review: SF Ballet Nutcracker

Source: San Francisco Ballet, Nutcracker 2004



I saw the new nutcracker tonight (SF Ballet, War Memorial Opera House) after my friend, Minnie, said I "had to" go. She was right -- it was *AMAZING*. The SF Ballet completely redid the set, costumes and choreography and it was just magical. Typically my favorite dance is that of the Sugar Plum...with all of her wonderful dancing flower-like-ladies-in-waiting. But this time i found the duet of the Land of Snow to be pure magic. I kept wondering why they didn't slip on the snow-flakes -- they just seemed like hazards! The lighting made everything glow and the sets were subtle giving full attention to the beauty of the dance. The SF Ballet did a wonderful job of mixing in classic, balanchine-esque choreography (perhaps better said as just purely classical patterns) with vibrant, cirque-de-soleil type color and costumes. I just loved it! I think I had a smile on my face for most of the show. It was really a delight. I have to stop gushing!



Anyways, it could also be that the evening was framed by syncing up with two of my favorite couples. Before the show I stopped by Adam & Rox's for champagne and cheese/grapes. It was lovely to see them although it was much too brief (i think i had all of 33 minutes to spend - i really need to plan my time in CA better). After the show I synced up with my friends Oliver & Maya. We went out for post-ballet drinks. Oliver & Maya are my "new" friends from Seattle, but Maya grew up in SF so she's home for the Holiday. They also saw the Ballet (and loved it too). We marveled at how rainy SF is right now. It was pouring after the show -- and really in seattle you get more of a drizzle. It was nice to spend some quality time with M&O, and getting to see them in SF as well as Seattle was a nice treat.

boxing day

I've actually had a mostly good christmas this year. I'm not a big fan of the holiday generally, so i have pretty low expectations -- I don't like all the gift giving (on demand) and I generally think two-days of pure parties and family time is just too much. But this year it's been wonderfully low-key and enjoyable (outside of a few rocky points). I think this has been in part due to my Mom's amazing cooking. She really outdid herself this year.



Christmas Eve dinner is always a curry with rice. It's always yummy - but this year she spiced it up. My sister made a delicious moroccon dish -- sort of like a chicken filo pie. The bottom layer was chicken with spinich, onions and egg? with a dash of cinnamon and then a layer of filo and then a top layer of almonds and honey and cinnamon, then more filo. It was really tasty. A great combo of sweet and savory. My mom cooked a butter-chicken curry (which actually doesn't have any butter, it's a creamy tomoto-based curry) and then instead of rice she cooked a cous cous with winter vegetables. It was delicious.



THEN! for christmas brunch she made the most amazing crab cakes I have ever had. They were slightly spicy, totally savory and just amazing. She served the crab cakes with an egg dish (also mouth-watering), lean bacon (who doesn't love bacon?) and then a cinnamon twist bread. I don't think i've had food that amazing back-to-back in a while. I think she's definitely raised the bar for our New Year's Day crab curry -- which I'm going to be making...

no meth for me...

did you know there are limits on how much cold/allergy medication you can buy at once? I had no idea. i have a little bit of a cold or maybe allergies....so tonight after the christmas eve festivities, i went to walgreens in search of cold medication (NyQuil) and a sweater de-piller. I didn't find a de-piller :( but i did find good meds. When i went to buy these three items: NyQuil, DayQuil and Sudafed I was told that I had exceeded my purchase limit of cold/allergy medications and that I would need to be rung up seperately if i wanted to buy all these meds at once. Which was fine for me, but seemed like a common practice for the clerk and a clear disobedience of the intention of the law...

home sweet home

I closed on my new house today! yeah!!!! OMG - it's mine! all mine...oooooh my.

ER update

interesting: I just got a phone call from the Swedish Hospital. It turns out that one of the people who "worked" on me while I was there has been identified as having an early stage of shingles. ICK.

Luckily, it looks like my exposure is irrelevant -- as I have had Chicken Pox which makes me immune to shingles. PHEW.



on other news: my toe is fine. I just can't wear sexy 4 inch heels right now.

ER ramblings

I spent part of the morning today in the ER. I sliced my toe on a piece of martini-glass last night during pre-party preparations. oh my. this morning i went to the ER to have the slice checked out because it was still bleeding every now and then and that seemed to be inconvenient given that although i love to wear flip-flops, i also really need to be able to wear shoes.



spending a slightly-hungover morning in the ER is just as fun as it sounds (i.e. not very). I learned a few valuable things from the experience:



- when you can drive yourself to the ER, take the time to stop at starbucks for a coffee and pick up the newspaper or bring some magazines. The ER does not offer magazines or drinks. I actually ventured out to get something to read and sadly ended up with USA today. They don't even publish on the weekends -- instead they offer a Fri-Sat-Sun edition. I kid not. I recommend also packing your ipod.



- ER = waiting, unless you are visibly bleeding. If you've got anything that's semi-serious (which i didn't) it's probably better to call for an ambulance. When you arrive in an ambulance -- no matter your state -- you get taken to the front of the line. Obviously, my condition was not ambulance worthy, but had it been slightly more serious (i.e. if i had wanted to go to the ER last night when my toe was bleeding profusely) it would have been most efficient to pay the $50 ambulance transport fee and be first in line.



- You can't get stitches on wounds that are over 4 hours old. This was my case. If they stitch you up after that time period it is likely that they will trap bacteria and that's bad. Instead of actual stitches I got a "butterfly" (i.e. topical) stitch -- basically they *glued* on sterile strips to keep my wound closed. I'll add that my wound was considered (by both myself and the medical staff) to be superficial.



- be nice to the staff and espy. your nurse. Your entry into the ER room (as opposed to the waiting room) is dependent on order and severity of injury. However, once you get into the ER (i.e. you're assigned a "bed") they have some flexibility as to when they will see you. I had brunch scheduled at 2:30 so I kinda wanted to keep to my schedule. At one point I asked my nurse if I should reschedule my appt. and (because he liked me) he was able to get the doctor over as an "inbetween." This meant i was able to leave quicker than expected AND i made brunch. Yeah!

chocolate factory

Source: Warner Bros.



interesting: Yahoo! has an exclusive on the preview for Tim Burton's remake of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Burton is calling his version Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Johnny Depp stars as Willie Wonka (in the preview he's appropriately creepy)...hmmm....