Ashley Addington

Between traveling, teaching summer camps, and having friends visit, this summer has flown by quickly. I’m enjoying my last few days of free evenings before the teaching year gears up again. (I really shouldn’t complain too much since my teacher friends in Texas have already been working for a few weeks.)

There are several exciting performances happening this season. I’ve updated my performance calendar for the next six months. Keep checking back for updates.

One of my favorite friends, Lindsey, came up to Boston to visit back in July. We took a day trip up to Newburyport and sat on the beach. She also has a new job teaching at Southeastern Louisiana University. Congratulations!

On the Beach at Plum Island, Newburyport, MA

A baby seal came out of the water to rest on the beach for a few minutes. We were worried that he wasn’t feeling well but a representative from the New England Aquarium was on the beach who assured us that it was completely normal for them to rest when they got tired.

The baby seal is tired and came up to rest on the beach.

Greg fished and caught a skate. Ugly, right? We did not take the skate home to eat for dinner.

Eww....skate.

Back in Boston, we rode the swan boats in the Boston Garden. I highly recommend this boat ride as it was only $2.75 per person!

Acting like kids on the Swan Boats.

We finished off our visit with some blueberry picking at Honey Pot Hill Orchards. We went in the middle of a warm afternoon so we were the only ones picking except for one other family.

Freshly picked quarts of blueberries.

Carmen and Kathryn also came to visit – they took the pictures so I just need to get copies from them. Overall, this was an excellent summer. I am looking forward to the fall and getting back into my regular routine.

Choral Spectacular

Bruce Hangen, Conductor
with Harvard Pro Musica and the Nashoba Valley Chorale

Sunday, February 26th, 2011, 3:00 PM
Littleton High School Performing Arts Center
56 King Street
Littleton, MA

More information and tickets available here.

20th Century Music for Flute and Piano
Indian Hill Faculty Concert Series

with Heather Rogers Riley, piano

Thursday, February 16th, 2012, 11 AM and 1:30 PM
Camilla Blackman Recital Hall
Indian Hill Music
36 King Street
Littleton, MA
Free

More information about these concerts can be found here.

Orchestra’s Choice

Bruce Hangen, Conductor
Deborah Feld-Fabisiewizc, harp soloist

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012, 3:00 PM
Littleton High School Performing Arts Center
56 King Street
Littleton, MA

Tickets and more information are available here.

Zwei Meistern: Sound Icon performs monumental pieces by Austro-German masters Helmut Lachenmann and Beat Furrer

Boston University Concert Hall
College of Fine Arts
Boston University
855 Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA
Free

Learn more about Sound Icon.

Sunday at Tufts – Community Concert Series
Ten Years Later: Musical Responses to 9/11

Sunday, September 11, 2011, 3:00
Distler Performance Hall
Tufts University

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Tufts Composers present a concert featuring the world premiere of Diana Dabby’s entire “September Quartet,” commissioned by the Tufts New Music Ensemble in 2002. Also featured are works by Stefan Anderson, William Kenlon, Kevin Laba, John McDonald, Kevin Warren, and guest composer Stephen Hartke’s piano quartet “Beyond Words.” Guest artist Kenneth Radnofsky, saxophone, and faculty artist Donald Berman, piano, are among the featured soloists.

Free; no tickets required.

Directions to the Granoff Music Center can be found here. More information is available here.

Afternoon recital with pianist Molly Wood

Sunday, November 13th, 2:30 PM

Arlington Street Church
351 Bolyston Street
Boston, MA

Directions to ASC can be found here.

Chamber Music with Cello and Soprano

Friday, November 11th, 2011, 8:00 PM

with Rachel Arnold, cello
with Naomi Gurt Lind, soprano

The Arcadian Winds will also be performing on the concert.

Directions to the church can be found here.

Concerto Séraphin

Saturday, November 5th, 2011, 8:00 PM
Boston University Concert Hall
College of Fine Arts
855 Commonwealth Ave
Boston, MA
Free

Learn more about Sound Icon here.

Greg has been eating gluten-free since late March.  It hasn’t been too tricky to modify our cooking to leave out gluten and other than not being able to make him sandwiches for lunch, I don’t have any complaints about cooking GF.  There are numerous cooking blogs online dedicated to gluten-free recipes.

At first glance, the world of GF baking appears intimidating.  Other than purchasing some GF pancake mix and a box of GF Brownie mix where you just need to add water and eggs, I’d only glanced longingly at the variety of rice, tapioca, and potato flour at Whole Foods.  Greg wouldn’t describe me as a particularly patient baker.  To be fair,  neither would I.  He has put up with eating several batches of mediocre cookies and other baked goods over the years, so I knew I’d need some time to pick a recipe and the time to follow directions carefully for a tasty end result.

How did we get from the end of March to the end of August with no time to bake?  First, it was a busy spring and summer with lots of teaching and playing.  Second, since we only have one window unit AC and our oven is a monster, we choose carefully which days in the summer to cook seeing turning the oven on for 30 minutes can dramatically heat up the house.

Variety of GF Products

I really wanted to bake cupcakes but decided to stick with a simpler recipe for my first attempt. I decided to make Alton Brown’s Chewy Gluten Free Cookie from the Food Network website.

Lots of melted butter.

Normally, I would generally substitute applesauce/yogurt for some of the butter/oil but until I learn how that changes the result of GF baking, I decided I should stick to the original recipe. I did have to substitute the final 1/4 cup of brown sugar with white sugar since I didn’t anticipate running out.

Dry ingredients have been sifted with a fork.

I also used my hand-held mixer instead of a mixing bowl. Someday when our kitchen is not Boston-sized, I’ll have enough counter space to own a beautiful Cuisinart Kitchenaid. I chilled the dough as instructed and prepared my baking sheets. The recipe was supposed to make 2 dozen cookies but by the time I finished balling the two baking sheets into 24 cookies, I still have about half of the dough left.

Chewy Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies - half of the batch

Since I was in the mood to be goofy, I used the rest of the leftover dough to make this for Greg. I surprised Greg with the double heart cookie. Unfortunately, less than ten minutes later, our frisky feline hopped up on the kitchen table where the cookie plate was resting and accidently knocked it off  to the floor.  =( Kitty is in trouble!

GF baking with love!

The verdict was declared to be “pretty tasty for being gluten-free.” Maybe Experiment #2 will be a bit more daring.