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Last night I met my friend Shawnda for dinner at Magnolia’s, a sweet, atmospheric, and entirely delicious little cafe and bakery on snowy Park Ave. I’m not really sure how this place flew beneath my radar for so long, but I’m pretty smitten with it. Apparently nearly all of my friends have already discovered this gem and when Obama was in town last year, this was the restaurant he dined at, so how I missed the news of this place’s existence (since Obama in the Roc City was quite an ordeal), I’m not sure. But now I know. And that’s probably not a good thing.
After staring at their massive menu of totally amazing sounding soups, salads, sandwiches, wraps, pizzas, and Quiche for about twenty minutes (also, we’re girls, so we can’t stop talking, meaning no progress toward ordering is ever made until the poor waitress has come back to check on us six times), I settled upon and promptly devoured (devoured – I didn’t even get a picture y’all) a humongous, hot bowl of their famed creamy tomato, artichoke and cheese soup with garlic crostini. And it was so good. Pretty much the perfect accompaniment for two hours of wonderful conversation with one of your best girlfriends on a subzero temperature evening. And then there was the homemade cheesecake. Ohhhhh the cheesecake. Cheesecake with chocolate syrup and an Oreo crust and caramel and nuts and whipped cream and Snickers and brownies and….everything. It was insanely delicious, and Shawnda’s ham, cheese, and broccoli Quiche and lemon cheesecake was pretty stellar too. I hope to return immediately. If my wisdom teeth must be forcefully removed from my mouth tomorrow, then I’m at least getting some good soup out of the deal.
Following our conversation at dinner about how we really, really need to plan a girls’ Bed & Breakfast & Theatre weekend excursion (who’s with us!?) to the Stratford and Shaw Theatre Festivals this year in Canada, since we’re only a few hours drive from them and I’m still under 29, which can garnish us some pretty swell ticket deals, I arrived home and got right on the computer to scout out both festivals 2014 season schedules. And, much to my extreme delight, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival is doing Crazy For You, one of my most favorite musicals that I was cast in (uh, ten years ago) and have adored for years! I don’t feel it is done very often, and I’ve never seen a professional production of it before so, clearly, this means I MUST SEE THIS SHOW. There are a number of other productions I’d be interested in seeing at Stratford and Shaw and the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival too, but this one is non-negotiable.
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On a completely tangential side note, I came across these rare color photos of circus showgirls of the 1940s and 1950s…and I’m in love!
Also, one of my awesome co-workers, upon discovering that I love clementines, left this smiling clementine in my mailbox at work today! This secret person, whoever he or she is, is the BEST. Day = Made. I love working at Geva Theatre for so very many reasons, not the least of which is the incredibly wonderful and smart and funny and loving and generous and talented co-worker artists I get to surround myself with, and the beautiful and powerful theatre we are so lucky to create together every single day!
