richard-in-cincy
Well-known member
with Cathy Z, Sandra in London, and Judy-Mass in the first dozen posts at the old Gail's Swap (RIP). What fun that group was in the early days. The adventure, camaraderie, and respect were very special and many of us became very good friends in those early days of the Web surfing.
I was born in Cincinnati a few hours after the Cincinnati Symphony finished the closing bars of Wagner’s “Die Götterdämmerung.” But then my parents picked up and moved into the wilds of south central Ohio where I grew up on a tobacco farm. Alas.
Food became an obsession early as I pined for the large deluxe Betty Crocker Bake Set for my 4th Christmas. The box was bigger than I was in those old pictures with the spindly Christmas trees of yore dripping in tinsel. I soon set about making little cakes, biscuits, cookies, and brownies and selling them to my father at my lemonade stand (he seemed to be my only customer, hmmmm…). After using up all the mixes in the set, I graduated to boxes of Jiffy mixes in my little pantry. And soon, as is the wont of the compulsive obsessive personality, I was making big grown up cakes from scratch by the time I reached first grade.
Soon the agrarian youth is pushed into 4-H where the boys are expected to take livestock and mechanical projects. But when I studied the list, there, lo: “International Foods.” How could I pass that up! So along with my pigs, I was soon making Sauerbraten, Tamale Pie, and Veal Parmigiano. I began learning to use chop sticks as I ate our sturdy “farm hand” southern-style meals.
I then discovered I could enter the cake contests at the county fair where I started collecting many blue ribbons. Greased pig contests (which I won in record time by standing at the starting line and letting all the other kids go running after the pig, whereby said pig came running into my outstretched arms) were followed by winning the grand prize in the county fair cookie bakeoff where all the contestants prepared the same recipe in front of the judges. I admit, early on, I could not leave a recipe alone. The recipe for Molasses Crinkles contained no vanilla and I just could not fathom the idea. Since we had to follow the recipe exactly, I could not help myself but to stir a half bottle of vanilla into my jar of molasses. I’ve been tweaking recipes ever since.
I was fortunate to have both great-grandmother and grandmother pass along their German style of cooking and traditions along to me. I miss both very much and continue my German cooking in their memory.
One would have thought that food would have been my calling, but when I was 9, I bought a trombone at the local junk shop for $25 and joined the band. After 4 months, I was sitting first chair in the Jr. Hi. Band, and 2 months later was first chair in the HS band. Did I mention compulsive obsessive? I had found my new calling. I began studying with the principle trombonist of the Cincinnati Symphony and my progress continued apace as trips to Ohio All-State Symphony gave way to Interlochen and a seat in the World Youth Symphony by the age of 16. Van Cliburn was one of the soloist with the orchestra that summer which made us all feel so grown up and professional.
Off to The Ohio State University where I became principle trombone of the OSU Symphony as a 17 year old freshman. Ohio State soon gave way to the Cincinnati Conservatory where I began subbing with the Cincinnati Symphony and won a seat in the nearby Lexington, Kentucky Philharmonic. Then to New York City where I completed my master’s degree at Juilliard and my doctoral degree at Stony Brook where I also taught music theory for two years. In between degrees, I studied German (and food!) in Austria and played in an orchestra in Graz. Returning to the US, I won a position with the Memphis Symphony and visited Graceland. But alas, an injury caused me to put the trombone in the case and I had to find a new career. The long hours of graduate research and working as a library cataloging research assistant had prepared me for a career in technical writing, which I have been employed at for the past 20 odd years.
I dabbled at catering and realized that I would soon hate cooking if I continued in mass food production, which I found slightly repulsive. I continue taking the odd culinary class and confining my cookery adventures to my own kitchen.
Once again, I have found an outlet for music as I began studying the cello a little less than two years ago. I spent last week trying out a dozen or so cellos at the string shops in Cincinnati and just finished the final selection with the assistance of my teacher. I have now traded in my beginning student cello for a beautiful new instrument that is a joy to play (my teacher refers to it as the “Chocolaty Cello”). This past fall I was accepted into the cello section of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Orchestra, which I am enjoying to the fullest.
I was born in Cincinnati a few hours after the Cincinnati Symphony finished the closing bars of Wagner’s “Die Götterdämmerung.” But then my parents picked up and moved into the wilds of south central Ohio where I grew up on a tobacco farm. Alas.
Food became an obsession early as I pined for the large deluxe Betty Crocker Bake Set for my 4th Christmas. The box was bigger than I was in those old pictures with the spindly Christmas trees of yore dripping in tinsel. I soon set about making little cakes, biscuits, cookies, and brownies and selling them to my father at my lemonade stand (he seemed to be my only customer, hmmmm…). After using up all the mixes in the set, I graduated to boxes of Jiffy mixes in my little pantry. And soon, as is the wont of the compulsive obsessive personality, I was making big grown up cakes from scratch by the time I reached first grade.
Soon the agrarian youth is pushed into 4-H where the boys are expected to take livestock and mechanical projects. But when I studied the list, there, lo: “International Foods.” How could I pass that up! So along with my pigs, I was soon making Sauerbraten, Tamale Pie, and Veal Parmigiano. I began learning to use chop sticks as I ate our sturdy “farm hand” southern-style meals.
I then discovered I could enter the cake contests at the county fair where I started collecting many blue ribbons. Greased pig contests (which I won in record time by standing at the starting line and letting all the other kids go running after the pig, whereby said pig came running into my outstretched arms) were followed by winning the grand prize in the county fair cookie bakeoff where all the contestants prepared the same recipe in front of the judges. I admit, early on, I could not leave a recipe alone. The recipe for Molasses Crinkles contained no vanilla and I just could not fathom the idea. Since we had to follow the recipe exactly, I could not help myself but to stir a half bottle of vanilla into my jar of molasses. I’ve been tweaking recipes ever since.
I was fortunate to have both great-grandmother and grandmother pass along their German style of cooking and traditions along to me. I miss both very much and continue my German cooking in their memory.
One would have thought that food would have been my calling, but when I was 9, I bought a trombone at the local junk shop for $25 and joined the band. After 4 months, I was sitting first chair in the Jr. Hi. Band, and 2 months later was first chair in the HS band. Did I mention compulsive obsessive? I had found my new calling. I began studying with the principle trombonist of the Cincinnati Symphony and my progress continued apace as trips to Ohio All-State Symphony gave way to Interlochen and a seat in the World Youth Symphony by the age of 16. Van Cliburn was one of the soloist with the orchestra that summer which made us all feel so grown up and professional.
Off to The Ohio State University where I became principle trombone of the OSU Symphony as a 17 year old freshman. Ohio State soon gave way to the Cincinnati Conservatory where I began subbing with the Cincinnati Symphony and won a seat in the nearby Lexington, Kentucky Philharmonic. Then to New York City where I completed my master’s degree at Juilliard and my doctoral degree at Stony Brook where I also taught music theory for two years. In between degrees, I studied German (and food!) in Austria and played in an orchestra in Graz. Returning to the US, I won a position with the Memphis Symphony and visited Graceland. But alas, an injury caused me to put the trombone in the case and I had to find a new career. The long hours of graduate research and working as a library cataloging research assistant had prepared me for a career in technical writing, which I have been employed at for the past 20 odd years.
I dabbled at catering and realized that I would soon hate cooking if I continued in mass food production, which I found slightly repulsive. I continue taking the odd culinary class and confining my cookery adventures to my own kitchen.
Once again, I have found an outlet for music as I began studying the cello a little less than two years ago. I spent last week trying out a dozen or so cellos at the string shops in Cincinnati and just finished the final selection with the assistance of my teacher. I have now traded in my beginning student cello for a beautiful new instrument that is a joy to play (my teacher refers to it as the “Chocolaty Cello”). This past fall I was accepted into the cello section of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Orchestra, which I am enjoying to the fullest.