Tootsie on Tour: Austin, TX
Feb. 28th, 2022 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39**Disclaimer: The content of this post reflects my own personal views, opinions, and experiences.
This post does NOT express the views or opinions of my employer.**
The venue: Bass Concert Hall
(stock photos)
Covid Tests to Date: 60
TikTok: Was too tired to make one this week, too bad for you :p
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Our travel day turned into a 15-hour slog due to a "mechanical issue" with our plane.
I'd much rather endure a delay than have the plane I'm on fall from the sky!
However this did make our day a lot longer and more stressful than expected.
All three meals at the airport, a few flight changes as our tour manager and American Airlines tried to get us where we were going.
Eventually we got to Austin in separate groups, with the earliest group arriving around 9:30pm (that's me, lucky) and the latest arriving I think around 11:30pm or midnight (oof).
I unpacked and went straight to bed, but did note-to-self that my refrigerator does not seem to be working very well...it's definitely hovering around 50F in there, which is not safe.
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Tuesday, I woke up early because I was stressed out.
This week the theatre is 3 miles from our hotel, and we have been given rental cars to share, but it still means extra time to get to and from the venue each day and extra planning for all sorts of things like meals and show prep and warm-ups.
That and the fact that I hadn't been able to get groceries yesterday AND dreams about my lukewarm fridge all had me up at 7am.
I went to the front desk first to report the fridge for insubordination, then walked to Easy Tiger, a local bakery right down the street from our hotel.
As soon as I stepped outside I felt better.
It was one of those magical pre-spring days; overcast, the air cool and humid, but there was a hint of warmth to come, and the birds were singing their heads off in anticipation of the haze lifting for the sun. It's the kind of morning that reminds me of Easter Sundays at my mom's house...of being gently shaken awake at 5am for sunrise church service, but feeling excited rather than annoyed about the early hour.
With this calming aura of times past around me, I had a very nice walk to the bakery.
Founded in 2011, Easy Tiger is a beer garden slash bakery that makes rustic breads and German pretzels and beautiful pastries, and also serves a few egg items for breakfast, and also holds events and baking classes. The breads are made each morning with local ingredients, on site.
I wanted to take pictures of the baking equipment and pastries, but there were four employees staring at me and I didn't want to be a weirdo.
Torn between a 40% rye/sourdough blend and a sourdough quinoa, I finally settled on the quinoa just because it's slightly more unusual.
It has a lovely texture, the toasty quinoa grains have a crunchy pop.
After a brief stop in my room for coffee and to pray for maintenance to come look at my fridge, I walked to Target for groceries (and a bag of ice to preserve said groceries). I'm grateful to be within easy walking distance of a Target this week! It was a surprising 86 degrees out, so by the time I got back I was all hot and bothered, but maintenance was there to swap out my fridge just as my bag started to leak from the ice so that was perfect.
But I still wasn't done. After all, I got up at 7 and it was now only about 10am.
I went walking again, this time to 99 Ranch Market.
It's an Asian grocery chain--like, one of the really big ones.
I knew that I would love it. And I did.
No, I didn't get any Peking duck, but I sure wanted it!
And there were soft fluffy castilla roll cakes in the bakery, and succulent-looking bites of seafood in the back, and exciting and exotic ice creams and dumplings in the freezers. I wanted it all, so so much. But, we are only here for a week, and I have a tiny baby fridge.
So I window shopped and that was fun. Then I picked out what I could carry back and eat for the week.
The smallest bag of baby bok choy I could find (I've eaten it many times but have never prepared it myself).
A variety of new fruits to try: Korean melon, fragrant sand pear, white sand pear, "honeycore" apple.
Squid jerky, seasoned with blackened sugar (I chose this because of all the seafood jerkies it had the lowest salt content).
Some ube plum, apple, and yuzu-flavored seltzer waters.
Soy-marinated eggs, and a mini red date moon cake.
There was also a Japanese bookstore next door, and there I found an insulated lunch tote made to look like Cup Ramen.
It was overpriced but I bought it anyway. It made me laugh, and will be useful this week and as the weather gets warmer.
Before walking back I picked up three onigiri to try: Korean beef, salmon, and mushroom-egg.
Here's the beef one:
They were delicious. If you haven't had onigiri, it's just sushi rice and nori molded into a triangle shape and stuffed with a filling of your choice, like a sushi roll but more portable. It's hard to find places that serve them, I think there must not be enough demand.
Back at the hotel I put my stuff away, then tried to do laundry but was thwarted because this hotel only has two washers and one dryer for its whole population. Sigh. I'll have to find a laundromat.
Later on we drove to the theatre. It's on a college campus, which gave me some nostalgic feels.
I can no longer pass for a student. That lasted through age 28. Which is now a decade ago. SIGH.
The theatre is beautiful, very tall, with a true nosebleed section that made me think of the arenas we played with the circus.
Our opening show was very well attended for a random Tuesday, and the audience was enthusiastic. Really wonderful!
Not only that, we got some awesome news tonight about this show.
A lot of our creative team members are in town to rehearse with us and tweak things here and there, work out logistics, etc.
One of our managers came to the pit and after we'd gathered around, he told us we'd "recouped" (this is complicated to explain and I don't totally understand it myself, but HERE is a pretty good explanation). At a very basic level, what this means is that the show has now earned enough through ticket sales that it has paid back it's "advance", so any "overages" are distributed to us, the performers and cast and admin (maybe crew too, idk). We don't know how much this will be, but supposedly it'll start showing up in our checks from now on.
On top of that, we were told to expect contact from our Music Coordinator about participation in either this show's second run, or other shows produced by this company. That's very exciting news to me. As a trombonist, especially one living in a saturated market like Orlando, I haven't had much work in music and certainly nothing for the foreseeable future since the pandemic started. Maybe I will get to do something further here, and maybe not, but either way just having the opportunity feels like a very special thing right now. Super grateful.
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Wednesday I woke up stressed again, too early again.
My RMR test was this morning (I was supposed to do it in Memphis and it got cancelled) and I also knew I had to put gas in our rental car, plus I still needed a few small grocery items, PLUS I still needed to do laundry. So I dragged myself angrily out of bed and went and did all of those things.
The RMR was interesting, just as interesting as the DEXA.
The technician explained that I'd be sitting as still as possible and breathing in and out through a tube. The machine would analyze the amount of oxygen my body was using, and from that determine what my Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is. I couldn't take any pictures this time because you're not supposed to be doing ANYTHING, plus I never got the opportunity to photograph the machine before we got started.
Here's a stock image of what it looked like:
So I sat still in a comfy chair and breathed in and out as normally as possible when one is thinking about one's breathing.
And ten minutes later, turns out my resting RMR is 1210 calories.
Being "lightly active", my overall caloric intake should be around 1664.
You can see from the chart above that if my activity level changes, I can have more or less calories than that.
There are calculators online that will estimate these numbers for you,
but imo "I've done my own research" or "I've Googled about it" should not be the final answer when it comes to health.
So I'm glad to have gotten this information, and glad that it agrees with the numbers that my dietitian gave me.
I can use this info to continue making good health choices moving forward.
After this test, laundry time.
It was an ordeal because the laundromat was crowded and weird and expensive, but at least my clothes are clean.
In a bad mood, I came back to the hotel and put everything away and just crashed.
It feels like I haven't had a moment to just be still, physically or mentally, since we got to Austin.
Hopefully the next few days can still be fun and relaxing.
For lunch I ate my Korean melon. It was nice, with a fragrance like a cantaloupe and a texture like a cucumber.
It also gave me massive indigestion and bloating, so that was fun to deal with while playing a show tonight!
That aside, the show was good and I can see that we're going to have great crowds here in Austin.
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Thursday I finally got to sleep in, and I appreciated that so much.
The weather was miserable, cold and wet and dreary, so I worked on my taxes and sent emails and letters and copied this blog over to Dreamwidth and followed the escalating crisis in Ukraine.
Do you guys remember the 90s? Such an innocent time.
It feels like we can't catch a break here in the 2020s.
Anyway, a slow day. I had so many aspirations for exploring and eating local foods, but sometimes weather and distance and circumstance will work against those plans. Plus I have many lovely groceries.
A weird-yet-healthy hotel lunch of shredded chicken, asparagus, avocado, quinoa sourdough, and pumpkin puree.
I also ate the "fragrant" pear; it was like a smaller Asian pear, and more delicate in texture.
And I tried the sugared squid jerky. It had an offputting fishy smell, but tasted surprisingly good.
You could almost forget you were eating fish. Still not sure I'd buy it again, though.
The evening show was well attended again, great crowd again.
Steve (trumpet) had a rough night; someone in the first row dropped their peanut M&M's, and the candies rained down on him during the show. Then later on we all walked out to the truck together (Steven had driven us in) to find a parking ticket for $75!! Geez. I thought we had parked in the right spot but apparently not. Then Steve forgot something in the pit so we had to go back to the loading dock and wait while he grabbed it. Ugh, I felt frustrated on his behalf!! I guess I'm not the only one incurring bad karma this week! But we got home safely and that's all that matters :)
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Friday, I am still waking up at 8:30 because my body either thinks it's 9:30 or thinks that 8 hours of sleep is plenty (which it is).
Breakfast, a rapid covid test, and off I went into the cold and still-dreary weather for some thrifting!
About a mile from the hotel is Texas Thrift, pretty unassuming on the outside and pretty awesome on the inside.
(stock photo)
I was surprised at the good selection, but then Austin is pretty well known for that "hipster" vibe.
I found some stuff I'd been keeping an eye out for, including a lightweight bathrobe and another set of pajamas.
The robe might look a little monkish, but I don't care. It's for my comfort on the road, not for looks.
The "pajamas" are a separate sweater and pants that I found, both patterned with hearts, and they look like they go together.
I especially love the pants because of the silver and dark blue. Both are extremely soft <3
I got two shirts as well, although now that I've tried them on (fitting rooms were closed at the thrift store) I'm kind of regretting them.
The purple one isn't my usual style but we'll see if I can make it work.
The green one, I liked the coppery sheen to it, but otherwise it's not the most flattering.
Before heading back to the hotel I swung by Lick, a local ice cream store that features unique flavors made from local ingredients.
I would have loved to try everything--the Old Fashioned cocktail flavor sounded amazing, and so did Lemon Poppyseed!
But I went for a scoop of goat milk honey thyme, and a scoop of roasted beet & mint.
They must keep those freezers at the perfect optimal temperature, because there were no large ice crystals, the texture was smooth and silky. The beet ice cream was "ok"...I appreciated that the mint flavor was very natural, it tasted like the mint from my garden rather than chewing gum. But I was getting more mint than beet, or rather the beet provided an earthy backdrop for the mint instead of being the primary flavor.
The goat milk/thyme/honey was AMAZING. Rich and savory, not too sweet, and the thyme was just so lovely.
It was an incredible balance of flavors. If you visit Lick, definitely get the goat milk ice cream in addition to your other favorite flavor :)
I tried to walk back to the hotel (45 minute walk) but it was just way too cold.
It was maybe 38 degrees, but the wind along the highway was howling and it was becoming very uncomfortable, so I caved and got an Uber.
Back home I gave myself a thrift fashion show (re: the above photos) and had bok coy and chicken and pumpkin and sourdough bread for lunch. Tomorrow we have two shows, and I'd like to hit some of Austin's more well-known vintage stores before the matinee. We'll see.
The evening show went well, it had to be close to sold out in there!
Very exciting to have a full house and an enthusiastic crowd!
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Saturday, rainy and dreary and still cold.
We've had horrible luck with weather here.
I had breakfast and got ready for shows, packed myself a lunch and tried to pack up a little bit as well since I won't be able to go back to the hotel between shows to do it. Then I took an Uber to Buffalo Exchange, a local thrift store known for vintage clothing.
(stock image)
It was pretty awesome! I had a great time looking at everything...I know that @lookfar would have absolutely loved everything about this store.
Although I didn't have luck with clothing for myself, I did have fun trying on a few extravagant items, including these beetle-shiny sneakers.
There were other vintage thrift stores in this area and I hit them all, but a lot of them were overpriced and/or didn't quite have what I was looking for. So after I'd had my fun I walked down Guadalupe St to reach K-bop, a korean counter-serve, to try bibimbap for the first time.
There were loads of Asian people in there, so I figured it must be good. And it was.
My bibimbap was pretty traditional I think, with Korean BBQ beef, mushrooms, carrots, cucumber zucchini, sprouts, spring mix, and a fried egg on top of white rice with sesame oil and house-made hot sauce.
The hot sauce was buried in a little magma pool below the surface, as I only discovered after breaking my egg and stirring enthusiastically to mix all the parts together.
It was delicious, and felt healthy, and certainly cleared my sinuses up for the walk to the theatre.
I'd like to try this again with more time to sit and eat; this order was to-go, and as a result I didn't get the crispy rice experience (this dish is traditionally served in a hot iron bowl which crisps the rice on the bottom). Next time.
The matinee was great, and in between shows I gave my trombone a bath and read one of the Neal Stephenson books that Jameson got me for Christmas. The evening show was great as well, we've had incredible crowds all week here in Austin.
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Sunday, I was anxious to have the day over with! Because it was nice outside!
Our shows were at 1pm and 7pm. I used the space between to go for a walk.
And I read more of my book and goofed around online instead of writing letters as I had planned.
For dinner I had cooked the last of my bok choy, searing it along with some chicken spinach sausage, served over chickpea pasta with lemon EEVO and black pepper. So fancy.
For dessert I cut open my mini moon cake.
Despite their small size, moon cakes are supposed to be cut in wedges and shared among family for the autumn lunar festival and/or lunar new year. This mini cake was intended for two, so I only ate half. They are very dense in calories because they contain a preserved egg yolk and usually some sort of fruit and/or nut/seed paste. In this case it was date paste with a little pumpkin seed too I think. It was very good.
For snack during intermission I had my "honeycore" apple.
This was supposed to have a sort of crystalized core, but it didn't. However it was still good, sweeter than a normal apple, no seeds, and very crisp and delicate. I enjoyed it very much.
Our last show in Austin was so nice. A roaring crowd, good weather, and a wonderful way to end a great run.
Back at the hotel I packed up as much as I could before going to bed.
This morning I type this as I wait for our charter bus.
Next city is San Antonio, which is only a two hour bus ride away.
This poses a small logistical balancing act for our tour manager, who must contrive to have us out of our current hotel around noon while not reaching our next hotel before 3pm. So he has scheduled us a rest stop at a Buc-ee's about halfway there.
Have you ever been to a Buc-ee's? You should go once in your life! It's a trip.
Many of us are looking forward to San Antonio.
We are right downtown; we are close to the theatre; we have full kitchens in our rooms; we get complementary breakfast.
There is an awesome bakery that I want to visit, and I'm excited also for my first haircut since this tour started!
In closing, a glimpse backstage: The Bra Carousel.
(this is just bras on a hanger above a fan, to dry out between shows, but some of the cups are catching the wind, lol)
no subject
Date: 2022-02-28 07:19 pm (UTC)I was in the same Buc-ee's as you went to on our way to the Gulf Coast a couple of weeks ago. They are something to see. I can't imaging going there with a busload of people.
Love the carousel. Joys of the Entertainment industry indeed! I was in theater long ago. It got me past any vestiges of embarrassment over changing.
I hope S.A. is fun. The weather is going to be perfect.
no subject
Date: 2022-03-01 04:03 am (UTC)I technically can't afford it either, but I can't afford anything, ever. So I decided to afford it, lol. With the horribly f*cked up US health care system, if I so much as break a toe I'll be in debt for the rest of my life. So I figured I could spend $100 to at least make an effort in this one area of my health, just this once. Honestly the consultation with a dietitian and the DEXA scan were far more worth it than the metabolic test.
Oh, cool! We only got to hang out there for 30 minutes but as someone who's been to Buc-ee's before, I truly enjoyed watching the noobs on our tour experience it for the first time. It really is an overwhelming experience. Nobody walked out of there without at least one product.
Lol, yes the Bra Carousel was a funny thing to witness this week!
Unintentional of course, which made it even funnier.
Same, my first entertainment job was Knoebels Amusement resort, and we had a bedroom-sized dressing room for 30 people, men and women both. So we very quickly got over naked sweaty bodies. And in the circus I was the only female in the band, and I actually felt way more comfortable getting changed in the band's dressing room even though I was always offered a place with the women. The problem was, the women were athletes, beautiful and Barbie-like, and myself being homely and of a "normal" build, I was horribly self-conscious and uncomfortable undressing around these faerie princesses and Amazonian warriors. So I'd get naked in front of my dad-bod coworkers, lol. I have nothing they haven't seen before anyway!
no subject
Date: 2022-03-01 12:33 pm (UTC)So not true. 😀
Now I want to roast some bok choy! But it's not in season here.