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Jordan Wright
December 7, 2010
 Cirque Dreams The litmus test for success of a glittery, shimmery holiday extravaganza is if kids will like it. So to that end I brought my own kid barometer. Twelve years old and well acquainted with large stage productions he brings his built–in cool meter and preteen insider radar.
As the houselights dimmed and the curtain rose to reveal a stage full of Christmas lights and a thirty-foot crystal Christmas tree I watched out of the corner of my eye as my cool dude gasped, cheered, whooped, applauded wildly, “Let’s clap to the beat!” he begged, and sat on the edge of his seat breathless with anticipation and flat-out astonishment. With every new jaw-dropping act he asked, “Did you see that?” or “How did they do that?” “Yes! Wow! I don’t know!” I replied catching my breath too.
Put aside your old-fashioned notions of retro Christmas shows, here’s what you can expect to come at you in warp-speed. Performers of every stripe from five continents, spectacular juggling, tumbling and stupefying acrobatics from Chinese synchronized cyclists. Countless dazzling costume changes on sets replete with giant presents, gingerbread houses, tin soldiers and a silvery moon will leave checking your own reality. Everything is bigger than life and way, way over-the-top.
Together we marveled at a pigtailed pixie gymnast and a miniature gingerbread boy with an elastic spine who spins faster than a gyroscope on a sugar high. There are gravity-defying icemen performing one-handed human lifts, a gaggle of jump-ropers who contrive the most intricate ins and outs never seen before, a tightrope walker on a unicycle who juggles giant thimbles and a mime with a knack for conducting who has folks in the audience ringing cowbells to his silent frenzied gesticulations. And that’s not even the half of it.
Throughout there is a heart-pounding score and soaring vocals from a Ziegfeld-style ice queen, a blue angel and a razzmatazz version of Dickens replete with feisty elves. It is flat out crazy fun and full of the holiday spirit.
Producer Neil Goldberg, whose imaginative company Cirque Productions has created fantasies for major theatres, casinos and tours including the Superbowl, Disney, Busch Gardens, MGM, Caesar’s, Bally and NBC, CBS, ABC, comes off his recent success on Broadway for Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy. This show is the start of their National Tour and runs till December 12th.
For tickets phone 202 467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.
Jordan Wright
December 6, 2010
 Kevin Harr (Jacob Marley’s Ghost), Steve Izant (Ebenezer Scrooge), and Kathleen Lovain (Young Jacob Marley’s Ghost) Far be it from me to play the Grinch with Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas tale. But it’s clear from the opening scenes of “Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge” at The Little Theatre of Alexandria that there is no binge coming, unless you count Gladys Cratchit’s suicide attempts by leaping into the Thames River as holiday fancy. And there is nothing wild that will ever unfold, unless your idea of that notion is twenty children locked in a cellar with a single raw fish as nourishment.
 Steve Izant (Ebenezer Scrooge) and Maria Simpkins (The Ghost of Christmas Past) What you have here is a mess from the get-go that has no business being on a legitimate stage. Off-key singing, stilted acting, a slog-of-a-script largely untouched by actual humor. The barbs are countless and dated. Scrooge in partnership with Enron’s Kenneth Lay, handicapped children (Ghost to Tiny Tim: “He’s so cute and small and gimpy.” Mrs. Cratchit to Tiny Tim: “Are you blind as well as cripple?”) Tourette’s Syndrome jokes, miscasting, lack of sound effects or musical transitions during dark set changes and mumbling children (Unquotable due to inability to decipher the muffled code.). Add to that awkward choreography, afterthought set design and costumes that had a better life at the Goodwill.
 Maria Simpkins (The Ghost of Christmas Past), Steve Izant (Ebenezer Scrooge), Kathleen Lovain (Cratchit Child 1), Aimee Meher-Homji (Gladys Cratchit), Julian Worth (Cratchit Child 2) (Front) James Senavitis (Bob Cratchit) and Peter Johnson (Tiny Tim) Dear Theatregoers, it is only through my commitment to you to witness every shard of any play I review to its glorious, or in this case most inglorious, denouement that stopped me from the pleasure I would have had if I’d been able to exit after the opening ten minutes. But I stayed glued to my seat till the end with the dysfunctional Cratchits (The children, who Mrs. Cratchit refuses to give names to, get a certain fast food chain’s Happy Meals for Christmas dinner while she goes off to become Leona Helmsley. Does anyone even remember her?)
 Aimee Meher-Homji (Gladys Cratchit), Gary Stephans (Bartender), Kevin Harr (Gentleman in Bar), and Geoff Baskir (Gentleman in Bar) The only redeeming social value from this dreary production is a death-defying rescue by actress, Maria Simpkins, playing the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Sign me up to be the first in line wherever she pops up next as long as she’s not singing. Simpkins’ lightening fast delivery, coupled with her ace comedic timing and talent, should be featured in a solo show without the ghostly shackles of such a dismal play and cast.
For tickets call 703 683-0496 or visit www.TheLittleTheatre.com.
“Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge” runs from November 26th till December 18th.
A Christmas Carol
The Little Theatre of Alexandria
Jordan Wright
December 6, 2010
 (L to R) Maya Brettell, Natalie Turkevich, Aaron Lewis, and Shawn Perry As interpreted by Donna Ferragut “A Christmas Carol” currently playing at The Little Theatre of Alexandria is an American love letter to Charles Dickens’ treasured story of the haunting and self-redemption of the miserly moneylender Ebenezer Scrooge. Adapted for the stage by Ferragut and drawn from the original text, it gives us a portrait of mid-century nineteenth England.
Set in London Town during the Christmas season this charmingly mounted production evokes Harper’s Weekly lithographs of elegant skating parties and Victorian parlors filled with ladies in rustling silks and gentlemen in their cravats. It opens with a picture postcard of a chorus in period finery singing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and the tone is set for an intelligent rendition of the iconic novella filled with songs of the day.
 (L to R) Clare Baker (Juliet Wilkins), Holden Brettell (Boy Scrooge), Melissa Ledesma-Leese (Christmas Past), and Philip Baedecker (Scrooge) Straight away you are alerted to the superb acting and direction with a captivating cast led by Phillip Baedecker as Scrooge…his dark and grisly delivery of “Bah Humbug” sets your spine on edge from the start. In a warning the townspeople refer to the curmudgeon-on-a-mission as “solitary as an oyster” and warn all “to keep their distance”.
Larry Grey’s portrayal of the humble, obsequious clerk, Bob Cratchit, is a study in restraint and we are lulled with posed vignettes of his adoring wife, cheerful beribboned daughters and the crippled Tiny Tim, played by the adorable Benjamin Leese.
 (L to R) Philip Baedecker (Scrooge), Larry Grey (Bob Cratchit), and Benjamin Leese (Tiny Tim) In this world of wassailing Ebenezer’s nephew, Fred, played by another local top-notch actor Brandon DeGroat who plays six other roles here, gathers with his wife and friends around the Christmas tree. It was during these times that the tree, as the symbol of Christmas, had just been introduced by Queen Victoria’s consort Prince Albert as a new holiday tradition. With mistletoe kissing games and caroling the young couples portray our ideal picture of the season.
Yet the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future arrive to interrupt the proceedings with supernatural aplomb as they haunt the dreams of old Ebenezer. Melissa Ledsma-Leese, Dru Hodges and Shawn Perry bring a credible spookiness and gravitas to their roles and the lighting and eerie miasma set the unearthly tone for their visitations.
When Scrooge realizes his failings, “Why did I walk through crowds of my fellow human being with eyes downcast?” we embrace the true spirit of Christmas along with him. Enjoy this nostalgic tale with a top-drawer cast.
For tickets call 703 683-0496 or visit www.TheLittleTheatre.com.
“A Christmas Carol” runs from December 3rd till December 12th.
Jordan Wright
December 2010
Special to the Washington Examiner and San Francisco Examiner
This year brought the usual Food Network celeb cookbooks, “The Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?” (Random House) by Ina Garten, Rachel Ray’s “Look and Cook” (Clarkson Potter), Giada De Laurentiis’ “Giada at Home: Family Recipes From Italy and California” (Crown), and “Tyler Florence Family Meal” (Rodale Books). PBS gave us Eric Ripert with “Avec Eric” (Wiley). The book follows Ripert’s journeys through France, Italy, California and the Grand Caymans and is based on the show of the same name. Also from PBS and based on the TV series “Cooks Illustrated”, we read over 350 pages of “The America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook” (Boston Common Press). Well not read…but gleaned for future reference. From The New York Times we hoisted a weighty compendium of 1400 recipes culled from their voluminous archives. Amanda Hesser’s “The Essential New York Times Cookbook” (Norton) reflects 150 years of the classics with a few new spins. It’s a keeper culled from the country’s most distinguished food writers.
Intriguing books, curiously unnecessary books, and books with practical yet grisly techniques continued to pour in throughout the year. We were instructed in how to butcher our own pig in “Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession” (Little, Brown) by Julie Powers; how to drink wine like a pro in “Secrets of the Sommeliers” (Ten Speed Press) by Rajat Parr a terrific read and on Kindle too; and the complex chemistry of baking in “How Baking Works” (Wiley) by Paula Figoni, a comprehensive textbook for professional bakers that includes in-depth reviews, discussion topics for the hard-core, and experiments that unfortunately add up to a book drier than a cup of corn starch.
This year there’s even an app for your iPhone or iPad from Mark Bittman. With 2,000 recipes, meal-planning ideas and 400 photos, his “How To Cook Everything” (Wiley) is at your fingertips for $1.99. Now that’s a bargain I can’t refuse.
But along with some culinary chaff came the heart of the grain, the bone’s marrow, the pan’s drippings. In revelations, anthologies, and flat-out edgy innovations by chefs and traveling food writers that bring wisdom and light to the process, there is true inspiration for us all…the inspiration to approach our kitchens with a commanding and steady posture and cook like a whirligig with a whisk.
Here’s a list of 2010 cookbooks that should be on your gift list or if you subscribe to the one-for-me-one-for-you approach to holiday shopping and I do, on the shelf in your personal library.
Baking
 Good to the Grain - Kim Boyce Kim Boyce’s “Good to the Grain” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) – A lushly beautiful book by a former pastry chef at Spago and Campanile in LA and contributor to Bon Appetit, Boyce incorporates whole-grain flours in all her baking. Working with barley, kamut, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat and other hearty grains to create recipes like Pear and Buckwheat Pancakes, Apricot Boysenberry Tarts made with rye flour, and Ginger Peach Muffins made with oat flour. She’s even figured out a way to get wheat flour not to toughen up in the baking process.
 Dam Good Sweet - David Guas I love a book by a chef who knows their ingredients, lore and territory. In David Guas’ “Dam, Good Sweet” (Taunton) written with Raquel Pelzel, he corrals them all with his memories of his growing up in Louisiana. Memories of “Nanny”, his great-aunt on Aunt Boo’s side of the family, and her mayhaw preserves; pickin’ pecans off the ground in New Orleans’ Elysian Fields with Granny, and reminiscing about McKenzie’s Pastry Shoppe and their familiar chocolate-covered turtles, inform his stories. But it’s his old school N’awlins recipes like Buttermilk Beignets and Bananas Foster along with newer creations like Lemon-Herbsaint Poppers made with the New Orleans anise-flavored liqueur and Ponchatoula Strawberry & Brown Butter Shortcake that’ll have you breaking out your rolling pin in no time. Guas has recently opened Bayou Bakery Coffee Bar and Eatery in Arlington so you can taste the goods before you buy the book.
Local lawyer-turned-baker-turned-entrepreneur, Warren Brown owns seven CakeLove bakeries in our area. In his second cookbook, “United Cakes of America” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang), Brown takes us on a cake baker’s journey to all 50 states plus Puerto Rico (Rum Cake) and DC (Cherry Trifle). From Mississippi he gives us Mud Cake; from Maine, Whoopie Pies; from Virginia, a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake in a skillet; from Georgia, Coca Cola Cake; and for all you cupcake fans, Avocado Cupcakes from California. Your Cousin Mary’s state cake will be in here too and there are plenty of useful tips from this experienced baker even for those who have just discovered their ovens.
“Baked Explorations” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) by former admen and partners in the Brooklyn, NY bakery they call Baked, Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito have upped the ante with their latest collection of classic American desserts reinvented. In this book they tease you with Caramel Apple Cake, torment you with Almond Joy Tart, and lure you with Aunt Sassy Cake made with pistachios and iced with Honey Vanilla Buttercream. The wildly popular duo, the darlings of Oprah and Martha Stewart, reveal their highly sought-after recipe for their famous Sweet & Salty Brownies. As for me, I’ll make the Caramel Popcorn with Peanuts and Chocolate for this year’s at-home Oscar night party.
Ethnic and Regional Cuisine
 Quiches, Kugels and Couscous - Joan Nathan Doyenne of Jewish cookery and lover of all things French, acclaimed Washington DC author, Joan Nathan, combines the two in her eleventh cookbook, “Quiches, Kugels and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France” (Knopf). Nathan prepares the reader by providing centuries-old historical context for the creation, preservation and tradition of Jewish cookery in France. Thankfully the book offers far more than the catchy three-dish alliterative title suggests to the reader. Among the more than 200 recipes that have their origin in Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Germany and the Mediterranean, you’ll find such gems as Paul Bocuse’s Black Truffle Soup Elysée, tweaked by Nathan’s kosher re-interpretation; Baba au Rhum from the tiny 16-seat restaurant, Les Arômes outside of Marseilles; and a recipe for a hearty Alsatian Choucroute from a doctor in Strasbourg. This is the sort of treasured cookbook writing that will inspire home cooks to experience Jewish food and its culture.
 Anjum's New Indian - Anjum Anand “Anjum’s New India” (Wiley) by Anjum Anand, host of the Cooking Channel’s Indian Food Made Easy is an exotic yet accessible book for getting a handle on Indian regional cuisine. Anand is better known in the UK, though she has cooked at the Mondrian Hotel in LA and Café Spice in New York. Her simple modern recipes like the rich Mogul dish Red Lamb Shank Korma and Dried Pomegranate Chicken along with her vindaloos, biryanis and tikkas make this the perfect book for the novice experimentalist. There’s even a recipe for Anand’s version of French fries, called Gujarati Fries with Cashews that calls for cumin, turmeric, sesame seeds and mango powder.
Dorrie Greenspan’s “Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours” (Houghton Mifflin) is written in Greenspan’s charming conversational style, which is like cozying up with Dorrie in her Parisian kitchen. The award-winning food writer and chef whose familiar voice is frequently heard on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “The Splendid Table” comes to us with a wealth of knowledge and secrets about the French culinary style she has perfected with the expertise and mentoring of France’s greatest chefs.
Mixology
The stunningly beautiful “Vintage Cocktails” (Assouline) by three-star Michelin mixologist Brian Van Flandern makes you want to break out the silver cocktail shaker. Natty and knowledgeable Van Flandern shakes it up old school while he exhorts, “Bottoms up!” The cover features “The Bradshaw”, an artisanal cocktail he created for Sarah-Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick on their first date at the Café Carlyle’s Bemelman’s bar where Van Flandern mixes up classics with a twist like the Sidecar and Tuxedo Martini or the re-trended Pink Lady and Negroni.
Carnivores Only
Just in time for the season of stews, soups and slow-cooked meats comes Jean Anderson’s “Falling off the bone” (Wiley). A six-time best cookbook award winner, Anderson is a lifetime member of the James Beard Hall of Fame. Divided into beef, veal, pork and lamb sections it gives you such mouth-watering recipes as Austrian Goulash, Tuscan Veal Pot Roast in Lemon Sauce, Slow Cooker Blanquette de Veau, Russian Crumb-Crusted Veal and Beef Loaf with Sour Cream Gravy, and Jade Soup with Pork and Veal Dumpling Balls. I’m looking at the Deviled Short Ribs as my first foray into the winter’s menus. Let’s see…four more icy snow-dune months left to cook these stick-to-the-ribs recipes and enough variety to keep it interesting.
Grillin’ and Chillin’
 The Good Stuff - Spike Mendelsohn with Micheline Mendelsohn In “The Good Stuff Cookbook: Burgers, fries, shakes, wedges and more” (Wiley) local chef and former Top Chef contestant Spike Mendelsohn reveals his restaurant’s recipes for his 12 signature mayonnaises, 23 burgers including the Michelle Burger and Prez Obama Burger (both big fans of his Good Stuff Eatery restaurant here in DC), along with his Root Beer Float and ever-popular Toasted Marshmallow Shake. Gorgeous close-ups by DC photographer Joel Shymanski, capture the intimacy of the moment between the arrival of the hot, smoking, gooey, oozing, herbed, slathered dish and the split second before you pop it in your expectant and salivating mouth. Fire up the grill, fryer and blender with this party-on-every-page burger bling cookbook!
Food Writing
 Medium Raw - Anthony Bourdain Edgy bad boy and acerbic wit, Anthony Bourdain, host of the Travel Channel’s “No Reservations” loves to upend the food world and strip off the damask tablecloths. In his latest reveal, “Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and The People Who Cook” (Harper Collins), he keeps the food fight center stage with a collection of essays that takes you past the glitz and glamour of our epicurean crystal palaces and into the belly of the beast, as he lasers in on noted chefs like Alice Waters and David Chang. A bloody good read!
Jordan Wright
December 1, 2010
Special to Georgetowner
 Michel Richard in his newest kitchen at Michel at the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Little Morso’s Turkish Delights
Morso is a tiny jewel box of a restaurant. Its hip modern décor is sleek, its bar, cozy and chic, its cuisine scrumptious, its prices gentle. A parking lot is right across the street, and it’s in the heart of Georgetown. What more can a hungry, stylish diner ask for?
Favorites: Ezme, a mixture of roasted tomato and pine nuts with orange and red pepper; creamy Babaganoush, the traditional eggplant made with roasted eggplant and pistachio oil; Baked Moussaka; heavenly Wood-grilled Fresh Squid filled with fresh herbs and burrata; perfectly grilled and tender Zatar Spiced Octopus with white bean puree, green olives and cilantro; Lamb Shish Kebap (yes, the spelling seems odd but that’s the Turkish word for roasting) served with bulghur and addictive sweet red onion with zatar and a killer dessert called Irmik Helva that is made with shredded phyllo and pistachios and boasts a semolina custard. It is to die for. I can’t be held responsible if you miss out on this sweet treat!
On the list for next time: eight different kinds of Brick Oven Pides (Turkish-style pizzas); Octopus Pilaf with Swiss Chard and Scallions; Grilled Boneless Whole Branzino; and handmade Manti. Manti are beef dumplings and here they are served with warm yoghurt, paprika oil and sumac. There is also a Swordfish Kebap, which is a fish high in mercury. So if you do have it and it is really good, please only order it once a year!
Glitch: There was a reception in the bar area for around 40 university alumni for the first hour and a half we were there. The manager apologized profusely saying he had planned for only 20 guests. Though it was a cute group of well-mannered alums, the bar is open to the dining area and it can be noisy. If you are planning a romantic evening without a distractingly high decibel count, ask if the restaurant is hosting a reception when making your reservations.
Sweetbite Creamery Poised to Up the Cookie Ante
I was introduced to Ashley Allen and Tricia Widgen, partners in Sweetbite Creamery, at the new Bethesda Central Farm Market where they sold their delicious ice cream sandwiches till the market closed up on November 23 for the season. Now you’ll find them at the Oakton Market in Bethesda and on the menu at the Mayflower Hotel.
The young local entrepreneurs met at George Washington University’s Business School and started their collaboration only a few months ago. They’ve been catering parties and putting together holiday gift packs with assorted flavors, and will even deliver a minimum of one dozen of their original flavors such as Baked Apple Snickerdoodle, Molasses Pumpkin, Sweet Potato and Marshmallow, and Salted Caramel to your home.
Rising Star Chefs Hold Gala Rooftop Tasting
Recently some of the area’s notable chefs including David Varley of Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak at the Four Seasons, Bertrand Chemel of 2941, Dean Maupin of Keswick Hall at Monticello, John and Karen Shields of Town House restaurant and Benjamin Lambert of Restaurant Nora, prepared a few of their signature dishes on the tented rooftop of Charlie Palmer’s Steakhouse. Out-of-town chef Jason Alley of Comfort restaurant in Richmond, whose Beef Cheeks braised in juniper and ginger beer, was a favorite among some of the food writers. And he gave me his secret: Pork stock for the beef! Road trip to Richmond anyone?
Or maybe you’d prefer to cruise down Route 81 to Chilhowie, VA for Karen Shields’ heavenly Parsnip Candy Ice Cream concoction served with coconut, banana pudding, sponge cake, almond cookie, and lemongrass sorbet. I counted nine separate methods to create this dessert and though all the chefs’ recipes were included in the program, don’t try this one at home unless you want to be chained to your kitchen like a yard dog to a tree.
Each creation, including the swank desserts, was paired with wine, beer or specialty cocktails like the “Mulberry Street” created by PS 7’s mixologist, Gina Chersevani. The early fall evening was hosted by the ubiquitously charitable Todd Gray of Equinox. The winning chef was Matt Hill from Charlie Palmer’s for his Prosciutto-wrapped Canadian Pork Tenderloin with cauliflower puree and preserved cherries.
Kudos that the event overlooking the dome of the US Capitol was as green as could be with recyclable bamboo dinnerware.
Michel Richard Opens Third Restaurant in Tysons Corner
Michel Richard of Citronelle and Central Michel Richard, flush with celebratory glee, served up some delicacies earlier this week at his eponymously named new restaurant in the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner. Richard has tapped one of my favorite chefs, Levi Mezick, formerly of The Jockey Club (see my July story on Mezick) to be his Executive Chef.
Zaca Mesa Wines
Brook Williams is the CEO and wine grower at Zaca Mesa Winery and Vineyards nestled in the Santa Ynez Valley. He is a blond blue-eyed California guy with an enthusiasm for wine that came later in life after over twenty years on the financial side of winemaking for super-size wineries like Gallo, Kendall-Jackson and Beringer. You could say he’s a convert in a lot of ways.
For the past seven years, along with winemaker, Eric Mohseini, Williams has nurtured the grapes on the estate’s 750 acres. His wines are 100% estate grown and bottled using sustainable winegrowing practices and organic products.
“When we started out in the 1990s we got our cuttings from Randall Grahm and afterwards discovered they were Viognier not Roussanne,” he told me at a one-on-one wine tasting in the Blue Duck Tavern Lounge where I sampled seven Zaca Mesa wines.
“Later we got cuttings for our syrah from Gary Eberle. Zaca Mesa was the first to plant syrah in Santa Barbara County back in 1978. In fact our syrah sales have gone up 80% this year. It is our most popular seller.”
I found it has a lovely flavor profile of cassis, espresso, mocha and sage, but the 2006 should be put down for a few more years to fully appreciate.
As we spoke we nibbled and sipped over an exceptional charcuterie and cheese platter consisting of a luscious silken prosciutto, mortadella, soppressata, cured olives and tomatoes. Cheeses sampled were Humboldt Fog, Bayley Hazen Blue, Oma from the Von Trapp Farmstead, Nancy’s Hudson Valley Camembert, Organic Red Hawk triple crème made by Cowgirl Creamery, and the local Everona Dairy Piedmont.
I particularly liked the 2006 Roussanne. The grape is a Rhone variety, not well known in the States, but it likely will be soon since it captured a “Best White of Show” at Hilton Head this spring.
Try their award-winning 2007 Z Cuvee made with 57% Grenache, 31% Mourvedre and 12% Syrah with its raspberry, blueberry, blackberry and light pepper notes. I picked it up at the Home Farm Store in Middleburg where I had stopped to order an organic Ayrshire Farm heritage breed turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.
Enjoy these wines with dinner at such top restaurants as the Lafayette Room at the Hay Adams Hotel, Charlie Palmer’s Steakhouse, Black Salt and Veritas Wine Bar where they offer over 70 wines by the glass.
For purchase at Arrowine and Wegman’s in VA, and in DC at Ace Beverage, Cleveland Park Liquor and Wines, and Bell Wine and Spirits.
Rigoni di Asiago Fruit Jams, Honey and Chocolate Hazelnut Butter
It seems every chef in the country is fiddling around with “Nutella” in their desserts. This chocolate hazelnut spread has been a favorite in Italy since its invention in the 1940’s. During the war years, chocolate was pricey and hazelnuts were prolific in the Piedmont region of Italy, and this recipe could stretch out both ingredients.
It debuted in the US three decades ago it has become a popular way to sneak a bit of protein in kids’ diets with a slathering of the “gianduja” spread on toast.
For over 80 years the Rigoni family has produced eight varieties of organic honey (like chestnut, pine and eucalyptus), and seventeen different organic jams (crave the fig, gooseberry and pomegranate) on their ancestral farms in the Cimbrian Plateau of Asiago, Veneto. They have recently brought to the US market an entirely organic version of the spread they call, “Nocciolata”. It adds 15% more hazelnuts than Nutella and is richer, more luscious, and has a deeper flavor, too. Try frosting your cupcakes with it. I did…and it was heavenly and quick!
Special to the Alexandria Times
Jordan Wright
November 22, 2010
 Donna as Baby Fan On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me. 31 well-known Broadway show tunes, 23 wig changes, 20 separate costume changes and 4 sprightly cast members in a theatre where there are no bad seats in one 90-minute show.
In “A Broadway Christmas Carol”, lyricist Kathy Feininger’s version of “A Christmas Carol”, spirits, ghosts, an orphan, and a Class A tightwad go classical burlesque to the max. The production, which played to sold-out audiences at Round House Theatre in Silver Spring for seven consecutive years, has at last returned to our area after a six-year absence.
From the get-go you’re on to the spoof when “The Woman Who Isn’t Scrooge” (as she’s referred to in the program) played by Donna Migliaccio, belts out “deck the halls with lots of show tunes” to the familiar strains of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”. The very versatile Migliaccio does a mean Ethel Merman impression and a slinky hip-grinding Mae West…or is it Sophie Tucker…character. In “Turn Back Old Man”, a take-off from “Godspell”, she urges Scrooge to “Repent! and forswear his greedy ways”. It’s a Vaudevillian Christmas tale from Merry Olde England, mined gleefully from Charles Dickens. We know what’s going to happen but we don’t know how in hell we’ll get there as the parodies come at you fast and furious in this topsy-turvy version with all the holiday trimmings.
 Matt Anderson as Ghost of Christmas Past and Peter Boyer as Scrooge -Photo Credit Colin Hovde Peter Boyer gives us Ebenezer Scrooge as a man in full played with delicious aplomb when he intros with “I’m In the Money” cadged from Broadway’s “42nd Street”. His natty Scrooge is a petty tyrant who enjoys wielding his power over the local peasantry, in particular his employee, the kindly and impoverished, Bob Cratchit, referred to in the program as “The Man Who Isn’t Scrooge”. Cratchit’s character, along with a host of other incarnations, are played handily here by Matthew Anderson. Watch for Anderson’s offbeat Tiny Tim and Migliacci’s vamping to shatter your funny bone.
The Cratchits know “It’s a Hard Knock Life” (yes, Annie, you’re not the only downtrodden Brit). And, in a campy ensemble version of “Phantom of the Opera”, called “The Phantom of the Future” that includes the piano player and the production’s musical director, Aaron Broderick, Scrooge comes to his senses. Throughout the antics Anderson and Migliaccio shape-shift into umpteen roles with plenty of old-fashioned hoofing, including two-steps, tangos and even the Charleston thrown in for good measure.
With so many numbers, characters, and countless surprise entrances and exits, the timing had better be tight and it is, thanks to the clever choreography of Nancy Harry and the myriad costume changes engineered by Costume Designer Janine Gulisano. A tip-top cast with slick direction from Larry Kaye and reams of comic ditties-with-a-twist add up to a holly jolly Christmas musical.
MetroStage is located at 1201 North Royal Street in Alexandria. To order tickets online call 1-800-494-8497 or visit www.MetroStage.org. “A Broadway Christmas Carol” runs through December 19th.
Special to the Alexandria Times
Jordan Wright
November 14, 2010
 Nancy Robinette and Sherri L. Edelen in Walter Cronkite is Dead.Photo credit Scott Suchman. Maggy and Patty don’t like each other very much. They are cut from different cloth. Maggy, played by two-time Helen Hayes award-winner Nancy Robinette, is a tight-lipped, broad-hipped disdainful pedant, whose society roots provide fodder for Patty’s rural Christian-based Tennessee-bred political notions. The setting is the stained glass windows and soft yellow color of the Cesar Pelli-designed National Airport in Washington DC, where our disparate travelers meet when their respective flights have been weather delayed. They share a table and gut-spilling conversation. Patty is hostile to Maggy’s elitism and Maggy to Patty’s boorishness, until they let down their hair after some mutual tippling. Patty bashes the actress, Maggie Smith as being too high-falutin’. Maggy could be Maggie Smith herself.
The wine-swilling Maggy mourns the end of pre-Walter Cronkite days when people dressed properly for dinner and the theatre in gloves and gowns, while the feisty motormouth Patty, played with rat-a-tat timing by Sherri Edelen, bemoans her daughter’s alienation. Country wise Patty is an over-explainer…too much information for the staid Maggy…until they swap the anxieties, failures and neuroses that construct their personal lives and discover that they are not all that dissimilar. Scratch beneath the surface of a middle-aged woman, playwright Joe Calarco seems to say, and you’ll find a lonely, frightened, frustrated widow… in this case two of them.
”Walter Cronkite is Dead” made me nostalgic for the brilliant writing and acting in the old TV sitcom “The Golden Girls”, with its weekly life lessons in men, children, politics, and sex-after-50 as seen through the eyes of Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McLanahan and Estelle Getty. And though there are no more seasoned actors than Edelen and Robinette, the comedy here feels strained, as their characters in turn point out each other’s faults and pat each other on the back in dizzying fashion.
Calarco uses a quote from Walter Cronkite to explore the political landscape in his play, “In seeking truth you have to get both sides,” Cronkite sagely said. Yet Calarco pokes and probes our oversimplified media-defined profiles of Red and Blue States and comes up empty-handed. He seems to ask, “Are they really opposites or merely frustrated voters with a different message?” In this play the lines become blurred as the cold hard assumptions Patty and Maggy make about each other are merely glossed over through sympathy or pity.
There is self-examination, as when Maggy’s long-repressed spirit emerges, “I want some chaos in my life,” she pleads. “My borders need to change!” And Patty shows self-determination as she travels without her grown daughter for the first time. But the comedic relief comes with a bittersweet price in this existential exercise being promoted as a comedy.
You may note as I did that Calarco has managed to get his play written, produced, cast, directed, staged, slotted for an opening, and promoted in a major venue in a little over a year since Walter Cronkite passed away. Was he prescient or is it that easy to write and mount these days? Very encouraging for up and coming playwrights! In any case the production is a tribute to his ability and notoriety and that of the two cast members for whom he specifically wrote this piece.
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