Monday 18 February 2008

Pictures from Ithaca


Having some problems posting, here goes again!

Just found out there is a blog problem, so enjoy this for now and I'll get some more out asap. This is Buttermilk Falls.

Weekend in Ithaca, NY

Well, the family tradition continues, we're still celebrating our anniversary from December! Our friends Len and Susan Mark wanted to go away for a weekend to celebrate with us; we decided on Ithaca since we all have children who attended school there. David and I haven't been there for years so we decided this would be a great time to go. We stayed in a lovely B & B called the William Henry Miller Inn; what a wonderful choice! Thank you Len! Miller was the first architecture student at Cornell and his house proved that. It was built in the 1800's, was restored by this innkeeper and was just lovely! We stayed in the turret room; there was an alcove in the turret that had a bed in it; I would have preferred a chair to sit and read. Oh well, not my Inn! The breakfasts were delicious: each morning there was a fruit, baked with some kind of exotic cream or honey to go with it; breakfast choices were either eggs made into omelets with fresh vegetables or scrambled; French Toast stuffed with a mixture of cream cheese and apricots, garnished with fresh fruit and hot maple syrup. In case you weren't impressed with the breakfast, each evening starting at about 7:00 there were fresh baked desserts, hot tea, coffee and hot chocolate. Always a chocolate dessert, lemon squares, Red Velvet cupcakes, choclate cookies! Wow!

We visited 3 different waterfalls; Ithaca, Buttermilk and Taughannock. They were so very impressive, the power of the water and the beauty of the ice! What an experience!

Interesting story, walking to Taughannock Falls we struck up a conversation with a young man. While discussing cameras, lenses, tablets (need to find out more about these) he suggested that we come to where he works to see some of his equipment. An where does he work?? you guess it Amy, Jon Reis! So now we're into the small world category.

Thursday 7 February 2008

Bee-Luther-Hatchee for Black History Month

Last night we went to see the current production at Stamford Theatre Works. The Show is called Bee-Luther-Hatchee. This is Black History month; historically STW does a production on this theme in February. This was by far the best Black History Month production I can ever remember seeing. Here's some of the information I found online about the show:

Synopsis:The editor of a best-selling memoir by an 80-year-old african-american woman finally meets the author, whom she has come to think of as a friend, even a mother figure. But the writer's true identify forces her to rethink her most basic beliefs about art and race. BEE-LUTHER-HATCHEE. noun. A far-away, damnable place; the next station after the stop for the Biblical hell; an absurd place or an ironic situation located in a particular place; a mythical place. -- Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang
Shelita Burns, an African-American editor, publishes Bee-luther-hatchee, the autobiography of a reclusive 72-year-old black woman named Libby Price. Shelita has never met Libby, and when the book wins a prestigious award she decides to deliver it to her in person. To her profound shock, the actual author of the book is a white man named Sean Leonard. Furious and resentful, Shelita accuses Sean of perpetrating a hoax, while he defends the book as a truthful work of imagination. Their confrontation, played out on the edge of the racial divide, builds to a jarring act of violence.

"In our world of hot-button topics and uncivil discourse, it's rare that you get to hear an eloquent, complex argument where the sides are so evenly matched that you keep changing your mind about who's "right." It's even more unusual to see such an argument laid out in a contemporary drama with well-rounded characters who are more than authorial mouthpieces. The combination makes Thomas Gibbons' Bee-luther-hatchee...a powerful, provocative piece of theatrical writing. You want to run down the street twisting people's arms to see it... Poetic and subtle, asking penetrating questions without simple answers...one of the best plays of the season. It deserves a large audience."
--Linda Eisenstein, Cleveland Plain Dealer

This production definitely had us debating the premise all the way home, and, it is still very much on my mind. If the show ends up in your area, I strongly suggest you go to see it!

Sunday 3 February 2008

Super Bowl Soup a Success!

Well, the decision was made, Moroccan Vegetable Soup! The extra bonus of this soup was a farmer's market held in White Plains this afternoon. So, relatively fresh carrots and parsnips! Very exciting! So here's the recipe if you want to try this soup:
1 TBS olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1-1/2 cups chopped carrots
1-1/2 cups chopped parsnips
8 ounces of pumpkin (I used 2 frozen packages of cooked butternut squash)
3 cups of vegetable stock (I ended up adding 2 extra cups of hot water, the soup was much too thick
salt
pepper
pumpkin pie spice

Heat the oil in a large pan. Add theonion and saute for about 3 minutes, until soft, stir occasionaly. Add the carots and parsnips and stir well. Cover and cook over low heat for 5 minutes.
Add the squash, cover and cook 5 minutes longer. Add the stock and seasoning and slowly bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 35 to 40 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
Leve the osup to cool slightly. Puree either in a food processor,blender or with a submergable blender.

The soup was such a winner that I won the pool for the game! Go Giants!!!