Britische Küche? Her damit!

Zugegebenermassen kein Ereignis, das die Welt erschüttert hätte (oder hat doch jemand Montag auf Dienstag ein Beben verspürt?): Bei Greg's Stammtisch im Parish Publick House habe ich mich an meinen ersten Shepherds Pie gewagt. Nur um festzustellen, dass von Wagnis gar keine Rede sein kann. Da mein zerstreutes Gehirn aus unerfindlichem Grunde Shepherd's Pie mit dem gruseligen Haggis durcheinanderwarf, wäre es mir bisher nie in den Sinn gekommen Shepherd's Pie anzutesten. Nun stellt sich heraus, dass ich bis jetzt "The Ultimate Comfort Food" verpasst habe. Um mich in eine komplett neue Erfahrung zu stürzen, habe ich den Pie mit Guinness kombiniert. Ich, die Pilsnertante! Nicht so dunkel & schokoladig wie Mountain Brewing's "Devout Stout". Bierkenner Greg hat mir geraten, nächstesmal ein Imperial Stout zu versuchen. Machen wir doch!

Übrigens, zu allen deutschen Shepherds Pie Rezepten, die ich online gesehen habe, müsste man einiges mehr an Gemüse dazugeben.

"Awakenings" Redux

Last night's show apparently underwent a number of changes since the initial announcement. Two nights became one, Corigliano's setting of "Fern Hill" from his Dylan Thomas Trilogy was replaced by his a capella work "L'invitation au voyage" using Wilbur’s translation of Baudelaire’s poem. Pierre Mercure was dropped altogether. Despite the inconsistencies before the concert, yesterday's performances were sound, coherent, at times touching in their sweetness. Nicole Paiement commented on the audience's courage to face modern choral works, but we were treated to a selection of very accessible and harmonious 20th Ct. compositions. One exception that offered some dissonance was Canadian composer Sid Robinovitch’s  "Awakenings" using excerpts from Piedra da Sol by Octavio Paz. It was the highlight of the evening for me. By the way, if you followed the last link you might have discovered that you can enjoy (free) music streams on the Canadian Music Centre website when you choose "Listen to Archival Recording(s)" on the composer's page. Among other goodies you'll find Robinovitch’s "Canciones por las Americas" presenting more poetry by Paz ("Olvido"), by Nicolás Guillén ("Sensemaya"), and Juana de Ibarbourou ("Noche de Lluvia"). The Canciones were an exciting offering of last December's New Music Works concert. 

UCSC Chamber Singers: Awakenings

I'll be there. Let me know if you're interested:
"Poetry and music join forces in the Chamber Singers’ winter concert with "Cantate pour une joie" by Pierre Mercure (world premiere of chamber version),  and "Fern Hill," a setting of poetry by Dylan Thomas by John Corigliano. The program also features music by Eric Whitacre, Stacey Garrop, Sid Rabinovitch, and Darius Milhaud. With Michael McGushin, piano, and members of the UCSC Resident String Ensemble. Nicole Paiement, conductor."

Saturday 21 February, 7:30 pm
Recital Hall

Ich habe Lance Armstrong gesehen! Im wirklichen Leben!

Ich muss allerdings zugeben, erkannt habe ich ihn nicht. Wie sagte der Bekannte, mit dem ich mir den Endspurt der zweiten Etappe der AMGEN Tour of California in die Innenstadt von Santa Cruz angeschaut habe: "Keine Chance, die sehen alle gleich aus." Wir wussten dank live updates auf'm Handy, dass die Armstrong-Gruppe gerade vorbeikommt, aber welche Nase unter welchem Helm jetzt Lance sein sollte war schwer auszumachen. Das Verrückteste war, dass das hundsmiserable Wetter heute genau zwei Stunden Pause machte um Radlern und Zuschauern ein paar sonnige Stunden in Santa Cruz zu bescheren.Haarscharf genug Zeit mir noch einen Platz zu ergattern, die Radler einlaufen zu sehen, mich zur Ziellinie vorzuarbeiten, mir die Zeremonie anzuhören (gesehen habe ich leider nix), und wieder gemütlich nach Hause zu radeln bevor es wieder zu regnen anfing. Ganz Santa Cruz war mit dem Rad unterwegs, denn Parkplätze in der Stadt waren natürlich unmöglich zu finden. Soviele Räder auf einmal habe ich in der Stadt noch nie gesehn! Eine grosse Sache, gute Atmosphäre; alle habe sich gefreut, dass das Wetter auch mitspielte. Online gibt's Videos von den wichtigsten Momenten des Tages (Stage 2), leider bin ich nicht drauf...

Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing

Alice and I went to check out local, certified organic Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing. The brewery isn't located in the mountains, but rather on the Westside around the corner from Kelly's Bakery. It's tiny, consisting of the brewery (a bigger room), and the cozy tasting room, a (you guessed it) smaller room. The beers are big and bold, though. I particularly liked the dark chocolate flavored Devout Stout, and the citrus fresh Wilder Wheat. We came for "A Culinary Beer Tour", catered by India Joze. Since we joined late in the game, an hour and a half before the event ended, the tour had already come to a halt, so we only enjoyed one entree instead of the advertised around-the-world variety. The food was supertasty, though, and we had a lot of fun sampling the Mountain Brewing beers.

D. Nurkse and Stephen Kessler at Bookshop Santa Cruz

They're both fine poets, but more than anything I enjoyed their translations. Stephen Kessler read from Les Ziaux/Eyeseas by Raymond Queneau, which he translated with Daniela Hurezanu (Black Widow Press). D. Nurkse surprised me with a number of riddles that were simply beautiful. I must confess I forgot what he said the original language was, i.e. what country they came from. I thought I could look them up online, but the translations of medieval French riddles I found in the Cortland Review are not the ones Nurkse read at the Bookshop. We'll just have to wait for their publication, I'm afraid. For more info on the authors, check out the PSC announcement.

Eight Tens @ Eight

My third "First" last weekend was the Eight Tens @ Eight Festival, which features "a sampler pack of mini plays scripted by eight different playwrights," as the Good Times review put it. I shouldn't even point out that it's been going strong for 14 years. I enjoyed it very much, in particular the comedies. It's a brilliant concept. Which begs the question, where on earth have I been for the last 13 years! Well... uh... right here... snoozing. The only excuse I can come up with is that I didn't have theatre loving friends like Joan, tuned in to local productions &  generous supporter of the Actor's Theatre, to remind me that the show was coming up. If you miss the festival, whose program consists of eight plays chosen from over 150 submissions, you even get a second chance to get in on the action by watching the "Best of the Rest" scheduled for March. I talked to one of the actors, Carol Skolnick, a Fellow SCIFAM member, who appears in the funny and surreal "The Sound of Moonlight." According to her, 'Best of the Rest" might even be the "edgier", and thereby more rewarding show.

Hot Fudge Sundae

For the last day of my birthday season Gary treated me to my next "first," my first Hot Fudge Sundae at Marinis on the Wharf. I've had all the ingredients before, of course, in one form or another, but never an "official" Hot Fudge Sundae until now. Yummy. It's the ice cream version of Schwarzwalderkirschtorte. Well, minus the alcohol... During the summer I try to stay away from the waterfront, but this time of the year it's so mellow that you can actually relax, kick back, indulge in the back of Marini's where the sun warms you through the big windows while you enjoy the view over the glittering water towards Westcliff.

Planet Cruz

Ich habe kein Monopol auf den Begriff; "Planet Cruz" ist unter anderem auch der Name einer Comedy/Kabarett Show die sich jeden ersten Freitag des Monats aller Dinge Santa Cruz annimmt. Der letze Freitag war der erste Freitag, und endlich habe ich es geschafft mir die Show live anzusehen. Wird auch Zeit, wenn man bedenkt, dass die "comedy show by Santa Cruzans for the Santa Cruz in everybody" schon seit Oktober 2007 erfolgreich von Richard Stockton in Szene gesetzt wird, wie man auf KUSP, einem der örtlichen Radiosender, in aller Ruhe noch einmal nachhören kann. Wie es mir gefallen hat? Es war superlustig, wir haben zwei Stunden nur gelacht! Ich habe schon jeden, den ich die nächsten Tage getroffen habe neugierig gemacht. An Begleitung für die nächsten Shows wird's nicht mangeln und ich möchte auf jeden Fall wieder hin!

Last weekend was a splendid succession of firsts. My first first was my first encounter with the Planet Cruz Comedy Hour. It's become a Santa Cruz institution since it started in 2007 (check out past broadcasts on KUSP ), but it was nevertheless absolutely fresh when I finally made it to the February show at the Kuumbwa. It was hilarious! We were laughing for two hours. This first won't be a last!

Birthday Flowers

Ich wollte schon die ganze Woche meinen Fotoapparat auf die Arbeit bringen um den Strauss zu verewigen, den ich von Kathleen bekommen habe. Heute ist schon Freitag, und nachdem ich die Nikon schon wieder vergessen habe, muss jetzt mein Mac herhalten für einen Photo Booth Schnappschuss. Trotzdem hübsch!
I meant to bring my camera all week to take a picture of the bouquet that Kathleen gave me for my birthday. It's Friday already, I forgot the Nikon again, so I have to snapshoot the flowers using Photo Booth on my Mac. Still nice looking, aren't they!