Movies: Wall-E ... GO SEE IT

So my husband and I went on a date to see Wall-E tonight. Yes we are adults, no we don't have any children. Yes we like Disney. I have wanted to see this movie ever since I saw the silly little robot put a bra on his head in one of the trailers. When the first showing we tried to see was sold out we almost went to see Hulk or Wanted but my husband was insistent and so we bought the tickets for the later show and went home to make dinner.

Back for our second trip we found a crowded but not completely full theater and settled down to watch the movie.

I have to say I love Pixar. Not just because I love their movies but because no one else puts shorts at the beginning of their movies. The new short is called Presto. And all I have to say is whatever you do... give the bunny his carrot. I laughed out loud several times this cute short really sets the tone for the magnificent movie that it proceeds.

Wall-E was Magnificent!! It was quite possibly the cutest movie I have ever seen. Particularly for a movie where the main characters don't really speak. In fact, the first forty minutes are almost dialogue free. I thought this was going to bug me, but it didn't! The intricate array of beeps and noises that the robots in this film make are adorable and infectious I found myself wanting to squeak on my way out of the theater. It does such a good job of creating character depth with no talking that you find yourself empathizing with a cockroach! I was tearing up throughout most of this movie because it was so consistently cute and touching. Wall-E is beautiful, heartwarming, and simply adorable. I can't sing its praises highly enough. It was well worth the two visits to the theater.

I recommend this movie to everyone. If you have kids take them to see this as soon as you can. You will come out feeling great and your kids will be in love with robots forever. If you don't have kids it doesn't matter, this movie will put you in a great mood, I promise. In fact as we were leaving the theater my husband and I were talking about using it as a mood enhancer when we buy the movie.

Grade: A+++ Kittens Kittens Bunnies Hug Hug Hug (Trust me you'll understand when you see it)

Movies: Kung Fu Panda Haiku

Alright, I wasn't going to write about Kung Fu Panda because while I liked it there wasn't really much to reccomend it or say against it. So, here is my Kung Fu Panda Hiku which sums up pretty much everything you need to know about the movie:


Black Bear Makes You Smile

The Kung Fu Smells Delicious

Jakie Chan Is Monkey.



Grade: B-

Food: Fajitas

A couple of years ago when we got a grill, tired of the fare offered by local Mexican restaurants, I sought a Fajita recipe. At the time I didn't have all of the ingredients in the recipe so I made up my own and it became one of the easier weeknight meals at my household as well as a great way to feel multiple people.

Without further adieu, here's the recipe

the Juice of 1/2 of a lime

grated zest of 1 lime

4 cloves garlic (2 crushed, 2 minced)

salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2-4 skinless boneless chicken breasts

1 large yellow onion halved and cut into slivers

1 red bell pepper and one yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4 in strips

1 tsp dried oregano

6 flour tortillas

Optional

2 jalapeno chilies seeded and cut into thin rings

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

sour cream

guacamole

1. In a small bowl whisk together lime juice, lime zest, chili powder, onion powder, crushed garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Transfer the marinade to a Ziploc bag and add your chicken breasts. Swish them around a little and then refrigerate them to marinate for 1-3 hours (don't let them sit longer than this since the citrus in the marinade does bad things to chicken if left too long)

2. Once your chicken is marinated, heat up your grill and cut up your vegetables. Throw the chicken on the grill. Meanwhile, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large frying pan over medium heat, give the olive oil a couple of minutes to heat up and then add the onions and peppers (jalapenos optional). Cook, stirring often until the onions are translucent and very tender, about 15 minutes. Add the minced garlic and the oregano and cook until fragrant about 2 minutes (you'll know, it smells wonderful). Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside with tinfoil over the pan to keep the heat in.

3. Turn your oven onto 200 degrees and stick in your tortillas to warm up.

4. Once your chicken has cooked, cut it into thin strips and place in a serving bowl or platter. do the same with the vegetables and any accouterments you decide to add to the table.

Voila, Dinner! And so tasty too. The chicken in this recipe can also be used for a taco salad with a lime, vinaigrette dressing.

Food: Puff Pastry Improvisation

Last weekend my friend Pam and I decided that we wanted to make something different for dinner last Saturday and when we asked our friends for suggestions their only instruction was something creamy. As a result we ended up making steaks with a delicious creamy asparagus tart on the side. An interesting twist occurred when it came to dessert, as you may know, Puff pastry comes with two sheets in the box.

So, I decided to experiment with the other sheet for dessert. I stole a chocolate truffle tart filling from Gourmet and poured that into the puff pastry shell once I had stacked the sides and then after baking I covered the whole affair with fresh raspberries. The wonderfully rich almost puddinglike filling combined with the light pastry and the sweet/tart berries created an amazing dessert that had people mmming through each bite. This was really easy to make and is also really an attractive dessert you can whip up in a hurry for a small dinner party.

Chocolate Truffle and Raspberry Tart (as adapted from Gourmet)
1/2 lb fine-quality bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 sheet of puff pastry
1/4 stick of butter Melted

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Lay out the puff pastry on a greased cookie sheet and cut 2 1/2 inch strips from each side of the pastry. Stack these strips on top of one another on each side using a pastry brush to apply melted butter underneath each strip to help them stick together.
- Bake the puff pastry for 7 minutes, remove and reduce heat to 350 degrees.
- Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler, stirring until smooth, then remove from heat and cool 5 minutes.
- Whisk together eggs, cream, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a bowl. Once it is cooled whisk chocolate mixture into egg mixture until combined well.
- Pour the chocolate mixture into the slightly baked tart shell and bake at 350 for 25 minutes, until the filling is slightly puffed but trembles slightly when the cookie sheet is shaken gently.

NOTE: This amount of filling ended up being too much. I removed about ½ to ¾ of a cup of the filling and baked it separately in a ramekin.