On Holiday!

Co-writing Mallorca updates with my husband at Mallorca Diary. I'll be back to the Insanity soon...too soon!

Cold Soup? Yum!

One of my favorite summer dishes has always been my mother's gazpacho. It is so refreshing, and I liked that we could put all the condiments in by ourselves--finally the baby in the family had some control!

Now that I am all grown up (sort of) I really appreciate gazpacho as a super-easy dinner on a super-hot day. If you have a batch of the soup in your fridge, you just come home and pour it out. It's great for a working mom or dad. It is easy enough to make, so your kids can help too.

These days it is hard to find a classic Gazpacho. Most recipes blend all the ingredients together, which can be tasty, but they aren't ever as good as my mom's gazpacho! Her soup is solely tomato-based, and all the other vegetables get chopped up and added in just before you eat.

My niece is visiting, and I was able to share the family recipe with her. Now I will share it with you, too!

Christine's Classic Gazpacho

The key to a great gazpacho is finding tasty tomatoes! We were lucky enough to pick these straight from the vine:



Soup Ingredients:
2 or 3 Tomatoes
Water
1/4 c. Oil
1/4 c. Vinegar
Salt
Garlic, to taste
2 slices bread

Blend equal parts tomato and water. I throw the tomatoes in skin and all. Add in some garlic, 2 or 3 cloves is good. Add the vinegar and oil. I like to use a red wine vinegar and some olive oil, but you can play around with different flavors. Put in 2 slices of bread to add some heft to the soup. And you're done--it's that easy! Put the soup in the refrigerator to chill. The longer you wait, the more flavor comes out, too.

Condiments:(chop up as big or small as you like)
Hard Boiled Egg
Green Pepper
Cucumber
Onion
Croutons


Serve in a big bowl so you can add in lots of stuff. I like my gazpacho like Campbells soup--you could eat it with a fork!

Rainy Days and Sundays. . .

could get you down, but why let 'em?

We went hiking up in Harriman State Park this Sunday with friends. We got completely drenched, but it was beautiful and fun.




Life is a lot more fun with friends.

We saw lots of Spotted Newts. I think their prevalence indicates rain?. . .



I can't believe autumn is already on it's way.

The Old Mill

On my recent trip to Ithaca we visited Treman State Park, which is an amazingly beautiful park. At the beginning of our walk we stopped in at The Old Mill. It is a grist mill from 1839, and it still is setup so that you can see how it worked.




It is filled with lots of cogs and gears and other cool stuff. Although it was powered with very cold water rather than steam, I loved the look, and thought it somewhat steam-punky.

Freezing Hot!

Last weekend we visited our very dear friends near Ithaca NY. It was the perfect weekend: sunny but not too hot, and filled with fun and love. Our friends took us city mice to a picking farm, and we went a bit overboard. We ended up with an overabundance of fruits and vegetables! They were all so pretty and so fresh that I couldn't resist picking "just one more."




Well, that "just one more" did not fit in our refrigerator, and I knew we would not eat everything before it started to go, so I decided that what I couldn't carry to work to share would have to be frozen. I did consider drying some of the peaches, but found out that the oven had to be on for 15 hours--no way! It was already about 100 degrees in my kitchen--I didn't need to turn it into an inferno.



I turned to the Internet and found so many helpful sites with instructions on freezing produce, and great recipes as well. One site I turned to was the National Center for Home Food Preservation, "your source for current research-based recommendations for most methods of home food preservation."

So I set to slicing and peeling and blanching and bagging. And for the first time ever I used freezer paper for it's intended purpose*. I now have a freezer filled with yummy eggplant and zucchini. The boiling made it nice and steamy in the kitchen and boy was I beat after all that! I cannot imagine spending days in a hot kitchen boiling down fruits, sterilizing jars, making jams...I certainly will appreciate jams and jellies, and the people who made them, much more now!

*freezer paper can be used between slices of eggplant and other items to make it easier to get them apart once frozen. But I had it in my studio because it is very handy for stencils!

The "IT" shows of 2010

The Cradle Will Rock was just nominated by the New York Innovative Theater Awards for OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL, directed by David Fuller with Judith Jarosz as Artistic Director..! Kudos to Theater Ten Ten!

From The Cradle Will Rock

Retro Production's recent production of The Desk Set also received nominations. Nominees are Kristen Vaughan (Actress in a Leading Role), Rebecca Cunningham (Set Design), Viviane Galloway (Costume Design), Jeanne Travis (Sound Design), Heather E. Cunningham and Casandera Lollar (Innovative Design), and OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A PLAY! Hurray for Retro!

From Desk Set

Pack up all your things and...stay home!

When I graduated from college my friend's parents gave me a vintage steamer trunk. It made them think of vaudeville actors traveling on the road, and that was about to be my course for many years as well (OK, children's theater and Ren fairs may not be vaudeville, but life on the road is the same).

I love that old steamer case: the little drawers, the wooden hangers, the patina of many years of travel...it seems to have countless stories of adventure packed inside. Once I settled down in one place for a while I was able to use it as an extra little wardrobe--so cute!

One King's Lane is bringing the style and elegance of old time travel into the home. Sink back into a canvas deck chair, in the comfort of your own home, and dream of being on a luxury transatlantic cruise. Store your hats and shoes in this adorable travel case, and you are ready to go at a moment's notice!

Rockin' the Cradle

I recently designed costumes for a great show, The Cradle Will Rock, at Theater Ten Ten. It is from 1937, written by Marc Blitzstein under the auspices of the Federal Theater Project. It is my third Blitzstein production, and I have to say, each one has garnered me favorable reviews. I guess dark, gritty and periovocative* is my forte.

I feel a bit shy about posting reviews, but I love this review: the whole time I was working on the show I wasn't sure that what I was doing would work and I was really doubting myself. So to see that this writer really got it makes me so happy!

"Viviane Galloway’s charming, nearly comically conservative costumes (nothing is cut above the knee or below the collarbone) tie into the show's theme with superb accuracy, as does David Fuller’s directing."

One of the hardest characters to costume was Moll, who is arrested for Solicitation. She, like so many working girls, is out trying to earn enough money to live on because her factory job just doesn't pay enough. So I wanted to convey her sweetness, and her slight naiveté, and to show that her heart really isn't in what she is doing, but still make it obvious to a potential John that she was looking to make a buck. These days everyone thinks of a hooker as decked out in platforms and micro-minis, putting it all out there, but that look wasn't going to serve the story here at all.

I highly recommend seeing this production if you can. If you can't, read about the original production, directed by Orson Wells, produced by John Houseman, and shut down hours before it's opening! It is such a great and inspiring story in itself.

*like anachro-period, but even more vaguely so.

Calling all Adventurers

One King's Lane is now selling some lovely globes, campaign chests and other shipboard necessities.