dsmWeekly: November 29, 2023

Panettone al Limoncello is $45 at Kitchen Collage and makes a great gift for anyone who is politely declining your homemade sourdough for the third year in a row.

FOOD AND DINING

Five foodie gifts from Kitchen Collage

Writer: Michael Morain

Do you know anyone who cooks? Or, maybe, someone who eats?

If they’d like a holiday gift, you can find a good one at Kitchen Collage. For almost 20 years now, foodies have flocked to the East Village shop to find classic kitchen gear and newfangled gadgets. Owner Teresa Adams-Tomka sold me my favorite lemon juicer 18 years ago and recently offered a few gift ideas — starting with a new-and-improved juicer.

The Fluicer ($16)
With its simple hinge, this handheld tool lets you squeeze fruit with less force than a traditional tool. The real advantage: It folds flat to save space in a drawer. “Engineers are always trying to make our lives better,” Adams-Tomka said.

Grate Plate ($30)
This cute little glazed ceramic dish has rough bumps that can easily chew up a chunk of fresh ginger (which Adams-Tomka peels with a teaspoon). It comes with a little brush to collect the pulp, fresh and fragrant for soup, stir fry, salad dressing and so forth.

Bundt Quartet Pan ($50)
Nordic Ware makes a hefty pan that turns out four individual cakes, each with its own whimsical design. They’re perfect for not-so-big fat Greek weddings.

Ankarsrum Kitchen Machine ($749)
Yeah, this is a splurge, but this Swedish stand mixer can do pretty much anything except assemble a sandwich. It’s stronger, sturdier and quieter than its KitchenAid cousins, and since the power comes from below, there’s more space up top to toss ingredients in the roomy bowl, which can accommodate more than 4 pounds of flour. It stirs! It kneads! With special attachments, it grinds meat, makes ice cream and doubles as a food processor. “It will roll your oats,” Adams-Tomka said, “and I’m not kidding: They’re the best oats going.” The Swedes have been using the AKM since the 1940s, but it didn’t really catch on over here until everybody started baking during the pandemic.

Panettone al Limoncello ($45)
If you’d rather just buy your bread, try Chiostro di Saronno’s spongey, not-too-sweet loaf that, I swear, will transport you to a lemon grove on the Amalfi Coast. “The Italians were very excited when they called me: ‘They’re done! You want them now?’” Adams-Tomka said of the call back in September. She delayed the order, for the holidays, and gently sliced into a volleyball-sized loaf to sample. It’s studded with candied lemon peel and laced with limoncello cream and magic sunshine. If there’s a bigger size — like, a mattress? — I’d sleep on it.

Max Wellman hosts a holiday variety show this Saturday. Photo: Noce

BEST BET

Noce hosts a whole weekend of Christmas spirit

Friday is Dec. 1, the official date when it’s socially acceptable to listen to Christmas music in public. (We don’t make the rules.) So kick off the month with some festive tunes at Noce, where back-to-back shows will jingle-bell-rock your socks off.

7 p.m. Friday: Christmas with the Nate Sparks Big Band, led by the Iowa-born, Juilliard-trained composer, pianist and trumpeter, features new arrangements of holiday favorites.

7 p.m. Saturday: Noce Christmas with Max Wellman and Special Guests is Noce’s all-new holiday variety show. Wellman hosts a six-piece band led by Nate Sparks, along with vocalists Gina Gedler, Napoleon Douglas and Tina Haase Findlay.

5 p.m. Sunday: All I Want for Christmas with Gina Gedler and her combo perform some of her favorite warm and toasty holiday songs by Ella Fitzgerald, Karen Carpenter, Eartha Kitt, Diana Krall and others.

Bonus! 7 p.m. Tuesday: A Charlie Brown Christmas with the Peter Roberts Band is back by popular demand. They’ll play Vince Guaraldi’s famous score from the TV special.

The Week Ahead

Christkindlmarket (5-11 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday): The annual outdoor holiday market brings its Old World charm to the plaza outside Principal Park, where you’ll find hand-crafted gifts, European-style goodies and traditional music.

Mainframe Studios First Friday (5-8 p.m. Friday): Join Mainframe Studios artists and incoming director Julia Franklin for the fifth annual Ceramics Invitational during this month’s First Friday open house. Browse and buy pieces from local ceramicists and potters, including students from Des Moines Public Schools’ Central Academy.

“All is Calm,” (Opening 7:30 p.m. Friday, through Dec. 17): The Des Moines Playhouse musical tells the true story of the so-called Christmas Truce of 1914, when Allied and German soldiers in World War I emerged from their trenches to share an extraordinary day of camaraderie, music and peace.

Holly & Ivy Home Tour (10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday): Tour the 100-year-old Salisbury House decked in all its yuletide glory. Then check out the additional holiday wreath-making workshops or charcuterie board classes before or after your tour. Book tickets in advance.

Family Christmas (Noon-3 p.m. Saturday): Bundle up for an old-fashioned Iowa Christmas at Living History Farms, where you can hop on a horse-drawn wagon (with honest-to-goodness jingle bells), decorate cookies, visit Santa, listen to Victorian carolers and join the sing-along at the Church of the Land.

Des Moines Gay Men’s Chorus (7:30 p.m. Saturday): Just a few tickets remain for the “Light of the Season” holiday program at Hoyt Sherman Place, featuring the full 80-member chorus and its smaller ensembles, including TRANScendent.

“Transform Any Room” artists’ talk (1:30 p.m. Sunday): Join Iowa artists Ange Altenhofen and T.J. Dedeaux-Norris for a conversation about their work and artistic themes including domestic space, aesthetics and labor in the “Transform Any Room” exhibition on display at the Des Moines Art Center. Registration is free but required.

PHILANTHROPY
Doing good: In the wake of Giving Tuesday, take a minute to learn about the many nonprofit organizations making a difference here in Des Moines in the 2023 edition of the Business Record’s “Pillars of Philanthropy.” Read profiles about local change-makers and their plans for the future. And if the mood strikes, consider donating to a cause you care about. In the publication, you’ll find ways to give to each organization and see how your gift will help.

Todd Almond and the cast of "Girl From The North Country." Photo: Matthew Murphy

ARTS AND CULTURE

Dylan musical spins a 'Hurricane' on stage

Writer: Mathany Ahmed

My best friend Tina is what the kids these days would call a “stan” of Bob Dylan. Many of our nights out together end with her playing his songs while she tells me all about his lyrical genius, his political activism and, of course, that Nobel Prize from 2016. So when I got tickets to “Girl from the North Country,” the Dylan musical that runs through Sunday at the Des Moines Civic Center, Tina was my first call. I love the theater, she loves Dylan, and between the two of us, I was sure we’d both find something here to enjoy.

We did. There were some show-stopping scenes. I’ll be thinking about that “Rolling Stone” number for days. The actors have real chemistry and big-time energy. The visuals are simple but effective, with old-timey costumes and evocative lighting.

But the overall effect? Well, it’s complicated, as they say. There are a lot of moving pieces, and they don't always add up to a greater whole. Director Conor McPherson, who wrote the book, seems to overwork some storylines and neglect others, which blocks the show’s beating heart.

The story unfolds in a boarding house in Duluth, during the bleak winter of 1934. Its owners, Nick (John Schiappa) and his mentally ill wife, Elizabeth (Jennifer Blood), have two adult kids named Gene (Ben Biggers), a failed artist and bumbling alcoholic, and Marianne (Sharaé Moultrie), a Black woman they adopted as a child. Early on, the father and son discuss whether they should encourage 19-year-old Marianne to marry a 70-year-old neighbor. Since she’s pregnant with the child of an unnamed man, and the family is on the brink of financial ruin, a marriage may be her best option.

But there are other dilemmas in the house. Each boarder brings plenty of baggage, including Nick’s mistress, an ex-convict, a door-to-door Bible salesman and a well-heeled couple traveling with their “simple” adult son.

In all, more than a dozen characters compete for attention, and some of their storylines get shortchanged. Just when I was connecting with Marianne and her boy/geezer problems, another character jumped into the spotlight. I wanted more of Elizabeth, too, whose uninhibited antics and powerhouse voice – with a bit of raw Dylan grit – stood out among the dizzy mix of characters. Everybody seems to need more elbow room.

You’ll recognize “Hurricane,” “All Along the Watchtower” and “Make You Feel My Love” (hey there, Adele). But even my friend Tina didn’t recognize some of the newer and lesser-known tunes from Dylan's 60-year career. “These songs are all from the B-sides,” an older woman next to us said. She smiled. “Do you even know what that means?”

A lot of Dylan’s music doesn’t lend itself to a song-and-dance musical. His songs are emotional but not flashy. They don’t try to win you over, which is what a musical has to do. For my Dylan-loving friend, the Broadway-style performances were too much. But for me, the main characters needed a chance to do more.