"For a lot of people, Tchaikovsky is The Nutcracker ... . The Nutcracker is Tchaikovsky's masterpiece. He said beforehand that he would write music that would make everyone weep! ... Tchaikovsky remained a child all his life, he felt things like a child. He liked the German idea that man in his highest development approaches the child. Tchaikovsky loved children as themselves, not as future adults. Children contain maximum possibilities. These possibilities often do not develop, they are lost.

"In Hoffman the place is called Konfetenburg while Petipa called it Konfetuerenburg: I rather like that change. Konfetuerenbug is a marvelous word! ... I also like the German word Schlaraffenland -- the land of the lazy, with rivers of milk and shores of pudding. ... The second act of Nutcracker is more French than German, Petipa liked the idea of Konfituerenburg because at that time in Paris there was a fad for spectacles in which various sweets were depicted by dancers. Actually, Nutcracker's second act is an enormous balletic sweetshop. In Petersburg there was a store like that, it was called Eliseyevsky's: huge glass windows, windows big enough for a palace, high ceilings, opulent chandeliers, almost like the ones at the Maryinsky. The floors at Eliseyevsky's were covered with sawdust, and you could not hear footsteps ... . The store had sweets and fruits from all over the world, like in 'A Thousand and One Nights.' I used to walk past and look in the windows often.

"Everything that appears in the second act of Nutcracker is a candy or something tasty. Or a toy ... . The Sugar Plum Fairy is a piece of candy and the dewdrops are made of sugar. The Buffon is a candy cane. It's all sugar! ... I think that people also like Nutcracker so much because nowadays everyone is interested in how children used to live and play. In my day there was no interest in that. No one asked children how they lived and what they thought. Children simply tried to become as much like adults as quickly as possible, and that was all."

From Solomon Volkov's "Balanchine's Tchaikovsky"

Fun fact: In this video Leslie Browne of "The Turning Point" fame is seen pre-nose job.

On Bernie Sanders:

Stern: "You would say a policy ... and the next day he would go 'Well, free college for everyone!' It's almost like when you run for fifth grade class: 'I'll give you free everything! Chocolate milk for everyone! And more recess!' And then it makes you look like you're a stick in the mud."

Clinton: "And then when you say, wait a minute, where's the money going to come from, you get: 'Are you against free college?' Yeah, I know."

Some things never change.

Being from the Pacific Northwest, I love the traditional pairing of salmon with a sauce made with berries.