The Renaissance Woman

Well, here it is. My first Daring Kitchen Post

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

Now, when I started this endeavor, I planned to do one savory and one sweet pierogi. Then I got busy (with the whole directing a musical thing), so I settled on the sweet pierogi – apple pierogi! (I just like saying “pierogi.” Pierogi. Pierogi. Pierogi.)

One of the finished Apple Pierogies.

Of course, Washington State is known for apples and the house we rent has a apple tree in the backyard that has been dropping apples this whole month.

The Two Apples destined to be grated into Pierogi Filling.

I also was hoping to use a low carb baking mix, as my husband is diabetic. I whipped up the first batch of dough using Bob’s Red Mill Low Carb Baking Mix. Unfortunately, the dough smelled… funny. And didn’t really behave like dough. So I sighed, and then decided to go for the regular flour. After some calculations, each pierogi should only have about 30 carbs. Currently, we’re aiming for 45-60 carbs per meal. The pierogies were an after dinner treat, and dinner was fairly low carb (chicken and green beans), so it was all good.

This low carb baking mix sucked for pierogi dough. Not recommended.

Did I mention he’ll be the only one eating these? I don’t care for apple desserts because they usually have cinnamon and cooked apple just is weird to me. So they definitely needed to be husband friendly.

Here is the recipe I used. Very simple. It made 5 – 6” pierogies for me. I could’ve done one more probably if I was more efficient with the filling and the cutting.

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 1/2 cup Flour

• 1/2 teaspoon Baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoon Sugar
• 4 tablespoon Butter cold
• 1 large Egg
• 1/2 cup Sour cream

Filling

• 2 each Apple granny smith, peeled, cored, cut into 8 pieces [*for this, I used two apples from my tree and grated them instead of slicing]
• 1/4 cup Brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 dash Nutmeg

Preparation

Prep Time: 10 minutes (30 minutes if making dough by hand)

Resting Time: 1 hour

Baking Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Oven Temp: 400F / 200C / Gas Mark 6

1. DOUGH: Put the dry ingredients and butter into a processor and pulse 3 or 4 times. Mix the egg & the sour cream and add to the bowl, letting the machine run until the dough forms a ball around the blade. Remove and knead the dough on a floured board until smooth, then chill for about an hour.

2. When the dough is cold, roll out to 1/4″ thickness (or a bit thinner if you can). Cut into 6″ rounds. Also – preheat oven at this point.

3. Place one piece of apple and some of the other filling ingredients onto the center of the dough [I placed about a fork full of the pre mixed filling], brush the outer edge of the dough with some water, fold the dough over the filling and, using the very tip of the tines of a fork, press down along the edge of the dough to seal the edges together.

OPTIONAL: If you want a shiny finish on the pierogies, give them an egg wash, made with 1 well beaten egg and 1 tablespoon milk.

4. Place pierogies on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Remove from tray and serve.

As far as looks, I’m happy with the final result.

Leave it to late afternoon sun to make anything look heavenly…

My husband’s remarks after eating one were:”They taste fine. They taste like apple. I wish I can eat them more often.” He hates being put on the spot for quotes, if you couldn’t tell.

So all is well after my first Daring Cooks’ Challenge – however, I am looking forward to one without so much flour in the future.

Stay tuned for my Daring Baker’s Challenge – the reveal date is August 27th, so very soon! I think my cast will be the beneficiaries of the challenge as our first big group meeting is August 23rd.

In an effort to expand my cooking repertoire and force myself to learn about alternative ingredients (to bring down carb counts in recipes), I decided to join The Daring Kitchen.

The Daring Kitchen is an online community of (mostly) bloggers. Two women who wanted to push their culinary boundaries decided to challenge each other to make biscotti and it grew into a large and thriving community.

I applied and was accepted as both a baker and cook. The two categories are exactly as they sound. Bakers’ challenges are usually desserts or breads. Cooks can be anything, but usually are some type of main entrée or fancy side dish. Each group gets one challenge a month, though the two groups are staggered.

There is some flexibility with the recipes. Substitutions to allow for special dietary needs are ok (vegan, low-carb, gluten free, etc). The main idea is to stay true to the spirit of the recipe. There are usually a few rules for each challenge (i.e. make x from scratch, x ingredient must be used), but nothing too strict.

My first cooks challenge is due for a reveal on August 14th, and my first baking challenge will be revealed on August 27th. I’m super excited to get going, and hope my readers enjoy seeing a few dishes from my kitchen!

So about a month before our Vegas vacation, I got an idea for a dress that consisted of a corset with straps that buckled in the front and then a removable wraparound skirt that would also fasten to the corset.

I drew this sketch:

This skirt would be easy enough, and I’d made corsets before (3 currently), but this corset would have a high back and just a few more complicated alterations than my experience covered.

So I hired a local seamstress who specializes in corsets. Her company is called The Fitting Room, and she does lovely work.

I figured I’d leave the corset to the professional and ask to order more fabric  so that I could make the skirt on my own.

Sadly, due to vacations, remodeling, and general lack of time, this was not to be for this year’s OCON – maybe next year! However, I will certainly see if I can work this dress into Halloween for this year (Devil in a Blue Dress, anyone?).

I finally got to pick up the finished corset today. I will be working on the skirt and attaching the clasps when that is done (and taking more pictures of course!)

My form isn’t exactly the best color for showing off the silk of the corset (and my form isn’t quite as busty as I am), but I plan to get some nice pictures of me wearing it once the whole dress is finished.

But I’m totally in love with it! Marie did fabulous work!

It’s always nice to be back home after a longer vacation. Our cats are extra cuddly as well, which is just adorable. It’s good to be missed.

The second half of the trip was lovely, and I got to see many big cats! First at the Mirage and then (unexpectedly) at the MGM Grand:

D’awwww….

I was very happy we stayed an extra day after the conference, as it gave us time to walk the Strip with a few friends, which was nice.

Some shots I’m particularly proud of:

A chandelier at our hotel – The Red Rock Resort

Mom and my friend Bren admiring the friendly dolphin – I just love that you can see they’re all smiles, even though they are turned away from the camera. The both look SO happy!!

Lovely shot of Paris, if I do say so, myself!

The candy’s comin’ right for us!! Om nom nom…

Loved these light fixtures – especially against the blue of the ceiling.

I got a few good pictures of the fountain show, but this is probably my favorite.

Now back to real life – I’ve got meals to plan and a treadmill to assemble! And a surprise to pick up! (more on that later…)

So we’re well into the swing of OCON here in Las Vegas. Tomorrow is the last day of the first half.

We’ve been staying at the lovely Red Rock Resort, which has been mostly good. There are some distinct design issues with the hotel and the rooms, but everything is very stylish, and the bathtub is awesome:

Tell me that isn’t beautiful. The depth is the best part – I’ve taken three baths so far, which is more than probably the last two years combined!

I’ve been taking John Lewis’s class on Ancient Greece this session, and it has been very interesting. Lewis is one of my favorite teachers and speakers, so I was pretty sure I’d like it. Jeremy is also taking Andrew Lewis’s class on the Reformation, and has been enjoying Lewis’s hijinks – he’s dressed up as a different “character” for each class. I won’t spoil it by revealing who – maybe I’ll post that after the conference. It’s sure seems like it’d be a hoot to see!

The general sessions have been very good as well. Peikoff is always interesting, and David Harriman gave a fascinating lecture on the proper way to approach scientific education. Today, Yaron Brook gave a stirring talk on the defense of Capitalism that has ignited discussions all over the resort and on Twitter and Facebook.

We also had a fabulous 4th of July. There was a program hosted by ARI that I was fortunate to be a part of. I sang “America the Beautiful” and led “The Star Spangled Banner” and people have been very kind with their feedback.

Afterwards, we went to see Penn & Teller at the Rio, which was phenomenal. I surprised my mother and Scott Holleran with a Limo ride there and back. The driver was so kind to drive us the long way back to the resort so we could take a ride on the Strip and see everything lit up for the evening. We all had a lovely time!

(For those who don’t know, the little cut boy out in both pictures is Flat Ryan (see Flat Stanley). It is a picture of the son of a friend who sent many copies of Flat Ryan to numerous volunteers throughout the nation – even internationally – for people to take pictures of with interesting people and interesting places. She home schools him, so this project really helps make geography particularly interesting. I have a few more stops in the Seattle area to make with Flat Ryan, but I digress.)

Tonight, Jeremy and I attended the Benefactor’s Dinner and had fun catching up with some people that can be a little hard to catch a word with during the rest of the conference. The dinner was excellent, as always, and the conversation was a perfect match.

Oh – and today is Jeremy and my 3 year anniversary – so mountains of love to my extraordinary husband who has been and is my favorite person in the world. *MWAH*

June 13th was a big day in our house – well, at Evergreen hospital near our house.

In the wee hours of the morning – around 1:30am – my husband complained of shooting head pains. Probably nothing, but all those people for who it ends up bring something, all said it was “probably nothing”. So, we played it on the safe said and went to the ER.

Five hours later, we got the good news and the bad news. The good news was his head was fine. The bad news was it looked like he probably has diabetes.

Two weeks later, and a few more confirming blood tests, and it was confirmed.

Thankfully, it is in the early stages. there aren’t any complications that we know about. Most everything has been covered through blood tests, he just needs an eye exam to check for those complications.

We’ve been making dietary changes and checking blood sugar to see how certain meals and exercise affect it. We’ve also started walking 30 minutes every day, so we’re on our way to getting things under control. I plan to write more about details in the future. Our first big challenge is our Vegas trip – for which we are leaving tomorrow!

The other change this has led to is we are very likely going to be joining a concierge medicine practice. With my Hashimoto’s and now Jeremy’s diabetes, it’ll be extra nice to have a doctor who will answer questions without us having to wait until our next appointment. With this practice, we can also call him if there is an emergency and he will talk with the doctors who are treating us and we can request he accompany us to appointments with other specialists. I think I’ll write a separate post on the total benefits and bonuses of this practice.

But for now, I ‘m gonna go kill big, bad bosses in WoW and then pack for Vegas!

I am super-excited to announce that I will be directing the Fall 2010 musical for the Microsoft Theater Troupe.

I proposed the show The Wild Party (Book and Music by Andrew Lippa) at the end of May and was accepted! It will be my second time directing for the troupe. I previously directed All in The Timing by David Ives. I have also done set designs for The Threepenny Opera, Schoolhouse Rock Live!, and Into the Woods. Currently, my only performance experience with the troupe is the role of Jenny in The Threepenny Opera.

I’m still letting everything sink in, but I am really looking forward to this. I have enjoyed listening to the show for about 10 years or so, and my husband has been listening to it for the past couple of years. In fact, he was the driving force behind my proposal, as he kept mentioning that he wanted to see the show live and that I should try to put it on.

To be perfectly honest, I was hesitant because I would love to be in the show. The music is great fun to sing and the characters are interesting. I think I will still be a little envious of my actors, but there wasn’t much buzz elsewhere, so I figured if I wanted to see the show, I needed to get back into the director’s chair.

Directing should be better this time around. (Not to say it wasn’t fabulous the first time!)  I live in Kirkland instead of Auburn, so late night rehearsals won’t be followed by an absurdly long drive home. I don’t have a 9-5 type job, so I won’t have to get up ridiculously early to go to work after having gotten home so late due to rehearsals and a long drive home. In fact, I don’t really have a “job” job, so I can really focus on the show with little distraction.

I am also excited about some of the publicity ideas we have. I have already set up a Fan Page on Facebook. We plan to regularly film sort of “behind the scenes” segments with the cast and crew and post them. We hope these will get the word circulating much earlier and result in much buzz! The show is not well-known, so we have to make sure people hear us coming!

To wrap up, here is the info from our Facebook page:

Playing October 22nd, 23rd, 29th, 30th; November 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th, 12th and 13th @8:00pm in Cafe 31.

Based on Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 narrative poem of the same name, Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party transports audiences to the Roaring Twenties as two vaudeville performers host a gathering of Prohibition era misfits for a night of life changing decadence.

This high energy show (in the tradition of Chicago, Cabaret and Rent) premiered off-Broadway in February, 2000 with a stellar cast including Tony Award winner Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Julia Murney and Brian D’Arcy James – winning the 2000 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical of the 2000 season.

With a cast of colorful eccentrics, and catchy soundtrack of jazz, funk, gospel, and rock, The Wild Party promises to be as much fun to watch as it will be to perform!

The original cast recording is available on Zune Marketplace  and iTunes.

Before my health went all wonky that past couple of years, I was a fairly regular blood donor. Now that I’ve been properly diagnosed and I’m finally on the right treatment path, I’m looking to get back into regular donation. I am also an organ donor (noted on my driver’s license), and I just received my kit via mail to add myself to the bone marrow registry to be listed as an available bone marrow donor.

Anyone who knows me know I rarely do anything out of a sense of duty. I am a selfish person, and highly recommend that lifestyle.

So, why in the world would I be so into being a donor of various types?

To put it plainly, if something awful were to happen to me, I’d want as many people contributing to the pool as possible to increase my chances of survival. By being a donor myself, I am contributing to a system I think is good and helpful. I also am fairly knowledgeable about the processes and can be a fairly informed advocate, which ideally leads to more people who might consider donating who might not have otherwise.

It’s also pretty damn cool to be able to say you saved someone’s life. This is more concrete in bone marrow transplants, as you know what the donation is being used for and you only are called for a specific person – oh, and you’re still alive when donating (unlike the DL indicated organ donation), but you still know you’re helping someone who is still pretty bad off with blood donations as well.

One other reason I donate is that I know MANY people who can’t for various reasons. My husband loathes needles of all kinds, I have a friend with lupus (which bone marrow candidates cannot have), I know many women who struggle with iron deficiency, plenty of people are not organ donors due to religious or post-death wishes. I am a person who is as healthy as needed to donate regularly, has no problems with needles, and generally feels pretty good about the whole process, and plans to be cremated after I die. There’s too many people in the world who can’t donate – I am one who can, so I do. I also encourage others who are healthy and have no qualms with the process to do the same.

I see the whole process as something you invest in, though to the immediate observer it may look like a sacrificial act. But the culture it creates and the cycle it initiates and perpetuates will ultimately come round to benefit you someday if it is needed. It’s almost like insurance. If I can be one more person asking people to consider being a donor, that’s one more chance to increase the numbers, and one more chance to save my life if anything bad happens to me.

For those interested in donating:

• Check the box the next time you renew your license, or go to your local government agency’s webpage to update your organ donor status.
• Register at Be The Match to be on the Bone Marrow registry.
• Check out the Red Cross page for info on how to give blood. If there aren’t any red cross centers in your area, you can also visit www.aabb.org.

Love them. They are the epitome of beauty, grace, and strength.

I love just watching them walk and move.

My father adopted one of the new tigers at the Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah as a gift for me last February and I got a chance to see behind the scenes – including where they sleep, what they’re fed.

And I got to go into the “tiger tunnel”. This is a hallways that runs along the smaller “Phase One” tiger area. The walls are glass, so taking pictures is easier.

And then they have this:

This is the steel screen where the tigers, if in the mood, will come up and rub against the screen and sniff your hands. So you feel them breathing on you and feel their fur as the rub,

This is one of my happiest places – as it might be the closest I ever get to being able to pet a tiger. Just looking at the picture makes me all warm and fuzzy happy.

This one, too:

*happy sigh*

Finally, right?

Sorry for the massive delay in part 2, but April was a bitch of a month for me. I had an impacted tooth that was so infected my endodontic dentist said it was one of the worst he’d ever seen – they usually don’t have as long to get that bad as they usually start hurting much earlier. It required oral surgery which I am apparently healing from very well. On the bright side, he now thinks I have the pain tolerance of a superwoman. So, rawr!

Also, we moved into a home. Still renting, but very happy and excited with that, but something that really warrants it’s own post. This topic has been languishing in the back of my mind for a while.

The issue I have had to overcome is the notion of telling people that singing is what I do. It’s very hard to commit to that self-definition because…well… I’m not successful yet – from a business standpoint.

It’s one thing to say, “I’m a <blank>", when someone is paying you to do that. And if I am honest with myself, I don’t think I’ll ever 100% believe I *am* a singer until I get my first paying gig.

I do have an *unpaid* gig – singing at a 4th of July banquet – which is a step in the right direction.

The last thing that I know will help me feel like the title fits is to work at it, which I haven’t been doing this past month, what with the oral surgery and moving and everything. Thankfully, the office in the new home is set up to be more conducive to recording and editing. I have set a goal of recording the two songs I intend to sing at the 4th of July event and posting them on this blog by the time of the event.

But that’s all I really had to say about that. I do have a trip to the zoo and the move to post about soon, as well.

So stay tuned – good things to come.