1. Stuffed pizza

We got two slices of pizza stuffed with cheese, sauce, chicken, pepperoni, and sausage, along with the best garlic knots I’ve ever had, at Rocco’s in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. They have a great hot sauce on the counter, too.

2. Chicken roti

Took me right back to Trinidad! This was the real deal, bones (super tiny bones) and all. You can get it, along with callaloo, goat curry, and cow foot, at Rowe’s in Brooklyn on Tompkins between Quincy and Gates.

3. Proscuitto and ricotta balls

Josh and I first visited New York almost exactly five years ago, and one of our fondest memories were these little bits of fried procuitto-ricotta goodness from a cheese and meat shop. When we wandered into Little Italy last week and saw Alleva on the corner of Grand and Mulberry, we recognized it immediately. It was every bit as delicious as we remembered. (And 3 for $2. Come on.)

4. Green curry with salmon

It’s hard to find a place that really cooks salmon properly, where it’s still a bit pink in the middle. Tue in West Village definitely got it right. The curry was amazing, too – nice and spicy.

5. Truffle egg toast and Tuscan white bean soup

That first picture makes me want to cry. Three of the best things in the world – good bread, egg yolk, and truffle oil – all in one dish. Surrounded by asparagus, no less. ‘ino café also makes a pretty tasty soup. But seriously, that truffled toast is the star of the menu.

6. The Tuscan Platter

This was at Le Pain Quotidien in the Upper West Side. The platter included paper-thin prosciutto, shaved parm, black olive spread, basil pesto, and ricotta. A word about the ricotta: Whoooaaaaa. Honestly the best ricotta I’ve ever had in my life. I dream about this ricotta. The things I would dip in it. Strawberries. Chips. Fingers.

7. S’mores crepe

Heat griddle. Pour crepe batter. Add mini-marshmallows, crumbled graham crackers, and melted milk chocolate. Fold. Top with powdered sugar and more chocolate. This is what they do at the Creperie on Ludlow Street in the Lower East Side, and it is stupid good.

8. Ice cream, Part I

Grom Gelato in Soho: organic, “healthy” gelato. It’s healthy, right? Cause, like, the milk comes from organic cows or whatever. On the left is the “Cioccolato fondente,” on the right is “Crema gi Grom” (egg cream gelato with corn biscuits and choc chips).

9. Ice Cream, Part II

Pinkberry has a limited number of rotating flavors of frozen yogurt, and about a billion toppings. And (as you can see) you can get as many toppings as you want. At left: vanilla with brownies, gummy bears, toffee, and strawberries. At right: salted caramel with yogurt chips, carob chips, and toffee.

What’s sad is I ate so, so much more than this, but ultimately failed at taking pictures and notes, proving once again that I have not the patience for food writing/photography. I snarf down what’s in front of me then lament the lack of photos afterwards. But I can assure you that New York City is delicious.

Let me start over.

Last Thursday, I attended Taproot Theatre‘s newest play; Freud’s Last Session by Mark St. Germain. Scott Nolte, the Producing Artistic Director, sums up the plot:

The setting is London. The date is September 3rd, 1939, the day that Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany. Outside Freud’s study the residents of London are activating evacuation plans, packing portable gas masks and huddling by the radio to wait for the King’s Speech. Inside Freud’s study, a young writer has been invited to take tea with an aging intellectual giant.

What would they talk about, these brilliant men, as the city around them prepares for war? An 83 year old Austrian doctor, reaching the end of a life that has seen revolutionary changes happen in the world, and a 40 year old British professor just at the start of his literary career. Here are two great minds, one an atheist and one a Christian, whose writings on the meaning of life, the existence of God, and the future of civilization will be immensely influential. Is it possible to have a conversation about important ideas without being demeaning, nasty, and arrogant?

Honestly, one of the most brilliant concepts for a play I’ve ever heard. Freud’s Last Session only runs 75 minutes – no intermission – and it just flies by. Nolan Palmer’s portrayal of Freud is fantastic; he delivers what could be downright insulting lines to Lewis with humor and a sort of surprising innocence. Matt Shimkus portrays Lewis as a highly intelligent man with strong convictions, yet who is still willing to listen with respect to the aging Freud in a way that doesn’t come of as a semi-pitying courtesy to the elder, but suggests he truly does have an open mind.

The punchlines are genuinely funny – and much needed, because the tense moments in the play are extremely so. The clips of announcements and news on the radio regarding the war build, and when the air raid sirens go off, the fear is very real. (When they finally stopped, many audience members heaved sighs of relief.)

The most emotional and well-executed moment is the climax of the play. Freud suffers from a cancerous growth in his mouth and reveals to Lewis not long after they meet his intentions on committing suicide – something which triggers a fascinating discussion between the two. The performances of both men in the final scene are among some of the most intense and emotional I’ve ever seen in the theatre.

Freud’s Last Session runs at Taproot Theatre through April 21st, 2012. Tickets are available online.

Kim Simplis Barrow, wife of Prime Minister Dean Barrow, invited me to visit the country as part of a special project we’re working on. This trip was quite unlike any other I’ve been on as far as what I experienced.

And not everything was captured on camera. The babies in critical care in the neonatal unit at the hospital. The children and their teachers in the autism classroom, working on some project that involved glue and straws and lots of laughter. The unplanned two hour drive to Cayo just for dinner – and for that matter, ANY pictures of me with Julie Schweitert Collazo and Kristin Fuhrmann Simmons. (Ladies, what were we thinking?)

But some great stuff made it in as well. Hopefully I’ll have more to share about Belize soon!

Belize is a great place to visit on the cheap! For other affordable trips, check out how you can visit Malaga on a budget.

“Life is a tragedy to those who feel and a comedy to those who think.” ~Moliére

Arguably the most popular comedic playwright of all time, Moliére clearly believed in this statement – it’s evident in his writing. Because Tartuffe is absolutely a comedy, but considering what the story is based on, considering the religious hypocrisy, gullibility, and manipulation of the times the play shines a light on…it definitely has its tragic moments.

As always, the cast and crew at Taproot Theatre bring this story to life in a way that somehow both manages to transport us centuries back, yet relay a still-relevant message. Oh, and make us laugh. A lot.

The cast is just brilliant. Ruth McRee starts things off as Madame Pernelle, the moral, strictly Christian grandmother of the family who is instantly familiar to the audience. Her son, Orgon, has taken in Tartuffe, a poor, wandering man of false piety…or rather, he’s been taken in by the impostor. Other than Orgon and Madame Pernelle, the entire family sees Tartuffe for what he is, and hatch a scheme to expose him.

It backfires, of course. This is a comedy, after all.

Brady’s Orgon is frustratingly wonderful – you want to leap out of your chair and slap a bit of sense into him. Jesse Notehelfer is excellent as his wife, Elmire, who has the daunting task of simultaneously supporting her husband by doing the unthinkable with Tartuffe. Ryan Childers is a much-needed voice of reason throughout the play as Cléante, Orgon’s brother.

Charissa Adams as Mariane (Orgon’s daughter) and Nathan Jeffrey as her (hopeful) fiancée Valére do a wonderful job, particularly in their first scene together as an oh-so-in-love yet oh-so-stubborn couple. And a special note about the costumes – they’re all wonderful, but Valére’s is simply hysterical, so much so that all of his entrances are greeted with immediate laughter.

Josh Smyth gets a few laughs of his own with the officer’s impassioned speech at the end of the play. Solomon Davis is too funny as Orgon’s well-meaning, extremely passionate and energetic son Damis. And Charity Parenzini as Dorine the maid delivers some of the best lines of the play with impeccable comedic timing.

And then there’s Tartuffe, played by Frank Lawler. It was rather a surprise for me to see Mr. Lawler in this role after last seeing him in Beasley’s Christmas Party – quite a different character, and he pulls it off amazingly. Tartuffe is sleazy, loathsome, and detestable, and Lawler’s portrayal is one the audience loves to hate.

Interested in seeing Tartuffe? The play runs at Taproot Theatre through March 3rd, 2012. Tickets are available online.

French Quarter

Last month, my family and I returned to New Orleans for a funeral. It was my first time back to the city I grew in since a short visit in 2005, a few months before Katrina.

I have vivid memories of my neighborhood, my schools, churches, etc, but I expected everything to look different. For one thing, 1992 was two decades ago. (Egad.) Also, hurricane damage.

I can’t say nothing changed – some high schools were still boarded up, covered in six years’ worth of graffiti, and the French Quarter had only a quarter of the peddlers and artists it once did. And I didn’t see the 9th Ward, which suffered the most. But my neighborhood in particular was shockingly unchanged, to the point where I expected to see billboards advertising Crystal Pepsi and Ross Perot.

My middle school is now a temporary elementary school (another result of Katrina), but the facilities are identical. The church, St. John Bosco, hasn’t changed either, down to the vaguely unsettled feeling I get when I step inside.

St. John Bosco Church

St. Rosalie elementary school has a new extension building, but the original with my old classrooms is still there and in use. It appears a little worse for the wear, but honestly that’s about what it looked like when I attended.

On St. Patrick’s Day we were allowed to wear green shirts (which clashed horribly with the girls’ red plaid skirts), and we’d spend most of the day sitting on that concrete performing skits and singing songs for the principal, Sister Jeanne. (St. Patrick’s Day happened to be her birthday, which she considered to be the more important of the two holidays.)

I can’t say I paid any more attention to the services in this church, but it didn’t frighten me like the other one did. Not hard to see why; it’s quite a bit cheerier.

St. Rosalie Church

After visiting the old schools, we drove through our neighborhood, past the Tastee Donuts down a long street through the suburb. This, too, looked exactly the same. We started to recognize houses and street names. I remembered the turns – all the way down, left at the dead-end, left on Chinkapin Street, which curved around to the right.

Our house was somewhere around the center of this street. We got closer and closer, naming off every single family that had lived in the houses we passed – again, all unchanged. Then we stopped.

Mr. Donnie’s house on the left, the Aycocks’ house on the right. In the middle, a grass lot. Our address, 3852, is still painted on the curb.

It was a shock. The entire neighborhood seemed frozen in the early 90s, minus our home. And there was no wreckage, no evidence of a fire or demolition. Not even the concrete base. Just a grass lot, as if a tornado had whisked our house right off of Chinkapin Street and dumped it on some poor witch with sparkly shoes.

Oddly, Google Maps shows the house still whole and well. I prefer to imagine it in some other-dimensional Oz. For some reason that makes it less unsettling.

I love big musical productions – the orchestra, the costumes, the constantly changing scenery and all the bells and whistles. But truly, it’s the smaller productions that really leave it up to the actors to draw you into the story and their world.

In Beasley’s Christmas Party, currently showing at the Taproot Theatre, four actors cover about a dozen roles, changing characters as quickly and effortlessly as they change hats (literally). In a few cases, one character is actually played, at different times, by two actors, and to hilarious effect.

The tale is based on a short story written by Booth Tarkington in 1909. Set in Indiana, it follows Booth (played by Frank Lawler), as he begins to suspect that gubernatorial candidate Beasley (Don Brady) is…not quite of sound mind. (As evidenced by the man’s chatting with invisible people, racing invisible men, and roughhousing with invisible dogs). He and Beasley’s neighbor Miss Apperthwaite (Lisa Peretti) speculate on the cause, although Miss Apperthwaite, as Booth soon learns, may not be the best person to discuss Beasley with, due to their personal history. Mr. Meyers, a close friend of Beasley, fills Booth in on the secret.

Lawler’s role as Booth is non-stop – if he’s not in a scene, he’s narrating it, and he keeps the pace moving wonderfully. Brady, Peretti, and Lamb are brilliant as the remaining eleven characters – on several occasions they flawlessly switch from one to another mid-scene.

The simple scenery and costumes are fantastic; effective, but allowing the audience to really use their imaginations and see the events as Booth did. And the story is exactly the type of story I want to experience this time of year – funny, charming, and quite heartwarming.

Beasley’s Christmas Party will be playing at the Taproot through December 30th. A special note: at under 90 minutes, there is no intermission, making this a great option for children. Tickets may be purchased online or by calling 206.781.9707.

I think I missed out, not growing up watching Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella starring Julie Andrews on television every Christmas. When I think Cinderella, I think Disney. After seeing the latest production of the former version at 5th Avenue Theatre this week, I’m ready to switch sides.

The entire musical goes by in a flash of glittery, over-the-top costumes and dramatic, constantly changing scenery – the storybook screen used in the opening as the Godmother narrates the famous beginning is the perfect start to this fairy tale, and Lionel’s tap number (performed by Greg McCormick, who shines in his every scene) in “The Prince is Giving a Ball” is a great high energy early number.

The story of Cinderella changes slightly with every new cast, and this one brings a constantly positive vibe to a tale that can easily turn self-pitying or even dark. Allen Fitzpatrick and Cynthia Jones have a lovely duet as King and Queen, and great chemistry with one another throughout the musical. Kendra Kassebaum is absolutely perfect as the Fairy Godmother – it’s hard for me to imagine anyone else singing “Fol-De-Rol” and “Impossible” now. And Suzanne Bouchard is wonderfully wicked as the stepmother, without hedging into “pure evil” territory, which wouldn’t have worked well in this production.

I’ve seen Brandon O’Neill in two other 5th Avenue musicals – Aladdin and Saving Aimee – and I’m becoming more and more of a fan. He’s excellent as Prince Christopher; charming, of course, but as he gets to know Cinderella he shows a slightly awkward, nervous side that makes him even more endearing. And Jennifer Paz is easy to love as Cinderella herself; a difficult role to play, as the character could easily come off as vacant and two-dimensional, but Paz does a wonderful job – particularly in “In My Own Little Corner.”

A special note about the wicked stepsisters: they are hilarious. “Stepsisters’ Lament” was my favorite number of the night – Sarah Rudinoff and Nick Garrison work perfectly together, and without a doubt wear the best costumes of the night:

Other noteworthy moments: the Prince’s facial expressions and interaction with the other ladies at the ball during “The Gavotte,” (much of this is due to excellent choreography by Noah Racey and, as always, an outstanding performance by the orchestra); the subtle showing of growing sympathy for Cinderella by the stepsisters during “When You’re Driving Through The Moonlight”; and the most impressive costume change you may ever see on stage during “It’s Possible.”

Cinderella is playing at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle through December 31, 2011. Tickets are available online.

Then I moved abroad, and for the first time the majority of what I did – my career – was unrelated to music. (I was still a geek, though.) Somehow I became a writer full-time, which was/is awesome and opened a lot of doors and has allowed me to do some pretty cool stuff.

Finding a balance with music and writing has been a struggle for me over the last few years. I might not be teaching marching band, or planning percussion ensemble concerts, or explaining to 6th graders why spit valves should only be used for good and not evil. But I still play music. I’m still a band geek.

So this went up in Publisher’s Marketplace today:

Michelle Schusterman’s I HEART BAND, a new chapter-book series about a French-horn-playing girl and her middle-school friends as they experience all the fun and roller-coaster adventures, dramas and crushes of life as band geeks, to Sarah Fabiny and Jordan Hamessley at Grosset & Dunlap, in a four-book deal, for publication in Summer 2014, by Sarah Davies at the Greenhouse Literary Agency (World).

WHAT.

There is no way for me to say how crazy and awesome this is. It’s been going on four years since I decided to try writing and publishing children’s books, and things moved at a glacial pace, until suddenly they didn’t. After a round of emails and phone calls that went by in a blur, I was officially asked to author a series about band geeks for Penguin.

Unreal.

I’m geeking out. Just a little.

I can’t help it; it’s a personal rule. Coast = seafood, and my favorite seafood is oyster. But I did sample a few other dishes at these restaurants, and nothing disappointed. (And I’m fairly sure that wasn’t just because of all the beer consumed.)

Astoria Coffee House & Bistro

My first thought when Astoria is mentioned is “Goonies,” followed closely by “singing seals.” After this trip, I have to say “awesome food” is also on the list.

This bistro is bright and cheery, with a nice little seating area outside if you’re getting lucky with the weather. I had a cup of creamy clam chowder, a salad with pan-fried oysters, and a tall, super-cold iced coffee – the perfect lunch for an uncharacteristically warm day. But the menu includes plenty of other items that tempted me to break my rule: the espresso BBQ pulled pork sandwich, the Rockfish tacos, and the 3-cheese baked macaroni with béchamel all looked pretty phenomenal.

Wayfarer Restaurant & Lounge

You know you’re in for a good meal when the chef is trying out a few dishes he’s planning presenting to the James Beard Foundation. Chef Josh Archibald is pretty darn passionate about what he does, and the proof is in his food – he can trace all of his ingredients and takes pride in using what’s local.

This was one of my favorite oyster dishes of the trip – an appetizer of raw oysters served with a tiny glass pitcher of chilled champagne vinaigrette with lemon juice and shallots, served on a bed of rock salt with lime. Pour the vinaigrette on the oyster, shoot it back – heaven. The battered and fried razor clams with jalapeño-lime jelly also deserve a mention; if you’ve never had this type of clam, try them here.

Pelican Pub & Brewery

This place specializes in – wait for it – beer and food pairing. That’s a win no matter how you look at it, but made all the better by the facts that they 1) brew their own stuff and 2) have menu that incorporates said brews into the recipe, as well as recommends a pint to go along with it. It’s beer heaven. Beertastic. An exbeerience.

Case in point: stout chili, beer battered fries, pale ale pulled pork. But I, of course, went with the oyster po’ boy. The oysters were dipped in a batter made with Pelican’s own Doryman’s Dark beer. Good? I took a bottle home, if that tells you anything.

Georgie’s Beachside Grill

“You have to try the oysters. They’re from Yaquina Bay.” This is what we were told upon opening our menus – and as you’ve probably figured out, I had no qualms with following orders. The pan fried oysters here were delicious, as were the fish tacos – lightly fried halibut. I’m usually more a fan of grilled when it comes to fish tacos, but these were so delicately done, they may have swayed me to the other side.

If you have the appetite of a small army, I can’t recommend the Diablo Seafood Pasta enough. Fettuccine with shrimp, crab, salmon, and scallops with this creamy, cheesy, sort-of-sweet-and-spicy sauce that is as indulgent as it gets.

My trip to Oregon was kindly sponsored by Travel Oregon and Oregon Coast Visitors Association, but the thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.

I’m going to skip the introductory formalities and get straight to it: Carolee Carmello as Aimee Semple McPherson is the best leading performance I’ve seen in a musical in ages.

Now that I’ve spoiled the surprise, let’s back up.

Saving Aimee, a musical by Kathie Lee Gifford, David Pomeranz, and David Friedman, is the 5th Avenue Theatre’s current run. I spent the day peering out of my apartment window, hermit-like, at the mass of people and media lining up on 1st Avenue early Thursday morning to catch a peek at The Today Show, which was filming live at Pike Place Market to celebrate and promote opening night.

I knew very little about Aimee Semple McPherson prior to the musical. She was an evangelist in the 1920s, founded a mega-church in Los Angeles, and was involved in some sort of scandal that involved a supposedly false kidnapping used to mask an affair.

The musical presents her story with, obviously, a bit of creative license, but is at the same time quite balanced. Do you believe in evangelist “healers?” Do you think Aimee was a true believer? Or just an incredible actress? Saving Aimee lets you take away what you want to take away.

The set design by Walt Spangler is glorious – two levels framed by wide, white staircases with the orchestra on top, just behind a podium. On the first level, the back of the set opens to provide different backdrops. The opening scene is captivating; bathed in a white light behind the podium, Aimee is literally in the center of the stage space. It’s impossible to tear your eyes away – which is perfect, because you’re in her crowd of devoted followers.

Also notable is the pacing: the entire performance, particularly the first act, flies by. This is largely due to how the story moves seamlessly from Aimee’s present to her past, with dramatic CLICKS and spotlights illuminating lawyers and witnesses on the sides of the stage to recount one of Aimee’s transgressions, then resuming to the scene in which said transgression may or may not be taking place.

And the cast. Judy Kaye is overbearingly wonderful as Aimee’s Bible-thumping mother; their chemistry is perfect as they go from being completely at odds to working toward the same goal and finding a sort of mutual understanding and support. Roz Ryan gives one of the funniest performances in the show as Emma Jo, a former-brothel-owner-turned-convert who becomes Aimee’s right hand woman (and steps in at the last minute to play Moses in one of her over-the-top sermons, to hilarious effect).

Then there’s the men in Aimee’s life – four in particular, which are played by only two. Ed Watts gives such a commanding performance as her first husband, Robert Semple, that like Aimee, you just feel his presence till the very end, despite him vanishing halfway through the first act. Watts also plays David Hutton, a later love interest and actor in Aimee’s sermons. David’s character could not be more different from Robert’s, but Watts makes them equally memorable.

Brandon O’Neill starts out as Mac McPherson, Aimee’s second husband and truly her most sympathetic victim; your heart will break for him. O’Neill also gives an excellent performance as Kenneth Ormiston, Aimee’s radio engineer and a married man with whom she was rumored to have an affair with during the time of her alleged kidnapping.

Two other men bear mentioning, and not just because they’re the only ones Aimee apparently wasn’t involved with romantically: Ed Dixon was dead-on (and hysterical) as Brother Bob, a pastor who loathed what he thought Aimee was doing to Christianity, and Charles Leggett’s performance as Asa Keyes, Aimee’s prosecutor, truly made the audience emphasize with his frustrations during the trial.

And then, like I said at the start, there’s Carolee Carmello. Here’s how she won me over from the very beginning: The play opens close to her trial as she warns her followers that they will be hearing things about her that are not true. In Stand Up!, the opening number, Carmello’s husky, powerful voice is every bit as mesmerizing as the most practiced evangelist.

Then, in a matter of seconds, she tugs off her cape, lets down her hair and becomes a 17 year old girl.

The change in her voice was so startling and so effortless that I actually wondered if somehow I’d missed an actress switch. But no, it’s Carmello – gone from passionate preaching about God to girlish giggling over Shakespeare in a matter of seconds. And her voice…I don’t know how, but young Aimee’s voice in Why Can’t I? and He Will Be My Home was high and clear as a bell, a completely different timbre than adult Aimee, but every bit as powerful.

Liar or healer? Sinner or saint? Regardless of what you decide, Saving Aimee is a story worth listening to.

Buy tickets at the 5th Avenue Theatre’s website.