Someone asked me what my favorite Christmas gift was and that's a difficult question to answer. I love all of my gifts because it means that someone took the time to think about and select something special for me.
This year, Hilary and Al made a donation to the St. Vincent DePaul Society on behalf of all of us...what a thoughtful gift. But they wanted everyone to have something to open up on Christmas Day, so they baked chocolate chip cookies and each of us got a bag full...very yummy and low calorie, of course. The chocolate chip cookie was developed accidentaly by Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1930. Ruth owned the Toll House Inn in Whitman, MA, a popular restaurant that featured home cooking. While making cookies one day, Ruth realized she was out of baker's chocolate, which is what she always used in her cookies. Being the wonderful baker that she was, she substituted the baker's chocolate with a semisweet chocolate bar from Nestle broken into pieces. However, unlike the baker's chocolate, the chopped up chocolate bar did not melt and mix into the batter like Ruth thought it would. The small pieces of chocolate only softened and the chocolate chip cookie was born. This only goes to prove that, sometimes mistakes, or lack of a key ingredient in this case, come other discoveries. Thank you Ruth for forgetting to purchase your baker's chocolate at the grocery store that week and giving us one of America's best loved cookies.
Jenna and Mark's gift were tickets to see The Sound of Music at the Media Theater in Media, PA on January 8th. When the movie came out in 1965, I saw it twice (lucky me); once with my family and another time with a favorite cousin. I remember wishing I could sing in the hills of Austria like Maria. And what young girl didn't fall in love with Captain Von Dreamy... post whistle that is. Even though I own the DVD, I still always watch it when it's on TV. The Sound of Music has always been one of my favorite things.
Since I had two tickets, I asked Jenna if she would like to go with me. We had a lovely aunt/niece afternoon starting with lunch at the Iron Hill Brewery in Media (right down the street from the theater). We really enjoy the food there.
By he way, their menu weights 2 1/2 lbs..the waitress told us that because I remarked that it was heavy. She agreed and said that some of the staff had weighed it one day..very funny. Lunch was topped off with one of our favorite desserts, Warm Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cake served with Vanilla Ice Cream. After we devoured the cake we were off to the show.
By he way, their menu weights 2 1/2 lbs..the waitress told us that because I remarked that it was heavy. She agreed and said that some of the staff had weighed it one day..very funny. Lunch was topped off with one of our favorite desserts, Warm Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cake served with Vanilla Ice Cream. After we devoured the cake we were off to the show.
The Media Theater is County Delaware's only professional theater. It's a charming place built in 1927 as a vaudeville house. The musical was outstanding and the cast had a lot of chemistry. We especially enjoyed the Von Trapp children. Can you name them? If you would like your hearts to be blessed with the sound of music why not see it too. There's nothing quite like a live show. The play runs through this Sunday, January 15th.
That's my log entry for today. More adventures to follow...stay tuned.
I cannot - EVER - turn away from the Sound of Music when it is on TV (yes, I too have the DVD) ... it holds me there, transfixed at the screen, every single time. I used to always have to go to bed as a child after the "goodnight" scene (with the children on the stairs) ... I remember I was so excited the first time I got to stay up and watch the whole movie to the end!!!
ReplyDeleteWish you were here Cara so that you could see the play as well. There are so many wonderful scenes that I could never name my favorite.
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