Sakura of DOOM

My gallery title lies, but I was too lazy to make a new gallery for my very few Sausalito pictures, which are from back when oracne visited in August.

( Giant Sausalito and NY pictures )

In addition to the Indian dance troupes and Step Afrika, I also got to see Ologundê, some of Bonga & The Vodou Drums of Haiti, and Doug Elkins' Fraulein Maria, courtesy of Lincoln Center Out of Doors. Again, I am a big fan of free programming! Sadly, I have very little impression of Ologunde and Bonga, as they performed on a very sunny Sunday afternoon, right about when food coma and laziness from heat hit. My sister and I ended up leaving halfway through because we couldn't find shade.

Doug Elkins' Fraulein Maria is an interesting take on The Sound of Music, in which he choreographs modern dance pieces to all the songs from the movie. What I liked best was how Maria was actually played by three dancers—a young woman who looked a bit like Julie Andrews, a young Asian woman, and a young man (POC). The three dancers would be onstage simultaneously, and I imagined it as Maria arguing with herself or consulting with herself. Liesl was played by a man who didn't have a dancer's physique, and the rest of the children and nuns and etc. were played by dancers irrespective of gender. I very much liked the notion of the casting, and it makes a point as to how iconic the movie is—as long as the costuming is right, it doesn't really matter who's playing whom. Unfortunately, the audience would snicker whenever two men danced together romantically, which I found annoying. I wish the Liesl/Franz scene weren't played for laughs, given the cross-dressing and gender-bending (also, Franz was played by a black guy). I noticed the lesbian couples on stage didn't get laughed at.

Other favorite bits from the show were the hip-hopping Mother Superior and watching dancers give signature moves to all the notes of the scale for "Do Re Mi."

And I saw Wicked (my birthday present from my sister!), which was cool and which I need to write up eventually before I forget everything.

Sadly, it is the last market of the year. I won't be able to go again for two whole weeks!

I managed to drag myself out of bed at the early hour of eleven (ehm, yes, am very much a night owl) and walk all the way over, hoping against hope that it wouldn't rain. I kept getting sprinkled on, but I couldn't tell if it was the wind blowing water from the trees, or actual drizzle.

It was actual drizzle. The good thing about this was that there was still plenty to pick over at the market -- usually by eleven, things are looking a bit scanty. And there were much fewer people, so I didn't even have to wait in line for bread! I tried to get enough for the three whole weeks the groceries would have to last, but I was a little limited by how much I can cook in a week and how much I could carry. Actually, the carrying capacity was more the concern. However, this didn't stop me from buying 6 pounds of satsumas! They'll probably be gone by Friday...

( More on farmer's market )

I was in a pretty bad mood all day too. It rained all of yesterday, but that was ok because I stayed at home and cooked polenta and watched Omoide Poro Poro (Only Yesterday) and scritched rats and knit. I did venture out into the rain, but for a yarn expedition and a Borders run (manfully resisted temptation and didn't get anything, but did read vols. 16-18 of KareKano). Today I had to walk home in the stuff, which wasn't so fun, although satsumas and farmer's market was worth it.

( Nutcracker )

I ended up going right after anyway, mostly because I had to go back to the car to get my umbrella because it was pouring, and decided what the hell, just go. I would like to note, by the way, that 9x9 pans are really hard to find. Argh. So again, I spent too much money and got more cooking equipment (whisk, 9x9 pan, 9x13 pan) but couldn't find a silicone spatula (I, er, sort of melted my current spatula....). Maybe they were hiding. Maybe I will make my mom go with me to a fancy kitchen porn store and I will get myself happy colorful spatulas. Also! I got the coolest things ever! They are color-coded flexible cutting boards! I love them! I can cut things up on them and carry them over to my pan easily! And there are four of them (red for meat, yellow for poultry, green for veggies, blue for seafood) so now I can avoid important things like salmonella! So cool!

I also splurged and got myself a knitting magazing, haha! The patterns actually aren't that great, but it has a nifty article on short rows. Well, the patterns could be good, but I hate seaming, so I need to figure out a way to convert patterns so that I can knit them in the round, or just as one, really large flat piece for cardigans. Am now apologizing to Elizabeth Zimmermann for being grouchy at her book and going back to research. But I was still grumpy from the rain and the wet and the grey skies and the crowds.

And then, I went to the best coffee place ever and had their dark chocolate mocha, which is wonderfully smooth and doesn't have the often grainy texture of most mochas and topped with whipped cream. Also, did I mention the dark chocolate? And their coffee is just so tasty and dark and rich to begin with! So I sat in a comfy bowl chair and read my knitting magazine and sipped my mocha and ate my quiche lorraine (complete with eggy, custardy, cheesy center and tasty crust) and felt much, much more human afterward.

( Cooking bits )