Yeast

I had been avoiding making things with yeast or sourdough. Not entirely. And I have made soda bread. But I had some yeast when some folks starting talking focaccia, and I suddenly thought yes. And I made some. And then I made sandwich bread. And then Oatmeal bread. And then pizza dough. 

It turns out, when you have food sensitivities, making your own pizza dough makes whipping up a pizza or flatbread with only things you can easily eat is pretty fun. Sure it takes longer, but not that much longer. And less headaches and hives later. 

There is something about learning how to make something that feels powerful. Even if I also have a store bought frozen pizza in my freezer too.

I find that knitting doesn't mean I never buy sweaters, but I am pickier about the ones I buy, about the fabric, the drape, the fiber content. Because I know what goes into it. 

Also it turns out being able to customize your bread mixins it pretty fun. I'm still in the early fun phase of this. I may go back to never making pizza dough again. Or bread. But knowing that I could if I wanted to, is also something. And I'll scan ingredients in store bought things with a more discerning eye. 

"Play On" At Signature Theatre

I'm a big fan of Shakespeare's comedies, and of musicals. So offering to combine them, by setting "Twelfth Night" in the 1930's in Harlem's Cotton Club, with Duke Orsino now more a Duke Ellington like figure, all with Duke Ellington songs, and I was sold. 

First, I have to wildly compliment the set designers. They pulled out some of the theater seats, and placed round tables, with lamps, and wooden seats. I ended up seated close enough to the edge of the stage to see individual freckles on the performers faces. It did a lot to set the mood, and I can't imagine the work to make the chairs and lamps match up was small. 

Next the show. 

Aspiring songwriter Vy comes to New York City to meet with her Uncle who she hears knows famous composer Duke.  Upon arrival she is told only men can be songwriters, so Vy says, cool, I'll just be a man then, and she disguises herself as Vy-man.  Duke is bereft and unable to finish a song since songstress Lady Liv left him.  So he beseeches Vy-man to go to Lady Liv and plead his case. Lady Liv is uninterested in Duke, but quite interested in Vy-man.  

Meanwhile Lady Liv's staff manager Rev has been annoying the rest of the staff with his strictures, so they decide to help him re-invent himself to declare his love for Lady Liv and maybe leave them alone.  Or entertain them.  Or both.  

While I had recently reached one  the 1990's movie version, I do not have "Twelfth Night" memorized, so was not able to spot lines lifted. But the characterizations, were all there. One of the things that is true to the original is that the Duke, in his sad sack low period having been refuted by Lady Liv is, well, kind of not very interesting. We mostly only want him for Vy because Vy wants him. His sadness means the bouncier (see what I did there?) songs go to everyone else. 

Some versions of Twelfth Night treat it as a messy love triangle, with a few side interests. This version gave equal standing to all four people, two of them - Duke and Rev - directing their interest at Lady Liv, Vy at the Duke, and Lady Liv at Vy. (Shakespeare loved a love square.) 

It's also worth noting that Vy, rather than being shipwrecked and fearing her family lost, has, in this version, left her family back home for the big city. so she can be a 

Now I've talked a lot about differences. This version was quite amazing. The performers move into the audience, at one point sitting at a table with a few, sing about the mysteries of women. One of the audience members in particular was cackling having them point at her and sing about women making little sense. 

The play ends with four happy couples. The cast is stacked with folks regular DC theatergoers will recognize, including folks from Senior Class, Gun and Powder, In the Heights en Español, Aida, and Jubilee, to name a few. 

Two Notes: In the performance I saw, Sean Walton played the Duke, and Ciara Hargrove played Lady Liv. 

I saw a masks required version of the show, though they did let audience members bring in drinks that had been purchased at the bar.

National Book Festival

This past weekend was the 25th National Book Festival which was fascinating because it feels a little like we've always had one. But I am older than 25. So apparently we have not. 

The romance panel was set for evening, so despite some fabulous looking panels in the morning, I knew I was going to need to pace myself. I arrived closer to lunch time, wandered through the exhibit hall area, where I collected some bookmarks. 

Then I got in line for the panel with Tiffany D. Jackson and Paul Tremblay who were in conversation with Jummy Olabamji. Their recent books were both middle grade debuts for them. Jackson said she had seen some younger kids reader some of her YAs and wanted to write something for them. And Tremblay said he had a story idea for a 12 year old so it just happened that way. Both of them talked about having consumed a lot of TV and movies and thinking a little cinematically. Jackson was also a film major. And they both said reading widely is great if you want to become an author. 

Then I went to see Shannon Chakraborty and Joe Abercrombie in conversation with Regina G. Barber. Chakraborty talked about research and how some of the tenth and eleventh century sources are super gossipy and fun, and how she takes seriously that some people encounter parts of history primarily through fantasy fiction and she wants those parts to represent the breadth of it. Abercrombie said after his first series he had realized he hadn't included many women and he started making sure to change that and found the stories are much more interesting when they have more types of people in them. 

And then I took a little break from panelling and found a pre-line for the romance panel - romance readers often wear romance themed shirts, so you can always tell when you are in the right line. Also, shout out in general to the amazing shirts, dresses, and tote bags, both bookish themed, and DC pride themed. I, full disclosure, wore my What's more punk than a library shirt (hat tip to friends of the Mt. Pleasant Library) and spotted several others in the same shirt and we of course all complimented each other. I saw I read Smut shirts, Free DC shirts, Black romance reader shirts, I could go on. Book people are great. 

And then I went to see Kennedy Ryan and Alexis Daria in conversation with Jenn White. Jenn White mentioned that often when she gets a call to talk to an author it is about something very serious. And that getting the call for this panel was a delight. She described going full armadillo as she read through these two books in two days, just reading. I am, by the way, totally stealing that full armadillo phrase. 

Daria talked about how her first cousins had been her first friends, and that friends who are also family are such an interesting dynamic that she really wanted to explore. And that it was important to her that the love interests for each of these cousins respect and honor those cousin relationships. 

Kennedy Ryan also talked about how finding your besties is just as important as finding your true love. And that coming from a journalism background, she does a lot of research, and even background interviews, before she gets going on her stories. 

It was an absolutely delightful day. Thank you to everyone at the Library of Congress, and all the volunteers, who work almost year round to pull this event off. 

Summer Bingo Results

Here are the results from my own reading this summer. Rescue mission turned out to be the easy one. I always find this a fun challenge to see which things I find naturally, and which I have to seek out. 

Rescue Mission - Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by CB Lee, Love at First Set by Jennifer Dugan, No Body No Crime by Tess Sharpe, Pugs and Kisses by Farrah Rochon, The Baby Dragon Cafe by A T Quireshi, The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold by Ally Carter, Gold Coast Dilemma by Nana Malone, Love Overboard by Adam Barumé, The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce, If We Were a Movie by Zakiya N. Jamal

Kissing in the Rain - Along Came Amor by Alexis Daria

Cover has a sportsball on it - Love and Sportsball by Meka James, Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Falmuth

Texas Hold Em

Published before 2005 - Heart Throb by Suzanne Brockmann

They Were Roommates - Love in Focus by Lyla Lee, All Fired Up by M.K. England, New Adult by Timothy Janovsky, Love Overboard

Merfolk - Kiss the Girl by Zoraida Córdova

Historical Ruins - Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe

Construction - The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce

Fireworks- Dream On Ramona Riley by Ashley Herring Blake, Kiss the Girl

Haunted House 

Road Trip - Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe, Rani Choudhury Must Die by Adiba Jaigirdar, Love at First Set, The Baby Dragon Cafe, The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold, Kiss the Girl

Character Smells Like Leather

Pizza - Along Came Amor by Alexis Daria

Grand Gesture - Call Your Boyfriend, Dream on Ramona Riley, Along Came Amor, If We Were a Movie, Twelfth Knight

Telepathic Connection - The Baby Dragon Cafe

Who Doin it - Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe, No Body No Crime, The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold, If We Were a Movie

Punny Title - All Fired Up, Love at First Set, Pugs and Kisses, Twelfth Knight

It was Supposed to be a Summer Fling - Dream On Ramona Riley .  

Animal with a Job - Pugs and Kisses

Fairy Tale Retelling - Kiss the Girl

Rival Teams - Rani Choudhury Must Die, Twelfth Knight