Frozen Apple Raisin Oatmeal Cups

I've recently started a new work schedule that has caused me to have to readjust my daily routine. I'm working longer hours through most of the week, but now have Fridays off in compensation. The schedule is supposed to be temporary through the completion of my next big home project (more on that another time), but I enjoyed my first week on this schedule so much that I may just see if The Powers That Be would be amenable to letting me continue on.

One of the things I've had to do is to plan my daily meals ahead. I've pretty much always just grabbed leftovers and an apple or carrots for my lunch. That's why I store leftovers in single-serve containers for easy grabbing in the mornings.

But breakfast was always a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of affair. When I was in school, it was actually a point of pride for me that I didn't eat breakfast. I didn't NEED to eat breakfast. I was too good for breakfast.

I justified it by claiming that I had more energy without weighing myself down with an early meal, or that most breakfast foods were either too sugary (pastries) or too greasy (sausage) for my body to handle with any kind of comfort.

After joining the workforce, I started forcing myself to eat breakfast. Nothing much - a cup of fruit, a bowl of plain oatmeal, toast with homemade jam. Now, workday mornings don't even seem to start until I've had a quick bite as I check email.

With my new schedule, I need to get to work earlier in the mornings, or run the risk of having to stay til well after dark. Which means that breakfasts need to be prepped ahead. I stumbled across the fantastic idea on Pinterest for Heat and Eat Oatmeal, courtesy of Budget Bytes. I had seen similar ideas for making breakfast cups (usually egg-based) in muffin tins. But this seemed like the perfect solution for making ahead because they can be easily frozen and reheated without any of the risk of drying out or toughening. I made a few modifications to their recipe, but it was fast and easy to make, since I have all of the ingredients on hand at any given time. And it was so convenient this morning, since I had to drive to the office in the snow!

It turned out so scrumptiously, I'm looking forward to experimenting with other topping and flavor combinations!

Frozen Apple Raisin Oatmeal Cups

Ingredients

• 2 cups Quick Oats
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 Granny Smith apple, diced
• 1/2 cup raisins

Directions

1. Cook oats and salt in water according to directions on the package. When cooked through, add brown sugar and cinnamon; stir until completely blended.
2. Coat 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or melted butter. Fill cups evenly with oatmeal. Top with apples and raisins; press toppings into oatmeal to make sure they freeze into the mixture.
3. Allow oats to partially cool, then place pan in the freezer for several hours. When completely frozen, transfer to Ziploc bags and place in the freezer.
4. To serve, place 2 frozen muffins in a microwave safe container, add 1/4 milk and heat for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes on high, stirring halfway through. 

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

New Beginnings

Happy New Year! 2015 is already off to a raring start!

So, I've been AWOL from the Interwebs since before Thanksgiving. A small part of it was laziness on my part. Okay, a somewhat decent-sized portion was laziness. At least half of it was the sheer craziness and frantic pace of the holidays. If you don't happen to know any musicians, you'll have to trust me - between Thanksgiving and New Years is our insanely jam-packed season.

So in the time I've been away, I've been running around like a crazy person, visiting friends and family, rehearsing, performing, and I actually managed to go out on a blind date (which I had to cut short due to the aforementioned rehearsing and performing). I've also...

... performed at the 25th Annual Kennedy Krieger Festival of Trees, in front of this lovely audience. I also got to sing at a mall the week before Christmas, which was less crowded but five times noisier. My choir also recorded a holiday CD, which meant months of prep and a weekend of recording sessions - a very interesting process that I'm curious to try again, now that I've got a little experience under my belt.

...baked. A lot. And now I'm paying for it. But all of the new Christmas cookie recipes I tested this year were hits, so I think they're keepers! First, there was what I like to call "Christmas Crack" - pretzels topped with milk chocolate wafers slightly softened in a warm oven and finished off with a peanut M&M.

Then my brother and I made these delicious Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies that were so amazing and moist and easy that I'll be making them again next weekend for the cookie reception after my performances.

And, of course, it wouldn't be the holidays without eggnog, which is one thing I look forward to with absolute child-like glee every year. So I thought I'd try these Eggnog Meltaways. Lesson learned - I refrigerated the dough much longer than called for, so when I baked them, they didn't quite bake all the way through. Which, naturally, I didn't realize until I bit into one after I had already rolled the finished cookies in powdered sugar. So mine didn't turn out as lovely and powdery as pictures in the recipe, but they still had that fabulous eggnog flavor!

Finally, anyone who knows me at all knows that I am slightly obsessive over cranberries. I put them in everything - salads, scones, pork roasts. I just love them. So when I found this recipe for Cranberry Noel Tea Cookies, I just had to try it, despite my crazy schedule. After singing the late Christmas Eve service at church, I came home, pulled my double batch of dough out of the fridge, and baked long into the night, despite facing the drive across the state to my parents' house the next morning. Yes, I may have fallen asleep on the sofa Christmas Day while watching a movie with my family, but the rave reviews over the cookies made it worthwhile! Never having made a shortbread cookie before, I didn't realize how easy it could be, and definitely see myself playing with variations of this with different seasonal flavors all year long!

... rehearsing for my latest show, a review-style production of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", in which I play Judy Haynes (the dancing sister, for those playing the home game).

The show was supposed to open mid-December, but half of the cast came down with the plague (seriously, I've never heard of people getting both the flu and pneumonia simultaneously!), so out of necessity, we postponed until next week. The show has been kind of a hot mess since day one, but there are some really nice moments, terrific choreography, and some lovely people involved, so I suppose the experience has been worth it.

...cataloguing and reorganizing my book collection. This sounds both nerdy and insignificant. The first I'll proudly cop to. The second... well, you can judge for yourself:

I started with the A authors on the
stairs to the second floor.

The C authors were too numerous for the stairs,
so they got their own room.

This is some of M-V in the sunroom, as due to how I had to wrap
the stacks around, I couldn't fit it all in the same frame.

As always, Georgia "helped".

 I've been working on cataloguing in a database, mostly to keep track of what I have and any reading orders for series. I started that project 6 years ago, before I moved, but I've since gone to writing conferences and bought or received enough to start my own library. I started again on Christmas Day, in preparation for the construction that we're going to be initiating in the basement in a few weeks (can I just say that I'm unbelievably excited for this to happen?). In the week I've been slogging through my stash, I've only made it through the L authors - for my fiction. I haven't even gotten to the non-fiction and reference books yet. And the law and academic texts are still living in the basement, because those boxes are too heavy to move if I don't have to!

I'm sure there's a great deal more, but those are the highlights. Now it's time to look forward to the next year. There are changes a-coming, and truth be told, I'm kind of excited for what the year may hold!

Happy New Year!

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Getting Colorful

What a crazy week last week was! After eight straight days of music and theater tasks, I was so happy to get to Friday, and a rare evening free! Of course, I spent the evening catching up on laundry and trying desperately to be able to see, since I had endured my vision exam at the optometrist that afternoon, and he had insisted on dilating my eyes. Eye phobias + doctor induced near-blindness is a recipe for disaster!

Fortunately, on Saturday I knew I was in for a treat. The Color Run came to Baltimore, and for the third time in a year, I was there to throw myself into the full spirit of "The Happiest 5K on the Planet!"

Mari & Kelly, after the last Color Zone.
*Photo courtesy of Donna Smith

OK, for those of you unfamiliar with The Color Run, it's an untimed 5K (approximately 3.2 miles) race that you can either walk or run. Most people, at least in Baltimore, tend to walk it, as the course is narrow in a few places that makes it difficult to bypass slower folk in front of you or parents with baby strollers. You'd be amazed at how many strollers there are.

The catch is, you pass through "Color Zones", where volunteers pelt you with colored cornstarch. Hence, the "color" in "The Color Run". My understanding is that most cities have 4 color zones. Baltimore somehow rates a 5th color zone, since the course goes around both Camden Yards, our ballpark, and M&T Bank Stadium, our football stadium, where we get the special Purple zone.

The Color Run also partners with The Cool Kids Campaign, which is a charity for pediatric cancer patients. Every year, they have one zone where the volunteers are all cancer survivors and oncological staff. It definitely puts a positive spin on supporting a worthy cause!

This was my third Color Run, and by far the coldest. When I got in my car to pick up my teammates, the thermometer read 25 degrees! Plus, we had our first snow of the year on Thursday, so there was no escaping the cold! Although I'm originally from the chilly state of Montana and used to love the winter cold, the further into adulthood that I venture, the less enamored I am of the white stuff.

Donna, Kelly, & "ninja" Mari, bundled up and ready to go!
*Photo courtesy of Donna Smith

Due to unforeseen personal circumstances beyond my control, I went with a different group of friends than the past 2 outings, but it was no less fun. Mari, who grew up primarily in the Middle East, doesn't handle the cold well, and was wrapped up like a ninja. Somewhat ironically, I kept losing track of her, even when she was standing right next to me! Donna, was similarly bundled up, and kept wanting to take pictures with her phone despite being hampered by her giant mittens.

Side note - I often get envious of Mari & Donna, both of whom I adore and look forward to spending time with. Since they live next door to one another, they have a lot of random shared experiences that I only get to hear about secondhand. Like last week, when their husbands got together to build trebuchets for launching pumpkins as part of a project for Scott's Boy Scout troop. I want to live on the same street as the cool kids!

At the finish line!
*Photo courtesy of Donna Smith

Anywho, you start the run all pristine and white, and cross the finish line coated in blue and pink and purple and orange and yellow, with cloud puffs rolling off of you with each step. Plastic baggies of MORE color (I got green this time!) are handed to you at the finish line, and then the chaos begins. As you move closer to the stage area where "The Color Festival" is held, the MC counts down from ten to a color toss, where those who have finished toss the powder from their baggies in the air, on each other, and at total strangers.

Our tradition is to go to lunch afterward. Even though I come prepared every time (no color smudges are going to happen in my car!), it's never possible to get ALL of the color off of your skin short of scrubbing in the shower - the blue is the worst. It's kind of fun to go to some of Baltimore's hot spots afterward and be able to pick out your fellow Color Runners.

The three of us headed over to Canton, to Dangerously Delicious Pies. It had been almost 10 years since I've been there, but the name is still apt. Seriously, being reminded how close this is to my turf is a dangerous thing ... to my waistline. We each got a savory pie slice for lunch, and a dessert pie for, well, dessert. The Sausage Tomato Fennel pie was absolutely divine, and the bite I had of Donna's Crab & Cheddar Quiche was eyes-rolling-back-in-my-head fabulous. The Mobtown Brown pie, which is basically pecan pie with an enormous layer of Swiss chocolate and caramel on top, undoubtedly undid all of the good that the exercise of the run did earlier, but was well worth it. It's also fun to watch the staff preparing all of the mini pies that they sell. I've been thinking about getting a second job when I'm not in show-mode, but I think this would be a dangerous place to work!

Sausage, Tomato, & Fennel Pie
at Dangerously Delicious Pies in Canton.
To die for!

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Spinach and Mozzarella Quiche

Bet you thought I forgot about you, huh?

Nope!

Last Monday, my Internet was down for the better part of the day. (This would not be a problem if I could get my act together and write my blogs on Sunday evenings, but, well, if I didn't stall, then I wouldn't be me.) By the time I was reconnected to the rest of the universe, I was already caught up in other things. Like, I don't know, my job.

But what about Friday, you ask? Well, by Friday, I was just feeling lazy about writing, since so many other things were happening that day. I had some fires to put out at work (a couple of them are still smoldering in the background, just waiting for me to relax before flaring up again). I was getting ready to record a Christmas CD with the choir. And I had a first date.

You don't really want to hear about any of that, though.

Starting this week, I'm throwing myself whole-heartedly into a crazy schedule. On top of the normal round of show rehearsals and choir rehearsals, I have multiple auditions. One is really close to home; the other is really close to my parents' home (which is not all that close to MY home).

One thing I always try to do leading up to an audition is to eat healthier. I really should have started sooner than the day before auditions start, but, hey, procrastinator on board (see above)! For one thing, no one wants to see a bloated diva on stage. While there's no camera to add 10 pounds, there's still a panel of people scrutinizing you, and I carry enough self-consciousness about the rest of my performance to wonder if my belly is jiggling while I dance.

The other reason I eat healthier in the days leading up to auditions is that it gives me more energy, and directors like energy, or so I've been told. So I'm cutting back on carbs and red meat (although I'm not completely eliminating either from my diet), and focusing instead on lean protein and produce.

I made this quiche a few days ago for dinner, and I'm really liking how it feels like a power food. The leftovers make for a really nice and quick power breakfast!

Spinach and Mozzarella Quiche (Crustless)

Ingredients:

1 T olive oil
2/3 cup onions, diced
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed
6 eggs
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 9-inch glass pie plate with non-stick cooking spray.


2. Slowly heat oil in a medium skillet. Add onions and sauté at medium heat until softened. Add spinach and cook until excess moisture is gone.


3. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add cheese, salt, and pepper; stir until thoroughly mixed. Fold in spinach mixture until blended. Spoon into prepared pie plate.


4. Bake at 350° F for 20-25 minutes, or until eggs have set (the quiche will show light browning around the edges). Serve warm.

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Mom's Potato Soup

We're only 4 days away from Halloween and the end of October, and it's finally starting to cool off outside. Not to say that it's been hot here, but the mild weather has definitely confused everything - including my crepe myrtle bushes in front of the house. They never decided if they wanted to bloom or not (usually they explode in a profusion of fuschia in early September), and now they can't decide if they want to go dormant. All of this is throwing off my winter garden prep schedule!

I'm too busy these days to deal with yard work anyway. Or cooking. Or dusting, vacuuming, mopping, or the eight million other chores that need to be done around the house. I really need that T-shirt that says, "I can't, I have rehearsal"! In addition to my normal round of church rehearsals and services, I have rehearsals for my current production, which goes up in December, a showcase performance for said production, a weekend of CD recording sessions, 3-4 auditions, a couple of concert performances as a featured soloist, a 5K, hosting Thanksgiving...and I know I'm forgetting a few things. That gets me through mid-December. Some days, I think it would be nice to be married, just to have someone else to help me with life's necessities. Like laundry. Or medicating the cat. Or winterizing the house.

One of the best things about the weather starting to turn cooler is that I can break out the soup section of my cookbook! One of my favorite go-to cold weather recipes is my mom's potato soup. She made up the recipe when I was a teenager, and it quickly became a family favorite (for once, a meal that we could all agree on!). I even made it in bulk in college when cooking for my starving friends.

I have no idea what the caloric content is for this soup, but it's not for acolytes of the carb-free craze. This is comfort food at it's finest, and it's one of my favorite things to make when I'm snowed in or just feel like I need to be warmed from the inside out! Even better - it's pretty easy to make!

Mom's Potato Soup
Serves 6

Ingredients

• 6 large baking potatoes
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 stick margarine or butter
• 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp instant onions
• 4 c milk
• Pepper
• 1 ham slice (about 1 lb)

Directions

1. Peel and quarter potatoes and place in a large dutch oven. Cover with water. Add celery. Bring to a boil and boil until potatoes are tender. Drain and cool.


2. In the same dutch oven, melt butter. Add flour, salt, onions, milk, and a couple of dashes of pepper. Over medium high heat, whisk until smooth. Continue stirring until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Lower heat to low or warm.


3. Cube cooked potatoes and ham slice. Add potatoes, celery, and ham to the dutch oven and stir until thoroughly heated.


4. Remove from heat and serve!

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Wine, Sushi, and the best thing I've ever put in my mouth

Birthday week continued over the weekend. Of course it did! What's birthday week without weekend festivities?

Friday, my friend and co-worker Eva insisted on taking me out to dinner. We settled on sushi (since we both love it and don't eat nearly enough of it), then going to Black Ankle Vineyards to listen to music, taste wine, and chill in front of the fire.

Black Ankle is one of the few estate wineries in Maryland - meaning that the grapes for their wines come entirely from their own vineyard (many wineries will import grapes from other areas, like California or Argentina, so that they can incorporate varietals that don't grow particularly well in their region). Usually, in Maryland, this means sweeter wines, with the cooler and wetter climate here causing increased sugar levels in the grapes. (Yes, I am slightly a wine nerd. In fairness, I worked for a winery for a while, and went from knowing pretty much nothing about wine, to knowing slightly more than nothing but able to talk like I know what's what!)

Eva and Kelly after a bottle of wine,
too much sushi, and lots of laughs.

But the wines we tried at Black Ankle were lovely dry reds (they are sold out of whites for the season). We bought a bottle of their Slate II, which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. I think my favorite, though, was the Passeggiata VI, which was the first wine we tasted. Dry but not heavy, with a bit of spice - this is my ideal type of wine!

Once our bottle had been uncorked, we settled inside (it was crowded around the fire pits outside, and we kind of wanted to see the sushi we were eating) with our food, our wine, and conversation, of which there is never a shortage with us!

Before we knew it, it was closing time, but we still had dessert to enjoy. Eva had insisted that we get the Tempura Cheesecake, and even though they were cooled, OMG. Seriously, the most incredibly awesome thing that has ever entered my mouth. Okay, that didn't sound right, but I don't care. I'm asking Tempura Cheesecake out on a date, because it seriously doesn't get better than that!

The next day, I reluctantly got out of bed to go to rehearsal (I don't get hangovers, but it had been a late night, and Saturdays used to be my only day not to wake up with an alarm. But that's not the case as long as this show is happening). But then it was time for Family Birthday time!

My brother offered to host, which is new, so Mom brought food, we all brought presents, and we settled in to be spoiled rotten. Since my brother is recently single, he has many practical needs. Believe me when I say I've never seen a man so excited to receive silverware as he was! I wish I had gotten a picture of him hugging his new Crockpot!

I was also pretty proud of the "creative" gift I had made for him. In keeping with the dining theme, I made a binder of some of his favorite recipes, and added dividers and page protectors so that he can continue to build his own personal cookbook. I had forgotten to make a cover page on the computer, so I had hand-drawn (with old Crayola markers I found in basement that, surprisingly, hadn't dried up) a cover declaring the book to be "Shawn's BIG Binder of Good Eating". Cheese-tastic, I know, but that's just how we roll in our family.

My family was entirely too generous to me, but I love that they care that much. One of my favorite gifts was the soundtrack to "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder". When I saw this cast perform at the Tony Awards in June (and they most deservedly won the Best Musical award), I fell instantly in love with the show. I'd love to go to New York to see it. I'd love to DO the show. But I have a feeling it's going to keep running on Broadway for quite a while yet, because it's amazing. More operetta than musical, it's the story of a poor man who starts bumping off the members of the family standing between him and an aristocratic title (all of whom are played by the same actor). It's witty, well-written, and undoubtedly unique.

I promise that next week I'll get back to DIY awesomeness, but the last week has been too busy and full of distractions to focus on creating. Plus, my kitchen is a mess, the piano tuner is coming tomorrow, and Georgia keeps insisting on knocking over my plants (I'm starting to think it's deliberate).

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Five Things I Love About Birthday Week

So, I had a birthday this week.

No matter how old (or rather, closer to middle-aged) I get, I still look forward to my birthday every year. In so many ways, I've been the serious, responsible girl since I was a young girl. But when it comes to my birthday, I'm downright giddy and as excited as a little kid!

It doesn't hurt that since I was six years old, we've kind of treated birthdays as a multi-day or week-long event. With my brother's birthday landing the day before my own, it would have made sense for my parents to combine the celebration into a single party, but they never wanted us to feel shortchanged. So instead of a joint party, we'd have massive sleepover parties that lasted for an entire weekend and were packed with outings, games, entirely too much sugary food, and lots of friends. Mom ate it up - she loved having a houseful of kids running around having fun. I'm pretty sure Dad hid outside and did yard work to escape most of the chaos!

Now that we're older and busier, birthdays have extended to full weeks (mostly due to scheduling demands). For the last two years, I've even had show rehearsals on my birthday. This year, it was a choir rehearsal. So the fun gets strung out in drips and drabs, but that just makes the celebration last!

Here are my favorite things about Birthday Week:

1. The baked goods. In case you haven't figured it out from previous posts, I love baked goods. Pretty much all baked goods work for me, although I'm rather partial to pie. This year, one of my young castmates baked me cookies, my co-worker Stacy made Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Bars for the office, and Mom is providing a pie for our birthday dinner tomorrow. And undoubtedly, Mari, who is an expert baker, will come up with some amazing surprise when I celebrate with her and Dave next week. Not to mention the fact that years ago, I traded in birthday cake for something much more delicious and season-appropriate -  Apple Dumplings. I have a feeling I'm going to be treating myself sometime very soon!


2. The greetings. I've never been a big one for greeting cards for any occasion - I think it's an unnecessary gimmick that we're now guilted into spending money on. But every year, I love hearing from people on my birthday. Say what you will about Facebook, but the flood of posts and private messages on my birthday (and in the new version of Facebook, there is fireworks animation!) always gives me a warm buzz. (And I can always count on the immensely talented and truly delightful Anna Campbell to be the first "Happy Birthday" I get, since Australia is well ahead of us in time zones!) Add to that the texts, phone calls, in-person well wishes, emails, and endless renditions of "Happy Birthday", and I am well-reminded that I am loved by a group of truly wonderful individuals!



The disturbing picture that my Aunt created and posted on Facebook.
She's a little bit warped, but I adore her anyway.



3. My brother. What? Yes, I mean it. My brother and I have pretty much always been close, and I think part of that stems from the fact that we very nearly share a birthday. I actually have a very clear recollection of the first time I ever laid eyes on my kid brother - after dropping the neighborhood kids off following my McDonalds birthday party (remember when that was a thing?), my dad and grandparents drove me to the hospital to see my mom. Dad pointed through the window into the nursery and said, "That's your brother." At just over 24 hours old, he wasn't that impressive to look at, at least, not to a six year old. But since then, I've definitely come to realize he was the best birthday present I ever got.


4. The season. Really, October is a grand time to have a birthday. Sure, it's not pool party weather, but I've never had a pool, and I don't like to be hot. There's just this incredible crispness to the air that screams fall. The leaves are changing colors. Apples and pumpkins are in season. Christmas is still far enough away that it hasn't stolen the show yet. It's really the best month there is.


5. The food freebies. I am officially signed up for so many birthday freebies that my inbox is flooded every October. From free burgers at Red Robin to free ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery, it's definitely a glut-fest. Every year, I get more coupons than I can possibly use in the 2-4 weeks that they're valid, and not end up looking like Jabba the Hutt. Thank goodness my free pastry at Panera Bread is available until December...

What are your favorite birthday traditions?

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Soft Pretzel Bites

Last weekend, it was sunny and gorgeous outside, and I stayed holed up on the couch, coughing until I had no voice (amongst other lovely side effects).

This weekend, the weather was gray, drizzly, and just generally unpleasant. My two favorite baseball teams squared off in the ALCS championship here in Baltimore, and my Orioles just couldn't pull it off (seriously, what was up with our pitching?), but my extended family out in KC are all doing the happy dance. And I was off-the-wall busy this weekend! After cooking dinner for my brother, who has the flu, and watching the O's lose on Friday, I dashed off to the homestead on Saturday for a sewing day with my mother followed by watching a family friend make his stage debut at the theater I got my start in. I've known the kid since I was taller than him, and now he's playing Lurch in "The Addams Family"!

But on Sunday, I got down to business. October business, that is.

Georgia played dead.

All around the web, people have been posting pumpkin spiced this, and apple caramel that. And that's all well and good. But to me, October is about all kinds of baking. Whether it's apple dumplings for my birthday (I'm so looking forward to these this week!) or Mexican cornbread or peanut butter oatmeal muffins, I am inevitably bitten by the baking bug as soon as the crisp autumn air swoops through the region.

This year, I decided to try something new. As a kid, I was fascinated by soft pretzels and always wanted to learn how to make them. My mom insisted that they were too much work. Now I have my own kitchen, so I thought I'd (finally) give it a try. They are a bit of work, but so incredibly worth it!

I found quite a few recipes online, each varying just a tiny bit. A work colleague suggested using this recipe, and since Alton Brown is The Man, this was the recipe I went with (you just have to appreciate a man who understands the science behind his art!). Boy was it the right choice! These soft pretzels were amazing! I made them into bites - cutting each of the 24-inch dough ropes into 1-inch pieces instead of the the traditional pretzel shape. I wanted to be able to ration them out a bit more than for just 8 pretzels, which is what the recipe makes. But they're so delicious that they may not last as long as I hoped!

One of the things that surprised me as I was teaching myself how to do this is that the dough, once shaped, has to be briefly boiled in water and baking soda. This struck me as a bit strange, but as I was doing that step, I noticed that it visibly changes the consistency of the dough, which is pretty nifty. Science at work!

Tonight, I'm hoping to mix up a beer-cheese sauce to dip them in, but they're so delicious, they don't really need any embellishment. Last night, I was popping them into my mouth without any extras, and they were mouth-wateringly wonderful!

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Egg Drop Soup

October has always been my favorite month. It's not just that it's my birthday month, although I'm sure that was a contributing factor when I was a kid. It's because this is when autumn, my favorite season, really kicks into full gear.

Growing up on the East Coast, in the woods, fall always meant raking leaves and then jumping into the leaf mountains (we had so many trees in the yard that there were no mere leaf piles for us!). It meant Dad wheeling us around the yard in the wheelbarrow. It meant that special crispness in the air that you can almost taste.

October was also the month that meant great things on the food front. We learned to make apple cider from apples we had picked ourselves. Mom taught me how to make apple dumplings (which I still make in lieu of birthday cake) with pastry crust so thick and flaky you just can't get enough of it. We toasted the pumpkin seeds we scraped out before making jack-o-lanterns, then ate them like popcorn. Hayrides and bonfires and marshmallows toasted in the great outdoors - this is the legacy of growing up in the country.

This October, I looked forward to all of this and more. Unfortunately, I started the month off with the head cold from hell. I'm a big snotty, coughing mess right now, so I can't even enjoy the smell of fall in the air.

When I was a kid, my mom always made me chicken broth to drink out of a cup by straining the noodles and chicken out of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup (don't ask me why, but it worked). As an adult, the sheer saltiness of condensed soup actually has the opposite effect on me. I vastly prefer to go buy a jug (aka, a quart) of egg drop soup from my neighbor's restaurant. Yesterday, that's all I could think about - drowning myself in the smooth egg-y splendor (and breathing, but that wasn't going to happen).

Except, I'm not eating out these days. Darn those New Year's resolutions!

So, the dilemma: violate my principles and just buy the stupid soup, or come up with an alternate solution.

The answer: You know, I bet I could make my own egg drop soup.

Even when sick, I'm determined to have a little adventure...

Egg Drop Soup

4 cups chicken broth

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ginger

2 Tbsp green onions, chopped (about 2-3)

2 eggs

3 tsp cornstarch

1. In a medium saucepot, combine 3 1/4 cups of the broth, salt, and ginger. Bring to a rolling boil. Add the onions.
2. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 3/4 cup broth and the cornstarch. Pour into the boiling soup mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs til thoroughly beaten. Using the whisk or a fork, drizzle the egg mixture into the boiling soup mixture. Eggs should cook instantly.
4. Spoon into bowls and serve while hot.

**Lessons learned: I added the cornstarch mixture last, because that's what the recipe I was using as a guide called for. However, this left the texture a bit chunky, rather than smooth like I'm used to in restaurants. After doing a bit more research, many people suggested adding the cornstarch BEFORE the eggs, so I've altered this recipe accordingly. Let me know how yours turns out!

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

Staycation!

I'm back after an insane work week where I was all but sleeping at the office. When the real world intrudes, there is sadly no time left over for the blogosphere or fabulousness. There are only hours til deadlines that pass entirely too quickly, endless documents to edit and format, and copious amounts of caffeine - which, since I don't drink coffee, meant that I consumed more Coke Zero last week than my body wants to deal with in an entire season.

Squire Andy talks about
Colonial Annapolis

Before things got particularly crazy, I got together with my friends Dave and Mari (of the hiking expedition this summer - you'll see them referenced a lot, as they are some of my best friends), who had decided to have one last hoorah before the season took off. Like me, they are performers (that's actually how we met), and with Mari's show opening this past weekend, Dave's in November, and mine in December, we wanted to get in one last weekend of fun before we had to turn ourselves over to our respective stage obligations.

Fortunately, this involved no planning and very little decision making on my part. This made it an even better vacation than I could have hoped for!

We drove down to Annapolis in the morning for a walking tour of historic Annapolis. Now, I had done this (maybe even this exact tour) when I was in the 4th grade, as does every 9 year old in the state of Maryland, since that's when they teach us all about Maryland History. But since that was more years ago than I care to admit to, it was a nice refresher.

A Colonial inn on Church Circle,
complete with flower vendor on the sidewalk

The tour included St. Anne's Episcopal Church (one of the oldest in the state), the state house, and the U.S. Naval Academy.

Chambers for the House of Delegates

The Chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy

I think the biggest shocker for me was going onto the campus of the Naval Academy. I remember a time when going to Annapolis meant drooling over the handsome cadets looking all polished in their white uniforms.

Now they all look painfully young...

The tomb of John Paul Jones beneath
the chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy

At the end of the tour, we were all starving and thirsty, so we ducked into the general store along the main drag and asked for a restaurant recommendation. I always prefer to ask the locals where they go to eat, and avoid the touristy spots - you inevitably get better food with less hype. We were steered across the bridge to Davis' Pub (which was actually featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives) and sat outside to an amazing lunch of BLT Deviled Eggs and Chipotle Habanero Pulled Pork Sandwiches - very messy, but worth every bite!

We had to walk off everything that we'd eaten, so we made our way back to thank the man at the candy counter of the general store for his recommendation, where I couldn't resist buying a giant turtle pecan cluster. So yummy!

The boaters took advantage of the gorgeous sunny day

And, of course, us being us, we had to stop in The Spice & Tea Exchange, since Dave & Mari are both incredible cooks who like to experiment with spices and even grow their own herbs. And I couldn't resist buying more tea, even though I haven't made it through my stash from the last time I went to their Georgetown location! But honestly, how is a girl to pass up Coconut Oolong tea?

Then we bolted up to Baltimore, because Dave had signed us up for the Fells Point Wicked History Pub Crawl. Our guide, Cliff, was a riot, and even though I've been to Fells Point many times, there were definitely some revelations from our tour! Our first stop was Sticky Rice, which in its earlier incarnation as a brothel was where Billie Holiday got her start singing!

Once upon a time, this was a bordello
where Billie Holiday used to sing

Next up was One Eyed Mike's, a Grand Marnier Bar. We couldn't believe how quickly the cost of a shot skyrocketed between the bottom shelf GM and the next step up!

Who knew there were so many kinds of Grand Marnier?

Then we were off to The Horse You Came In On, known for its connection to Edgar Allan Poe. You can get completely lost in the hilarious sayings and posters on every wall. While we were there, I tagged us all on Facebook. Minutes later, we turned around to find a big group of our theater buddies had snuck up behind us - they were having dinner a few doors down before going to see a show in the neighborhood. That's Baltimore for you - a big small town.

A favorite (and final) haunt of Edgar Allan Poe

Do the flags give away that
this is an Irish pub?

Our final stop was The Cat's Eye Pub, which at one time allegedly had IRA connections. Whether it was the deafening music we could hear from the street, or the fact that I come from a long line of Irish Protestants, we opted to skip this one, and went back to Sticky Rice for some Japanese cuisine! Delicious!

Entirely too much food, a day full of walking and history - it was a great way to kick off the autumn season!













All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.

The Casual Diva Takes the Stage

What a busy weekend it was! I know, I know, when is it not? But it was a big weekend for Baltimore, and it seemed like everyone pulled out the stops. From the Star Spangled Spectacular (to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the writing of the Star Spangled Banner) to our winning Orioles, the town was hopping!

On Friday, our building management had a cookout on the roof, so we hung out in the sunshine (getting a little crispy around the edges at the same time) and watched the Blue Angels practice for their big show the following night. If you've never seen them, you're missing out on quite the airshow by some of our Navy's most talented pilots.

We'd also been watching the clipper ships come in and out of the Harbor all week.

We braved the traffic to get across town (because the President had come to town for the celebration, so no one was really going anywhere at 4pm) for Happy Hour in Federal Hill before heading over to Camden Yards to watch our beloved Orioles take down the Yankees for the second time that day!

Saturday morning dawned gray and rainy, which, combined with the strain of having yelled to much at the baseball game, did not bode well for my morning audition. I got through it, and even did passably well. But I had ignored some of my tried and true tenants of auditioning. It was sheer luck (and a poor turnout at the auditions) that let me shine.

Wait! What? There are rules for auditioning?

Of course there are!

I've been doing musical theater for almost 30 years (I was really young when I started!!!), and there are absolutely must-do and should-do items on the list. For example:

• Do your research. Into the show, into the theater company, even into your fellow actors (it never hurts to know who else is going to be going for the same roles as you). I'm always amazed when I see someone audition who doesn't know what the show is about, or what style of music the show uses. If you aren't at least marginally familiar with the show, how do you know it's something you'll enjoy doing? This is something you're going to be dedicating a lot of time and energy to over several months - make sure you know what you're getting in to!


• Dress comfortably. This is crucial. You don't have to be slovenly, but you definitely need to wear something that you feel at ease in. Often, you'll be asked to dance, but even beyond that, if you're more concerned with staying balanced on your 5-inch heels (I've seen it happen), you're going to be distracted while you're singing or acting, and not showing the director the full degree of what you can do. I usually go for a t-shirt and yoga pants, or a skirt and tights. I still look feminine, but I don't have to think about flashing anyone (I've see that happen too!).


• Be prepared. This kind of goes hand in hand with my first point, but even more so. If it's a musical, rehearse your audition song so that you know it well enough not to be thrown off. Inevitably, something will go awry - the accompanist will take the tempo too fast or too slow, or miss notes, or not have an amp for their keyboard so that you can't hear them. The director may cut you off before you get to your favorite part. You may be asked to sing something completely different, or in a different style or accent, or kneeling on the stage. These are all things that have happened to me, and no matter how frustrated or shaken you feel, it helps to show directors that you can roll with the punches.


• Be okay with rejection. I've given some auditions where I felt like I blew them away and that I was a solid contender for a leading role, and then not gotten cast even in the ensemble. I've had other auditions where I felt I gave a mediocre performance, and then was offered the lead with gushing praise from the director. When I was a kid, not getting the part I wanted felt like a crushing blow - I'd cry, I'd beg my mother to explain why they didn't like me, I'd argue that it was all so unfair. But I survived the rejection. Now, when I don't get cast, or don't get offered the part I want, I'm still disappointed, but I recognize that directors all have their own reasoning. Sometimes you get offered a different part that may not be as glamorous, but it more challenging or more fun anyway. Sometimes, no matter how right you are for the part, there's simply someone who is better. And sometimes, it just wasn't meant to be.


• Be respectful. Don't argue with the director. Don't make fun of people who mess up their auditions. Don't talk through other auditioners' cold reads or songs. Remember, if you get cast, you're going to be spending a huge amount of time with these same people - start off on the right foot.


• Have fun! Remember, it's theater, not the pursuit for a cure for cancer. We do it because we love it - the music, the costumes, the make-believe. If it stops being fun, it's time to find a new hobby.

All content and images are ©The Casual Diva, except where otherwise noted. Content may not be republished without prior consent of the author.