Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Personal Sanity

I'm taking a personal sanity morning. To get all my papers and bills and mounds of music in order. Rehearsal for The Grand Duchess start on Sunday. I got the e-mail last night. I'm only in the chorus but in short order it will take over my life along with Rackham rehearsal, voice lessons, getting ready for my recital, and this fabulous thing called the holidays! For those of you who are wondering I didn't get in to the Carnegie Hall Professional Workshop but I got a nice denial letter and will be applying again next year. Now I've got to fill out an application for Arbor Opera Theater's Emerging Artist Program and decide what to do about the grad school app to UofM that has been nagging the back of my brain. Off to get life in order. Happy Wednesday!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

A Musical Birthday

Four days ago I had a fabulous voice lesson and realized I really have to figure out taking those French I, Italian I, and German I classes.

Two days ago I turned 26 and had a fabulous birthday party. I also found out that I was selected to audition for the Arbor Opera Theatre production of "Carmen."

Yesterday I had a fabulous dinner and went to see the MOT production of "The Mikado" with DH, DS #3 and CooperMan.

Tomorrow I have an audition to be a supernumerary in the MOT production of "La Boheme."

It's been a good four days.

Saturday, October 02, 2010

Akeelah and the Bee

I just finished watching this movie since it came up in my Netflix queue. The thing that caught my attention the most (besides making me want to watch the annual Scripps Spelling Bee) was this quote by Marianne Williamson:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Gives you a lot to think about, especially from a movie about a spelling bee.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

R. Hirt Jr. Co Recipes of the Month (Feb 2010)

A local "general store" in Eastern Market has monthly recipes that they have available and since we're trying to buy more of our food stuffs locally I grabbed this months recipes. Hopefully I'll get a chance to try my hand at fixing them. If not, them maybe y'all can try!

LINGUINE WITH BACON & ONIONS

1 lb. linguine pasta
3/4 lb bacon, chopped
2 large onions, thinly sliced
2 large egg yolks
Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling

In boiling, salted water, cook the linguine until al dente; reserve 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking water. In a large, deep skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Discard all but 3 tablespoons bacon fat, then add onions to the skillet and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until softened. Add the pasta cooking water and bring to a boil. Stir in the linguine and remove from the heat. Stir in egg yolks one at a time. Add the bacon, season with pepper and sprinkle with Parmesan.

CRUSTY MAC'N'CHEESE

1 lb elbow macaroni
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
freshly ground white pepper
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup Monterery Jack, shredded
1/2 cup American Cheese, shredded
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain and reserve. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9"x13" baking dish. In a large saucepan, melt 1/4 cup of the butter over medium heat. Add the flour, nutmeg, and black pepper to taste, stirring until it is a paste-like consistency. Pour in milk and stir continually until mixture starts to thicken; slowly stir in cheese 1 cup at a time until all cheese is melted. Stir cheese into the macaroni and mix well, scrape into baking dish. Melt remaining butter, add breadcrumbs, season with sea salt and pepper and stir to blend. Sprinkle on top of macaroni mixture. Bake 25 to 30 mintues or until bubbly and golden brown. Remove, let stand for 5 to 10 minutes and serve.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy....Sunday!

Hello all! I apologize for my (once again) LONG absence. It's been a little busy. Just wanted to say that yes, I am still alive. Working and singing lots and trying to plan a voice recital hopefully for later this spring. Today is Sunday so I'm at home relaxing and cleaning after church this morning and an SAI meeting that I hosted. It's my day to be home and just because I'm home and Dean is home does not mean we're doing some ridiculous to celebrate Valentine's Day. Yes, today is the Feast of St. Valentine who was a 3rd century martyr who was persecuted and killed for marrying Christians and, yes, today is the day that a multiple massacres have occurred possibly in the name of St. Valentine. So, no, I see no reason to celebrate the people that I love just today because I celebrate the people I love every day. You shouldn't need a designated day out of the year to make sure that you tell those you love that you love them.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

ALTON BROWN!

Very quick post (and a promise to update on what's been going on the last couple months soon...) about the lecture given by Alton Brown that we went to last night at Oakland University. He gave us a few things that everyone should know about the science of foodstuffs. Here they are:

1. Beware Chinese chili.

2. Chickens do NOT have Fingers.

3. Eat more pretty colors.

4. Anything you can buy is not as good as anything you can cook.

5. Words like "diet," "lite," or "free" aren't real - stay away!

6. Never mix strawberries and watermelons - eat seasonally!

7. "Fresh" and "raw" are NOT the same.

8. Eat more little fishies - sardines, mackrel, anchovies, small tuna.

9. No government can keep our food safe - don't expect them to and don't ask them to.

10. Grow something...anything...

11. Try being a little thankful sometime.

12. Always serve the good beer first.

It was a fantastic lecture with the best of company (Vivian, Anna, and Margaret Mann) and Alton Brown while extremely educational is also extremely funny. We would definitely go hear him again AND we converted Margaret to his fantastic-ness (I know that's not a word) seeing as she had never heard of him.

Happy first of October and Happy Thursday, everyone!

Monday, August 31, 2009

From the City of

Hi everyone!

I am still here. Lots going on since my last post in April. Lots of busy months since then the most important of which involved the Mr. and me moving to Detroit. More updates soon!