Adventure 43/50 : The Hard Nut

Twenty or so years ago, when I was a grad student at the University of California, I used to try and go to one "cultural event" per month -- despite having very little money. Students at Cal were lucky; we could go see anything at the multiple world-class performance venues on campus for half price. Which didn't necessarily mean things were cheap, but closer to the realm of possibility.

I've never been a dance fan -- I often appreciate the physicality but I don't often find it beautiful or otherwise appealing. But a friend suggested we go see the Mark Morris Dance Group's production of The Hard Nut, a retelling of the classic Nutcracker tale.

The dance opens on three bored children watching television and flipping through magazines, eventually opening up to a holiday party. Drosselmeyer gives Clara a nutcracker, etc. All the classic elements are there -- including the music -- but set in the 70s for the most part. Balanchine's version doesn't include a Soul Train-style dance line.

But the best part -- the part that has remained, even 20+ years later, the most breathtaking thing I've ever seen on stage -- is the Waltz of the Snowflakes.

Waltz of the Snowflakes, image courtesy Mark Morris Dance Group

It happens at the end of the first act -- the entire company dressed identically in small tutus and crop tops, coming across the stage in groups and lines, tossing little handfuls of "snow". I don't have the vocabulary to say that they are doing, but all I can say is that I found myself holding my breath during the piece, and when it finished and the curtain dropped I burst into tears. Just thinking about it still takes my breath away.

Fast forward 20-some years to when we saw the schedule for the "Broadway at the Paramount" series for the current season. In amidst the musicals they were including "The Hard Nut", and I squealed. It was a little weird -- they apologized, almost, and stated that if you weren't interested in the dance piece, they would remove it from your subscription. WHAT? It's the most exciting piece in the entire season, if you ask me.

Last night was our night to go, and well, it didn't disappoint. The party was fun, the dancing beautiful and physical, and, well, those snowflakes still made me gasp. I was sad to see it wasn't well attended, but the people who were there were appreciative, laughed at the right moments, gasped at the right moments, and applauded like mad. Nice surprise at the end: during the curtain calls, Mark Morris himself came out on stage, nattily dressed in a dark suit with a raspberry scarf. Sweet!

If you've never seen the Waltz of the Snowflakes, here's a video from the Mark Morris Dance Group from 1991. I wish it was just a static camera showing the way the dancers move across the entire stage, but it's still lovely. Happy Christmas!

Travel Tuesday : Casablanca, Morocco

After a long train ride yesterday from Fez, we arrived here in Casablanca. Got off the train and stepped into a (relatively) cool breeze -- since we're back at the coast. Got to our hotel (the Guynemer), which LP raves about, but it's nothing special. I mean, it's a small room in a dingy hotel, but it does have a friendly staff and wi-fi. It's all we wanted in a place to crash for a night before flying to Egypt.

Walked around Casa a bit yesterday -- there are some grand old facades in this town -- but it's all dirty and poorly maintained. It's not a poor city -- there's lots of international business here -- but perhaps the lack of rain keeps everything coated with dust.

We were most saddened by the ruined Hotel Lincoln. It was built in 1919 as the Bessonneau building, designed by French architect Hubert Bride. The huge structure was featured in old postcards, dominating the former Boulevard de la Gare.

Varying reports say that after the owner attempted to get permission to tear down the building, the authorities responded by giving the building protected status. So the building was abandoned and squatters were allowed to move in -- in the hopes that they would slowly but surely destroy the structure from within.

Here was the status of the exterior when we saw it in 2009:

The strategy seemed to work -- with a partial  collapse of the building in 1989 that killed two people, another in 2004 that killed one more, and yet another in 2015 that killed another man. At the same time the area was being revitalized. Note the tram line on a newly pedestrianized section of Morocco running immediately in front of the ruined hotel in this 2018 photo:

photo from L'Economiste

Meanwhile calls for proposals on how to save at least the facade and renovate the structure went out three times between 2015 and 2018. The last report I could find stated that a proposal from the REALITES group had been accepted and they planned to build out a 5-star hotel to open in 2022.

Made the trek (skirting the medina and inadvertently passing through some dodgy areas, but in broad daylight) to Rick's Cafe -- modelled on the bar in the film... which was, of course, actually modelled on the Caid's Bar in Tangier. But we figured we'd be bummed, later, if we didn't at least have a drink there.

Not very imposing on the outside (why on earth didn't they invest in a neon sign?)...

... but it is beautiful inside, even if it doesn't look anything like Rick's.

Had a drink in the upstairs bar; the drink was stiff if expensive, the service non-existent... but it was the first time we had had a service charge applied. Happy to have our one drink, beg someone to give us the bill, wait 5 minutes to pay them, and then skedaddle.

On the way to Rick's we came across the Hassan II mosque, the third-largest mosque in the world. It's so big you can scarcely believe it -- it's set a bit apart from other buildings so you don't get a sense of how big it is. But it can house 25,000 worshippers at once, along with another 80,000 in the surrounding squares and halls. Beautiful, but not open to non-Muslims. (fair enough).

After Rick's we decided to get some food, and followed LP's recommendation for Al-Mounia -- which was gorgeous and classy in a way that Rick's will never be. Stepping through a guarded door into an amazing fairy-lit courtyard with a huge tree providing shade.

Were seated quickly, and then not long after we arrived the crowds came. We told them we were vegetarian and they brought out a 6-plate salad to share as a starter -- huge thing... an eggplant salad, two different pepper salads, the tomato and onion salad, a cucumber salad, and... oddest of all... ground carrot with sugar. Honest.

They were all delicious (well, the carrot was odd but still tasty) and very filling, so when our vegetable couscous came we weren't very hungry. The waiter was funny and charming and pretended to be sad that we didn't finish our couscous (or our "dessert couscous" that came with walnuts, dates, and a liberal coating of powdered sugar). But it was relatively inexpensive and absolutely Moroccan.

Up next: Egypt!

Adventure 42/50 : Making hard cider jelly

I don't really know how this became an obsession. At some point this year I thought I'd like to make hard cider... which led to the idea of making hard cider jelly. I should be clear that this isn't very like me -- I occasionally cook or bake, but really my crafting/creativity leans toward stitching.

Enter the 50@50 project, where I decided to have 50 adventures, large and small, in this year I've been 50. And "make hard cider jelly" was on the list.

I found a great recipe on the Hitchhiking to Heaven blog -- it's the recipe that every other blog I found on the topic cited. Basically it's hard cider, some sugar, low-sugar pectin, and a bit of lemon juice. I'm not even going to bother to repeat the recipe here -- hers worked perfectly! Seriously -- just use her hard cider jelly recipe.

The nervous part, for me, was the water bath canning, but that was fine too -- and my six little jars of cider all "popped" within a minute of being removed from the bath. Result!

I used a cranberry cider from Incline Cider, a seasonal flavor I hadn't tried before.  I wanted to make sure the jelly came out semi tart and -- most importantly, tasting like hard cider and not like apple juice. It also came out a pretty orangey / salmon pink color.

I'm also thrilled to report that, indeed, it does taste like hard cider. It's a little sweet, but the tartness of the cranberry also comes through. And it's delicious on brie or buttered toast.

This may not feel like an "adventure" for a lot of people, but it felt like one to me as it was a little bit outside of my comfort zone. And I have some really nice jelly to share over the holidays!

Travel Tuesday : Volubilis, Morocco

Got up early(ish) and went to the nearest medina gate to pick up a taxi. I had been thinking about taking a bus or a shared grand taxi, but we bumped into Josephine on the way out of the riad and she convinced us to take the train. We got a taxi right away and were at the station in a few minutes, then easily got 1st-class tickets to Meknes and settled in for the short ride.

Got off at the right station (the second one) -- so thrilling not to have luggage! -- and out into the street. A man quietly said "Taxi? Volubilis? Moulay Idriss?" and we said no thanks and moved a little bit away to get our bearings. LP said to go to the Institut Francais to haggle for a taxi and to try to get the price down to 350 Dh.



While I was looking for the map, the man approached again, again very quietly and politely, so we asked how much. He described the trip: 20 minutes drive to Volubilis, 2 hours to walk around the site, then a 5-minute drive to a panorama above Moulay Idriss, and then 20 minutes back... for 350. Which is exactly that I wanted to / expected to pay. So w/o haggle or hassle we agreed.



The driver was nice -- chatting in French and telling us about the upcoming festival for the king, about prickly pear (cactus), about olive oil, etc. We understood about 50% of what he was saying.

Soon we arrived at Volubilis and I could barely believe my eyes -- the site was huge!



Volubilis itself was surprising -- like Ephesus must have been in the 70s -- some bits cleaned up, but lots of piles of rock, a few arches, lots of fallen pillars, and only a handful of signs. A big museum, very modern looking, is being built, but seemed to be a couple of years from opening. (The building was apparently completed in 2011) But once open it should help the place -- which just needs money to improve the signage, etc.

The mosaics are remarkably intact, other than the ones which have had their faces or naked bodies scratched out.

The Hercules mosaic is particularly lovely.

And this elephant is remarkably realistic:

And I liked the arches, especially the triumphal arch. And I like that storks have built their nests atop two of the tallest columns in the basilica. Very nice that someone still makes a home there.

We were pretty much done after 1:45 -- there's no shade to speak of at the site, and it's very dry. We couldn't even be bothered to go to the cafe for a cold drink -- we just went back to the car and our driver.



Leaving Volubilis ("I told you you would only want 2 hours!") he drove up the hill to a nice view of Moulay Idriss, explaining that it's the tomb of Moulay Idriss I, and the tomb in Fes is of his son, Moulay Idriss II. "Poor man's Mecca", because 5 trips to Moulay Idriss during the saint's festival = 1 trip to Mecca. A fossil seller sidled up and tried to sell us fossils, while telling us about Moulay Idriss but he kept slipping from German to English which is pretty much what I do when speaking Spanish or French.

Then back in the car and back to Meknes, where the driver was a bit disappointed in us that we didn't want to explore his city. But we only had 20 minutes until our train at 13:29, so we didn't want to risk it. So to the station we went, and discovered the train would be 35 minutes late. Okay, fine. Well, the train was eventually 90 minutes late. Boo. And when it came there was no A/C. Double boo. But it came, we got on, and had no trouble getting a petit taxi back to the medina.



Spent the afternoon resting (oh, after having a date shake at Cafe Clock...) and then in the evening went back out for a saunter, looked at some slippers, and ate.

The slippers thing was tough -- I think I *wish* I wanted them, but in part I didn't want the hassle. But we went to a shop, Wil tried on some yellow slippers (the best!), and we looked at the different quality. I think the guy just normally sold to locals, so didn't want to haggle -- but he also gave us very inflated prices. So we said no and walked away, and he didn't follow. I realized that flat slippers really wouldn't do much for my feet, so I dismissed the idea as well. So no slippers for us.



Dinner at Café Clock, again -- got a great table we sniped from another couple (who left a bag with a melon, and then slunk back for it). Wil had the cheese and veggie grilled sandwich, I had the falafel/tabbouleh/hummous platter (not as nice as last time?) and two big waters. We watched the sun set over Fes and relaxed.



Then "home" to our riad, a cold drink on the rooftop, then bed.  

lovely Albert Moore-ish scallop / fan shape at Volubilis