Snowpocalypse Quiche!

Quiche is probably one of my top three favorite breakfast foods. It's a perfect blend of creamy, eggy goodness and the possibilities are endless (or only limited by what you have in your fridge). 

And the best part? Quiche is ridiculously easy to make.

So, when the latest chapter in the Snowpocalypse of 2014 meant that I got to spend the morning home with the dog, a pot of coffee, and Olympic hockey, I knew a bowl of cereal wasn't going to cut it. 

I was lucky enough to have a good mix of ingredients laying around just begging to be made into a quiche and that was all the incentive I needed. 

I had 5 or 6 slices of bacon in the fridge, so I started by cutting it into 1/2 inch pieces and fried them over medium-high heat until almost crispy. Then I removed the bacon from the pan, and drained all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat from the pan, being sure to leave the little crispy bits behind, too. 

While the bacon was cooking, I had minced 3 cloves of garlic that I then sautéed in the bacon fat. After it started to get soft and fragrant (about 1 minute), I added an 8 oz. container of sliced, fresh mushrooms to the pan with 1/2 tablespoon of butter. I sautéed them over medium heat, stirring occasionally, and covered them after they started to look cooked on both sides, to let the steam help them soften completely and to marry the flavors. 

Meanwhile, I set the oven to 350 and made the egg mixture. Usually three eggs and 1 1/2 cups of half and half is the perfect amount if you have a regular pie dish, but I only had a really shallow pre-made pie crust in a pan in the freezer (note to self: be more specific when sending the hubby to get pre-made pie crust... I'm a big fan of the Pillsbury pie crusts). And if you're like me, and love your quiche packed with yummy ingredients, you'll want to cut the liquid down by 1/4 or so. 

A note about the half and half: you can get away with using whole milk if that's all you have, it just won't be as creamy. Some recipes call for straight up heavy cream, but I like to at least pretend that I'm being health conscious sometimes. ;-)

I beat the eggs and cream together until well-blended, with some freshly ground pepper and sea salt added as well. We have some smoked sea salt in our salt cellar at the moment so I added a pinch of that, too.

Assembly is easy: put the bacon and mushrooms in the bottom of the crust, grate some cheese on top (I used a blend of Cabot's Seriously Sharp cheddar and asiago). About 1/4- 1/2 cup of grated cheese is good... I usually eyeball it. Then pour the egg mixture on top.

The final, secret ingredient to an amazing quiche is a sprinkling of nutmeg on the top. The sweet, nuttiness is the perfect flavor to offset the richness of the egg and dairy. 

Pop that baby in the oven for 20-25 minutes (35-40 for deep dish) until the quiche is set, and you're done!

Remember that you can sautée some chopped broccoli, red peppers, onion, etc. Whatever you have laying around. Mix up the cheeses too: smoked Gouda, American, Parmesan, feta. If you like it in an omelette, it'll be awesome in a quiche!

Asiago-Cheddar Bacon Mushroom Quiche

1 pre-made pie crust

5-6 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2 pieces

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

8 oz. of sliced, fresh mushrooms

1/2 tablespoon of butter

3 eggs

1 1/2 cup of half-and-half

1/4-1/3 cup of sharp cheddar/ asiago cheese blend, grated 

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Pepper to taste

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook bacon over medium-high heat until almost crispy. Remove bacon from pan and set aside. Drain oil from the pan, leaving behind about 1 tablespoon. 

2. Sautée garlic in bacon fat until soft and fragrant (2-3 minutes). Add butter and mushrooms. Sautée over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When mushrooms look cooked on both sides, cover and sautée until softened and cooked through. 

3. Mix eggs, half-and-half, salt and pepper in a bowl until well-blended. 

4. Place pie crust in pie pan. Place bacon and mushrooms in the bottom, followed by the grated cheese. Pour the egg mixture on top and sprinkle with nutmeg. 

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes (35-40 for deep dish) until eggs are set and starting to brown on top. Let it cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. 

Slow cooker Thai Curry Soup

It's that time of year again... Soup weather!!

When my honey woke up yesterday morning with a nasty head cold, I knew it was time to break out the crock pot and make some curry based soup to help clear up his sinuses. 

Even if you're not sick, this flavorful, Thai curry inspired recipe is sure to warm you up on a chilly day! 

Enjoy!

Slow-cooker Thai Curry Soup

The beauty of this recipe is that it's completely customizable and almost 100% fool-proof! If you already have a favorite curry recipe, you can adapt that, too, which is what I did!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of red curry paste

2 cans of coconut milk (usually between 12-14 oz. per can)

2 cups of stock (I like to use either garden vegetable or low-sodium chicken)

2 tablespoons of fish sauce

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

2 tablespoons of peanut butter (or if you have it, Thai peanut sauce)

1 1/2- 2 lbs of chicken breasts or seitan, cut into bite size pieces

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 large onion, diced

1 tablespoon of freshly minced ginger

2 6-inch stalks of lemongrass

1/2 lb. of white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

1-2 teaspoons of siracha or red chili sauce, to taste (optional)

1 cup of frozen peas

1 tablespoon of lime juice

White or jasmine rice (optional)

Instructions

1. Mix the curry paste, coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, brown sugar and peanut butter in a 4-6 quart slow cooker. Use a whisk to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Add the chicken, pepper, onion, ginger, mushrooms and siracha. Lastly, bruise the lemongrass stalks by bending them in 3 or 4 places to release the aroma and flavor, and add to the pot. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours.

2. Add the peas and cook for another 15-30 minutes. Cook rice while waiting. 

3. Finally, stir in the lime juice and then serve with or without rice. 

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I know I'm two days late, but I had a busy weekend, and so I'm posting my Cinco de Mayo post today for your enjoyment. It's not really Mexican either, but Fernando Obradors is probably one of the best Spanish song composers (IMHO). This little number is romantic and more than a little flirtatious. The translation is below the video, and take note of the piano accompaniment and how it mimics the sound of a classical guitar. Enjoy!

Translation: Of the softest hair, that you wear in braids, I will make a rope in order to draw you to my side./ A jug in your house, beloved, I wish to be, so that I may kiss your lips whenever you take a drink.

I'm Back!

Wow!!

It has been forever since I've posted here... eep...

My life has kind of turned upside down since my last post here. I've moved away to a bigger metropolitan area where I can get more professional singing gigs.

When I first moved, however, there was not much singing going on besides what I did in the shower. The full-time job I had taken had a full schedule that just didn't permit me to do any serious performing. I did find an amazing vocal coach and so I spent a lot of time studying and fixing technique.

Now the busy season is over and I've been picking up some singing gigs, which is making me very happy. I just finished up a run of La Boheme with an opera company and I auditioned for another company last night. I also have a concert and a competition coming up at the end of the month, so that's taking up most of my free time.

The big piece I'm singing for the concert is the Gavotte from Massanet's "Manon." It's a spectacular aria and it has been preformed by a great many wonderful sopranos. I think my favorite is Natalie Dessay's rendition, by far... probably because she's a native French speaker and can really  do wonderful contextual things with the piece.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling and share it with you!

Happy Feast of the Assumption!!

May Our Blessed Mother watch over and protect us all!!

Mary: The Milk and Cookies of Catholicism

Many Kudos to Fr. Z for linking through to this from his blog.

It resonated particularly with me, as I've been calling upon Our Lady through her various titles a lot recently, and I'm also working through the preparation to renew my Consecration to Mary for the Feast of the Assumption. It really was well timed, and sums up quite well how I feel about my devotion to Our Blessed Mother.

USCCB Media Blog: Devotion to Mary: The Milk and Cookies of Catholicism

Eric Whitacre and Opening Your Ears

Eric Whitacre is one of the world's greatest living choral composers, in my humble opinion. I was first exposed to his work in my freshman year of University, when our Chamber Choir studied his piece entitled "Water Night." It was also my first exposure to singing modern choral works, as prior to that my experience had been limited to Renaissance/ Sacred Polyphony.

Technically, this is one of the more challenging pieces I've worked on as a chorister. Whitacre's changing metre, long and demanding legato phrasing, and dense harmonic washes are difficult enough to master, but in this piece what was more challenging were the moments of perfect unison between the voice parts. When achieved, it takes the listener's breath away.

Whitacre's music also taught me something besides the technical challenges. This piece taught me to open my ears and to realise that there is so much beautiful music that works well outside of the traditional harmonic structures I'd been used to singing and listening to. "Water Night" isn't a difficult piece to open your ears and mind to, simply because of its transcendent beauty, but it still challenges the listener and served as a good stepping stone to the rest of the realm of modern music.

In addition, "Water Night" also introduced me to the wonderful poetry of Octavio Paz.

Praise God, that there is so much that is beautiful in this world!

Enjoy!

Debussy: Ballade slave

Some more gorgeous and soothing music that I've come across: Debussy's Ballade slave (1890) for piano solo. It's the only 'ballade' that Debussy wrote, and it is evident even in this early composition that he had mastered  the art of composing rich, lyrical single movement pieces.

Debussy hated to have his compositions described as "Impressionist," but I don't think the term can really be avoided, as his music almost instinctively evokes in the listener's mind images of Impressionist paintings. Even the harmonic structures are "impressionist" with their parallel chords and the seeming lack of tonality in the moving passages... Indeed, they are the aural equivalent of the out-of-focus painting technique of the period. Both the music and the visual art strove to obscure details/strict harmonics, allowing the audience to appreciate the art's poise and colour and to more directly affect their emotions.

But I digress... technical prose aside, this is, quite simply, beautiful music.

Handel's Messiah: How Beautiful Are the Feet

The past week has been a little more than hectic here, but I wanted to share one of the pieces of music that came up on my shuffle and was very calming. Handel's Messiah seems appropriate to listen to at any time of the year, especially when sung by the impeccable Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson, whose voice was silenced far too soon. God grant that she's among the Choir of Angels...

 

EDIT- I almost forgot that I also wanted to acknowledge some of my readers. In the last week I've had readers from the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia, Ireland and the Netherlands. Thanks all for visiting!

More Bel Canto!

And now for the same aria, sung by Spanish Mezzo-Soprano, Teresa Berganza. She's absolutely the best Rosina, in my opinion. She successfully blends impeccable acting with her effortless coloratura, and the results are breathtaking. She truly captures the effervescent joy of Rosina after she learns that Lindoro loves her. I can't help but to smile whenever I watch this!

Bel Canto- Beautiful Singing at its best

I don't think there are any words necessary for this:

When is it enough?

When is suffering enough? Or too much, for that matter?

There is redemptive suffering, for certain, but what do you do when that suffering adversely affects other people? And there is a possible way to relieve said suffering?

Is there ever a time when you're carrying the "wrong" cross, in a certain sense? Especially if your own stubbornness and pride have got you into the situation you're in?

*SQUEE*

Note: Please excuse my inner fangirl as she relates the most recent happenings... Your patience is appreciated.

So, last week I had one of the most awesome experiences of my life!!! My Mom and Dad took me to see Michael Bublé in concert!!!

First off, I just have to say that he puts on a FANTASTIC concert and encourages the audience to dance and sing along. Let me tell you, my Mom and I didn't need to be told twice, especially after having enjoyed a few pre-concert pints. *wink*

Anyway, we started off on the floor in Row M, which was pretty close, but still very far away from my perspective. So, when presented with the opportunity, my Mom and I rushed to get closer. Our caper pulled off, because he moved to a stage in the middle of the arena, and we ended up less than 5 feet away from him!!!

Michael singing only feet away!!

 

 

Michael posing dramatically during the bridge of Home.

 He ended up so close to us that I TOUCHED him!!!! *sudden fainting spell*

....

....

....

*revives*

After that, we followed him right back up to the mainstage and we were front row for the rest of the concert, dancing and singing our hearts out!!!

Michael's very cool stage set-up

The coolest shot ever!!!

*sigh* He is sooo amazing!!

 All of our dancing and singing paid off, because.... *deep breath, anticipatory pause* Michael sang right to us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Michael coming over to sing to us!!! *swoon*

 We even caught the attention of the camera guy and ended up on the big screen!!!!

My Mom rather cleverly took a picture of the camera guy... before realising that he was photographing her, too!!

 The concert was over far too soon for my tastes, as I could have listened to him all night long. *sigh* However, all good things in moderation, I suppose.

Before it was all over, though, he showered us all in confetti and sang a song full voice with NO MICROPHONE to the whole arena. *wide-eyed admiration and amazement* It was breath-taking...

Soooo much confetti!!!

 *contented sigh* I don't think I've had so much fun since... well... I'm not sure when... All I know is I won't be washing the hand that touched him for a looong time... *dreamy sigh*

PS- I mustn't forget to credit my Mom for all the awesome pictures... I was too busy dancing and singing along to worry about photographs. ;)

Finally a New Post!

This time, I have no honest excuse for not posting sooner, especially since I've not got a job for the summer.

So, to make up for my long absence, I'm going to post some of the promised pictures from my trip with the Chamber Choir. I'm rather pleased with how a lot of them turned out, as I'm only an amateur photographer and my camera is quite old. However, that doesn't seem to have interfered with luck.

First off on the tour, we went to Philadelphia, PA. It was very nice to re-visit the city in less dire circumstances, and we had great fun sight-seeing.

Part of Independence Hall- The main façade was covered in scaffolding for restoration work.

The Liberty Bell

 Along with going to Independence Hall and seeing the Liberty Bell, a small group of us decided to do a rapid tour of the city in the time remaining to us. We stopped in for the noon organ recital in Macy's, which has the world's largest pipe organ in the store. It was nothing short of amazing! We also walked all the way to the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and visited the rooftop garden. Then we walked down South Street to Jim's Steaks for the best Philly cheese-steaks in Philadelphia (they were!).

Next on the itinerary was Colonial Williamsburg, VA, where we had a three-hour guided tour. It was fascinating and very beautiful. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery, so I was only able to take a small handful of photographs, like the one below.

A sheep at Colonial Williamsburg keeping cool in the hot Virginia weather

 Close by was the historic Maymont estate. We didn't have time to visit the house, but we did wander through the extensive gardens.

A view of the gorgeous rose garden

The arbour looking out over the rose garden

One of the garden's many roses.

Peonies

 

 

 Finally, we went to Washington D.C. where we did a lot of walking. Our first day there we went to the Supreme Court building and toured the U.S. Capitol.

Dome of the U.S. Capitol building as seen from the Supreme Court building.

 Our next day, we visited almost all of the monuments- Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Washington Monument- and then did some museum perusing. We were permitted to go off and choose what museums we wanted to go to, so I chose to go to the Holocaust Museum. It was a very moving exhibit, and I was glad to see that the museum gave a fair representation of what happened, even devoting a fair amount of space to the persecutions of the Catholics by the Nazis. It took some time to get through everything, but it was well worth spending the time there.

The next day, we started at Washington Cathedral, which is an Anglican cathedral. The exterior was quite beautiful, although the interior left much to be desired. It was pretty and spacious, but the mix of architectural styles was a bit off-putting for me.

St. Peter outside Washington Cathedral's main doors.

 After that, we had another free afternoon for sight-seeing, so I opted to see the Gem and Minerals exhibit at the Smithsonian (amazing!!) and then went on to the National Gallery of Art. I was as happy as a clam there, as I spent much time in the Impressionist exhibit, viewing Monet, Manet, Picasso, Van Gogh, Renoir, Matisse... *happy sigh* I also wanted to see the Pre-Raphaelite paintings the museum had on offer, but as it was Sunday, that gallery was closed for cleaning. Instead, I wandered through the Renaissance art, and was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon Botticelli's famous Madonna and Child, as well as numerous Tintorellos and Titians... I really could have spent all day there.

The last stop was the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, and I didn't take any pictures, as I was there for Mass. All I can say though is that one should certainly make time to go to the Basilica of they are ever in Washington D.C. It is absolutely spectacular, almost rivalling some of the great Basilicas I've seen abroad.

Overall, the trip was a great success. We had a lot of fun, gave some very fine concerts, and learned a lot of interesting things at all of the places we visited.

I hope everyone enjoyed the photos!!

I'm alive!!!

The Rapture didn't take me! I guess that means I have to keep on blogging, then...

Life has been insane since I last posted, and although I say that after almost every hiatus, it is really true this time. Finals happened, 4 concerts, our parish Spring Dance, and then I went on tour with my University's Chamber Singers for 2 weeks.

I'll have more on the tour next time, including some neat photos, but for now I'll leave you with a beautiful recording of one of the pieces we performed: Ralph Vaughan Williams' choral song cycle Three Shakespeare Songs. Our whole program was choral settings of Shakespearian texts, and this was definitely ones of my favourites. Enjoy!

Seraphic Singles: A Day to Pray for Priests

Yes, I'm re-blogging, but Seraphic is right on the money here, and I couldn't possibly begin to add to what she's written.


Seraphic Singles: A Day to Pray for Priests


I hope everyone has a blessed Holy Thursday, and I'm thinking of recording our choir tonight, so perhaps I'll have some music to share with you tomorrow.

Missa Pange Lingua- Josquin des Prez

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was assigned to do an analysis of the Kyrie from Josquin's Missa Pange Lingua for Written Theory class. We were actually allowed to chose our own piece to analyse, and it was fun to see what pieces my colleagues had chosen to work on.

I chose the Josquin for a few reasons, the first being that Missa Pange Lingua is probably my most favourite polyphonic Mass out of the countless settings our choir has sung. I also chose it because I was always fascinated by the counterpoint that Josquin uses throughout the Mass. Years ago, when first starting out as Alto section leader, this Mass was a huge challenge for me to sing. In an attempt to make it easier, I went through the score and indicated all the places where the alto line mimicked or was mimicked by another part, as well as those passages in which the alto line moved with another part rhythmically. Little did I know that I was outlining in broad strokes Josquin's use of counterpoint. And it makes my musicianly heart swell with pride to see my teenaged handwriting all over my score, with the notes pointing out all the parallels between the voice parts. Also, the Pange Lingua chant is my favourite plainchant, and one thing I never had done, and wanted to do, was to figure out how much of the plainchant Josquin used in order to set the motifs for his paraphrase Mass.

As I worked on the analysis, I was amazed to find that in the Kyrie alone, Josquin pulled at least 3 motifs from the chant, and incorporated them into his polyphonic setting. The main theme, which is pulled from the first 10 notes of the chant, is used repeatedly, with different embellishments, and it jumps from voice part to voice part in an intricate fugue-like setting. Josquin also likes to set up his counterpoint between the Altos/Basses and then the Sopranos/Tenors. It's not until the third movement of the Kyrie that Josquin puts the counterpoint between the two outer voices, setting up a sequential motif that leads the Sopranos and Basses to move in parallel thirds, while the inner voices move in contrary motion to the outer lines.

It is just simply brilliant composing, which is even more impressive considering it's use of modality rather than tonality, as Josquin keeps the Mass in the Phrygian mode in which the original chant was set. This also explains the extensive use of counterpoint between two voices, rather than extensive homophonic writing, relying more on the implied harmony than harmonic progressions. Indeed, Josquin's use of an open fifth at cadences underscores his use of implied harmony, and to the listener it is positively striking.

Well, before I bore my readers any further, I'd just like to add that in my study of the piece, I learned that the Missa Pange Lingua is believed to be the last Mass that des Prez composed. As a musician, I cannot imagine having written a more fitting final piece.

Pange lingua gloriosi

Sing, O tongue,

Corporis mysterium

of the mystery of the glorious Body

Sanguinisque pretiosi

and of the precious Blood

Quem in mundi pretium

which the King of the nations,

Fructus ventris generosi

the fruit of a noble womb

Rex effudit gentium

shed for the sake of the world. 

More Debussy

A friend posted this on Facebook the other day, and I thought I would share it with you all. What follows is a beautiful and practically flawless performance of Claude Debussy's Reverie, transcribed and arranged for Harp.





Even more interesting is to compare this version with the original for piano; The same music with very different moods, due in part to the atmospheric effects of the different instruments.



I hope you all enjoy the pieces as much as I do!

Heh... and now I must stop procrastinating and get back to work on my paper comparing Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children with Gabriel García Márquez's A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.

Counterpoint!

Yes, I'm re-blogging. Sorry.

Honestly, though, I'm glad I came across this, as I have to do an analysis of the Kyrie from Josquin des Prez's Missa Pange Lingua as my final assignment for Advanced Music Theory. The Kyrie is almost all imitative counterpoint, so this video was really helpful in clarifying some of my vague understanding of contrapuntal (I love that word!!) music.

Thanks to Jeffrey Tucker over at The Chant Cafe for sharing this!

Exciting News of Various Kinds!!!

So... yeah, I've been slacking off on my blogging, yet again. This time, however, I have a really good excuse!

So, when I last posted, I mentioned the recital I was preparing for. Well, for those who are interested in knowing, the recital went beautifully! In the days leading up to it I was ridiculously busy. My partner, (A baritone I shall nickname Barry for the purposes of this blog) Barry, and I spent a lot of time practicing amidst our already busy schedules as teachers. We rehearsed together, we rehearsed with the pianist, we rehearsed on our own. We practiced at my house, at my University, as his University (where he teaches), at the music school where we both teach, and at the venue for our recital.

When we weren't rehearsing, we were making translations for the texts we were singing- French, Spanish, German, Italian- and typing up the translation sheets to give to the audience. In addition, we designed and printed the programs, which took us until almost 2 am one night, both of us working together via Google Voice Chat and Google Docs (Have I mentioned how much I love Google?) to get the program finished. We experimented with type settings, formats, program orders, tweaked our bios, and surfed around (with much laughter and goofing around, I'll admit) for the perfect picture to adorn the front of our programs.

Then, I had to run about for my recital gown: buying new character shoes, doing the dress fitting, picking up the dress after the fitting, picking up the necessary essentials to go with the gown, playing around with different updos for my somewhat short hair. (What can I say? This was my debut recital. I wasn't going to do it halfway.)

Finally, the big day arrived. After singing at our respective churches for Sunday Mass, Barry and I met early to do the last minute preparations and run through some last minute changes with the pianist. Then, I got into my new gown, did my hair and makeup, and we waited backstage for the audience to finish arriving and for the clock to strike 3.

I won't say too much about the recital itself here, because I plan on posting clips from the recording as well as plenty of pictures. I will say, however, that it went exceptionally well. All of our loved ones came out to support us and then some. We both sang exceptionally well, the audience told us that we moved them, and we had a great time. We got a standing ovation at the end and everything!!

Most importantly, at the last minute, Barry and I learned that they would be recording the recital for broadcasting on our local NPR station!!!!

I could hardly believe it!! I still don't believe it, but the sound technicians were there, and they'll be sending us a copy of the recital for us to review before it gets put on the air! I also learned that our station streams live online, so when I know when the concert will be aired, I'll be certain to post the info here so that anyone who is interested can tune in! :D

After the recital was over, it was time to decompress a little, as the week or two before had been more than hectic.

(Oh! And in the middle of all the preparations, I had my 25th birthday!)

This week has been a lot more subdued and I've been able to focus a lot more on my coursework. I also got to pick out some new repertoire to fiddle with for the rest of the semester and some of it is really fun!

Now, for some more exciting news: I got to speak with Scot over the weekend and we had a lovely chat about how his study of the Faith is going (he's been wanting to become a Catholic for quite some time now). The happiest news of all was to learn that he may possibly be coming into the Church during Holy Week! If this is indeed the case, Husband and I will be going to Scotland for Easter to celebrate Scot's happy day with him. It isn't certain just yet, but I should know definitely by tomorrow the latest. In any case, we've already been prepping in case it does indeed happen, and things seems to be falling perfectly in place. Husband has been able to get the necessary days off of work, we were able to find reasonably priced airline tickets, and even my teaching schedule for the days we'd be gone straightened themselves out rather easily.

My question to my readers in the UK: Know of any good places to stay while we're in Edinburgh? Stuff to do? :D

Finally, I'd ask your prayers for Scot as he prepares for his entrance into the Church (whenever it may be). Thank you!!