Questionable

Four down, ? to go

I've survived another round of chemo. Nef reared his ugly head on Tuesday night when I couldn't sleep. On the night of chemo, I should learn to prepare for appropriate middle-of-the-night activities (whatever those might be). This week I read until after 2am and then turned on the radio. I flipped between NPR/BBC, WCCO, AM1500, and the chick station. I managed to catch an interesting interview with an abortion doctor, a crazy right-wing radio announcer blathering on about republicans while subtly and not-so-subtly ripping liberals calling into his show, a refreshingly silly woman who never once mentioned the election, and the start of the Large Hadron Super Collider. I have to admit, at that moment I was sort of hoping we'd all be sucked into a giant black hole. No more cancer. No more school. What a relief. They haven't start collisions yet, so there's still hope for the end of the world. (Note to my mom, I am kidding, sort of.)

On the hair front, the top has started to thin. My part looks a little wider. You don't really notice it unless you look straight down from above. But, I am not losing it in clumps. Just a little every day. I've decided I'm going for the Jesse Ventura look. Bald on top and long in the back. And then when the top starts to grow back, I'll win some mullet contests before I really decide what to do with it. For now, I've resorted to getting my hair out of my face by wearing bandannas rolled up into headbands. I remember this look from college and was wondering just how dated I looked until I saw a starlet in this week's People magazine exercising while wearing a rolled up bandanna around her ponytail. Phew, am I glad the 80s are back!

I saw Little House on the Prairie at the Guthrie last night. I had really low expectations so was pleasantly surprised. Laura and Mary were quite good. I don't think it is right for Broadway, unless you are expecting to see a show without a set, but it was fun enough.

I can't write a blog post these days without including some things related to current events and the election. Recently I wrote about how the dems might have to go negative. This writer from Open Left agrees.

The compliments Democrats regularly pay to John McCain are self-defeating and disempowering. We aren't going to win an election where we say our opponents are awesome, while our opponents say that we suck. I want to make a difference in the fight to defeat John McCain, but with this structural set-up, it doesn't feel like I can. McCain's favorables keep going up, and his poll numbers follow along in due course. Gee, I wonder why that is.

And, did you see Obama on Letterman last night? He was okay. Not the best I've seen him. And there he went, stroking McCain and Palin through the whole interview. Just shut up about them already.

And, in even more depressing news, have you read about the churches/pastors who are all going to revolt against the IRS rule that they can't endorse candidates from the pulpit? I guess they figure they can push their case to our conservative Supreme Court and win.

 

Final Fringe Reviews

Bouffon Glass Menajoree - I hate TN Williams, so I liked this rip on Glass Menagerie. It was one of the weirdest, but best put together shows I've seen. It wasn't my favorite because the content was difficult and included too much incest. It did well in the NY Fringe, but not as well here and people did leave mid-show. The performances were excellent and creative. I'm guessing our Midwest audience didn't get it.

Buckets and Tap Shoes: Here and Now - I've seen this group perform in the past, but I have to say this show wasn't my favorite. The consistently get standing ovations and sold out crowds (at 300 person Jeune Lune, which is a very big Fringe stage) at a sloppy tap show, which should include more drumming (like their old shows did).

Fringe Review: Take a Left at the Giant Cow

Take a Left is a storytelling show, of which there are many at the Fringe this year. Two people ruminate and present vignettes about their childhoods in ND and their current lives in MN. This show has been sold out for all its performances so far this year. About half the tickets were pre-sold for our Wednesday night show, so that is an indication of just how good this performance is. What I loved most about this show is that the cleverly written stories they told bore similarities to my upbringing in Sheboygan. If I could write as well, I'd tell my funny stories on this blog.

Weekend Fringe Reviews

The Honeymoon Period is Officially Over - The performer in this show is excellent. In a two-scene one-person play she manages to portray men, women, animals, and inanimate objects (all with different voices/accents and body movements). The audience is never confused and she seamlessly and easily transitions from person to person in the midst of conversations. It was like there was more than one person on the stage. I didn't find the content of the show that compelling, but it is worth seeing for the performance.

Struggle Equals Ease - Ay yi yi. I cannot recommend this show. It is supposed to be about evolution. I wasn't sure if there was going to be some weird Christian content or if it would be a biting social commentary. It was neither. Instead, it was a bad musical trying to discuss evolution in a funny context. At one point there were fart jokes. And, I couldn't get past the main character, a fish, being called an amphibian. (Okay, I supposed because it tried to live on land, it was officially an amphibian, but it hadn't developed legs yet and still managed to move around quite easily. Oh, and it had sex with another fish, who I suppose was also an amphibian.)

The Opportunity - The audience participates in a pitch for a multi-level marketing experience (pyramid scheme). I had high expectations for this one. The setup is great. But, it needs editing. It went on too long and there was too much repetition. This isn't to say you shouldn't see it. There are good production values and lots to love.

Fringe Review: The Cody Rivers Show

Normally, the Fringe Fest is one of my favorite events of the year. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to see silly and irreverent performances given the bridge collapse. But I decided to see a show last night. I had to get out of the house and away from this computer where I've been compulsively checking the web.

We randomly picked The Cody Rivers Show as our first Fringe show. It was the perfect antidote to my terrible mood. It might have been the best Fringe show I've ever seen. J also loved it. Two guys doing sketch comedy sounds rather mundane, but these guys elevated the art. The humor was very intelligent and the show included dancing, singing, puppets, smart kids, and dumb parents.

I haven't picked this weekend's shows yet, but we'll probably see two or three.

Long Weekend Reviews

Lots to talk about here including a restaurant from Houghton, MI.

Mrs. Mannerly by Illusion Theater - Part of their Fresh Ink series, which is a playwright exhibition, rather than a fully developed series of performances, Mrs. Mannerly by Jeffrey Hatcher was fantastic. I don't know the author, but I'm sure others in town do. This guy is quite the writer. It was a bit of a period piece, probably more appealing to Baby Boomers, but very funny and inventive. His language choices were witty and wise. Anyway, I can see this developing into a fully formed play.

Ratatouille - It was fine. To me, nothing has captured the joyous magic that was Finding Nemo.

The Library, Houghton, MI - On the one day we had crappy weather while up north, we drove up the Keweenaw Peninsula. At about 2pm, we walked into the Library for lunch. The place was packed, but we found a booth and sat down. No one looked at us or talked to us. J got up and got us menus. Still, no attention. They were busy and it looked like no one was eating. We sat and sat - for about 20 minutes. When the manager walked by us and averted her eyes rather than greeting us, apologizing, or even recognizing our existence, I insisted we walk out. J was pissed because we didn't see any other restaurants in the vicinity and we had to eat at Subway.

Brasa Rotisserie (no website yet) - Alex Roberts of Alma opened this new casual restaurant right before the beginning of the month. I have been waiting for this restaurant for six months. All they sell are locally sourced, organic rotisserie meats and Caribbeanish sides like beans and rice, slaw, grits, and more. We actually visited on the day they opened to get some take out to bring to MI with us. We wanted sandwich meat and this stuff was so much better than your average deli selection. Then, we went back after we returned home for a meal. I had pork, beans and rice, chickpeas, and slaw. J had pork, grits, plantains, and slaw. I was in heaven. So fresh, so uncomplicated, so yummy. There is also a small beer and wine list, but I have to say I wasn't thrilled with the beer selections.

Bank - This is the new restaurant in the new Westin in downtown Minneapolis. I didn't really care to eat there, but I wanted to see the interior. An old art deco bank lobby has been transformed into a lovely, beautiful space. It is a good thing I didn't want to eat there because we couldn't. The kitchen closes at 10pm which is unheard of in downtown Minneapolis. We ate somewhere else and came back and had a drink at the bar, which closes at midnight. Completely lame for a downtown bar! in a hotel! Anyway, I asked the bartender and was told that until they are open three months they have to follow the Westin rules. Restaurants close at 10pm and bars close at midnight. Had they blessed us with a W instead of a Westin, they would have been able to stay open later. After the three months, they may be able to change things. In my opinion, if they don't they are screwed. Every restaurant in downtown is open until at least 11 and a midnight bar is ridiculous. (And considering room service is open 24 hours, it is not like they don't have an operating kitchen).

Ike's (not getting a link) - I've eaten at Ike's in the past. They have decent enough hamburgers, if that's your thing. We chose Ike's because it is down the road from Bank and needed somewhere to eat after seeing a play on Saturday night. It may have been the worst dining experience in the last few months. The service was spectacular, but the food was horrid. HORRID!!! J ordered walleye and is convinced he got another fish altogether. I ordered a salad and it came without dressing, onions, shallots, cucumbers, or tomatoes (all of which were supposed to be on it). There was beef on the salad that wasn't hot, so after leaving the restaurant and considering all the other omissions in the salad, I have my suspicions that the salad might have been used.

Barley John's  - This is one of the best places in the cities to drink beer. They love it, they make it, and they want you to try it. (They also have scotch flights). I've been there a few times and can never quite order the right thing to eat. For example, I ordered the habenero hummus. I like spicy foods well enough, but once you eat this, there is nothing else on the menu that can stand up to the taste. The beer tastes different and things like turkey sammys are flavorless.

Weekend Reviews

We ate at Lucia's on Friday night. I know it is supposed to be one of the best restaurants in town, but we had a bad experience there, probably five years ago and haven't been back until now. The food was excellent. The service was a bit uneven, but whatever. We split a salad and a main course and were both raving about the freshness and yummyness.

We ended up at Lucia's because we went to one of the shows at the first Twin Cities Improv Fest. I'm a big lover of improvisational comedy. I think I like it because 1) I am not funny and 2) I am not quick. I suppose with practice you get better, but it seems impossible to me. And, I very much appreciate odd cultural references that people are able to interject at the most opportune times. We saw two different troops. The first, Radar-7 was excellent. They were so adept at continuing to circle back to some original themes and one guy pulled out the lyrics to two obscure 80's Foreigner songs so props to him. The second group, Vile Henchmen, was not as appealing. I couldn't figure out if they were just drunk and not on their game or just not that good. Plus the L.A. arrogance really got to me. One guy just came going to potty jokes, which were not funny. Near the end of their set, they got things together and ended up pulling an okay show out of their assess, but I can't give them a thumbs up.

On Saturday night we talked about going to see a play, but decided it was just too nice outside. We ended up going out to Stillwater, walking around, and then eating at the Freight House on their big deck. The place was packed because the weather was so good. Believe me, you just go there for the deck. The food is nothing to write home about. I had the weirdest meal. It was supposed to be a vege wrap, but was really a Lavash filled with more lettuce than one is capable of eating and almost nothing else. Plain, boring, overpriced. But, I can't complain. We had a really nice night and then came home and sat outside by the fire until about 1am.

Weekend Reviews

Every April and May, our weekends get really busy. They calm down a bit after Memorial Day, but it seems like we are always on the go in the spring. It makes it difficult to get yard work done, but we've tried a new plan this year. For stuff that we both do, like cleaning out the garden, we only work one hour on each Saturday and Sunday. We are almost done with the leaf removal after three hours of work. On to the reviews.

Saint Paul Art Crawl - We usually go to the art crawl once every year or so. We generally go to Lowertown in St. Paul and go through three or four buildings. This year, I found some really industrial rings that I just loved, but decided I didn't want to spend the money. Overall, I ended up spending a few dollars on some blank cards and a poster that I am going to have framed for the kids' room. I encourage everyone to take a swing through the art crawl every once and a while. The art is inexpensive and there is a great deal of talent. One of my favorite artists was Kept Fresh. She had the cutest posters, prints, cards, etc. geared mainly at kids.

Lo-To - David Fhima who owns Lo-To has had numerous problems with some of his other restaurants over the last few years. To get himself out of bankruptcy, he took a job with a health club chain to create healthy food. While he's out pimping himself, this restaurant has suffered. It has so much potential and every time we go it gets worse and worse. It is in the middle of Lowertown, which used to be a no man's land, but is now full of upscale condos. Yet, they are understaffed and run out of food. And, what really pissed me off is that they don't know how to describe a chicken salad.

Prime Promotions Flea Market - Three times a year there is an antique show/flea market at the State Fair grounds. I go to all of them and usually come home with something interesting. This year it was an grayish agate ring. YAY.

Design Fiesta at the Soap Factory - A friend of mine was exhibiting here. I appreciate what they are trying to do, but they need more artists and more guests. I bought a few bookmarks.

Improbable Theatre at the Walker - This British troop does a sort of puppetry improv. The show was fantastic. A word out of a thesaurus invoked skits using props as puppets, masks, and humor. As great as this show was, it was almost ruined by a, for lack of a better word, heckler. A woman, who I first thought was disabled, yelled out at the performers from her perch on the balcony until she was told to shut up. Maybe she's drunk, I wondered after she was able to keep quiet. When the lights came up, everyone craned their necks to see who was making all the noise. She didn't look disabled and she came with a friend. They did make their way to the bar after the show and were basically ignored by the bartender. I'm thinking he heard about their antics.

20.21 - This is the restaurant at the Walker. We've never been because the place is a little fancy and expensive. After the show above, we decided to eat some appetizers and have a drink at the bar. It was a good decision. We had three Asian-inspired appetizers and one was better than the next. I really liked the chicken and pine nuts in lettuce cups.

Feline Rescue Spaghetti Dinner - Feline Rescue is a St. Paul-based no-kill cat shelter. I've supported this organization in the past by bidding on silent auction items. This year, they did a spaghetti dinner for $15. The food was average, but that's not really the reason to go. I also won a basket full of goodies in the auction, but didn't win the grand prize raffle of $500. Like Bob Barker says, "please spay or neuter your pet today".

Weekend Reviews

Biaggis - J and I went to the Albertville outlet mall on Friday night. Why? I don't know. It was nice outside and I wanted to walk a bit. He needed dress shirts for work. I covet Coach purses and there is an outlet there. We ended up buying four dress shirts, a pair of jeans, and a belt for J and nothing for me. I was going to buy a blouse or something, but I couldn't find anything I loved. I drooled over the purses, but I really have to love and desperately need something when at 50% off it is still over $100. I usually rely on trusted eBay sellers for my purse habit.

Anyway, we ate a Biaggis after our shopping trip. It is a Italian chain restaurant in Maple Grove. We really don't know the restaurants there. We saw this one and took a chance. It was pretty good, especially for a chain. The bread basket came with olive oil, cheese, and cracked pepper. The dinner salads were big enough to split. I had chicken parm. The chicken was good, but the fettuccine that came with it was horrible because the Alfredo sauce was nasty. J had the black pasta with lobster and loved it.

How to Draw Mystical Creatures - Okay, I'm biased because I know the director and support Theatre Limina, but this play is fantastic. I've seen many of their productions and I think this is probably the best one they've done. The acting is outstanding. The story is difficult, but timely. Go see it.

Weekend Reviews

We didn't do all this this weekend; some was done last weekend.

Masa - Masa is one of my favorite restaurants in the Twin Cities. We usually go once a year, because it is more expensive than our normal restaurants. It was delicious as always. I had the pork shoulder cooked in banana leaf and it was tender and wonderful. It is served with beans and grilled, spicy pineapple. Yum!

Longfellow Grill - I have always liked Highland Grill/Longfellow Grill/Edina Grill. I like them even more now that each restaurant has slightly different offerings. I had the Cuban sandwich, which was excellent, but rather large, so I skipped the fries. They're pretty good, but not worth it.

Circle Round the Island - Mu Performing Arts presented this show at the Dowling Studio at the Guthrie.  First, I haven't been up to the 9th floor before. What a view! I guess you can only get up there on a tour or with a ticket to a show. Anyway, the show was sweet and had some very memorable performances including the excellent drummer, but I was a bit bored. J agreed.

Mairin's Table - What a great little restaurant! It is near Surdyk's in NE Minneapolis and is in a building that used to be an international market. The food is basically American with a middle eastern twist. The service is excellent and I really enjoyed the hummus.

Como Zoo - I go to Como Park all the time. But, I never write about it because, I think, I forget that it deserves mention. On Saturday, we went for a walk around Como Lake. It is 1.6 miles, so was the perfect length for my foot. It is rather depressing to be only walking 1.6 miles when I normally walk 4, but I did it with little pain. Then, I was feeling so good, we decided to wander through the zoo. I am very familiar with the zoo, but I've only been to Tropical Encounters one other time. At that time, it was really busy so I didn't linger long. This time, we looked at a few more things and really enjoyed the sloth, who was quite active.  We also saw the baby giraffe, Jenga, who isn't ready to leave mom's side. Most of the animals in the zoo were really active so it was good day to visit.

Java Train Coffee House - I read somewhere that this place had excellent coffee (which I don't drink, but J does) and we were going to Como Park, which is nearby, so we decided to stop for lunch. I guess the cappuccino was excellent. The homemade soup and the sandwich of the day were both good. But, don't order the pre-packaged stuff. YUCK. J said he probably wouldn't go back. There were too many kids for him and the train which runs around a kiddie area was too loud for him. I thought the place was rather charming, but since I don't drink coffee, I rarely go to coffee houses. And, I need quiet to write.