Tis the Season

to be baking!! 

For the past couple weeks I have been doing some little baking projects with my kiddos at work, and I have also been tearing up kitchens far and wide (or maybe just mine and my friend's) with some major adventures in pieland!. Last week for our 2nd annual "Friendsgiving" I made two terrific pies, both entirely from scratch.
Literally...I turned this:

into this:

to create this:

That's right, folks...I pureed a pumpkin for homemade pumpkin pie, just like the pilgrims used to do. I never want to do it again, next year I will be Thankful for canned pumpkin. It's not that it's a difficult process, it's just messy and time consuming. 

The pie was delicious though, some have even called it 'the best pumpkin pie ever!'

It's a Mad Extravaganza!!

The only thing better than a trip to the theatre, is a somewhat impromptu trip to the theatre! This morning, I hopped in my car, drove to my friend's house and continued on from there to Hollywood to see La Cage Aux Folles at the Pantages theatre. The Producers are right...no matter what you do on the stage, keep it light, keep it bright, keep it gay! There was so much fabulous, I don't even know where to begin!
I guess I'll begin with the only thing that was not-so-fabulous. George Hamilton cannot sing. Other things George Hamilton doesn't do well? Dance, enunciate, and have regular-human-colored skin (the man looks like an elderly Oompa Loompa!) He may have been decent if Christopher Sieber and Michael Lowney weren't such incredible singers. Other than Mr. Hamilton's sub-par vocals, I have nothing else to quasi-complain about! Our cheap seats did not come with a cheap view and everything was wonderful and full of theatre-magic! This show does not allow you simply spectate, the audience is a very important character in this show...and we all played our part serving as patrons of the club. The cagelles were ridiculously incredible. I swear, those guys are ten times better in heels than I will ever be! Michael Lowney (Jean-Michel) was very talented, and had a sort of swoon-y Jo-Bro quality about him (and so full of charm for a straight kid!) Christopher Sieber (Shrek: the Musical, Into the Woods, Spamalot, Pushing Daisies [Smell of Success], worked with Olsen twins, etc.) was HI-LAR-IOUS as Albin/Zaza! His range was just...wow! His timing was spot on! AND I got to meet him at the stage door after the show.

I even got an autograph...well, sort of:

I knew the Playbill would be black, so I brought a silver gel pen...just in case! Well, gel pens are unreliable, and the blasted thing didn't work. Bugger.

My favorite takeaway line from the show comes from Zaza's song I Am What I Am, which closes out the first act:

"Life's not worth a damn until you can say 'Hey world, I am what I am'"

And I truly believe that! You've got to be yourself! Don't let others tell you what you should or shouldn't be. Don't let anyone tell you you've got to hide!

And of course being what I am...I cannot have an adventure without acquiring one of these:

 

Don't be jealous of my Vanna White skills! (Or my jammies, which have pies on them.)

It's hard for me to say nice things about the Central Valley, it being so dreadfully hot and all...but it'd be hard to make a 12 hour round trip excursion to Hollywood (that includes taking in a show) from anywhere else...

It's Time To Get Things Started!!

I just got back from seeing The Muppets...and hopefully the Muppets are back to stay for a while. It has been 12 years since the last Muppet movie hit theaters (and let's face it: Muppets from Space really wasn't that great). I guess since I'm so familiar with the Muppets, that I forget how much of a generational thing they really are. My 57 year old dad can't distinguish between the Muppet Show Muppets and the Sesame Street Muppets. My 9 year old goddaughter has marginal a knowledge of Kermit the Frog. Other than that their collective knowledge of Jim Henson's creations/characters is extremely limited.

But the new movie just made me so happy!! It had every thing you expect from a Muppet movie: random celebrity cameos...check! (Mickey Rooney, Whoopi, Neil Patrick Harris, Jim Parsons, John Krasinski, Selena Gomez & that kid from Modern Family...and so many more that I'm blanking on right now), the signature self-mocking script...check! The fact that the characters know and acknowledge the fact that they're in a movie...check! Every Muppet was in attendance and Kermy sang Rainbow Connection!!

Amy Adams and Jason Segel were great...adding just the right amount of cheesiness to the mix!!

I'll bet even Statler and Waldorf would have a hard time heckling this movie! It was pretty Muppet-tastic!

And now you shall deal with me, O prince...

(excuse my shift key) but Maleficent is the most bad@$$ Disney villain of ALL TIME!!!
Easily my favorite villain, and definitely up there with my top 5 favorite Disney characters ever! She's just so...evil, but in such an intriguing way. She is just so subtly evil, she doesn't really raise her voice or lose her temper. She has this quiet, calm evil about her that is just so much scarier than anything else. She is in complete control...and she can turn into a freaking DRAGON!!! No wonder she's the self proclaimed 'Mistress of all Evil' and the star villain in Fantasmic! You'd think there'd be mugs upon mugs dedicated to her. But no. The bad guys very rarely get their mug on a mug. Except during Halloween time at Disneyland. The villains run rampant throughout the park. Their misdeeds are celebrated, and they get to be featured on souvenirs!
It was during one October jaunt to the park that I bought this mug. It says "You're Wicked Awesome" which is quite lame; but it has Jafar, Cruella, Captain Hook, Ursula, Scar, MALEFICENT, and the Evil Queen on it. Maleficent is clearly the star of this mug, because she is color and everyone else is in black and white. She is 3D and everyone else is flat against the mug. Because she rules all!

This is the last of my Disneyland mugs, I promise.
Although, I can't promise I won't come back with another one when I go in two weeks!
I've got a two-day trip planned with my best friend (and Disney partner for life) AllyJo! We've booked our room and we're all ready for 'the time we went in September'*. I am most excited for World of Color!!


*Three years ago, we went in October (not the October I bought this mug), but even still we refer to it as 'that time we went in October' so we decided, to avoid confusion, we can't go together in October anymore