Topic: HO, HO, HO (Read 30372 times)

elmore3003 · « **Reply #30 on:** December 13, 2004, 06:02:22 AM »

Quote from: Ginny on December 13, 2004, 05:53:10 AM

From yesterday's program notes: "...she is the most awarded female vocalist in contemporary Christian music history." She has appeared with EK a lot, including on PBS for Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. I find her style a little over-wrought. Mom and I went to the Pops last year for my birthday and the featured soloist was Lee Roy Reams. I liked that program a lot better.

Contemporary Christian vocalist? Sounds like Cincinnati gets more Bible belt every day. I have a hard time with singers who have two first names anyway, so that's two strikes against her. Over-wrought seems to be the style these days and I hope it soon passes. This is my major reason for detesting the American Idol crowd, as if the more ululations and melismas you can produce are a more direct route to the ears. Like Lorenz Hart, I like to recognize the tune. I have no idols among these singers, and I think more than their feet are clay.

Dan (the Man) · « **Reply #31 on:** December 13, 2004, 06:16:57 AM »

Favorite Christmas Foods:

Kielbasi is a Christmas food to me, even though we also have it for Easter dinner. As much as I love it (both the fresh and smoked varieties), it's far too fatty to eat more often.

My Dad's macaroni and potato salads--I remember that it took my dad just about an hour or so to whip these up on Christmas Eve to be served for the dinner the next day. After he died, I took up making it and it took me about three hours (all that slicing and dicing of onions, celery and pickles and cubing the potatoes to the right size.) I had to give it up eventually because I just didn't have the time. But a few years ago, my sister began to make it. It's very tasty, but it's still not my Dad's. As much as we all watched him make it when we were young, we must have missed something. Dad took the secret ingredient with him.

Babka--with cheese and white raisins. A must-have for Christmas morning breakfast.

Kruschiki, which is a sort of Polish pastry. Long strips of dough are twisted inside of themselves and then deep fried and then covered with powdered sugar. Great with coffee.

Buttery, buttery spritz type cookies decorated with sprinkles and chocolate.

One small slice of fruitcake. I couldn't eat more than that but I do want a taste of it each year.

My World Famous Garlic Dip. First made when I was a teen. The recipe called for 16 ozs of cream cheese and four cloves of garlic. I thought a garlic meant a bulb. It packed a punch. Amazingly, people still want me to make it every year. It's always fun to watch someone try it for the first time.

TCB · « **Reply #32 on:** December 13, 2004, 06:20:57 AM »

Good morning all! It is actually very early morning for me, but I have been up and down most of the night. Hmm, sounds like Viagra. Actually I took quite a bad fall during the performance yesterday. The last number in the first act is “I Like Life”, including the Toy Ballet (hey don’t look at me, blame Mr. Bricusse for that). Anyway, at the end of the number I end up down center with all the spots up on me. Then we go to complete blackout, and without a curtain, we are supposed to exit quickly in the dark. Usually a fellow actor is there to help me off, because I am totally blinded by all the spots. Yesterday, he wasn’t there, and when I turned I fell headfirst into the wagon unit that is used for The Ghost of Christmas Present.

Well, all I could think of was getting up and off before the lights came up for intermission. Naturally every move I tried just made matters worse, as I scrambled through the assorted toys, food stuffs, Christmas decorations, and lights that make up his throne. I made it off before the lights came up (I guess the light booth and the audience could see me, even if I couldn’t see anything). Also, I now know where those wooden soldier nutcrackers got there name! Our director never even bothered to come back and ask if I was okay, let alone still alive. I finished the show, but as I drove home the muscles started to tighten and the aches and pains settled in on me. By the time I got the cats settled in for the night, I was using my cane to get around.

I am happy to say that nothing appears to be broken, but without getting much sleep, I just called and said I wouldn’t be in to work this morning. I have the afternoon off to go to the dentist, so I might as well make a day of it.

Holiday Food: Well, I just received my first delivery of homemade Almond Roca from some dear friends, and one bite of that means Christmas to me.

Dan (the Man) · « **Reply #33 on:** December 13, 2004, 06:21:03 AM »

! ! ! ! ! VIBES OF HEALTH AND RECOVERY TO DR JOSE'S DAD ! ! ! ! !

Stuart · « **Reply #34 on:** December 13, 2004, 06:28:00 AM »

Favorite Christmas foods? Hmmm.....that would be a nice roast chicken, latkes and tzimmes. OH! That Christmas.....

We will be going into a Christmas cookie baking frenzy shortly, but I really don't associate any other foods with Christmas.

DR Ginny, last night I too baked a cinnamon pecan (and chocolate...and sour cream....but not from those vats that BK pictured the other day) coffee cake for our Stars of Tomorrow meeting this evening.

Dan (the Man) · « **Reply #35 on:** December 13, 2004, 06:34:56 AM »

DR TCB, when people say "Break a leg", they don't mean it literally.

But seriously, good sir, take care of yourself today and rest up them aching bones.

Ginny · « **Reply #36 on:** December 13, 2004, 06:35:34 AM »

DRTCB - sorry about your fall in last night's performance. Ask elmore about the tumble I took into the orchestra pit during the dress rehearsal for the "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" he directed...

td · « **Reply #37 on:** December 13, 2004, 06:49:16 AM »

DR TCB - Get better! (That's an order).

vixmom · « **Reply #38 on:** December 13, 2004, 07:13:53 AM »

Best wishes for a speedy recovery TCB!

Favorite Christmas foods roast beef (actually a standing rib roast when there would be few enough attending dinner to make it affordable)

with Cauliflower casserole....

you steam your cauliflower till its all nice and soft , then throw about half a stick of butter and some salt & pepper and about wa quart of sour cream and put the whoel mixture into a casserole dish , spread some more sour cream on top, sprinkle with bresad crumbs and paprika and pop in the oven about 375 until lovely and brown on top!!!

One of my Hungarian grandfather's recipes...sooo good!!

From my British husband I discovered traditional "Christmas pud" with hard sauce!!! (or as we refer to it at our house, "Burning Lump") the pudding (always storebought, , must be Crosse & Blackwell) isn't my favorite, but oh that hard sauce!!

I do love trifle though, it has become a Christmas staple, Lovely layers of bardndy or rum soaked cake, Birds custard (MUST be Birds), jello and fresh fruit top with whipped cream and served with brandied coffees...
oh only 12 more days to go!!! YUM!

George · « **Reply #39 on:** December 13, 2004, 07:18:51 AM »

~~~Feel Better Vibes for TCB!!~~~

Favorite Christmas foods? My mom's hazelnut cookies sprinkled with powdered sugar! She only makes them at Christmastime and they're delish! I don't know the recipe and she can only make them with her old German cookbook with all the measurments in metric (and German).

George · « **Reply #40 on:** December 13, 2004, 07:27:40 AM »

Yesterday, after getting two very nice trees, one for my sister and one for my work (acually, we...no, I cut them down myself), I helped my sister move some furniture to make room for her tree. The tree for my work went into our large conference room which has a lot of room...it is a conference room, after all

.

Anyway, after all that I came home and had to bake some items for a cookie tray raffle that we're having at my work. I made some S'mores bars (made four pans with 16 bars from each pan) and a huge slab o' fudge! I used the Jet-Puffed marshmallow cream recipe and made three batches, except that I made them all at once. It was literally a vat of fudge that when I poured it out onto the giant cookie sheet (with edges...whew!) it almost overflowed! Fortunately, it didn't. Now I have to get all of that to work so that we can distribute all the cookies and treats to the different trays so that they can be bid upon to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

Tomovoz · « **Reply #41 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:02:53 AM »

I was awoken by the sound of someone falling on a cart of Nutcrackers. Rest well TCB and my thoughts are very much with you when you visit the Dentist.

Ginny · « **Reply #42 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:08:50 AM »

DRTCB - Elmore was much more considerate than your director! Take care.

Ginny · « **Reply #43 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:12:17 AM »

DRTomovoz - Is it your birthday yet? If so (and even if not) Happy Birthday!

William F. Orr · « **Reply #44 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:21:16 AM »

Clearly the most equitable way to distribute the DVD's is alphabetically by last name. And the most equitable alphabetic method is to begin a bit off-center, with the O's and work outward.

In lieu of that, please, please, please no an-actor-whose-wife-had-a-hit-sitcom-ten-years-later-and-who-later-starred-in-a-film-version-of-a-play-that-flopped-off-broadway trivia questions!

Matt H. · « **Reply #45 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:23:18 AM »

I really love Christmas sugar cookies when they've been iced. I could eat my weight in those, and the problem is that my weight would keep going up and up with each bite so I'd have to continue eating more and more of them.

Not a bad problem to have at all!

Dan-in-Toronto · « **Reply #46 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:23:25 AM »

Dear TCB,

Hope your muscles are fine and that you are ache-free. May I suggest that you speak to the director and insist that you have someone to help you scramble in the dark?

Matt H. · « **Reply #47 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:26:32 AM »

OMG, DR tcb! You be careful! I'm so sorry this happened, but it's clear that doing theater is a dangerous profession. Quick blackouts are dangerous to all on stage, and without someone to help or some bright lights in the wings and safe paths to follow, you can get hurt so easily.

I mentioned that one of our nuns in NUNCRACKERS fell off a platform in the dark at final dress, and she had to wear a leg brace for the entire run of the show.

Dan-in-Toronto · « **Reply #48 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:28:44 AM »

I love Christmas cake, but only if it doesn't have green cherries. Other associations with Christmas: nuts, shortbread and other cookies, and fresh oranges.

Jennifer · « **Reply #49 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:31:05 AM »

I had a lot of posts to catch up on and there was lots I wanted to comment on. But since I did not take notes. We shall see what I remember.

DR Ben, that mini school was beautiful!

DR MBarnum re: long distance rates to Australia.

What rates have you found so far? I just checked my regular long distance and it's only 12 cents a minute Canadian. So you should definitely be able to get something similar to that!

Btw, not sure if anyone mentioned this but Desperate Housewives and Lost both got Golden Globe noms today.

William F. Orr · « **Reply #50 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:31:42 AM »

Ah me, it is difficult to think about Christmas foods, now that I will be spending my first Christmas in twenty years without Joe's mom. Only three of the sisters are going to be there this year (out of 5 sisters and 1 brother).

But the centerpiece of Christmas was always, what else?, the lasagne. It's an Italian family, doncha know. Surprisingly, Mom admitted to me once, after decades of cooking for this family, that she didn't like Italian food! She was Slovak and Russian.

Along with the lasagne, the creamed onions were always a matter of dipute--who took more than their share--and the cauliflower.

Fortunately, Diane is hosting Christmas this year, because she is the baker. That means horns, tricolors, and lots of mean sugar cookies with two or three scrumcious cakes. The year her husband hightailed it for North Carolina, Diane said she just wasn't into baking any more, but fortunately she bounced back and her daughters have become impressive bakers themselves.

And for them as arrives early, there is the Christmas ham, always bought from Vinnie the butcher, because Mom wouldn't get it anywhere else.

It may be a little sad this year, but we'll be there.

Jennifer · « **Reply #51 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:34:49 AM »

DR Elmore, I hope your friend is alright. Very scary.

And DR TCB, feel better.

These stories remind me of something I saw yesterday while X-Mas shopping. I was walking in a large store, and I passed the customer service/return counter. Just as I walked past, I saw this man slip and fall.

It was quite upsetting. I don't know if I've ever seen someone as they were falling. At first I thought he was young (under 30), so I figured he would probably be okay (the floor was not very slippery). But the more I looked at him, the more I realized he was probably over 40.

The worst part was the way he fell. His leg seemed to get all mangled. Very upsetting.

Anyhow I heard them calling for an ambulance. But after buying some cds I went back and checked on him. He was sitting in a chair. That was good at least.

But it was horrible.

Matt H. · « **Reply #52 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:35:28 AM »

I hope I don't offend anyone with this, but bk asked for suggestions, and I'm going to say my piece in reference to bestowing the WHAT IF? DVDs to DRs here.

One of the most frequent running jokes of bk's postings is the catchphrase "Where in tarnation is everybody?" Funny as it is, there is also a germ of truth in it. People get busy and often can't find the time to log on to the internet to post here on a daily basis. Perfectly understandable and no one's fault really, but truth to tell there are people who post here numerous times daily and others who only have the ability to check in at certain intervals and can't make posting a daily occurrence for one reason or another.

I'd like the DVDs to go to those who loyally log in here every day, in fact numerous times a day to comment on the TOTD, comment or question others' posts, give opinions on shows, films, and TV, and who generally keep the home fries burning during the day, every day.

Again, this is not meant as a criticism of anyone (and bk has already mentioned that he's only considering active h/k's) but only as a my suggestion for narrowing the field of potential receivers.

Jennifer · « **Reply #53 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:36:16 AM »

Yes, I also wish DR Jose's dad good wishes today!

Matt H. · « **Reply #54 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:38:38 AM »

On the topic of "ho, ho, ho," I noticed during my last few years of teaching that when we'd be doing ROMEO & JULIET, and one of the characters would utter, "What, ho!" there would be stifled laughter from quite a few students. Always used to make me SO mad.

William F. Orr · « **Reply #55 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:41:35 AM »

And in the spirit of my last post, let me quote a lyric I wrote a couple of years ago, set by an erst-while collaborator for a maybe-to-be-finished-sometime-soon show:

   LOW-DOWN CHRISTMAS
© 2002 William F. Orr

It's gonna be a
Low-down Christmas!
Nothing's going right.
Stores are closing,
People fighting,
And they're gonna fight
Right up to Christmas night.

Low-down Christmas!
Money's getting tight.
No one's working,
Hard times coming,
Prospects don't look bright.
But I can see some light.

   Come Christmas Day,
   We'll muster up some kind of cheer.
   After all, we're all still here,
   Made it through another year,
   And things can turn aroun'.

   We'll light the tree and deck the town.
   No low-down Christmas
   Will get us down.

Here's the low-down:
Nothing's ever bad enough
At Christmas
To keep us down.

Low-down Christmas.
Doesn't gotta be a
Low-down Christmas.
Won't let it be a
Low-down Christmas.

[Bis to fade.]

Dan-in-Toronto · « **Reply #56 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:41:57 AM »

[move=left,scroll,6,transparent,100%]Happiest of Birthdays to DR Tomovoz.[/move]

Here's what I just read about Sagittarians:

They are actors who love to hold court.

Their ruling planet is Jupiter, the god of good fortune.

Sagittarians make rewarding guests, and their appetite for life is matched by their enjoyment of food. They also like to be where the action is.

If you invite a Sagittarian to dinner, don't worry about how you are going to keep your guests entertained.

Sagittarius is a fire sign, embodying all the warmth and feeling of its element.

Dan-in-Toronto · « **Reply #57 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:44:14 AM »

And belated greetings and best wishes to Sagittarians DRs Ginny and MBarnum.

Jennifer · « **Reply #58 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:44:18 AM »

Re: the dvd question

Here are my ideas:

1) Is it possible for someone to make additional copies? I know there are a few DRs here who can copy dvds.

2)Or what about sending the dvds out and then after each DR watches it, they send it to the next DR on the list.

3)The problem I have with the trivia contests is that they are usually quite hard, and that really limits who could win.

4) re: putting names in the electronic hat, that is a possibility, although then how do you decide who to include in the hat?

Dan-in-Toronto · « **Reply #59 on:** December 13, 2004, 08:46:54 AM »

DR Elmore,

I didn't tape last night's Desperate Housewives, but try to find someone who did. It was a great episode. There are lots of the expected unexpected developments, and one scene in particular found me laughing uncontrollably.

How is your friend feeling today?

News:

Author Topic: HO, HO, HO (Read 30372 times)