St Patrick’s day is Saturday…a few quotes and some of my favorite photos from my trip to the homeland a few years back.
You cannot spend your life preparing for future losses. It disrespects the blessings of the here and now….Joseph Lovett (via Frank Bruni’s interesting NY Times article)
Yup…it’s that time again! The Oscars are this Sunday. Casey Affleck will not be presenting, there’s sure to be political commentary by some and will the attendees wear black? I would love to see everyone with a #metoo or #timesup pin, but I’d also love to see some fun color on that red carpet. It’s always fun to be a fashion critic when watching and it’s kind of hard when everyone is wearing black….but that’s just me!
It’s always a fun party at my younger sister’s home…from the great food to the great company and who has the most wins on the ballot. Click here for a printable ballot.
Here’s my two cents on some of the films…click on name for trailers…
Call Me By Your Name… A lovely story, but could have been MUCH shorter. The middle dragged a bit. I thought Timothee Chalamet was great. The best part of the movie was the last 15 minutes & dad’s soliloquy.
The Post… I went into it thinking it was all about the Watergate scandal and how The Washington Post and Katharine Graham were involved. It’s not about that at all. It’s about the Pentagon papers and how Graham handled it in a male dominated industry. Her husband had died and some of the men were very condescending to her. In the end she made the important decisions to keep the Post going successfully. Good movie, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks are good, but I just thought it was okay.
The Shape of Water…I loved it! I didn’t really know anything about it, but it reminded me a little bit of the movie Her about falling in love with an operating system. At first, seemed totally stupid and then the love story just grew on me. Oh…and visually it was beautiful…greens and blues and the cinematography was amazing.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri…One of my favorites. It’s depressing, but the story kept moving. Frances McDormand was great and I predict she’ll win for best actress…and Woody Harrelson was also really good, but probably won’t win best actor.
Phantom Thread…I loved this movie!! Beautiful cinematography, a twisted love story, sometimes just reminded me of a painting by Vermeer…just gorgeous! It’s quite a departure for Paul Thomas Anderson (director) from his other movies like Boogie Nights. (funny side note…my sister and I used to babysit him…our families were close friends)
The Darkest Hour…Interesting movie, although I thought a bit too long, considering we knew the outcome. Gary Oldman is great and I think will probably win in the best actor category.
Dunkirk…I’m sure it’s an amazing movie…it’s up for best picture…but I just wasn’t in the mood to watch another war movie….so I didn’t stay til the end.
Get Out…WOW, WOW, WOW! This movie is not for the faint of heart. It makes you uncomfortable, it’s suspenseful and, weirdly, there are funny parts. Very well done and should win best original screenplay, in my humble opinion…although 3 Billboards won the BAFTA for screenplay.
Lady Bird…I think I’d heard too much before I saw it. I really liked it, but wasn’t blown away by it. Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf are great…but it just kind of reminded me of my Catholic School girl days…without the mean mom. It made me a bit nostalgic, which was fun.
The Greatest Showman…Well, I’m a sucker for musicals. They hardly ever get the good reviews by the critics, but are liked by audiences….go figure. Anyway, I LOVED this musical and I’m really hoping the song “This is Me” wins best song.
…now what sort of clever food ideas can I come up with to go with these movie themes…English themed food for Dunkirk or The Last Hour, Ladybird Chicken, anything with a Phantom Thread running through it?????
I can’t believe I haven’t posted this before…or if I have, I couldn’t find it. One of my favorite sayings! ….and here’s proof that it’s true…
Happy Monday…have a great week!
Embrace your imperfections…it’s what makes you, you!
I just thought this was cool….Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing ceramics with gold, silver or lacquer… acknowledging the flaws and history of an object…finding good in them. Sounds like a good metaphor for life!
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted…Aesop
I interrupt your Monday morning to bring you a smile….read these lyrics to “It’s a Small World” and really think about them…..and then watch this adorable video
It’s a world of laughter
A world of tears
It’s a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There’s so much that we share
That it’s time we’re aware
It’s a small world after all
There is just one moon
And one golden sun
And a smile means
Friendship to ev’ryone
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small, small world
Have a FABULOUS week!
I love Sunday mornings and looking out the window to see The NY Times waiting for me on my driveway. I know, I could read it on my iPad or phone, but I love the tangible feel of flipping through the actual paper….just like I’ve gone back to reading actual books, as opposed to my iPad or phone.
Anyway, in The NY Times magazine this past weekend there was a recipe for French Onion Panade (pronounced pah-naad) by Samin Nosrat that looked amazing. I love French Onion Soup and this looked like a French Onion bread pudding with some broth thrown in. I decided to make it for the girls who were coming for mahjongg this past Wednesday night….and Taylor & Dan were here picking up Rowan. There were only 6 of us, so I halved this recipe. Next time I might use beef broth, which is how you make a traditional French onion soup, just to compare…but this one was even better than I imagined. It’s a bit time consuming, but worth it!
Here you go..
1 large, stale loaf crusty sourdough bread (about 1 1/4 pounds), cut into 1/3-inch slices
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, divided
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 pounds (about 5 large) yellow onions, thinly sliced
Fine sea salt
2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
¼ cup white wine or dry vermouth
5 to 6 cups chicken stock
12 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated (about 3 cups)
3 ounces Parmesan, finely grated (about 1 1/3 cups)
Freshly ground black pepper
Heat oven to 325.
Toast bread on baking sheets, flipping slices as they get lightly golden color and dried out. Set aside.
Increase oven temperature to 425.
Carmelize the onions. Set a large Dutch oven or similar pot over medium heat. Add 4 tablespoons butter and olive oil. When butter has melted, add onions and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Cook covered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Once the onions cook down a bit and release some liquid, remove lid and increase heat to medium high. Continue cooking and stirring regularly until onions are tender and dark golden brown, about 45 minutes total. Turn off heat, add vinegar and wine and stir to deglaze. Taste, and adjust salt and vinegar as needed — the onions should be sweet, savory and pleasantly tangy. Spoon onions into a heatproof bowl, and set aside.
Return pot to stove. Add stock and 1 teaspoon salt, and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Taste, and adjust salt as needed — it should taste like good chicken soup.
Place both cheeses in a medium bowl, and mix to combine.
Butter the inside of a deep 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Line the bottom with a layer of toasted bread, breaking up pieces as needed to form a solid layer. Spoon half the onion mixture evenly over the bread. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese mixture, and season with pepper. Continue layering with bread, the remainder of the onions and another 1/3 of the cheese. (The recipe says to “Top off with a final layer of bread” but I finished with the cheese on top.
Ladle 3 cups of stock over the panade, then wait a minute, and allow the bread to absorb liquid….(I just poured the whole thing over) without overflowing. Dot the top layer of bread with remaining butter, then cover with parchment paper and foil. Place baking dish atop baking sheet to catch any overflow, then slide onto the center rack. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove foil and parchment, sprinkle with remaining cheese (I had already put the cheese on top, so I just removed parchment & foil) and return to oven for 15 minutes more. Bake until golden brown.
Remove panade from oven, and allow it to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Cover, and refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat to serve
C’mon, how amazing does that look?! It was delish! I served it with a simple Caesar salad.
Bon Apetit!
ps…someone asked me if I ever got glasses at Fabulous Fanny’s after this post…oops, forgot this pic
I’ve wanted to do this since I first heard about it back in early 2015….as their website says “DAYBREAKER is a social movement that gets people together for dancing during the morning hours. ” I’m on their email list and get notifications every time there’s an event, have forwarded the info to my niece in SF, daughter-in-law in NYC and friend in Paris, but I’ve never been in the right city at the right time…until a few weeks ago.
I got up early and took the 1/2 hour subway ride over to the west side of Manhattan, to the Highline Ballroom. What a cool venue and the vibe, as you can imagine, is electrifying as you wait in line with a bunch of other enthusiastic morning people just waiting to start their day on a happy note!
C’mon how much fun does that sound to just dance unabashedly before you go to work…..with a few hundred people?!
You have two choices….sign up for just dancing from 7-9am or include the pre-yoga at 6am. I don’t do yoga, so opted to dance from 7-9. It’s only $25 and some of the money is donated to charity. This event, for the first time, was sponsored by AFLAC and over $7000. was donated to children’s cancer research. It also included a song and dance from multi-talented Matthew Morrison…you know him from Glee; the Grammy nominated band Kaleo (never heard of them before this)…and, yes, the Aflac duck made an appearance too! There were also some refreshments to partake of from some food sponsors, so we all enjoyed Kombucha, water, some frozen confection, to name a few. After talking to a few people on my way in who had been many times, apparently most are held outdoors, on rooftops, in parks, on boats…so this was much more of a concert-y vibe than most. I thought it was a blast!
I started on the ground floor for the “dance through the decades” theme and then noticed there was a balcony. Being short it’s always more fun to be on the balcony, so you can enjoy all the action. Above, you can see how it wasn’t that crowded at 7am on the floor…..
…and it got more crowded as time went on (Matthew Morrison above)
It was one of the founder’s birthday, so crowd surfing was in order! This was towards the end.
The Aflac duck took the stage for the paparazzi….
….and there were babies with protective headphones!
I had a blast and can’t wait to go again…hopefully in LA next! As they say in their email sign-off
“…with love and mischief”
My sign-off is pretty great too….
The greatest prison people live in is the fear of what other people think.