As You Like It, hot and buggy

My, my how the weeks have been flying along. I enjoyed a most wonderful run of As You Like It with an extremely wonderful and playful cast and have multiple bug bites to show for all of the time we spent in the blazing heat (despite warnings about heat stroke) singing the song of the Bard. We performed over the 4 hottest days of this summer in beautiful locations with encouraging audiences who did their best to stay engaged despite the sweat pouring down everyone's faces. It was great.

Here are some pictures, thanks to Anne Frederick.

In the Kitchen with KayPear

Good morning blogosphere! It's 11:30am here. That's right...I SLEPT IN! Mwahahaa. It was one of those mornings where my body just did not want to get up. I'm usually waking up about 30 second before my alarm goes off, but today. oh man. I think it has something to do with the massive sinus pressure building in my head. Oof. AnywaysI've been kind of stumped about what to write about. I keep starting posts and then just abandoning them because I'm not really inspired. And it's not like there isn't a whole bunch of things going on. We just moved into a new house.

This is the view from our roof deck as I ate dinner.

This is the view when I had my tea before bed.

Jealous?

And since moving is such a change it only goes to say that I've really been attempting to change my eating habits for the better. Graduating college and transferring to a schedule that isn't so demanding or dictating is extremely difficult. I didn't expect to have so much free time so it's been a rough year. I've actually begun to have sessions with a hypnotherapist. That's right. But he's not a hypnotist. I'm not barking like a dog or squawking every time someone says the word "chicken". As a psych major I have enough knowledge to recognize that for many people hypnotherapy is an effective method train the brain away from debilitating habits such as smoking, overeating, and negative thinking. But I also know it doesn't work for everyone. So I'm giving it a try. There's still a large component of regular therapy, talking about the week, what were the positives and negatives, how I handled difficult situations. All of that traditional talk. And then there is the hypnotic induction. It's like taking a power nap. You just close your eyes and listen for a half hour or so. In most ways it is very much so like meditation. In fact, I might as well just call it guided meditation. There's lots of setting goals for myself and teaching my brain to recognize ways in which to be successful in achieving these goals. Everything from social to economic to leisure goals. And I've really had to steer myself away from skepticism with this, oftentimes largely a side effect of resistance to change. But change is good. It's an environment for learning. 

I didn't think I'd end up going on that tangent, but that's okay. Might as well blog about my experiences.

Anyway, I had intended to center this post around a new segment of sorts on this extraordinaire blog of mine. I spend a decent portion of my time online reading various food blogs. Some are about healthy eating, organic gardening and the just plain decadent. I enjoy cooking myself, but lack the means and drive of some of the extravagantly talented bloggers I read. But whatever, I can write about stuff I cook as well.

So here, submitted for your approval, is my first post of In the Kitchen with KayPear


As you know, I slept in this morning. As you also know, we have been gradually moving into our brand spanking new South Philly home. As you may guess, there's not much going on in our fridge right now. Lots of odds and ends. Lots of mystery items. So this morning I stuck with eggs.

Oh eggs, I do love thee.

My breakfast: GIANT mug of french press Colombian coffee, tissues (for the sinuses), and...
Florentine Scramble
1 egg
1 egg white
1/3 cup chopped frozen spinach (or fresh, whatever)
2 strips turkey bacon (or normal piggy, whatever)
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
crushed red pepper flakes

- If your spinach is frozen like mine was (a delightful discovery in the freezer I may add, for I do love spinach and it surely must love me) pop it in the microwave for about a minute.
 - Meanwhile, chop up your bacon (turkey or other species) into strips or cubes or what have you and give it a quick sizzle in your trusty cast iron skillet, or whichever stove-top apparatus you tend to favor.
- As the bacon cooks down in the same bowl you defrosted your spinach in add one egg and one egg white (or two eggs or two egg whites just EGGS of any manner).
- Give this a hearty stirring. It will seem super thick and like there is too much spinach to egg ratio. That's how I like it. If you don't like it don't make my eggs.
- When the bacon is done get the excess oil off with paper towels. You know the drill. Add the bacon to the spinach and egg mixture and stir again.
- Over low-ish heat pour your eggs into the skillet and let them be for about a minute. (I happen to like my eggs on the firmer side so if you like the ooey-gooey sort of thing then cut down the cooking time.) Really, it's just eggs so they'll be delicious no matter what.
- Then add in your goat cheese. Just crumble in an even layer over the top. It can be any cheese really. But goat cheese and spinach is oh-so-wunderbar.
- With your favorite spatula in the dishwasher (did I mention we have a dishwasher?) you'll have to resort to some other second-tier spatula. Sigh. Remind yourself that a spatula will not make the food taste any different and begin to fold in the cheese to the eggs.
- Add in some shakes of your red pepper. More if you like spicy. Less if you're lame.
- Turn off your heat and keep folding every 15 seconds or so. You're scrambling eggs. You've done this before. I don't think I need to tell you how to do it.
- Transfer to your plate. EAT IT.

This is what it looks like as you are about to take your first bite.

mmmmmmmm.....

Until next time lovely people!

endeavor ho!

My dear friend (and new Philadelphia resident!) are starting something big. Well kind of big. Yes, I'll say big. We're developing a theatre artist support group of sorts which will hopefully in the next couple of months attract Philadelphia area actors, directors, designers and even just theatre enthusiasts. It will hopefully be a group of people who can get together and share experiences, workshop audition materials, read new plays, share unique techniques and network with other artists. It'll be great! We've begun to construct a website and we've got a twitter (@ActorsANON) and a gmail all set up so stay tuned for updates! SO OFFICIAL. SO AWESOME!

OH MAH GAWD IT IS SOOO HAWT OUTSIDE

 we all feel how uncomfortable it is, we all have sweat dripping in places we would rather not have sweat in, and everyone has that gross sticky film all over their bodies YET we feel the need to announce it to the world. I'M HOT. IT'S HOT. OH MAH GAWD I'M GONNA MELT. SOMEONE TURN OF THE SUN. But seriously. We get it.

It's days like these when I bow down to my air conditioner, and strategically plan my day around shops that blast cool air at you to entice you inside (Walk down Walnut for some cooling breezes). And right now, I'm sitting in the lovely air conditioned green room of the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre. And it's just delightful. But I know the minute I step outside again I'm gonna get punched in the face by humidity and my body will react by seeping water out of ever pore and making my whole body itch. It's gonna be grand. GRAND I TELL YOU.

Here are some delicious things to eat when you're too hot to move and your brain is frying up like the egg you ate for breakfast:

frozen mango
watermelon
frozen strawberries
frozen peaches
cucumbers
FROZEN ANYTHING

eat smaller meals, your body won't produce nearly as much metabolic heat

eat something spicy! seriously, the heat in your mouth with enhance circulation and will make you sweat and look disgusting, but you'll cool down.

drink WATER. put down the Corona and opt for some good old H20. Alcohol dehydrates the body. But you knew that already right?

avoid the java. Caffeine also stimulates the metabolism which causes your body to heat up.

Put your clothes in the fridge. It'll work. Throw your shirts or what have you in a ziploc ad pop them in the fridge overnight. Yeah, you'll squeal from the chill when you throw it on, but you'll be happy you did when your core is as cool as a cucumber (see, told you they were cool!).

think of things like this:

And remember, it's gonna thunderstorm like crazy soon so SUCK IT UP AND SWEAT IT OUT.

With fronds like these...

Staying in touch is hard. And I'm counting tweets and status updates. It's still rough. You really have to work to keep a friendship current and lively.

When you first get to college you'll keep in random touch with select friends from your hometown. Talking about parties or classes or how awesome (!) that football game was last week. Gradually, though as the semester ticks on you lose touch. With each class and encounter you scramble to hastily make friends with anyone, desperate to gain entry into some imagined crowd of incessant glory. New friends come into the picture and the farthest away they'll ever be is across campus on the top floor. And then winter break comes and you go home and you probably be able to schedule a get together or two with your dearest friends from grade school. But the people you'll probably see the most at home are the folks you thought you said goodbye a long time ago to. And that's how it will be every time you go home. Forever. And that group of people you have to engage in awkward contact with will grow. Forever. And you'll have to create a great profile of job, hottie significant other, and baller attitude or people will think you've failed. Forever. Growing up is fun!

Spring semester comes and you continue to meet new people at college. Of the friends you made in the first few weeks after move-in you'll have weeded out the ones that don't quite fit you. And in four years you grow "into yourself" (and who really knows when we're ever done with that), you evolve and the people you keep company with evolve with you. You'll make your great friends whom you trust with you life and plan to have in your wedding party on day. You'll have those friends that happen to be enrolled in the same classes as you and pursue the same major. You'll have club friends, drinking friends, friends that climb on rocks, study friends, muddy friends, even friends with chicken pox. (I'm so very sorry for that. It's hot. My brain is mushy.) And these friends will define you and you'll find yourself wondering how you ever flourished without them.

Okay now I need to stop. I MISS MY FRIENDS! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Back to keeping in touch. You'd think in an era of instant connectivity with e-mail, skype, twitter, and facebook we'd be better at it. But life happens and sending out a mass announcement of success or woe isn't exactly a comfortable thing. Of course, you could call those near and dear to your heart but we never do. And banking on a coincidental visit to the hometown if hopeful but quite a difficult affair. So these dear friends become more like the family members you see on holiday gatherings. I guess that's okay. These people are still very much a part of you, but they've grown as well and have made their own friends that better suit who they are and who they hope to be. And that's okay. It's lovely. It just makes keeping up to date with one another more difficult.

So what do you do? Many of my groups of friends have tried creating an e-mail thread and updating one another every one in awhile. It gets the job done, sure, but it usually dies out pretty darn quickly. We have to make time for one another. Maybe plan a weekend getaway for friends. Aim to settle on a hometown return in advance. When you first see one another again, and it's like old times once more, you'll be so thankful for some planning and for the journey you have been on that you will share with your oldest buddies.

I'm all talk right here, but I have every intention of shooting my lovely friends an e-mail...soon.

Now that I've made myself wistful for people I love and haven't seen in quite awhile I'm going to look at pictures of animal friends. Because I can.

.