Busiest Week EVER (Or: Why I Love VH1)

Ladies and gentlemen, I have just completed a busy, busy week wherein I worked on all four(-ish) of my jobs. That is:

1. A regular work week. Natch. (This week's work included writing contracts, being trained in techniques of inclusion, watching a student production, buckling down and writing more than two scenes in my latest play, and oh so much more.)
2. Mary Kay party! Good food, good wine, good company, good skin care and makeup!
3. Research on Reconstruction-era social history and popular music to decorate the lobby for a play I'm dramaturgin' (KUUMBA Players' Sing and Never Tire, which opens 3/05).
4. Two plays for Helen Hayes: Folger Theatre's Orestes last Friday, and Keegan Theatre's Gdirl from Gdansk last night.

Needless to say, I'm pretty sleepy, and had resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to be able to see my husband for more than five minutes in the week.

However! When we did hang out, we watched the hell out of some VH1. And this was my saving grace.

Remember when VH1 was fuddy-duddy music for old people? A place to go when you weren't hip enough for MTV, and wanted to groove to some Michael McDonald? No longer! Now, it's full of both the crappiest and the most wonderful reality television on the airwaves. (Digital waves? Whatever.)

Now might be the time to tell you that my mother-in-law and I joke about creating a website called "Smart Women who Like Dumb Media." I look at TV as an escape, and sometimes, the dumber, the better. I do have discriminating tastes when it comes to reality shows, believe it or not. I will quickly change the channel if I see that For the Love of Ray J or Rock of Love Bus are on. I will watch Celebrity Rehab, Tough Love, or Tool Academy if they're on when I'm in bed and winding down before going to sleep. But I don't go out of my way. No, there are only two VH1 shows on our DVR, and they hold a special place in my heart.

RuPaul's Drag Race is the best show you're not watching. It airs in first run on LOGO on Monday evenings, and then re-airs on VH1 on Tuesdays. An America's Next Top Model for drag queens, it takes the best of the competition reality show formulas and turns them on their ears. The Dolls have had to eat unfamiliar foods, create costumes out of household decorations, and strut the runway.

This week's competition was game show themed, with the Dolls guessing the prices of drag queen necessities (The Queen is Right), filling-in-the-blanks to match celebrity answers (The Snatch Game), and opening metal briefcases to see if they were in or out (Heel or No Heel). Ru's trademark is as a supermodel impersonator--I'd argue that she does Tyra better than Tyra--and this week, the Dolls had to show off their best celebrity impressions, too. I was thrilled that my two favorites blew their competition out of the water:

Pandora Boxx as Carol Channing
and hometown girl (Great Falls, VA) Tatianna as Britney Spears.


Fan-flippin'-tastic.

I won't say a whole lot about my other VH1 destination, Celebrity Fit Club, since one of my favorite bloggers (Rich from fourfour) recapped so eloquently in his VH1 blog. I would, however, feel remiss if I didn't address the most wonderful five minutes of my TV-viewing week.

This week's boot camp challenge had the two teams trying to escape from a fake-POW camp, while chained together at the ankle. Once they got through two obstacles, they cut off their shackles, cut through a chain link fence, and then run to scale a platform while MUZZLED GERMAN SHEPHERDS CHASED AFTER THEM. Genius. If one of the team members got attacked, they added two minutes to their time.

The red team got through with hardly any problem, except for Jay McCarroll (of Project Runway) getting faux-mauled by a dog. No one got hurt, no one got upset, they moved on. Pretty much the same thing happened to the blue team, with K-Fed (yes, K-Fed) getting fake-attacked. But then, this happened:


Tanisha from Bad Girls' Club LOST IT. She screamed "I couldn't save Kevin!" while sobbing at the top of her lungs.

And then! Sebastian Bach--whom I have decided I want to have lunch with sometime--had the most astute talking head I have ever seen. He looked right at the camera and said, "It's a TV show."

Touche, sir. Touche.
* Drag Race pictures lovingly appropriated from Project Rungay. Go there. Read their stuff. Celebrity Fit Club pictures taken from VH1.com.

Happy Valentine's Food!

Dinner last night was fantastic! Jake and I decided the best thing to do would be to make dinner together; he took the main course, and I did dessert.



The kitchen was mine first (ha, ha!) as I prepped the little cakes we would have for dessert.

After the cakes were in the oven, Jake took over. He made lamb with blue cheese & spinach risotto (risotto recipe from Cucina Rustica). So fantastic! We drank Penn Oaks Cabernet with dinner, and it went perfectly. I found this bottle at the tasting at Fenwick Beer & Wine on Saturday, and it's bottled right here in Silver Spring! Who knew?

We chilled out for a little while, and then I made the rum whipped cream to go with the chocolate-sour cherry cakes I made (recipe from this month's "Everyday Food"). They were so rich, and also went well with the wine. What a great way to cap off Valentine's Day!

Next steps after my new baking experience:

1. Bake more...
2. Look up Penn Oaks Winery and see if we can arrange a tour/tasting.
3. Experiment with more liquors/liqueurs in whipped cream. I'm excited about the opportunities for Kahlua or Cointreau in whipped cream, instead of rum.
   

Local Food-n-Drink

You might have heard about this: we got a little bit of snow over the last week. Too snowy to venture out to the Silver Spring Farmer's Market, but we're there most Saturdays buying produce for the week. We did pretty well with what we had, though. :)

Friday afternoon, just as it started snowing, we walked across the street to Mi Rancho. Man, is it ever satisfying! Great atmosphere, good food, great company. They make their tortillas right up front, too, and there are always kids watching. Very family-friendly. And they make you wear a bedazzled sombrero on your birthday.

Alcohol for our week-o-snow was provided by Lennox Beer-Wine and Fenwick Beer & Wine. Both close by (Lennox is on the corner of Colesville & East-West; Fenwick is two blocks from us), and both with very different atmospheres.

Lennox's environment is bright, fluorescent, cheerful, and mass market. Plenty of cold beer in the fridge, and plenty of laughs from behind the counter. Fenwick is cozy and warm; the owner always has a kind word and a recommendation for a small-production or craft wine or beer. Great prices for bottles you can't find a lot of locally. They also have tastings every Friday.

Delish!

Snowbound Food UPDATE!

I know you were all salivating for an update of our turkey leg-rosemary carrot-mashed potatoes-lemon peas dinner. So, here it is! Absolutely delicious. Thanksgiving in February.

On the table:


On the plate:
Washed down with pinot noir. Eaten to the dulcet tones of our next-door neighbors' TV. Our made-up game of Name-That-Tune: Movie Edition proved that their movie of choice was Back to the Future. (Great choice, but I really shouldn't be able to hear it through my wall.)

Menu for a Snowy Week

Like most people, Jake and I stocked up at the grocery store last weekend in anticipation of Snowpocalypse 2010 (beyond Thundersnowme), and again when the snow subsided a little bit in anticipation of Snoverkill. This led to a week of delicious homemade food, perfect for winter nights. Our dinner menus:

FRIDAY:
I made Chickpea Curry, which we had with an IPA. (Recipe from this month's "Everyday Food.")

SATURDAY:

Jake made roasted chicken (recipe from "Cook's Illustrated"), salad, and homemade bread (recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible).

SUNDAY:
Jake made Chicago-style pan pizza (recipe from "Cook's Illustrated"), for us to eat while we watched the Superbowl.

MONDAY:
I made rigatoni with meat sauce (recipe from "Cook's Illustrated").

TUESDAY:
Jake made beef stew (recipe from "Cook's Illustrated"), which we ate with more of his homemade bread, and a nice (cheap!) pinot noir.

Wednesday, we had leftovers, and tonight, Jake is cooking up turkey drumsticks with rosemary carrots, mashed potatoes, and lemony peas. Snowbound eating is good eating!

Scenes From a Giant

I had to leave the apartment (oh, thank god!) to go grocery shopping this afternoon. It was my first time leaving the apartment since Friday around noon--except for the time I took the trash out yesterday just so I could get up for thirty seconds. Felt good to get out, albeit cold and wet.

The snow is high enough in areas that have been dug out, rather than plowed:


And downright silly in areas where the plows have created drifts (here on the corner of Colesville Rd. & Second Ave.)


I thought I'd take some pictures, sort of as a follow-up to Just Up the Pike's pre-storm post. The folks at the Giant are doing as good a job as they can re-stocking after the storm, and in preparation for the snow that's supposed to come tomorrow. People in Silver Spring apparently really like mayonnaise...


...soda...

...ketchup...

...chips (and on another shelf, nachos, salsa, and all varieties of jerky)...

...and bananas.
So, you know, don't plan on making any banana-ketchup-and-mayo sandwiches with a side of chips, washed down with soda. Not during the Snowmageddon.

Meet...Me!

What better time to start a blog than the fourth day snowed-in due to Snowpocalypse 2: Beyond Thundersnowme? To be honest, I've been thinking about starting a new blog for a while, even had a title stored in my head, just waiting to be used. And so, here it is. I'm doing it!

Ten things you need to know about me as we shove off on this blogging adventure:

1. I'm turning 30 next month.
2. I am super excited to turn 30.
3. I'm coming to terms with the idea that this is what it's like to be an adult.
4. I work at a children's theatre as my full-time paying job.
5. Out-of-work-time (and sometimes during work), I am a dramaturg. That means "professional theatre geek" in German.
6. I'm also a Mary Kay personal beauty consultant. My little way to beautify the world. :)
7. I technically live in the suburbs, although it takes me five minutes to walk to DC. And I feel more urban living where I do now than I did in my last DC apartment.
8. I'm an outspoken third-wave feminist.
9. My husband is a grad student who studies political science. I love him with all my heart.
10. We have a very adorable cat.

So, that's me in a nutshell. Thanks for reading!