Neptune Theatre

Frankie here!

Hello there everyone. I would first like to start off by saying you are officially reading my first blog entry ever; anywhere. Hard to believe, I know. And I figured it would be a great idea to write one after a nice pasta meal and a glass of red wine. So, here goes!

I guess a good start would be to say this is my first time in Nova Scotia, and I am truly enjoying it. People are so friendly here! I drove up from Toronto. I was able to get it done in two days, and don’t regret a moment of it. It has come in handy a few times so far…who am I kidding, basically everyday! I never seem to get out of bed in time, and without the car, would be in some serious trouble. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do? More coffee? Any help at this point would be greatly appreciated!

As far as the rehearsals, they have been really fun. First, it must be said that David Connolly, the director, has some of THE best stories. I sometimes wonder if you said random one-letter words to him, he would probably have a story for every one of those words. And the stories would get exponentially funnier. Any strange words out there, please, I’m trying to stump him…don’t be shy!

Another detail is this music is incredibly difficult to learn and sing! I come from a musical family and we’ve always sung in four part harmony…but nothing to this extent. I sure have my work cut out for me.

This is the first Christmas I will be spending away from my family in Cambridge, ON. I never thought this season was all that important. Never got what the big ‘to do’ was. Now that I’m not there, I’m suddenly realizing what the magic is all about. Funny how sometimes you have to not have something before you can truly appreciate it.

My family would always do midnight mass, and then come home and open our gifts that night until the wee hours of the morning. My mom always baked up a storm! The dining room table would be covered in all sorts of treats; cherry shortbread cookies, peanut butter cookies, truffles, cherry cake, Berliner Kransers (a German recipe…an amazing cookie. Recipe is attached below!), homemade doughnuts, strawberry and apple pies, a bunch of Christmas decorations and candles, etc. The freezer would be full and whenever one of the bowls would get empty, we would simply run down and fill it! The table would stay like this for at least two weeks. After dinner, we would all gather around the Christmas table and laugh and talk while eating our dessert. I think that is one of the things I will miss the most not being there this year, the dining room table. Did anyone else ever have this sort of tradition?

I am however, starting to build a new family here in Halifax, the Plaid family. Hopefully I’ll get to spend my Christmas with them. Not too sure about the baking, but the carols are sure to good! Hehe.

Well, as promised, the cookie recipe. Please let me know how it turns out!

Ingredients

¾ cup shortening, melted

¾ cup butter, melted

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

4 tsp orange peel, grated

3 ¾ cups flour

Directions

Cream shortening, butter and sugar together. Add eggs 1 at a time (very important!). Stir well after each addition. Add orange peel. Add flour a little at a time, mixing well.

Chill dough. Place on floured surface and roll out to ½ inch thickness. Cut out with Christmas cookie cutter shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Brush tops with beaten egg using pastry brush and decorate.

Bake at 375°F for 8 minutes

NOTE: Do not double the recipe

Yield – approximately 4 dozen

Until next time, keep fit and have fun! (body break!)

Frankie.