Big Mouth

I went to see Big Mouth by Vanentijn Dhaenens on Sunday. It’s a one-man show.

Last week I went to a one-man show too. It was called Boom and it’s by Rick Miller.

But in spite of Mr. Miller being a charismatic performer who works his butt off, and in spite of its being staged by the company made famous by Robert Lepage, Ex Machina, I was bored to tears because I felt nothing during its performance.

During Big Mouth I could not stop crying. For me, it was theatrical perfection; it was pure, simple and extremely moving because of Mr. Dhaenens performance and sellf-direction.

The text of Big Mouth is a compilation of parts of speeches by Grand Inquisitor, Nicola sacco, Socrates, Goebbels/Paton, Pericles, King Baudouin (of Belgium), Lumumba (of Congo), Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther king, Malcom X, Muhammed Ali, John F. Kennedy, R. Regan, H.W. Bush, Louis Farakahan, Osama Bin Laden, F. van Hecke, George Bush and Ann Coulter.

There is also music. And it ends with a very moving spoken word performance of Nature Boy, a song written by Eden Ahbez and made famous by Nat King Cole. It’s a song that has always been a favourite of mine (I have a few Nat King Cole CDs and love them).

There was a boy


A very strange enchanted boy


They say he wandered very far, very far


Over land and sea


A little shy and sad of eye


But very wise was he

And then one day


A magic day he passed my way


And while we spoke of many things


Fools and kings


This he said to me


The greatest thing you'll ever learn


Is just to love and be loved in return

The greatest thing you'll ever learn


Is just to love and be loved in return

I was weeping all the way through it. I will never forget that show and the power of its pure, simple presentation. I was born with theatre in my genes. I started putting on plays when I was four and this play reminded made me proud of my passion.

Baking & Pastry Skill Building Class #2

Just a stunning day and class. I could not love the school, its personnel, my teacher and my fellow students more than I do. Today was about laminated dough —layered dough, in other words. And there  was a lot to do and learn. Our class was to end at 2:00 and I did not get out until 3:30 and I was one of the first to leave.

I am definitely the quickest in the class. I had my dough
shaped way ahead of everyone else, not that speed is vital.

Oh my God… the proofing oven is awesome… and moist!

The Danish.

The croissants without the tails are full of almond cream. 

When I lived in France and worked at the university, every morning I passed a little boulongerie on the street and I would have a pain au chocolate. They are a personal favourite and today I made three of them with my croissant dough. I could not be prouder. Si ma mère était encore en vie pour le voir….

Dwight / Beth

One friend; thirty-five INCREDIBLE years so far...

And this one's about to arrive from T.O. to play here for 3 weeks.

My Mentor Bill

It's Saturday morning and I feel good!  Why? Because it's a clear warm morning and I will walk the long way around False Creek to the culinary institute for my second class. I love learning and having faith in my school and teacher; it's just like when I was a kid. I loved school.

And yesterday I had lunch with a hero of mine (Bill) and a super close friend, Bruce. Bruce is Bill's best friend. I met them both at the Arts Club Theatre where Bill was the artistic director and Bruce the musical director.

When I joined them to work there — my dream job — I was low man on the totem pole, so every Friday, when the whole creative team went to lunch, I manned the office and dreamed of the day I would be included in the lunch. I never was and that lasted for years. But after a couple of years soaking up all I could, I took all I'd learned and built my own career.

But I never forgot or became distant from my incredible mentor, Bill. I have written eulogies to his talent as a cultural animator that were published. He knows I am a fan and we both handle it well. But at lunch yesterday, I realized I was having lunch on a Friday with Him. I am still chuffed about it.

And at lunch, he asked Bruce and I; "What will I do if I retire?" This morning, I sent him four ideas. I think they are excellent ideas and whether they are or not or whether or not they interest him, he will know I'm still devoted to all his stands for (in my mind).

I admire Bill to the extent I do because, I like to say, for Bill, it is audiences first. He is not an ego-based policy maker or programmer. He sees himself, I believe, as a servant of the public. He is a cultural ambassador extraordinaire. That's what I like to call him: An ambassador.

So many curators are alienating to the general public. They use inaccessible language. Bill is a populist, as am I. And I believe his is managing public money and doing public programming perfectly.

Yum! Lemon Meringue Tart

This is a sauce to go with deep fried leeks. It’s crème fraiche with olive oil, crushed capers, onion, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

I have never really liked capers, but one thing I love about my passion for the recipes of Yotam Ottolenghi is that I try things that include flavours that normally don’t interest me — like capers. I absolutely love this tart, taste accent for the leeks.

Nota bene:  The olive oil you see in the photo above cost $45 (!) — and that is with the discount I got from the cooking school. I save it for treats like this sauce.

And then … it was on to the lemon Meringue Tart. As you can see in the photo below, the sun came out in the afternoon making baking even more delightful.

I love trying new recipes. I love taking (little) risks too, so I decided to try to make the tart from the recipe in Butter, the cookbook from the incredibly wonderful bakery nearby in Dunbar.

I blind-baked the crust and that went well. I followed the recipe for the lemon curd carefully and it worked perfectly … I think, judging by its texture, but it ain’t yellow. When I filled the crust, there was a bit of curd left over so I tasted it and it surprised me.

I am used to both eating and making tartes au citron but this lemon curd is vastly different from French tartes. It’s certainly lemony, but it has neither the lovely sharpness I really appreciate nor is it particularly sweet. The meringue is certainly going to sweeten it up, but I am not sure how I am going to like this tart compared to my regulars (my recipe comes from l’Ecole du tourism et hoteliere de Nice).

The challenge was the meringue. I was nervous! It's supposed to be browned lightly with a torch (and I'd never used one). And I decided to pipe the meringue even though I had no idea if it would work. I didn't know what the nib would do and if I could get the meringue to point, but here’s my tart:

Nice Rack.

Today while things were cooking or cooling, I cleaned up my $2,000 spice rack. I designed it and had it built. The little rails that keep things from falling off the little shelves are what cost so much money. But what divine inspiration it was. it is a piece of cake to find all my spices and to see which ones need replenishing. But not only is it practical, I think it is beautiful too.

New Glasses Make Me Happy

I've had these champagne glasses for a long time.
Today I ordered the goblets below. YAY!!!