I spent this year's Christmas with my family on Maryland's Eastern Shore. My sister and her boyfriend flew in from California, and my aunt and uncle came, too. It was so nice to see everyone, and of course we all celebrated by sharing gifts!
Here's what I got (there was more, like candy and such, but these were the top gifts):
1. UNICORNS! Unicorns have been my thing for a long time (I never grew out of my pony phase), and I love collecting them. My sister painted the geometric unicorn for me. How amazing is that?! This was my favorite gift this year. My sister also made me a purple ceramic bowl with a unicorn head on it (the mane and tail are painted on as rainbows!). My aunt made me the "Fierce" unicorn T-shirt (using a bleach pen), and I also got a unicorn night light and key chain. My family is so creative!
2. One of my new year's resolutions is to take better care of my skin, so my mom bought me one of those Clarisonic brushes (the Mia 2, specifically), and the pumpkin enzyme face mask from Naturopathica (it smells SO good!). I also got floss: not really good for my face, but for my smile? I always get floss in my stocking, which I love because it's one of those little things I just don't feel like spending money on.
3. I go snowboarding every year with my dad in February, so I got some warm leggings and a fleece mask thing to keep me warm on the slopes!
4. This was a specific item on my wish-list. This leather jacket from Express is so cool! I had one of their other jackets for five years, and it was finally getting worn, so now I have a new one!
5. I got more gift cards this year than ever before! Looks like I'll be making purchases from DSW, Sephora, and the Cheesecake Factory in 2017!
6. Little shots of alcohol. Need I say more?
7. Socks. Everyone gets socks for Christmas, right? I know some people think that's the worst gift, but I like fun socks! Plus, when you buy Bombas, another pair is donated to those in need, which is so fitting with the holiday spirit.
How did you make out this year with your gifts? Share your favorite present in the comments!
One of Synetic Theater's claim to fame is that they perform a lot of silent plays. This version of Sleeping Beauty had no dialogue, but instead uses exaggerated movements from the actors to reveal what's going on.
The set for this play was incredible! There were multiple curtains hanging from the ceiling, and images were projected onto them (which is a complete other component to the play that most performances don't need to have!). The curtains performed many functions: they represented trees and waterfalls in the woods; they were the sky full of lightening from the witch's wrath; they are obstacles keeping the prince from saving the princess (like in the picture above). It was amazing to watch the set transform. The set was a character itself!
The play also had a curtain in the back used to make shadows, which I thought was clever.
Image found here.
The actors did a great job. Irina Tsikurishvili, the founding choreographer of the theater and the wife of the founding artistic director, played the witch. She is very dynamic and full of energy, and she was definitely scary when she was mad!
I also thought the fairies were a lot of fun. Francesca Blume, Kathy Gordon, and Emily Whitworth (I think that's the order in picture above, left to right) were the fairies, and they were quite fun. They brought slapstick comedy to the show, bumping into one another and generally being silly. I believe Gordon played the orange fairy, who was the most emotive. Their costumes were fun and eclectic, and I liked that the play brought in fun moments from the Disney version, like when the fairies are putting together a birthday party for Briar Rose (the name of the princess) and keep changing things different colors (see below; GIF found here).
I have seen Zana Gankhuyag (the prince) in several of Synetic's productions. He's very good, but it was distracting to watch him as a blonde (as if we couldn't believe he was the witch's son without them having the same hair color...). I think when I saw him in this play his hair was dyed, but in one show he must have worn a wig (like in the photo above). Costumes can make or break a character, and with the light hair, I just wasn't buying it.
And I have to say that Eliza Smith looks so young as the princess Briar Rose. I actually thought it was a child playing the role! Her petite frame and sweet face give her the appearance of an eleven year-old girl. I couldn't get past it! So I never bought the romantic part of the story in this show.
Like most of Synetic's plays, I enjoyed the show, but I was not overwhelmed. And I usually fall asleep for at least a little bit. This was only a 90 minute play (with no intermission), but it easily could have been made shorter. Some scenes were dragged out, especially near the end when the prince is trying to save Briar Rose; we all know he's going to save her, so we don't need to watch ten minutes (or more!) of him struggling to get to her. So, not Synetic's best, but not a waste of time if you do decide to go.
Read another article about this play from the Washington Post.
This play did not disappoint. It was everything you would have wanted. The play takes place in the drawing room at Pemberley, and Elizabeth is very excited about having a Christmas tree in her new home, even though it's a German holiday tradition. The rest of the family is visiting, from the lovely eldest sister Jane and her happy-go-lucky husband Bingley, to the younger, exasperating sister Lydia, to the studious middle sister Mary, the protagonist of the play. Mary is glad to be with her sisters, but has been feeling lonely recently; she feels trapped in her role as the unwed daughter who is destined to remain unmarried and take care of her elderly parents. But Darcy's cousin, Arthur de Bourgh, comes to visit for the holiday, and he and Mary instantly hit it off, talking about maps and books and their mutual wish to explore the world. A wrench is put into their budding friendship when Lydia tries to flirt with Arthur, and THEN Anne de Bourgh (another of Darcy's cousins) shows up claiming that she's already engaged to Arthur! Conflict ensues, misunderstandings multiply, but in the end, all is right, and you get the happy, romantic ending that you always expect from one of Austen's stories.
This play was so well done! The set was beautiful, as were the costumes. But my favorite part was that the play assumes you know the story of Pride and Prejudice. There's no background, no time wasted explaining who's who and what's going on. They throw you right in, expecting you to understand why no one seems too sad about Catherine de Bourgh's death or knowing why Mary insists that her mother talks all the time (though Mrs. Bennett is not in the play at all). I loved how the actors completely embodied their characters, just slipping in right where the book or film left off. Brandon McCoy's Bingley is jovial and content as always; Miranda Rizzolo as Lydia is just as annoying as you remember; Erin Weaver and Katie deBuys as Elizabeth and Jane are as lovely as ever. But we also get to know Mary (played by Katie Kleiger) much better. Yes, she is always reading or playing the piano, but she is also passionate and curious about the world, and has deeper feelings regarding relationships (and lack there of) than any of us ever knew.
8 oz. Thai rice noodles (I found some by Annie Chun at Safeway)
1 tbsp. canola oil
1 shallot, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp. grated fresh ginger
2 c. chicken stock
1 (13.5-oz.) can coconut milk
3 c. cubed fresh pumpkin or butternut squash
1 tbsp. Thai roasted red chili paste
1 tsp. dark brown sugar
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 c. snow peas
2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 tbsp. fish sauce
Fresh basil, for serving
Directions
Cook noodles according to package directions.
Meanwhile,
heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shallot and
garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 minute. Add ginger and
cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 minute. Add stock, coconut milk,
pumpkin, chili paste, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and
simmer, stirring occasionally, until pumpkin is just tender, 10 to 12
minutes. Stir in shrimp and cook until opaque throughout, 1 to 2
minutes. Stir in snow peas and cook until bright green, 1 minute. Stir
in lime juice and fish sauce.
Divide noodles between four serving bowls. Top with soup and basil.
And of course I changed it to make my own version. I didn't bother with the chili paste, lime juice, or fish sauce, since I don't use those ingredients often enough to warrant buying them. I also didn't add the shallot or the sugar since they aren't really necessary. I used coconut oil instead of canola oil, since the recipe calls for coconut milk anyway, and powdered ginger instead of fresh; I used mixed frozen veggies instead of snow peas, and I added curry powder and cubes of red bell pepper for some more flavor.
I recommend using butternut squash instead of pumpkin, since they are usually smaller and easier to work with (not as many seeds to deal with in the middle!). I also bought pre-cooked, pre-peeled frozen shrimp, so all I had to do was defrost them and then add them to the soup at the end. And I topped the bowl off with some shredded coconut as a finishing touch!
My mom and I didn't have any butter when we wanted to bake cookies over the weekend, but she did have coconut oil, so we looked for a recipe that specifically called for that. We found this recipe on The Whole Dish.
Ingredients (double the recipe to make more cookies!)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
⅓ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
½ cup melted coconut oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup sweetened shredded coconut, loosely packed
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Add the oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt to a large bowl. Stir to combine.
In
a medium bowl, add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and egg. Whisk
until smooth. Add the melted (but not hot) coconut oil and vanilla.
Whisk until well combined (about 1 minute).
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir until all dry ingredients are moistened.
Add
the chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and shredded coconut. Stir
until they are well incorporated in the cookie batter. This is a thick
batter so this will take some effort.
Drop
large rounded tablespoons of cookie dough onto a baking sheet. Leave
about 2 inches around each cookie. Use your fingers to press the cookies
together if they are crumbly. Bake for 8-9 minutes. Do not over bake.
Cookies will look soft but will continue to crisp as they cool.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Then, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to continue cooling.
As usual, I did make some changes to the recipe. We had already run out of chocolate chips and brown sugar, so we skipped the chocolate chips and used regular sugar instead. But we did have little bits of Heath Bar toffee, so we put in a cup of those instead. And since we had already made coconut cookies earlier, we skipped that for this recipe, too. This recipe says to add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, but we did the opposite and the cookies turned out fine. We rolled the dough in our hands to make little balls, and then pressed them onto the cookie sheets. I also recommend using parchment paper on the cookie sheets for easy clean-up. We did double the recipe, so we almost got 50 cookies out of this recipe!
I put "pumpkin" in brackets because the original recipe does not call for pumpkin. But I didn't have any butter on hand, and pumpkin puree can be used as a butter substitute (as can olive oil, applesauce, etc.).
Ingredients (double the recipe if you want to make more cookies!)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (or a little more than 1/3 cup pumpkin puree)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In
a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until
smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually
blend in the flour mixture, then mix in the coconut. Drop dough by
teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 3
inches apart.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly toasted. Cool on wire racks.
I did double this recipe, so there were almost fifty cookies! If you do use pumpkin, the batter will not get "light and fluffy," but that's okay. And I would recommend using parchment paper on the cookie sheets; you can remove the cookies immediately from the cookie sheets onto the rack, but the dough does stick a little bit. And 10 minutes was good in my oven, since the cookies were still pretty wet at 8 minutes.
Since 2011, I have seen "The Nutcracker" ballet around the time of the holidays. This year I saw the Cincinnati Ballet perform this famous piece at the Kennedy Center the day before Thanksgiving. What a way to start the holiday!
I love seeing how each company puts its own twist on this ballet. Most start the show just outside of the house or already at the party, but this one starts inside the kitchen with the help preparing all the food and drinks, which I thought was a really nice touch! The maids were on pointe trying not to spill the champagne, and the chef was running around with a huge cake just about to topple over. Even a maid and butler were getting a little frisky before all the guests arrived!
The party scene was the usual, with Herr Drosselmeyer coming in and making a scene (although he did several magic tricks in this performance, which was very clever!). The boys were given many different toys, rather than just trumpets (although all the girls got dolls as usual); Herr Drosselmeyer non-nonchalantly gave Clara the nutcracker (I was expecting some sort of flourish!). But speaking of flourishes, the Christmas tree was huge! It always gets bigger in this ballet, but this time it kept growing and growing...I thought it would never stop! And of course I liked the fun dancing at the party, especially when the grandparents who could barely walk suddenly went to bust a move!
The dancing doll did not dance as robotically as I had hoped. Image found here.
The dancing bear was not effective either. Rather than looking like a dancing bear, it looked like a man dancing in a bear suit. Image found here.
Once the party was over, the mice came out to play! The baby mice were cute, but their tails were so long that I kept
waiting for them to be stepped on! The mice danced like tough guys, almost like moves from Single Ladies (except not nearly as fabulously). The mouse king was comically effeminate: rather than fighting with a sword, he swatted the nutcracker away with a kerchief. At one point Herr Drosselmeyer came flying in like Peter Pan to get in the fight! And of course there were soldiers to back up the nutcracker, although their costumes made their thighs look huge for whatever reason.
Why were the mice wearing yellow sashes? Image found here.
Image from here. Those thighs made me think of Squidward.
After that, Clara and the nutcracker prince were transported to the snow forest. Children were dressed as "snowballs" and tumbled across the stage doing cartwheels and flips. Then the couple was greeted by the Snow Queen (Maizyalet Velázquez) and Snow King (Patric Palkens), whose costumes were a little less than stellar (rather basic. See below). I noticed in the program that none of the principal dancers were women, which I found very odd; Velázquez is a soloist, so the senior soloists must have been dancing later in the week. I've seen stronger dancing, but I did like how they were throwing snow across the stage and truly adding to the festive theme. I really felt like I was in a snow forest!
The Snowflakes were essentially wearing nightgowns. Image found here.
After the intermission, we were in the Land of Sweets! The Sugar Plum Fairy (Chisako Oga) and her Cotton Candy Cavalier (Cervilio Miguel Amador) were on the same skill level as the Snow Queen and King, and their costumes were just as plain (see below). And why male dancers wear any other colored tights than white is beyond me. White looks the best!
Then it was time for all the dances of the sweets! The Spanish chocolates were up first (I couldn't find a photo), and then the Arabian coffee came out. The Arabian dance is one of my favorites because it's so sensual. This time there were three dancers: James Gilmer was being fought over between Courtney Connor Jones and Maizyalet Velázquez. I liked the play between these three dancers, and the two women reminded me of the music video for Beautiful Liar (see below). There were some moves with a scarf, but there were so few that it wasn't memorable; I felt bad for the dancers who had to be the "scarf attendants," because they really didn't do much.
Then what would usually be the marzipan dance was instead a dance of "Mirlipoos." I'm not exactly sure where the name comes from, but they were brightly colored poodles (and "Minnie the Poodle" followed Clara around as her buddy throughout the show). While certainly unusual, the poodles were funny, showing mannerisms of dogs like lolling their tongues and jumping around playfully.
Instead of Mother Ginger coming out next with her children, there was a hen with all her chicks! The chicks were cute, but I will admit I missed the hilarious role of a man playing Mother Ginger.
Then the Rose (i.e. "Dewdrop," played by Sirui Liu) and the Flowers came on stage. Since this is near the end of the ballet, I will admit that I started to doze off a bit. I didn't love the costumes, especially the garish floral fabrics chosen for the Flowers to wear. But I guess making the bodices green like leaves or a stem is creative...?
I did enjoy this performance, but I was not "wowed" like I have been in the past. Even for writing this blog post, I was looking up videos from other companies, and I saw this one of the Arabian coffee dance from the Moscow Ballet (see below). Now THAT is amazing! I know it's hard to compete with Russian ballet companies, but still: you can always strive to be better!
