Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat

We just got back from seeing the new production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  I've actually seen this show twice recently.  The Beck Center had a production in 2010.  We also just saw our nephew in the children's choir of a production put on by my husband's high school.  I thought I would be really tired of the show by the time we got to see this production.   However, I find myself incredibly impressed by the technical aspects of the production.

This show featured extensive use of colored projectors.  Huge screens draped down from the stage and grew and shrank to indicate movement.  There were relatively few actual set pieces.  The projections made of for that.  They were so detailed!   The screens actually looked like they were stone, or gold, or whatever they needed at the time.  Also, this is the first production I've seen that doesn't feature a children's chorus.  It actually works really well without it!

Also, the most memorable part of the show was the song Canaan Days.   It's usually my least favorite musical number.   It's slow, and if it's done poorly, it can really drag down the energy of the show.   This US touring company really nailed it and made it extremely funny!    I liked the part where Joseph's brothers were dividing a rat to eat.  When the brother singing the song treats his siblings like a choir, hilarity ensues.

If you haven't seen Joseph before, definitely look into this production.   You'll have a lot of fun.

Churned Ice Cream

We recently started drinking milk from Hartzler Family Dairy.  It's yummy stuff, pasteurized but non-homogenized, so you need to shake it up in order to mix the cream in with the rest of the milk.   It comes in glass bottles that you return to the store for a deposit.   It's been neat because we can have two different types of milk because the containers are half gallon size.  Anyhow, I wander away from my point.  Through Hartzler's website, I found out about Churned Ice Cream in Cleveland, which just happens to use their milk.

I was really looking forward to the ice cream because the website lists a huge amount of exotic flavors.  I really wanted to try the rosemary garlic, but it was already gone for the season.  However, we ended up trying lots of other neat flavors.

My ice cream was pretty much breakfast in a cup.  The scoop on top is maple bacon with french toast.  It really does taste like french toast with bacon and maple syrup.  They even served it with little bacon bits on top!

The scoop on the left is peanut butter and jelly.   It's honey peanut butter with raspberry jam and some bread in there.   I ended up buying a pint to go home.  I was looking for a good peanut butter and jelly ice cream, and I haven't seen one since I lived on the east coast.  A local market is going to be carrying Churned's ice cream soon, so I'll have not problem obtaining it.

The scoop in front is Cap'n Crunch.  It has the cereal pieces in it and the ice cream is nicely milky, like would be in your bowl at breakfast time.

The last scoop (on the right) was my favorite, brown butter with lavender brittle.  Jeni's makes a similar flavor, but uses almond brittle instead.  The lavender doesn't overwhelm the flavor of the brown butter, which is sweet and salty at the same time.  The brittle pieces are actually soft and you get a lot of pieces per scoop of ice cream.

This was Steve's bowl.   The scoop on top is the peanut butter and jelly.  The bright orange one in front is tropical sorbet, with coconut, mango, banana, passion fruit, and pineapple.   The scoop to the left is the black forest with dark chocolate ice cream, almonds, and cherries.   The one to the right is the coconut brownie.  We didn't even realize it was vegan!

I can't wait to go back and try more flavors!

No. 1 Pho

Tonight we had dinner at No. 1 Pho.   Steve and I had been meaning to go, and Madge suggested that we meet up there.   No. 1 Pho is actually the first restaurant I've written about that doesn't have its own website.  The link above goes to a pdf of their menu on Asia Town Cleveland's website.  The menu in the restaurant has at least 2 more pages than this file.

Pictured above is my order, the stuffed crispy noodles.  It had onion, squid, shrimp, fish balls, broccoli, and I think chicken sauce.  The noodles are dry, and you basically mix everything up.   It's way too much food for one person.   I'm going to have at least 3 more servings from the leftovers I brought home.

I also had a strawberry bubble tea.

Steve had a salty lemon drink.  It's salty in a caramel or butterscotch way.   Normally, I like salty sweets, but lemon isn't exactly one of my favorites.  Steve liked it though.   It's very interesting and you should definitely try it just for the experience.

Steve had the spicy squid curry.  It wasn't as spicy as he was expecting, but he enjoyed it.  He also had leftovers, looks like about 2 to 3 servings for later.

Madge had the meat ball vermicelli, served with spicy sauce and the shrimp rolls.  The meat balls were more like wedges.   She also got to take some home for later.
The service was fast and the atmosphere was comfortable.   Next time we visit I'll actually order pho.

Carrie the Musical

Let me start by saying that this is the best musical about a telekinetic revenge rampage that I have ever seen!  Actually, it's the only musical of that type that I've ever seen.   The Beck Center for the Arts does an amazing amount of edgy theater, and Carrie the Musical is not to be missed!

I've never seen the movie, but the image of Sissy Spacek as Carrie at the prom, is one of the most remembered images in Hollywood history.  This show gets down to the true emotion of how the events happened. 

Carrie is a school outcast, raised by a fanatically religious mother.  After she gets her first period in the gym shower, the other girls mock her and throw tampons at her.  One girl, Sue, feels bad afterwards, and tries to make things right by apologizing and having her boyfriend take Carrie to the prom.  Chris, the lead female bully, gets cut out of prom because she doesn't apologize for her actions.   She decides to arrange the pigs blood incident at prom in order to get her revenge.  We all know how that ultimately works out.

I really loved this show!   I am curious how long it takes to get all that stage blood out of the dress for 3 shows a week.  You can appreciate the show without having read the book or seen the movie (or movies as I've now learned).  Go see it!

Valentine's Day at Georgetown

Yesterday, Steve and I went to Georgetown to celebrate Valentine's Day.  This is the restaurant that we went to a couple of years ago that inspired me to start this blog.  We even got the same waitress and she remembered us.

We started the evening with an amuse-bouche of broccoli cheddar soup.  Very delicious and pleasantly warm.  Just enough for a taste to get the appetite whetted.

The bread was nice.  I think the butter had a sort of tomato-esque flavor to it.  The bread was sourdough, soft in the middle with a pleasantly crisp crust.

We resolved that tonight we would order dessert, so we skipped the appetizers to make sure we had room.  Steve got filet Mignon.  The some of the potatoes were blue in color.   It was nicely tender.

I decided to have the roast duck.  That was delicious!   It was ever so savory, with walnuts, apples, foise gras, and water chestnuts. 

Steve and I have different tastes when it comes to dessert.   He ordered the flour-less chocolate cake with coffee ice cream.   He enjoyed it.

However, it was dwarfed by the impressive plating of my vanilla mousse with mixed berries and chocolate dipped honeycomb.  The mouse had a nice mouth feel and perfectly complimented by the strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

This is a closeup of the honeycomb.

The portions were generous enough for each of us to have lunch today.  Let's call it four meals!  We'll definitely be coming back.

87 West

Last night a friend and I went out to 87 West.  The food was tasty and not too expensive.  The restaurant is a wine bar, and they have a nice selection of drinks.   Pictured above is their chicken breast sandwich with gouda, roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions, arugula, and balsamic aioli.  It was a good portion for splitting.

Each of had a bowl of french onion soup.  I wasn't able to finish mine and brought it home for later.  I would like to order their dessert next time.  They have a bananas Foster that I would like to try.

Porgy and Bess

Yesterday we saw the national tour of George and Ira Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.  That was awesome!  Ever since it was released early in the century, there has been debate over whether the show is a musical or an opera.   Gershwin did sub title it as a folk opera, but the show is well accepted by musical theater venues as well as opera houses. 

I wen into the show not knowing much about the story.   It takes place in the deep south, where the Gullah communities face racism as they keep their traditions alive.  

Bess is a woman with a past of drinking and dope using.  She witnesses her man at the time, Crown, murder a man, so she hides in the community of Catfish row.  No one will take her in while Crown is laying low, except for Porgy, a man with a congenital limp.   They eventually get together and bring themselves happiness.  This unlikely couple goes through some trials that I can't go into here without completely spoiling the entire show.

The vocal work is excellent, more operatic in style.  This complements well with the more traditional Broadway style musical dancing.   It'll touch your heart.  Go see it!