You Say It's Your Birthday

Happy Birthday to the Walnut Street Theatre!

Located right here in Philadelphia, the Walnut is America's oldest theatre. On this day in 1809, it opened as a circus that showcased equestrian acts. It became a producing company when Bernard Havard took the reins (no pun intended) in the early 1980's The Philadelphia Inquirer published several, great, in-depth articles about the Walnut Street Theatre and it's origins.

A line in one of the articles that profiles Bernard Havard struck home with me. The article discusses Mr. Havard's commitment to hiring local Philly actors:

"...underscoring a general Philadelphia-area notion that theater artists here
should be able to buy homes and raise families without having to wait
tables."

Before we were married, Brian and I lived in DC where many artists both lived and worked and it gave all of us in the arts a real sense of community. It was sad to leave the area but after my daughter was born we wanted to be closer to family. It also gave me the choice of not having to return to work right away. When we decided it was time to return to a city, DC had become too expensive. Philly on the other hand has a vibrant theater scene as well as suburbs with great schools and easy commutes to the city. I also love that most of the actors and other theater artists I meet have families of their own. Way back in the day, when I started in theater as an intern, no one had children. I didn't know how to have both a theater career and a family because I had no role models.

Now, everybody shares my pain or at least understands it. It's not pain as much as panic when schools are closed or children are sick. When I thought that my children might have a snow day on the last day of the Tulipomania workshop, the production manager said, "Oh, just bring the kids here." And she meant it because I often arrive at the Arden to find at least one parent with child in tow.

I probably have the Walnut to thank for that as well as the rest of the Philly theater community. If you get a chance peruse some of the articles or check out the Walnut fun facts. I learned that when John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln, his brother and sister were owners of the Walnut Street Theater. It certainly has seen some history.

So Happy Birthday Walnut! May all Philly theaters have as long a history!

Domesti-Kate

For the past three days I've been embracing my inner domestic diva. Still, Martha has nothing to worry about. I may have played the happy housewife frugally making her own ricotta but I'm done now. I scanned the movie listings today wondering if Brian or the kids would notice if I was gone for a couple of hours. I love the sense of accomplishment but enough is enough.

It all started on Thursday when I scrubbed the kitchen, even cleaning out the fridge. Friday, I decided to bake. I've been baking instead of buying bread lately and I've found a couple of great, easy and quick (in the bread making sense of the word). No, I don't use a bread machine but I do knead in my KitchenAid. I'd also been eyeing this recipe in Bon Appetit which called for homemade ricotta (really it couldn't be easier) as well as ciabatta bread. Not wanting to break my streak, I made the ciabatta bread. It proved a bit tricky as I needed to start with a sponge. I've had bad luck with sponge breads but this one turned out just fine.

Here's a photo of the ciabatta bread and the rustic potato bread that I made. As well as a photo of the wine we had with our feast! Along with the bruschetta, I put out carrots (for the kids) cheeses, and shrimp. We tend to like appetizers in our house.

Since I'm tooting my own horn, I'll add that not only did I make the breads, I also made some vegetable broth. This is all a part of eating less processed food. Mark Bittman doesn't believe in canned broth or bouillon so I figured, I was in the kitchen, why not? If you're going to be domestic, go big, I always say. Okay, I don't really say that. Don't worry, I don't have a picture of the broth, I'm sure you can imagine it yourself.

But that's not all folks! I also finished the curtains for my daughter's room and here they are:Now, I know for the sewing gurus out there these curtains don't look all that difficult. But hey, for me, sewing a straight line is quite an accomplishment.

But I'm done for now. Three days of domesticity is enough. Now it's on to bigger things....so, when is the next showing of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?