The floodplain is alive with the sound of music as Richmond’s Gateway Theatre goes with the spiritual uplift of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1959 classic for the holidays. Director Chris McGregor has put together a huge, handsome production with a cast of 28 plus 10 piece orchestra and a perfect Maria in Alison MacDonald.

MacDonald has a sweet, effortless voice and really knows how to sell a song like “My Favorite Things,” avoiding the saccharine and getting a big laugh on “schnitzel with noodles” without even trying. Just as importantly, she knows how to play the combination of irreverent spunk and good-girl conformity that makes Maria an ideal pre-feminist heroine. Too free-spirited for the nunnery but beloved by the mother superior, she liberates the seven von Trapp children from their father’s sick militaristic discipline then marries him. And intrepidly leads the family over the Alps to escape from the Nazis.

There’s a lot to like about this show, especially in the long first act that contains all the great songs: the title number and “My Favorite Things,” “(How Do You Solve a Problem Like) Maria,” “Do-Re-Mi,” and “Climb Every Mountain.”

Ranae Miller as Liesl, the oldest von Trapp kid, and Sayer Roberts as her boyfriend Rolf do especially nice work with “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” which also showcases Dawn Ewen’s choreography.

The other six children (Bridget Esler, Rachel Harrison, Gabriel Schwartz-Dardick, Libby Seltzer, Michael Wilkinson and little Taylor Dianne Robinson) are sufficiently cute and sing well enough that the various versions of “Do-Re-Mi” are as delightful as you hope they’ll be. The strong, sympathetic Mother Abbess (Colleen Winton) and her nuns provide the show’s most beautiful singing in their Latin choral chants. Kudos to musical director Allen Stiles.

As Captain von Trapp, Ian Butcher acts much better than he sings. Allan Zinyk plays the Captain’s friend Max, comic moocher and choral producer, at his scene-stealing broadest.

This Sound of Music features excellent production values. Drew Facey’s versatile set transforms easily from the nunnery to the von Trapp home. He also uses old-fashioned flats very imaginatively. One moment they hold projected images of the Austrian Alps; the next, simple red drop-cloths turn them into the walls of a Nazi concert hall.

Carmen Alatorre has provided dozens of vivid period costumes and Sharon Huizinga’s lighting is effectively moody when it needs to be and appropriately unobtrusive otherwise.

Although the second act feels anti-climactic and the conclusion a little rushed, both in the script and production, this is a fine family show for the holiday season and a great opportunity to get in touch with your inner glockenspiel.

Jerry Wasserman

DO
Some baking with the kids
Why? Because baking with kids is fun (as long as you let them lick the spoon AFTER you’re finished). Double up the recipe and freeze some of the dough. You’ll need it next month for holiday emergencies.

GO
Visit the new VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor’s Centre
Why? Because this stunning new centre includes a cafe, Canada’s largest horticultural library, exhibits, a garden shop, fun for kids and more—and is actually a certified ‘living’ building.

GET
Some of your holiday shopping done ahead of time—just buy a few gifts now for the hard-to-buy-for people on your list
Why? Because then you only have to buy the fun ones—like toys for your kids—closer to the holidays.

PLAY
Tomato
Why? Because it’s a funny, simple game that will have everyone in stitches. It’s fun to play at the dinner table, too. Everyone sits in a circle, and one person is ‘It’. Each person takes a turn asking ‘It’ a question. The only answer to every question can be ‘Tomato’. The first person to make ‘It’ laugh wins a turn at being ‘It’. Questions can be: ‘What color is your hair?’ ‘Tomato.’ ‘What do you brush your teeth with?’ ‘Tomato.’ You get the picture.

READ
Triangles by Ellen Hopkins
Why? It’s a compelling story of three girlfriends in the midst of their own personal midlife crises as they find themselves exploring sex, confronting marriage and adjusting to the roller-coaster reality of life. And we’ve got 10 copies to give away here, along with a guest blog post from the author herself.

Read more ideas from Savvy Mom…..

2000-11662 Steveston Hwy

• Cuisine : Very Casual Dining
• Price: $10 and up
• Features: Patio and huge Sports bar
• Very Suitable for ALL children- great kids menu

We went to Boston Pizza at this Richmond location after my son’s hockey tournament.  It is located just off of a very busy road, Steveston Highway in Ironwood Plaza.  The decor was great and had a great feel when walking in.  We got seated right away and had our drink order taken right away as well.   The ’pint’ of beer I order was a far cry from a pint.  (They need some standards on this as the drink was over $5).   I was very impressed with the kids menu as it had great choices (healthy and not so healthy).  Of course my child picked the not so healthy and went with the chicken nuggets and french fries.  This included a drink and a small dessert for $5.99.  Great value.  My son choose the chicken wings and a small pizza.  He just finished playing 3 hours of hockey and still had another 1.5 hours left later in the evening so I told him he could order what he wanted. 

The chicken wings choices were unbelievable.  They had 14 different flavors to choose from and you could also choose how you wanted them cooked.  (Fried, oven baked or breaded).  WOW!  I have never seen so many choices. 

He loved his pizza and loved his wings.  Winning!

I choose the quesadilla with a salad and unfortunately it was terrible.  It was the worse quesadilla I have ever eaten.  The cheese tasted processed, the chicken was bland and even the salsa was gross.  It had 950 calories in this mess….good thing I didn’t eat it all.

Oven-Roasted Chicken Quesadilla

A whole wheat tortilla filled with tender pieces of spicy chicken breast, cheddar, pizza mozzarella, diced tomato and green onions. Salsa and sour cream on the side. $11.49

Darren, my husband choose the crispy chicken salad and he said it was good but it did look like it had a whole bunch of calories for a salad.  (I didn’t tell him that).

Crispy Chicken Pecan

Breaded chicken breast filet, toasted pecans, pizza mozzarella, cheddar, smoky bacon, chopped egg, julienne carrots and diced tomato over fresh garden greens tossed in ranch dressing. $14.49  1,150 kcal

Yikeeesss for a salad…really, I mean really?

The service was great but the food was really terrible.  I was also not impressed that you had to pay for extra sauce.  I was equally not impressed that you did not get a full pint of beer for the price they were charging.

So bottom line, go for the fun service, lively decor ,need a great kid menu but don’t go for the food unless you are ordering pizza and wings.  They really need to upgrade their menu and take some tips from Cactus Club (and hire Rob Feeny) to get their menu up to causal dining par.

• Food 3/ 10 stars
• Ambiance 8/10 stars
• Service: 8/10 stars

Reviews on Strong Mommy reflect the personal opinion of the writer, whether it is good, bad or ugly.  No compensation was accepted by me or GGS Media Corporation for this review.

Great family fun in Surrey.  Go on a train ride and meet up with Santa.    Go early, as rumor has it this Santa likes to tip his drink while the train is getting boarded.  You be the judge.

Meet Santa Claus

There is no better way to get into the holiday season than a parade.  Come on out and see Santa and so many others bring in Christmas 2011.  I will be tweeting as the parade is on so be sure to follow me on twitter and I can let you know exactly what is happening with updates and pictures!

@strongmommy2 use hashtag #xmas2011

PARADE DATE & TIME:

• Date: Sunday, December 4, 2011
• Time: 1:00 p.m.

BEST PLACES TO WATCH:

With a long parade route, there will be great viewing along the entire route. 

PARADE ROUTE CHANGE:

The parade will start at West Georgia Street and Broughton (at 1:00 pm), travel east along West Georgia, turn north on Burrard and finish at Burrard and Cordova.

COAST CAPITAL SAVINGS CHRISTMAS SQUARE:

• 10:30am to 1:00pm
• Located on Thurlow Street between Georgia and Melville

Come out and join in on the family fun pre-parade festivities! There will be live entertainment on the main stage, Decorate a Gingerbread Man, Write a Letter to Santa and much more!

WHAT TO WEAR:

• Go for classic west coast style (fleece, waterproof jackets and comfortable waterproof  footwear).
• Dress in layers to keep warm.
• Remember that umbrellas will unfortunately block the view, so please leave them at home.

PARADE ETIQUETTE:

Secure your spot on Santa’s nice list! Follow these Rogers Santa Claus Parade protocols

• Respect parade officials. Your safety and that of your family is paramount. Obey all instructions to avoid Santa’s naughty list!
• S marks the spot – someone else’s that is! Never move or occupy an empty chair. This curbside spot has been reserved.

CONSIDER OTHERS:

• Wear your rain gear. Umbrellas block the view.
• Be nice. Please allow those in wheelchairs front row, curb side viewing of the parade. Also, allow families with children to sit in front. We short people appreciate it too!
• Say “excuse me” or “I’m sorry” if you bump or step on someone in the crowd.
• Don’t smoke.
• Property…a respectful reminder: climbing on or sitting atop anything belonging to Citytv, Canada Post, dumpster companies, et al is a definite don’t!

LOST AND FOUND:

At the end of the day all items collected will be transported to the head office of Rogers Retail. To claim an item, please call (604) 270-9200.

• Cuisine : Casual Dining
• Price: $20 and up
• Features: Patio open all year round
• Not Suitable for small children- no kids menu

This review is for the South Surrey location, which is located minutes from the USA border and only a few miles from White Rock beach.  This review is for this location only.

We arrived at the south Surrey Cactus Club Cafe on a beautiful October evening and decided we would try out the patio.  I was very impressed with the two attractive females that opened the door for up upon our arrival.  They were very friendly and quick to seat us on the patio.  The decor was fun and lively.  The patio was equally impressive with a fireplace, heaters, blankets, water feature and plenty of booths. 

The wait staff greeted us quickly and we order one of their signature drinks, the Bellini.  Yum!  To start, my guest and I decided to share the:

• korean style bbq pork lettuce wraps – braised pork shoulder shredded,asian slaw, kimchi, chopped ginger and green onion, korean chili bean sauce, spicy yogurt

This arrived very quickly, considering how full the restaurant was.  This dish was delightful.  It had all the right flavors and I could have easily eat all of this on my own.  I love when you have spice and a cooling sauce.  The flavors go so good together, hence why we both ordered for our main entree was:

• jambalaya rice bowl - shrimp, chicken, cured bacon, sausage, vegetables, spicy tomato sauce, black bean salsa, crème fraiche

We had this dish with a glass of their house red, which was excellent.  The dish was so good.  It had so many textures and flavours all in your mouth at the same time.  I loved this dish and I think I will have to try to replicate it at home.  I ordered this with a side of mango chutney.  It was a great addition.

The dishes were cleared when we were done eating and we had a great chat with our server, who was very pleasant.  No seemed to be stressed or rushed at the restaurant even though it seemed very busy.  All the staff was very warm with a great smile and very nicely dressed.  If you go, you have to check out there restrooms.  You will be in for a shock.  A great atmosphere!

• Food 9/ 10 stars
• Ambiance 9.5/10 stars
• Service: 9/10 stars

Sorry for lack of pictures, the camera ran out of batteries.

Reviews on Mommy.GirlGetStrong.com reflect the personal opinion of the writer, whether it is good, bad or ugly.  No compensation was accepted by me or GGS Media Corporation for this review. 

• Cuisine : Fine Dining
• Price: $25 and up
• Features: Patio
• Not Suitable for small children

I love going to small little restaurants rather than stick to the huge name brand ones, such as The Keg.  So I was thrilled when I found a Groupon for Tap Restaurant in South Surrey.  It was a Groupon for $20 for $40 worth of food.  Great deal.  I friend of mine had come in from town from St Albert’s, AB and I decided I would treat her with dinner.  She knows I’m cheap so she loved that I had this Groupon to save money.

I called ahead to make sure there was a spot for us and he said not a problem.  The restaurant it self is in a very small strip mall in a very lovely neighborhood of Morgan Creek.   The houses were all well looked after and looked like the perfect little neighbourhood.  We arrived and the restaurant was very busy but also very small.  There was only one table left, of course right in the middle of the small room.   The decor was lively and fun.  OK but that was really it….it all went very downhill from here….

The service was horrible horrible horrible.  I have been treated better at a fast food restaurant.  It took about 25 minutes to get our first round of drinks.  When we were finally ready to order, again the wait staff took forever to come.  The food that we ordered was very good but also very pricey and not a huge selection.  I wanted some wine with my meal and asked for a wine menu, once again did not come.  We had our dinner plates sit at the table, clearly ready to be taken away for about 20 minutes once again.  I really didn’t want to tip but I did tip 10% for the chef.  I will never go to this restaurant again. 

Maybe they were so overwhelmed with the Groupon?  But really what were they thinking?? Don’t you put out the Groupon for REPEAT business??  Its really too bad as this restaurant really has a lot of potential.

• Food 8/ 10 stars as very pricey for what you got and not a very good selection
• Ambiance 8/10 stars
• Service: 1/10 stars (really there was no excuse on how we got treated)

So this year was her lucky year.  In her words:

We arrived at 630pm and the line up was super long already.  It was however, the last Saturday before Halloween, so to be expected.  The line up moved very quickly and they even had creepy actors in the line to give a small peak of what is to come.  So I found the time went by very quickly.  It took about 45 minutes before we finally got to go into the Haunted Barn.

It was way scarier than I thought it would be but so well done.  There were actors yelling at us, popping up at us, props that you think aren’t real but really are, special effects with video’s and so much more.  I don’t want to ruin it for you but this is a must see for Halloween as it was the scraitest thing ever.  I can’t wait to go next year!

A BIG huge 10/ 10 for me.

So there have it. So if you want to be super spooked this Halloween, you now know where to go!

Happy Halloween!