Not Cornish Hen!

Ugh, it was pheasant. Really, that is the last time I try to cook wild game. We always end up finding the shot in the meat, and it tastes so, well, gamey. It's too bad, because I want to like game... I think I will leave it to the professionals.

Progress Report #1

Sometimes, I have to admit, I really love messing around on Photoshop (Lynch family members will attest to my recent postings in our Joyce Lynch posse). And so, I just have to share the mock-up of the front of our postcard. I had to do a lot of weird stuff to be able to post it here (it's originally in CMYK color and that caused strange effects when I first tried to post it). Comments/Suggestions welcome!


Also, since I am going to be on tour for Thanksgiving again, I've decided to try to make a little mini-Thanksgiving dinner tonight for me and Jeremy: Cornish hen, sweet potato risotto, and cranberry sauce! Hopefully the thing I bought at the store is indeed a Cornish hen-- at least it looks decidedly poultry-like.

Request

I have to admit that I find it somewhat gauche to ask for things for Christmas, but I have decided to go all the way and be ultra-gauche by publishing my request on the internet.

Dear people who would have bought me a Christmas present anyway,

I would love a donation to my show (that's happening in February, here in Cologne) more than anything else in the world. It looks like we've applied for German funding too late, and so we won't be getting any of that famous European support for the arts. (Next time!!)

Plus, the airlines are all being crazy with their new rules for checked baggage-- charging for a second bag!

OK, sorry for that breach of good taste.

Yours truly,

Henrietta von Gravlax

Here come the Weinachtsmarkts!

Here in Germany, we really have no Christmas 'brake' holidays-- no Halloween, no Thanksgiving (sigh), and All Saints' Day doesn't really do the job.

And so, they are starting to build the Christmas Markets in the public squares! I love the Christmas Markets- you hang around outside with piping hot spiced wine (glühwein) looking at the lights and shops while eating food that is hideously unhealthy.

Things have been a wee bit Christmas-y around here since the beginning of October, when the grocery stores began stocking the candy and stollen and chocolate Advent calendars and pine wreaths. Oh, and speaking of Advent calendars, I saw one the other day with 24 cans of BEER (Kölsch, naturally) tucked inside the tiny doors. Whoa.


Here's what the Gaffel Brewery has to say:

"Wir haben ein interessantes, innovatives Produkt produziert, das eine optimale Geschenk-Alternative zu konventionellen Kalendern darstellt", sagt Thomas Deloy, Marketingverantwortlicher der Privatbrauerei Gaffel.

Die stabile Kartonage mit einer Höhe von knapp einem halben Meter ist trotz des Gewichts von ca. neun Kilo durch einen Haltegriff unkompliziert transportierbar.

"Die Vorgespräche im Handel liefen allesamt sehr positiv. Nun können wir mit der Kombination aus Sonderdose und Adventskalender das Warten auf das Christkind allen besonderes schmackhaft machen", meint Andreas Lesche, Verkaufsleiter Handel. "Parallel werden wir auch die 0,33 Liter Sonderdose dauerhaft anbieten.

In English:

"We have produced an interesting, innovative product, that presents the optimal gift alternative to conventional Advent calendars," said Thomas Deloy, who is responsible for marketing at Gaffel Brewery.

The stable cardboard box, which is just under a meter high, is easy to transport with its special handle, despite its weight of 9 kilos (about 18 pounds).

"The preliminary reactions in the stores have been very positive. With the combination of our special cans and the calendar, we can now make waiting for the Christchild exceptionally delicious," believes Andreas Lesche, the chief of sales for Gaffel. In parallel, we will also continue to offer the .33 liter cans (this is the size of an American beer bottle. Normally kölsch is sold in .5 liter bottles-- about the size of a pint).

But I love Glühwein.

Pictures from Switzerland

It appears I still have not figured out how to successfully insert many photos into blogger. So, I will just give you some clues about the pictures and you can mix and match: Zürich old town, Raclette dinner at my choreographer's house, fatty Späzli and Röstli (everything is Swiss-German adorably ends in -li) lunch drowning in cheese before the 1st performance, an initative to stop clear-cutting forests with a sad tree that seems to be bleeding,a detail from Rodin's The Gates of Hell at the Zürich Kunsthaus, and the McEmmentaler.

OMG I am Roasting Potatoes in Duck Fat

I was too lazy to go to the grocery store after coming back from Switzerland today, and this is what happens.

Pictures coming soon!

I can't believe they scooped Jeremy!

Genetic Scientists Develop Sheep With Brain Of A Goat

A small example of the weird Middle Ages

Even though my description of the stigmata paintings in the museum in Cologne was quite descriptive, I felt like searching Google images to see if I could give you a better taste of the real deal. I found this on the Templars website (whoa.)-- because this painting of St. Francis receiving the stigmata is Italian (Giotto), it is not quite as gorey as those blood-thirsty (Reformation, anyone?) German paintings. But you get the idea.

My Image in Switzerland

We are really gearing up for the world-premiere of our Lambranzi show in Switzerland right now... Tomorrow is the dress rehearsal (and Jeremy is coming--yay!) and the premiere is on Monday (really? Monday? Oh, well.).

And my picture was in the Zürich newspaper last Sunday! Here's the picture:









Yes, we are in the rare and exotic "double travestie", and, yes, I am trying to lick my dance partner's painted nipple. Also, yes, that was entirely my idea and not directed by the choreographer. Hee, hee.

But don't I kind of look like the Hamburgler?

Here's the link if you want to see the small article.

Good Morning, America!

It's going to be a great day!

I have to say that I am glad the campaign is over-- I spent way too much time trolling the internet for information, including one night when I discovered that you can watch a lot of MSNBC online.
America came through! Yipee!!

Last night we went to an election party hosted by some German university students. It was pretty low-key- we mostly switched back and forth between CNN and a German election special from NYC. CNN is impossibly annoying (especially when you are breathlessly waiting for information, but they don't have any to give you), but the German show at least mildly funny. They had on some supposed famous Hollywood actor who was German that no one at the party had ever heard of and a few Americans who could speak German.

Art happenings

A new mini-teeny-eesy-weesny art space opened up around the corner from us! It's called Elfenbeinturmchen ("Little Ivory Tower"-- the word for ivory directly translated is elf leg. Weird.) and bills itself as a "living room movie theater/art room/alternative theater". I went there last night and saw Chocolat in German! It was so charming, and they gave the 4 of us who showed up a little bowl of chocolate. Awww. Ghostbusters is playing on Friday. Unfortunately the space is too small for my baroque dance cabaret act...

On the other end of the spectrum, Jer and I went to the "Long Night at the Museum" last Saturday, and I thought that was a total bust. It was insanely crowded, and even though there were buses to take you around to the different galleries and museums, it still took a long time to go from place to place. It boasted a lot of fun "activities" (sound art, perfume making, etc) and DJs, but we couldn't really enjoy them. At the end of the night, we ended up looking at our favorite gorey Renaissance paintings in order to make it worthwhile. (How gorey, you ask? We discovered a whole new genre where a saint is receiving stigmata from a hovering Jesus. This has the odd effect of making Jesus look like a kite held by blood-red strings.)

I think I just like going to museums by myself when no one else is there.