Girl Detective

said Mary Lucia, after 5yo Drake told her his favorite band was Rush, at today’s Rock the Cradle event. We got the kids out of the house and to a variety of activities at a free event on a super-cold day. I love it when a plan comes together.

We went three years ago, pre-Guppy with then-2.5yo Drake. It was super crowded, and not so much fun; he didn’t want to do much. This year, though, both boys had a great time. They enjoyed the disco and the instrument room. Guppy liked family yoga with me, and Drake liked being interviewed “on air” by Mary. There were more events and bigger spaces than in previous years, so it was manageable, though still crowded. It was a good reminder that just because something doesn’t work once with the kid(s) doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try again.

It was with some trepidation that I bought tickets for the Guthrie’s staging of Shakespeare’s Henry V. Branagh’s 1990 film is a favorite of mine; I think I saw it a half dozen times in the theater. And I was underwhelmed by the last two productions I saw at the Guthrie: A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Jane Eyre. So I was more than pleasantly surprised to discover that this production, by The Acting Company/Guthrie Theater, was a treat.

This play, with multiple addresses to the audience exhorting them to imagine, was well set in the black-box Dowling Studio. The staging was spare but effective: a two-story semicircle with moving walls, and a few rolling tables that doubled as props and sound makers. All actors but the lead played multiple parts, from two to five. Matthew Amendt, as Henry V, can be forgiven for not doubling; he was in almost every scene of the 2 hour, 50 minute play. His youth and good looks suited him for the part, and though he struggled a bit with the Welsh accent and had a tendency to over-enunciate, his delivery and presence were a good match for the charismatic new king. The rest of the cast, moving in and out of parts, and throughout various iteratrions of their multiple-zippered garments, were equally strong. William Sturdivant as Fluellen, stood out particularly for his presence and delivery. In only one instance did I confuse one player’s characters. Overall, the speed of their changes coupled with the effective switches in character was both impressive and just plain fun to watch.

The scene in which Katherine learns English was staged strangely, with several of the cast used as demonstrative props. For me, it didn’t gel with the mroe straightforward storytelling of the rest of the production. But the scene at the end of Harry with Katherine more than compensated. Amendt and Kelly Curran were funny and sweet in one of my favorite scenes by the Bard.

This production starts in Minneapolis and will tour the US. It’s worth seeking out. If you’re in the Twin Cities don’t dawdle; it’s only here until 1 February 2009.

Only a few reviews are out there. Here’s a pro, and a con.

Take-Up productions hits Northeast Minneapolis with its next film series, “From the Vaults of Universal: Seven Classic Film Noirs” at the Heights Theater Monday nights at 7:30 p.m. starting 16 February 2009. Take-Up also has a page on Facebook.

February 16 7:30 This Gun For Hire (1942) dir Frank Tuttle, starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake

*February 23 BURT LANCASTER DOUBLE FEATURE (2 films for 1 $8 ticket)*
7:30 Criss Cross (1949) dir Robert Siodmak, starring Burt Lancaster and Yvone De Carlo

9:15 The Killers (1946) dir Robert Siodmak, starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner

March 2 7:30 The Big Clock (1948) dir John Farrow, starring Ray Milland and Charles Laughton

*March 9 ALAN LADD / VERONICA LAKE DOUBLE FEATURE (2 films for 1 $8 ticket)*
7:30 The Blue Dahlia (1946) dir George Marshall, starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake and William Bendix

9:15 The Glass Key (1942) dir Stuart Heisler, starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake (Edited: based on the Dashiel Hammett novel that was part of the Coen Brothers’ inspiration for Miller’s Crossing; the other was Red Harvest.)

March 16 7:30 The Phantom Lady (1944) dir Robert Siodmak, starring Franchot Tone, Ella Raines and Elisha Cook

My library has just increased the number of hold requests allowed to thirty, from twenty. Yay! Even more nerdish obsessing in the electronic card catalog for me. Thank you, librarians. You’re the best.

Though, ahem, I wouldn’t need to request so many holds at once if the movies and CDs circulated at a faster clip. Just sayin’.

G. Grod asked for an apple pie several weeks ago. I finally worked up the nerve–I don’t think I’ve ever made an apple pie, or a double crust pie. It’s definitely a make-ahead; it takes at least 4 hours to cool.

I used different recipes from Cook’s Illustrated for the pie and the dough, which has a secret ingredient. It’s not a pretty pie, but it smells good. I’ll be serving it with Cedar Summit’s cinnamon ice cream.

Minnesota food critic Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl recommends Porter and Frye for “The Big Birthday” in November’s issue of Minnesota Monthly (Online article doesn’t include P & F.) To celebrate a similar big event–G. Grod’s and my tenth wedding anniversary–my generous family treated us to dinner at Porter and Frye in downtown Minneapolis’ Ivy hotel. Beforehand, the restaurant called to find out our likes, dislikes, foods to avoid, and foods to include (foie gras, for G. and me), then they crafted a menu and an accompanying wine flight just for us.

We were seated at the cozy circular booth tucked into the stairwell. Service was knowledgeable, personable, attentive but never oppressive. And the meal. Oh, my. Chef Josh Habiger (his Flickr page has lots of beautiful food pics to ogle) and his team hit it out of the park: king-crab salad with Japanese pepper and vanilla foam in a martini glass; pressed roasted squash in a brilliant green tarragon sauce with little gumdrop-shaped nuggets of ripe, local pear caramelized on their tiny bottoms; foie gras with concord grape jam and sorbet, with buttered toast to sop up every last delicious morsel; veal sweetbreads with flash fried chard that dissolved in my mouth plus a savory sauteed chard; duck with mustard, figs and duck-fat sauteed parsnips; pork tenderloin and belly with a perfectly non-sweet gingerbread, and a sweet potato puree so light and fluffy I could not fathom the science involved in getting it that way (and they didn’t tell me); raspberry and chili pepper sorbet, and cream cheese ice cream alongside a chocolate, cherry and vanilla pastry.

We had the seven-course meal. It was a lot of food, but I cannot name a course I would have skipped. Our tenth anniversary dinner was filled with beautiful plates of delicious, high-quality food prepared with mind-boggling creativity and cutting-edge techniques. I’ll cherish the memory of this meal for a long time.

Edited to add all sorts of links. Be sure to look at the food photos; they make me awestruck and hungry at the same time.

Before seeing MacBeth last week, my husband G. Grod and I had dinner at Nick and Eddie’s in Loring Park.

They have a new fall menu that’s not up on their site yet. I had braised beef cheek over a root-vegetable puree accompanied by pan-roasted brussel sprouts, all in an intensely flavored house-made reduction of the braising liquid and drizzled with a mustard chantilly sauce. The beef was so tender I cut it with my fork. The whole dish was warm, comforting, and a delicious mix of color, texture and flavor. I sopped up every drop of it with the restaurants wonderful brioche.

For dessert, I had a thick, moist slice of spice cake drizzled with creme fraiche and atop a pool of house-made caramel sauce. The spice cake was rich with the flavor of molasses, and left a pleasant tingle of ginger to let me know it meant business. G. Grod had the chocolate roll-up, which is what Ho-Ho’s dream of growing up to be. Rich chocolate cake surrounds a thick whipped cream filling that tastes faintly of vanilla and is a brilliantly non-sweet counterpoint to the cake.

If you’re craving fall comfort food of the first order, I highly recommend Nick and Eddie’s.

Hooray for the United States. We did it; we elected Barack Obama to the presidency. Virginia and North Carolina went blue? An historic day, indeed.

Election night had some bitter with the sweet, though. California is close to a ban of gay marriage. Alaska elected a convicted felon. Here in Minnesota, Michelle Bachmann was re-elected, and the Al Franken/Norm Coleman race is too close to call, and headed into recount. And the Comedy Central special was wildly uneven; what’s up when a Harvard law prof out-funnies Colbert and Stewart?

Big changes are imminent, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.

Edited to Add: G and I decided to let 5yo Drake and 2yo Guppy stay up late to watch election returns. We had a lovely vision of cuddling on the couch as a family, munching popcorn, as we watched history being made. As with much of parenting and life, it didn’t unfold that way. The kids were completely uninterested in election tv, though it got them wound up and running around. Instead, they set up their bowling game, which devolved into throwing the pins (foam at least, for which I was thankful) at one another and at G. and me. And so, to bed for them. Where they didn’t stay, because they were so wound up, so G and I had to keep pausing the coverage to go shoo them back to bed. So much for making memories, eh?

Hey folks! I’m interviewed over at Minnesota Reads, a great local reader resource, by Jodi, who also blogs at I Will Dare. It’s six short questions, and I had fun answering them; click over to see which fictional characters and author I have crushes on.

Tomorrow, at long last, is election day here in the US. While the boys watched Sesame Street this morning, I researched candidates and issues.

I found the Strib MyVote feature very helpful. It lists all the races in your area, and has links to each of the candidates.

I found a helpful reminder from the Minnesota Women Lawyers that the best judge candidates are non-partisan and strive to be fair and impartial, which is also apolitical. (Inasmuch as that is possible.)

Judges should be selected based on the depth and quality of their legal experience, their temperament, their good character and their willingness to follow the law. They should not be selected based on politics.

I found two sites, MNBlue and The Ballot, that had extensively researched the races and candidates. I still had to do some extra study in a few races but I have my sample ballot filled out.

A brief reminder to everyone: our current election system allows, but does not really support, third party candidates. Until run-off balloting or other major change is instituted, third parties will almost always skew an election. Here in MN, Jesse Ventura was one of the most successful third party candidates. His exception proves the rule that helped elect Tim Pawlenty and Norm Coleman. Please vote carefully. Consider the most likely result. A vote for a third party may well elect your last, not your first, or second, choice. The race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman is very close, and there’s an Independent candidate. Please, either vote for Al, or vote against Norm by voting for Al. Voting for the Independent candidate will likely result in a re-election for Norm, and if you’re considering voting for a third party candidate, I don’t think that’s what you want.

The Mall of America recently updated its theaters, which are now independently operated. They now serve popcorn with real butter, and apparently have a very swank VIP theater. Link from MNSpeak.

Pet peeve: Minnesota is in the US, folks. And here, we spell it “theater.” So drop the pretentious nonsense that makes googling and finding your THEATER harder (I’m lookin’ at you MOA and Parkway) and use the US, not the English, spelling. Sheesh.

The Minneapolis Heights Theater is screening a double feature of Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons from Monday October 20 to Wednesday October 22, 2008. You can see one or both for $8. If you go, be sure to get their fabulous popcorn with REAL butter, or a treat from the Dairy Queen next door.

Is it wrong that I think the Pumpkin Pie Blizzard sounds really good? Even I, though, the mistress of overkill, think buttered popcorn and a blizzard is over the top.

There are several promising plays here, or coming soon to, the Twin Cities of Minnesota. Distracted closes soon, and Twelfth Night tickets are going fast, so don’t dawdle.

Distracted, a play about ADHD, at the Mixed Blood Theatre through October 19, 2008.

A View from the Bridge, by Arthur Miller, at the Guthrie through November 8, 2008.

MacBeth, at the Torch Theater, starring Stacia Rice and Sean Haberle, whose chemistry in the Guthrie’s Jane Eyre earlier this year made it worth watching.

Twelfth Night, an all-female production from Ten Thousand Things, with performances at Open Book.

Frost/Nixon, Spring Awakening and other Broadway hits, playing in the Hennepin Theatre District
.

Bring your plastics to the Eastside Food Coop for recycling on Saturdays (today!) from 10am to 2pm, and on Thursday afternoon and evenings, 3:30pmto 7:30pm.

Rain Taxi’s Book Fest is today. I may head out to see Jess Winfield at 3:30 p.m., author of My Name is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare

G. Grod and I married one another ten years ago on Friday, on the fifty-somethingth floor of a building in downtown Philadelphia named after a bank that no longer exists. Our family and friends helped us marry one another, and it was a lovely evening.

To celebrate, my sister Sydney is working overtime, and flew my parents out to watch 5yo Drake and 2.5yo Guppy so G. and I could drive up to Grand Marais, on the north shore of MN on Lake Superior. G and I have walked, shopped, napped, eaten very well, read a lot, and enjoyed each others’ company. We watched the sun rise over the lake this morning. I feel very happy, and grateful, this morning.

(I’m reading Dostoevsky for my book group. It is not an ironic commentary on marriage. At least, not intentionally. Heh. G. is reading Infinite Jest. Interpret as you will.)

From the Star Tribune:

Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the 10-lane bridge will open to traffic at 5 a.m. Thursday, with a full complement of state troopers slowly leading the way when the barricades come down. He and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak also unveiled the design for a memorial to the 13 people who died in the collapse.

The bridge collapsed a year ago in August, and I still feel woozily grateful we weren’t on it, as we usually are on Wednesdays, for our weekly comic-book store trip. Condolences to all those who suffered by the collapse, and hopes for us all to enjoy a healthy, strong bridge to the city of Minneapolis.

Good news for Nordeasters: A new Thai restaurant, Sen Yai Sen Lek: Thai Rice & Noodles, opens this week on 2422 Central Ave NE. The name means “Big Noodle Little Noodle” and will feature a menu influenced by Bankgkok street food. Guests can eat in, take out, or reserve for larger parties. Chef/owner Joe Hatch-Surisook and his wife, Holly, are Northeast residents. They are sourcing many products locally and plan to build new relationships with local growers and producers. Stop in to support their new venture!

A fall U of MN English event:

October 29: Junot Diaz, “We Are the New America: A Reading,” 7:30 pm

Diaz published his debut novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao eleven years after his acclaimed short story collection Drown–and ended up winning the Pulitzer Prize, the Sargent First Novel Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Best Novel of 2007. New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani characterized Diaz’s writing in the novel as: “a sort of streetwise brand of Spanglish that even the most monolingual reader can easily inhale: lots of flash words and razzle-dazzle talk, lots of body language on the sentences, lots of David Foster Wallace-esque footnotes and asides. And he conjures with seemingly effortless aplomb the two worlds his characters inhabit: the Dominican Republic, the ghost-haunted motherland that shapes their nightmares and their dreams; and America (a.k.a. New Jersey), the land of freedom and hope and not-so-shiny possibilities that they’ve fled to as part of the great Dominican diaspora.” Esther Freier Endowed Lecturer. Coffman Theater, 300 Washington Avenue SE, Mpls. 612-625-3363

Thanks to my friend The Big Brain for the heads up.

There was much crying and screaming at bedtime last night. I wonder, is the “price” of a good day a difficult bedtime? We met friends at the pool, then met them again later for burgers, hot dogs and great french fries at the Bulldog NE, picked by Minnesota Monthly as having the best burger in the state. After that, bedtime was challenging. But once Drake and Guppy were _in_ bed, they stayed there and fell asleep quickly, so G. Grod could watch a bit more of Branagh’s Hamlet. I’m not sure how I made it through all four hours in the theater when it came out. I can’t make it through an entire hour without nodding off. Then again, I was unmarried, without kids and twelve years younger in ‘96.