Fancy Brunch at Home: Waffles, Omelettes, and Champagne

(#10) Master 25 New Recipes

1. Stuffed Peppers
2. Risotto
3. Polenta
4. Beef Brisket
5. French Onion Soup
6. Chocolate Chip Cookies
7. Lentil Soup
8. Macaroni & Cheese
9. Zucchini Bread
10. Chicken Piccata
11. Moussaka
12. Chocolate Cake
13. Zebra Cake
14. Chili
15. Cornbread
16. Steamed Artichokes
17. Baked S'mores
18. Barbecue Chicken
19. Meatballs
20. Waffles
21. Omelette

Who says brunch should involve a half-hour wait and a $3 coffee? Once in a while we like to treat ourselves to a nice big brunch at home, and here are two recipes that will help us do so more often.

Waffles

I recently inherited a waffle maker and was excited to try it out. Ronnie's grandma (who provided the waffle maker) also provided the recipe. It makes about 12 waffles.

Ingredients
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cup skim milk
1 tblp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1. Whisk together eggs, milk, and oil in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in another bowl.

3. Slowly add the flour mixture into the liquid mixture while whisking. It will be slightly lumpy, like pancake batter.

Obviously the instructions from here will depend on your waffle maker, but a couple of recommendations:

-Spray your waffle-maker with cooking spray even if it claims to be "non-stick."
-Under-fill the first batch. It spreads more than you think.
-Set the whole waffle maker on a baking sheet in case you do overfill.I had some spillage.

Omelettes

I have made a few omelettes in my day, but I have not gotten to the point where I am over my fear of screwing them up. So now was the time to master the omelette.

Here's how to make an omelette that doesn't need to be flipped.

First, some people don't use milk. I happen to have some leftover from the waffles, I used a little. Crack three eggs, add salt and pepper, and whisk it up.

Melt some butter in a non-stick pan.

Now here's the important part.

Pour your eggs in the pan. In the first few seconds while the eggs are still totally raw, use a rubber spatula to push the eggs aside like below to expose more of the raw parts to the bottom of the pan.

Once your egg forms a somewhat solid bottom layer, tilt the pan and let any leftover raw egg sneak underneath the edges.

These two steps insure an even cook on the egg without flipping. 

Now's the time to add your toppings. I added mushrooms and I didn't cook them beforehand- they get cooked enough for my taste with the eggs. Its up to you. I also added cheddar cheese.

Once the cheese starts to melt, get a larger spatula, wedge it underneath half of your omelette, and flip it closed. 

According to real chefs, this omelette is hideously overcooked. But I like it a little browned. Cooking it evenly as described above ensures it will still be fluffy.

Add salt and eat while piping hot! 

Jamie Oliver demonstrates this process better in this video (and his eggs aren't browned). 

Finally, the champagne. 

Traditionally we have mimosas with brunch. But when I found out that new food #23, St. Germain, was often mixed with champagne, I had to try it. 

St. Germain is an elderflower liquor that is as delicious as it is beautiful. It is French which makes me love it just a little bit more. The flavor is very distinct, though it is somewhat tropical, somewhat citrus-y, and slightly floral. 

It was the perfect amount of sweetness to add to the champagne. I immediately loved it and decided it would be my eccentric writer's drink, like Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon. Apparently writers just love champagne.

Then again, who doesn't?

Bridges, Stamps, and a Flux Capacitor

(#17) Watch 25 Classic Movies

1.   One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
2.   A Streetcar Named Desire
3.   It's a Wonderful Life
4.   Some Like it Hot
5.   The Terminator
6.   Terminator 2: Judgement Day
7.   The Princess Bride
8.   Ben-Hur
9.   Ferris Bueller's Day Off 
10. Sixteen Candles
11. Blade Runner
12. The Natural
13. Chariots of Fire
14. The Graduate
15. Cool Hand Luke
16. Casablanca
17. Enter the Dragon
18. Citizen Kane

19. The Bridges of Madison County

20. Charade

21. Back to the Future

I know it might be stretching it a bit to call The Bridges of Madison County a “classic” movie. It is certainly more in the realm of pop culture than groundbreaking filmmaking. But Meryl Streep has to count for something, right?

Also, since the demise of Blockbuster, it is increasingly difficult to get your hands on old movies. So I was limited in my choices.

Anyway, I enjoyed this movie about as much as expected. Clint Eastwood was already looking crazy in 1995 and was somewhat difficult to swallow as someone’s romantic interest. Meryl was kind of fabulous though. I think I kind of missed her heyday but the more I see of her the more I understand why she is so celebrated.

The storyline with the brother and sister characters seemed a little out of place. Or maybe it was just the acting of those two was distractingly bad.

Since this movie is all about photography I was kind of hoping to get to see some of the photos at the end. But, spoiler alert, we don’t. Also I found it funny that in 1995 people were still putting their film in the fridge- that is not even something I really remember doing. Such a little thing can date a movie and you never know what that little thing is going to be!

Charade is I believe my second Audrey Hepburn movie, the first being Breakfast at Tiffany’s. And of course Cary Grant stars in two of my all-time favorite movies, North by Northwest and An Affair to Remember. So I was fairly confident I would enjoy this one.

Audrey Hepburn’s character Reggie was enjoyable to watch. She was a bit quirky for a classic heroine, always eating and making sarcastic observations- obviously I related to her well. She does somewhat play the “need to be rescued” female, but I thought for the 1960s she was also relatively competent and retained her composure throughout. Also, before her husband is murdered she has already decided to divorce him, which (for the time) shows her independent spirit.

This movie also made me realize that the quality of dialogue in movies has really fallen off. I love the repartee between Reggie and Peter/Alex/Adam/Brian. But you also really have to pay attention to catch jokes like “She batted them pretty little eyes at you, and you fell for it like an egg from a tall chicken!” Nowadays movies are made so that you can watch them while simultaneously tweeting about them, which leaves only a thin margin of your attention available.

Of course as a modern-day movie watcher, paying this close attention to movies has now made me intellectually exhausted.

Back to the Future was a nice break for my tired brain.

I love the 80s. I love the clothing, the music, the attitude, and the grossly inaccurate predictions about what the 2010s would be like. I love Marty McFly's general attitude and what a name! McFly.

I tend to get confused by time travel but this one kept it fairly straight-forward. My favorite moment was when Marty says If only I had more time! and then realizes wait I have a time machine, I have all the time in the world.

And it is the ultimate awkward situation when Marty's mom starts putting the moves on him. Seriously what could be worse, and it is executed perfectly.

Also as you all probably know, it is only two years until we reach the future date that Doc travels to at the end. So only two years for us to develop hovercars that run on banana peels and start wearing sweet silver glasses like these:

I hope the scientists are working on it. If not they better invent a time machine so that they can travel back in time and invent hovercars sooner.

How the Engagement Became My Trump Card

(#16) Reconnect with an old friend
(#18) Take a risk I never thought I'd take
(#23) Learn a new skill

Done!

Obviously nothing on my list can compete with getting engaged. And obviously wedding planning has already started to take up time that I would otherwise spend doing other exciting things. But in a lot of ways this new development helped me achieve many of my goals this year.

Reconnecting with an old friend: As soon as we got engaged old friends came out of the woodwork to congratulate us, and I was happy to hear from them all. And of course at our engagement party I got to see some old friends and some family members that I had not seen in over a year. Since big life events tend to make people extra-sentimental, I reveled in these reconnections and hope to keep them all going through the wedding and beyond.

Take a risk: I know what you're thinking. Referring to getting married as taking a risk seems a little cynical for me. While that is true when you think about it I am actually talking about something much more petty.

Booking a venue.

If you know me well you know that I can be paralyzed by indecisiveness over the smallest choice. I just have so many ideas and visualize so many different outcomes that I can't possibly limit myself to one. So to put me in a position where I have to make important decisions 18 MONTHS in advance is absolutely taking a risk. I'm risking my down payment and my saved date and my sanity that I won't second-guess myself and try to change my mind.

We just signed the contract for our venue today. It's a risk, but we are very happy to take it.

Learn a new skill: For the record I have learned a ton of new skills this year. Most of them involve cooking and/or baking. But I did make the effort to learn this one new skill which I plan to put to use for the wedding:

Origami. Or more specifically, paper flowers.

It won't come as a huge surprise that we have already decided to incorporate books into our wedding. I saw the idea of using paper flowers, and possibly making them out of old book pages, on Pinterest (where else). Finding myself with a lot of free time on my hands at work, I decided to give it a try.

I actually learned how to make these particular flowers, called kusudama, from a bridal show we attended at our venue.

Here are the instructions more eloquently than I can put them. But here is my first attempt at it:

Not bad, right? After some more practice I think I can do something like this:

Also my boss is apparently a closet origami artist so we are going to further hone my skill in the coming weeks. I am excited to see how this can play into the wedding!

Two Unhealthy Snacks I'm Glad I Didn't Like

(#13) Taste 25 Foods I've Never Tasted Before

1. Pattypan Squash
2. Beets
3. Eel
4.Wahoo
5.Lychee
6.Quinoa
7. Raw Oyster
8. Octopus
9. Duck
10. Daikon
11. Authentic French Food
12. Dragon Fruit
13. Bagel and Lox (/Smoked Salmon)
14. Astronaut Ice Cream
15. Big Mac
16. Steamed Burger
17. Cottage Cheese
18. Crawfish
19. Shrimp & Grits
20. Rice Pudding
21. Pimento Cheese
22. Pork Rinds

I was afraid to try these two things because I was afraid I was going to like them and set myself down a path of unhealthy snacking. Both appeal to my salty cravings. I unfortunately love American cheese (and Velveeta for example) and of course pork. So I was pleasantly surprised when both things underwhelmed me.

The texture of the pimento spread was definitely unappealing. It was chunky, but the chunks were soft, if that makes sense.

The pimentos make it a little spicy. I think it tastes very comparable to cold queso dip. In which case, I'd rather just have warm queso dip.

I believe it is sometimes used in recipes. I wouldn't be averse to trying it mixed with something else.

The pork rinds had a texture somewhat like a cheese puff. And tasted somewhat like a cheese puff, without any cheese. There was a vague pork flavor but if no one told you what flavor it was you might miss it.

Neither were terrible, and both are certainly new and unique flavors. But I probably won't be having either again any time soon.

Asian-Glazed Meatballs

(#10) Master 25 New Recipes

1. Stuffed Peppers
2. Risotto
3. Polenta
4. Beef Brisket
5. French Onion Soup
6. Chocolate Chip Cookies
7. Lentil Soup
8. Macaroni & Cheese
9. Zucchini Bread
10. Chicken Piccata
11. Moussaka
12. Chocolate Cake
13. Zebra Cake
14. Chili
15. Cornbread
16. Steamed Artichokes
17. Baked S'mores
18. Barbecue Chicken
19. Meatballs

We figured once you master one meatball you've mastered them all, so we decided to go Asian rather than traditional on these.

Here's the original recipe. I think the only modifications I made were - surprise, surprise- adding Sriracha to the sauce, and searing the meatballs before putting them in the oven, which I think is always preferable.

 The worst part about making meatballs is mixing up the meat. So just suck it up and dive in! It's squishy and disgusting and it will be over it two seconds.

If I were making it again I would probably make them smaller. But after making 1,000 recipes in the past week I was too tired to fuss with a million tiny meatballs.

Use a pan that can go on the stove top and in the oven, such as an all-metal saute pan or a Dutch oven. If you don't have one of these, get one! I use mine all the time.

I tossed the meatballs in the sauce a few minutes before they were done to get a nice glaze.

But save some of the sauce to plate with. I served them with rice and broccoli, both of which were delicious covered in sauce!

Asian-Glazed Meatballs


Ingredients:

Meatballs:
1 lb ground beef
2 tsp. sesame oil
1 cup Panko or breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
2 eggs
3 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 cup thinly-sliced green onions
garnish: toasted sesame seeds, sliced green

Sauce:
2/3 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp Sriracha

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. In a large bowl, mix together meatball ingredients with hands until well-combined. Shape into balls (about 1 inch would make a good cocktail meatball).

3. Heat oil in an oven-safe skillet. Place all the meatballs in a single layer and sear one side, flip, and transfer pan to the oven.
4. While the meatballs are baking, whisk together all of the sauce ingredients until blended.

5. Bake meatballs for 10-12 minutes or until no longer pink inside. I glazed with the sauce about 3 minutes before they were done.

If You Still Don't Know What "Rosebud" Means, I Won't Ruin It For You

(#17) Watch 25 Classic Movies

1.   One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
2.   A Streetcar Named Desire
3.   It's a Wonderful Life
4.   Some Like it Hot
5.   The Terminator
6.   Terminator 2: Judgement Day
7.   The Princess Bride
8.   Ben-Hur
9.   Ferris Bueller's Day Off 
10. Sixteen Candles
11. Blade Runner
12. The Natural
13. Chariots of Fire
14. The Graduate
15. Cool Hand Luke
16. Casablanca
17. Enter the Dragon
18. Citizen Kane

I enjoyed everything about this movie except for the karate.

But seriously. This was my first Bruce Lee movie and I watched it with some reluctance. I am very squeamish and tend to avoid violent movies. And I did wind up closing my eyes during some of the fighting. But there was enough else going on in the movie to keep my interest.

For example I appreciated the symbolism in using the room full of mirrors to demonstrate that “the enemy has only images and illusions” to hide behind. Also how Bruce Lee refuses to use any weapon but his own body even though he is literally fighting in a room housing 100 exotic weapons.

(One of those spears might come in handy against Mr. Metal Claws)

Because Bruce Lee was a pioneer of this genre, I like to think about what things were being done here for the first time or in a new way, and what things would then be imitated for the next 30 years. For example, the screeching sounds he makes while fighting are now iconic and used by every idiot pretending to “karate chop” someone. Or how in the final scene literally 1,000 guys are surrounding Bruce Lee but they attack him one by one so that he has the chance to fight them off. Or the idea that karate is somehow a reasonable means of fighting crime. Were these all new ideas at this time?

Also even though several people are murdered throughout the movie, I was most disturbed when the villain pretends to kill his cat in the fake guillotine. Why is that? Why are the animal scenes always the worst?

Okay, I “get” it.

I get the formatting of the movie as a newspaper interview. I get why Rosebud represents everything that Kane had, lost, and spent his life trying to regain. And no amount of money or power could bring it back. I understand.

I just didn’t find it all that enjoyable.

To be fair, I knew what Rosebud was before watching, so the element of mystery was already gone for me. Is that such a big part of the excitement of the movie that it falls a little flat without it?

I guess I didn’t really understand Charlie Kane as a character either. In the beginning he seems like a pretty cool guy, out to change the world. The undoing of his political career, because of his affair, changes him into the mean old man he becomes known as toward the end. But even when he loses his bid for governor, he still has his newspapers. He can still control the news and make a difference that way. He can still travel the world buying expensive statues. I didn’t get why that would so completely derail him. Did he even love his first wife?

I was also confused about the…”Rosebud” (just in case anyone out there still doesn’t know what Rosebud is) being at Xanadu. If he had it in his possession, why didn’t we get some good scenes of him just staring at it, wishing he could bring it to life again? Did he even know that it was there, amongst his pile of treasures? Was it the same one, or just a replica? I would even settle for a scene from the beginning of Rosebud sitting lonely in the snow waiting for its owner to return. I didn’t feel that catharsis of understanding at the end of the movie that I was hoping for.

The movie did have a lot of great one-liners, though. Including:

“If I hadn’t been very rich, I might have been a really great man.” –Charlie Kane

“I always gagged on the silver spoon.” –Charlie Kane

“Old age. It’s the only disease…that you don’t look forward to being cured of.” –Bernstein

And then my favorite monologue by Kane, describing how he is two different people:

“The trouble is, you don't realize you're talking to two people. As Charles Foster Kane, who has 82,634 shares of Public Transit Preferred…Charles Foster Kane is a scoundrel. His paper should be run out of town. A committee should be formed to boycott him. You may, if you can form such a committee, put me down for a contribution of $1,000 dollars.”

Contributing $1,000 to a committee to boycott yourself? If that’s not badass, I don’t know what is.

The Difference Between Paul Newman and Humphrey Bogart

(#17) Watch 25 Classic Movies

1.   One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
2.   A Streetcar Named Desire
3.   It's a Wonderful Life
4.   Some Like it Hot
5.   The Terminator
6.   Terminator 2: Judgement Day
7.   The Princess Bride
8.   Ben-Hur
9.   Ferris Bueller's Day Off 
10. Sixteen Candles
11. Blade Runner
12. The Natural
13. Chariots of Fire
14. The Graduate
15. Cool Hand Luke
16. Casablanca

First I want to take a moment and rejoice in the fact that I have finally seen Casablanca. This movie was the main reason that I made this list.

I loved both of these movies, but for very different reasons.

Cool Hand Luke is the story of...wait, hold on, what was I saying? Paul Newman just took his shirt off.

Seriously, how have I gone this many years of my life without noticing this sweet piece of man candy?

I guess in The Sting the creeper moustache was throwing me off. And of course he is devastatingly handsome in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but the whole gay/alcoholic/abusive husband thing is kind of a turn off. But man oh man could I watch Cool Hand Luke all day long. Fifty eggs or no eggs.

Watching all of these classic movies has made me realize: certain kinds of appeal just don't stand the test of time. Take Humphrey Bogart for example. As you will soon read I loved Casablanca, but Bogie as a leading man did absolutely nothing for me. Neither did Robert Redford in The Natural- was he once considered handsome? I wouldn't have guessed. Same for Charleton Heston in Ben-Hur.

Anyway, Cool Hand Luke was a good watch overall. I loved the little exchanges between prisoners asking permission of the guards to do things. "Wipin' it off here boss," etc.

Also I had one of those "have I seen this before" moments with the oft-quoted line, "What we have here is a failure to communicate."

Worth a watch. If only for those blue, blue eyes.

Casablanca on the other hand I was able to enjoy without even a remote interest in the leading man.

I had a feeling I was going to love this movie. And I did. But why? What makes this one of the most cherished love stories of all time? Lets dissect it.

First of all, it has Nazis. Nothing unites the world faster than some good old fashioned Pure Evil.

Second, an exotic location. Even today Morocco still has that air of mystery about it. The heat, the clothing, the busy markets selling spices and colorful fabrics. It all has the same appeal it did back then. In Casablanca itself probably more thanks to the movie.

Third, this movie has a love triangle that is actually plausible. Usually we would all be shouting at Ingrid Bergman through our TV screens to leave her jerk husband and run off with the romantic stranger who wants to give her everything she ever dreamed of. But things in Casablanca are not so black and white. Ilsa never really cheated on her husband because she thought he was dead. Victor is not a jerk- not only is he a war hero, he also loves Ilsa enough to understand what she had with Rick and to be willing to give up his passage to Lisbon so she can go. And while we know Rick cares about Ilsa and about Victor's cause, he is hiding it all behind his cool guy facade.

This is what makes the movie great. The ability to really feel the pain of the decision that Ilsa has to make, and really feel sorry for whoever doesn't wind up happy.

The amount of self-sacrifice that all the characters are willing to commit for each other is also truly captivating. When put in a situation like this the best and the worst comes out of people and you never know which self you will be. Getting to see everyone act so bravely and honorably makes the story that much more tragic.

In the end we can admit that things turned out the way they probably should have, though that doesn't make it much easier.

I'm so glad I finally watched this movie! If you haven't, what are you waiting for? I own it now, so you can borrow it from me!

Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Chicken

(#10) Master 25 New Recipes

1. Stuffed Peppers
2. Risotto
3. Polenta
4. Beef Brisket
5. French Onion Soup
6. Chocolate Chip Cookies
7. Lentil Soup
8. Macaroni & Cheese
9. Zucchini Bread
10. Chicken Piccata
11. Moussaka
12. Chocolate Cake
13. Zebra Cake
14. Chili
15. Cornbread
16. Steamed Artichokes
17. Baked S'mores
18. Barbecue Chicken

Sure, barbecue chicken is a fairly straightforward dish to master. Take some chicken, put some sauce on it, done. We enjoyed this version which used Ronnie's favorite Sweet Baby Ray's sauce and also encouraged me to make use of my crock-pot.

I started with this recipe but changed the sauce a bit. Basically just mix up the sauce, pour it over the chicken in the crockpot, and cook on low for 4-5 hours until the chicken is cooked through.

Submerging it in the sauce leaves the chicken incredibly tender.

You can see above that it started to fall apart when I tried to scoop it out.

We served it with roasted potatoes which were delicious when dipped in the extra sauce. Just don't put too much seasoning on anything else because the sauce is a little spicy!

Crockpot Barbecue Sauce

2 cups Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
optional- 1 tsp Sriracha

Baked S'mores- the Only Things Messier Than Actual S'mores

(#10) Master 25 New Recipes

1. Stuffed Peppers
2. Risotto
3. Polenta
4. Beef Brisket
5. French Onion Soup
6. Chocolate Chip Cookies
7. Lentil Soup
8. Macaroni & Cheese
9. Zucchini Bread
10. Chicken Piccata
11. Moussaka
12. Chocolate Cake
13. Zebra Cake
14. Chili
15. Cornbread
16. Steamed Artichokes
17. Baked S'mores

Thank you Pinterest once again for leading me to this great recipe for S'mores Cookie Bars. This was the perfect solution to the age-old question, how do you get the delicious taste of s'mores without all the hassles of actually going camping? While they were extremely messy to make but easy to eat. And they kept for several days without getting stale. Also marshmallow fluff doesn't harden up the way melted marshmallows do after awhile.

So basically you make your crust using crumbled graham crackers, butter, sugar, egg and vanilla:

Then divide your crust mixture in half and press half of it in the bottom of a greased 8 inch pan:

Make sure you have an even layer across the bottom.

Next comes the layer of candy bars. The recipe recommended 2 5oz candy bars which I guess would have fit perfectly, but I couldn't find those so I had to break some up.

The recipe also called for dark chocolate but I prefer milk chocolate. Use your best judgement.


Next the sticky part: spread the marshmallow fluff on top of the chocolate. I found that the thicker the layer was, the easier it was to spread. Also try placing clumps all around rather than spreading from one spot.

No time to take pictures here because my hands were covered in fluff.


Finally the top layer. The original recipe recommended making it in a zip lock bag, cutting the bag open, and flipping it on top. I thought it was just as easy to make up a layer on a piece of parchment paper and then quickly but carefully place it on top.

You can always fix it up a bit with your spatula. Also make sure you have an even layer again. I didn't do a great job with this last part and had a few holes.

Not that this affected the taste AT ALL because it was DELISH.

This relatively easy and unique treat is sure to impress. And is there anyone who doesn't like s'mores?

Baked S'mores

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (approximately 7 full graham crackers)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 5 oz chocolate bars or 4 regular bars
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff

1.Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.
4. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.
5. Place chocolate bars over crust. Then spread fluff over the chocolate bars.
6. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff. Most easily done by creating a layer on a square of parchment paper, and then inverting it onto the pan.
7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars

Two Sports Movies and a Scandal

(#17) Watch 25 Classic Movies


1.   One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
2.   A Streetcar Named Desire
3.   It's a Wonderful Life
4.   Some Like it Hot
5.   The Terminator
6.   Terminator 2: Judgement Day
7.   The Princess Bride
8.   Ben-Hur
9.   Ferris Bueller's Day Off 
10. Sixteen Candles
11. Blade Runner
12. The Natural
13. Chariots of Fire
14. The Graduate

Okay, time to kick into high gear with the movie watching. Here are three I've watched in the last week, none of which are particularly interesting enough to necessitate their own article.

The Natural

The Natural is the story of Roy Hobbs, a talented pitcher who for "mysterious reasons" (which the viewers know but other characters don't) doesn't make it to the big leagues until he is in his 30s (which apparently is old for a baseball player). With Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, and Kim Basinger it has a ridiculously star-studded cast, but a plot that kind of goes nowhere.

*Spoilers Below*

Why did that woman shoot Roy Hobbs? Unless I was asleep during that revelation we never real find out, other than that she had some kind of vendetta against successful athletes. If "The Judge" was really that powerful, why didn't he just have Roy Hobbs killed?When did Roy and Iris conceive their child, and how did she keep it a secret all those years?

The questions leave us dangling at the end of a complicated story that goes nowhere.

Also its a movie about baseball so...there's that.

Chariots of Fire

Chariots of Fire follows a Jewish man and a Christian missionary competing for the British team in track in the 1924 Olympics. Obviously the story focuses on the two men's struggles with their faith. As a Jewish man Harold Abrahams has never felt accepted as a true Englishman. And even though Eric Liddell runs for God's glory, some of the more conservative Christian members of his family feel his running takes away from his missionary work.

The two men race once before the Olympics and Liddell wins, causing an intense existential crisis for Abrahams. Then of course we expect the Olympics to be the great rematch, complete with that song that made this movie famous.

Spoiler Alert: They don't ever race again.

It is literally the most anti-climactic thing I have ever seen.

Liddell refuses to race in a qualifying heat because it takes place on the Sabbath. So he winds up switching to another race which Abrahams isn't in. Abrahams wins but never gets the chance to prove himself against Liddell. And then everyone is satisfied with this and goes home.

I guess this is the danger with making a movie based on a true story. Plots in real life don't always wrap up as neatly as we would hope.

Ronnie and I are most confused about the song. It has come to mean something that it does not mean in the movie. It is not even played during a big race- only during a training session.

Here it is if you can't think of how it goes. But don't bother getting pumped up by it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY3XiM7oGj0

The Graduate

Speaking of things that weren't quite what I expected them to be, The Graduate does not fit the modern day idea of a romantic comedy. Dustin Hoffman starts having an affair with one of his mother's friends, Mrs. Robinson, but then winds up falling for Mrs. Robinson's daughter. A potentially comical situation that actually turns out to be more of a drama about the meaning of life and finding true love.

Also a little bit about stalking. And rape accusations. So yeah, less funny. 

Since this movie was made in 1967 it was interesting to compare themes from then and now. Nowadays graduating college is less about figuring out what to do while lounging in a pool and more about figuring out how many jobs you need to work to pay off that mound of student loan debt. Affairs between men and women seldom involve the women needing help with their zippers and garters. And marriage is certainly not something women go to Berkeley to achieve. 

Then again, some themes transcend time. Like the feeling of love that comes from someone who just gets you for who you are, without you having to explain yourself. Someone who doesn't have to jump into bed with you and is just happy driving around in the rain, eating cheeseburgers. 

One last thing I should mention: if you don't like Simon and Garfunkel, you probably shouldn't bother watching this movie. If I hear "Mrs. Robinson" one more time I'm going to lose it. 

Steaming Artichokes, on Days You Don’t Want to Get out of Bed

(#10) Master 25 New Recipes

1. Stuffed Peppers
2. Risotto
3. Polenta
4. Beef Brisket
5. French Onion Soup
6. Chocolate Chip Cookies
7. Lentil Soup
8. Macaroni & Cheese
9. Zucchini Bread
10. Chicken Piccata
11. Moussaka
12. Chocolate Cake
13. Zebra Cake
14. Chili
15. Cornbread
16. Steamed Artichokes

This Monday I woke up with a feeling of intense dread. It was Monday. I had to get up and go to work at a job where I was slowly becoming obsolete (long story) and pretend that the meaningless projects I was working on were actually worth my time.

So I told myself, I will lay in bed until I can think of something that I am looking forward to doing today.

Tick, tick, tick.

Nothing.

Ronnie was already up, so I told him of my bargain with myself. He suggested “going back to bed tonight” as something to look forward to. This idea was so depressing that it actually did work because if I sat in bed and thought about it for another second I would probably have exploded. So I got up, took a shower, faced the day.

We wound up going out to lunch for a coworker of mine who’s last day was yesterday, which I could’ve looked forward to if I had known about it. We went to an Indian restaurant and I tried new food #20- rice pudding.

I should mention the real star of this plate were the chick peas. 

I realized that without my list I never would have tried something that looked so goopy. But it turned out to be sweeter than I expected. Not exactly crave-worthy, but not horrible either.

I stopped at the store to pick up something for dinner. Ronnie was staying late at school so I took some time to browse around for ideas. When I saw the artichokes sitting in their bin, glaring at me intimidating, I said to myself, “Yes, this is it. I will do something today. I will cook you.” Feeling empowered, I dropped it into my basket.

Of course I have eaten artichokes before (hello Applebee’s spinach and artichoke dip) but I have never attempted to cook them. Thank God for Google because I had no idea what to do with the artichoke once I got it home. I didn’t even know which parts I was supposed to eat (hint: not the leaves). I found these instructions and got to work.

One thing I would like to note is that every step of this process was a lot more difficult than I initially expected. Maybe my artichoke was not ripe but I really had to hack and the stem and the tip to get them off.

Next, cut off the tips of all the leaves.

Also, holy crap those little points are sharp! I thought I’d be smart and remove the leaves I wasn’t using before trimming them. Big mistake. Ouch!

Next, the steaming. Fill a pan with an inch or two of salted water, bring to a boil, and stand the artichoke up 

in the center. Cover and steam for 20-40 minutes until the leaves pull off easily.

I either had my burner up too high or my lid wasn’t fitting snugly enough, but before I knew it I was smelling something burning. All my water had evaporated within 10 minutes, which is certainly not long enough to cook an artichoke. I added more water to the slightly scorched pan and hoped for the best.

Next peel off the leaves. I served with a side of melted butter.

Due to the initial scorching I wound up having to take the artichoke out probably before it was done. The leaves pulled off fairly easily but the “meat” didn’t quite want to come out. Also when I got down to the heart I realized it was barely edible- and not worth eating due to the intense warnings about choking on the choke. 

Maybe it’s my asthma talking but the word choke doesn’t really help my appetite.

Anyway, despite the technical difficulties and the fact that Ronnie upon tasting the artichoke didn’t “get it,” my day was much improved by this little adventure. And I realized that challenging myself every day would always be something to look forward to.

So on this Monday I learned that it is important to know yourself, and respect yourself for what you are able to do each day. One day you will challenge yourself to write the great American novel, or go for that promotion, or take that spontaneous trip. Some days it will be a challenge just to put your two feet on the floor in the morning. And on days when you’re feeling somewhere in between, you can challenge yourself to try steaming your first artichoke.