A Month of Monkus - August 2011

A recap of monkus from August...

August 4, 2011:  I made a stop at the M&Ms store in Times Square recently to buy some fun colored M&Ms for the cupcake pops, and I couldn't believe the horrible, tacky crap they sell there.  Are you really going to buy an M&Ms bathrobe?  And wear it with your M&Ms pajamas and M&Ms underwear?  Are you going to drink from an M&Ms coffee mug (okay, I'll give you that one, maybe)?  But dinner plates? Really?  This store reeks of Affluenza.

August 9, 2011:  I despise how so many people seem to have difficulty with maintaining breathable space in a line.  I like to believe I'm a conscientious person.  When I enter a line (say at the grocery store), I leave adequate space between myself and the person in front of me.  It's not like anyone is going to squeeze in there if I don't fill up every inch of space there.  But this understanding seems lost on so many people.  Granted these are often children, who just don't seem to have a proper sense of personal boundaries.  But then I have to wonder, why aren't their parents teaching them about proper line etiquette (or teachers in school for that matter).  Because line encroaching children, ultimately grow into non-personal space abiding adults who breathe down your neck and accidentally bump into you with their sweaty, stinky limbs.

August 11, 2011:  I'm so sick of the midnight opening night movie show time.  It was fun when it was rare and unique.  Only the biggest movies with the craziest fan bases could possibly warrant a midnight showing.  Now, every week there's at least one movie with a midnight opening show time.  I understand part of this is a summer thing, but it's just not as fun or special when it's available every week.

August 16, 2011:  In 1999, Who Wants to be a Millionaire was the first TV game show to offer a $1 million grand prize.  The show single-handedly brought back the prime time game show. Today, twelve years later, game and competition shows are still a definite part of the network television lineup.  What I don't get is the fact that the grand prize is still never more than $1 million (unless it's some kind of special edition version [this of course excludes Jeopardy in which you could feasibly continue to win forever like that one guy]).  Shouldn't game show prizes be worth more now (I mean adjusting for inflation, $1 million in 1999 is equal to about $1.3 million today), especially given the ever more ridiculous things we make people do on television to win the money?

August 18, 2011:  As may have been evidenced in previous monkus, I'm kind of a grammar Nazi.  I simply hate when people use the wrong form of it's (vs. its) or there (vs. their or they're).  But lately, I find I've been over doing it on the instinct to correct my homophones.  I find in cases where I mean the contraction of "it is", I'll actually leave out the apostrophe.  Or worse, I've actually written "they're" when I meant to write "there".  Honestly, who does that?  I guess this isn't really a monku (although it does make proof reading extra annoying), rather a caution against complaining too vigorously.

August 23, 2011:  This past weekend, I had a coupon for 50% off a bakeware item from Michaels craft store (plus an additional coupon for 40% any item).  I went there specifically to purchase a mini cupcake pan (or two).  Considering Michaels loves to pimp Wilton products, I couldn't believe that the Upper West Side store didn't have a single cupcake pan (mini or otherwise).  I checked shelf labels to see if they were merely out of stock.  As it turns out, the only cupcake pan Michaels carries is one by Duff Goldman.  Seriously?  No mini pans, and the only cupcake pan is by the Ace of Cakes (the guy who attempted to break the world record for largest cupcake and failed because he didn't actually make a cupcake)?

August 25, 2011:  I dislike how Broadway audiences so readily give a standing ovation at curtain call.  Frankly, not every show deserves it.  And yet, at the end of most Broadway performances, the audience will inexplicably stand.  There also seems to be a higher percentage of standing ovations in the orchestra over the mezzanine(s) (I guess if you spend all that money, you really want to like it).  No one wants to be that one douche bag who doesn't stand up during a standing-o, but that's what I've been reduced to on many occasions.  Yeah, I'm that person. It's not like I'm rude.  I still applaud at the end of the show, but you've got to earn my standing ovation.


One of these days, these monkus are going to catch up with me.  Until then...

A Memphis (Ending) Malcontent

After nearly two years of putting it off, I finally got around to seeing the 2010 Best Musical Tony Award winner, Memphis.  I admit when I first saw the show's marquee going up on 44th St, I thought to myself, "There's no need to see this show.  It's going to bomb and close within a couple months of its opening."  I guess I was wrong.

When I heard that Tony nominated lead actor Chad Kimball would be taking an indefinite hiatus from the show this fall, I thought I had better make an effort to catch it before he left.  I went to this past Saturday evening's performance, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it (except for the ending, more on that later).

from playbill.com

The lead performers in Memphis were all very strong, and Kimball with lead actress Montego Glover exhibit some of the best on stage chemistry I've seen in awhile.  But I'm going to cut to the chase.  I frankly don't believe it deserved to win the Best Musical Tony over American Idiot.  I realize Green Day's rock opera turned Broadway musical was very polarizing (you either loved it or had no desire to see it), but for pure creativity I think it deserved the top prize over the fairly formulaic (again except for the ending) Memphis.

About that formula...  There's a typical structure and style that most musicals follow (based on the three act structure forced into two acts).  That's not necessarily a bad thing (they can't all be Next to Normal after all).  The somewhat predictable nature of musicals is sort of woven into the genre.  And with each new Broadway musical we see a newt twist on the classic structure.  In the Heights brought hip hop to the Broadway stage, just as The Book of Mormon brought offensive humor.  Memphis falls into this category of musical.  It's formulaic, but brings the stylings of 1950's R&B to the fore.

In addition to the unique music, Memphis also showcases an unusual protagonist in Kimball's Huey Calhoun, a white, slow-drawling, stupid (yes there's no other word for it) DJ who brings the soulful, underground R&B sounds of Memphis's black community to the mainstream.  Kimball really delves into the character, adopting one of the most annoying (annoying, but not badly performed) accents I've ever heard.  But Huey is hardly your typical musical lead. While his refusal to see the racial lines of the segregated South may seem heroic and forward thinking, it springs mostly from his lack of awareness or acknowledgement of the ways of the times.  He's truly only a few steps above Lenny from Of Mice and Men in the intelligence department.  Yet, Kimball actually gets you to root for Huey.  You want him to succeed.  This, combined with the aforementioned chemistry between the romantic leads, builds up an expectation for a happy ending.

An expectation that is not met.  I guess I should say SPOILER ALERT for anyone who may read this post who hasn't seen the show.  I admit, I really wanted some kind of happy ending for these characters.  I felt they deserved it.  Instead, Memphis provides us with one of the most unsatisfying and confusing (at least to me) endings on Broadway.  After Glover's Felicia leaves Huey in Memphis to pursue a singing career in the North, the show transitions several years.  We find Huey in some kind of makeshift studio, alone and mostly forgotten, still broadcasting the "music of his soul" over the radio to one dedicated listener.  Felicia suddenly appears, and we learn that she's incredibly successful and engaged to another man.  The show concludes with Huey surprising Felicia and the gang while they're performing on stage in Memphis (to be clear, in the scene prior she does ask him to come to the show to which he declines).

Initially I was quite disappointed.  This ending can hardly be considered happy.  On a superficial level, the romantic in me really wanted Huey and Felicia to find some way to be together, either in their current time, or perhaps many years in the future after the civil rights movement had done away with segregation laws (i.e. like the ending of Aida).  I understand  that for the sake of story sometimes happy is not meant to be, but I still expect a satisfying ending.  There are plenty of musicals that don't have happy endings, but still resolve in a good way:

Three Shows That Don't End Happily But Are Still Satisfying
(Major SPOILERS to follow)

1. Les Miserables - Everyone basically dies, but the show still ends with such a message of hope.  Even if your life seems miserable, you can be a good, loving person with faith in God and you will ultimately be rewarded (I generally don't like overt religious statements, but I accept it in this show).

2.  West Side Story - Tony and Bernardo die, and Maria is forced to go on living without them.  But you can see that their deaths finally awaken an understanding in the rival gangs.  You leave with the understanding that the bitterness and fighting is over, and for the time being, peace has been achieved.

3.  The Phantom of the Opera - The Phantom doesn't get Christine in the end.  We assume he lives the rest of his life in solitude, hidden away.  This may seem quite depressing, except that you know now he sees the difference between the deformity of his face and the ugliness of his behavior.  So much so that he is able to let Christine go.

What makes these endings satisfying is the fact that we see some change in the characters.  They have grown in some way by their experiences over the course of the show.  With Memphis

From a literary stance, I don't understand what the creative team was trying to achieve with this ending.  Are we supposed to feel bad for Huey that he lost it all?  Are we supposed to blame him for screwing everything up?  Is it supposed to emphasize how horrible the era of racial segregation was in the U.S.?  Or am I completely misinterpreting everything, and we're supposed to believe Huey is simply content as long as he's able to share his music with someone?  I am so incredibly confused by this ending (but apparently I'm the only one who doesn't get it, since Googling "explain Memphis musical ending" yields no relevant results).

For several days now, I've pondered the ending of Memphis, and I'm no closer to a definitive explanation.  I'm afraid to say this unsatisfying ending nearly ruined an otherwise good musical experience. It tweaked me enough that I think I would strongly hesitate seeing it again in the future.  Maybe after the general feeling of unease that surrounded me when I left the theatre has warn off, I might be tempted to return to try and glean something new from this seriously ambiguous ending.  Or perhaps in lieu of dishing out the big bucks, I'll just watch the movie (i.e. video recorded performance).

Daily Monku:  I dislike how Broadway audiences so readily give a standing ovation at curtain call.  Frankly, not every show deserves it.  And yet, at the end of most Broadway performances, the audience will inexplicably stand.  There also seems to be a higher percentage of standing ovations in the orchestra over the mezzanine(s) (I guess if you spend all that money, you really want to like it).  No one wants to be that one douche bag who doesn't stand up during a standing-o, but that's what I've been reduced to on many occasions.  Yeah, I'm that person. It's not like I'm rude.  I still applaud at the end of the show, but you've got to earn my standing ovation.

Classic Linzer Tarts

After a recent foray into canning (why is it still called canning when everything goes in glass Mason jars? [Did you know Mason jars have to be capitalized 'cause they're named after some guy named Mason?]), I was stuck with six jars of homemade raspberry jam.  I like jam, but I didn't see how I could possibly consume that much in the course of a year (the standard prescribed life for home canned foods).  So at the suggestion of a co-worker (more like continuous nagging), I decided to try my hand at linzer tarts, the cookie version of a traditional Austrian torte.

This is a basic sandwich cookie, consisting of two almond shortbread halves filled with jam and topped with powdered sugar.  I used the first recipe that appears online when you Google linzer tart.  A simple cookie, but extremely tasty.

In bakeries, these cookies are often large, 3" or more in diameter.  I chose to make mine smaller, using a 1 1/2" diameter fluted round cutter.  I refrigerated the cut cookies before baking in order to ensure they maintained their fluted shape.

Cookie Stats:
Cookie:  almond shortbread cut with fluted round
Filling:  homemade raspberry jam
Decoration:  center cut out using round fondant cutter, dusted with powdered sugar

These cookies received very favorable reviews.  They are quite sweet, but as the sweetness comes mostly from the jam, it's not overly cloying.  The jam also adds just a hint of tartness that helps cut through the sweetness.

I will definitely be adding these to my cookie recipe rotation.  I think in future iterations, I might try reducing the amount of butter slightly.  I found the dough very soft (unnecessarily soft in my opinion).  Less butter (hopefully) means a stiffer dough that will be easier to work with.  I also recommend refrigerating the completed cookies overnight to allow the jam to soak in nicely.

Daily Monku:  This past weekend, I had a coupon for 50% off a bakeware item from Michaels craft store (plus an additional coupon for 40% any item).  I went there specifically to purchase a mini cupcake pan (or two).  Considering Michaels loves to pimp Wilton products, I couldn't believe that the Upper West Side store didn't have a single cupcake pan (mini or otherwise).  I checked shelf labels to see if they were merely out of stock.  As it turns out, the only cupcake pan Michaels carries is one by Duff Goldman.  Seriously?  No mini pans, and the only cupcake pan is by the Ace of Cakes (the guy who attempted to break the world record for largest cupcake and failed because he didn't actually make a cupcake)?

The Three Shows to Lose Your Broadway Virginity To

With the start of the new Broadway season fast approaching, it's easy to get caught up in the news of upcoming productions.  But there are a few shows (and by shows I mean musicals) currently playing The Great White Way that I think are well worth seeing.

While trying to compile a list of great shows currently on Broadway, I kept asking myself, "Which shows would you recommend for someone who has never seen a Broadway musical?" The result is this list:

The Three Shows to Lose Your Broadway Virginity To

1.  The Phantom of the Opera

from playbill.com

It's the longest running show on Broadway for a reason.  Some of the "spectacle" feels a little dated now (large, grandiose Broadway shows are sort of out of fashion these days), but this show, which tells the story of a disfigured genius who haunts an opera house and its star ingenue, is still great.  There's pyrotechnics, illusions and of course that giant prop chandelier.  

But aside from all the special effects and luscious sets (that staircase is a spectacle all on its own), Phantom offers something that a lot of new shows struggle to provide: an outstanding score.  This is some of Andrew Lloyd Webber's best work.  It manages to combine pop rock with opera into something that still has the feel of classic show tunes.

Phantom is a modern Broadway classic, and you can't go wrong selecting it for your first Broadway experience.  You will be highly entertained.  I believe the current cast is fairly strong (for a replacement cast).  I especially like Hugh Panaro as the Phantom.  He brings a gruffness to the character that other actors fail to do (they instead choose to make the Phantom rather whine-y and pathetic), and he manages to clearly enunciate all of his vocals in spite of the prosthetic make up (a feat that many a Phantom have failed to accomplish).

2.  Anything Goes

from playbill.com

This may seem like kind of an odd choice.  Yes, if you attend this musical, you will probably be one of the only audience members under the age of sixty (that's really not an exaggeration), unless of course, you yourself are over the age of sixty.  And yes this musical, for one of its climactic pay offs, contains a completely stereotyped, and questionably racist gag involving the portrayal of Asians (think "black-face" but for Asians).

Yet, I think this show is pretty wonderful.  It truly is a traditional musical.  A score by Cole Porter that immediately teleports you back to the 1930s.  An outstanding cast led by the queen of "old-timey" classic musicals, Sutton Foster.  And the best tap number I've ever seen.

Anything Goes takes place on a cross Atlantic cruise liner, but the setting hardly matters.  The silly situations and characters are what take precedence.  This show is a classic comedy of errors (everyone mistaking each other for everyone else).  This is not self-deprecating, offensive humor (which is oh so chic these days).  It's a corny, cheesy, "I can't believe how silly this is" kind of humor.  And it truly works.  What's more, over the course of its many revivals, this show has managed to sneak in a few modernized tidbits (I assume they're sneaking them in because there are a few moments I can't possibly imagine would have been allowed in the original 1930s production) that add a nice sense of double entendre to a lot of the silliness.  I tend to lean toward the cynical, but I really enjoyed this show.  For a truly traditional Broadway experience, Anything Goes is as close as it gets.

3.  Jersey Boys

from playbill.com

This last one was a bit tough for me to choose.  I went with Jersey Boys.  This is by far the best of the "jukebox" musicals.  It tells the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons through their music.  So in terms of score, this musical is all pop rock.  At times it even has the feeling of a music concert (I guess this partially depends on the success of the actor currently playing Frankie).

This show, unlike so many other jukebox musicals, actually allows the music to inform the story (think of the quality episodes from the first season of Glee).  So often these musicals, which adapt the canon of a particular artist into a full length show, struggle to develop a plot that doesn't feel contrived (think of any of the "tribute" episodes of Glee).  I think Jersey Boys is extremely successful largely because it doesn't shy away from, rather it embraces, the inherent concert-like nature of the genre.

Jersey Boys is a fairly simple show.  It doesn't utilize a multitude of special effects or any fancy set pieces (other than the stationary suspended truss-like platform).  It's all about good actors performing great songs.  If the thought of a big showy musical scares you (i.e. grown adults standing wide-stance, shouting up into the rafters and spontaneously breaking out into song isn't your thing... yet) then Jersey Boys is a great way to get your Broadway feet wet.

Daily Monku:  As may have been evidenced in previous monkus, I'm kind of a grammar Nazi.  I simply hate when people use the wrong form of it's (vs. its) or there (vs. their or they're).  But lately, I find I've been over doing it on the instinct to correct my homophones.  I find in cases where I mean the contraction of "it is", I'll actually leave out the apostrophe.  Or worse, I've actually written "they're" when I meant to write "there".  Honestly, who does that?  I guess this isn't really a monku (although it does make proof reading extra annoying), rather a caution against complaining too vigorously.  

Cocoa Molasses Drop Cakes

Last week, I took another step toward becoming an official New Yorker (or at least a hipster New Yorker) when I stopped visited Strand Bookstore.  They claim to have 18 miles of new, used and rare books (not quite sure why they're using a length measurement for books, I would have gone with weight), and the place is packed with shelves and shelves of books (many far beyond my reach).

I immediately proceeded to the cooking section and was delighted to find tons of out of print cookbooks.  I left the store with a 1971 edition of the 1934 Hershey's Cookbook (I also picked up a couple of books on candy and cookies from an early 1980s baking series by Time Life).

I love that the subtitle says the recipes have been revised for "today's kitchen."  The first page literally begins, "Thirty-seven years ago, in 1934..."

The book cost me $7.95, which I initially thought was a good deal.  It's clearly not very common.  I mean, an iphone bar code app scan of this book yielded this (I have no idea how it got to that, I guess that's why free apps suck).  However, a little research told me I could have purchased the book for $4.00 used on Amazon.  Oh well.

My first endeavor in the Hershey's cookbook was Cocoa Molasses Drop Cakes.  I was immediately intrigued by the cocoa and molasses flavor combo and wanted to give it a try.

Cookie Stats:

Cookie:  Cocoa Molasses Drop Cakes with walnuts

These cookies have a nice cake-y texture.  I can see them being used as whoopie pie shells.  The flavor combination of bitter but robust molasses and rich cocoa-y goodness makes for a tasty cookie.

Daily Monku:  In 1999, Who Wants to be a Millionaire was the first TV game show to offer a $1 million grand prize.  The show single-handedly brought back the prime time game show. Today, twelve years later, game and competition shows are still a definite part of the network television lineup.  What I don't get is the fact that the grand prize is still never more than $1 million (unless it's some kind of special edition version [this of course excludes Jeopardy in which you could feasibly continue to win forever like that one guy]).  Shouldn't game show prizes be worth more now (I mean adjusting for inflation, $1 million in 1999 is equal to about $1.3 million today), especially given the ever more ridiculous things we make people do on television to win the money?

Circus Animal Cookies

The other day I got a sudden craving for an old childhood snack, Mother's Circus Animal Cookies.  These tiny animal-shaped cookies were a deliciously fun treat, owing to their bright pink and white icing (completely enrobed, that's no joke) and sprinkling of rainbow non-pareils.  These cookies were also slightly disgusting due again to the bright pink and white icing that tasted so incredibly waxy and processed that I often felt like I was eating an animal shaped crayon.

So after years of going without, I made a decision to indulge.  I went to my local supermarket ("super", Ha!) and was disappointed to see no Mother's brand cookies on the shelves (I know the company went under but was later saved by a Kellog's acquisition, so they should be available in stores).  Undeterred, I proceeded to the nearest Duane Reade, only to be disappointed again.  No Mother's cookies.

A bit of research disclosed the fact that Mother's cookies (along with many other awesome childhood favorite food products and brands) are simply not sold on the East coast.  Yes, there are some imitation circus animal cookies produced by other brands that I could have purchased, but they just aren't the same as Mother's.

In an attempt to quell my craving, I decided to create my own version of circus animal cookies.  I knew imitating the cookie would be simple enough.  A basic shortbread/sugar cookie cut thin and baked until crunchy would do the trick.  But I also knew that duplicating the processed texture of the icing would be nearly impossible.  So I didn't even try.

Cookie Stats:
Cookie:  Animal "Cracker" Cookies (I used the recipe here), cut using mini animal cutters (I used the animals from the Wilton mini Noah's Ark set)
Decoration:  Glace icing in pink and white, sprinkled with rainbow non-pareils

I chose to go with this cookie instead of trying to copy the Mother's style crunchy sugar cookie (I didn't want to be accused of poor imitation; instead I'm re-imagining).  I placed the above "cracker" from the cookie stats in quotes because this recipe would hardly qualify as a cracker cookie.  It's much more like a biscuit, a glutinous sticky dough and a dense but still somewhat chewy when baked texture.  This recipe uses ground rolled oats, which provides a bit of textural contrast within the biscuit cookie itself.  The plain cookie is not very sweet (even though I increased the honey to 1 Tbsp), so no fears of a sugar overload after they're iced.

I really like these cookies.  I like the chewy oat texture and the sweet glace icing.  It's not the same as Mother's Circus Animal Cookies, but that's okay.  I have Amazon for that.

Daily Monku:  I'm so sick of the midnight opening night movie show time.  It was fun when it was rare and unique.  Only the biggest movies with the craziest fan bases could possibly warrant a midnight showing.  Now, every week there's at least one movie with a midnight opening show time.  I understand part of this is a summer thing, but it's just not as fun or special when it's available every week.

The Three Most Overrated Shows Currently on Broadway

I feel I've lately been neglecting the first B in my blog name, so I think it's time to do a legitimate Broadway post.  After making a big push to take in as many shows as possible before the June Tonys, the rest of my summer has been relatively Broadway light.

But Fall is fast approaching, and with the change in seasons comes new Broadway shows.  So I thought I'd give my opinion on a few of the productions currently playing The Great White Way.  I'm planning on making a little series out of this, the first entry of which will be:

The Three Most Overrated Shows Currently on Broadway
(and by "Shows" I mean musicals... that's not to say some plays aren't overrated, I just haven't seen that many)

1.  Sister Act

from Playbill.com

I saw this musical in the front row with student rush tickets, and even that could not "save" it (like my pun) in my eyes.  I really wanted to like this show because of my soft spot for Alan Menken (I grew up during the Disney animation Renaissance of the 90s, how can I not love Alan Menken) and my disappointment that his latest work has not been receiving the praise that it should (Tangled and Enchanted specifically), but I just couldn't enjoy it.  The score felt very blah and plain.  A score I could have heard in any other show. 

The acting in Sister Act is atrocious (I'm looking at you, Chester Gregory).  Even Tony winner Victoria Clark, in a completely phoned-in performance, could not make this show better.  But what I simply cannot understand is the praise for lead Patina Miller.  I found the cadence of her speech unbearable (I'm not sure if this was an active choice for her character or simply her style of "acting").  Her singing voice was okay (maybe she would have sounded better if she were singing a better score), but the performance as a whole was severely lacking.  There was nothing special about it.  Anyone can play the sassy lounge singer living with a group of conservative nuns.  

Add in a bunch of paper-thin, cookie-cutter side characters (the boisterous but friendly fat nun, the cranky nun with a funky side, the shy nun who comes out of her shell) and some of the worst wig lines I've ever seen on a Broadway stage, and you have Sister Act the musical.  To be fair, I did appreciate the stained glass set pieces in the church scenes.

 I honestly believe Sister Act is one of the worst musicals I've seen on Broadway in recent memory (it probably ranks up there in the top 3 worst of all time).  However, I am apparently in the minority when it comes to my opinion of this show.  The audience at the performance I attended seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves.  Go figure.

2.  The Book of Mormon

from Playbill.com

I'm going to keep this fairly short.  This is a great show.  It's both hysterically funny and irreverently edgy, while still packaged in a classic Broadway musical style.  The songs are funny and sing-a-long-able (if you aren't afraid to sing the lyrics out loud).  The actors are all very talented.  I really like this show.

Do I think this show was deserving of its 9 Tony wins? Yes, I do (given the lack of competition this past year).  Do I think they should be selling out shows? Yes, I do.  Do I think there should be a waiting list until next summer to get tickets to this show?  No, I do not.  Do I think it's okay for the producers to jack up the price of a regular orchestra ticket to over $150.  No, I do not.  Do I think this should be your first Broadway show if you've never seen one before? No I do not (no need for a special trip out to NYC just for this show).  I think that about covers it.

Oh, I also hate how it's like a special members only club for the people who have had the "privilege" (and I say "privilege" because you have to be very privileged to afford tickets at these prices [unless you were extremely lucky like me and bought your tickets at a discounted price before the show even opened...]) to see The Book of Mormon.

3.  How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

from Playbill.com

It's sort of an odd, experience when you go to a Broadway revival of a 1960s workplace comedy (a genre that is way overdone if you ask me... ahem Promises, Promises and 9 to 5) and half the audience are tweens.  This in itself is the main reason why this show just doesn't work for me.  Stunt casting at its highest (just look at the Playbill cover).

Daniel Radcliffe.  I give him credit.  He tries really, really hard.  But it just doesn't cut it.  His singing voice is sub par (not a single sustained note).  His acting is fine... for Daniel Radcliffe.  Even his Harry Potter performances, to me, are just okay (the weakest of the HP trio in my opinion).  His dancing is satisfactory, until the big numbers when all the professionally trained chorus dancers put his skills to shame.  The general indignation at his lack of Tony nomination was absolutely ridiculous.  Why should we reward someone just because he tried hard and sells tickets (they actually canceled performances while Radcliffe was promoting the final HP film instead of just letting his understudy sub in)?

I also have to give my two cents about the other bit of stunt casting: John Larroquette as Biggley, a grown man who loves to knit and has an irrational fear of chipmunks.  But Larroquette chose to take a what is already an unrealistically large character, and play him over the top (to much comedic effect amongst the tweens I might add, surprisingly since I don't think any of them have heard of Night Court, unless they saw that 30 Rock episode, which Larroquette wasn't even in by the way).  The result for me was in-seat cringing.

There were a couple of songs I enjoyed (not the one where Rosemary sings about keeping her future husband's dinner warm, that's just sad, even for a 60s musical).  I liked the multi-colored diamond backdrop used in various ways throughout the show.  I also liked Anderson Cooper as the narrator.  That's about it.  The fact is, I feel like this musical has the potential to be very good, if proper casting were employed.  If you're a big Daniel Radcliffe fan, then by all means see this show.  If you're looking for a good Broadway experience, then skip it.

Daily Monku:  I despise how so many people seem to have difficulty with maintaining breathable space in a line.  I like to believe I'm a conscientious person.  When I enter a line (say at the grocery store), I leave adequate space between myself and the person in front of me.  It's not like anyone is going to squeeze in there if I don't fill up every inch of space there.  But this understanding seems lost on so many people.  Granted these are often children, who just don't seem to have a proper sense of personal boundaries.  But then I have to wonder, why aren't their parents teaching them about proper line etiquette (or teachers in school for that matter).  Because line encroaching children, ultimately grow into non-personal space abiding adults who breathe down your neck and accidentally bump into you with their sweaty, stinky limbs.

Chocolate Cupcake Pops

As an avid baker (and crafter), I'm always looking for new projects to explore.  I pride myself on trying to be a few months ahead of the curve, picking up on the next big baking trend before it catches on (basically if I get there before Wilton does, then I'm happy).  So last fall I came across an awesome looking book called Cake Pops by Angie Dudley, and I immediately snatched it up.  The premise was simple, little balls of cake on sticks, dipped in candy coating and decorated in tons of different ways.  I loved how cute and colorful they were.  More importantly, I loved how original they were (I had never seen anything like this before; cut to six months later when Wilton released its line of Pops tools and decorating ideas...).

Over the course of the next few months, I made several attempts at cake pops and cake balls with varying success.  The biggest issue I had came with dipping the cake in candy coating.  Candy coating is a cocoa butter based dipping ingredient with a chocolate-like consistency (emphasis on the "like").  I hate this stuff.  It's sickly sweet (and not in a good, chocolatey way, but in a bad artificial kind of way) with a thick, overly viscous texture. It's also extremely difficult to work with.  Even thinning it down with shortening, vegetable oil or paramount crystals cannot make this product enjoyable to me.  However, I seem to be in the minority when it comes to appreciation for candy coating as a tasty sweet treat.  So I suck it up and continue to work with it for several of my projects.

I hadn't attempted cake pops in some time, but I got a sudden craving for cake this week, so I decided I was ready to try again.  I went for cupcake pops this time.

Cake Stats:

Cake Pop:  chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting, shaped into cupcakes and placed on sticks

Decoration:  candy coating in light cocoa, pink, blue and purple with sprinkles (jimmies and non-pareils) and M&Ms (in dark pink and aqua)

I followed the basic method for making cupcake pops in Angie Dudley's book.  The basic instructions can be found here on Bakerella.com.

Whenever I make chocolate cake, I only use one recipe.  It's actually the one that's printed on the back of Hershey's unsweetened cocoa.  It's also on the Hershey website here (minus the frosting).  This cake is extremely moist with a rich, chocolatey flavor.  It's the best chocolate cake recipe I've ever tried.

To achieve the cupcake shape for these pops, the bottom half of the cake ball is pressed in a miniature cookie cutter.  Dudley recommends a 1 1/4" diameter flower shaped cutter (you can also use a fluted petit four cutter, but it is more difficult).  My cutter came in a set of Wilton mini Easter cookie cutters, which may be tough to find year round.  Luckily, the flower cutter is also available in the Wilton romantic mini cookie cutter set, which you can find at basically any Michael's store.

Based on the images in Dudley's book, it appears that she shapes the "cupcake" while holding the cookie cutter in one had and pressing the cake ball in with the other.  Using this method, I found it rather difficult to get a nice mounded top for the "cupcake".  Instead, after pressing the lower portion of cake into the cutter, I placed it on the table top (on a sheet of parchment) and basically flattened the remaining exposed cake with my palm to create a nice mound.

Bottom Line: These cupcake pops are quite cute and fun to eat (I mean isn't anything on a stick more fun to eat?  Wait, don't answer that).  In terms of flavor, they aren't my favorite (see my diatribe on candy coating above), but their looks make up for it (partially).

Daily Monku:  I made a stop at the M&Ms store in Times Square recently to buy some fun colored M&Ms for the cupcake pops, and I couldn't believe the horrible, tacky crap they sell there.  Are you really going to buy an M&Ms bathrobe?  And wear it with your M&Ms pajamas and M&Ms underwear?  Are you going to drink from an M&Ms coffee mug (okay, I'll give you that one, maybe)?  But dinner plates? Really?  This store reeks of Affluenza.

A Month of Monkus - July 2011

Since I'm sure you care, here's a summary of the past month's monkus...

June 28, 2011:  About a year ago, the MTA decided to get rid of the W train.  In it's place, they extended the Q into Astoria.  This means, when traveling uptown, the N, Q and R must all merge onto one track between 34th St. and 42nd St.  Inevitably, a bottleneck develops at 34th St. during rush hour.  Nothing is more annoying than riding an N or R as it pulls into the 34th St. station only to have to wait "for train traffic ahead".  Except then it becomes even more annoying as you realize you aren't just waiting for train traffic ahead.  You're also waiting for train traffic "behind."  Cause as you sit there on the local track, a Q will pull in on the opposite side and then leave for 42nd St ahead of you.  And you're still sitting there at 34th St...

June 29, 2011:  No Mr. Man-Walking-In-Front-Of-Me-Talking-On-His-Cellphone "heighth" is not a word.  I know it may be hard to believe.  Other measurements end in "th" like "depth", "length", "width", but "heighth" is not one of them.  It really is just "height."  Sorry, I do not acknowledge the excuse that in earlier centuries (as late as the 19th century) "heighth" was an accepted form of the word.  That's like saying it's okay to call your gynecologist a "nimgimmer" since that was an accepted term for a doctor who treated VD in the 19th century.

June 30, 2011:  Why must families on vacation in New York walk down the street in a single wide line?  Do they not realize that by taking up the full width of the sidewalk, they're acting like human road blocks for people (namely me) walking in the opposite direction?  I've got places to go people (as in home, to feed my finicky cat).

July 3, 2011:  Is it macaron or macaroon?  To me, macaroon is a coconut cookie, while macaron (like those I made above) is the soft shelled "sandwich" cookie (which incidentally could be coconut flavored).  I've found such indecision over the spelling/pronunciation of these cookies.  The worst case being the book Macarons by Berengere Abraham, in which the title uses the single "o" spelling, while every page within the book uses the "oo" spelling.  I mean at least be consistent within your own work, right?  I myself have taken to calling them macaroon-rons to cover both bases.

July 5, 2011:  I went to a restaurant recently that had a interesting and diverse drink menu, including a sake cocktail.  However, they chose to spell sake as "saki", which truly irked me.  The mispronunciation of sake (sah-kay) as sah-kee is one of my biggest pet peeves (is there something greater than a pet peeve, 'cause I would probably classify it as a few steps beyond pet peeve level).  But to then spell it incorrectly is just unpardonable to me (I did a little research, and as far as I can tell, "saki" is not an accepted spelling [I mean Google redirects to "sake"]).  Don't perpetuate ignorance.  Look up your shit.

July 6, 2011:  I'm not sure if I can monku about my own habit, but seriously I don't know what my problem is when it comes to elevator posture.  Basically, if there is available space, I WILL lean on the walls of the elevator.  Why can't I just stand up straight and not lean for the less than a minute ride?  I don't know.  I mean I don't lean against subway doors, and I stand on the subway for a much longer period of time.  Sometimes I don't understand my own laziness.

July 10, 2011:  Humidity is a bitch.

July 11, 2011:  If I buy origami paper, is it unreasonable to expect the paper to actually be square?  Isn't technology developed enough to cut a square piece of paper with equal length edges?

July 13, 2011:  Why is it that there are two British judges (Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne) on America's Got Talent (the name of the show itself deserves a grammar bitch daily monku)?  You mean to tell me Brits are a better judge of American talent than Americans?

July 14, 2011:  The last Harry Potter movie opens tomorrow.  So, in lieu of a written monku, see the video below for every time they ask a question for which the answer is "We have no idea!"

July 23, 2011:  When it's extremely hot outside, subway stations with their stagnant hot air are absolutely insufferable. I wish there were an easy solution to fix this problem. I would initially say incorporating more street grates could provide ventilation, but then you're just opening yourself up for a slew of questionable liquids raining down from above (spit, dog pee, spilled drinks... you get the idea). So it's either profuse sweating or a pee shower from a homeless man...

July 24, 2011:  I wait IN lines, not ON them.  I wish others (particularly those over here on the East coast) would learn to do the same.

July 27, 2011:  What is up with the article of clothing (if you can really call it that) called the "romper" (even the name is ridiculous, so ridiculous that I insist on enclosing it in quotes cause it can't seriously be called that)?  I honestly don't think it looks flattering on anyone.  It makes you look bloated around the middle with a short waist and emphasized thighs.  And what baffles me more is that a lot of women seem to think the "romper" is an acceptable replacement for a dress, meaning any event/occasion you might think a dress is appropriate, they now substitute it with the "romper".  Seriously...  Twenty years from now they're going to make fun of us for wearing these things and thinking they were fashionable (the same way we look at side ponytails with neon scrunchies and jewel toned t-shirt rings).

July 28, 2011:  Warning: this monku is a total nerd fest... readers (if they're any out there) beware...  I hate that Microsoft Access distinguishes between a null cell, an empty cell and zero length string.  What's the point?  I guess I can understand null vs. zero length string.  But how is an empty cell not null.  Or if the cell has been accessed, but not filled with a value, why is that not the same as having a zero length string in that cell.  I just don't get it.  It makes organizing data within the database much more annoying than it need be.

Daily Monku:  Seriously?  I have to come up with another one?