So That Happened

So March...well, that (has mostly) happened.  I've been doing a disappearing act because I'm in (not directing, but in) a show that is opening tonight.  It's a truly odd, wonderful play called Dead Man's Cell Phone, which is about a woman who happens to be sitting in a cafe next to a man who has died, picks up his cell phone and gets sucked into his life.  Ever thought technology has made it possible for us to be less connected?  That's the moral of this play.

I act so rarely anymore that I feel insecure about doing so, but even more so this time because I'm the lead.  I've never been the lead!  Last night we had an audience for the first time, and I hope most of them found the play as weird and wonderful as I do.

In the midst of the final couple of weeks of rehearsal, I received this month's foodie penpal box from Ida in Kansas.  I loved this box, and David pronounced it his favorite of the ones I've received so far.  It features--for the second month in a row, yay!--great regional goodies.  Ida hails from Kansas, not too terribly far from where I grew up, and included some great treats.

The Kansas wheat kernels are great fun--crunchy and salty, and I am thinking about ways to incorporate some of them into a sweet and salty granola-type bar.  I've been using the honey straws all week in tea to keep my voice going strong for the show.  And homemade jam!  I'm swooning, although I haven't cracked into it yet.

But the piece de resistance is the chicken poop lip balm.  I'll admit I gave that the side-eye when I first saw it--who wants to put bird poop on their lips?--but was relieved to find on the side of the container that it actually contains no poop.  Whew.  And since I lose containers of lip balm like they're going out of style, it's awesome to get another one.

Fingers crossed and knocking on wood for a good opening night!  When I have my life back a little next week, I'll be posting this month's Cake Slice cake--a delicious honey cake with almonds.

Triage

The day Freud's Last Session  closed at the end of January, I had a grand plan to take a cake to strike--the period after the last show where you take down the set and clean the theatre in preparation for the next show moving in.  It's a dusty, often sweaty, process, and I frequently end up covered in paint.  Once when I was painting the stage floor in preparation for the next show to move in, I literally painted myself into the center of the stage.  Handy I am not--but I can bake a cake.

The Cake Slice's pick for last month was a banana cake with coffee-walnut buttercream frosting, which sounded great even though I was a week behind in making it.  I didn't have time to make the marvelous buttercream before I had to leave for the theatre, nor did I have time to frost multiple layers of cake, so I triaged the recipe and threw the coffee and the walnuts into the cake itself and baked it in a bundt pan.  It was so tender, golden and lightly sweet that it was a huge hit at strike. 

Banana-Walnut Bundt Cake

Adapted fron Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson



This was all that remained of the cake after strike.  David
ate it for breakfast the next morning.

 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (it took three for me)
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla
4 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
2 tbsp. strong coffee

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a bundt pan by spritzing with nonstick baking spray.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a small bowl, then set aside.  Combine the bananas and butter in another small bowl.

Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla on high speed until the butter becomes light and fluffy--about three minutes with my Kitchen-Aid.  Scrape down the bowl frequently.

Add the eggs one at a time, then turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the bananas.  Scrape the bowl thoroughly and add the walnuts and coffee;  mix until the batter is just combined.

Scrape the mixture into the bundt pan, leveling the top.  Bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Cool the pan on a wire rack for half an hour, then unmold and cool for a bit longer.

Serves 12 to 16.

Bouquets of Freshly Sharpened Pencils

One chapter of this summer is closing.  My parents have just left after their annual visit to Alaska.  Another chapter is opening, though;  tomorrow I start rehearsals for On Golden Pond.  I always think of the first day of rehearsals like the first day of school:  anything can happen.  There is anticipation mixed with a little dread.  My evenings and Saturday afternoons will no longer be my own, there will be drama (hopefully mostly) onstage, but a little offstage as well.  It's inevitable.  The goal is that at the end we will have something wonderful.

The late, wonderful Nora Ephron wrote a great line that Tom Hanks writes to Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail.  He refers to the beginning of the school year in New York and says that if he could, "I would send you bouquets of freshly sharpened pencils."  I love that line.  It speaks of the same optimism with which I start the rehearsal process whenever I direct.

It's funny, but I never use pencils--except when I direct.  The notes I write for my actors, to be given at the end of rehearsals, are always in pencil.  The stage manager always writes notes in pencil in the script, so they can be changed at any time.  Theatre is a constantly evolving process, a living thing.

Tomorrow the cast will sit together for the first time and read through the script.  Several of them have never met, but they will spend much of the next ten weeks together. 

In honor of the occasion, I am bringing them these brownies.  They have great texture and a sweetness that I hope the twelve-year-old in the cast will love, but I made them with a combination of Ghirardelli and Guittard chocolates, which I hope the adults will appreciate.

The next time I make these, I will cut back the granulated sugar to 3/4 cup.  If you like a slightly less sweet brownie, I recommend this adaptation.

Rocky Road Brownies

Adapted from Fat Witch Brownies by Patricia Helding

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate (I used Ghirardelli)

1/4 semisweet chocolate chips (I used Guittard wafers, chopped)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup mini marshmallows

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spritz a 9 by 9 baking pan with nonstick spray with flour.

In a small saucepan, melt together the butter, unsweetened chocolate and two tablespoons of the semisweet chocolate over medium heat.  As soon as all the ingredients are melted, remove the mixture from the heat and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs until they are light and slightly foamy.  Add the chocolate mixture and then sift in the flour and salt.  Beat the mixture again until just combined.

Spread half the batter in the pan and bake for about 12 minutes.  While this is baking, add the butterscotch chips, marshmallows and remaining semisweet chocolate to the batter and stir together.  Remove the pan from the oven and spread the remainder of the batter over the bottom layer.  Bake for about 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Some of the marshmallows may burst and spread goo over the brownies;  don't worry, this just makes them tastier.

Cool the brownies for an hour on a wire rack.  Makes 12 to 16, depending on size.

Inspired by Color

Eleemosynary has its preview performance tonight.  I couldn't be prouder of the actors and how far they've come over the last four weeks, particularly the 15-year-old who doesn't have a lot of acting experience.  We had show photos taken on Tuesday night, and as long as you can ignore the fact the floor hadn't been painted yet, they are just gorgeous:

All  photos courtesy of Jamie Lang Photography,
http://jamielangphotography.com/

Aren't those colors gorgeous?  That's the benefit of having a visual artist do your set.  Margret Hugi-Lewis is a genius.  Her inspiration was the work of Paul Klee.

Those hues were the inspiration for one of the few things I had time to cook last weekend, since we were in technical rehearsals.  This grapefruit sorbetto is everything a sorbet should be:  tangy, lightly sweet and the perfect palate cleanser.  See what I mean about the color inspiration?

Wish us luck with opening weekend!  Although we've had our ups and downs, we are ready for an audience.  I even teared up a little last night at the end of the show, it's so darn beautiful.

A quick note on the grapefruit juice:  I used a combination of fresh and bottled.  If you are using all fresh, you should increase the amount of granulated sugar to a quarter of a cup because the fruit is so tart.  If you are using bottled juice, I would omit most of the sugar but taste the mixture before you freeze it and adjust as necessary.

Grapefruit Sorbetto

Adapted from A16 Food + Wine

1/8 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. powdered pectin
Juice of one fresh grapefruit
3 1/2 cups bottled grapefruit juice
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tbsp. lemon juice, preferably fresh

Combine the pectin and granulated sugar in a small bowl and stir.  In a small pot over medium heat, combine the corn syrup and 1 cup of grapefruit juice.  Heat to a simmer, then whisk in the sugar-pectin mixture.  Keep whisking until the pectin is dissolved, about two minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and set aside.  In a medium bowl, combine the remaining grapefruit juice with the lemon juice.  Bit by bit, whisk in the hot sugar mixture.  Keep whisking until the mixture is smooth.  If you are using fresh grapefruit juice, you may wish to strain the mixture at this point to ensure the seeds and pulp are removed.

Chill the mixture in the refrigerator until completely cooled, then whisk it again and pour into the prepared bowl of your ice cream maker.   Churn for about half an hour, or until the mixture is completely smooth.

Eat immeidat