Broadway Palm Presents S'Wonderful

I violated a cardinal rule this week-end.  My parents were visiting and we decided to go see S'Wonderful at the Broadway Palm dinner theater in Fort Myers.  Why would I need to bring a camera for a theater outing?  As we pulled into the parking lot and I saw the parked tour buses (including a Hollywood Tours bus with signage that read, "Where the fun and excitement begin!"),  I was kicking myself for missing this photo opp.   Even my mother, who doesn't often read my blog because it's "on the computer," realized that this was a post waiting to happen. 

We picked up our tickets at the "Will Call" window and were ushered into the dining room/theater. Our table, which we shared with a few other theatergoers, was conveniently located right next to the buffet area.   Even though we had arrived at 5:45 and the buffet had only opened at 5:30, some people were already eating dessert.  These seniors (because yes, it was primarily an older audience) are serious about their food!  I have to say that the food was actually much better than I had expected.  There was a decent salad bar, a few hot items (including a carving station), and a great dessert selection.  Again, a missed photo opportunity. 

At 7:15, the tables were cleared in anticipation of the 7:30 curtain.  (I was really glad to find out that this wasn't the type of dinner theater where you eat during the performance.  It is just too depressing to think about the actors plying their trade to the clanking of silverware on plates and, "Harold, did you try the cabbage roll?" or "Waitress, can we get some more coffee over here?")    It was show time!

As you might have guessed from the title, S'Wonderful is a musical with Gershwin tunes.  There were five vignettes that had little plots that incorporated various Gershwin songs.   The members of the ensemble cast were good, if not great, and all had decent voices.  The pianist was terrific.  And, of course, the songs were great.  Who doesn't love Gershwin?   I periodically took a peek at my parents to see how they were enjoying it and noticed that, not only were they both awake, they were laughing and sitting cuddled up to one another with linked arms.  S'wonderful, indeed. 

Cooking Demo with IYC's Chef Philip

The Isles Yacht Club has so many different groups doing fun things that it is virtually impossible to participate in them all.  All women members of the Club are automatically members of the Isle-Ettes.  Unlike most of the groups, the Isle-Ettes don't have one particular "mission"; they just have programs and outings they think will be of interest.  For one reason or another, I haven't been able to make it to many of the Isle-Ette's meetings, but I made it a priority to get to this month's meeting, which featured a cooking demonstration by Chef Philip with a fun twist. 

The announcement of the meeting invited us to wear an apron (and noted that there would be a competition.)  I don't typically sport an apron while I cook, but my friend Pam happened to make one for me this summer (how's that for prescience???) so I was ready to go.   The cooking demo started after a long list of announcements of future Islet-Ettes events.  These women are busy!   Upcoming outings include trips to the Dali Museum  and a production of Carmen put on by the Sarasota Opera.  If you don't feel like traveling, you can join them for a fashion show and there might also be a reprise of a self-defense class that got a good response over the summer.  Fun!!!

To determine the winner of the apron competition, an entrant was chosen from each table.  Shockingly, neither Dorrit nor I were selected from our table (hello--take a look at those cute aprons!) but that worked out just as well since we were front and center for the cooking demo.  Carol Nuzzo wore the winning apron and her prize was to man (or would it be "woman"?) the second cooking station.  Carol is great fun and has the absolutely most expressive face so she was a perfect choice. 

The luncheon menu was roasted chicken with glace de poulet and a roasted peach and vidalia onion salad.  Chef Philip started off his demonstration by showing us how to cut up a whole chicken.   It reminded me of a quick fire challenge on Top Chef (one of my favorite shows.)   I have to say that I was pretty darn happy at this point that I was in the audience rather than in the spotlight!  He went over some knife skills and showed us how easy it is to cut the chicken up if you just cut through the joints.   Once the chicken was in pieces, the breast was put on the stove to cook (skin side down so it would turn out nice and crispy.)  (FYI, the chicken is typically done in the oven, but with no oven available for the demo, Chef Philip decided to give it a go in the saute pan.)  Carrots, celery and onion (a "mire poix") went into the stock pot along with the chicken carcass and enough liquid to cover the chicken and the veggies.

With the chicken and stock underway, Carol and Chef Philip turned to the salad.   As always, the trick to a great salad is fresh ingredients.  Georgia peaches are the best for this recipe (you want them to be firm for roasting) and a Vidalia or other sweet onion is a must. To roast the peaches, all you do is halve them and take the pits out.  Leave the brown "stuff" since that's all sugar!  Cook them at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Once the peaches are done, you slice them nice and thin and toss them with slivers of the sweet onion, some grape tomatoes, celery and a bunch of cilantro.  The dressing was just some lemon and EVOO to bring out the freshness.  

Once the salad was ready to go, Chef and Carol turned back to the stock to make the glace.  (As you can see, they worked in perfect synchronization.)  Of course, to make stock takes longer than we had for the demonstration, so there were a couple of carafes of pre-made stock at the ready.  The glace was basically reduced stock, butter, thyme, salt and pepper.  I loved the fact that Chef Phlip didn't get fussed if things didn't go quite right during the demo.  The heat on one of the portable cooktops kept flickering on and off and made if difficult to make the sauce without it "breaking."  He took it all in stride--after all, the sauce that we would actually be served was safely being done in the kitchen away from our prying eyes!  

With the demo behind us, we were treated to our lunch, and it was delicious.  The chicken was moist, the skin was crispy, the sauce was delicious and the salad was a great accompaniment with its unexpected flavors.  We ended our lunch with cake to celebrate the Isle-Ette's 35th birthday.   All in all, quite an enjoyable (if fattening!) meeting.

Dorrit Day

No, this isn't a typo of a reference to Doris Day (although I do find myself saying "que sera sera" more frequently than I used to!)   When I realized that I had several outings planned with my friend Dorrit for last Saturday, I dubbed it "Dorrit Day," and I have to say that it was a blast!   Here was the schedule:

7:00 --  Hopped on my bike to join Dorrit and the rest of the IYC bikers to head to breakfast.  This week's destination was the Smoke House where I resisted the biscuits with sausage gravy.  There was some interesting chatter about the Peace River Film Festival, but more about that later.  Hit the farmer's market on the way home.  (I decided this didn't count as an extra component of Dorrit Day since this is part of the weekly routine.)  Picked up some nice okra to make gumbo!

11:00 -- Headed over to Dorrit and Bruce's house to take their power boat over to the Isles Yacht Club for dinghy racing.    Captain Bruce (or "Mr. Dorrit" as one of my friends called him) was at the helm.  It was quite warm out so it felt great to zip along on the water.  There wasn't much wind at this point and I was a bit concerned about the heat (not to mention the racing).  There was some suggestion of bagging the races and taking the boat up river to the Nav-A-Gator for lunch and I was secretly (or maybe not so secretly!) hoping that we'd do that! 
 

 12:00 -- A group decision was made that there was enough wind to race so we got our boat (the aptly named "Courageous") ready.  Whenever anyone says that we have to "rig" a boat, I immediately feel that I am in way over my head.  Luckily, rigging the boat in this case only meant getting the sails up and daggerboard down (and draining the boat so that we wouldn't be weighted down with the rain water!)   Then we had to get the dinghies from the Club out to Charlotte Harbor.  This is kind of tricky since there's no wind by the Club.  You sort of paddle off the dock and get yourself into position to be towed by the Committee Boat.  I was on the tiller and Dorrit was a bit nervous at this point as we had a close encounter with another boat .  (When I asked Bruce to take some pictures, I didn't have this shot in mind!)   No harm, though, no foul.

1:00 -- We were off to the races!  There are four dinghies and the other boats were manned by much more experienced sailors than I.  I ended up on the tiller for the whole day. (There wasn't really time for me to learn how to trim the sails and Dorrit generously let me do what I was more comfortable with.)  I'm sure she was wondering what she had gotten herself into as I inadvertently jibed on occasion rather than coming about.  The starts were not pretty, and at the very first mark we almost ran into another dinghy that didn't give us room.  (They had to do a 360 as a result, which was kind of cool.)    I had low expectations about how we would do but after we came in second on the first race, our competitive juices started flowing a bit.  I never really got us off to a good start but we ended up with two seconds, a first and (very sadly) a fourth that left us in second place overall for the day.    On the fourth race, the wind came up and we almost went over on at least two occasions.  (I am sure it's a comforting feeling when the helmsman is yelling, "What do I do???????!!!!!")   All in all, a highly fun and satisfying outing! 

6:00 -- We got together with 35 of our closest friends from the Civic Association for dinner at Jack's before the Film Festival.  One of our dinner companions wrote down our names and contact info to give to her niece when she visits so that she can meet some nice "young" people in Punta Gorda.  (It is all relative.)

8:00 --  We made our grand entrance into the Peace River Film Festival.  Dorrit looked great on the red carpet.  Saturday night's offering at the Festival was a selection of films from the Black Maria Film Festival.  (FYI, "Black Maria" was the name of the motion picture studio that Thomas Edison built in 1893.  The Black Maria Festival has been in existence for over 30 years and 40-60 of the short films that are submitted to the Festival each year are chosen to be shown as part of the annual Black Maria tour.)    The films were incredibly varied and you could see that each filmmaker had a vision of what he or she wanted to share with the audience.  I particularly liked an animated film that was based on an autograph book of his grandfather's that the filmmaker stumbled upon and a film about the Lumiere brothers bringing movies to the big screen.  (The first audience fled the theater fearing for their lives when the film showed a train pulling into the station that looked like it was heading straight for them!)   I can't say I enjoyed all the films but I certainly respect the work put into them and give the filmmakers a lot of credit for getting their visions from their heads to the big screen.   Kudos as well to the organizers of the Peace River Film Festival for bringing this interesting event to little Punta Gorda!

After our fun filled day, I dropped Dorrit off around 10:45 and went home to collapse!   I will definitely have to rest up before having another Dorrit Day (but I am certainly looking forward to it.)  In the meantime, Dorrit and Bruce are going to be part of the "ambassadors" program at the Isles Yacht Club, helping new members integrate into the Club and all of its activities.   These unsuspecting people have no idea how much fun awaits them! 

The Submission by Amy Waldman

As we sit on the cusp of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I find myself quickly turning the page when I come across an article remembering those who died that day or discussing the lives of the family members who lost loved ones.   It's just too difficult.   On that morning, I watched with confusion from my office directly across the Hudson River from the WTC as the second plane crashed into the Towers, thinking that there was some incredible air traffic control error.  I also watched with shock and disbelief as the Towers fell, first one and then the other.  I anxiously awaited word from my husband that he was safe in his workplace mere steps from the WTC.  And I, like most of the world, watched these events unfold over and over again in the television coverage following the attack.

Despite these lingering emotions, when I came upon a novel at the Book Expo about creating the 9/11 memorial, I felt compelled to take a copy.   And, with the tenth anniversary of that day upon us, I felt compelled to read it.

The premise behind The Submission is that a blind jury representing various constituencies has been put together to select the design for the 9/11 memorial.  After months of deliberations, a design is selected from the thousands submitted, the centerpiece of which is a public garden.  It is then discovered that the architect who created the design is a Muslim-American.  The political ramifications of this decision are tremendous.  One person bemoans, "It's Maya Lin all over again.  But worse."  (Maya Lin is the Chinese-American artist whose design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was chosen in a blind jury competition, with some controversy.  Lin was called before Congress to defend her design, and some modifications were made as a result in an attempt to appease the public.)    And so the stage has been set for an interesting debate.  Would the American public accept a memorial to the victims of 9/11 that was designed by a person with the same religious affiliation as the terrorists?   What message would be sent if the deliberations of the blind jury were overturned solely because of the identity of the designer?

Waldman explores these issues--and many more--primarily through the eyes of three characters.  The first is Paul, a retired Wall Street guy and the Chairman of the jury who had hoped that his involvement with the memorial would be the crowning moment of his public life.  Paul now has to negotiate this politically and emotionally charged situation as he meets with the Mayor, the Governor, the architect and the jury members.  The second is Claire, the jury member who represents the constituency of the families who lost loved ones in the attack. Claire lobbied for the garden design during the jury process and is now deeply conflicted about whether she should continue to support the garden, especially in light of the very vocal and public objections by other family members.   The third is, of course, Mohammed, the Muslim-American architect whose design has caused the controversy.  While Mohammed is Muslim, he is an agnostic who has no connection to the Middle East or to the "religious" fanaticism that motivated the terrorists.  He is also an idealist, though, who wants his design to be accepted on its face without providing explanations about his political views or whether the design drew upon the Muslim concept of the "gardens of paradise" that await Muslims--including Muslim martyrs--upon their deaths.

Somewhat surprisingly, I did not find myself mired in emotion as I read The Submission.  Instead, it was a truly interesting read that gave me the opportunity to consider not only the immediately obvious issues but "peripheral" issues as well such as the role of politics in public art and architecture and the difficulties that face any public personality who has taken a stance that needs to be reconsidered.      
That is not to say that this was an easy read or that it didn't raise some painful memories.  About halfway through the book, I decided to do some research about the actual 9/11 Museum and Memorial.   As I started looking at the design of the Museum, with pictures of each of the victims of the 9/11 attacks and the 1993 attack on the WTC, my heart started pounding and I found myself near tears.  In reading about the design for the Memorial itself, called "Reflecting Absence," I was again nearly overcome with emotion.   You can find information about the Memorial and the Museum at http://www.911memorial.org/   It took me quite some time to work up the nerve to go visit the site of the Trade Centers after 9/11, and I don't know when--if ever--I will have the emotional fortitude to visit the Memorial and Museum.

The book cover for The Submission includes a quote from Richard Price (author of the critically acclaimed Lush Life) that calls the book a "panoramic novel about the politics of grief in the wake of 9/11".   I agree with this description and commend Waldman for writing a book that gives its readers an opportunity to think about some complicated issues and some of the unexpected ways in which the 9/11 attacks impacted people's lives.  

I would be remiss to end this post without extending my continued condolences to all those who lost loved ones in the attacks and my gratitude to all of the responders.  God bless America. 

IYC Bike to Breakfast

It's my first week-end back in Punta Gorda and I'm getting back into the swing of things here.  I am happy to report that the weather isn't nearly as hot and humid as I feared, and I've been enjoying some early morning biking with my friend Dorrit as I reacquaint myself with my environs.  I joined the IYC bike to breakfast group on Saturday for their weekly ride, and it was fun as always.  (Their philosophy is quite similar to mine--do a bit of exercise and immediately offset the benefits with a good complement of carbs, pork fat and other treats!)   This week the ride was to the SkyView Cafe at the airport, where the specialty of the house is an oatmeal covered French toast that is to die for. (They ask if you want sugar free syrup with that.  Really, what's the point???)  It's my favorite ride since it's the longest one and we seem to always find an interesting route.  Next week is the Smoke House, where the specialty is biscuits and gravy that are to die for.  (There is a trend here, in case you haven't noticed!)

In addition to the fun of the ride and the food, the conversation is always lively and I always come away with some interesting tidbit of information, whether it's a vacation destination, a book to curl up with or a fun outing.  At least that's what happens at the women's table; since the men and women sit at separate tables, I have no idea what the guys talk about.   Here are some morsels from this week:

--Cultural Exchange Program:  Joanne and Richard participate in the Southwest Florida branch of Friendship Force (http://www.friendshipforceswfl.org/).  It's a combined cultural exchange, social and travel organization whose motto is "Change the Way You See the World."   This program of "friendship ambassadors" was created in the 1970s with the support of then President Carter.  The power of the concept was officially recognized in 1992 when Friendship Force International was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. In any event, Joanne and Richard are off to spend a month in Australia, two weeks on their own and two weeks with a host family that will give them the local view on life down under.   Joanne and Richard will then serve as friendship ambassadors here in the spring, hosting a Russian couple and showing them the ins and outs on life in Southwest Florida.  I'm sure that IYC will be a part of that experience.
--Cruise central:  Marsha and Ray just got back from a 35 day cruise to Greenland (she confirmed that's a misnomer!), Iceland and Europe.  I missed the whole story but there was something about a swimming pool and ice cubes at 11:00 at night that sounded particularly intriguing!   
--Cool volunteer work:  Laurie volunteers once a week at Sallie Mae elementary school, working one-on-one with kindergarteners who can benefit from some extra attention.  Since I'm working at the Adult Learning Center, we had a great conversation about literacy and the differences between helping kids get a head start and helping adults achieve their educational goals later in life.
--Recommended reading:  The Art of Racing in the Rain, Room and Cutting for Stone got good reviews.
   
I also came away with reminders of dates to put on my calendar for biking and kayaking outings, lectures, and other fun events.  Even though I've only been back a few days, my September calendar is jam packed.  It's great to be back in Punta Gorda! 

Queen for a Day

Do you remember that TV show "Queen for a Day"?   An array of "ordinary" women told their story to the studio audience who then voted on which woman would be awarded queenly status for the day and given a great prize--often a new washing machine or other household appliance that would make their life easier.  (It's actually pretty crazy to read about the show.  You can check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_for_a_Day.)   After taking over for my sister Suzanne for a few days while she took her oldest child to college, I have a much greater appreciation for motherhood, and I would like to award all of you the status of "Queen," not for a day, but for a lifetime!

The child starting college is my nephew TJ, and he is off to study communications at NYU.  The typical stress and other emotions associated with bringing your first child to college were exacerbated by the threat of Hurricane Irene overpowering NYC.  Official move-in day for the kids was changed from Sunday to Monday in light of the storm, but my sister, brother-in-law and TJ headed to NY on Friday as originally planned.   What a strange experience it must have been to be in NY with public transportation shut down and most stores and restaurants closed since the bulk of the population can't get to work without access to subways, buses and trains.  On Sunday elevators were ordered to be shut down as well, leaving the fam stranded in their 12th floor hotel room until the all-clear sign was given.  (Tim actually ventured down the stairs to forage for some breakfast for them, trudging back up the 12 flights with NYC bagels in hand.)   With the storm being more or less a non-event in NYC, TJ is now ensconced in his dorm room and is set to take on college life.  Hopefully my sister is ready as well!

Back at the ranch (OK, it's actually a beautiful home in a lovely subdivision), I have been tending to their 16 year old daughter Elizabeth and their nine year old son Andrew.  As far as I can tell, being a parent these days consists primarily of driving kids places or waiting to drive them places.  How a mother finds time to exercise or get work done (especially on the week-ends) is totally beyond me.  Elizabeth started school on Monday, but this didn't mean that she had a light schedule over the week-end.  School of Rock, Drama Club, SAT prep and a visit from the boyfriend took up most of her time.  (I broke the "read on" rule in my sister's instructions and only realized on Sunday that she was actually supposed to be reading "1984" for school.  My bad.)   Drew's week-end included a sleepover (at a friend's house--way too much for this novice caretaker to handle!), a play date and a baseball practice.  His schedule got in full swing on Monday, though, when he had school plus a baseball game followed by football practice.  (He hit a grand slam in the baseball game--his first kid pitch game ever--and it was pretty darn exciting.) 

After four days (and nights!) of babysitting, I am thoroughly exhausted and a bit wired.  I had no sandwich meat for Drew for his lunch so today he is a vegetarian.  (I figure a kid can survive for one day on fruit, yogurt, a slice of cheese and chips, can't he?)  For some reason, the guard house no longer had my name on the "approved visitor" list this morning when I came back from my school drop off.  I have to admit that after telling the guards in a firm voice (OK, there might have been some yelling involved)  that I had been taking care of the kids for four days and my name had been on the list and it was certainly still there, I got in my car and drove the wrong way down the road so that I didn't have to crash through the gate to get back to their house.  My car is now hidden in their garage and I am envisioning helicopters circling the development looking for this rogue babysitter.   If you don't hear from me for awhile, you'll know that I am in the custody of rent-a-cops, waiting for my lawyer to come and bail me out.   Somehow I don't think that studio audience would choose me from the line-up as queen for the day, so I will happily relinquish the role to my sister upon her return. 

Touring the "Town that Died"

I've been pretty good about exploring the South Shore of Nova Scotia rather than just enjoying Chester summer camp as many CFAs ("Come From Aways") do when they come for their summer vacation.  I have been remiss, however, about learning about Halifax (which people refer to as the "City," which always cracks me up since the "City" is New York, isn't it???)   In one of those small world coincidences, the brother of one of the tutors from our adult literacy program in Florida owns an Ambassatours tour company in Halifax, and she arranged for me to go with some friends on a three hour tour of the City last week. (I can hear you humming the theme song to "Gilligan's Island" now!)   I thought I'd share some of the highlights: 

• Halifax was settled by Cornwallis and a bunch of city folks from London in 1749.  The City's name was changed then from Chebooktook (the Mi'kmaq Indian word for "big harbour" which had been used for the past 10,000 years) to Halifax after the Earl of Halifax. 

• Four hilltop forts were established in Halifax so that the British could protect the City. The fort on Citadel Hill has been preserved in its 1869 iteration, complete with a guard at the entrance and soldiers marching in the courtyard. The fort includes a bunk room, kitchen, dining room and a school. Soldiers were encouraged to attend school in their non-working hours and all children of soldiers living at the Citadel were given free education, which was a big deal at the time. The teacher used a projection device known as the "Green Lantern" to give slide presentations that were used both in school and for entertainment.   There is also a tailor shop where tourists like us can try on uniforms, which of course I insisted we do.  (To my eye, the hats make us look like the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz!)
• Sam Cunard ran his start-up cruise line business from Halifax.  What he should be best known for, though, is his invention of the universal navigation system of using green lights for starboard (right) and red lights for port (left).  
• Halifax was only 700 nautical miles away from where the Titanic went down and consequently served as one of the major recovery centers.   Haligonian searchers recovered 328 bodies from the disaster. 
• In December of 1917 SS Mont-Blanc,  a steamship chartered by the French government to transport munitions to Europe, collided with the freighter Imo and caused the largest man made explosion in the history of the world until Hiroshima.    The impact of the explosion was quite gruesome, with people within 100 yards of the explosion being totally vaporized.  The aftermath of the explosion included a tsunami that was over 50 feet high and fires that raged throughout the City for over a week.   Over time, the City was rebuilt, but it thereafter became known as "the town that died."
• On a happier note, Halifax is a popular location for shooting movies and TV shows.  Not surprisingly, some scenes from Titanic were filmed there.  When we went on our tour, Pearce Brosnan was in town filming a mini-series of Stephen King's Bag of Bones.  This was not news to me, since I had run into Pearce at the pro shop at Chester Golf Club earlier in the week!  (Not to burst any bubbles, but he looked very old and wan, wasn't friendly and his group was so slow on the course that people played through.) 

The guide for our tour was quite the raconteur and, as we found out at as we headed back to our starting point, a singer as well.  He ended the tour by serenading us with Farewell to Nova Scotia, a popular folk song that is believed to have been written around the time of the first World War.   The chorus goes:

                                      Farewell to Nova Scotia, the sea-bound coast
                                      Let your mountains dark and dreary be.
                                      For when I am far away on the briny ocean tossed,
                                      Will you ever heave a sigh or wish for me?

As my time in Chester has drawn to a close, I too say my farewells to Nova Scotia and my wonderful friends there (although I will definitely not sing--that would be entirely too painful!)   It is truly a special spot, and I am already plotting next year's adventures.  For now, though, it's back to sunny (okay, hot and incredibly humid) Florida and what passes for my "real life."   Already on the calendar for September are the first Peace River Film Festival and a kayak outing to Sanibel Island so there will be plenty of fun mixed in with my adult literacy work (which is fun in a different way).   Watch this space for updates!