A few years ago, my husband and I cut out all processed foods, artificial colors, flavorings, and sweeteners, and went organic ; then he became vegetarian (and I lost nearly half my body weight)! We love to cook and eat, so our work is cut out for us, especially when we travel.  We don’t eat fast food and rarely eat in chain restaurants, which use low quality ingredients and precook a lot of their food, adding loads of added fat, salt, and sugar. And while you can find a salad or a veggie sandwich almost anywhere, it’s a lot harder to find something tasty with substance and especially with high quality protein. We end up carrying along a supply of protein bars and homemade trail mix for emergencies.

I want to eat healthy, but it’s got to taste good. So I’ve got minimalist healthy cooking down to an art. It’s easiest, of course, when you’re housed in a business hotel or apartment with a kitchenette; but if I find myself in a regular hotel room, I have a “kitchen box” I ship to myself. You’d be amazed at what you can do with an electric skillet and a hot plate. Sometimes the hotel will give or rent a small microwave oven or refrigerator; but if those aren’t available, I buy a cheap Styrofoam cooler and keep perishables for a couple of days in ice.

Here in Idaho, where I’m singing the Marquise de Berkenfield in La fille du regiment, I’m fortunate to have a homestay where my hosts have cleared pantry and fridge space for me. They aren’t big on cooking themselves, so I try not to mess up their kitchen much and keep my home cooking plain.

I try to eat very simply most of the time, because there are so many temptations and parties. Spinach is very versatile (it can be a salad or a basis for a hot meal: top it with canned beans and a sprinkling of parmesean cheese or a couple of crumbled up soy breakfast patties).  Dried cranberries and walnuts add a lot of flavor and texture to salads; a little goat cheese adds just the right amount of creaminess, and you can also spread it on toast and stud it with cranberries and slices of banana for a delicious and healthy breakfast. Hummus, whole wheat pita, and a few olives make a great lunch. Baby carrots are great for snacking or adding to the salad. And when you get sick of simple fare, it’s time to have lunch out and bring the leftovers home to dress up your spinach for the next day. Boise happens to have a plethora of great restaurants, including Bardenay’s (where they also distill their own gin), a number of Basque and Irish pubs with great happy hour menus, and a fabulous French bistro called Le Coq Rouge —which recently put on an opera night complete with an opera-themed dinner, including Bellini aperitifs, Pollo Verdi, Votre Toast (a berry-flavored palate cleanser), and Gateau du Fille de Regiment.

Keeping up a workout routine while traveling can also be a challenge. I love to run or walk, because it is so simple and you really don’t need much in the way of equipment.  Last summer in Des Moines, the Women of Figaro made it a habit to run together, and we had a great time — what a wonderful way to bond, offstage!

I’m also a big fan of exercise videos. For the past 8 weeks, I’ve been doing P90X, an “extreme” home fitness program that takes very little space. It’s more fun to do it with free weights and a pull-up bar, but all you really need is a yoga mat and resistance bands. I like this program because while it is indeed quite challenging, it’s also varied, and you never get bored. On any given week I’m doing yoga, plyometrics, several different lifting routines, Kenpo, and a boot camp style core workout.  The big bonus comes when a castmate is also doing P90X (we’re everywhere, y’all!) and you can compare notes and encourage each other with cheesy slogans. One of my Fille castmates is an X-er (in much better shape than me) and every day we greet each other with some silly statement from one of the videos, or some other “inspiration”. My current favorite is, “That’s not sweat. That’s just your fat cells crying!”

Also, whenever I travel, I look for opportunities to hike. In Idaho, and I’ve enjoyed trails through the foothills and Snake River Canyon, and am looking for a chance to make it up into the mountains and hit one of the ski trails. The best workouts are ones that don’t cost anything or require fancy equipment, and get you outside and exploring your temporary new home!

The trick is to realize that travel and temptation are just part of the job. You’re not on vacation (even though you may be having a lot of fun and getting to see new parts of the country). So you can’t eat like you’re on vacation —- at least not all the time — and you can’t be a couch potato, either. Eating right and working out is as important a part of my work as training and caring for my voice.  I never know what my precise living situation is going to be until I get there, so flexibility and adaptability are the name of the game. But one thing I don’t have to worry about when it comes to the challenge of eating well and working out on the road — there’s always a new challenge, so it never gets boring!

Mint.com Personal Finances

During this past summer, I was on a contract in scenic Logan, Utah.  For those spending the long summer days in rehearsals and performances, I thought I’d share three little apps that were invaluable to me in helping me through June, July, and August.

The most important one by far is the NYTimes app.  It’s been free, but is about to switch to a pay subscription in the coming weeks.  I’ll certainly sign up, since having daily access to the Times is invaluable for keeping au fait when I’m on the road.

The silver medal goes to the MLB.com app, which ran me about $15.  This is absolutely useless to anyone who couldn’t care less about baseball, but worth its weight in digital gold for those who do.  It lets you listen to the live radio broadcast of every single game of baseball of the season, including spring training and playoffs.  I like baseball on the radio, and nothing makes you feel more at home than local commercials when you’re sitting on a park bench 2,000 miles away.

The bronze goes to the ol’ Facebook app.  Love it or hate it, the book (as the kids are calling it) is a way of life in the constantly-connected milieu of the 21st century.  And even if you never update your status, you’ll find you have a greatly augmented interest in your friends’ posts about their day-to-day mundana (Your daughter finished her spinach at dinner?  Hooray!) than ever before.

I’ve got the tools to survive and thrive, thanks to my iPhone.  Summer 2011, bring it on.

Poutine! Sometimes called Canada’s greatest contribution to world cuisine, this quintessentially Canuck side dish is not to be missed. Traditionally, poutine consists of a bed of fries covered in gravy and cheese curds (eat your heart out, ketchup). For a great little twist on this classic recipe, I visited the Gilead Café, brainchild of superchef Jamie Kennedy. For over two years this little joint has served as a local paean to the slow food movement; a locally-harvested butternut squash ended up on my plate as a bowl of soup, and it was so tasty that I forgot to take a picture (trust me, it was pretty). I followed that up with the daily poutine special, which is always a surprise. I happened to show up on BBQ-pulled-pork poutine day. Lucky me.

Food this good has an inevitable caloric consequence, best countered with an afternoon spent in some of Toronto’s beautifully kept greenspace. High Park is a popular destination in the west end of the city, as is the Harbourfront boardwalk and running path, which hugs the shore of Lake Ontario for several miles, and on a clear day is crowded with runners, cyclists, and what appears to be the world’s remaining supply of Rollerblades. For a unique park experience, I’d recommend the Toronto Islands, located just a short ferry ride from the banks of Lake Ontario, and affording a fantastic unrestricted view of Toronto’s downtown skyline. Known for its small, car-free community, the small residential area of the islands is interspersed with parkland, waterways, and gardens. Top this off with a petting zoo and an adult-sized swing set (a personal highlight), and you’re left with an afternoon to remember.

This summer, I’m working with Wolf Trap Opera Company in the rolling hills of Northern Virginia, just outside of our nation’s capital. After a long morning of studying scores and Shakespeare, I decided to put culture on hold for an hour or so to experience the illustrious Vienna Inn. The food is simultaneously unremarkable and astounding, and I am both amused and intrigued by the place in history that this establishment holds in the lives of many colleagues and predecessors. I would be willing to bet the Vienna Inn is oblivious to the countless number of world-class musicians that have sat in these rickety booths to enjoy chili dogs and beers over the years. And, from the vibe in the place, I doubt they care.

But still, a coupla chili cheese dogs represented a rite of passage for me at lunch today, and it will add to the list of great destinations and warm memories that I feel fortunate to have collected thus far.

Oh, and trust me… the dogs tasted MUCH better than they look.

Lately, I am trying to make sure I give myself time to relax and just enjoy being in a new place to restore the energy that traveling can deplete. When I was in Vienna last week I decided to give myself a day to enjoy the city. I ended up at Shönbrunn Palace with a friend and we spent the afternoon chatting and taking in nature at the beautiful gardens. It recharged my batteries, filled me with some inspiration from the natural surroundings, and helped me to slow down and keep things in perspective, and to remember to breath and keep my feet on the ground. In Europe there are so many of these old wonderful locations so I often feel like I am connecting with history on some deep level; almost as if I remember being in that place long ago. I was happy to have spent the afternoon at this imperial summer residence of many of the Hapsburg monarchs and I am continuing the resolve to truly see the cities where I am singing in the future! Next time you are in Vienna, I highly recommend an afternoon at the gardens of Schönbrunn, your soul will thank you.

It goes without saying that Ambien is my best friend when it comes to resetting my body clock after traversing many a time zone. I’ve made the most of that fantastic little blue pill for a few years now, but there are some new in-flight amenities which have added comfort to my travels. The first is a product by Colgate called the Wisp. These tiny, disposable toothbrushes come in packs of four, and can be used in the relative anonymity of your seat or the cramped cabin bathroom. No water is necessary, and after a quick scrub your teeth feel tingly clean after hours of recycled air, airline nibbles, and several turns at the drink cart. It’s an in-flight revelation for your mouth!

My second find is a tiny atomizer of Evian. Yes, they are hard to find (you may have to order them online) and something about using them feels a little precious. However, in the middle and towards the end of a 12-hour flight, give your face a quick spritz with this purified mist of cool water, and all hesitation about carrying this little can will melt away. Revitalize both your complexion and your mood in just a few seconds.

If you’re anything like me, one of the first things to do when getting settled in your new hotel room is to connect to the internet and make sure you have no pressing emails waiting for you. After you’re caught up with business, you quickly realize that if you’re outside of the United States, you can no longer watch your favorite television shows which are blocked to users in foreign countries. For a nominal fee, you can download a service called Skydur.com, install, launch, and catch up on any content you regularly receive at home. Skydur essentially anonymizes your browsing, allowing you to select where it appears you are browsing from – it’s absolutely brilliant. I stayed connected with Lost and Brothers & Sisters during my month in Asia and Singapore!

I’m all ears when it comes to ideas that others have to make travel more palatable for those of us who do it for a living. What are the things you’ve found that make life easier while you’re out there on the road?