Tootsie Yr2: Syracuse, NY Part 2
Nov. 14th, 2022 08:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39TL;DR TikTok: CLICK HERE to watch
I tried to cram as many of my planned activities as possible into Wednesday and Thursday because the weather is supposed to take a turn starting Friday and into the weekend.
While working I steamed some eggs in the Itaki, and I finally did get the cook time right, but then the eggs peeled so poorly that half the whites were lost. GAWD that makes me mad. At this point I'm probably not going to cook eggs in shell with the Itaki unless I can guarantee that the eggs are older (that's supposed to help with peeling).
Before y'all say anything, this is a STEAMER so I can't do the usual trick of adding baking soda and vinegar to the water, there IS no water, I'm not boiling the eggs on the stovetop. Thank you.
Around noon I got an Uber to the pierogi place because the walking route wasn't safe (long stretches of having to walk on the shoulder).
But I resolved to make up for it with a walk from there to the mall, and then walking around inside the mall, plus the walk the theater.
The restaurant is Eva's European Sweets, and it's all alone in a random run-down suburb.
Their vibrant wall art stood out from the surrounding drab houses like a flower growing from a crack in the sidewalk.
Inside was a tiny cafe, perhaps 10 tables plus a small bar area.
The hostess invited me to sit wherever, and I picked a very small corner table since it was lunch time.
I knew I wanted borscht, but it wasn't on the menu.
"Oh, we have borscht!" the waitress chortled, and hustled off to get me a cup.
I've never had borscht before so I don't have any point of comparison.
It was a pink soup (because of the beetroots) loaded with lovely chunks of potato, carrot, celery, beets, cabbage, and a bit of sour cream which I assume is also how it got the creamy pink color. Sometimes borscht has meat in it, but I didn't detect any here. It was tart and also creamy, peppery, and very good.
As a native Pennsylvanian with at least some percentage of Polish blood, I'm embarrassed to say I've never once had a homemade pierogi. I've had plenty of Mrs. T's from the freezer section...and that's about it.
These are the beautiful mushroom and potato pierogi from Eva's in Syracuse.
Easy to tell that they were made by hand.
And you can see every little ingredient in the filling: finely chopped potatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic (I assume), and black pepper.
The pierogi dough was chewy and delicious and delicate. The filling was amazing, so savory and just bursting with lovely peppercorn and earthy mushroom flavor. Dipping each bite in a bit of cool sour cream brought the whole thing together.
I can still remember the rubbery and somewhat soggy texture of Mrs. T's pierogies, slathered in cheap butter and onions and filled with instant potatoes and way too much salt. These were so, so far above and beyond that.
It was painful to look at the rest of the menu because there were so many amazing-sounding dishes that I would have loved to try. This is another place where, if I lived here, I would come every day until I'd tried everything on the menu, and then I'd still go back for my favorites once a week. The people of Syracuse--the ones who know to eat here--are very lucky indeed.
I ate three of my six pierogi and boxed the other three, then walked about two miles to the mall.
This is one of the larger malls in the US, sporting an indoor obstacle course, an aquarium, an IMAX theater, and 2.4 million square footage of shopping, dining, outlets, and anchor stores. I didn't need anything, but recently someone suggested that I check out aerie for black leggings for work. I did end up with a pair, yay! And then mostly just explored and window shopped, looking for a Pop Vinyl for Jameson (that I did not find) and trying to get Christmas ideas for family. The mall was quite massive, and I managed to clock another two miles wandering and getting lost.
I was probably only there for about an hour, then Ubered home to refrigerate my precious pierogi and get ready for the show.
We had a lovely audience and a fairly straightforward show, a few tiny snafus on and off stage but that's live theater!
--------------------------------------------
Friday I designated a "chill day".
It was supposed to rain pretty much all day starting at noon.
I woke up at the usual time, had breakfast, and posted a part of my portfolio to social media because a friend recently asked why I never upload footage of myself playing.
The reasons are
A) I have MASSIVE Impostor Syndrome.
B) Getting unasked-for critiques and mansplains when I post ANY media of myself is a big deterrent.
C) I dislike sharing pictures or video of myself in general.
D) I have bad stagefright specifically in an audition setting, which is why ALL of my portfolio material is taken during live shows.
All of that said, my friend had a good point. I SHOULD post my footage of myself playing my instrument.
Here's me doing "Ain't Misbehavin'" with Winter Park Playhouse back in 2019.
I'd like to get some footage from Tootsie, but the music is copyrighted and carefully controlled, so it's doubtful I'd be allowed to post more than like eight bars of music. Still if I can share it, I will before the end of this tour.
After that it was just a day of data entry, reading, watching anime, eating my lovely meals, and lounging around in my pajamas with a cup of tea as the rain pattered on the hotel window. Rainy days are a beautiful thing :)
The show went well, although I think there were some injuries on stage that resulted in two people out for the second half.
Hopefully everyone is all right.
-------------------------------------------------------
Saturday was our two show day.
Slow morning, I tried to do data entry but had forgotten to make timestamps of my audio so had to stop and address that.
This is the first time I've done it, it was bound to happen at some point, but I don't want to waste the company's time by having to re-listen to the entire audio track and pick out the information again. I got a little help in the group chat, so it was good damage control anyway.
First show went well with a good audience.
A cold front is moving in so I hustled back to the hotel between shows and layered up as much as possible for the next.
Dinner and back to the theater, where it felt really weird to be packing up for load out!
Our last show in Syracuse was fun. Good audience, and there was a small but hilarious character break during the Max-Reveals-His-Tattoo scene. I couldn't see what was going on, but was told that the tattoo (which is fake of course) was partially falling off, so when it was revealed it looked ridiculous, and the actors couldn't keep a straight face and started cackling on stage.
The audience loved it :)
Our wall tag was completed tonight as well, and coincidentally it depicts the tattoo scene!
Can you find my initials?
(photo AND the tag itself courtesy Jenna T., Wardrobe)
------------------------------------------------------
Sunday was soooo odd.
Normally we'd have at least one show! But not today. It's a Golden Day!
Honestly I didn't know WHAT to do with myself, other than data entry and a walk in the afternoon.
So that's pretty much what I did.
It was a cold and dreary day, raining off and on, but I walked anyway because it's that time of year and I'll need to get used to it where we're headed for the rest of this tour.
I wanted to go to a park about two miles away, but partway there it started sleeting which felt very unpleasant.
So instead I visited Salt City Market and got a pineapple sparkling water to have with dinner.
And stopped in at Antique Underground just to look at all the pretty old things and warm up before continuing on my way.
Despite not making it to the park today, I had Fun With Plants.
This dead leaf was holding droplets of water, which looked very beautiful from certain angles.
And these vines and berries climbing an old church were colorful, a splash of warmth in the cold wet.
I got in about 2.5 miles before feeling it was time to head back.
Had some hot tea and did misc computer things and packed for the rest of the night.
Not much of a "golden day" this time, but that's ok :)
----------------------------------------------------------
Today is our travel day.
9am bus to the airport, then two flights with a layover between to get to OKC.
I'm grateful that we have a significant layover so that we can get something to eat between flights (this has not been the case the last several times we've flown). It's also supposed to be snowing when we land, so we'll see if flights get delayed or what.
In OKC I have more foodie adventures lined up for myself, and also hopefully visiting a museum or botanical garden :)
Other things:
The golden ginkgo tree that I found while walking through a park in Syracuse.
On the way to the theater on Saturday night, it was dark and rainy.
I was almost at the stage door when something small and white ran in front of me.
I had just enough time to see a black-tipped tail disappearing under a parked car.
Thinking it was a kitten, I stepped into the side-street to look under the car.
It dashed out again...a white ermine with a black-tipped tail.
It ran into a construction zone across the street, and was gone.
(stock photo)
I tried to cram as many of my planned activities as possible into Wednesday and Thursday because the weather is supposed to take a turn starting Friday and into the weekend.
While working I steamed some eggs in the Itaki, and I finally did get the cook time right, but then the eggs peeled so poorly that half the whites were lost. GAWD that makes me mad. At this point I'm probably not going to cook eggs in shell with the Itaki unless I can guarantee that the eggs are older (that's supposed to help with peeling).
Before y'all say anything, this is a STEAMER so I can't do the usual trick of adding baking soda and vinegar to the water, there IS no water, I'm not boiling the eggs on the stovetop. Thank you.
Around noon I got an Uber to the pierogi place because the walking route wasn't safe (long stretches of having to walk on the shoulder).
But I resolved to make up for it with a walk from there to the mall, and then walking around inside the mall, plus the walk the theater.
The restaurant is Eva's European Sweets, and it's all alone in a random run-down suburb.
Their vibrant wall art stood out from the surrounding drab houses like a flower growing from a crack in the sidewalk.
Inside was a tiny cafe, perhaps 10 tables plus a small bar area.
The hostess invited me to sit wherever, and I picked a very small corner table since it was lunch time.
I knew I wanted borscht, but it wasn't on the menu.
"Oh, we have borscht!" the waitress chortled, and hustled off to get me a cup.
I've never had borscht before so I don't have any point of comparison.
It was a pink soup (because of the beetroots) loaded with lovely chunks of potato, carrot, celery, beets, cabbage, and a bit of sour cream which I assume is also how it got the creamy pink color. Sometimes borscht has meat in it, but I didn't detect any here. It was tart and also creamy, peppery, and very good.
As a native Pennsylvanian with at least some percentage of Polish blood, I'm embarrassed to say I've never once had a homemade pierogi. I've had plenty of Mrs. T's from the freezer section...and that's about it.
These are the beautiful mushroom and potato pierogi from Eva's in Syracuse.
Easy to tell that they were made by hand.
And you can see every little ingredient in the filling: finely chopped potatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic (I assume), and black pepper.
The pierogi dough was chewy and delicious and delicate. The filling was amazing, so savory and just bursting with lovely peppercorn and earthy mushroom flavor. Dipping each bite in a bit of cool sour cream brought the whole thing together.
I can still remember the rubbery and somewhat soggy texture of Mrs. T's pierogies, slathered in cheap butter and onions and filled with instant potatoes and way too much salt. These were so, so far above and beyond that.
It was painful to look at the rest of the menu because there were so many amazing-sounding dishes that I would have loved to try. This is another place where, if I lived here, I would come every day until I'd tried everything on the menu, and then I'd still go back for my favorites once a week. The people of Syracuse--the ones who know to eat here--are very lucky indeed.
I ate three of my six pierogi and boxed the other three, then walked about two miles to the mall.
This is one of the larger malls in the US, sporting an indoor obstacle course, an aquarium, an IMAX theater, and 2.4 million square footage of shopping, dining, outlets, and anchor stores. I didn't need anything, but recently someone suggested that I check out aerie for black leggings for work. I did end up with a pair, yay! And then mostly just explored and window shopped, looking for a Pop Vinyl for Jameson (that I did not find) and trying to get Christmas ideas for family. The mall was quite massive, and I managed to clock another two miles wandering and getting lost.
I was probably only there for about an hour, then Ubered home to refrigerate my precious pierogi and get ready for the show.
We had a lovely audience and a fairly straightforward show, a few tiny snafus on and off stage but that's live theater!
--------------------------------------------
Friday I designated a "chill day".
It was supposed to rain pretty much all day starting at noon.
I woke up at the usual time, had breakfast, and posted a part of my portfolio to social media because a friend recently asked why I never upload footage of myself playing.
The reasons are
A) I have MASSIVE Impostor Syndrome.
B) Getting unasked-for critiques and mansplains when I post ANY media of myself is a big deterrent.
C) I dislike sharing pictures or video of myself in general.
D) I have bad stagefright specifically in an audition setting, which is why ALL of my portfolio material is taken during live shows.
All of that said, my friend had a good point. I SHOULD post my footage of myself playing my instrument.
Here's me doing "Ain't Misbehavin'" with Winter Park Playhouse back in 2019.
I'd like to get some footage from Tootsie, but the music is copyrighted and carefully controlled, so it's doubtful I'd be allowed to post more than like eight bars of music. Still if I can share it, I will before the end of this tour.
After that it was just a day of data entry, reading, watching anime, eating my lovely meals, and lounging around in my pajamas with a cup of tea as the rain pattered on the hotel window. Rainy days are a beautiful thing :)
The show went well, although I think there were some injuries on stage that resulted in two people out for the second half.
Hopefully everyone is all right.
-------------------------------------------------------
Saturday was our two show day.
Slow morning, I tried to do data entry but had forgotten to make timestamps of my audio so had to stop and address that.
This is the first time I've done it, it was bound to happen at some point, but I don't want to waste the company's time by having to re-listen to the entire audio track and pick out the information again. I got a little help in the group chat, so it was good damage control anyway.
First show went well with a good audience.
A cold front is moving in so I hustled back to the hotel between shows and layered up as much as possible for the next.
Dinner and back to the theater, where it felt really weird to be packing up for load out!
Our last show in Syracuse was fun. Good audience, and there was a small but hilarious character break during the Max-Reveals-His-Tattoo scene. I couldn't see what was going on, but was told that the tattoo (which is fake of course) was partially falling off, so when it was revealed it looked ridiculous, and the actors couldn't keep a straight face and started cackling on stage.
The audience loved it :)
Our wall tag was completed tonight as well, and coincidentally it depicts the tattoo scene!
Can you find my initials?
(photo AND the tag itself courtesy Jenna T., Wardrobe)
------------------------------------------------------
Sunday was soooo odd.
Normally we'd have at least one show! But not today. It's a Golden Day!
Honestly I didn't know WHAT to do with myself, other than data entry and a walk in the afternoon.
So that's pretty much what I did.
It was a cold and dreary day, raining off and on, but I walked anyway because it's that time of year and I'll need to get used to it where we're headed for the rest of this tour.
I wanted to go to a park about two miles away, but partway there it started sleeting which felt very unpleasant.
So instead I visited Salt City Market and got a pineapple sparkling water to have with dinner.
And stopped in at Antique Underground just to look at all the pretty old things and warm up before continuing on my way.
Despite not making it to the park today, I had Fun With Plants.
This dead leaf was holding droplets of water, which looked very beautiful from certain angles.
And these vines and berries climbing an old church were colorful, a splash of warmth in the cold wet.
I got in about 2.5 miles before feeling it was time to head back.
Had some hot tea and did misc computer things and packed for the rest of the night.
Not much of a "golden day" this time, but that's ok :)
----------------------------------------------------------
Today is our travel day.
9am bus to the airport, then two flights with a layover between to get to OKC.
I'm grateful that we have a significant layover so that we can get something to eat between flights (this has not been the case the last several times we've flown). It's also supposed to be snowing when we land, so we'll see if flights get delayed or what.
In OKC I have more foodie adventures lined up for myself, and also hopefully visiting a museum or botanical garden :)
Other things:
The golden ginkgo tree that I found while walking through a park in Syracuse.
On the way to the theater on Saturday night, it was dark and rainy.
I was almost at the stage door when something small and white ran in front of me.
I had just enough time to see a black-tipped tail disappearing under a parked car.
Thinking it was a kitten, I stepped into the side-street to look under the car.
It dashed out again...a white ermine with a black-tipped tail.
It ran into a construction zone across the street, and was gone.
(stock photo)
