The Tempest, Tikka Masala and Conscious Cooking
Sup Sunday? It's grey and drizzly and that is just fine with me. The Husband is away for three nights so it is me and the Kid. We will be spending the rest of Sunday doing educational and exciting things like: laundry, yelling at him to get off the window sills, convincing him that Crocs will never be fashionable and so on and so forth. He finally seems to be on the mend too which is great. He has been sick 3 times in like 5 weeks which has been stressful to juggle but we've managed... barely.
So now let's talk about a few things. Yaaaay!! On Friday morning, the Kid was sick so I ended up going to the therapy appointment alone. It was a chance to introduce our awesome psychology student to our awesome therapist. The idea is that she will come to some sessions to see what the therapist works on with the Kid, and then try the same thing when she is over 3 three times a week. It was a great meeting and I am looking forward to getting started! After the meeting, I headed to work and then after work, ran home to get changed because I was going to the OPERA!
A friend invited me along and her husband (the talented David Pershall) was performing in it. The opera was The Tempest and I thought I had seen it before but that was a lie. I've seen the play The Tempest but never the opera, never ever ever the opera. On our way, I stopped to grab a slice of pizza because classy. We met our other friend in front of the opera house and made our way in. Our tickets were at the box office and of course the three of us who ALL have been to operas many times (and one of us is even an incredible singer) collectively lost our ability to figure out where our damn seats were. We finally realized we were in a box and when one of my friends had double checked that we were indeed going to the right box, we walked in and saw a jacket draped over one of the chairs. A couple entered after us and told us that these were their seats and we asked for their tickets and were all like "No, you are upstairs one box." and they said no and then my friend grabbed an usher and WHOOPSIE! We were in the wrong box. Sorry about that. We finally found the correct box and wow, AWESOME! Our seats were in the front row of the box, to the left of the stage and being that close was fantastic. So we did what any cultured ladies would do on a night out at the opera... SELFIES!!!
You could feel the frustration of the people behind us as we chortled and tagged ourselves. And oh jolly good fun all round! But then the lights turned down and we turned into perfect ladies. Now, The Tempest is a modern opera. It was written by Thomas Ades and according to my friend, A GENIUS! I pretty much consider anyone who can make a stirfry (still have not mastered this) and do a side of a Rubik's cube to be a GENIUS so yeah. The music started and I suddenly realized I was in over my head. Oh boy. This is opera without a real melody. This is complicated. Now, let me just say that I did grow up with lots and lots of classical music. My mother is an amazing pianist (we always knew we had done something disappointing when she would play Sunrise, Sunset), all three of us kids played an instrument or two, and I attended my first Wagner opera when I was 5. So yeah, I should be able to enjoy any opera. No, I realized that Friday night as I watched incredibly talented singers perform, that I am not as cultured as I thought I was.
The stage is GAWGEOUS, as are the costumes. And the performers are incredible... but I couldn't find a melody and it was making me very twitchy. So I admit it, I am a philistine. I hang my head in shame. But hey! I was lucky enough to sit in awesome seats and wink at the orchestra. Not that they were winking back but hey. Afterwards we headed to Guest House which I had never heard of. IT IS AWESOME! It is a hotel restaurant around the corner from the Opera house and is fancy and has all day breakfast! We ordered wine and talked and laughed and it was, as always with friends, a blast! I headed home just before midnight and made the bad life choice of eating Kraft Dinner mac and cheese.
On Saturday the Kid was still sick and I decided to cancel going to Spinning. Bummed about that but after next week, I will be back in the saddle! Most of Saturday was spent cleaning up and making Tikka Masala. I made a vegan version with chick peas in a tajine and it was amazing. My friend came by for dinner and we ate and gabbed and drank wine and then it was time for me to pass out. I probably should have had a pep talk with last night's Tova because she would have known to have not had so much wine. Because this morning I had a date. A cooking date. A friend has started teaching a course on Conscious cooking. Pretty much a healthy eating cooking class and I thought I would give it a try. This year has been a lot about going outside of my comfort zone and trying things I never thought I would try or do and it has truly paid off. See: Spinning. But before the class, I headed outside to recycle and I saw our downstairs neighbour's curtains twitch and I thought "Oh please don't talk to me, please don't talk to me." I walked into the building and tried to tip toe past her apartment. I froze around the corner when I heard her door open.
Now, she is actually a very nice lady and we had no issues until about 4 months after we moved in. She stopped the Husband one day and said that she was unable to sleep and that her bedroom was below the Kid's bedroom and it was driving her batty and she suggested that we move his bedroom and I was all like bitch, please. In my mind only of course. Because I hate confrontation, I made some pink frosted cupcakes with edible silver glitter and headed downstairs the next morning. I rang the doorbell and introduced myself and passed her the tray of cupcakes. She looked at them and said "Pink? Oh is it strawberry flavoured?" And I didn't have the heart to tell her I used illegally smuggled food dye to get that pink and said "Sure." She only took one because she was watching her weight.. Of course she was and then invited me in. I explained that the Kid had special needs and she said "Oh yes, I thought so" and it took every ounce of self restraint not to throw the rest of the cupcakes onto her Persian rug and step on them. I told her that we would try our best to minimize the noise and we chatted and that was that. She did tell us later that she was very appreciative that we had made the effort and she had noticed a big difference. However, just last week she stopped the Husband on his way to work and said that while things had improved, she kept hearing what sounded like a ball being bounced around in his bedroom at the middle of the night. Now, the Kid just visits once in the night and we bring him back to bed. Obviously the only logical explanation for the ball sounds is that our place is haunted and we are all going to be gutted by some ghost child.
Anway, this morning, as I walked past her door, she GOT ME! And asked if we could have a chat. My heart sunk but I went into her apartment. She told me that she thinks our toilet is leaking and is running down to her place. I tried to stay calm but then blurted out "WE HAVE APARTMENT INSURANCE!!!" She reassured me that that wouldn't be necessary and that the Hausverwaltung would be responsible. She just wanted our number in case they had to access our apartment on Monday. We chatted amicably for a few minutes and then she said "I think I saw you in the 22nd district the other day!" and I was like "Nope, not me. I never go to the 22nd district." and she said "Kaisermühlen station?" and I was like "Oh, yeah, that's where I work. Wait, that's the 22nd district?!" Yeah, who knew? All in all it was a light and pleasant chat so I feel like I dodged a bullet.
After the unexpected meeting, I put on a bra and my "Brunch because Mimosas" sweatshirt (because REBEL) and headed to the healthy cooking course. I entered a lovely apartment in the 6th district and the table was filled with that healthy stuff that I see so many people buy. There were 2 Austrian guys, a married couple (American and Slovak), a Bulgarian woman and my friend is Polish who had a friend assist who is also Polish. We started with a smoothie and then made an amazing porridge with bananas and oats and peanut butter and it was awesome on a cold October morning. And, I just have to say, it was my first time ever having porridge. I had no idea how awesome it is! I just assumed it was something like gruel that people who were watching their money tried to pass off as edible. I stand corrected! We all chatted and it was a really lovely atmosphere. One man was taking pictures and I asked him if he knew any photoshop. At one point Aurelia (the friend leading the course) asked what we have in our kitchen to make it a happy place. I answered "wine". After the porridge, we started on the salad and unfortunately after chopping the cabbage, I had to run because with a recovering kid and it being a Sunday, I felt I had to be home. Aurelia is soon on her way to drop off the food I missed because she is awesome! I totally recommend signing up for this course. There was something familial about sitting around a table with people you don't know, preparing food. I thought that would be one of my nightmares.. like communal showers, but it was actually very nice! And I learned a couple of new recipes and that porridge is for privileged people, too! Here is her FB page https://www.facebook.com/Conscious-Cooking-with-Aurelia-940648209349136/
After saying good bye, I took the elevator down and walked out the door. Well, what I thought was the door that led onto the street. It wasn't. No, I ended up in a garage hof type thing and I let the door close behind me and I was MOTHER LOVING LOCKED IN THIS HOF! DAMMIT! I didn't have Aurelia's number so I tried to go on FB to tag her or somebody so that somebody would come down and save me but FB wasn't loading and GAAAHH!! STARTING TO HYPERVENTILATE! I noticed there was a rope that seemed to say "emergency opening" something or other and I tried to reach it but apparently only giants live in the building and GAAH!! I started tapping on the door but nothing happened. It was a glass door so I could see NOBODY!!! GAAH!! I decided to call a friend who knows a friend who knows Aurelia. She picked up with "Heeellllooo!" because I think she was wondering why the hell I was calling her because I rarely if ever speak on the phone. "Yeah hi, listen, I am locked in a garage and I need you to call P. and tell him to call his friend Aurelia and tell her that I am locked in her building's garage." She snorted and said o.k. and yet, now that I think about it, I realized that she actually did not sound that surprised about my situation. HEY! But actually, it's true, I get myself lost or locked out or locked in on a regular basis so maybe it wasn't so surprising. The ironic thing was that I had earlier congratulated myself for finding Aurelia's apartment so easily. I do believe I said to myself "Go you! No Tova mess ups since that Tuesday night that you used the ear spray wrongly! Yaay you!" Anyway, after 10 minutes, a man with a mullet saved me. He saw me gesture at the handle wildly and he opened it for me. I tried to explain what had happened but I think this has happened before. SO there everybody, NOT JUST ME! HA! VINDICATION.. or not.
Well, that was the weekend. I just gave the Kid a bath and then when he goes to bed, I am going to watch a Halloween movie and do my nails. Happy Sunday!
So now let's talk about a few things. Yaaaay!! On Friday morning, the Kid was sick so I ended up going to the therapy appointment alone. It was a chance to introduce our awesome psychology student to our awesome therapist. The idea is that she will come to some sessions to see what the therapist works on with the Kid, and then try the same thing when she is over 3 three times a week. It was a great meeting and I am looking forward to getting started! After the meeting, I headed to work and then after work, ran home to get changed because I was going to the OPERA!
A friend invited me along and her husband (the talented David Pershall) was performing in it. The opera was The Tempest and I thought I had seen it before but that was a lie. I've seen the play The Tempest but never the opera, never ever ever the opera. On our way, I stopped to grab a slice of pizza because classy. We met our other friend in front of the opera house and made our way in. Our tickets were at the box office and of course the three of us who ALL have been to operas many times (and one of us is even an incredible singer) collectively lost our ability to figure out where our damn seats were. We finally realized we were in a box and when one of my friends had double checked that we were indeed going to the right box, we walked in and saw a jacket draped over one of the chairs. A couple entered after us and told us that these were their seats and we asked for their tickets and were all like "No, you are upstairs one box." and they said no and then my friend grabbed an usher and WHOOPSIE! We were in the wrong box. Sorry about that. We finally found the correct box and wow, AWESOME! Our seats were in the front row of the box, to the left of the stage and being that close was fantastic. So we did what any cultured ladies would do on a night out at the opera... SELFIES!!!
You could feel the frustration of the people behind us as we chortled and tagged ourselves. And oh jolly good fun all round! But then the lights turned down and we turned into perfect ladies. Now, The Tempest is a modern opera. It was written by Thomas Ades and according to my friend, A GENIUS! I pretty much consider anyone who can make a stirfry (still have not mastered this) and do a side of a Rubik's cube to be a GENIUS so yeah. The music started and I suddenly realized I was in over my head. Oh boy. This is opera without a real melody. This is complicated. Now, let me just say that I did grow up with lots and lots of classical music. My mother is an amazing pianist (we always knew we had done something disappointing when she would play Sunrise, Sunset), all three of us kids played an instrument or two, and I attended my first Wagner opera when I was 5. So yeah, I should be able to enjoy any opera. No, I realized that Friday night as I watched incredibly talented singers perform, that I am not as cultured as I thought I was.
The stage is GAWGEOUS, as are the costumes. And the performers are incredible... but I couldn't find a melody and it was making me very twitchy. So I admit it, I am a philistine. I hang my head in shame. But hey! I was lucky enough to sit in awesome seats and wink at the orchestra. Not that they were winking back but hey. Afterwards we headed to Guest House which I had never heard of. IT IS AWESOME! It is a hotel restaurant around the corner from the Opera house and is fancy and has all day breakfast! We ordered wine and talked and laughed and it was, as always with friends, a blast! I headed home just before midnight and made the bad life choice of eating Kraft Dinner mac and cheese.
On Saturday the Kid was still sick and I decided to cancel going to Spinning. Bummed about that but after next week, I will be back in the saddle! Most of Saturday was spent cleaning up and making Tikka Masala. I made a vegan version with chick peas in a tajine and it was amazing. My friend came by for dinner and we ate and gabbed and drank wine and then it was time for me to pass out. I probably should have had a pep talk with last night's Tova because she would have known to have not had so much wine. Because this morning I had a date. A cooking date. A friend has started teaching a course on Conscious cooking. Pretty much a healthy eating cooking class and I thought I would give it a try. This year has been a lot about going outside of my comfort zone and trying things I never thought I would try or do and it has truly paid off. See: Spinning. But before the class, I headed outside to recycle and I saw our downstairs neighbour's curtains twitch and I thought "Oh please don't talk to me, please don't talk to me." I walked into the building and tried to tip toe past her apartment. I froze around the corner when I heard her door open.
Now, she is actually a very nice lady and we had no issues until about 4 months after we moved in. She stopped the Husband one day and said that she was unable to sleep and that her bedroom was below the Kid's bedroom and it was driving her batty and she suggested that we move his bedroom and I was all like bitch, please. In my mind only of course. Because I hate confrontation, I made some pink frosted cupcakes with edible silver glitter and headed downstairs the next morning. I rang the doorbell and introduced myself and passed her the tray of cupcakes. She looked at them and said "Pink? Oh is it strawberry flavoured?" And I didn't have the heart to tell her I used illegally smuggled food dye to get that pink and said "Sure." She only took one because she was watching her weight.. Of course she was and then invited me in. I explained that the Kid had special needs and she said "Oh yes, I thought so" and it took every ounce of self restraint not to throw the rest of the cupcakes onto her Persian rug and step on them. I told her that we would try our best to minimize the noise and we chatted and that was that. She did tell us later that she was very appreciative that we had made the effort and she had noticed a big difference. However, just last week she stopped the Husband on his way to work and said that while things had improved, she kept hearing what sounded like a ball being bounced around in his bedroom at the middle of the night. Now, the Kid just visits once in the night and we bring him back to bed. Obviously the only logical explanation for the ball sounds is that our place is haunted and we are all going to be gutted by some ghost child.
Anway, this morning, as I walked past her door, she GOT ME! And asked if we could have a chat. My heart sunk but I went into her apartment. She told me that she thinks our toilet is leaking and is running down to her place. I tried to stay calm but then blurted out "WE HAVE APARTMENT INSURANCE!!!" She reassured me that that wouldn't be necessary and that the Hausverwaltung would be responsible. She just wanted our number in case they had to access our apartment on Monday. We chatted amicably for a few minutes and then she said "I think I saw you in the 22nd district the other day!" and I was like "Nope, not me. I never go to the 22nd district." and she said "Kaisermühlen station?" and I was like "Oh, yeah, that's where I work. Wait, that's the 22nd district?!" Yeah, who knew? All in all it was a light and pleasant chat so I feel like I dodged a bullet.
After the unexpected meeting, I put on a bra and my "Brunch because Mimosas" sweatshirt (because REBEL) and headed to the healthy cooking course. I entered a lovely apartment in the 6th district and the table was filled with that healthy stuff that I see so many people buy. There were 2 Austrian guys, a married couple (American and Slovak), a Bulgarian woman and my friend is Polish who had a friend assist who is also Polish. We started with a smoothie and then made an amazing porridge with bananas and oats and peanut butter and it was awesome on a cold October morning. And, I just have to say, it was my first time ever having porridge. I had no idea how awesome it is! I just assumed it was something like gruel that people who were watching their money tried to pass off as edible. I stand corrected! We all chatted and it was a really lovely atmosphere. One man was taking pictures and I asked him if he knew any photoshop. At one point Aurelia (the friend leading the course) asked what we have in our kitchen to make it a happy place. I answered "wine". After the porridge, we started on the salad and unfortunately after chopping the cabbage, I had to run because with a recovering kid and it being a Sunday, I felt I had to be home. Aurelia is soon on her way to drop off the food I missed because she is awesome! I totally recommend signing up for this course. There was something familial about sitting around a table with people you don't know, preparing food. I thought that would be one of my nightmares.. like communal showers, but it was actually very nice! And I learned a couple of new recipes and that porridge is for privileged people, too! Here is her FB page https://www.facebook.com/Conscious-Cooking-with-Aurelia-940648209349136/
After saying good bye, I took the elevator down and walked out the door. Well, what I thought was the door that led onto the street. It wasn't. No, I ended up in a garage hof type thing and I let the door close behind me and I was MOTHER LOVING LOCKED IN THIS HOF! DAMMIT! I didn't have Aurelia's number so I tried to go on FB to tag her or somebody so that somebody would come down and save me but FB wasn't loading and GAAAHH!! STARTING TO HYPERVENTILATE! I noticed there was a rope that seemed to say "emergency opening" something or other and I tried to reach it but apparently only giants live in the building and GAAH!! I started tapping on the door but nothing happened. It was a glass door so I could see NOBODY!!! GAAH!! I decided to call a friend who knows a friend who knows Aurelia. She picked up with "Heeellllooo!" because I think she was wondering why the hell I was calling her because I rarely if ever speak on the phone. "Yeah hi, listen, I am locked in a garage and I need you to call P. and tell him to call his friend Aurelia and tell her that I am locked in her building's garage." She snorted and said o.k. and yet, now that I think about it, I realized that she actually did not sound that surprised about my situation. HEY! But actually, it's true, I get myself lost or locked out or locked in on a regular basis so maybe it wasn't so surprising. The ironic thing was that I had earlier congratulated myself for finding Aurelia's apartment so easily. I do believe I said to myself "Go you! No Tova mess ups since that Tuesday night that you used the ear spray wrongly! Yaay you!" Anyway, after 10 minutes, a man with a mullet saved me. He saw me gesture at the handle wildly and he opened it for me. I tried to explain what had happened but I think this has happened before. SO there everybody, NOT JUST ME! HA! VINDICATION.. or not.
Well, that was the weekend. I just gave the Kid a bath and then when he goes to bed, I am going to watch a Halloween movie and do my nails. Happy Sunday!
Comments
Post a Comment