by Christina Waters | Nov 3, 2015 | Home |
From surprisingly delicious pub food to even more surprisingly great weather, London delivered many close encounters with artistic masterpieces, memorable music, lavishly green parks, and way too many packs of tourists, all taking selfies and shopping like it was 1989.
Pub food was skillful, both rustic and yet more loaded with freshness and flavor than I’d recalled from a visit to London 5 years ago. Sweet shops, cake emporia, and sanctuaries of tea all offered expanded savory menus along with incredibly beautiful — and very sweet — pastries.
Fortnum & Mason, however old school and giggle-making, continues to make the world safe for exquisitely tasteful sweets, such as the almost Baroque pastry cream and fruit creation below.
by Christina Waters | Nov 1, 2015 | Home |
Opulence in Sugar! Fornum & Mason’s own housemade marshmallows!
In pastel Queen Mum colors and flavors.
more reflections on England, to be continued….
by Christina Waters | Oct 23, 2015 | Home |
Director Lyndsey Turner had her hands full with the historic production of Hamlet that closes next week. Building a production around a high-wattage celebrity must bring a unique set of challenges.
Here she was with the reigning theater superstar Benedict Cumberbatch, whose personal arsenal of dramatic weaponry stresses physical and vocal dazzle. Pitted against the young Prince of Denmark was gifted Irish actor Ciaran Hinds, a veteran of stage, screen and TV who brings both emotional thunder and intelligence to his role as Claudius, the new King.
The play clearly pits the young prince against his murderous uncle—the dynamic chosen by director Turner. Yet the hefty cast of supporting players—the strong-headed and duplicitous mother Gertrude, the naive maid Ophelia, (more…)
by Christina Waters | Oct 23, 2015 | Home |
What a pleasure to re-discover a favorite pinot noir. I’ve never found anything from Muns Vineyard less than interesting, and in the case of the 2009 Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Pinot Noir, both interesting and accessible.
Balanced tannins and nuanced fruit, an optimum 14.1% alcohol, and lots of unfolding flavor notes ranging from earth and sassafras to spice and plums. I managed to save a few bottles, and now wish I had a boatload of this wonderful example of SC Mtn. terroir.
Thanks to Ed Muns and Tony Craig! (You can find this wine at the Muns Vineyard website.)
by Christina Waters | Oct 15, 2015 | Home |
Finally, after months of anticipation, I was there at London’s Barbican Theatre watching the much-heralded Benedict Cumberbatch bedazzle the well-worn coinage of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Was the experience worth traveling 5000 miles and 400 years to savor? In a word, yes. In another word, unforgettable.
Cutting to the chase, the world’s most famous (and highly groupied) actor sinks his panther teeth into the plight of Denmark’s prince and unleashes gossamer revelations, nuanced depths, and an uncanny physical ability to translate psychological trickery into gymnastic grace.
Buffed to a chiseled gloss, Cumberbatch is sexy, savvy, and endlessly watchable—speeding, dancing, and stunning his way through the murky bits of dialogue and plot business, while slowing down and taking all the time in the world to explore each one of the celebrated speeches. For example, when he comes down smartly on the “is” of, “that is the question,” the entire soliloquy pivots and becomes an intimate aside to us, the listener. He is considering the tantalizing prospect of suicide, as well as the possible negative entailments of ending his life, and letting us consider each step of the inner argument along with him. This Hamlet confides that he knows that we know he’s only feigning madness in order to entrap his opportunistic uncle Claudius (played with oleoginous charm and lethal intelligence by renowned Irish actor Ciaran Hinds, of Rome fame.)
Those who witnessed his astonishing physical abilities in the theatrical Frankenstein last season will already be convinced that Cumberbatch is an actor gifted with moves that Barishnikov might envy. And he uses his body as another linguistic vehicle, (more…)
