Spice Up Your Life

I passed up the Spice Girls for Nirvana, with a stop at Fort Knox along the way.

And by Fort Knox, I mean the pop-up called "And Now for the Last Course" held at Avalon by Chef Knox Vaughan and Mattias Haglund of Comfort.

It may not have been a true pop-up since Avalon used to be Knox's kitchen, but the one-night only event was a send -off for Knox, who's leaving RVA.

Naturally, he broke all the rules, meaning no set time for the dinner and no set menu.

Instead he'd created a  one-night only menu to tempt the faithful and from which to order.

So many choices - cumin lamb lollipops, skirt steak Oscar, ants on a log- made it hard to pick just a few.

An amuse bouche of heirloom cherry tomatoes, red and yellow, with EVOO and fresh basil merely whetted our appetites for more.

We began with the Misto to Share, a plate of peppery arugula with a creamy arugula, leek and Manchego pesto atop it, along with Spanish olives, sliced Manchego and saffron crackers.

It was the perfect starter.

Corn-husk wrapped  escolar came with cilantro corn and tequila lime reduction.

As promised by our server, the escolar melted in our mouths while the sweet corn was as summery as an August day.

I could have eaten an entire bowl of that corn.

We finished with melon panna cotta, the melon puree a vivid orange and tasting like the melon was barely hours old.

Usually panna cotta is not my thing, but this was too fresh-tasting not to savor.

The chef worked the dining room, saying goodbye to diners as they scarfed his delicious work.

Thus fortified, it was time for us to get in the way-back machine and revisit the '90s.

We did that at the Ghost Light Afterparty at Richmond Triangle Players.

This month's theme, "Saved By The GLAP" was a shoe-in for a Sunday funday kind of evening.

Host Matt was late, although we got a report from the stage that he'd be there the moment he finished eating McDonald's in his apartment.

Apparently, rehearsals for "All Fall Down" ran late.

But The GLAP audience is a patient one and we had plenty of alcohol and company to amuse us.

I was disappointed to hear that a talented friend is pulling up stakes for San Diego, but absolutely charmed when she described how she felt about RVA.

"We've been stupidly happy here," she said, smiling widely.

When Matt did arrive wearing a "This is Hardcore" t-shirt (hardcore never looked so adorable), the party swung into full gear.

Even his mother had come down from Jersey to join the fun.

Co-host Maggie kicked things off by saying, "This is what the '90s is to me," before singing "Groove is in the Heart."

Her Mom and Dad and assorted kin had also come down to be part of the GLAP festivities.

It was a family affair.

As usual, lots of people got into the act, dancing or playing instruments.

"Marquise is starting to turn into our resident bongo player," Matt observed after he'd added some nice percussion to a song.

We took a turn from Top 40 to punk when Matt did Green Day's "Long View," albeit in a slightly more Broadway style than Billie Joe had likely intended.

Or maybe not. The man did go on to write a musical, after all.

Afterwards at the mic, Maggie chatted up the crowd.

"First," she said dramatically, "Marvin Hamlisch."

There was a collective "Ohhhh," as only a theater crowd can do and not surprisingly, several Hamlisch songs were sung tonight.

The talented Robyn O'Neill (looking fabulous in green pants, green sandals with green toenail polish) did a stunning version of Hamlisch's "I Still Believe in Love."

Liz, in undone overalls and with a hat on, returned us to Top 40 with Four Non Blondes' "What's Going On."

We heard a mad-lib sung to which I'd contributed (tangoing, swimming and kissed) to REM's "Losing My Religion," and Matt rapped.

Seriously, sometimes you have to be there to believe some of this stuff you see.

We got an audience lesson in how to beatbox from  Annie, who told us afterwards, "That's on my resume."

Sadly, I was slow on the uptake so I don't think beat boxing will ever be on my resume.

"In a minute, the acoustic guitar is going to come out an then it'll get real '90s," Matt solemnly informed the crowd.

With a little tuning and very little previous practice they said, we heard the Goo Goo Dolls "Name" and Third Eye Blind's "Jumper" and we were suddenly knee-deep in the '90s.

It was awesome.

Maggie took the microphone looking uncharacteristically serious.

"My mother has harbored some bad feelings all these years about Kurt Cobain because of the pain he caused me," she mugged.

Which could only mean that it was time for some Nirvana worship in the form of "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

It could be the anthem for Ghost Light Afterparty audience: "Here we are now, entertain us."

And month after month, they do. Hilariously. With an array of talent. With corny jokes and raffle prizes. With songs we'd like to forget and ones we're thrilled to hear live.

"Now Nirvana has been done at GLAP," Matt said mock-seriously, as if looking for meaning. "Never saw that one coming!"

Of course, as a loyal butt in the audience, I never see any of it coming.

I just show up prepared to be unprepared for whatever happens.

And I inevitably leave with my face sore from smiling and laughing.

Maybe like my friend, I'm aspiring to be stupidly happy from here on out.