Midnight in Paris

In general I find Woody Allen movies to be a bit hit or miss for me. I have loved a few (Match Point, Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and felt completely bored and mystified by others (Scoop). As a general rule, I don’t find his characters very likeable but I love when he makes a location a character. The whole time I watched Vicky Christina Barcelona I felt transported to Spain. All the details of the movie made me feel like I was experiencing Spain and as soon as I left the theater I was ready to book a ticket.

Midnight in Paris has this quality as well. Not only did I want to go to Paris as I left the theater, I wanted to curl up for a few months reading all the literature written in the Golden Age of Paris. The movie follows a Hollywood screenwriter who is dissatisfied with his life and dreams of becoming a novelist. When he travels to Paris with his fiancée and her parents (who all hate Paris in uniquely American ways that will be familiar to travelers), he finds himself transported to Paris in the 1920s each night at midnight, with Gertrude Stein commenting on his novel and parties with the Fitzgeralds and Hemmingway. I loved the glamour of the scenes from 1920s Paris. The sets and costumes really made the period come alive along with a wonderful soundtrack of Cole Porter songs. The movie made me think a lot about what period in history I would choose to relive on a vacation. I think maybe England in the late 1960s to see the music and fashion. Midnight in Paris is a great way to get lost for a few hours and might even inspire you to find your own favorite creative era.

If you want to learn more about the movie and our current fascination with Paris, the NPR culture blog has a great article with some reading recommendations.

Burn Notice

Who hasn’t dreamed of wanting to be a spy? There is a whole genre of books and movies based on our obsession with this profession, with their ability to blend in anywhere, speak a variety of languages like a native, dress fabulously, get out of any situation and generally be a hero. Burn Notice highlights all these attributes of being a spy as well as showcasing how spy skills can be used to help ordinary people. Michael Weston is a spy with a charitable side and when his charitable side isn’t in evidence, you can bet his mom, girlfriend or best friend will turn him back that way. The show is filled with action, humor and interesting characters. I have a hard time deciding who is my favorite supporting character: the hot girlfriend who can blow up anything, the hard-drinking, womanizing former navy best friend or the chain-smoking, wise but funny mom. It is always an enjoyable hour of television and sun-drenched Miami set makes for a beautiful backdrop.

The fifth season started last night and will be playing at 9 pm on Thursdays. The initial premise of the show was that Michael had been blacklisted from his job as a spy, left in Miami and was trying to determine the identity of who got him blacklisted. Over the four seasons the storyline has evolved quite a bit and I am interested to see where they will take the fifth season.

My Favorite Cooking Blogs

When I am struggling to come up with a new recipe or a use for an ingredient that I have on hand I have a few key blogs that I turn to. Sometimes I follow exact recipes, sometimes I just look for inspiration in the beautiful photos and descriptions.

Poor Girl Eats Well focuses on cooking healthy meals on an extremely limited budget. She creates recipes and provides suggestions for shopping on a budget. My favorite recipes are Red Quinoa & Broccoli Salad with Almond-Honey Vinaigrette and Warm Brussels Sprout Salad with Honey-Dijon Vinaigrette.

101 Cookbooks is a vegetarian cooking blog with excellent baking recipes. Her recipes focus on using whole foods and natural ingredients. She writes lists of her favorite things that are entertaining. My go to chocolate chip cookie recipe has been adapted from her Peppermint Bark Cookie (just replace the bark with an equivalent amount of chocolate chips or a chocolate bar cut in chunks for a different texture).

Tastespotting is a visual potluck. It collects photos of food from all over the internet and provides links to recipes. It’s a great spot for searching for recipes featuring a specific ingredient.

Chow is a great site for all things food. You can look up cooking times, party menu suggestions, restaurant reviews or recipes. The comments give great suggestions for changes or additions to recipes. Some of my favorite recipes are Cucumber, Hummus, Lemon tea sandwiches (I have altered them to be an appetizer by serving on a toast point) and Guinness Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.

King of Kong

Have you ever dreamed of being the best at something? Seeing your name in print as the best in the school, county or world? As a kid I was obsessed with being number one at something. It led me to try a lot of things that I turned out to be mediocre at but enjoy telling people about. I vividly remember standing in my Grandparents driveway following the Summer Olympics marking my long jump attempts with chalk. King of Kong, a Fistful of Quarters is a documentary about a group of men (and one super awesome old lady) who are competing to be the best in the world at classic arcade games. Specifically, the rivalry at the center of the documentary is about the man who has held the Donkey Kong world record since 1982 and an unemployed man who is attempting to beat his record. The documentary is enthralling, fulfilling many stereotypes about gamers but ultimately making you care about the characters. Even if you have never played a video game in your life you can still enjoy this story about one man’s quest to be a success in one area of his life.

These are my obsessions: June 19

It finally feels like summer with the long days, warm weather and fun weekend adventures. It seems like most nights it’s 10 pm before I am sitting down on my couch. I am loving being outdoors in this weather. I am also in love with all the summer produce making its way into my farm box and produce aisle. That first slice of ripe watermelon just screams summer to me. I haven’t been keeping up with my pop culture obsessions but I have managed to discover some more internet fun to share.

Ever since someone sent me to Accidental Chinese Hipsters tumblr, I have been noticing tons of potential photo ops on the streets of Oakland. I wish I had a photo of the grannies in pajammies from Vietnam to submit.

So You Think You Can Dance is back for the summer. Check out the great audition video of my friend’s sister. She is so fabulous it gave me chills (and made me want to get to a dance class).

I used some of my stir fry greens to make amazing Turkey Meatballs. I prepared a big batch and froze some to use later.

I am still giggling thinking about Stephen Colbert’s amazing interpretation of Sarah Palin’s revisionist history of Paul Revere. I also really enjoyed his interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air about his musical Company. I love hearing my favorite people geek out on musicals as much as I do.

I love the simplicity of the site Just Little Things. Each day she adds something to her list of little things that we should appreciate. It’s a great reminder to appreciate the little things in life and brings a smile to my face.

Pretty Little Liars

The only thing better than a good high school show, is one with a mystery plotline. Pretty Little Liars started its second season last night and the first episode was great (available online at ABC Family and Hulu). It follows a group of four girls who are trying to determine who killed their friend. They have fallen out of touch but are reunited when their friend’s body is found and “A” begins tormenting each of them with texts about things that they do not want to become public information. The opening with its haunting theme song with the line “two can keep a secret if one of them is dead” really sets the mood for the show.

The show has elements of a lot of different shows: there are the teenagers with better wardrobes than me (The OC), noir plotline (Veronica Mars), based off a popular young adult series (Gossip Girl). Not to mention there are lots of romantic plotlines (teacher-student, bad boy-rich girl, nerd-popular girl, girl-sister’s boyfriend, etc.), essentially every classic romance type to exist in a TV show. The mystery is very engrossing with twists and turns in every episode. There is a thriller factor as well which leads to some jump out of your seat moments.

At the heart of the show are great friendships and high school girls beginning to learn about life. The first season is only available on disc right now and you definitely need to watch the first season to have any idea what is happening on the show.

Keeping up with Soccer

Every four years I become a soccer lunatic during the World Cup. It’s the only thing I would get up at 6 am for on a regular basis. I love the excitement of keeping track of the brackets, rooting for your favorite team and discovering new teams who play so beautifully that you can’t help but become a fan. Not to mention, they call it the beautiful game for a reason (see Exhibit A: Spain National Team 2010 World Cup Champion) When the World Cup ends I feel like I have lost my purpose. Every round I tell myself that I will become a real soccer fan and follow a league or an annual tournament. So far the farthest I have gotten is enjoying the blogs that cover soccer and soccer players.

Kickette is a British blog dedicated to the things that woman appreciate about soccer: beautiful men, adorable “baller” babies, WAG fashion, soccer gossip and oh, yeah, sometimes scores. The writers are funny and it’s a great place to enjoy some eye candy.

The Dirty Tackle is a Yahoo Sports blog that covers international soccer with a hilarious commentary. They have regular columns featuring some of the more interesting people in soccer as if they were talking to the reader. They also love to cover kitschy stories like the octopus that was predicting the world cup.

I have also discovered a guide to the English Premiere League here. The San Francisco Chronicle has a blog that has information for bay area soccer fans on where to watch games and other local information. The Offside has information on all the leagues with pages for each of the major professional teams.

These are My Obsessions: June 6

It was another rainy weekend, with lots of time for sitting in front of the TV and the computer and curling up in bed with a book. My mom was in town so we also made some delicious, healthy meals and Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes (I guess those two things might almost even out).

Always looking for new ways to use the farm box vegetables, this week I made delicious Quinoa and Beet Pilaf (very flavorful, pretty and you get to use the beet greens in the recipe). I find radishes a little harsh on their own but when I soaked them in this marinade they made a delicious addition to a salad.

Someone else is feeling my anger over leggings masquerading as pants. I am thinking of buying one for everyone I know to stage a protest. Seriously, if I can see an outline of every part of your body or can see through to your skin…please get some pants!

Weiner jokes just keep on giving. Apparently, I am an 8 year old boy because I am finding this coverage hilarious. Can’t wait to see how tonight’s confession is handled by the Daily Show.

There was a small lifetime movie marathon occurring at my house this weekend. It reminded me about my favorite lifetime movie of all time, No one would tell. Oh, Candace Bergen and scary Fred Savage really rocked this movie. It also reminded me of an awesome blog that reviews lifetime movies if you need some recommendations.

It’s been a few weeks but I am still loving the Jeremih featuring 50 Cent song “Down on Me”. I like listening to the Jeremih YouTube channel and dancing in my chair.

The Glades

I love shows that you can just watch an episode and be entertained. I especially love the shows that appear on demand so I can watch four episodes in a single sitting on a rainy Sunday. The Glades is a police show with a quirky detective (just can’t resist the quirky characters) set in Florida. He is unconventional homicide detective, slightly annoying but in an enjoyable way. He has a thing for a nurse he met on a case who has a son and a husband in jail. There is lots of chemistry and witty banter between them. You don’t really need to know anything more than that to sit down and watch an episode. The second season just started on A&E on Sundays at 10 pm. All of the first season can be watched on A&E online right now.