Confectioner’s Sugar
½ tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg (*room temperature)
½ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1¾ Cups All – Purpose Flour
Instructions
Heat oven to 375°F and line cookie sheets with
parchment paper.
Cream butter and cream cheese in mixer bowl. Slowly add
sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in egg, add flour, baking powder and
vanilla. Mix Well.
Chill dough for at least 1 hour. Shape into 1 inch
balls, and dredge in superfine sugar or caster sugar.
Place on lined cookie sheet, spacing them about 1½
inches apart. One thing I don’t want you to skip, however, is slightly
flattening the dough balls before baking.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges become
slightly golden brown. They should look slightly under-baked (otherwise
they won't be chewy).
Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet then transfer to wire
racks to cool completely.
If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar once cooled,
but do not overdo it because they are sweet enough.
You’ll get no less than 2 dozen cookies out of this
dough. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days.
As usual, I did a few things my own way. First of all, a brick of cream cheese is eight ounces, and this recipe only calls for three. So I doubled the whole recipe so I could at least use the majority of the cream cheese. I didn't bother "dredging" the dough through sugar or sprinkling them with powdered sugar afterwards, just because of the mess that could cause. I'll admit that the cookies probably are better with the powdered sugar on the outside, but they aren't bad without; you can just taste the cream cheese savory flavor a little bit. And seeing as the dough needs to cool for at least an hour, I didn't bother preheating the oven until after that; clearly that would be a waste of energy otherwise!
These are similar to "butter ball" cookies. I'd recommend them!
I had seen The Second City perform at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue several years ago. The first time I really liked them, and the second time I was a bit apathetic. But I decided to get tickets to see the group at the Kennedy Center since I had never seen them in a venue like that before.
The introduction was very strange, with strobe lights flickering and the actors stumbling about as if they were caught in a tornado. This continued throughout the show for their transitions, and it was off-putting from the start.
The first actress wasn't there, so her understudy replaced her. Images from here.
You can see that there were a mix of men and women in the group, and yet several times the women played male roles. My first reaction was, "If there are men on stage, why can't the men play the male roles." But then on second thought, I wondered, "Ok, if the women have to play male roles, why don't the men ever play female roles?" It was like they were trying to be half-progessive.
I wish there were actually more improv incorporated into the skits. It's not that the skits aren't funny: most of them are. I especially liked their bits on Germans proclaiming they're not the assholes of the world anymore, or their spin-off on Marie Kondo. The Magic Mike bar mitzvah skit and an HR lady having to deal with nudity at the international space station were also hilarious. But those were clearly scripted and practiced.
Some of the skits were clearly created (or at least adapted) to fit Washington, D.C., like a brawl between a Capitals and a Penguins fan or a bus tour visiting the Washington Monument. But even those weren't improvisational. There were only a few times that the group even asked the audience for ideas, and sometimes the actors claimed to have heard a suggestion from the crowd that they clearly already had in mind to act! So that was a scam. They also had an audience member come up to speak some Spanish (that's not funny, and his Spanish wasn't even that good), and then another audience member just had to read out a script that, again, had already been written out beforehand.
I was entertained, and I laughed some. But honestly, I've seen better ad-libbed material in stand-up routines than from this group that's supposed to be about improv comedy.
I had never heard of the Picnic Theatre Company before, but I certainly knew the story of The Great Gatsby. I had originally wanted to see this performance at Dumbarton House, but the tickets sold out. However, I was very pleased that the other venue was the Dupont Underground, which is a very cool space.
Even though the stage was small, the group did a good job of transitioning between locations by projecting different images on the wall behind the stage. Image found here.
With a small venue and I'm sure a tight budget, this version of Gatsby could not be as grand as the movies have been able to make it (both the Robert Redford and Leonardo DiCaprio films). But the grandest part of this performance were the costumes. I would wear every single one of those art deco dresses!
The cast was enthusiastic, but some of the actors didn't really fit their characters. Christina Sevilla (in the green dress above) doesn't look like Daisy Buchanan at all, and her acting skills were sub-par. And Antonio Olivo (middle of the back row in the tie), who is supposed to play the young Nick Carraway, is at least in his 40s (Nova Daly in the white blazer as Gastby also seemed a little old). Emily Lenzner (back row, fourth from the right) who played Jordan Baker (a character I had completely forgotten about) was my favorite by far. And the friend I went with actually knows Charles Kovatch (back row, second from the left), who played Tom Buchanan, in real life!
I would still be curious to see future performances by this company (their Facebook page says the next play will be in early November), even if I wasn't completely impressed. I still like to support local theater!
This Oscar Wilde play is so fun! It's similar to a Shakespeare romantic comedy in that there are multiple couples in love and mistaken identities threaten to ruin everything until the truth comes out and they all live happily ever after.
I saw this play at the Atlas Performing Arts Center four years ago (read that blog post here). My previous blog post includes a summary of the story, so if you don't know this tale, I recommend reading that blog post first.
The Silver Spring Stage version from this weekend was as wonderful as the last time I saw this play! The set was small but just as charming. We started in Algie's flat in the city, then moved to Jack's country house. I like how creative this venue is with using its space; they can turn a small corner of a room into an entire garden!
Nick Temple (Algie) and Camille Pozderac (Cecily); Image from here
The characters were very well cast, and everyone was hilarious. Nicholas Temple and Noah Rich (who played Algie and Jack respectively) acted as the epitome of Bunbury-ists; they were both very funny, and I loved how Temple would eat throughout most of his scenes. Emma Wesslund and Camille Pozderac played the leading lady roles as Gwendolyn and Cecily, and they were delightfully catty and loving all at once. I may have liked Susan Holliday's portrayal as Lady Bracknell best; she was perfectly condescending and silly at the same time!
Noah Rich (Jack) and Emma Wesslund (Gwendolyn); Image from here
I saw this performance on its closing night, so if you're interested in seeing this story performed, check local listings of another company that may be showing it soon!
I saw Love’s Labor’s Lost, a Shakespeare romantic comedy, at
the Folger Shakespeare Library. I had never read the play, and I didn’t know
anything about it. But I really enjoyed the performance!
Like many of Shakespeare’s plays, this one included lots of
different couples and mistaken identities. The gist is that four men swear to
commit to their studies and not touch or even talk to a woman for three years.
Yet the Princess of France is about to visit (along with three of her friends),
and you can guess that each man falls in love for one of the girls. There is
also a side story of a Spanish soldier (played by Eric Hissom, who sounds just
like Hank Azaria from The Birdcage) who is in love with a servant girl, and then a librarian and some old guy
(played by Susan Rome and Louis Butelli, respectively), fall in love, too (I
have no idea where they really came into the story). Mixed messages are sent to
the wrong people, costumes and disguises cause confusion, etc. But it all turns
out right in the end.
I thought the Berowne character (one of the male students)
was the funniest. Zachary Fine played him SO well! He was very expressive, which
helped get past the old English (which frequently is hard to understand). But
everyone did a great job. Megan Graves as the young boy Mote was spot-on, and Josh Adams playing Dull was, well, dull! And Edmund Lewis as Costard was hilarious. Wonderful
cast, beautiful set, fun story: I highly recommend it! You can still buy tickets through June 9. Don’t wait!
*Interesting: Although this play does not have a primary source,
this
article highlights some items that may have inspired parts of this story.
Saturday
The Kennedy Center's annual "Ballet Across America" series featured both the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Miami City Ballet (I only saw the latter). I had never seen this company perform before, so I was excited to see them. I really liked the mixed repertoire they performed! And as a side note: this is the best looking ballet company I've ever seen. Most of the time there are ballerinas with horse faces or pug noses, but all of these dancers were actually beautiful!
Walpurgisnacht Ballet
This ballet is so pretty and classic, so it's no surprise that George Balanchine choreographed it. 24 women in pink and purple dresses dance gracefully across the stage like standard ballerinas. But partway through, the music grows intense, and the women come back on stage with their long hair flowing, looking wild and free.
The program notes called this piece the "quintessential expression of ecstatic - and dangerous - young love." I completely agree! A young girl (Jennifer Lauren) is dancing playfully, crawling around like an animal or splashing in nearby water. And then the bad boy (Chase Swatosh, who looks like a young Val Kilmer - not the man in the photo above) arrives and tries to show off to her. Parts of the dance seem like a PSA on domestic violence: he's pressuring her, she's trying to slap him, he's grabbing her by the arm tightly. And yet they kiss and roll around on the ground together, and they seem the most in sync during the impressive lifts. They're dramatic as teenagers are, and when he leaves her, she falls to ground as if she actually died. The dancers truly became their characters!
This piece, choreographed by Justin Peck, was inspired by the street art of Shepard Fairey (or Obey Giant professionally). You can see the art in the background, which for me evoked light (from the sun) and peace (from the dove). This modern dance was very playful and fun, as the dancers ran, jumped, and slid across the stage. Peck choreographed the piece to mimic the mandala art, and I could see how the group would gather and then break away, then weave back together, almost in a pattern formation. I liked the joyful, youthful feel of this dance. I wasn't crazy about the costumes (many of the women were wearing long tank tops that looked like they could be found at the Gap), but the little white slips with piping or sleeves looked a bit more put together and much more flattering. And I'm sure the men were happy not to have to wear their usual tights!
This piece is interesting because it was a collaboration between two choreographers, Jerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp. The dancers are distinguished by color, almost like sports teams: Robbins' dancers in blue and Tharp's in green (like smurfs vs. leprechauns). I must preferred the classic dancing by Robbins compared to Tharp's weird moves (clapping, weird lifts, yoga poses). But it was cool how in the end all of the dancers were together and the moves were melding together to the point that you couldn't tell who choreographed what.
In the program, the notes said that the Miami City Ballet's artistic director, Lourdes Lopez, is the "only dancer ever to have performed both the green and the blue ballerina role." How cool!
This is a great video about this piece:
Frequently when I go to see the Ballet Across America performances, I fear that the pieces will be too modern for my liking. But I genuinely enjoyed all of the pieces from this show! I was very happy to see so much classic ballet, and even the more modern pieces were just as graceful.
I bought tickets for the next ballet season at the Kennedy Center, so I am very excited to see all of those shows starting in the fall!
My last day in Raleigh was last Tuesday (sorry for the slow post). Miriam had to go into the office, so I was on my own for the day. I knew I wanted to go back to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences to see their butterfly exhibit, and I hadn't had the chance to visit the other wing called the Nature Research Center. Here are the highlights from that 2-hour excursion:
The Nature Research Center had these cool displays of different animals and plants.
I didn't know you could put a pacemaker in a dog!
What looks like a piece of wood is actually a piece of baleen from a whale! The holes are from testing the baleen (I think for age?), and you can see the little hairs at the bottom, which help to trap the krill that the whales eat.
The fish at the bottom are called Lookdowns for obvious reasons.
After poking around the Nature Research Center, I returned to the main wing of the museum to visit the butterfly garden. I am SO glad I went back to see this. You felt like you were in a tropical fairy land with all of the butterflies around you! I could have stared up for hours watching them flit about.
There weren't just butterflies in there: there were two turtles and even a sloth!
You'd never guess that this butterfly (see below)
Is actually blue! I wasn't able to get a picture of one with its wings open.
Then
I returned to the apartment for my last hour of Raleigh sunbathing and
ate some lunch. But after that I still had more than four hours left
in the day before Miriam would be back from work, so I headed out again
for some more educational adventures.
I quickly stopped in Munjo Munjo to buy a little gift for Miriam. I think this is the real Munjo.
I had already
passed the North Carolina State Capitol building when walking around the
previous days, so I thought I should stop in and check it out. It was a
brief visit, and the main rooms are where the state senate and house (used to?) sit. But there were a few nuggets I took from the trip:
This statue looks nothing like George Washington.
There were a lot of women honored in the building, which I thought was pretty cool:
LOVE that quote
This room is for the senate.
This room is for the House of Representatives.
View from upstairs in the balcony
There was a whole room dedicated to the state geologist! How neat is that?!
SUCH a dreamy library. Sigh...
This is the office of the current governor, Roy Cooper.
This was Dale Earnhardt's car. I didn't realize he was from NC. He made such an impact on the sport of NASCAR.
I saw there was a new quilt exhibit at the museum, and since my mom quilts, I knew I had to check that out first. Afterward, it made me want to watch How to Make an American Quilt so badly!
This quilt, made by Mamie Dameron, includes more than 11,650 pieces!
The museum noted that reds and greens were very popular in quilts.
This design may look simple from afar, but look at all those tiny, intricate stitches up close!
This one already looks complicated, but as you zoom in, it's even more delicate and elaborate.
And this one looks kind of drab, but it's actually very decorative and detailed.
My mom has made many a crazy quilt like this one.
The note about this quilt said that while other colors tended to fade, this orange color remained vibrant. But eventually the color fell out of style when people realized the dye could be toxic.
Each of these squares tells a story from history. It's so cool!
Mary Robertson made this quilt. It makes me think of the quilts my mom has made where everyone signs their name on it.
Mary Blount Grimes made this quilt out of the fabrics from neckties of past suitors and her own gowns.
While the design seems simple, I love the clean lines and the clear patriotic message.
Gladys Baker and her quilting students made this quilt to tell the story of Wake County, North Carolina in honor of America's bicentennial. This is just a zoomed-in photo of four of the squares.
I think this is a log cabin quilt design, which my mom has made several of. This one was made by the slave Patience White, who only learned to read and write when she was in her 50's (or perhaps older).
This quilt was covered in signatures, like this small one in the middle of the star.
This quilt was made from the ribbons that came with flower bouquets from the funeral of the creator's husband.
Edith Smith made this quilt as a wedding gift for one of the white children she helped raise. But it is unclear what the "H" means, or why there is a single "O" on the quilt.
This was another quilt made by a African-American domestic servant or slave. This creator's name was Margaret Smith.
This quilt is made from the fabric samples that stores used to get when ordering men's suits.
Some of these fabrics are called "Alamance Plaids" in honor of the Alamance Cotton Mill that was built in 1837. The mill was the first southern manufacturer to make colored woven cloth.
This psychedelic quilt is so cool! Eula Mae Bagwell made this quilt in 1902 when she was 16 years old.
My mom uses a special paper on the back of her fabrics sometimes, so it's cool to see that newspaper was used for the same purpose.
Who knew that, because women were already using sackcloth as fabric, those companies would start making the sackcloths with patterns and designs specifically for that?
Sometimes it was obvious when a sackcloth was used in a quilt.
After that, I took a look at the different war posters that were hung down the hall. I liked the women ones best, clearly. Here are a few:
I remember this happening when I was in middle school.
Side note: I'm all for museums having event spaces, but putting a chandelier in a conference room does NOT count.
Then I was off to learn more about the people who first "founded" what is now North Carolina:
I'm a little confused on the difference between stickball and lacrosse...
This rock contains many engravings with special meanings to the local indigenous people. Read below to learn more.
This is what remains of a HUGE canoe that was found at the bottom of a lake. Some canoes could hold 20 people!
This was inside a "treasure chest." Treasure didn't just mean money and gem stones. It included spices, salts, and more.
During this part of the museum, certain pieces would make me think of time-period movies. I especially was reminded of and wanted to see The Patriot and Pirates of the Caribbean.
This display shows how Native Americans began to make pottery that would appeal to Europeans by simulating similar designs.
These bejeweled buckles belonged to Flora Macdonald (above).
This was a butter print to give a design to butter.
This whole house was inside of the museum!
I had never thought about how Americans, who created a republic based upon that of the Greeks and Romans, would use symbols from those ancient civilizations to represent our own nation. These symbols were used instead of the faces of leaders (although eventually our currency did include those men).
As you can see, I only made it to the Revolution in the timeline of North Carolina's history. So clearly I missed a lot! But the museum closed, so my time was up.
As I was walking back to the apartment, I walked by a few memorials and statues:
Then my day was done. I had a quick dinner while I packed up my things, and then I flew home. The Raleigh airport was so small! There was NO line in security (I was almost the only person there), and there were only seven flights departing for that evening. Very different from BWI! My flight was less than an hour long, and then I was home. Such a fun trip!
