Last week, my boss' assistant came running into my office, frazzled, begging me to go sit for a photo op. Apparently, since it was a Friday, there was nobody in the office to sit for a picture the IT department was taking to send as a "thank you" to some donors who gave us a bunch of new computer equipment. I dutifully left my desk to go, and when I got a copy of the photo today, I decided I ought to share it with you. After all, I spend 33% of my waking hours at my job, and yet the vast majority of the post I write here are the things I do in the evenings and on weekends.
So here we are, me and an embarrassingly small collection of my cohorts (we really look like needed that much equipment, given how few employees we seemingly have, don't we?). Still, some of my favorite people are here: Anna (back row, center), with whom I once served on the Peer Recognition Committee and who sends me fun email links, Michael (second from the right), who was my closest neighbor and sharer of gossip when I was in my old office, and Luciana (back row, far right) my boss' ever-helpful assistant who loves my cookies and baked goods.
Even if it's kind of a lame photo, taken for a stupid reason, I'm still glad I have it. When I inevitably have to move on, it'll be nice to look back and remember my time at the museum, and my coworkers here. Even if my work life doesn't receive as much attention as the more entertaining parts of my life, it's still a significant part of my daily life, and worthy of some attention here.
Each of the last two years, I've written about how amazing my mom is, and how lucky I am to have her in my life. She's always been there for me, given me her guidance and support, and indelibly shaped the person who I am today. I can only hope that when I have kids someday, they'll be able to say that about me. This year though, I don't think there's much else I can add to the subject of how great and worthy of celebrating my mom is, so instead, I'm going to tell you about what we actually did to celebrate her.
First off, I got her this pitch-perfect card from Etsy:
I've gotten really disillusioned lately with Hallmark and the other mass-produced greeting card companies. Flowers, sappy cursive writing, and glitter really aren't my style, and the cards that are supposed to be funny almost never come close to capturing my sense of humor. In the quirky, creative world of Etsy there seem to be far more people who share my aesthetic, and I've recently become a little obsessed with purchasing greeting cards there. I've developed a little hoard of cards that would be perfect for various occasions, and I was excited to give Mom this card I found for her, because I feel like it perfectly captures her personality. She is selfless in her dedication to others, and you'll rarely hear her complain about the sacrifices she makes on their behalves. Like I've said in the past, she's an inspiration.
Then, we went out for Mother's Day Brunch at the Park Grill in Millennium Park, along with Angela, the wife of Dad's friend Joe, who was the best man at my parents' wedding. She was in town for business, so we invited her to go out with us because Mom and I had never had the chance to meet her. The four of us had a lovely meal, and had a nice time getting acquainted. It was pretty clear that Joe is very lucky to have her in his life.
After brunch, we took Angela on walk through Millennium Park, where we admired a new sculpture installation by Mexican artist Yvonne Domenge. I liked their intricate geometric forms, and generally preferred them to the previous showcase of contemporary Chinese works that graced the same location last year. Here's a Mother's Day photo of me and Mom in front of one of the pieces:
Did I mention it was a beautiful day?
Justin, who saw the works last week, thinks they look like giant balls of yarn, and I can kind of see where he's coming from.
I particularly liked that the sculptures were interesting from every angle, and enjoyed the interactive nature of how the negatives space changed constantly as you moved around them.
It was also Mom and Dad's 29th wedding anniversary today, so it was a special day on two fronts. Not only am I lucky to have such a caring, generous woman as a mother, I'm lucky that she found my Dad and married him so I could be born. If not for their anniversary, there would be no Mother's Day for either of us! So, Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad, and Happy Mother's Day to you, Mom!
In case you hadn't notice, I've been really busy lately, and as much fun as it's been to be out and about, taking advantage of all the interesting activities going on in the city, all those movies, theatrical productions, and restaurants cost money. I had a bit of a rude awakening this week when I received a credit card bill for $1500, about as much money as I make in an entire month. Life in the big city is expensive! Clearly, it is time to scale back and stay home more. Time to get my recessionista on!
So tonight, instead of going out with Justin, we decided to stay in and do dinner and a movie the cost-effective way -- by cooking at home and watching a DVD from Justin's collection. I'd had my eye on a garlic-mustard glaze for grilled meat from Smitten Kitchen for a while now (it's been in my New Year's resolution recipe queue for months), so I decided to give that a whirl, along with the hasselback potatoes that have been all over the blogosphere lately, and Mom's recipe for green beans with bacon.
Very, very rarely do I prepare meals that involve a meat and two side dishes. Although I have few qualms about sinking time into elaborate baking projects, when it comes to main courses, I just can't be bothered. Generally, the most amount of dishes I like to dirty to get dinner on the table is two, and that's if I'm making pasta and need one for the sauce and one for the noodles. Also, I really hate touching raw meat, so basically every dish I make that involves meat has either ground beef or turkey, or sausage, which means I adhere to a pretty basic diet of soups, pastas, tacos, taco salads, and sandwiches.
That's why I felt like I needed to document this meal for posterity -- because such occurrences are a rarity around here. Oh, and the meal was delicious, by the way; I've got skills, I just elect not to use them very often.
Somewhere along the line, I got used to always having plans for Friday night. Where I once spent the end of my week parked in front of the television watching marathons of Say Yes to the Dress (kind of pathetic, I know, but I was single), my Friday nights have been occupied with friends, dinners out, theater, and general merriment. However, tonight, I found myself home alone, with nothing to do. Instead of vegging out with an evening of bad reality television, I decided to at least do something productive and make some dessert.
After last week's caldo gallego adventure, I've felt a bit of an impetus to make better use of my cookbook collection, which generally sits around gathering dust. For Valentine's Day, Justin gave me my own copy of Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, after he checked a copy out from the library for me when I wanted to make the root beer Bundt cake featured inside. There were several other tempting desserts featured in the book that I filed away for future reference, and tonight seemed like as good a night as any to give one a try.
I opted to make Baked's Peanut Butter Crispy Bars, since they could be made without waiting for any butter to come to room temperature (sometimes I just don't have the patience to wait), and because Rice Krispies were on sale at the grocery store. They also entailed candying the Rice Krispies instead of binding them together with melted marshmallows in the traditional way, and I've been wanting to learn my way around a candy thermometer and overcome my fear of melted sugar. Besides, peanut butter and chocolate are like the pork chops and applesauce of the dessert world -- some foods are just meant to be consumed together.
Ultimately, I was surprised by how easy this recipe was to prepare. Although it had a lot of steps, and required chilling the bars in the fridge for an hour between layers, everything came together really simply. Baked bills this as the most popular bar at their eponymous bakery in Brooklyn, and I can see why -- the flavor is reminiscent of an over-sized, more decadent, and crispy Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. If you are a die-hard Reese's fan, or are otherwise fond of the classic pairing of chocolate and peanut butter, you should consider giving these a try; they're well worth the effort.
Peanut Butter Crispy Bars adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking For the crispy crust: 1 3/4 c. Rice Krispies 1/4 c. sugar 3 tablespoons light corn syrup 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted For the milk chocolate peanut butter layer: 5 oz. good quality (i.e. not Hershey's) milk chocolate, chopped 1 c. creamy peanut butter
For the chocolate icing: 3 oz. semisweet or dark chocolate, chopped 1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Make the crispy crust: 1. Lightly spray a paper towel with Pam and use it to rub the bottom and sides of an 8 or 9-inch square baking pan. 2. Put the cereal in a large bowl and set aside. 3. Pour 1/4 cup water into a small saucepan. Gently add the sugar and corn syrup, being careful not to let any sugar or syrup get on the sides of the pan, and use a small wooden spoon to stir until just combined. Put a candy thermometer in the saucepan and cook over medium high heat, bringing mixture to a boil. Cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 235 degrees F. 4. Remove from heat, stir in the melted butter, and pour the mixture over the cereal. Working quickly, stir the cereal until thoroughly coated, then pour it into the prepared pan. Using your hands, press the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Let the crust cool to room temperature while you make the next layer.
Make the milk chocolate layer: 1. In a large glass bowl, stir together the chocolate and peanut butter. Place over a pot of simmering water and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until smooth and combined. 2. Remove from heat and stir for about 30 seconds to cool slightly. Pour the mixture over the cooled crust and smooth the surface. 3. Put the pan in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until the layer hardens.
Make the chocolate icing: 1.In a large glass bowl, stir together the chocolate, corn syrup, and butter. Place over a pot of simmering water and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until smooth and combined. 2. Remove from heat and stir for about 30 seconds to cool slightly. Pour the icing over the peanut butter layer and smooth until even. 3. Put the pan into the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until topping hardens. 4. Cut into 9 squares and serve. Bars should be stored in the refrigerator, covered tightly, for up to 4 days.
To quote one of my most beloved musicals, "I have always been a woman who arranges things." I feel like I've been obsessively scheduling myself this spring, but with a city full of possibilities and a indulgent partner to explore them with, it's hard to turn down all the opportunities to go out and experience what the city has to offer. Tonight, for instance, I tackled another one of the items that I'd long ago penciled into my 2011 to-do list -- seeing Spring Awakening for a second time when it came through town.
Some of the items on my list are more negotiable than others; I wouldn't be crushed if I didn't get around to them (though, so far, I haven't missed a single event on my checklist, which is organized by month), but Spring Awakening fell into the "must do" category. Ever since I saw it with Natasha two years ago, it's become one of my favorite musicals. I listen to the soundtrack all the time on my iPod, and it introduced me to Lea Michele, and was thereby my gateway into Gleekdom. There was no way I was going to miss an opportunity to see it in person again; in fact, the show has sort of become my new Les Miserables.
From the very beginning of the year, I stalked the Broadway in Chicago website waiting to see when tickets would go on sale, and the moment they did, I clicked over to Ticketmaster to get the best, full-price seats I could find. Last time, I had miserable balcony seats and could barely see a thing (the fact that I loved the show anyway was a testament to its greatness), so this time I wanted to be assured of an ideal vantage point. I ended up snagging a pair of seats in the first row of the dress circle, which was ideal, because it meant no one was sitting in front of us. Although I find myself in love with a very tall man, I do not love sitting behind other tall people at the theater...
In the week leading up to the show, I was practically bubbling over with excitement to share one of my favorite things with my favorite guy, and thankfully, the production did not disappoint. If anything, the singers featured this time were better than those I saw the first time around, particularly Elizabeth Judd, who was cast as Wendla, the female lead. She was no Lea Michele by any stretch of the imagination, but she had the vocal chops for the role, unlike the last portrayal I saw. The actor portraying Melchoir, the male principle, did not fair as well -- he often had to employ a falsetto for the higher notes in his songs. He was still way ahead of the former Disney star I saw last time -- singing was not his strong suit.
The only disappointment in tonight's production was the sound. I don't think it was a factor of the acoustics in the Oriental Theater; it was very clearly a problem with the microphone system. There was a lot of static, and the distortion from the sound system made it difficult to understand the actors at times, which wasn't a problem for me, since I have most of the musical memorized anyway, but it made things a bit more confusing for Justin. I think this could have been a factor of the show only being in town for a couple performances and the crew not having the time to work out all the bugs with the system.
Even so, Spring Awakening was just as wonderful the second time around, and I think Justin enjoyed it as well. It's important to me to share the things that I love with the man I love, and I was thankful to have the opportunity to do that this evening. Who knows when I'll have a chance to see the show again, but until then, I have the original Broadway cast on my iPod, and this Youtube video (complete with Lea Michele!) to satisfy my cravings for 19th century adolescent angst:
It's worth noting that this weird, spastic dancing won the show a Tony for Best Choreography... clearly, dance is a language I don't speak.
I've been more than a little stressed out lately: I ended up taking off work yesterday to dash home and be with my mother for the day when it was discovered that she wasn't supposed to be alone for 24 hours following a hand surgery she was undergoing. Caesar, our dog, is very sick, and needs an echocardiogram. My insurance company and my therapist parted ways, and now I can't afford to see him anymore. I've been trying to plan a visit for Katherine to come to Chicago at the end of the month, but it's been beset by complications at every turn. My lunch bag got stolen. My CTA Chicago Card account got screwed up somehow, and I've been paying out of pocket to get to work for the past five business days while the computer system sorts everything out. Literally, it's been one thing after another, big and small.
However, one thing that never fails to cheer me up is the silly emails that come from the museum's Director of Properties, Jay (he's in charge of facilities management, more or less). Whereas most of my interoffice email is very efficient and businesslike, Jay's emails are usually long, whimsical affairs that require a couple readings to glean their purpose. Jay used to be a priest, so I think he's diverted the energy he once used to address his congregation into sending feel-good messages to the staff here at the museum.
Back in February, when he was emailing us to notify us about building closures during the blizzard, we were privy to the following thoughts:
We value everyone here and wish everyone to be safe during this storm. It is in times like these that Chicagoans really shine in helping each other. I plan on shoveling some older person’s parking space in front of their home just to stick a lawn chair in it and claim it for him or her. Maybe I’ll grab on to a squad-car’s bumper and do some street-skiing. That’s always fun! I hope to look back at this as a crisis averted and maybe gain a silly story to tell. Be safe and stay warm. Thank you!
Then today, I was greeted by the following email in my inbox, which I think is by far the pièce de résistance of his entire body of work:
Spring is here Although cold dulls the cheer But hearts fill with love To the window washers above.
As they gracefully descend Upon our windows they attend So if you see one outside your space Make sure a smile is upon your face.
By helping our museum take in light We feel they are part of the good fight But in all efforts to be safe By all means do not make them wave!
I might still be on edge, and counting down the days until the weekend so I can bury my head in the sand and sleep for a dozen consecutive hours, but Jay's ridiculous poem brought a much-needed smile to my face. I'm a firm believer that we need to look for joy wherever we can find it and then cling to it, and Jay's silly emails are a bottomless source of joy in an otherwise mundane work day. Thanks Jay!
It occurs to me that in all my writing lately about theater in Chicago, I have not yet mentioned one of the greatest assets to the budget-challenged theater patron -- Hot Tix. The Hot Tix concept is a import from New York (bear with me though, it's a good one), wherein the League of Chicago Theaters has banded together to offer half-price theater tickets to the masses. It helps theaters fill seats that weren't otherwise going to sell, and it improves access to the arts by removing some of the cost barrier associated with attending the theater. Granted, you usually won't get the best seats in the house when you order through Hot Tix, but in cases where you're looking to take a chance on something new without the financial commitment, it can be a godsend.
Tickets become available through Hot Tix on Mondays, so if a show is going to offer seats, that's the best time to check. As long as you have some flexibility in your scheduling, you can usually find something that works for you. Since there are no guarantees, if you can only attend on a specific night, or you are celebrating a special occasion and want to be assured of fantastic seats, I'd recommend ordering in advance through Ticketmaster and coughing up the extra money.
I started my nearly obsessive checking of Hot Tix back when I discovered that it was actually cheaper than the original promo code Justin and I had found that inspired us to see Working. We saved ourselves about $20 that night, and I've been hooked ever since. When I saw that Next To Normal, the multiple Tony Award winning musical from 2009,was coming to town this week, I was mildly interested, but when I looked on Ticketmaster and saw that even less-than-desirable seats were going for a minimum of $106 plus fees and taxes, I decided to wait and take my chances with Hot Tix.
I happened to remember to check on Friday, and after a bit of hemming and hawing over the decision, I decided to be spontaneous and grabbed a solo ticket for myself. Even though I ended up spending about $60 I could ill afford, it might have been the most well-spent money I've allocated to the theater all year. You see, as it turns out, Next To Normal is a powerful show. It tapped into anxieties and emotions I didn't even know I had, and moved me to tears several times. The music (for which it won Tony awards for Best Orchestration and Best Original Score), was as incredible as I hoped it would be. For the first time this year, I came home wanting to download the soundtrack to a performance I'd seen, so I could relive it again and again.
Next To Normal tells the story of how one family is effected by mental illness, as its mother struggles to manage her bipolar disorder and hallucinations. The onset of her disease was triggered by the death of her first son as a baby, and she continues to see him as if he were still living with the family as a teenager. Her obsession with her dead son keeps her from ever truly being present in the life of her surviving daughter, and slowly ruins her relationship with her husband, who carries the burden of holding the family together. The mother tries a variety of drugs to help her condition, eventually attempts suicide, and is later pressured by her husband into trying electroconvulsive therapy, which also fails to help her. Somehow, the story manages to end on a hopeful note, but not before putting the audience through the emotional wringer.
For me though, that was most definitely a good thing -- I was invested in the characters from start to finish. The performers were all excellent as well; they were equally talented as both singers and actors. I was mildly disappointed when I saw that my performance featured the understudy for Diana, the mother, when the regular cast member who plays her, Alice Ripley, is the actress who originated the role on Broadway, and won a Tony for her performance. However, when I got home, I watched a clip of her performance from the 2009 Tony Awards, and I have to say that I think the understudy was every bit as talented.
Technically speaking, there was not much of note when it came to this production. The set looked very much like that from Working (clearly, the bare-bones, stacks of empty rooms aesthetic is a trend right now), but at least it provided a clean slate that allows the audience to focus on the story and the singing without distractions. The show is definitely good enough to handle that kind of directed scrutiny. Interesting, Next To Normal was directed by Michael Greif, who also directed Rent, and both musicals won Pulitzer prizes for Drama for their handling of important contemporary issues. Both musicals share a similar rock sensibility, but I found Next To Normal much more relatable, and enjoyed it far more.
Next To Normal is playing in Chicago through May 8th, and there are still tickets available through Hot Tix if you're interested in going. I really couldn't recommend it to you more -- it's the best show I've seen so far this year, and I've seen seven different shows in the past four months. If you aren't in Chicago, keep an eye out for Next To Normal on tour; it's definitely worth it.
