dinner and a show

I told you that there would be more to come this week, and here we are!  A report out on a nice evening.  Ready?  Let's go!

A while back I saw an ad pop up on my Instagram feed for a production of La Cage aux Folles at the Pasadena Playhouse.  Now, I should explain:  I'm not much for live theatre.  Never gotten into it.  Oh, we saw Ron earlier this year.  And I have been to the Playhouse before.  Twice.  Twice only in a dozen years, and the first time was a musical production of Sleepless in Seattle that was pretty terrible.  I did enjoy seeing Fun Home a handful of years ago at the Ahmanson, but we're still at fewer than one time a year going to see a play or musical.  It's just the way we're wired, perhaps.

Anyway, I suggested to Conrad and Van that we go to the play for a change of pace, and the response was ambivalent at best.  So I set it aside and didn't think about it again.  And then Van and I went to Bar Chelou one night last month, and that visit coincided with the opening of La Cage, and boy, was it a big hoopla.  Actual celebrities there.  A big, gay crowd.  That set me to thinking maybe we should reconsider, and the guys were amenable.  I bought us tickets.

A show at the playhouse meant a dinner opportunity for the three of us at the restaurant that shares the complex:  Bar Chelou.  Conrad had not been there before, so it was a great opportunity to bring him there.  Van booked us early seats at the bar,

and we were able to have a leisurely meal.  Cocktails to start

- a Gibson for me that I vacillated between enjoying and finding too sweet. 

And then on to an array of food that we all shared:

• Crispy potatoes - so soft inside, they were like fried gnocchi
  
  
  
• Breakfast radishes with fromage blanc - these came with some toasted bread and made a nice, light bite
  
  
  
• Carrots - a dish they have become known for, a little peanut-y, the best carrot salad I have had because it goes savoury rather than embrace the sweet
  
  
  
• Sprouting cauliflower - served with a sauce that I still want atop a nice steak
  
  
  
• Pork chop with cabbage - simple and good, but perhaps my least favourite of the night, which sounds critical but isn't meant to be
  
  
  

Conrad was still a bit hungry, and we agreed, so we ordered a bit more

• Burrata toast with ham - the pickled peppers were piquant, he says, alliteratively
  
  
  
• Duck leg with couscous - so glad we tried this, and one I want to have again
  
  
  

And, of course, we had to have dessert!  We shared the caramelized banana bar and enjoyed it a great deal.

From there it was across the courtyard to the theatre

and our seats. 

No, no photos of the performance, of course not.  Not allowed.  And that's fine!  It's good to enjoy something.  We did enjoy it, for sure.  It's funny, I've been reading the reviews of La Cage aux Folles this morning, and they are decidedly mixed.  The LA Times gave it a generally good review, including praise for Cheyenne Jackson, one of the leads.  Another online publication said that Jackson (who is 49) is too young to play a papa and too beefcake-y.  Jeff Kahoon, who played the other lead, comes in for some praise but more criticism for not nailing the roll and the singing as previous actors have.  The young couple whose engagement sets off the conflict are praised for their performances.  And the drag queen troupe gets mixed reviews.

Not our experience.  We loved Jackson and Kahoon, we thought that the young couple were the weak spot in the production, and we delighted in the drag queens.  But I will concede a point a read, that the production is more fun than emotionally relatable.  And that's fine!  Conrad asked me this morning how much tickets were ($44 each), and we agreed that we very much got a lot for that.  A show we all enjoyed, one we left the theatre feeling great about.

A Wednesday night dinner and show, not our usual midweek night.  And a long night, too!  Totally worth it.

Montana escape, day 4

Last Wednesday we left the hotel grounds at rather a late time of the morning and drove into Bozeman first, and then on to Livingston.  More of Montana - hooray!!

Bozeman is an attractive town.  A college town.  A destination for lovers of the outdoors.  Apparently a mecca for Californians and others (Boze Angeles is a nickname, or something like that).  It has some terrific historic buildings downtown that have survived and been repurposed. 

We walked around a little, taking photos, then stopped at a Sweet Peaks for a scoop each of the River Float flavour. 

Mmmmm...  After that we poked in a few stores and bought a few souvenirs.  By then it was later in the afternoon, so we hit the road east to get to Livingston in time for an early dinner with Matt

and his family.

I've known Matt professionally for at least a handful of years, but it was only a few years ago that we got to chatting a bit and catching up at conferences over a drink or a bite.  He'd been encouraging me for some time to come visit Montana, and although he and his wife don't live in Bozeman or all that close, it wasn't so far that they didn't want to come through, pick up their son (who is at college in Bozeman), and come for dinner.

Van had found the restaurant

in Livingston in a write up in a magazine or newspaper.  I can't recall which, but maybe the New York Times?  It all sounded good, though - a hip Italian place in a small Montana town that was a thriving arts.  Campione

at 5:00 for five of us, giving us a small window of time to walk the main street before (and then after) dinner

and buy a few more souvenirs.  Matt and his family were a little delayed, but not badly.  Before too long we had an excellent bottle of wine and some appetizers:  meatballs,

ricotta whipped with bone barrow,

smoked cauliflower. 

My entree was the trout

- when in Montana, right?  And then all of us shared the olive oil cake for dessert. 

After a bit of a stroll around town, we split up and headed home.  Van and I got back just as things got dark, a bit of an unnerving drive for us because there is so much wildlife around out there.

Our last full day in Montana was a very good one, indeed.  Friends, souvenirs, good food, sunny skies.  A delight through and through.

cleanse, day 9

It may not come as a surprise to people, but I spend a lot of time thinking about food. There was I, swimming a good 3.5 miles this morning, and keeping me company were thoughts of what to make for dinner. Throughout the day I thought of it from time to time, and on the bus ride home, I was still undecided. All I knew was I wanted to use what I had in the fridge, not buy more stuff.

Well, mission accomplished. A few disparate ideas pulled together, and I ended up serving us a fairly simple meal of four things that worked well together, or so I thought.



I got home and set to work. A can of cannelini beans, opened and drained. Four large garlic cloves, skins on, charred on each side in a hot, dry pan. Rosemary chopped. Put it all in a food processor, and a smooth puree was ready to anchor the plate.

I had some nice little grape tomatoes, so I tossed them with a little olive oil and salt, put them in a pie dish, and let them rest a bit in the toaster oven. Once they'd hit a certain point, I turned down the heat a good bit so as not to char them.

Half a cauliflower and a shallot went into a pan with some olive oil, salt, and pepper to caramelize lightly.

I washed a bunch of red chard, de-stemmed it, and tore it into large pieces. Close to time for plating, I put the still-wet chard into a hot pan and covered it with the lid to steam to tenderness.

I think the flavours worked well together. I also liked the variety on the plate and that I didn't resort to a curry or some vaguely East Asian stir-fry. We ate, pleasurably, and watched an episode of Coupling. When the dinner was done, I had a nice ripe mango for us to share. And so the cleanse continues....

the tyranny of green salads

Yes, yes, yes. Local produce, seasonal produce. Blah blah blah. Sometimes at this time of year there's just too much. And so beginneth my whining.

No, actually, what I find at this time of year is that there's all this wonderful stuff that cries out to be laid on plates and consumed. Among the things we tend to have a lot, then, are salads with all the great greens popping up. And after a while, well, I get kind of bored with them. It's a tyranny of green salad: delicate leafy things in various shades, some other fresh produce, a protein (smoked fish? cheese? nuts?), a dressing. It's tasty, but it begins to dictate my dinner planning. I blame the salad greens.

We're getting rather warm weather lately in Chicago, and I've wanted to keep my cooking as minimal as possible, another thing that pushes me toward salads. Tonight, though, I had no lettuces in my fridge. A napa cabbage, yes, but no lettuces. And that's quite fine. Time to break free and salad up some other items. And that, friends, led me to cauliflower.

This was an easy one to make. I blanched some florets and drained them, then tossed them with sliced red onion, capers, black olives, golden raisins, diced red pepper, sherry vinegar, coarse salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, and olive oil. If I had anchovies, I might have tossed them in, too. As it was, it made for a nice mix to sit and marinate while we were at the pool.

Once home, it was out on the balcony with these simple marinated cauliflower salads. I also set out some smoked salmon, almonds, radishes, and a bit of feta on a plate. A very easy dinner for post-practice, and the apartment isn't any hotter because of it. Hooray!

But best of all, it was just a little different. It didn't bore me. A touch of green came from some chopped parsley, and that was good for me. No leafy stuff tonight.

And now I sit and blog while Conrad packs for Honolulu. A week and a half without him. I'll have to challenge myself to come up with another half-decent dish or two.