Rachel McAdams to the Rescue

As you all know, I have suffered through my fair share of terrible movies (see also: Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler).  I, however, had no idea about the depths of misery that could be inflicted by a movie until I saw The Deer Hunter.  I should probably say that much of this experience was my own doing - although I did not suggest this movie, I was not tied or bound and placed in front of the television with my eyelids super-glued open.  My culpability ends there - the rest of the blame lays squarely with De Niro, Streep, and whatever satanic director thought up this visual monstrosity.

The beginning of the movie was tricky - a group of friends, a wedding, small town camaraderie.  Sure Meryl's dad drinks too much and hunting deer does not make me very happy, but it wasn't terrible.  I knew, though, that the relative calm and tranquility would be short-lived.  I just knew it.  And then, OUT OF NOWHERE, the unsuspecting viewer is transported from western PA to a freaking Vietnam POW camp.  There were underwater cages, nasty vietnam army guys, and games of russian roulette.  I am sure there were all sorts of other unpleasant things but I had my eyes closed for much of it.  I reopened them just in time to see some nice american boy blow half of his face off in that game of russian roulette I was just telling you about.

All told, I think I made it through about 45 minutes of the movie before I had to ask (demand strongly) my host to turn off the movie.   I just don't understand why people think the world would be such a terrible place if all movies featured Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.

Fortunately, I was able to purge that horrendous experience from my memory this weekend when I saw Morning Glory.  A terrific little film with a star-studded cast: Diane Keaton, Harrison Ford, Jeff Goldblum, and the real hero: Rachel McAdams.    As Manohla Dargis wrote "If you spend enough time with Rachel McAdams, it’s easy to get lost in the pleasure of her company, or at least become enjoyably distracted. Effortlessly likable, she has a way of keeping you tethered to her character even when your attention begins to wander."  You hear that, Streep?  Oscars alone don't make you likable.

Fancy Picture Box

This summer, facing personal fiscal crisis and thinking myself culturally superior, I cancelled my cable subscription.  I was sick of paying $100 a month for something I barely used.  The way I figured, I could use the $60 of that that was for the TV on something else and fill my time easily with books (hello library!), the New Yorker (each article easily takes a whole night to read), and most importantly Hulu and Netflix On Demand (so I could watch my select shows and movies). And when my Rafa was top-spinning his way to 3 major titles I relied on the the good graces of friends and local drinking establishments.  All of that entertainment and I could still take the cultural high road and respond "oh, I don't have TV" when someone would ask me if I had seen Dancing With the Stars.

The problem was - I am not nearly as sophisticated as I thought.  I missed the TV real bad.  I lived in denial abou this for several months but what finally spurred me to action was Sunday mornings.  I REALLY missed Sunday morning talk shows.  The main drawback of online TV viewing is that you can't watch anything live or current.

So, last weekend I went to Best Buy determined to remedy the situation.  I asked one of the helpful clerks what I could get to "make the pictures come on" without cable and he pointed me to some old-school rabbit ears.  I was THRILLED.  Sunday morning TV for a one-time $11 purchase?!  I got home and followed the instructions (very short - old school technology is so user friendly) and hooked those little guys up.  NADA.  I stuck the antenna out the window and the best I could do was fuzzy Home Shopping Network and spanish cartoons.

I was crestfallen.  Defeated and downtrodden, I got my phone and called those monopolistic bastards at KableTown and made an appointment to return the pictures to my life.  The experiment is over and I am once again part of mainstream, tv viewing America.  A car AND cable - it's like a whole new me!

Super pumped for Millionaire Matchmaker tonight!!

Hello!  Wow, it's been awhile since I have tapped out one of these little posts.  Something special has inspired me to write again.  A friend (technically, a husband of a friend...but he's a nice enough guy so we'll go ahead and call him a friend) has recently started a cool blog called Feed the Animal. On the site he tells little stories and anecdotes through recipes - I know there is a parallel to be drawn here but it escapes me at the moment.  In any event, check it out.

So this weekend Rafa and I packed up our bags and headed to Flourtown, PA to dog sit for the Goodmans (of the aforementioned Feed the Animal) fame.  Inspired by Dave's cooking and not wanting to miss an opportunity to cook in their AMAZING new kitchen (a considerable upgrade from what passes for a kitchen in my apt) I headed out to the Whole Foods and procured the makings for a fall feast.

Grilled Halibut with Sauteed Brussel Sprouts and Roasted Butternut Squash with Sage and Shallots.

Over on FTA, Dave is pretty good with setting out recipes and measurements...carly pumpkin...not so much.

The brussel sprouts are a variation on a dish served at Audrey Claire and they are delicious.  If had bad brussel sprout experiences as a child or have avoided the food all together because you just assumed it would be vile; this dish will change you.  It's REAL good - and very easy to make.  Just halve the brussel sprouts, put a healthy amount of butter and olive oil in a pan, salt, pepper, and away we go.  It's important to get the sprouts to brown, the more brown the better.  Equally important to cook them thoroughly, you want them to be very tender.  Tough sprouts are no good.  Here are the sprouts in action:

Next up we have the butternut squash.  This is a little more labor intensive than the sprouts but very tasty.  First, you have to peel and cube the squash:

Helpers:

So after you have peeled and cubed, slice a shallot and some sage leaves.  Toss all together with olive oil and place in 400 degree oven.  Ideally, after 25 minutes you have have nicely browned little squash bites, this didn't really happen for me so I threw them under the broiler for a couple of minutes to finish and that worked pretty well.

There was also halibut which a) does not photograph well raw and b) was so easy it's hardly worth mentioning.  Cover halibut with olive oil, salt, pepper place on well heated grill pan.  Sear each side and finish in oven with the squash.  Served with a shallot butter (minced shallots, butter, salt).

Delish.  The finished product:

If only our movie selection had been as good as our meal.  For future reference, Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher do not make convincing CIA operatives.  I know, I was as surprised as anyone and had to discover this the hard way.

Stacy, judging from the clues left around the house, was this the meal you would have guessed?

Cooking Sountrack: Bruce Springsteen.

Served with Malbec.