Summer Theater Fun: Peach and cherry ice cream

We started the summer theater season a little early this year, while the boys were still in school, because that's when Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came to town. 

And to really fit with the theme, we took the boys to Sugar Factory before hand and loaded them up with their very own version of the chocolate factory - milkshakes loaded with chocolate and candy.

The very next night we went to see our own little performer.  His very first play, he entertained us all with his stunning performance as Big Bertha Lee in the first grade's production of "The Three Nanny Goats Gruff."

Thatboy and I also took in some shows of our own - at our neighborhood theater as well as heading out to see Puffs in it's first California production.

There's no summer theater without hitting our favorite outdoor venues for picnics and musicals.  This summer we saw Matilda, which was phenomenal.

And we saw Wizard of Oz, which is always a favorite in our house.

And when I found out that a local children's theater was doing James and the Giant Peach?  Well we hit that up too. 

Which was the inspiration for this peach ice cream.  Well that and the fact that I bought these amazing smelling peaches, that tasted only "alright."  It was disappointing.  But alright peaches are great for baked goods, which was my plan.  Until Thatkid suggested ice cream instead.  And those cherries?  They're more than alright.  So they had to go in too.  Stone fruits all go together so well.  

Peach and Cherry Ice Cream

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups half and half

2 peaches, peeled and diced

1 cup cherries, pitted and chopped

1.  Combined eggs, sugar, salt, cream and half and half in a saucepan over medium low heat.   Use a candy thermometer and cook until the mixture is 160 degrees.
2. Remove from the heat and stir in the peaches and cherries.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. Pour the cold mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to your maker.

Theater Time: Friend Like Me

Because my life isn't busy enough, I picked up a couple new side-gigs.  Neither of which pays in the traditional sense, but both offer some great perks.

The first of these is volunteering for Broadway San Diego.  It's volunteer work, but it means I get to help out at amazingly cool events.  Like the announcement of next year's season, where Alyssa Fox wowed our luncheon by singing Let It Go.  In a private room of a restaurant.  Like less than 10 feet away from us!

I got a chance to chat with the volunteer coordinator, and when I told him how I was raising two little theater nerds, he insisted we had to see Aladdin.  Which was opening the following week.

Normally, this is the kind of thing to which I bring Thatkid.  Thatbaby hasn't actually ever sat through a full length production in a theater, as opposed to an outdoor ampitheater where I can scuttle him to the grass if he got rambunctious.  But, he has been phenomenal in those settings, and never actually needed to be removed from the production.  So it was time.  And Aladdin is the perfect show for little guys.

He was a little nervous at first that the bad guy was going to be scary, but before the show we purchased a special magic carpet blanket (which he now brings with him everywhere) that he could hide under if he got scared.  The musical is a little different from the movie though, which really toned down the "bad guy" aspect.  

Thatbaby loved the magic of it all, especially the Genie.  The Genie was his hands down favorite part of the show.  And really, I can't blame him.  Major Attaway, who played the Genie, was mesmerizing.  It's such an incredibly physical part, requiring some remarkably high energy, and from his first entrance, he had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand.  He was so much fun to watch.

So much fun, in fact, that I have created a drink in his honor.  Not just Major Attaway, but all the remarkable actors who have taken on the role, all the way back to the creator: James M. Iglehart.

Of course the drink is blue - to match the Genie's iconic robes, which take the place of the "blue ghost" (as Thatbaby refers to him) from the movie.  But more than that, as the Genie promises in the first song, it will "take you away to a faraway place." 

Friend Like Me

1 1/2 oz of light rum (any rum will do, but the light keeps the blue color)

1 1/2 oz of blue curacao 

3/4 oz elderflower syrup

3/4 oz creme de cassis

club soda

1. In a shaker filled with ice, combine rum, curacao, elderflower syrup and creme de cassis.
2. Shake and strain into a martini glass.
3. Top with club soda to taste.

November Wrap Up: Instant Pot Turkey a la King

This may have been the fastest November known to man.   I swear it was Halloween yesterday, and this weekend it's already Chanukah!

It's funny, compared to October, November was a lot more low-key.  October we've got an event every weekend day.  December is going to be the same.  But November?  November had weekends with nothing planned at all. 

We started and ended the month with Thanksgiving celebrations.   And between the two, there were birthday parties and school breaks.  Lots of school breaks this month.

Which is fine, because it meant Thatkid and I got to go on a great adventure.  

You see, one of my friends was due with her second child mid-October.  When she first told me she was pregnant I told her I'd be there right after the baby was born.  The issue?  She lives in New York.  And when Thatkid found out I was going to New York, he begged me to take him along.  Our original plan was to go over his break in October, but that was the week she was due, and we didn't want to show up mere days after she gave birth.

So, November it was.  We took the red-eye on a Friday night and found ourselves in New York at 4:30am on a Saturday morning.   We waited around for our luggage, changed clothes in the bathroom, then caught a car out to our hotel.  It was too early to check in, but we dropped off our luggage at the hotel and grabbed a train out to Brooklyn to visit my friend and her kids.

It was Thatkid's first subway ride and he was beyond excited.

Until he fell asleep.  He slept almost the whole way to Brooklyn, and I was glad - it had been an early morning for us!  We visited with my friend who had breakfast all ready for us, and Thatkid got his first taste of New York bagels - still warm from the oven.

Then it was back on the train and into the city.  And another little nap for Thatkid.  We had thought about trying to check into the hotel, but it was getting toward lunchtime, so instead we went and grabbed a slice.  Thatkid was VERY impressed with New York pizza.

One of the things Thatkid really wanted to do while we were in New York was to see the Statue of Liberty.  I was a little worried about tying us down to a timed ferry ride, since I wasn't exactly sure what we were going to be doing, but I knew we could get a really awesome view from the Staten Island Ferry, which left every 30 minutes.  So after lunch, we headed downtown.

The views from the ferry do not disappoint.

Right next to the Staten Island Ferry is Battery Park, which houses a "new to me" attraction.  The Seaglass Carousel.

The Seaglass Carousel is, as it sounds, a carousel comprising of glass sea creatures.

This is my new favorite ride ever.  And my new "Must Do" in NYC.  The music is fantastic, the glass lights up and is beautiful, and even the movement of the ride is unlike anything I've ever experienced.

Another thing Thatkid wanted to do in New York was see some Hamilton sights.  Hamilton's homestead, The Grange, was farther north than  I was planning on taking him, but I knew that Hamilton's grave was just a hop skip and a jump from Battery Park.  So we walked up to take a look.  

We found Alexander, Philip, and Eliza Hamilton, Hercules Mulligan, and Angelica Schuyler.  We also found a tour group.  Thatkid hasn't quite figured out all social niceties, so he joined right in, listening to the stories, until I gently guided him away.

Our next stop was dinner - a surprise for Thatkid.  I'd heard word about a special theme restaurant, called Ninja, that was a big hit with kids.  And so I made us reservations without telling him.   We got in and were ushered into a dark elevator.   At the bottom, a ninja jumped out at us and pointed us down a dark hallway.  At the end, another ninja showed us to our table.  This was pretty much the tone of the restaurant.  Ninjas, ninjas, everywhere.

Thatkid was sold.  From the light up drinks,

To the tableside magicians,

To the smoking entrees.  It was a good choice for a young boy.

Even the bathrooms were over the top - covered in cherry blossoms.

Our final stop for the evening was the thing that had driven Thatkid to want to come on this trip to begin with - Broadway shows.  I told him we could see two, and let him pick from everything out there.  And his first choice was King Kong.

I have SO many thoughts on this show, and I could write an entire essay about it, but the condensed version is that it was wonderful.  So much more than I was expecting.  Christiani Pitts, who played Ann Darrow, was a phenom, and she brought so much life to the character that I honestly feel the show was about Ann, not the giant ape.   And that giant ape?  A wonder of puppetry.  The show was everything that's amazing about Broadway shows, and Thatkid couldn't have agreed more.  Despite having been up since 1:30am California time, he sat spellbound and entranced the entire show.  It currently ties for first place for his favorite musical.  

Of course, being up so early Saturday meant our Sunday got a much later start as Thatkid slept until 10am for the first time in his life.  And I happily let him.  The original plan was to ice skate in the morning, but by the time we were showered and dressed, morning was almost over.  So instead, we headed out to get burgers and milkshakes.

And then we hit up the Christmas Markets at Bryant Park, which is one of my favorite things to do in the winter in New York.  

Thatkid loves ice skating, so I thought it would be fun for him to go ice skating while we were there.  We checked out the rinks at Rockefeller and Bryant Park, and I showed him pictures of the rink in Central Park.  He decided that Bryant Park was where he wanted to skate, which made me happy, because it's my favorite rink in the city.

After we did over 20 laps in the rink (he counted), we headed uptown to the American Museum of Natural History.  The plan was to check out the gem and mineral exhibit and see the giant T-Rex skeleton.  Of course, after we got there, we found that both those exhibits were closed.  

So we settled on checking out the other giant skeletons in the museum.

In December of 2005, Thatmom, Thatdad, Thatbrother and I spent Christmas in New York City.  I still have such great memories from that trip.  It was the last trip we took just the four of us; I got married the following August.  On Christmas Eve, we ate dinner at a restaurant my dad had found - Jekyll and Hyde's.  It was a theme restaurant, with animatronic wall decorations that spoke to you, and characters who wandered around performing.  The overall atmosphere was a little spooky, a lot silly.  

In December of 2008 I took Thatboy to New York for the first time.  And I thought he would get a kick out of the restaurant, so I took him there too.

So obviously, bringing Thatkid with me to New York for his first time, we had to eat at Jekyll and Hyde's.  While he didn't know about Ninja, he was really looking forward to this meal.  We got to sit right at the foot of Frankenstein's slab.  Which was really fun during the portion of the evening when Frankenstein comes to life. 

We kept up the gothic theme of the evening with Thatkid's second show choice - Phantom of the Opera.  Actually, this was technically his first show choice.  He's been asking to see it since last spring.  Long before we had even discussed New York.

Our last day in New York was a lazy one.  Thatkid slept in again, and then we went to grab bagels to bring home.

Our last stop before grabbing a train to the airport was Grand Central Station.  He was not excited at the prospect of another train station, but once we were inside, he was pretty impressed.

It was a pretty fast and packed long weekend.  We got in Monday night and he was off to school on Tuesday morning.  Luckily he only had to suffer through 4 days of school before his Thanksgiving break started.  And just like that we're here.  See what I mean about November passing quickly?

November passes so quickly, that Thanksgiving seems like just a little blip.  I've started a tradition the past two years of making my own turkey at home, so that I can stretch it out a bit.  Because turkey is delicious and shouldn't only be enjoyed on one day!  Plus this way I have leftover turkey to make sandwiches!  If you didn't get your fill of turkey, and don't want to make a whole bird for your family, I've also found this is a great time of year for stocking up on turkey breasts, or turkey cutlets.  I use them in much the same way I use chicken, but the turkey flavor just can't be beat!

Instant Pot Turkey a la King

2 Tbsp butter

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 Tbsp flour

1 cup chicken broth

1 lb turkey breast or cutlet, cut in bite sized pieces

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup frozen peas & carrots, thawed

1. Press "Saute" on the Instant Pot and add butter.
2. When butter is melted, add the turkey and mushrooms, cooking until mushrooms are tender, about 3 minutes.
3. Add flour and stir until smooth.
4. Slowly whisk in chicken broth.  Press "Off" on the Instant Pot and place the lid on.  Make sure the valve is turned to "Sealing."  Press "Manual" and adjust the time to 8 minutes at High pressure.  
5. When the Instant Pot beeps after pressuring cooking for 8 minutes, allow it to naturally release pressure for 13 minutes.  Press "Off" on the instant pot.
6. Add heavy cream, peas and carrots, and press "Saute" on the Instant Pot.  Cook until warmed through.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve over pasta, rice, potatoes, or even leftover stuffing!

The Play's the Thing: Pert Near Perfect Popcorn

One of my favorite parts of summer is summer theater.  I mean, sure, there's theater year-round, and we're lucky to live in an area with a theater just about every 15 miles, but summer theater is special.  Outside amphitheaters, watching a show with a cool summer breeze, picnics on the grass.

It's also ideal for little theater go-ers, because you can remove them easily.  This is the first year we've been able to take Thatbaby.  The past 2 years he would not have been able to sit for any of it.

There are two outdoor venues that have summer theater.  Usually they each do one family friendly show a year.  This year however, the boys requested to see almost all of the shows, which meant 5 musicals!

It all began at Easter.  Remember Jesus Christ Superstar Live?  Well we were staying in a hotel room when it aired and I could not get my children to sleep.  So like any good parent who wants to watch a live program, I told them they could stay up if they were in bed watching quietly.  And Thatkid fell in love.  For the first act.  He fell asleep during the second.  Thatbaby didn't even make it that long.  When he heard that it was going to be playing this summer, he begged to go see it.  And his little brother wanted to come too.  So our first family theater night was to see Jesus Christ Superstar.

Thatkid still says it's one of his favorite musicals ever.  Thatbaby loved it and for weeks sang "What's the Buzz" (which he took up again this weekend).  He put on shows with his microphone - "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Super Christ Super Star!"

The next show was the family friendly show I was counting on - Annie. Or as Thatbaby calls it, "Andy."  

The very next night, we packed up our show and went just a little farther out to see Newsies.

Newsies was at Moonlight Ampitheater, which is a step up from our community theater.   Nice seats, Broadway sets and costumes, and a lot more room.

For Newsies we got reserved lawn seats, which we like because you get lawn chairs, but also a nice grassy area to spread out a blanket.  The blanket is where the kids like to lie down and watch the show when they get tired.

They were selling Newsboy hats and it was one of those souvenirs that I just couldn't refuse.  Especially because ever since I have been treated to renditions of "King of New York" by these two little noggins.

We made a return to Moonlight when I saw that The Hunchback of Notre Dame was a Disney production.  But it was NOT like Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Frozen, or Little Mermaid.

The music was beautiful, and it was really well done, but it wasn't exactly kid friendly.  The boys got a little bored.  It didn't help that the reserve lawn seats were sold out so we were stuck in chairs.  No lying down for them.

This past weekend we saw our last show of the season - In the Heights.  This one wasn't high on my list, despite loving the show.  Thatkid and I saw it at the Moonlight last year.  But once again, claiming it was one of his favorites and asking to see it again, it was hard for me to say no. 

Given the later time of these shows, we didn't picnic as much as eat dinner before hand and just bring snacks with us.  Our snacks were very consistent though - popcorn.

Not just any popcorn, but homemade, stovetop popped popcorn.  I love popcorn, but stove-popped is a special treat for special occasions.  Like everything I make, if I want it done right, I always look to Alton Brown.  He has the best, most simple recipe with just 4 ingredients.  And while the butter is not a necessity, there's really nothing better than hot, fresh, buttery popcorn.

Pert-Near Perfect Popcorn  (By Alton Brown)

3 Tbsp peanut oil

3 oz popcorn kernels

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp butter, melted

1. Place oil, popcorn, and salt in a large metal bowl.  Cover with aluminum foil and poke several slits in the top with a knife.  Place the bowl over medium heat and shake.  You can make handles from the foil or use a tong.  When the popcorn stops popping, remove from heat.
2. Remove the foil and drizzle butter over the popcorn, tossing to coat evenly.