May 15, 2008

Now that Lindsay Lohan has hit rock bottom, her mother is working on destroying a second of her children.

Watch and be prepared to feel ill for the rest of the day. Or longer.

May 14, 2008

So over the weekend, Music Man and I took our three munchkins to see a local community theater production of Oliver!

This was fun on several levels. First, because as some of you know, Music Man and I met while doing the same production at the very same theater, with the same community theater group, eighteen years ago.

(Stopping for a moment to realize eighteen years ago. Holy cow.)

Since I can't sing (though I can act), I wasn't a cast member of the production eighteen (OMG. eighteen?!) years ago. However, I was the Assistant Director/Stage Manager, and, as I am fond of telling people–that was great, because when I met Music Man, he was merely a cast member. Which meant that our relationship started off on the right foot: he had to do what I said!

Heh.

(Not that that lasted for very long.)

Anyway, after the production, we took the kids backstage to show them the set and the props table, the green room, the dressing rooms, etc. One thing we didn't show them was the little dark corner of the wings where the Assistant Director/Stage Manager caused one of the cast members (ahem) to…er…nearly miss his entrance.  Heh.

But the really neat thing about this particular production of Oliver! was that they cast most of the male leads as women, and the smaller female leads as men. A real gender switch–and my word! It worked! It worked really well.

What I mean is, we had a Mistress Bumble ("One Boy For Sale"), a female Fagin ("Reviewing the Situation"), a female Artful Dodger (she was fabulous). We had a Mr. Corney as well, which made for a very fun rendition of "I Shall Scream"–in which case the woman (Mistress Bumble) was the initiator, and Mr. Corney, true to the original role, was the shy widow(er).

Nancy (who was a woman) was fantastic, and so was Bill Sykes (a man). He was the best Sykes I've ever seen–including in professional productions. (And because of our past, Music Man and I always try to see a production of Oliver! whenever we can. We even saw one during our visit to London twelve years ago.) 

If you haven't seen Oliver!, I highly recommend the show. The songs are simply wonderful–in fact, we were playing the soundtrack all week before the show and the kids have been singing them ever since. 

So. Have you seen Oliver!? If so, what's your favorite song? (I think mine is "It's A Fine Life" or maybe "As Long As He Needs Me.") What about other well-known plays that have been adapted? How did it work? 

May 13, 2008

Cooked fish en papillote last night for the first time, and wow. Was it fabulous–and easy, so I thought I'd share the recipe.

Cooking fish en papillote, or in parchment paper, is super easy and it keeps the fish moist. All of the steam cooks the fish and everything melds together. Yum, I say! Yum!

So here's what I did:

For each piece of tilapia, I cut a piece of parchment paper about the size of two 8.5×11 pieces of paper, and folded it in half.

Then I sprinkled a little bit of olive oil on one half of the sheet, right next to the crease.

Next, I put a small bunch of fresh spinach down, then the tilapia filet on top.

I sprinkled the tilapia with a bit of Teriyaki sauce–or you could use Italian dressing, or any other marinade that strikes your fancy, butter and lemon juice, whatever. Then, a bit of chopped garlic, sesame seeds, and, if you have it, grated ginger. (Or not.) Salt and pepper, maybe.

This next part was what I thought would be the hardest, but it really is easy. Fold the paper in half over the fish, and then fold each side in in narrow folds, creasing it really well and flat. So then you'll have all three sides enclosed, and an open pocket sort of thing.

Fold the top part closed, and it will be like an envelope. Believe it or not, if you make the creases firm, it won't come undone until you finish cooking it. (Makes it very easy to transport the pockets to a baking sheet).

Cook at 400 for about ten or thirteen minutes. Be careful when you tear the parchment to release the fish–it may be a bit steamy.

But for a family of five, four of us devoured the fish, and the only one who didn't was my son who doesn't like fish anyway.

So try it!

And if you have any suggestions for fish recipes, share. I'm looking for other options.

May 9, 2008

So the winner of the Colette Gale book is 

REN

Yay! You can email me at books at colleengleason dot com and let me know which book you want and where to have it sent. (Or I'll be in touch via email.)

Congrats!

And so…what movie are you all going to see this weekend? You know you are. Which one?

May 8, 2008

I just found the cover for the Spanish version of The Rest Falls Away on a Spanish website! Isn't it lovely? I absolutely adore it!

Heh. I'm not sure of the release date–it might already be available. More when I hear.

But wow on the cover, huh?