Holiday Movie Review

Thatboy and I go through movie phases. We watch movies at home at an alarming rate, but we'll go for months without setting foot in a theater. And then all of a sudden, it's like we're always at the theater.

Recently it started with Thanksgiving. We had a family tradition where Thatdad, Thatbrother and I would go see a movie on Thanksgiving day, leaving my mom to cook in peace. Thatboy got in on the act just as soon as we were married and he started spending Thanksgiving with us. This year I didn't really want to go to the movies without Thatdad - maybe it's something that will re-emerge when we have kids, but for now it's a tradition that's going dormant.

Instead, the day after Thanksgiving Toxicesq, Thatmom, Thatboy and I went to see a movie. And I think we've been going for every week since!

It started with "The Blindside." We all went into this movie with pretty low expectations - but there was a severe dearth of movies playing during Thanksgiving weekend. Surprising, no? (Thatboy was pushing for New Moon - but he was outvoted, more on that later) Anyway we all loved this movie. It's the perfect family film because it has a happy ending. Even though none of us are sports fans (Thatboy couldn't identify what city the Seahawks played for when I asked him last night) we all enjoyed the movie way more than we thought we would.

Next came "Up in the Air." The movie was okay, another circumstance of "there's nothing else really out there" although I think we all wanted to see this movie. Don't get me wrong, the movie was definitely okay, but I would classify it as a renter, and not necessarily worthy of all the hype it's getting. It was definitely a change from all the Judd Apatow style comedies we've been seeing lately.



Christmas Day we went to see "Nine." If you want a REALLY fun experience, you should go see a movie loaded with sex sitting next to your 80 year old ex-priest father in law. I spent the whole movie telling Thatboy how uncomfortable I was. BUT I still managed to enjoy the movie. Enough where I'm looking forward to renting it and watching it at home in a more suitable environment. I loved the musical productions which were big, bold, and colorful.


Shortly after Christmas we saw "New Moon." A couple years back, Prez got me "Twilight" for a birthday present. She thought I would like it given my love for vampire stories. It went to the bottom of my bedside "to read" pile, but Thatboy got to it before I did and fell in love. He was already into the second book, New Moon when I started reading it. I can remember the exact moment I turned to Thatboy with exasperation and asked WTF was up with this book. I was angry. He laughed. As I read I got angrier and angrier. Thatboy and L both told me not to keep reading. The main character can't walk two steps without falling down, so much so that the author has her being carried the entire second half of the book (Jasper carried her up the stairs, Edward carried her down the stairs, Alice carried her to the car.........). And when the guy she's been making goo goo eyes at? the one she's been doodling Mrs. Hislastname all over her books? The moment he acknowledges her presence she gets ANGRY at him for getting to go to school and not having to go to the hospital with her. It only gets more and more ridiculous as the series goes on. I know. I read over Thatboy's shoulder every now and again. Mostly to annoy him. Unfortunately, the producers of the movie are in cahoots with Thatboy because the movies all come out his birthday weekend. Which means I get to go to the theater with Thatboy and about 300 fifteen year old girls and lonely single women. (I know this because there were pretty much people fainting in the aisles when one character took off his shirt during the movie). I stalled for as long as possible, even planning a trip to Las Vegas the weekend of his birthday, but there is only so long you can stall the inevitable.


I had to wait a while to see our last movie because UDubb and I had made plans to see it together. Neither Thatbrother or Thatboy were interested in "The Princess and the Frog", so we were going to do a girls date. And then the boys jumped in. Thatboy didn't want to be left out, and Thatbrother got guilted into it. I believe UDubb's direct quote was "I see so many of your crappy movies, at least this one is only 90 minutes." It was so much fun to see an old school Disney movie again - with a princess, and talking animals, and most importantly - music! I bet it'll only be 20 minutes before you'll be seeing it on Broadway.


And you know what goes great with movies? Popcorn. Well, I believe popcorn goes great with everything, but especially movies. I love love love making my own popcorn too. Everytime I expect it to be greasy and oily because, well you dump all this oil in a pot. And I never cease to be amazed when it comes out light, fluffy, with nary a trace of oil. Which helps when you want to cover it with spices. This is my take on kettle corn. The sugar makes it sweet like kettle corn, but the 5 spice powder gives it a kick of cinnamon and other yummy flavors which is even better than kettle corn.

Better 'n Kettle Corn

1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1/4 cup canola oil
1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp 5 spice powder

1. Put kernels, oil, and salt in large bowl. Cover with lid and cook over medium heat.
2. When corn starts popping, shake the pot back and forth (like Jiffy pop!)
3. As soon as the popping slows, remove from heat.
4. Add sesame seeds and shake to distribute.
   
5. Sprinkle 5 spice powder and sugar over popcorn.

You don't have to be pregnant to have cravings

I've been dying for soup lately. DYING for it. Whenever Thatboy asks me "what sounds good" I always reply "soup." This has been happening since December. It started at his parents' house when we were trying to decide what to have for lunch. Of course, his parents don't keep soup in the house. (Who doesn't have a can of soup in their pantry?????) So on our drive home from Northern California we stopped for dinner so I could have a nice big bowl of, you guessed it, soup.

And the desire for something warm and cozy at the end of the night hasn't stopped. We've been having a nice bowl of soup for dinner for a week now, served with a hunk of nice warm toasty bread. What's especially nice is how easy soup is for dinner. Thatboy and I have started going back to the gym after work, so it's great to have a dinner that's quick when we come home exhausted in hungry. Sometimes the soup is so quick, I don't even remember to heat up our bread in the oven!

Cream of Almond Soup
1/2 cup blanched almonds, ground
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 tsp almond extract
2 cups cream

1. Put the almonds and chicken stock in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes.
2. Mix the almond extract with 2 Tbsp cold water, and add to the pot, simmer 10 minutes.
3. Slowly stir in cream and salt to taste. Heat without boiling.

Sex, Games, and Pancakes

Phew what a weekend!

Let's start with Friday. A couple weeks back, H had asked if I wanted to go to a "Passion Party" with her. If you're not sure what that is, to quote my 11th grade English teacher when a student asked what a sodomite was - "go ask your parents." Let's just call it a "tupperwear party." I was hesitant at first because I wouldn't know anyone there, and I think "tupperwear" buying is a little bit more of a private thing than a group affair. But I do love H, and I am trying to be more social than last year's dark hole of solitude, so Friday night me and a bottle of wine found our way over to Officer Mel's.

I brought my camera, but once I was there, H and I decided it probably wasn't really a great venue for picture taking. Especially since most of the guests were in law enforcement or married to law enforcement and frankly, even with a blocked license I don't want to take my chances with pissing off people with tasers and guns as part of their work uniform.

I DO have to show you what I was most excited about all night. As soon as I saw it, I knew I would have to buy it immediately and of course, share it with all of you.

I would bet most of you are scratching your heads, trying to figure out what the heck this thing is. Don't worry, that's what I'M here for! This is the "amazing hot massager." It's got this little disc in it that you crack (like a glowstick) and it makes the whole thing heat up. And all you have to do to reset it is boil it in water. You can use it again and again and again and again. Frankly I'm not sure how you use it in a sexual manner, but I am SO excited to have warm hands again in the morning! They already make fun of me for wearing gloves in the office every morning and it makes it very difficult to type.

After all that excitement Friday night, it was difficult to get up bright and early Saturday morning. But get up I did. Because L had invited me to join her and her friends in the "Resolution Run 5k" - a run around Mission Bay. L had indicated that she was pretty out of shape and thought it would be a run/walk which would be perfect for me to get back into racing after my back injury.

The morning was perfect for a run. Clear and cool, with the sun breaking through.

The Resolution Run consisted of a 15k, a 10k, and a 5k, all with different start times, but on the same course.

Thatboy and I got there early enough to watch the 15kers and 10kers take off while I warmed up.

Eventually L found me.

And we found her group. I had asked her about bringing her cutie baby in his jogging stroller and she told me that would be crazy, because that stroller weighs like 20lbs in addition to the baby. Which made us feel even better when her friends and their stroller sailed past us early on in the run.

And we were off. It was a pretty disorganized start because there were way too many people for the narrow path. So people were on the grass, on the sand, on rocks.....sounds pretty safe, right?

The course was pretty as we ran along the bay, but it was difficult to pass people because there just wasn't enough room and it was a "double back" course which meant half of the course was taken up by 15kers, 10kers, and 5kers on their way back.

The finish line was equally disorganized. About .1 miles before the finish, everyone was funneled into a single file line so they could collect your "scanner" used to determine your time. SO bascially you came to a dead stop for the last bit of the race, and then walked at a snail's pace through the finish. Then handed over a strip with a barcode for them to collect. I'm not really sure why they even bothered because there's no way to really determine what your time was from the method they were doing it. Instead I used my Nike+ to let the people beside us know what their time likely was.

This is a typical Thatgirl face after crossing the finish. L's face wasn't nearly as happy. That bitch beside her decided we shouldn't try run/walking, we should run the whole thing. She was happy she'd run the whole thing, but right as this photo was snapped she had a less than flattering look. And I only publish flattering pictures - unless they're of Thatbrother.



See how cute she looks here? That's exactly how she typically looks. And only a couple minutes after crossing the finish line.


Then Thatboy and I headed up to Orange County because we had a dinner date that night! Dinner with Sweetcakes and her husband! It has been months since we've seen Sweetcupcake and she is growing so big! She looks like a real baby now, and not just a tiny little squiggly thing. Although, apparently she is just as perfect a baby as she was a newborn. The four of us decided she's going to probably be a terror as a teenager because she's just so good and easy now. Sweetcakes wined and dined us with a fondue dinner and dessert which easily put her back in the lead as "Thatboy's favorite one of my friends." And then the Sorry board came out.



Sorry is a game where you have no friends. Except for Sweetcakes and me. Mr. Sweetcakes continued to be baffled when we failed to screw each other over to get ahead. Instead focusing on how we could screw over Thatboy and Mr. Sweetcakes. Luckily we all left the night as friends.

And since I've been so good about giving you yummy dessert recipes, here's a super healthy breakfast recipe. Or as I like to call it: "Pancake Fail." Basically I tried to make pancakes as incredibly healthy as possible by subbing out everything that could be bad with things that are better for you. No butter, no milk, no cream, no sugar, whole wheat flour......It did not go well. Thatboy liked them better than I did, so maybe it's personal preference, but I think maybe some ingredients should be kept in, even if there are healthier alternatives out there. Unsurprisingly the blueberry syrup - which consists of blueberries and sugar, was delicious.

Pancake Fail
2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cottage cheese
3 eggs
1 cup nonfat plain yogurt
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt

1. Combine blueberries, water, and sugar in a saucepan and heat over low heat for 10 minutes.
2. While the blueberries are cooking, beat together the cottage cheese, eggs, yogurt, and lemon juice.
3. In a separate bowl, combine baking soda, flour, and salt.
4. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients just until combined. (quiz AB fans - what method is this?)
5. Heat skillet over medium low heat and spray with cooking spray. Ladle batter onto skillet and cook until the batter begins to bubble. Flip and cook till browned.
6. Serve with the blueberry syrup.

Hanko Panko

I did not grow up in a house where we made our own breadcrumbs. "Breadcrumbs" came from one of two places - either the blue progresso canister, or from a bag with other ingredients meant for stuffing a Thanksgiving turkey. I'm sure somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that bread crumbs were small pieces, crumbs if you will, of bread. But the back of my mind isn't well lit and the stairs are kind of falling apart and well, it's just a scary place to visit. So let's not go there.

When I got older and started living on my own, I realized how difficult it is for a single person to use up an entire loaf of bread before it goes bad. And thus ushered in the era of homemade breadcrumbs and croutons. And stale baguettes in my freezer. But like the back of my mind, let's just stay out of the freezer.

And then I started hearing about this stuff called "panko" that was like breadcrumbs, but crispier. Crispier is always better. Ask anyone. So a couple years ago I started buying panko, and the rumor was right! It IS like breadcrumbs, but crispier. My only issue with this is the back of the mind thing. Because in my mind I get that breadcrumbs are crumbs of bread....so what does that make panko? The nagging voice I keep back there under piles of broken timber says it's probably shrimp...because that sounds about right, right? tiny dried little shrimp? (and yes, I'm sure I could google it to find out what panko is made of, but it makes me happier thinking that now every time you use it, you'll think of tiny dried shrimp dancing all over your food. Because that's what tiny dried shrimp do.)

Panko Chicken

1 egg white

1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard

1/8 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 cup panko

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 lb chicken tenders

1. Preheat oven to 425. Whisk egg white, mustard, cayenne, salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl.

2. Combine panko and thyme in another shallow bowl.

3. Dip the chicken tenders in the egg white mixture, then roll in the crumb mixture.

4. Bake for 13-14 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Sweet Potato Fries

2 sweet potatoes

1/2 Tbsp avocado oil (or olive oil if you don't happen to live in Thathouse - although when this bottle is gone, Thathouse is switching back to olive since they restocked at their favorite olive oil supplier)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1. Preheat oven to 425. Cut sweet potatoes into wedges and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika.

2. Bake for 30 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are crisp.

Twas the week before Christmas

'Twas the week before Christmas, and on this little blog,

No one was around, not even Thatdog!

The stockings were hung by the tree all aglow,

And treats were all given to friends high and low.

We threw on our jackets and all sallied forth.

We packed up the car for our journey up north.

Pismo! We cried, what a nice place to stay.

The rooms are so spacious and Thatdog can play!

Free drinks after dinner, and free breakfast too!

We'll certainly stay here again, wouldn't you?

We headed up next to spend time in SLO,

with shopping, and walking, and new friends to know.

From there we were onward, we'd people to see!

And Thatmoms and Thatbrothers to keep company.

And soon it was Christmas, we watched without fail,

as angels and shepherds told the Christmas tale.

We had a nice Christmas, but whenever we roam,
it always reminds me - I'm so glad to be home!!!!!!!

And in the spirit of the winter holidays, I thought I would let one of my presents inspire some holiday treats. For Channukah, Thatboy got me the new Gregory Maguire book. I heart Gregory Maguire. I love the way he twists fairy tales. He already has a "Christmas" story out - Lost, but I'd seen he had a new Christmas tale, a re-telling of The Little Match Girl and it went right on my wish list. Beautifully written and reworked, I made myself read it over 3 nights to make it last longer. And I still cried on a couple of those nights. Then I decided to cook something from the book for the blog. Even though there aren't recipes. The book mentions special Christmas anise cookies. I've never made anise cookies. And there was both my challenge and my problem. I'd never made anise cookies. But I HAVE made gingerbread cookies. And I figured that would make an excellent base. So I took a gingerbread cookie recipe and adapted it. And you know what? Fantastic. Amazing. Maybe my new favorite cookie. I was thankful Thatboy and I could bring them into work because otherwise I would have eaten every last one of them.

Gingerbread Anise Cookies
(adapted from Better Homes and Gardens as seen on The Novice Chef)
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup molasses
2 eggs
1/2 tsp anise extract
1 tablespoon milk

1. Preheat oven to 375. Beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.
   
2. Add brown sugar, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and flour and mix until combined.
3. Add molasses, eggs, anise extract and milk until combined.
   
4. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned.

Wii wish you a happy new year

Because Thatbrother and I are running a tight, neck and neck race for sainthood, we both turned down all NYE invites this year so we could spend the night with Thatmom. Not that Thatmom is a party-animal, but we just didn't want her to have to be alone.

We started out with a family dinner with each of us contributing - Thatbrother made the appetizers, which he insisted were no bruschetta even though they consisted of mozzarella and tomato on toasted slices of french bread...... I was in charge of the filet mignons, and Thatmom took care of the veggies and rice.

After dinner, I took over the evening activities. We began with a champagne tasting - because, what else do you drink on NYE? So fitting - I'm a sucker for the classics.

Thatboy and I had toured Korbel when we were up in Sonoma a couple years ago, so I felt like I remembered enough to speak educatedly (ummm ignore the fact that "speak educatedly" doesn't sound very educated) about the qualities of their champagne. By the way, even if you're not a champagne fan, I am a HUGE fan of the Korbel winery tour. The gardens, the history, it's really great.

We were going for the three different dosage levels (amount of sugar in the champagne) to compare. From lowest dosage to highest - Natural (.75%), Brut (1%), Extra Dry(1.5%).

Natural has long been Thatboy and my favorite. It's what we keep in the house at all times "just in case." (What? You don't keep a bottle of champagne in the house at all times?) UDubb agreed, it was her favorite of the three.

Thatmom was torn between the Natural and the Extra Dry. One thing's for sure, no one was a fan of the brut. Which meant it got used in champagne chicken, champagne and onion soup, and champagne cupcakes (which Thatboy now thinks are the best cupcakes in the entire world).

Once we were all good and lubricated, we broke out the REAL entertainment for the evening. See, a couple months back I told Thatboy what I wanted for my "big present" this year (as opposed to the small ones we do every night of Channukah)

TG: I decided, I want Beatles Rockband.

TB: Really?

TG: Well, you keep promising to teach me guitar, but so far you're not. So I'll teach myself.

TB: I see two problems with your plan. First, you're not really going to teach yourself guitar with Rockband. Second, we don't have a system to play it on.

TG: You mean you can't play it on PS2?

We checked, and you can't play it on PS2. So we came up with a brilliant idea. I would get Thatboy a Wii for his big present, and he would get me Beatles Rockband! Except then he had to go and ruin it by making me open it up as my "small present" so he could give me a pretty new Kate Spade bag for my "big present." Which meant he got a ginormous bottle of Johnnie Walker Black for his big present and his parents now think I'm enabling alcoholism.

We waited to hook up the system on NYE so we wouldn't have to plug and unplug everything a million times. We knew Thatmom would love it from the moment she started creating her Mii...making the virtual her as ugly and old looking as she could. And then we were off and running.

Thatmom decided this would be the perfect time for her to try her hand at golf.

And Thatbrother and UDubb got to take out some of their aggression on each other with boxing. (Just a note, I have a million pictures of them playing this game - but this one makes Thatbrother look especially......special)

I don't have any pictures of all of us playing Rockband, because it is ridiculously hard to hold a camera and play guitar at the same time. However, as soon as Thatboy got up on Friday morning, he headed into the studio to practice, so I snapped a shot then.

According to Thatmom, we used to have a tradition (That neither Thatbrother nor I remember) of going out to breakfast on New Year's Day. So we headed out to Plums.

See all those people waiting for a table? We didn't have to wait with them because Thatmom called up the night before and said "Hi. I was there for breakfast this morning and I would really like to come back tomorrow." and they took a reservation for us. Can you spot my little Thatmom in this picture? It's like Where's Waldo!

Plums has a definite bistro feel to it, with high tables and chairs, and a fully stocked bar that our table neighbors were taking advantage of.

You can tell this is Thatbrother's plate because there are mushrooms on it. Which might be his favorite food ever. Next to black beans still in a can, of course. He made his own omelet.

The ladies all let the restaurant make our omelets for us. Spinach and feta with egg whites. It's probably my favorite breakfast, but this had the added bonus of olives and fresh tomatoes!

And since you see bacon, you can be pretty sure this is Thatboy's plate. It's the Oregon Trail (which UDubb almost ordered just for the name) - eggs, bacon, and pancakes.

After breakfast we split up so I could hit up Kean's. Thatbrother had informed me it was just down the street from Plums, so I made sure we stopped. For readers not from Southern California, Martin Diedrich is my coffee god. His chain "Diedrich's" opened in Orange County and served THE BEST coffee. Sure, it was the same "names" as other bigger name coffee house, but the coffees themselves just tasted a million times better. And there was a secret menu for those in the know. I think I actually cried when Diedrich's was taken over by Starbucks. Well Martin had his little brain working away on a smaller scale coffee house, named after his son. There are only 2 of them, but luckily close enough to Thatmom's house so that I can go every weekend!

Look! My coffee feels the same way about me!

And just because I know everyone has "lose weight," "eat healthy," and "hog all the machines at Thatgirl's gym" on their resolution list, I figured I'd leave you with a nice, healthy, low fat, no calorie, waist reducing, bust increasing dessert.

Chocolate Cake (from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

2 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/4 lb butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and lightly flour two 8 inch round cake pans. Melt the chocolate in a small pot or bowl over simmering water; set aside to cool.
2. Cream the butter, slowly beat in the sugar, and beat until light.
3. Add the eggs and the vanilla, mixing well.
4. Add the chocolate and combine thoroughly.
5. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together, add to the first mixture and blend.
6. Add 1 cup ice water and beat until smooth. Pour the batter into the pans and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto racks.

Portsmouth Frosting

4 tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup cream

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups confectioner sugar

1. Mix the butter, cream, and vanilla in a bowl.
2. Slowly beat in the sugar until thick and creamy.