Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Larry Markowitz- “Recently I’ve been eating at Maxi’s quite a bit. They’ve had delicious grilled trout specials- tender and flavorful. My fall-back when I don’t want to make dinner is usually The Antlers, which is always reliable service and great food. My favorite dish there is at this point is the horseradish crusted baked salmon.”

I say-    I have to concur on the latter statement. Whenever my husband and I go to The Antlers, one of us orders this dish and the other orders something new. We share both, of course! The Antlers trademark includes perfectly cooked seafood with a side of rich, garlic, mashed potatoes, or prime rib is another excellent choice if you are an avid meat eater. The price tag is always reasonable- especially if you look for their coupon in the newspaper that says ‘Buy one dinner, and get second dinner ½ off’.

*MORE KUDOS for Antlers- just in. Anonymous says, “I always go to The Antlers for their Lobster special (Thursday nights). It is Primo! The lobsters are tasty and the salad with the cheddar dressing is beyond compare. The service is friendly and spot –on”

The Ithaca SufferJets are sponsoring a juried art show to benefit roller derby in Ithaca and Ithaca Foodnet Meals on Wheels. The show, titled MOVEMENT, will open on September 4th 2009, in conjunction with First Friday Gallery night.

The works in the show all embody the theme of movement and are of various media including digital video, photography, sculpture, and mixed.  The artwork in the show was selected by jurors William Ganis, Assistant Professor of Art History at Wells College and Director of the String Room Gallery; and Andrea Inselmann, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University.

Downtown Ithaca’s year-round professional theatre begins its 19th season this month in its longtime home in the historic Clinton House. The Kitchen Theatre Company offers plays on four separate performance series: Main Stage, Counter Culture, Family Fare and Kitchen Sink. Actors, directors and designers from NYC join regional professionals to develop and produce new and recent plays and re-imagine the established repertory. Over 191 performances will happen Wednesdays to Sundays, August 2009 through July 2010.

Taste of Thai Express, The Foreign Ministry of Thailand and Singha Beer present Himmapan: 2nd World, at the State Theater in Ithaca on Saturday, September 12, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. The show is free and open to the public. It features a troupe of 12 to 16 Thai performers that dance, sing, and play music. The performance also uses original video and acoustic storytelling. Its message is that the peaceful co-existence found among the animals in the mythical forest of Himmapan is an example for our world’s myriad of personalities and our need to find such harmony.  

 State Theater performance of Himmapan: 2nd World is co-sponsored locally by Taste of Thai Express.

Running to Places Theatre Company presents “Little Shop of Horrors” at the Candor High School Auditorium one weekend only: September 11-13, Friday and Saturday at 7, Sunday at 2. The story follows a down-and out skid row floral assistant named Seymour (Elias Spector-Zabusky) who becomes an overnight sensation when he discovers an exotic plant (Jeremy Pletter) with a mysterious craving for fresh blood. Soon the evil flytrap from outer space grows into an ill-tempered, R&B-singing carnivore who offers him fame, fortune, and the love of sweet Audrey (Kasia Sendek) in exchange for feeding its growing appetite.

“I’m not going to lie – Little Shop might be my favorite musical,” confesses director Joey Steinhagen. “Early 60’s girl group music and classics like 'Somewhere That’s Green' and 'Suddenly Seymour' – plus a brilliant and hilarious script that is equal parts Sci-Fi B-movie and Greek tragedy.  Not to mention the giant puppets! How can you lose?” Referencing the series of puppets, which he also designed, that bring the villain of the show to life, Steinhagen shares, “I’ve seen Little Shop productions which left me disappointed, when, at the climax, the puppets are listless and not very menacing. We were determined to make sure ours were lively.” He demurred when pressed for details.  “Just come see the show.”

Food This WeekK.Maylin- Sheldrake Vineyard-Simply Red Bistro
    "My favorite is their steak sandwich" Always delicious!

Stephanie and James Mason (Federal House Bed and Breakfast) "We often refer our customers to Maxi's Bar and Grill down on State Street. They have a diverse and delicious menu. Our favorites include: Cajun Popcorn (fried crayfish tails), Fried Green Tomatoes, and the Blackened Catfish.

Matthew Binkewicz- Hai Hong (Dryden Rd., College Town) "My favorite is Tofu Country Style and Sesame Beef." Tony our son says, " Their fried dumplings and Chicken Lo Mein are delicious."

I say- "Ned's Pizza in the mall opposite Community Corners has a great vibe. The pizza is great, service personable, and the Greek salad is respectable. The best wings in the town however are at Rogue's Harbor. Their wings are large, fresh, cooked perfectly (crispy outside and moist inside), and slathered generously in rich, flavorful sauce-try the med. hot garlic wings."
        
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Foods of the Week

These are hard times. Food is expensive! What can we do to make our budget stretch?
Wild foods are not that strange. They used to be a staple part of many households. But we have forgotten so much. Don't hesitate to use the web to see what the plants look like before you go hunting.

Coffee substitute: Chicory (Chichorum intybus) was a staple in many early American households. You see it a-blooming around town on the roadsides, blue flowers on dry, stiff stems. The early American settlers dug up the root of the chicory plant (scrubbed and dried it) and ground it as a coffee substitute, either 100% or mixed with coffee, half and half. Now roadsides are not the pure earth they used to be, what with leaded gas residue and all, but if you find chicory in a scrub area or poor meadow- give it a try. The roots are dug up between the fall and the early spring. The young leaves are bitter but can also be use to brew a stimulating beverage. Quite tasty! Chicory is traditionally used as a boost for the vision and the immune system. The plant is a good source of potassium, iron, and vitamin A.


Tea substitute: The common burdock is a diverse plant as far as its edibility. Known by children as a distraction to throw at friends, the sticking seed clusters were used as models for the first Velcro. Burdock root has been used for centuries by the Chinese as an immune supporting tonic (cut up in cubes and boiled until the water is brown). Drink 3x daily. "The tender young leaves can be used as greens added to salads or cooked in several changes of water. Once the inedible rind has been removed, the roots of the first year plants can be boiled for thirty minutes with 2 changes of water and served with butter. Once cooked, the flower stalks can be simmered in sugar syrup to make candy" (Peterson's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants).


 

Downtown Ithaca’s 2009 M & T Bank Summer Concert Series wraps up the season with two local favorites… the Mutron Warriors on Thursday, August 27th and Hubcap, on Thursday, September 3, 2009. Both concerts are free and open to the public and both take place at 6:00 p.m., at the Bernie Milton Pavilion on the Ithaca Commons

The funk Afro-beat sounds of the Mutron Warriors has made them a big draw at many of the clubs and night spots in and around the Ithaca area, and also led to numerous invitations for the band to play at various fairs and festivals in and around central New York.

Aurora, NY—The Wells College Visual Arts Department is announced the premiere exhibition of the 2009-2010 academic year, “Sun in an Empty Room + Music of Chance,” a site-specific instillation by Vancouver-based artists Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky. The exhibition will be on display in Wells’ String Room Gallery (SRG) from September 2 through October 14. An opening reception, open to the public, will held from 6:00-8:00 on September 2.

SMART TALK
by Dr. Verbos Metikulos


COMPLETELY DESTROYED:  This linguistic impairment usually responds to treatment at our general care facility, the William Safire Center.  We teach patients that destroyed is an absolute term.

Nothing can be partially destroyed.  It was damaged, perhaps severely damaged, but destroyed is destroyed.

However, some of our patients at the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired are completion compulsives.  They not only say completely destroyed but also completely surrounded, completely done, completely filled, and completely finished.

These patients require a program of therapy completely and totally for this compulsion.

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Smart TalkSMART TALK
by Dr. Verbos Metikulos

COMPONENT PARTS:  Down the road in Los Libidos, Texas, Dr. Lawrence Blithermore at Bedspring Tech likes to analyze a process by breaking it down to it component parts.

This is typical of the good doctor.  He keeps having major breakthroughs, too. 

We at the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired have been trying to tell him that components are parts, and that breaking it down is already sufficient.  We know we're wasting our time, but we can't let our silence make him think his language is just fine, can we.

Dr. Blithermore should be a patient in our William Safire Center.

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