Okay, before you throw up, let me tell you what it is that you are looking at (and I won't tell you the rude comments I got from my children before they tasted it!). This is a yummy, cream of veggie soup that I made yesterday. It is very yummy, despite its suspicious appearance.

You make it by taking two small packages of frozen peas and carrots, milk, butter, garlic powder, salt, pepper and a little cayenne. First, steam the veggies. Then, put them in your blender with all the remaining ingredients (I'd use a tablespoon of butter and enough milk to get things going). You can season to taste. What you get is a suprisingly yummy, fiberous and interesting looking soup. It is great with homemade bread with butter and a salad. Trust me! Try this. It is so much better than it looks. It is inexpensive and good for you.

Okay, stop laughing! :)

Item 2 for today is that last night, for our weekly Family Night, we went to a little local production of a well known musical, because we knew someone in the cast and, long story short, cost was negligeable (sp?) because of our connection. Fortunately, few people I know locally read this blog, because it was the worst thing I have ever seen in my entire life. You know, all community theater is not created equal. Some productions have far greater resources than others. They have more money behind them, so they have better production values. They have large numbers attending the auditions, so there is more talent to pull from. And some community theaters attract good directors. Other theaters have none of these advantages. I am sure with this particular production everyone involved did the very best they could. It would have been so much better with competent direction. As it was, the director broke every rule of Acting 101, by not having the actors "cheat" forward (face towards the audience) and even allowing them to frequently turn their backs on the audience. The blocking made absolutely no sense and most of it was carried out with no character motivation. Some of the most important scenes were played way down stage instead of up stage where they could be seen and heard better. During the musical numbers, crowd control was horrible, with too many people going every which way all at once. The orchestra (consisting of 6 people) was actually pretty good, but singing talents were mixed. God bless them for all the hard work, but it was awful. My daughter kept asking me if the main character was suppose to be drunk, because he was constantly lolling about with no focus to what he was doing. He rolled his head around on his shoulders like he had no control over himself and his eyes were closed through most of his scenes (why? I have no idea!). Bless his heart. No he wasn't suppose to be drunk, though he would be very good at playing that. I know this is awful, but I couldn't wait to get out of there. I couldn't see my friend, because I didn't know what to say. I don't lie, but I have no desire to hurt, either. I guess I'm just going to be honest with her and tell her that there was a lot of potential to the production, but the direction was poor. What else can I say? Any ideas? I don't want to lie. That isn't right.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the yummy soup that looks like (I'm quoting my children) green baby poo and my guilty play review.

Have a great day!

Elizabeth

Gracious.

It doesn't help that my background is in acting and film. I was professional at one time and so it's not like I'm a novice. However, I really try to be open and fair.