Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley costumes from Transformers 3...

If you're a fan of the latest Transformers movie, then you'll love these original costumes worn by Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington-Whitely on display at ArcLight Hollywood on June 28, 2011.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie costume exhibit

The on screen couple wear these outfits in the devastated city of Chicago, when 'Sam Witwicky' comes to rescue his new girlfriend, 'Carly Spencer', from the evil Decepticons and their human collaborators.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie poster

Deborah Lynn Scott is responsible for Costume Design of this third live-action installment of Michael Bay's Transformers movies.

Costume worn by Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky

in Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Outfit worn by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Carly Spencer

in Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Be sure to check out more photos of the costume worn by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and a wing-suit from Transformers 3 on display.

Shockwave Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie billboard

And if you love these costumes, you'll go crazy for these photos of Optimus Prime's truck and Bumblebee's new Camaro from Transformers: Dark of the Moon on display.

Shrimp and Tarragon Crostini

I love crostini.  Maybe it has something to do with my love for toast, which you can read about here if you are interested.  And even though I flirted with silver dollar pancakes shamelessly in terms of being the vehicle for holding delicious little spoonfuls of various things.  But crostini, you will still always be first in my heart, especially when you are topped with a delicious mixture of shrimp and tarragon.

Crostini is super-simple to make.  Just slice up a loaf of your favorite French bread (or Italian bread if you are the kind that likes your crostini substantial. Slice it pretty thin...as close to 1/4 inch as you can get without driving yourself crazy.  Brush them with a little olive oil and pop them on a cookie sheet and into a 400 degree oven just until they are getting golden brown - 5 to 10 minutes.  After that, the possibilities are endless, but in this case I went with a quick little mixture of cooked chopped shrimp, mayo, fresh chopped tarragn, fresh lemon juice and salt and pepper.  Once the crostini are cooled a little, just drop some of the shrimp mixture onto each one and there you go. 

Sometimes the easiest things are just the best!

Shrimp and Tarragon Crostini, adapted from Real Simple

• 24 thin slices of French bread
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 12 ounces chopped cooked shrimp
• 1/3 cup mayo
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oven to 400.  Brush bread slices with olive oil and bake until just golden brown, 5-10 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool.

2. Combine remaining ingredients to make the shrimp mixture and top each crostini with spoonful of this.  You're done!

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summer so far.

summer so far.

Our Brand New Ticketing Site!

We are *very* happy to announce the launch of our shiny new Select Your Own Seat ticketing site!

As well as having very slick graphics and being easy to use, this new site allows you to choose exactly where you'd like to sit and even shows you a view of the stage from that seat.

You can buy tickets, buy a subscription, make a donation to VO - or all three - from the new site.

You can easily choose which performance(s) you'd like to see.

You can preview your view of the stage before you commit to a seat. We have seat previews available for every section in the house, from dress circle to orchestra to the very back of the mezzanine.



And you can also easily see the availability and prices of every seat. If a section is selling out quickly, the system will warn you so you don't miss out on those last couple of tickets!


Tickets are now on sale for selected performances of West Side Story - it's a perfect opportunity to take our new system for a test drive! Click here to check it out.

Treasure Box Wednesday: Juicy Finds and Nifty Info

Greetings Fellow Thrift-a-holics! And welcome to today's Treasure Box Wednesday post. I was excited to get this one rolling for you all today because of one particular item I never imagined finding at a thrift store-- a Juicy Couture embroidered bag!

I mean, really: while I love some of the vintage inspiration and velvety fabrics on Juicy Couture handbags, I find the prices for them-- even at places like TJ Maxx and Marshalls-- end up out of my price range.

But a walk-through of the Red, White and Blue thrift store on Saturday ended up paying off big for me. Not only was the bag there, but it was a blue tag-- meaning it was half-off.
I loved that the purse was a nice usable chocolate brown. And the little shabby bow and dangling charms and crest on it, I thought were particularly cute.

I love, too, that my purchase money went to charity. A definite win-win!

I also found there these pink goblets...
It's a little hard to see the pattern, but it looked to me very much like some I'd seen on Depression glass. So I went home, checked my handy-dandy Depression Glass book and...
It IS and it ISN'T Depression glass! The pattern is called "Madrid" or "Recollection" and it's made by Indiana Glass. But the shape glass is actually completely modern, and was issued in the 70s.

Now me, I don't really mind it not being from the Depression. But it's certainly interesting information to have.

The last thing I found was this little cuckoo clock planter in turquoise. It isn't marked, but it looked like McCoy to me...
Well, I STILL don't know if it's McCoy. But in the McCoy book, there was this very similar cuckoo clock wall pocket planter...
Mine does have two holes at the bottom where possibly a chain and weights might have hung. But honestly, given my young cat Harry has been testing the physics of ledge shelves in the last day or so-- to see if an 8 pound cat can fit on a four-inch wide wall shelf with knicknacks (The rather disastrous answer here is: Um, NO.) it's probably just as well the planter has no dangly bits to tempt curious paws and jumping legs.

So, that's it for the Treasure Box today! Next post I should be able to give you an update on my friend Scoobie's livingroom transformation.

Take care! (And don't jump on any wall shelves.)

Treasure Box Wednesday: Juicy Finds and Nifty Info

Greetings Fellow Thrift-a-holics! And welcome to today's Treasure Box Wednesday post. I was excited to get this one rolling for you all today because of one particular item I never imagined finding at a thrift store-- a Juicy Couture embroidered bag!

I mean, really: while I love some of the vintage inspiration and velvety fabrics on Juicy Couture handbags, I find the prices for them-- even at places like TJ Maxx and Marshalls-- end up out of my price range.

But a walk-through of the Red, White and Blue thrift store on Saturday ended up paying off big for me. Not only was the bag there, but it was a blue tag-- meaning it was half-off.
I loved that the purse was a nice usable chocolate brown. And the little shabby bow and dangling charms and crest on it, I thought were particularly cute.

I love, too, that my purchase money went to charity. A definite win-win!

I also found there these pink goblets...
It's a little hard to see the pattern, but it looked to me very much like some I'd seen on Depression glass. So I went home, checked my handy-dandy Depression Glass book and...
It IS and it ISN'T Depression glass! The pattern is called "Madrid" or "Recollection" and it's made by Indiana Glass. But the shape glass is actually completely modern, and was issued in the 70s.

Now me, I don't really mind it not being from the Depression. But it's certainly interesting information to have.

The last thing I found was this little cuckoo clock planter in turquoise. It isn't marked, but it looked like McCoy to me...
Well, I STILL don't know if it's McCoy. But in the McCoy book, there was this very similar cuckoo clock wall pocket planter...
Mine does have two holes at the bottom where possibly a chain and weights might have hung. But honestly, given my young cat Harry has been testing the physics of ledge shelves in the last day or so-- to see if an 8 pound cat can fit on a four-inch wide wall shelf with knicknacks (The rather disastrous answer here is: Um, NO.) it's probably just as well the planter has no dangly bits to tempt curious paws and jumping legs.

So, that's it for the Treasure Box today! Next post I should be able to give you an update on my friend Scoobie's livingroom transformation.

Take care! (And don't jump on any wall shelves.)

rays of color striped dress.

rays of color striped dress by knitted dove.

rays of color striped dress.

rays of color striped dress by knitted dove.

Low Country Boil Kabobs

One of the many, many advantages of being married to a Southern man is that you learn about the complete fabulousness of something called Low Country Boil.  It's also sometimes known as Frogmore Stew (based on the hometown of the National Guardsman that invented it).  The town of Frogmore was eliminated by the Postal Service and incorporated into the nearby Beaufort, and the name of the recipe officially changed to Low Country Boil.  This is your culinary history lesson of the day.

Anyway, the way this usually works is that you boil up baby potatoes with a seafood seasoning, and then add the sausage, the corn and then the shrimp as time rolls on so that everything is cooked up perfectly.  Then you drain the whole thing and dump it all onto a platter and let folks dig in...forks optional.  We always have this a few times during the summer, so when I saw this version that called for adding the grill into the mix, my antenna went up.  I always do love to shake up a recipe that I've made a hundred times before.

In this version, you still boil up the potatoes, but after they are done you thread them onto skewers with uncooked large shrimp, chunks of andouille sausage, and pieces of corn on the cob that you have cut into 1-2 inch sections.  Now, the most challenging part of this entire thing is getting the dang corn sections on to the skewers.  The center of corn cobs?  HARD.  So the Southern husband sprang into action...he took each one and hammered a nail into it and then pulled it out - making a perfect little hole for me to slip it right onto the skewer.  There is nothing that makes this man happier than the chance to use his workshop skills in the kitchen.

Once everything is on the skewer, you brush it with a mixture of melted butter and Old Bay seasoning.  Or, if you are like me and THOUGHT you had a container of Old Bay and then remembered too late that you threw it out in a frenzy of purging the spice cabinet of old spices, you can fake it by putting together the mixture I found by clicking here.

Now pop the skewers onto the grill for as long as it takes to cook the shrimp and lightly char the corn - 5-8 minutes should do it.  Now you not only have the wonderfulness of Low Country Boil, but with the added flavor of the grill. 

Life is very, very good.

Low Country Boil Kabobs, from Everyday Food

1/2 pound baby potatoes

2 ears of corn, cut into 1 inch sections

1/2 pound cooked andouille sausage, cut into 1 inch rounds

1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and deviened

4 tablespoons melted butter

2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning

1. Boil potatoes in salted water for about 12 minutes or until tender.  Drain and cool slightly.

2. Thread skewers with potatoes, shrimp, corn and sausage.

3. Combine melted butter and Old Bay and brush onto skewers.  Grill on medium high for about 5-8 minutes or until shrimp is cooked and corn is lightly charred.  Serve immediately.

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Optimus Prime truck and Bumblebee car from Transformers 3...

If you're a fan of the heroic transforming Autobots, now's your chance to see Optimus Prime and Bumblebee in vehicle mode in person.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Autobots on display

To promote the opening of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, you'll find Autobot leader, Optimus Prime's truck parked beside the Cinerama Dome along Sunset Boulevard, whilst fan-favourite Bumblebee's Camaro parked outside the ArcLight Hollywood cinema entrance around the corner. These fantastic movie vehicles will be on display from June 28 until July 4, 2011.

Optimus Prime truck from the Transformers movies

The Peterbilt Model-379 truck looks as impressive as the last time it paid a visit to the infamous Cinerama Dome for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009, although the Autobots insignia on his hood is looking slightly tarnished these days, suggesting he's been through the wars since his last appearance.

Optimus Prime Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie billboard

Here's a short video of the iconic movie truck on display.

To mark the release of the new movie, Chevrolet are releasing a 2012 Transformers Special Edition Camaro Coupe, so true fans can be like 'Sam Witwicky' and buy their own Bumblebee car in Rally Yellow, complete with Autobot logos on the wheel center caps and front fenders.

New Bumblebee Camaro from Transformers: Dark of the Moon

If you like these movie cars, be sure to check out more Autobot vehicles from Transformers 2 on display.

Bumblebee Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie billboard

If you're a Transformers fan be sure to also take a look at these fantastic original costumes from Transformers: Dark of the Moon on display.