The new year started with a bang. We had a great New Year’s Eve party here at our home in Montana. I stayed up till five in the morning the night before making five different types of desserts, only one of which I had ever made before. Following “The Joy of Cooking” cookbook I found in the cupboard left over from the 10 years our home operated as a Bed and Breakfast and special events facility, and of course, which I had never opened before that moment, I made my selections based on the directions I could actually understand. I have never been very domestic. I didn’t take Home Ec in high school. I had never washed my own clothes until college, or mopped my own floor until I owned my own house. After I moved to Kentucky from New York City, I raised a great garden. Most of it was flowers. It was, however, the one period of time in my life when I truly enjoyed creating special meals from fresh garden vegetables for my family. But I went to graduate school when my son was ten and his best recollection of my cooking from that point on was that I never cooked real food but assembled “sides” much like Cher in Moonstruck. When left to my own devices I would live on fresh fruits and veggies, nuts, yogurt, cheese and bread and butter. Lots of butter. Fortunately for me I have low cholesterol despite my addiction to high fat milk products. Which brings me back to the delectable desserts I created; rich in cream and chocolate. There was rum chocolate mousse with fresh home-made whipped cream topping, wine gelatin with whipped cream topping, chocolate coffee custard with whipped cream topping and plain old vanilla custard dusted with nutmeg. At 4:00 AM I realized I had to wait 30 minutes for the gelatin to cool before mixing in the rum sauce so I pulled out the flour and whipped up my old standby; apple cinnamon pastry bites. I carried the last of the desserts to the fridge in the garage just before 5 in a foot of snow at about 10 below. But oh, what a hit those desserts made. Okay, so what does any of this have to do with theatre or writing or plays or productions? I don’t know except that we all know when the creative bug bites, we work till we’re done, and oh, wow, what a story our thoughts can tell. Our plays are like desserts served at a party. We create them, we present them and then we wait to see what response we get. A half-eaten wine gelatin won’t get you past the first reader, but when the next director gorges himself in your work like a sorbet glass of rum chocolate mousse, then there is a good chance you’ve got a hit! Here’s to a great new year to you with many success stories and many stories yet to tell and may you always, now and forever, enjoy the desserts of your labors.
