And by the way. . .

    I forgot to mention that I am angry!  We went to Epcot's Food and Wine Festival during our last couple of WDW trips, and found lots of food that we enjoyed.  We bought the festival cookbook and I was browsing through it trying to decide which thing I would cook first.  Several of the dishes that we enjoyed are in the cookbook, but I've discovered that two of my favorite things from this year's festival that I had intended to cook are not in there!  I wasn't surprised to find that the Tangerine Mimosa from Morocco wasn't listed, but I think we can figure that one out on our own.  Sadly, though, the Lobster and Scallop Fisherman's Pie from Ireland is also not listed.  That is probably not something I can figure out through trial and error, which means I'm going to have to start Googling and hope that I can find a recipe for something similar.  And I am most upset that the Milk Chocolate Creme Brulee from France isn't in there, either.  That was my favorite thing at the festival this year.  We trekked all the way through Epcot just to get that on our last trip.  I fully intended to cook it once we got home - but now I have no recipe!  I'll have to check last year's book to see if it's in there, and if not I guess I'll need to start Googling for that as well.  I've been wanting to find a good recipe for orange creme brulee since Disney changed the Soarin' creme brulee at Seasons in the Land pavillion from orange to vanilla, so I guess I will start looking for a good milk chocolate recipe as well.

    Grumble, grumble.  Oh well, I guess of all the things I could be angry about this is pretty mild.  But still, it's irritating.  I want that milk chocolate creme brulee.  And since I think it is highly unlikely that I'll be able to convince Caradorn to take me back to Epcot before the Food and Wine Festival ends (though of course I'll try!) I suppose I'm just going to have to search until I find the perfect recipe.  I imagine that will mean trying quite a few different recipes until we find the right one.  Poor us, having to suffer through lots of chocolate creme brulees.   Hmmm. . . maybe I'm not as angry about this as I thought!

Odds and ends and way too much shopping

    The past week or so has been really busy, but it's also has it's share of excitement.  And somehow we have found plenty of time to shop.

    Last Thursday afternoon my phone rang, and when I didn't recognize the number I almost didn't answer it because I've been getting lot of telemarketer calls lately.  I grabbed it at the last minute simply because I knew it was a central Florida number.  I'm so glad I did!  It turned out to be a friend from the Orlando area.  He was calling to let me know that Jonathan Coulton has finally scheduled a concert in Orlando.  I was so excited that I almost started shrieking into the phone, but fortunately for my friend's ears I did manage to control myself.  As we were talking, though, I was getting more and more excited about it.  I was pacing back and forth and almost jumping up and down and talking faster and faster.  Shortly before we got off the phone Caradorn walked in, and he looked really confused about why I was freaking out so much.  Once I hung up the phone I tried to explain to Caradorn why I was so excited, but I was talking too fast and waving my arms and pacing and jumping and it took a while for him to get the idea.  Of course we bought our tickets when they went on sale on Saturday.  I am so excited!  I am really excited about seeing Coulton again, because I love him.  But I'm almost as excited because so many people I like in Orlando have been dying to see his show, and now they'll be able to.

    After we bought our tickets we decided to go to Nashville for the day.  I've posted before that I hate shopping, but that's not entirely true.  I hate shopping for clothing or anything specific that I need, but I enjoy browsing in some stores.  We hit all my favorite places in Nashville and I bought way too much.  After grabbing sushi at Ru San's we checked out Urban Outfitters, where I found a Snoopy shirt and a book - "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", which I'm reading now. (It's okay, but doesn't have nearly enough zombies so far!)  Then we went to Green Hills and spent far too long at Davis Kidd, one of the best bookstores anywhere.  I got Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" and Caradorn and The Kidd also found some books, plus Cardorn got me a packet of Opus postcards which I am now threatening to frame.  I found my favorite new shampoo/body wash/bubble bath at Sephora - Philosophy's Pumpkin Spice, which smells like Fall.  And I discovered that Macy's has a great selection of Snoopy shirts - though I controlled myself and only bought one, which has Snoopy and Woodstock and says "Chicks love Nerds".  Caradorn and The Kidd found a big selection of Star Wars shirts, so they were happy, too.   While we were in Nashville we also stopped by Trader Joe's and Whole Foods to stock up on groceries we can't find in Rocket City.  I'm trying to cook more lately, and I have found that I'm more likely to do that if I have lots of interesting ingredients to work with.

    Sunday we had to do some errands around Rocket City, and we made the mistake of going into Petsmart.  Every time we go there I torture myself by visiting the cats who are waiting to be adopted.  This time I saw the prettiest kitten I think I've ever seen.  Her name is Willow, and she's white and grey with big beautiful golden eyes.   We do not need a kitten.  We don't need any more pets, but we've agreed that we would consider an older cat if we found just the right one.  No kittens!  But I can't stop thinking about Willow.  She was so cute, and so pitiful.  She really was pretty, though, and so surely someone already gave her a home.  Hopefully.  Because I am really tempted to swing back by there this afternoon just to be sure she isn't still waiting for a home.  And if she's there I'm going to have to play with her.  So I really, really hope she isn't there.  We don't need a ktten!

    Yesterday I found out that Star Wars in Concert is coming to Nashville, so I'm hoping to get tickets for that when they go on sale tomorrow.  And tomorrow we are going to another concert.  Kiss is going to be in Birmingham, and we are taking The Kidd to see them for the first time.  Caradorn and I have seen them before, and we didn't love them - but we did like them, and  it was a fun show and I think The Kidd will get a kick out of seeing them.  We're going to make a day of it, I think, since we always enjoy visiting Birmingham.  And now that I'm back on a cooking kick I need to visit Penzey's again.  Penzey's is a wonderful spice shop (and website) and I need to stock up on all the spices I need for fall and winter.   I don't know where the time has gone - I can't believe October is almost over!  But I do love the fall - the color of the leaves, the cold air, the Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations and celebrations.  The soups and stews and spiced ciders, and of course the baking!  I see Pumpkin Bread in my future.  And Gingerbread.  In fact that sounds like a good thing to add to today's "To do" list.  And then this evening we will settle in to enjoy warm gingerbread and "Dollhouse".  And most importantly we will enjoy staying home and not shopping for a change!

   

Proctologist makes an ass of himself, no one is surprised

    The other day I mentioned that the audience for the first show we saw at Bonkerz last week was not good, and I said that I would explain more about that later. 

   First, let me stress that the whole audience wasn't bad.  Unfortunately, there was one fairly large group there who was completely rude and inconsiderate, and they just happened to be seated right in the middle of the audience.  It wasn't a reflection on the performers that they were like this - they were bad from the moment they got there, and continued the same behavior through each stand-up routine that night.  The one good thing was that they claimed that one of them was a proctologist and that most of the rest of them worked for him, which did lead to lots of jokes from the comedians that night.

   Also, I will admit that I am particularly sensitive to what I consider to be bad behavior by audience members.  I really have no patience with it at all.  It makes me furious.  So something that might seem like no big deal to most people can seem like a huge deal to me.  I don't really know why I feel that way, but I take audience behavior very personally. . . especially when we are watching a performer that I particularly like.  Since Karl Anthony (also known on here as Blondie from the Adventurers Club)  is one of my favorite performers, I really wanted him to have a good audience for his show and it bothered me that he had to deal with such rude people.

    I have fairly high expectations of audience members.  I think that when you choose to attend a show, you are sort of entering into a contract with the performer.  They are agreeing to give you their very best performance, and you are agreeing to behave in a considerate and respectful manner during the show.  I also think that you have an obligation to your fellow audience members - that you need to make every effort to refrain from doing anything that might distract them from the show.

    The group at Bonkerz last Friday night apparently did not feel this way at all.  They chose to go to Bonkerz and there's no way they didn't know it was a comedy club.  They knew they were there for a show.  And yet they barely paid any attention at all to the people on stage.  The spent the entire evening talking - loudly - to each other.  They seemed almost oblivious to the comedians, except when they would occasionally make comments about the show.  And any time a performer tried to talk to them they would argue or make rude comments to him.  I guess in a way they were hecklers, but most of the time they didn't seem to even notice that there was a show going on.  They were just rude.  Each of the comedians tried to deal with them and make them pay attention and be quiet.  I thought Karl did the best job of incorporating them into the act in a way that made sense, and his act didn't really suffer because of their behavior.  It still made me angry on his behalf, though.  I didn't feel as bad for the last performer of the night simply because he did not make any effort to be nice to them, and actually seemed to enjoy the opportunity to be mean to them.  It didn't work, of course, but I'm sure he expected that after seeing how they responded to the first two performers.

    I admit that I didn't find all of the performers that night to be expecially funny.  The person who did the intro and warmed up the audience annoyed me more than he entertained me.  He had a couple of funny moments but mostly his humor was not at all my style.  Plus, he seemed big on audience interaction and I am most certainly not.  (I know, sometimes I do I like shows that use audience participation.  It's true that I grew to love participating at the Adventurers Club and of course I always am happy if I am chosen to interact with David Copperfield or Gaelic Storm.  But if I am not familiar with a performer and I'm not already a fan of their show, I just want to blend in and not be noticed. It makes me horribly uncomfortable to have some random performer trying to interact with me.  I really hate it. I even hated it initially at the Club, though I got over that pretty quickly.)  Still, I was there in the audience and so I tried to act like I was paying attention and tried to be polite, while still trying to blend into the background so he wouldn't try to talk to me.  I wish the rude group had done the same.  But of course they didn't.  And as the evening progressed I got angrier and angrier at them.

    I wanted to say something to them, but it wouldn't have made any difference.  They knew they were being rude - both to the performers and to the other audience members - and they didn't care.  At times they actually seemed annoyed that the other people in the room would dare to interrupt their conversation.  If it had been up to me they wouldn't have been in the audience at all.  I would have escorted them out as soon as it became apparent that they had no intention of behaving appropriately.  If they didn't enjoy the performances they didn't have to laugh or clap.  They didn't even have to stay - they could have chosen a moment between acts and left the venue.  But since they chose to remain there, they should have at least been quiet and acted as though they were paying attention.  I don't know what their problem was.  Maybe they had gotten an early start on their drinking.  Maybe they just enjoy disprupting performances.  Maybe they are just jerks.  Whatever it was, I am sorry that the performers that night had to put up with them.  I'd like to believe that it was an isolated incident, but judging from the reactions by a couple of the performers I'm guessing they are used to that sort of thing.  Which is just sad.  I know that the days when people dressed to the nines and were on their best behavior for a trip to the theater are gone.  However, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect people to be considerate to those around them.  It makes me sad that what was once considered common courtesy isn't very common these days. 

    But maybe I'm just being cynical.  Maybe they were the exception and that sort of behavior is not becoming as common as I'm afraid that it is.  Since I intend to go see Karl Anthony perform often in the future, I should get the chance to find out.  And if you ever get the opportunity, I highly recommend checking his show out for yourself.  You'll be glad you did!

  

Brief Recap. . . well, maybe not so brief, actually.

    Caradorn and I just got back from Orlando (again) and I realized that I haven't really been blogging much lately, so I thought I'd try to get some thoughts down about our most recent trip while they are still fresh in my mind.

    This trip was much more low-key than I though it would be.  I was battling migraines the whole time and had to take things much more slowly than I wanted to.  Plus, it was unbelievably hot and humid - I've never been that uncomfortable at WDW before, which made my head feel worse.  Because of this we didn't do everything I had intended to, but we still had fun.

    We left Rocket City mid-day last Wednesday and got to Orlando that night.  We spent Thursday morning at Universal Studios.  I liked it, but not as much as the "real" studios in LA.  After a brief hike through Epcot that afternoon for some creme brulee we went back to the room to crash before Halloween Horror Nights.  I enjoyed HHR, but wasn't ever particularly scared.  I did get startled and laughed quite a bit, but everything seemed to strike me as funny instead of scary.  Of course we skipped the Saw house, which I was afraid would bother me too much.  But the houses and scare zones that we did do were well done, just not scary.  I was wearing a glow in the dark Snoopy Halloween shirt, and my favorite moment was in one of the houses when some Scareactor who was supposed to be jumping out and growling at people said "I like your shirt" and then waved his arms and said "Rarrrrr".  Not too intimidating, but very cute. :)

    Friday morning we had planned to go to Islands of Adventure but ended up sleeping late and lounging around the room for a while.  We shopped for a while that afternoon  and went out to dinner before going to Bonkerz comedy Club to see our favorite comedian, Karl Anthony.  We always find him hilarious when we see him perform, but until this weekend we hadn't managed to catch his stand-up act.  He was wonderful, just as we expected.  The audience, on the other hand, was not.  Or rather, part of the audience wasn't.  I'll have to write more about that another time, but I don't know how Karl managed not to scream at them or throw things at them - I think I would have.  We stopped by a party for a bit afterwards, and I know I was probably terrible company since the migraine was trying to come back and I felt sort of dazed.  We stayed far longer than we should have, but we were really enjoying the company. (It's always nice to be around fellow Coulton fans!)  And someone gave me my very first beer from a keg - yes, I'm sure I've had beer from a keg at bars before, of course, but never at a party.  And I've never actually seen a keg before.  Caradorn had trouble believing I hadn't seen one before, and I had to remind him of what I was like in high school and college - the parties I was invited to never involved kegs.   So that was interesting. :)

    Saturday we did make it to Islands of Adventure and we enjoyed it.  We grabbed luch at Mythos, which was really good. (Mmmm - Risotto of the day. I'm drooling just thinking about it.)  We took a billion pictures of Hogwarts Castle, and I was so excited to see it that I was practically jumping up and down over it.  I kept telling Caradorn "But look - it's Hogwarts! Oh my gosh, I can't believe it's really Hogwarts! Look at it!  Look! Hogwarts!!"  I'll post some of the pictures soon.  I'm so looking forward to the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter next spring.  I'll probably hyperventilate or just freeze and won't know what to do when faced with the "real" Hogwarts (and Three Broomsticks, and Zonko's, and Ollivanders. . .).  It will probably be totally overwhelming for a Harry Potter geek like me!

    Saturday afternoon we went back to Epcot for dinner and while we were there we caught the show at the UK, and met up briefly with my sister and brother-in-law.  We used to go to WDW together all the time, but in the last few years I've been going with Caradorn and The Kidd and sometimes my parents, and she and my brother in law have been going with his family most of the time.  She was with them this trip as well, so we didn't really spend any time together - we'll have to go back together sometime soon.

    Saturday night we went back to Bonkerz to see Karl Anthony again, who was hilarious.  The audience was much better this time and he was able to cover more material than the night before.  A couple of the bits had me in tears.  I'd go back to see him again in a heartbeat - he really is the funniest person I know.  (And I know I'm biased, but he was by far the funniest performer of the people that were performing that night.)

    Sunday morning we made a brief visit to the Magic Kingdom to ride Pirates and the Haunted Mansion (and to stock up on popcorn for my dad and The Kidd, and to get a Vinylmation I was regretting not getting earlier - it's wearing bowling shoes! So cute!) and then it was time to head home.  For the first time in quite a while we weren't sure when we'd be coming back to Orlando, which made me more unhappy about leaving there than I usually am. I'm always happiest when I am planning another trip to Florida.  Not having another trip on the horizon to look forward to makes me sad.

    But then today I discovered that David Copperfield will be in Tampa in January.  And of course Space Mountain will have reopened by then, and we promised The Kidd that we'd take him back as soon as we could after the reopening..  And January is usually a good time at WDW - the crowds tend to be low.  So now I'm happy again.  It's time to start planning another trip!