Do You Hear The People Sing?

First off, I know I'm breaking one of my blogging rules (I'm at work...shhhh) but its breaktime and this is important!

One of my dream jobs is to play in a professional pit orchestra for a musical, however that probably would've required me to be a little more focused on studying and practicing music.  I recently got an opportunity to play in a pit orchestra, although not quite broadway.  Its for a local youth production and our community orchestra was asked to play for it!  Of course, I jumped at the chance, figuring this is as close to broadway as I might ever get :) The fact that they are performing one of my favortie musiclas of all time, Les Miserables, didn't hurt either.  It is seriously awesome, the music is wonderful, the kids who are performing ar super talented, and I just love the atmosphere surrounding a production like this.  This brings me to the point of the post:

Everyone should come out and see this show!!

They are trying to get a full house every performance, which would be so great for everyone involved.  Yes, its a youth production of a major musical, but don't count these kids out, there is some great talent there. Anyway, here are the details:

What: Les Miserables (school edition)
When: August 11th (TODAY!), August 12th (Fri), and August 13th (Sat) at 7:30pm
           August 13th (Sat) and August 14th (Sun) at 2pm
Where: The Performing Arts Center at El Cerrito High School, 540 Ashbury Ave, El Cerrito, CA
            (Walking distance from the El Cerrito Plaza BART station)
Tickets: $20 and you can buy them here, or at the door.

Best dinner in a while...

I just had a really wonderful dinner, thanks to the bf...err...partner (more info on that here).  I always give him a hard time for being the "cook" in the family but never really cooking full and good dinners for me us.  Usually we come home form work and I end up throwing something together because we are both tired and hungry.  Tonight my partner cooked a delicious meal.  Using Julia (said with a Julia Child type of voice) as a guide he cooked white ruffy (I think) in some french creamy buttery winey lemony sauce.  I know he did some fancy stuff, but I wasn't in the kitchen so I really have no clue how it was prepared.  What I do know, it that I was presented with a plate of fish with a delicious sauce, a side of green beans, and some crusty bread.

Ok, it doesn't look like much, but it was REALLY good

I am the biggest critic when its comes to his cooking so this good review is a big deal (or at least I think so).  I also liked his setup in the kitchen, cook book on the dish drainer (yay small kitchens).

yes, I added the flowers

I also have a bunch of leftover sauce that I'm planning to put on some veggies, I just don't know which ones yet, maybe asparagus? other ideas?

National Night Out

Last night was National Night Out (NNO).  I don't know if it is a big deal other places but it is a huge deal in Oakland.  There were over 500 NNO parties last night in the city of Oakland, which is awesome.  NNO is when neighborhoods are encouraged to have block parties to get to know your neighbors and make it safe for you to spend a night outside in your neighborhood.  A house up the street had our block party and it was a great time.

Our neighborhood has a few minor problems (occasional break-ins/robberies), but it was great talking to so many people who have lived in this neighborhood for over 20 years and hearing how much they love it.  It made me realize what a cool place Oakland really is.  I met neighbors who were musicians, chefs, professors, and everything in between.  I also realized how important it is to get to know your neighbors and how they all seem to feel safer just because they know their neighbors.

We are currently considering looking for a new apartment, but it will be really hard to find anything that beats this neighborhood, and it might be a good enough reason for us to stay put (if only our building management was a little better)