Really Random

  Was quickly doing some dishes this morning; I'd cooked for the theatre Christmas potluck yesterday, and had a mixing bowl and a casserole and some serving stuff...  And was musing about my dish washing liquid.
 Odd, I'd grown up, as much as I can recall, with Sunlight in our kitchen. And probably carried that thought forward through much of my life. It's just what I bought. It worked, I liked it.
 Somewhere during my married life, either paying attention to price, or because there actually were more options, I'd switched to the No Name version, and in Wareham, had been using the Our Compliments one for years and years.
 Then I'd discovered that the PC No Name one had been reformulated, and its scent, while still citrus, had taken on a subtle grapefruit note, which I found very pleasant.

[I can only bear a citrus scent in my dish soap. Maybe it's because I grew up with that, or maybe it's just because I'm a bit twitchy about perfumes. But definitely my brain will accept a lemony smell in connections with clean dishes, where none of the other scent (or descriptions of scents) seem acceptable.]

 Sadly, they reformulated again, and now I was finding it almost impossible to get the dishes rinsed adequately. Same with the Our Compliments version. The dishes still felt soapy and perfumey. I found I was rinsing things out of the cupboard before using, and suspiciously sniffing glassware. I was turning into a crazy old lady. [Editor's note. Crazier.]

 For some reason, one day I  tried using Palmolive. Now I have spent my life making fun of Palmolive. Not quite sure why, but definitely the old ads. Where Madge, the manicurist, would tell you "you're soaking in it!" Madge became a character in my life, for all situations. She became 'the other person' you could blame for things. (Well, Madge, and Beatrice the invisible seamstress.)

 But I'm still currently using it, and finding it doesn't overpower me with scent, and it does seem to rinse off.

[I have tried the 'unscented' products, and found that to me they smelled 'chemical-y'. So much so, I couldn't breathe while doing dishes. I sometimes buy unscented laundry soap for the theatre laundry, but at least you can walk away from the washing machine...]

 Incidently, I made the Champignons from Menagier for the potluck. That's a 14th century mushroom dish where the 'shrooms are tossed with olive oil and poudre fort, and cooked with brie and parmesan. I'd made a point of collecting a casserole dish and my spice powder from Wareham on my most recent packing trip. Pretty much a huge casserole's worth went away, except for a small bit at the bottom that I will repurpose into a pasta dish for supper tonight!

The Wandering Dinner Party

So, the day after The Numbers Game closed, before some people went one direction, and as other people just arrived to start on the next show, we decided on the first test round of our Grand Experiment: The Wandering Dinner Party.

 There are a handful of us living in walking range of each other. (A very novel concept after 24 years in the country, where the nearest 'next door' get together was the exciting New Year's Eve dinners at friends' farm, about 18 km away.) Admittedly, the walk is easier when the weather is good. Our evening was a bit chilly, but clear, dry weather.

 I'd wanted to be part of the Grand Experiment, especially in this first round, while it was still small in numbers! But I wisely decided I was only able for cocktails and canapes, where people might expect to just stand around...nibbling something on a toothpick.

 By some quirk of fate, we actually managed to sit. Kind of. And I contrived some table space for the canapes. (Greatly in need of some cooking, even with no time, no tools, and minimal ingredients, I chose a Spanish theme, and did some tapas and sherries.)

                                                                            Guests!

 Next we had a brisk walk across downtown Orangeville, past our final location, and across a small bridge over a stream. (Tim shone his flashlight down to show it to us in the dark! I hadn't even realized this pathway existed, and it certainly tightens up our little route.)
Our next stop, for the entree, was the lovely little apartment where Paula, our Stage Manager from the show which just closed, and Kevin, our incoming Stage Manager, live. (They're also brand newcomers to the place, though with fewer boxes!)

Here we had a succulent roast with all the best accompaniments. Then we wandered back to our final address for dessert.

An amazing chocolate ginger cheesecake, and a cocktail with citrus and ginger. And an elderflower liqueur.

Then a final nightcap of blueberry wine, and music on Tim's victrola! (And a stagger back home in the nippy evening air...)
  Of course, the very next day I started three days of intensive packing and moving, (still not finished) and all empty spaces are now filled with boxes. And I've started working on the Christmas show, so may not have time to breathe till we open...

Film at 11

I'm wondering if I should just rename the blog, "Film at 11". I have a friend who keeps wondering at me if there's *more* Film at 11. And I have to keep confessing that no, there isn't. But it does seem a little like a major news story if I accomplish something.... Mind you, at some point I'm sure this will just return to Random Acts of Thinking, so I'd hate to re-brand it as something more exciting!

 The show, our first of the season, World Premiere of John Spurway's The Numbers Game has opened. I think it's the pure charm of the married couple playing the roles that it delightful. And because of late night schedules, I've actually been at the flat a few times. And this past weekend I actually put together some shelving, and unpacked some books. (Actually, I was looking for the box of towels, and that eventually required me to check each box, and then it made sense to relabel them in more detail, and then I found the cookbooks, and voila!)

I

And this is AFTER purging a huge lot of books, as well as packing another couple of boxes for storage... I guess I have a bit of a fixation with cookbooks.

I improvised a bit of a living room space, and created a coffee table, so I could actually eat. (Yes, I'd set up the bedroom so I could stay over. I just had forgotten that if I was staying over for more than a day, I'd probably have to eat meals before crew call, and I might  need somewhere to do that.)

  

My kitchen unpacking isn't going particularly quickly. I find I'm stymied by deciding where to unpack things to. After 24 years with more or less the same kitchen set up, my natural inclination is to replicate it as closely as possible. But this kitchen is as physically different as it's possible to get. And the apartment was designed to maximize the use of space. So the cupboards are quite high, because the ceilings are high. (The original house dates from the 1860's.) And then they've got a couple of open shelves beneath the cupboards. So I'm perplexed about where to store dishes, or where to store pantry items. Consequently, I end up unpacking little. Or when I actually look for things, like glasses, say, I simply can't figure out which box I put them in. It would be nice to be methodical about unpacking, but that may just keep me living from boxes till 2014!

(The plaid bag is show laundry, and behind that louvred door is a little apartment washer and dryer!)

    

Anyway, I have officially cooked my first dinner. (Since I don't think that take-out pho counts.) It occurred to me that I didn't really have much by way of actual food in the house, beyond jars of preserves I'd moved, and some of the "hateful condiments". So I bought myself the replacement sandwich grill I knew I'd want to get, and some cheese and bread. And took some of the leftover sweet-cured ham I'd made for a Thanksgiving fete, and grilled myself a ham and cheese sandwich. It's not the most exotic of culinary explorations, but it was tasty.

So, it's pretty quiet and empty in here. Squeezing in a few friends should be okay. Thought it would be a god place to stick up some pictures of how the Hidden Tower is progressing. Ummm... slowly. At some point maybe I'll be able to try comparing before and afters, just to see. Or not.
 On Sunday some really good friends helped me move a smallish ton of stuff. Not then entire world of stuff, but everything that I'd already packed, and anything not nailed down that Neil thought he could squeeze into two trailer loads!
 Yesterday I shoved some of it around to make some more room to bring another section of the mountain. How it will ever really fit together to make room for me and Lily is any one's guess. (Good thing Lily is small!)

So, on Sunday, Beckie discovered that I have at least one piece of art that tones in really well with the living room, and we've decided I don't need to rush to paint it. And in fact, when I've filled this tiny little space up with all my crap, not only will we not know what colour walls there, we may not even notice there are borders!

The bedroom, no two ways about it, is small, and has some weird joggies in the wall. So it's very much a logistical jigsaw puzzle. I have anther idea to try. Need to try these now before the mattress is delivered, and before I try to put shelves in bookcases and fill them. In other words, while things are still minimally light.

The kitchen is small too. (Everything about this place is small, but it has charm. And I guess if your living in a hidden tower behind a tangled forest, you can't expect palatial digs.) But the kitchen does open at the window end and wrap around to the living room, so I'll see how functional it can be made. After all, a kitchen is incredibly important in my life. May be a tad tinier for kitchen parties though...
 Sarah suggested putting the little freezer into the closet, the door of which you can see beside it. Space-wise it would fit. I'll have to check nearness of outlets, and see how the trade of cupboard space for floor space seems.

And of course, because there must be a FIRST item into one's fridge:

These are a traditional brined pickle made by a good friend! Yum.



And I suppose you can't get too much more random than this after a long time away...

 v

Disconnect

"No cats allowed?"

"but you couldn't possibly mean me..."

Clean-Up Crew