Tootsie on Tour: Denver, CO Week 1
Apr. 4th, 2022 09:15 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: Buell Theatre
(I took this one of the outside myself!)
(stock image)
Covid Tests To Date: 76
TL;DR TikTok: CLICK HERE
------------------------------------------------------
We flew to Denver without incident, just a minor flight delay.
Once at the hotel I dropped my bags and made sure my little fridge worked before catching an Uber with Bobby, our bassist.
Bobby is vegetarian (or vegan?) and wanted to take me to one of his favorite restaurants here in Denver: Watercourse Foods!
The entire menu is 100% vegan, which is surprising considering it features "chicken" and waffles, "pastrami", "smoked turkey", and other seemingly meaty mains. But it's all made from plants, prepared in a way that best matches texture and flavor to that of meat.
We started off with a charcuterie board, which featured house sourdough and a variety of "meats", "cheeses", nuts, and fruit.
Everything was delicious! Although the meat looks a little ridiculous, the flavor and texture were actually quite good.
It was difficult to hold back so I'd have room for the main course!
This was Bobby's pastrami Reuben. Looks convincing, doesn't it!
He gave me a piece, and it was delicious!
I ordered the fried "chicken" with mac & cheese and kale salad.
I mean, clearly it's cauliflower florets. But you might have to do a double take!
Also, the fact that they fried cauliflower and it wasn't wet or soggy, and it truly did resemble fried chicken, is pretty damn amazing.
I spent a lot of time wondering how they did it. Run it through the dehydrator after boiling? Just let it drain for a really long time? It didn't look like the cauliflower had been roasted or handled in any way except to be steamed or boiled. Fascinating stuff.
The sides were also incredible. The texture of the mac & cheese was a bit runnier than real cheese, and there was a strong aftertaste of coconut (coconut milk and soy based), but it was still very delicious.
CLICK HERE for a video of the mac & cheese.
And the kale salad was crunchy and refreshing, with toasted chickpeas and pickled beets and onions on top.
Overall what a fantastic first meal in Denver!
While we ate we talked about some personal stuff...Bobby has been thoughtful and concerned for me pretty much since day one, since my dad passed away right as we were starting this tour. I have to be honest, since then it feels like although I'm personally "ok", everything and everyone around me has just been falling to pieces and I don't know how to pick everything up and put it back together (in fact I really don't think I can). The number of people in my immediate circle who have depression, or health problems, or who have lost a job, just seems to keep multiplying and multiplying. I feel frozen in place, like if I reach out to one I need to reach out to all, and I just do not have the emotional and financial resources to do that.
I'm sure it looks happy-go-lucky, being on tour and seeing wonderful things and eating wonderful foods. I'm going to defend that and say that this could be my last chance to do something like this. I could spend it hoarding ALL of my money and holing up in my hotel room in an effort to help everyone around me who's struggling. Better people than me would do that. Or I could try to wring some enjoyment out of this rare, unexpected gift that I was given before it comes to an end in a few months. I'm selfish, and that's what I choose to do.
Well anyway, you don't want to hear all that. But it's what we talked about, just personal things and how things are going, and Bobby gave me some really good advice, which I will try to follow. And then we walked off our meal, going to a vegan bakery/ice cream shop, where Bobby got in line for a treat and I called an Uber so I could get my groceries for the week.
For once there are quite a few groceries within walking distance, but it was late and it was almost closing time so I Ubered to ensure I'd have time to shop. I did walk back to the hotel (where I certainly started noticing the altitude), put everything away, unpacked and crashed.
-------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, I woke up way too early because I was excited to get local bread!
I had hoped to try the bread from The Fox & The Raven Bakery, but upon calling them they told me they only sell loaves Thursdays through Sundays (information that is NOT on any of their business pages or social media pages). My alt choice was Reunion, so I tried calling them but no one answered. Being stubborn, I Ubered over there. Big expensive mistake; they ALSO had no loaves to sell.
From there I had a frustrated stomp over to Denver Central Market, because Izzio Bakery, although a chain, is sort-of local and has actual bread on any given day. Disappointing, but I had already taken this too far. Sometimes I need to be less stubborn.
I picked a "pan al line", which was good as far as pre-sliced bread goes, but was not anything special.
Since I was too far away to walk back anyway, I Ubered to Target so I could get distilled water and a few more protein shakes.
Then I walked from there to the hotel in time for PCR and rapid tests, ate a quick breakfast, and went out again to King Soopers for barley, wet wipes, and better vegetables than Target had. Yes, I went to three different grocery stores to get all of the items I needed for the week. But hey, think of all the steps I got in!
Back at the hotel I picked up some packages from the front desk (resupply of laundry detergent sheets and medications), and then finally got to chill in the hotel room. I typed up this blog and had some tea and ate lunch and made some plans for coming days.
Soon it was time for sound check, so I walked to the theatre--after last week's twenty minute drive each way, staying right next to the theatre feels so good this week!--and got set up for sound check. Bill, my friend and former circus coworker, will be joining us on Trumpet 1 for the rest of the tour. Steve has impacted wisdom teeth and they've only gotten worse, so he's had to step out early to take care of that. Hopefully the surgery will go well. We were sorry to see him go, but I'm glad we'll have Bill joining us as he's played this part before and should fit in with us quite well.
Bobby will also be leaving at the end of the week to take a gig with Cirque du Soleil. But I'm trying not to think about that.
After sound check, back to the hotel for a quick dinner, then the show.
I couldn't see how big the audience was because this is a deep pit, but they were very enthusiastic, which is the best :)
This theatre is beautiful inside and out, with a sweeping auditorium and industrial-chic box seats that somehow look like upscale fire escapes, lol. The stage is surprisingly short; although I can't see the show, I could see the bows for the first time because of how far the actors had to come upstage. Every theatre is different. Neat!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, I gave myself a slow morning, just because.
I chatted with my sisters and finally started applying for jobs.
If I'm lucky, maybe I can get some interviews lined up over our upcoming layoff. I won't hold my breath, though.
In the afternoon I was going to take the lightrail to Sushi Den, but realized last-minute that they are only open for dinner.
So I had a nice slow afternoon, heating up some butternut squash quinoa soup for lunch, adding chicken and topping it with roasted hazelnuts and dried edamame.
I wrapped Elliotte's presents (my niece; she turns 3 in a few days!) and actually applied for several jobs, none of which I expect to get or even hear back from, but I've got to try. I am currently slated to go back on tour for the second run of Tootsie, but the pandemic years have taught me to be overly cautious...and I was already cautious to begin with! So I'm applying for jobs that pay more than tour work, that way I might have alternatives when the time comes. And in another month or two I'll start applying for entry level jobs, to cover the three-month gap between tours.
Anyway, I killed the afternoon and THEN took the lightrail to Sushi Den, a normal sushi restaurant but it's been around for 35 years which in foodie-city Denver is really a feat. Plus there was a huge line when I arrived. So I figure it must be good!
I sat at the bar and decided to try an assortment of nigiri, which you normally order in two pieces, but they allowed me to get single pieces so I could try more kinds. Super nice of the restaurant!
And look how beautiful.
I ended up with tuna, yellowtail, salmon, octopus, mackerel, red snapper, squid, and salmon roe.
If you are not a sushi buff you may not get the big deal here.
I mean you can get nigiri anywhere, right?
Right, but there are several things that make Sushi Den's fish exceptional.
1 - The seafood is selected at one of the largest fish markets in Japan...and then it's vacuum-sealed and express shipped to Denver!!!
(You can read a post describing this process HERE)
2 - The fish is prepared by experts ONLY. No entry level stuff happening here. Every single person in the kitchen was speaking Japanese, had clearly been hand-selected to be there in order to handle the fish exactly to the owners' standards.
3 - The chef/owner himself, who is 50-something years old, gets up at 3:30am each morning to hand-select fish from Denver's premiere fish market, as well as herbs and vegetables for garnishes, to supplement his shipments from Japan.
These seemingly "normal" pieces of nigiri have such an incredible amount of care, and effort, and discipline behind them.
For the record, I didn't know ANY of this before coming to the restaurant; I just saw that it was listed as one of Denver's top sushi restaurants and wanted to give it a try.
I am not a sushi connoisseur by far, but I've had enough great food to know when a truly special meal is happening in front of me.
And this was definitely one of those times.
The fish was prepared expertly; I had my own chef assigned to me who cut and prepared the fish directly in front of me.
It is served at exactly room temperature, as sushi should be, and with fragrant and flavorful toppings chosen by the chef to complement the flavors of each type of fish.
I took my time as much as I could between each bite, savoring the perfection. It truly was amazing.
I really like red snapper, so I expected that to be my favorite. And while it was a wonderful bite, the nigiri that really stood out to me were the mackerel and the squid. Ironic, as these are probably the cheapest pieces of fish!
Mackerel is a salty, somewhat fatty fish. The chef topped it with a strip of fine transparent seaweed, but also some sort of sugar, just a little bit. The result was an incredible "umami" flavor that I was not expecting at all, and had never experienced before from such a "plain" fish.
The other surprise was the squid.
Squid is usually pretty "meh", kind of flavorless and chewy.
But somehow, magically, this squid was creamy. It was still chewy, but as I chewed it sort of gave way and dissolved.
There was also a very surprising flavor of aniseed, which was absolutely amazing to experience.
I found out later that the aniseed flavor came from a shiso leaf that had been slipped between the rice and the squid.
Shiso is related to mint and can taste like mint, cinnamon, citrus, anise, or a combination thereof.
It made a massive difference to the squid and really elevated it above and beyond what I was expecting.
Overall this was an absolutely exceptional meal.
Although it definitely hurt my pocketbook and (in tandem with the ridiculous Uber rides) blew my budget out of the water for the week,
I am still so glad to have enjoyed this moment and this food.
Sometimes I can't believe the things I get to experience.
A quick lightrail ride back downtown, and it was time to get ready for the show.
I made sure to bundle up, using one of those unnecessarily long CVS receipts as a scarf just to make people laugh.
This joke never gets old!
I also wore my new "Let's get this bread!" socks.
The phrase "Let's get this bread!" is from a meme that was circulating during the pandemic, a sort of morbid sarcasm that "essential" workers were sharing about having to risk their lives to flip burgers and such. Many musicians also refer to money as "bread", so I found these funny in a career-specific way.
The show was great, the audience had an awesome time, lots of laughs and cheers :)
-----------------------------------------------------
Thursday was a busy day!
My sister Kayle is in the area with her family looking for a place to live, so we arranged to spend the day at the Natural History Museum!
This was mostly for the kids, and a lot of the displays are kid-friendly, but I've never been there either so it was a fun treat for me.
Elliotte has grown up so much since I last saw her! She's speaking a lot more clearly now, and has a big interest in what "older kids" are doing, wanting to be just like them. One of her favorite activities is "playing shop", which she did very well in the museum's Discovery Zone, selling wooden flowers with another little girl.
Drexel is a lot bigger too, and while he's not walking yet he's at a fast crawl, often taking off at a mad dash if something catches his interest.
Kayle seems to have mastered wrangling both her toddler and her speedy infant at the same time, but personally I wasn't even sure what to do with one! Drexel is very into balls, throwing them and chasing them, and also seemed to like the fish we saw in a tank near the play area.
We piloted a spaceship and saw lots of dinosaurs, but soon it was time for lunch so we bundled everyone into the car and went to Sam's No. 3, a diner right across from my hotel. Again, lots of kid-wrangling, which was very impressive and also horrifying from a childless standpoint, lol. The kids had mac n' cheese while Kayle had a burger and I got a salad with steak and mushrooms and nuts. It was a good meal and the kids were well behaved. I was just happy to see everyone!
We parted ways with promises to see each other again soon, either for Elliotte's birthday party on Sunday or another day during the week.
Back at the hotel I felt pretty full and wanted to walk lunch off, so took myself to the CO State Capitol.
The park area between the capitol building and City Council was closed off, perhaps to discourage homeless camps or perhaps because there was construction on one of the historic buildings. Either way, I was only able to walk around the outskirts of the park.
I made sure to get a photo of the capitol itself:
And then City Council across from it on the opposite end of the park:
Between these two buildings were a few monuments, Veteran's and World Wars and whatnot.
Along the sides were the Art Museum and the State Court building.
I hope to visit the art museum before leaving Denver, for sure! Not the courthouse if I can help it! lol.
Back home I got ready for the show and had dinner.
The show went well, with nothing exceptional to report (which is a good thing).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
On Friday I got up early to do laundry.
There's no laundry at the hotel and no laundromat nearby, but the Marriott down the street was letting people come over to do their wash, so I made a cup of coffee and gathered my things and walked over. It took the usual amount of time and I just relaxed, read a book and chatted with Jameson. Laundry is probably one of the worst parts of touring because you never know how much it will cost or how much traveling you'll have to do to get it done, and who knows what will happen to your clothes either.
Back at the hotel I folded my clothes, ate breakfast and went downstairs for my rapid test.
Immediately after that I hopped on the lightrail to get to Corvus Coffee.
What I was really after was a loaf of bread from The Fox & The Raven Bakery.
The bakery is too far away to visit in person; I could get part of the way there with public transportation, but the last leg would require a ride and--as I unfortunately discovered through experience--the cost of an Uber around here is absolutely prohibitive, so it's out of the question.
Corvus stocks loaves of bread from that bakery on weekends, and they are much closer.
It was just as crowded as a Starbucks in there, so SOMETHING must be good.
I saw a few loaves still left in the display case, and chose the flax whole wheat rustic loaf.
Then picked up a bag of Sumatra since I'm low on coffee and clearly the coffee here was worth lining up for.
A quick half-mile walk to Pearl Street, which is also where Sushi Den is located.
If you're ever in Denver, Pearl Street is worth a visit for all the amazing restaurants and shops on that block.
It's kind of like a quieter, neighborhood version of the Gaslamp District in San Diego.
Anyway, I was heading to Tokyo Premium Bakery to pick up a "fruit sando".
The bakery itself was rather small and not very well marked; I walked past it once before realizing I must have passed it by!
Supposedly it gets very busy on weekends, but there was no one there when I arrived and not much on display.
My fruit sando was ready to go.
This is literally just Japanese milk bread, homemade whipped cream, and sliced fruit.
You could easily make it at home! This one was $5.
I rode the lightrail back to the hotel and finally got to taste my treat.
Very similar to a strawberry shortcake, just more portable.
Creamy, delicious, a lovely dessert or snack.
A little history: the "fruit sando" came about in Japan in the early 1900s, when fruit was an exotic luxury item (it still kind of is over there).
Only the rich could afford whole pieces of fruit, to give as gifts or for a special occasion.
But a fruit sando only uses small pieces of fruit. So the average person could still enjoy the luxury of fruit, without having to pay for a whole piece. This was also a great way for fruit sellers to control inventory and make a profit from fruit about to go bad.
Kind of cool to discover the economics behind something so simple.
I enjoyed my sando very much, eating the strawberry half and saving the kiwi/orange half for an after-meal snack later on.
I sliced up my flaxseed bread, and it was crusty and delicious as well. It had a nice roasted flavor to it that I enjoyed a lot.
Possibly they toasted the flax before adding it.
I wrapped half of it tightly to go in the fridge so it'll last through next week.
The rest of the day was spent chilling out and taking a nap since I'd gotten up so early.
The evening show went well, we had a good and rowdy crowd.
Bill is doing great on trumpet, and soon we will have our new bass player filling in as well as Bobby prepares to leave us.
----------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, I was grateful to "sleep in", which for me is 8:30am because that's the furthest my body will allow me to get from EST.
Breakfast, a little job hunting, some research for next week and also the week after in San Diego.
Making plans with Kayle to get to Elliotte's birthday party, which I'm a bit nervous about as it takes me 40 minutes out of town before our first show. But worst case I have to buy an insanely expensive Uber and I'll still make it on time, so I'm trying not to stress.
A few job applications, a quick walk to Walgreens for protein shakes for next week.
I need groceries too, but want to wait until the fridge is very nearly empty before restocking for next week.
We had two shows and both went well.
I'm sad, because Bobby is leaving us tomorrow :(
------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday was Elliotte's birthday party!
I got up early to hitch a ride with my sister's in-laws to their house, where party preparations were underway.
I helped carry supplies into the neighborhood's activity building, which you can rent for special occasions.
Kayle had decorated everything with a Paw Patrol theme!
Elliotte was very excited, running all around, wearing spotted dog ears and a cute spotted shirt.
Drexel was happy as long as he had a ball to play with, lol.
Soon guests started to arrive, and I got to meet some of Kayle's friends and her husband's family.
Elliotte & Co. took full advantage of the ball pit.
We took the kids outside to do "puppy races", which was pretty much just a race on all fours.
Elliotte did pretty well! (The older kids with longer legs beat her of course, but she didn't seem to mind)
Then there was a scavenger hunt for bones in the playground, and while that was going on I ran back inside to scarf down some pizza and a cupcake. As the kids filtered back inside Skylar caught Elliotte and had her open her present from me: a Cherokee bracelet, a bird-shaped okarina, and two "magic rocks" which are just titanium quartz. I don't know how much she cared for any of it, but she is only three after all!
Then it was time for me to escape. I hugged Elliotte goodbye, and was surprised at how sad she was that I was leaving.
I mean, I've only seen her a handful of times in her short life! But I gave her a big hug and promised to see her again soon.
I was so grateful just to be there, even for a short time.
On the road it can be very difficult to coordinate enough to actually spend time with family.
It really was a blessing to be there, and I'm thankful that Kayle invited me and involved me.
Getting back to the theatre was a bit of a snafu because the orginial plan had been for someone to drop me off at the light rail station, but then it changed to "Why don't you borrow our car". Which would have been fine, but there was no parking at the light rail station! I drove to the next one and even a third, where there finally was parking but I got there too late to catch the last train that could get me back in time for my 1:30pm call. So, I ended up kidnapping Kayle's car all the way to Denver.
Upon arrival I saw that parking in the hotel garage was $40 per day (holy HELL Denver!!), so after getting changed I slipped one of my room keys into the car and texted Kayle and Skylar to let them know they could pick up the car any time but that the key would be in my room. Kayle ended up coming to get it after my show was over. I felt so bad to have inconvenienced her on such a busy day :( but I really couldn't stand for either of us to be charged $40 just because there was no parking at the light rail station, sheesh. It all worked out in the end, I guess that's what mattered.
A fast dinner and the evening show. Bobby (bass) sat in the audience to listen.
After the show people went out for drinks with him, but...honestly, it was more valuable for me to have the one-on-one time that we had at the beginning of the week. I don't like to go out in big groups; I will miss Bobby, and I will hope to see him again soon!
-------------------------------------------------------
And now it's Monday.
Not just any Monday...a Golden Day!
That means we have no load out, we are not traveling, and there are no rehearsals.
A real, honest-to-god full day off! It feels like a snow day!
I didn't make any drastic plans; yesterday was a lot for antisocial anti-kid me, so I'll be happy to replenish my groceries and maybe go for a walk. I have already covered a lot of ground here in Denver, visiting Larimer Square and South Pearl St. and the Central Market and the Capitol building, plus a variety of restaurants.
Still on my to-do list are the art museum, a local tea house specializing in matcha, and a game meat hot dog place.
And hopefully, one more visit with my sister and fam.
We'll see what happens!
no subject
Date: 2022-04-04 08:19 pm (UTC)thing one: my brother said your entries were fascinating and fun and boy, was he ever right. except i'm exhausted just reading about all that you do!
thing two: i live in Seattle right next to the International District where we have a very large and excellent Japanese grocery. i've always seen fruit sandos there but never knew the why AND assumed it was cream cheese, not whipped cream! why oh why have i never tried one?? next time i am there for sure. thank you!
no subject
Date: 2022-04-04 10:57 pm (UTC)If you don't get time to read that whole thing you can always watch the TikTok linked at the top of each post, which is a 3-minute summary (TL;DR means "Too long; Didn't Read" in case you didn't know that, lol). I can't embed on DW so it's just a link that says CLICK HERE.
I am jealous that you live next to a Japanese grocery!
My bank account would be in trouble if I did :p
Fruit sando is something you can easily make at home with whipped cream, strawberries, and bread. But they do package it nicely in the grocery and it's usually affordable so either way :)
Also, your posts are pretty interesting as well! I loved reading about your and Bill's doings this past week! Thanks for the comment and for sharing some slices of your life as well!
no subject
Date: 2022-04-04 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-04 11:14 pm (UTC)1 - Both my parents are dead before the age of 65, and that probably influences how I see my own lifespan;
2 - I never expected to get to tour again, and I want to make every moment count and make good memories in each city;
3 - Before this tour I had such incredibly limited time between working full time, 2 hours commuting in the car each day, and online classes. I was exhausted every day. The time available to me on this tour is a huge blessing, and while sometimes I like to have an "empty" day, I also know that once the tour ends I will probably have to work 40-60 hours a week again just to barely scrape by.
In other words, I'm busy because I'm grateful! :)
no subject
Date: 2022-04-05 04:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-05 01:51 pm (UTC)I wish I could have paid more attention to describe the flavors, but I was nervous being at the sushi bar alone with the full attention of the sushi chef on me haha.
Texture is hugely important to me; this is why I can eat oatmeal almost every day, because I like the texture or can change it easily. So, nigiri with rice as a foundation texture makes it so wonderful to enjoy the texture and density and flavors of each fish. It was really awesome.
Lol, that sounds like a good kids party! Every kid probably goes through an animal phase, of pretending to be or wanting to be an animal, I think! Elliotte's friends, in addition to puppy races on all fours and digging for cut-out bones in the playground, ate from dog bowls as well :)