Day 19: Still sailing
I got reminded by a few of you that I never gave the answer to the trivia question yesteday:
COMPLETE THE SET: Star Child, Demon, Cat, [blank] - the answer is SPACEMAN.
Now, when we were in the theatre, and they revealed the answer, the lady from the team behind me went, “WTF?”
But once you figure out how they’re related, it’s pretty easy: Star Child, Demon, Cat, Spaceman.
…and about 150 people in the Star Theatre all went, “OOoooooooohhhhhhhhhhh, OK”
There was also a question about the metals that make up the alloy bronze, which is a no-brainer for someone who has played, directed, and written music for handbells for more than 30 years. [it’s copper and tin, by the way]
For those who don’t know, I’m very heavily involved in handbells. I directed a group called HeavenSound in Houston for 17 years. Now in Canada, I’m chair-elect of the Bow River Handbell Musicians Society, I co-direct Bell Époque in Calgary, and I also play in Bell Époque and Elbow River Bells. Additionally, I’m on the board of Handbell Musicians of Canada and I’m Membership Director of Alberta Guild of English Handbell Ringers.
I’m also chair of the Classic Bronze Handbell Ringing Association, which puts on a massive festival every two years. You can see more about that here:
If you don’t know what handbells are or what they do, here’s a quick video that I put together with some special effects trickery back in Houston. No, I didn’t clone myself…. but I did have to play all four parts from memory in an uninterrupted take. Took me all day to get four clean takes!
Had some of the roast beef open-faces Norwegian sandwiches for lunch. Good as always.
Trivia followed, and I was back with my previous team. We got 12/15 (not bad, the winners only had one more right) and then choir practice. After that, some extreme napping.
Dinner was back at Chef’s Table again, but it’s a new menu starting today: California
Things kicked off with a very unusual appy: a sweet potato chip with some blue cheese, apple, and candied kumquat. It was tiny, but delicious.
Next up was a crab cake sitting on a bed of guacamole with orange and blood orange. Even though the oranges were the only one of the three main ingredients I really like, the whole was delicious.
A Moscow mule granaté was there to cleanse the palate (vodka, ginger beer, lime, over shaved ice) and the main course was halibut. One thing Chef’s Table does really well is wine pairings. There’s a different wine for each course. The wine for the halibut was a Chardonnay and both Rob and I wrinkled our noses at “chardonnay” but I ended up liking it quite a lot. It paired with the fish perfectly.
Dessert was an Ojai Mandarin cream parfait, which was a bit like a custard layered with mandarin, candied ginger, and almonds. It was really good.
And that’s it for today. Rob went to the evening show - the Viking band and vocalists doing a country and western program - but I bailed out after falling asleep before the show even started. Food coma extraordinaire!