Summer Eats

Sometimes in the summer I feel like it is harder to find things to cook at home. The main reason is because it is so hot! All I want to do is eat ice cream! My apartment, as most New York apartments, does not have central AC. I have a window unit in my bedroom and there is one in the living room, but the kitchen stays pretty hot. Plus it is a small kitchen so the last thing I want to do is have a hot oven roasting something for hours. That just won't work in the summer!

Tonight I was having one of those "ugh...what am I going to eat" moments. I scanned the kitchen to see what I had and was able to throw together a really nice dinner salad. I broiled a salmon fillet which uses heat, but only for a short time, so that worked well. I had been to Trader Joe's grocery store earlier today and bought a salad mix I really like there. Mixed with baby spinach, topped with sliced mushrooms and raisins for some sweetness and we're on the way to something nice! I also bought a can of Tuscan bean salad from Trader Joe's. It looked interesting and I thought I would try it for a side dish, but I got inspired and added it to my salad. It is a mixture of kidney beans and chickpeas with herbs in lemon juice and olive oil. Drizzled over the greens and topped with the salmon fillet. A little balsamic vinaigrette and I'm in business!

Belts are important.

"Help stop crack. It's the law"

Playing lots of clarinet this week!

Yeehaw!

Cheesiness

I am definitely a fan of cheese. Off hand, I don't think I've talked much about cheese on my blog, but it deserves a mention. I like cheese and crackers. I like cheese dip. Cheese added to pretty much anything makes it better.

Tonight I had no idea what to have for dinner. My in and out and rarely home lifestyle makes it hard to keep the fridge well-stocked. I cook when I can and then try hard to eat it and not let it go bad, but it's tough. Most of my cooking and food at home is done with great intention or else it will spoil. My freezer is full...the fridge...not so much.

So tonight I had a dilemma of what to eat. It was getting late and I didn't really have time to make something elaborate. I was about to pour a bowl of cereal (but the milk was frozen) when I looked through the shelves one more time to see if there was anything interesting I could do. I had two blocks of cheese from my enchiladas last week and some leftover tortillas so cheese quesadillas made all the sense in the world! No more than 4 minutes later - dinner is served!

I love that a cheese quesadilla is really just a grilled cheese sandwich using tortilla instead of bread. But doesn't it sound so much more exciting to make quesadillas than grilled cheese sandwiches? I think that's funny. It's kind of like the whole panini thing. A panini is just a grilled sandwich that is smashed, right? So a grilled cheese sandwich could actually be called a cheese panini. I guess it's all a matter of perspective. I'm sure there are other things that are not really that interesting until an interesting name tag is awarded. Hmmm.... Grilled cheese sandwich? Quesadilla? Cheese Panini? So many choices!

Hungry? Wait a few hours.

It is a crock pot kind of day!

I am SO behind on the laundry.

Boy! I'll tell you what! Working a full time job and being a gigging musician ain't easy! I love this kind of problem - no doubt about that. But I am worn out! It is not easy to work 9-5 and then go straight to rehearsals that go until 10 or 10:30 at night. Only to go to sleep and quickly get up and do it again. The past week or two I have been playing more than usual, which I LOVE! I got a new gig with an opera company and it has kept me really busy for the past week. The show opens tomorrow and runs this weekend and next. Good times! The other problem I have run into is this: if I am working and rehearsing whenever I am not asleep, then when do I work on reeds and practice my part? Maybe I will have to practice on the subway on the way home. Maybe I could make a little extra cash that way?

Anyway - time to catch a few quick Z's.

ZZZzzzz...

Bad news bears! I think I've developed an immunity to my favorite beverage and drug of choice - COFFEE!!! It seems that no matter how much I chug during the afternoon hours I just want to FALL ASLEEP. It's as if there is a magnet in my desk, pulling my head down, down...down...
This is not good! What can I do? Something stronger? Even more coffee? Go OFF of coffee for a week so it has an effect when I come back (oh how miserable that week would be and everyone would HATE being around me - and I would hate everyone and everything - bad idea). So what's a gal to do? Maybe I should give in and take a nap every afternoon! Those Spaniards are smart with their siestas. Yeah, I think that's the solution. Siesta. Think the boss will mind?

On Broadway

Well, we are still having 'weather'. I was tricked by a few days of really nice temperatures and a bit of sun, but that all went away last weekend and we have been covered in rain since Thursday night. They say it is going to stop and be nice for the rest of the week. We'll see. Fingers crossed.

Last week was a fun week for me - besides the few days of warmth. What better way to give an early welcome to spring than to go to the theater! I had a very exhausting week, but not in ways that I should complain. After a weekend of playing my own concerts, Chris and I hit up the town and saw Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music on Broadway. It was one of those things we just had to do. Starring Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta Jones.
I can't believe Angela Lansbury is still acting. I remember her from growing up and watching Bedknobs and Broomsticks when I visited Mama and Papa. I don't remember a lot about that movie (I should watch it again!) but I do remember Ms. Lansbury and her voice as she took the kids on some sort of adventure on their magical bed. Aside from that, I remember seeing many a Murder She Wrote - also starring AL.

Well, the musical was a real treat. The acting was great and there were several top notch singers. I like seeing a revival of an older musical like that - one that actually has good quality music. I can't stand the things that are being passed off as 'musicals' these days. Some of them truly stink and don't last more than a few weeks, but some of them become major tourist traps and stick around forever. They are more like dancing rock shows with cheezy arrangements than anything else - like do we really need a Spiderman the Musical, written by Bono? Then again, it is directed by Julie Taymor, who did Lion King on Broadway and the newest production of the Magic Flute at the Met, which I loved - so maybe I am interested... oh my... the conflicts... I think it was delayed until 2012, so I guess I'll have to wait.

Anyway - I saw A Little Night Music and it was great. I had a wonderful evening, sitting in the back of the theater, peering down at the tremendous performers on the stage. Angela Lansbury is fabulous and barely has to say anything to make me laugh. I'm glad I grabbed the chance to see her.

Here we go again...

A Winter Storm Warning is in effect. A significant winter storm or hazardous winter weather is occurring, imminent, or likely, and is a threat to life and property. Stay vigilant for severe weather.


Thank you weather.com. I'll stay vigilant, but this better be the last time.

Food Psychology

Eggs. I've been thinking about writing about eggs for about a year now. And as I sit here, finishing off my dinner of a spinach feta cheese omelet, I think now is as good a time as ever to address the issue. The reason I was going to write about eggs a year ago is that a year and a few months ago I started eating them. For the 27 years before that, I wouldn't touch them. I couldn't. I tried several times throughout my life, but I just did not like anything about eggs. People thought I was nuts "how can you not eat eggs???". Of course I would eat them in a cake or if they are an ingredient to something bigger, but plain old eggs...couldn't do it.

Then a couple of years ago I decided that maybe taste was psychological and we could convince ourselves to like things. My two big things that I didn't eat my whole life were eggs and tomato (excluding pasta sauce, ketchup, etc.). I don't know why, but I never liked them. So I started with the tomato as my project. I don't remember how I tried it first, but maybe it was a little bit on a sandwich. OR possibly a Caprese Salad which is just tomato, fresh mozarella, and fresh basil drizzled with basamic vinager and olive oil. Now how could I possibly not like that? I loved the idea of it. I had to stick mostly with the out of season, dry, few-seed variety. Those fresh from the garden summer tomatoes must be great, but not for me. Slowly but surely, I included the tomato into my diet and lo and behold I started liking it. Instead of picking it off a sandwich, I would ask for it. I guess I aquired a taste. Success. Next.

Back to the egg. Again, I am a little unclear about the first steps. They definitely include the fact that I had some really cool devices to cook eggs in, such as Boiley. I had to eat eggs occasionally just so I could use this stuff. I also really wanted to like eggs because they are full of protein and I felt like my breakfasts usually wore off by the time I got out the door. Somewhere along the line I realized that if you scramble eggs up quite a bit and add a lot of good stuff to them- similar to that out of season tomato - they really don't have much taste. Enter the ham and Swiss cheese scrambled eggs. Not bad at all. THEN there was the NYC bacon egg and cheese sandwich. Similar to the Caprese Salad - there is no way that I couldn't go for that. The gooey cheese and crunchy bacon masked anything too 'eggy' for me. Toss that on a roll or everything bagel and you are good to go. Delicious. SO... I started going to the diner and trying things like omelettes (fully loaded) and found I could not only handle these guys, but I actually started liking them! So here I sit, eating them by choice.

There are rules and baby steps that I am taking with these foods. I am not going to run out and eat a soft cooked out of an egg cup. And my scramble/omelet needs to be pretty well done. I can't have it getting 'boogery' on me. I think after all this time it's about the texture. I grew up around the sunnysides and I'm really not excited to try them today. What's that gooey stuff running all over the plate? Dad says that's the best stuff and you soak it up with your biscuit, but I prefer my egg to soak itself up in the pan and my biscuit to soak up some gravy.

For now I am really kind of enjoying the egg experiment. Now that I know how I like to use them, it is fun to think up different things to put in my omelet. I'm actually getting really into the breakfast menus, never turning my back on the syrupy things, but taking a look at the world beyond them.

Breakfast in Jamaica includes eggs with toast and fresh fruit.

slushy, snowy, slippy, slidey

What a week! We've had snow and slush and all kinds of messiness. Plus I had rehearsals all week! I've been playing a lot and it's great! Tonight I am playing with the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra. We are celebrating Abe Lincoln's birthday with an All American program including Rhapsody in Blue and Appalachian Spring - two favorites! It is a lot of fun to play these pieces and I'm looking forward to our concert tonight at Symphony Space!

Special Delivery

Wait, wait, wait...have patience.... That's what us single ladies have to do. Always waiting for Mr. Right to come along. Well, today a major step was made. Something showed up that could have some major implications on life as I know it. See, the problem in the past is that I always had to wait and see what was given to me. I had no control. I could seek instruction and assistance from others, but didn't have the tools to make it happen on my own. Not having the mold for the perfect man I was left with little hope.... until today. Out of nowhere, he showed up. At my front door. I now can have the man of my dreams at my fingertips in a matter of minutes. This could be life changing. He has arrived...and just in time.