Father's Day

On Father's Day as John was opening his presents (Aussie style licorice in various flavors and some XFiles DVD's), he kept making funny faces. So we documented each one of them...there were lots!!

Mary Poppins!

Tonight Audrey and I were able to see the Best of Broadway production of "Mary Poppins". It was FABULOUS! And our seats were nothing to sneeze at either. On the day they sold single tickets, I went down to the arena and got Row B, center. Amazing. We could see them sweat : )

The story line was more complex than the movie and there were new songs performed. We enjoyed the various special effects that were introduced such as Mary floating up & away with her umbrella or the ability to transport the audience to the imaginary park scenes. Also, the Bank's house on Cherry Tree Lane weighed 5 tons and was the biggest and most complex automated set found on Broadway. But the coolest special effect was when Bert & fellow chimney sweepers started tap dancing to "Step in Time" and the next thing we knew, they were tap dancing and walking up the sides of the stage...until they were literally tap dancing upside down from the ceiling of the stage.

What a wonderful night!!

School

Audrey has taken some fun classes at SCC this year.

Film Class - She was required to watch specific films and write papers about them. Some of them included "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "North by Northwest" and "The Court Jester". It was fun for John and I as well, since we watched these movies with her. We got the easy part since we did not have to write the paper afterward. Danny Kaye was fabulous in the Court Jester - here is a clip (hope it works!)
Court Jester Clip

In her Pre-Calculas class they did a project on Tessellations, which is the process of creating a two-dimensional plane using the repetition of a geometric shape with no overlaps and no gaps. The hardest part for my little artist was deciding what shape she would do. She picked the Iron Man mask and then spent a number of days using water color pencils to complete the assignment.

Choir

Today the choir sang "A Marvelous Work" for church and I accompanied them on the piano. Afterwords, Dik Jamison came up and said: Seems they always thank the choir or the director, but I was watching you today and you did a great job on a difficult piece. They never thank the accompanist enough, so I'll do it today. Thank you!

MIB III

What a riot! I loved this movie. Even cried at the end. Great trilogy - and light hearted fun.

Hugh Laurie

We started our afternoon off by attending a birthday party for Harold Kunz. He has kind of adopted me since dad passed away and Audrey & Barbara (his wife) have a real neat relationship - they just adore each other. It was fun to attend the party and visit with their extended family that we've known for years. A delicious dinner (Cafe Rio type) was served and then had a fabulous talent show - some poetry, some singing, some dancing and some jokes. It was a great event and we were glad we were included. Then we headed downtown to see this performance:


Having just finished airing its eighth and final season of "House", Hugh Laurie is now spending his time touring the country and singing American South / New Orleans style blues music. We were able to get tickets to see him at the Fox Theatre tonight. Most numbers he played the piano and sang vocals, while sometimes he played the guitar and sang. The Copper Bottom Band was awesome accompanying him on the drums, guitars, horns, upright bass, keyboard & accordion. The person on guitar had (if I counted correctly) NINE different guitars! Laurie prefaced his songs with anecdotes and details about the artists who recorded or wrote them. He had such a different style than we saw with his "House" character - it was kind of weird to see him speaking nicely (and in the English accent). It was enjoyable to hear the various styles of songs he performed such as "Swanee River", "Battle of Jericho", "You Don't Know My Mind", "St. James Infirmary Blues" and "Unchain My Heart".

Cashew Nut Chicken

Super-duper yummy!!

CASHEW NUT CHICKEN
1 egg white
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp oil
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1/8 tsp salt
dash of pepper
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
5 Tbsp oil
dash of red chili pepper flakes
2 green onions, minced
1/4 tsp dry ginger or 1/2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbsp water
1/3 C cashews

Mix together marinade: egg white, cornstarch, oil, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Mix in chicken and marinade for 15-60 minutes. In a wok, or frying pan heat 5 Tbsp oil until the oil forms bubbles around a wooden skewer when put into the oil. Place chicken in the oil and cook until chicken turns white and is cooked through. Add in soy sauce mixture. Stir to coat chicken and mixture will thicken. Add in cashews. Serve over rice and garnish with chopped green onions.