Othello: 2010 Shakespeare on the Boston Common

Yesterday I went to opening night of Othello: Free Shakespeare on the Boston Common 2010.  It was a fun evening because we brought a picnic and we had seats with a good view.  I thought this was a decent production, with good lighting and sound, and free to boot.  It was sort of odd that they decided to go with 40's style costumes, but whatevers.

Here is the cast at the end of the show - see Othello in PJs and a post-drowned Desdemona.

Anyway, the show is about three hours long with a brief intermission.  It is showing till August 15, Tuesdays - Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 7 pm by the Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common.  You can rent chairs for $4 (plus $6 upfront which you get back when you return the chair) - but beach towels work just fine too!  We had a nice potluck picnic with cucumbers, grape tomatoes, brie, crackers, orzo pasta salad, and olives.  Here was my freshly baked contribution.

Easy Choux Pastry Recipe

Today I will share my favorite recipe for making cream puffs - the puff part.  This is a very nice recipe I found via Vic's Recipes, adapted from The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child, and it has consistently produced very tasty looking puffs for me.  The directions are very detailed and simple, so you can't mess up.  The first time I made these I did panic when I started beating eggs into the mix, but the eggs do eventually get absorbed to make a nice smooth dough paste.  I should note one change I made - I brush the puffs with half and half instead of egg wash as the recipe suggests.  Also I have never tried the chocolate sauce recipe.

I usually like to fill my puffs with ice cream - here is a photo with coffee, strawberry, and black raspberry flavors.

I have tried making cream filling too, but haven't come across a recipe I love yet.  Here is a photo of matcha cream filled choux.