Heart of the Triad Choral Society plays ball

Heart of the Triad Choral Society sang at the Greensboro Grasshoppers game today.  And despite a few hurdles, like it being the first week of school and the penultimate game of the season, we planned to take a group of 30+ people, an even split of singers & supportive family members.  Then six days ago I got a first-thing-in-the-morning call from our group sales contact.  Due to a rain cancellation rescheduling, our 7pm game was suddenly a 5pm doubleheader.  Could we still sing? 

I put up some protests -- after all, as an adult choir, people are juggling work schedules, family schedules, and just plain getting to Greensboro from ALL OVER the Triad.  But at the same time I was incredibly glad that the call came on the day of rehearsal instead of the day after.  (God has a sense of humor.)  And I love that our choir is dedicated and our members want to see the organization succeed.  And we had a dozen singers and an equivalent number of friends and family join us at the ball game.

We are definitely doing this again next year!  Everyone had so much fun!

Guilford

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QOTD:
T (directed at a 13yo fan, the child of one of our members, whom we'd recruited to video us): So, how'd we do?
13yo:  Ennhhhhh.
T:  What?!?  I thought we were friends!  You're supposed to at least pretend we sound good!
13yo (furiously backpedalling):  I'm sorry!  I thought you were talking about the video!  I don't know how it turned out!  I'm sorry!

Star Spangled Banner


We wish the stands were fuller, but with such an early start time it was a little sparse.
We were not expecting fireworks! Neither was our phone-video guy. And the kid who was buddy to the third baseman literally did a duck-and-cover move.
(Can you hear the Murlander?)

The cheesesteak stand girl said we were so good she almost cried.

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For the 7th inning stretch, we didn't go onfield, but we did get the crazy guy "Spaz", the guy with the mic, to come to our section.  

Spaz

And thanks to the quick thinking of a social media director for a fellow local nonprofit who grabbed some video, we present to you...

(Our wonderful director had us send the words around in advance, just in case we were thinking of going and singing "Take me out to the ballgame/mmm mmm mmm mmm mm CROWD/mmmmmmmmm CRACKER JACKS...)

Note to self: next time we sing "root-root-root for the Hoppers".  Hubs thought of that too late for it to be immediately useful.  But next time.  And we are definitely going back next season; we've already been asked back.

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PS Try the brisket nachos!  Brisket.  Nachos.  They're at Hickory BBQ, right behind section 111.

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PPS One of our board members said she was really sorry she couldn't be there.  But we spotted "her"!

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(I have a request in for any video their camerapeople got to be sent along to us.  We'll see what comes of that.  But I'm not waiting to post this.)

Gnocchi with Chef Reto

Chef Reto, of Reto's Kitchen in Greensboro, not only caters and does private parties, he also teaches!  Some friends & I were able to set time to learn from a real French chef, hands-on, in a real catering kitchen.  It was a blast!  I'm so glad I met Chef at a Yelp Elite event there earlier this year and that he was able to fit us into his schedule.
 

A few quotes from the evening:

More butter!

Why? Because we can!

Cow patties, please, not turds! (with regards to shape)

Pressure is everything. (with regards to piping)

Loads more photos available on FB  (public album)

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Chef Reto taught us in an approachable way.  His food was amazing and it's also something I can replicate at home.  Really!  And he took us thru hands-on training on knife skills, including sharpening a knife and the difference between chopping, slicing, and mincing.  We learned to pipe, to knead, and that fire in the kitchen can be fun and not frightening.  Opa!  Even the tomato sauce and vinaigrette salad dressing were simple and from scratch, and again completely duplicatable.  I'm excited to apply these things in my own kitchen!

I encourage you to sign up for his open classes (he also did kids' camps this past summer), or get a group of 6-10 friends together and set up a private class!

When I grow up

M & D have spent half an hour entranced by demos at Biltmore's Antler Hill Farm.

M: So I've narrowed it down to 4 things. 
I'm gonna be a blacksmith... or a carpenter... or a firefighter or a cop.

Cousins

We went en masse to 3 Brothers from China today.  And as always, we split out the kids from the grown ups.

The kids' table in our family now goes up to 45yo.

Photos by CJ.

Credo tour

Lots of changes since we made up the first house tour.  And there's more paint and such in the plans for future too.  Maybe I'll even get the rest of the art onto the walls.

House tour 2016. 
And this is trust, but I've always averred that if someone steals it they must need it more than I do.  Alternatively, this is evidence that we're not worth robbing.