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.

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.

Vacation time!  After a busy spring and my sister’s wedding, Greg and I took a quick vacation to Chicago to visit family and friends. I’ve been a fan of Top Chef since almost the first season. My sister-in-law, Cindy, who knows everything cool happening in Chicago made reservations back in March when we booked the trip to eat at Stephanie Izard’s new trendy restaurant called Girl and the Goat. The restaurant serves small plates and usually offers 10 veggie dishes, 10 fish dishes, and 10 meat dishes.  You order to share and then the kitchen orders the food for service! After sipping on a cocktail and sharing a bottle of wine, we only remembered to take a few pictures of what we ate as the evening went on. First up was some delicious grilled asparagus! (Please excuse the photo quality – taken on an iPhone!)

Grilled Asparagus!

The other veggie dishes we shared were a plate of chickpea fritters (pictured below) and roasted cauliflower.

Chickpea Fritters at Girl and the Goat

Our other delicious bites included calamari, halibut, pork ribs, pork belly, and pig face (pictured below). I was hesitant to try the pig face but Cindy recommended that we order it since the last time she was at Girl and the Goat, her friends raved about the pig face. The egg was very tasty but the actual pig face part was not my favorite. If I had to use one word to describe the way pig face tasted, I would use the word “gooey”. One bite was plenty for me on this dish.

Pig Face with an Egg at Girl and the Goat

We were stuffed so we opted to skip dessert and head home. Overall the food was quite excellent, service was nice, and it was fun to see Stephanie expediting at the kitchen. I did notice the next morning that my clothes I’d worn to the restaurant smelled like I’d been camping – most likely due to the open and smoky kitchen!

We brunched at Rick Bayless’s Frontera Grill the next morning down by the Chicago River.  I found the food to be better than some of the Interior Mexican food that we can find in Boston, but I believe Polvo’s in Austin still wins my vote over Frontera any day.

Ashley and Cindy

We spent some time walking down the river, across Michigan Avenue, and wandered in Millennium Park.  Cloud Gate, aka, “The Bean” is a very striking sculpture; albeit pretty smudged with fingerprints from everyone touching it while posing for pictures. We took an informative Architectural Boat Tour on the Chicago river, stopped for some average-tasting fro-yo, walked up the rest of Michigan Avenue and along Lakeshore Drive back to Nate and Cindy’s place. After freshening up for dinner, we met up at Fiorentino’s Cucina Italiana with Greg’s college roommate and friend, Chris, and his wife Melanie. We enjoyed a nice Italian meal, cab-hopped to Webster’s Wine Bar, and finally ended up at the Goose Island Brewery near Wrigley Field.

Bean Reflections

Walking along Lake Michigan

Chicago Skyline near Lake Michigan Beach

I spent Sunday morning sitting on a bench on the shores of Lake Michigan with my ex-Longy violist Alisa, who was kind enough to drive down from Northwestern to chat! We ended up spending most of Sunday afternoon wandering around Lincoln Park Zoo with Nate, Cindy, Chris, Melanie, and their 2 cute kids!

Kaze forever!

My favorite animal - the lions!

Sunday was topped off with one final meal at the Wildfire Restaurant in Chicago with Greg’s dad who just got into town on business. We walked around Old Town on Monday morning, munched on some un-memorable salads for lunch, and took the “L” to the airport where we endured a 2.5+ hour ground delay out of Boston. Since our flight to Chicago arrived an unheard of 30 minutes early, it only figures that we must balance that out with a major delay. No harm was done and we finally made it back to Boston after a great quick trip!

This summer I am teaching at two music camps in New England. If you are a young flutist, this is an excellent opportunity to improve your playing and make new friends.

Indian Hill Music SummerDayMusic

July 25 – August 5, 2011, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

An innovative two-week program for ages 8-18 that balances traditional instrument and music theory study with opportunities to discover the diverse world of music. Core curriculum provides essential instruction in technique and musicianship, and elective classes foster creativity and exploration of new instruments and musical styles. Performances are focused on learning and sharing music together, so students are encouraged to play and sing in a variety of ensembles. Students’ experiences are broadened as they learn to work together, and to inspire and support each other in the educational process.  More information available here.

NCMS Flute Festival

July 11-15, 2011 9:00 am – 3:30 pm

Designed for students entering grades 6-12 in Fall 2011

Join us for our 7th year of FLUTE, FUN, and FRIEND. Each day includes warm-ups focusing on technique and tone, solo master classes, flute choir, and a chance to play with a pianist. NCMS flute teacher Ashley Addington will be joined by special guest artists throughout the week, giving students new insight and perspective from a variety of teachers. Students should bring a snack, lunch and a beach towel or yoga mat each day.  More information here.

We performed Leroy Anderon’s Penny-Whistle Song on NVPO’s “Pops in Love” Concert. After years of playing the famous Christmas tune, Sleighride, this was my first time to play this flute feature. I also learned the Leroy Anderson spent most of his life living in Cambridge, MA. Enjoy!

The other members of the flute section are Mana Washio and Pamela Daniels.

Love it!  I will have to track down an old-style metronome and see what Dolce does.

Project #1: Small Bag (cell phone picture)

The unexpected number of snow days in Boston this winter has allowed me time to play catch up with my to-do list and afforded a few free moments to cultivate my crafty personality by spending time with a sewing machine, fabrics, scissors, thread, and an iron.

Back Story: I could from a line of wonderfully talented and crafty women in my family. Both of my grandmothers were fabulous sewers. Growing up, Carmen and I had were lucky enough some of the most wonderful costumes to play dress-up in as kids that were made my paternal Grandma. My favorite set were handmade dresses from Cinderella, which included 3 Fairy Godmother dresses in blue, red, and green (complete with pointed hats) and one of course for Cinderella herself. Continuing the tradition, my mom and aunts (on both sides of the family) have become successful sewing crafters in their own ways creating quilts, baby blankets, purses, luggage tags, and more.

My mom bought me sewing machine from Christmas 2009 and after a few trips to Joann’s Fabrics and browsing Barnes and Noble for trendy sewing books, I completed my first bag last March.

Tab Curtains with Sunflowers from the Farmer's Market and a Cat

The sewing machine rested for the remainder of the spring as I struggled to find motivation and time to start a new project. Fortunately, I did discover the Fabric Corner store up the way in Arlington and fell in love with fabric selection there – all of the beautiful fabrics by designers that I hadn’t seen at Joann’s like Amy Butler, Marimekko, Anthology, Kaffe Fassett, and more. It is easy to spend an hour in the store browsing fabrics and imagining all of the fun projects I could work on.

We moved to a new apartment in July and I embarked on some home decoration of the curtain and pillow variety thanks to the help of the Somerville Public Library. It turns out to be very convenient to having a library I can see out the living room window for the very purpose of impulsively checking out five books on curtain design. With limited skills, I selected a pattern for a tab curtain and used a beautiful Australian Aboriginal print from a line carried at Fabric Corner.

One Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Haskins

I had my eye on these books all year and am looking forward to working through some of the projects.

Three bags have been created over the last month – one for myself, one for my sister-in-law, Alycia, and one for Kathryn. Each new bag has improved from the previous one as I’ve learned from the process and experimented with new techniques, different stitching options, played around with pockets and interfacing, and dealt with magnetic snaps.

Flower Bag

Sewing is definitely good practice for my patience, especially when it comes to threading the bobbin! I have gained great satisfaction from finishing each project and love totting my new bag around. There are still so many basic sewing skills that I can improve on as well as a variety of projects in my crafty books that I haven’t even tried yet. Just as my life as a musician, I embrace the idea that there will always be something new to learn.

Enough crafting for tonight! It’s time to get back to practicing Dutilleux, Boehm, and Bach to record this weekend for the NFA competition and the slew of music for concerts coming up in February and March.

Do you single or double space? I used to always believe the rule was to double-space between sentences. Since so many of Greg’s co-workers at BU are graphic designers, I’ve been privy to learning some of their visual secrets. Take a peek at this article on typography.

What are your thoughts?