The summer heat is upon us, and (predictably) I want to shoot myself in the head. Seriously, I ought to migrate to Toronto or someplace. Not that I’ve been to Toronto, but I hear it’s nice, and it can’t be hotter than here. Also, my tomato plants aren’t doing as well as I’d like, and my squadron of hummingbirds is laying low, so things suck for me all around.
I hosted another cookout for my novelist friends. Mostly, I wanted to hear an update from George Filip (AKA Georgio), who scored himself an agent at last October’s Push to Publish conference. Sadly, despite a number of submissions and, assumedly, prostration, a publishing contract remains elusive for Georgio. To offset his disappointment, I made a few pitchers of Aurora Lees (named after my wife, naturally). Coincidentally, Georgio just emailed me, asking for the recipe, so I thought I’d insert it here, in case anyone else cares. If you don’t, just skip the next paragraph.
I make my vodka martinis close to traditional, i.e., four parts vodka to one part vermouth (good vermouth, not that bottom-shelf offal). In an Aurora Lee, you delicately place a mandarin orange slice in the glass (instead of an olive or onion or twist), and you add a few tablespoons of the syrup from the mandarin orange can to the shaker. For a pitcher, I usually go with one cup of vodka, one quarter-cup of vermouth, three tablespoons of syrup, a handful of ice, and then I give the shaker to an attractive person to shake vigorously. It’s summery. As you can see in the photo, in this particular instance, I used Lillet instead of vermouth, but that’s largely semantics. In any case, James Bond liked Lillet.
Last night, I received a pleasant and charming email from a local playwright, Laura Lee Lenhoff, inviting me to a production of one acts at the Old Academy Players, so I thought I’d pass it along to my gentle readers. The production runs this weekend and next and includes six short pieces, including Ms. Lenhoff’s. While I don’t know Ms. Lenhoff or her writing, her profile photo involves a spelunking hat, which I think is a good sign.
As a reminder from my last post:
Orbiter 3’s new play, I Am Not My Motherland (by Emily Acker) opens on July 14.
PlayPenn’s annual reading series begins on July 12 with the final readings beginning on July 21.
Support local playwrights!
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