New Year's Resolution Week Eight: The Thin Man

Week eight is here!  Can't believe how fast this year is going!  Can't believe that I'm still sticking to this!  This week we've got a true classic.  The Thin Man!  Another week that I was really looking forward to.  I knew I was going to have lots of fun with the menu and of course, lots of fun with this movie!

So I was not left on my own for the menu this week!  Movie Night Menus has some recipes for me!  As usual, with my diet restrictions, I had to change them, but I knew I could make these work.  PLUS, I got to use some spices and seasonings that I normally don't work with.  I adore cooking, and I use seasonings pretty good, but I think I stick to some pretty common ones, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, cumin, basil, etc.  So this was gonna be fun!  I got to use paprika, and fresh thyme and rosemary and oregano. I know, nothing too exotic, but they were new to me!  I've eaten them before, just never cooked with them.  Fresh herbs other than basil just don't make it into my kitchen.  

So here was the menu: Rosemary Roasted Almonds.  I didn't have to change this at all.  Whitefish Toasts.  This one was a little tough.  Luckily there is something called Fishless Fillets!  I was able to follow the recipe exactly, I just substituted the whitefish with the vegetarian fillets.  I warmed them us and scraped the breading off, then chopped them up.  Easy!  Next, Oysters On The Half Shell.....YIKES!  This was really tough!  So, even if I wasn't a vegetarian, I could not bring myself to eat raw oysters.  I'm convinced that the liquid in them is urine.  I've just seen The Road To Wellville too many times(If you haven't seen this movie, go now. People were nuts, I love it!).  ::::shudder::::  In order to eat them, I would bread and bake them.  And of course, wash the hell out of them, but I do that with all of my food.  Only then I would be okay.  So I'm thinking, how do I do this?  OYSTER MUSHROOMS!!!  Of course!  If you've never had them, I highly recommend them!  They really do taste like seafood.  So I sauteed some of these lovely mushrooms with garlic powder(I like garlic powder better than fresh garlic.  I find it's more potent.), salt, pepper, paprika, fresh thyme, fresh oregano, red pepper flakes, and lots of butter.  Once the mushrooms were cooked, I threw in some bread crumbs to soak up the butter, then transferred them to a pan and popped them in the oven for about 10 minutes to crisp everything up.  Next, the cocktail.  Dry martinis, of course.  Even when I could drink, I hated dry martinis.  I'm a girly drink drunk, gimme sweet or gimme beer.  Otherwise, bleck.  Vodka tonic is wonderful though...but that's still kinda sweet.  Sigh.  I miss it.  ANYWAY, so martinis...a cosmo is a martini.  So I kinda made a mock cosmo.  Lime flavored fizzy water(cause I don't drink pop either), and grenadine.  Done.  Finally, they recommended a box of chocolate.  NOT A PROBLEM!

Here we go! "Whitefish" toasts, Sauteed Oyster Mushrooms, Rosemary Roasted Almonds, Chocolates, and a Mock Cosmo Martini.  (And some beautiful depression glass)

Now that dinner is done, lets get to this movie!  Like everyone in the entire world with any taste, I LOVE THIS MOVIE!  The wit and banter is amazing.  All delivered by one of the best screen couples ever!  If you think otherwise, I will fight you!  And I WILL win!  The chemistry between Myrna Loy and William Powell is incomparable.  There is no one else that could play these rolls.  They make the movie.  You just adore them and it's so clear they adored each other.

This doesn't just happen!

Myrna is breathtakingly beautiful and smart.  And her clothes are to die for!  Nora is one of the guys in a fabulous dress and you just want to follow her around!

William Powell....sigh.  I can never say enough about William Powell.  He is his usually charming and clever self.  No one delivers ironic lines like William Powell.  I just love the intonation in his voice.  Maybe it is because I was raised on Tennessee Tuxedo.  Dunno, but I love it.  He makes me happy by just speaking.  Never seen the man do anything bad.  Not even anything mediocre.  I watch How To Marry A Millionaire just for him.  I'd take him over a rich gas pump jockey ANY DAY!  Betty, girl, ya chose wrong!! (I'm talking about Bacall, not Grable...look it up, but if you're here, I think you already know why I called her that).

Powell FTW!  I just fall over when he makes this face!

The plot keeps you interested and guessing.  The witty script written for the characters is what makes this movie so charming though.  The teasing and friendship between Nick and Nora wonderful.  But like I said, it's Loy and Powell's delivery that makes it so good.  I love the journey the characters take and the way the killer is unmasked.  I love that Nick and Nora are fabulously glamorous, and still quite common.  They're just such good juicy characters.  And you can tell that Loy and Powell loved playing them.

This!  This is what I'm talking about!!

I think you can tell how much I loved this movie.  I watch it whenever it is on.  Can't see it too many times.  Dinner was so very very good.  The Whitefish Toasts were delicious.  Bit messy to eat though.  Nice light appetizer.  The veggie fillets were a perfect substitute.  Really simple to make too.  So were the almonds.  I could totally see these served at a cocktail party.  They're tasty and they make you want to drink more.  Bars should serve these, they'd make a fortune!  The mushrooms came out great.  Tasted like seafood, and the seasonings were perfect.  Ya can never go wrong with butter, bread and garlic though, so this deliciousness was a given.  Loved the addition of the fresh herbs.  Must use them more.   The mocktail was ok.  I liked the lime fizzy water better plain.  And the chocolate?  It's chocolate!! Done!  

I'm loving trying new things!  

That's all folks!  Can't wait for next week!  I'm racking my brain for ideas for this one, but I think I've got it!

Love,

Olive

New Year's Resolution Week Seven: It Happened One Night

Hello week seven!  I've been really looking forward to this week.  I love this movie!  It is just too perfect.  There is not one thing about it that I don't like.  Plus I was really looking forward to the menu that I decided on.  Don't get too excited, it's not that fabulous.... But for me it was!  ;-)

So, yet again there was nothing in Movie Night Menus.  Don't worry, there are some.  Next week, next week.  So I had to come up with my own again.  The first food that ALWAYS pops into my head when this movie is mentioned is coffee and sinkers!  Then I think of the scene where Gable is eating the carrot and Colbert is amazed that he's eating them raw.  Also, the scene on the bus when Colbert is hungry and she chooses a box of chocolates from the guy selling food on the bus(girl after my own heart!).  Gable doesn't let her have it, but I'm gonna!  Finally, Gable scrambles her up an egg to go with the coffee and sinkers for their magical breakfast together.  So there's my menu!  Little strange, but I had fun coming up with it!

I decided to bake the donuts myself.  I'm kinda trying to be good, so I thought this would be a little healthier. I don't think it ended up being that way, but I got to bake donuts!  They were really easy to do.  I didn't have a donut pan, and wasn't going to buy one.  I have a fear of most pans, They're all full of carcinogens.  I couldn't find a ceramic donut pan, so I used my ceramic muffin pan.  They came out looking like muffins, but whatever, I knew they were donuts!  I then dipped them in butter and rolled them in cinnamon sugar.  Health health health.  I also had a tiny problem because I can't have coffee.  Yeah, I know, I can't have anything.  I substituted it with Inka.  It's a grain drink that is wonderful.  It's not coffee, but it's kinda close and there isn't a trace of caffeine and it's good for you!  Then I just scrambled up some eggs and tossed some raw carrots on the plate.  For the box of chocolates, I choose a little Whitman's sampler.  Whitman's is my FAVORITE.  Vintage, delicious, and the packaging is always so pretty.  Just my style.  Oh, and there is always a "map" that tells you which chocolate is which.  I hate that Forest Gump you never know what you're going to get crap.  I wanna know what I'm eating!

So here's my weird dinner!  My muffins donuts, scrambled eggs, carrots, chocolate and "coffee".  AAAANNNNDDD my depression glass makes another appearance!  The coffee mugs are really hard to come by.  So pretty though.

I always have so much fun when I watch this movie.  I bounced in to watch it for the 700th time.  Having a themed dinner made it even better.  Added a new dimension to an old favorite!  I first watched this movie because of Sex And The City 2.  What?  Did you think I only watched old movies?  OK, that's mostly true, but sometimes I step into this century.  Sometimes.  I've been in love with the film ever since.  The chemistry between Gable and Colbert is unbelievable.  I am just amazed that neither of them wanted to do this film nor did they think they did a very good job.  Maybe that is what makes it so perfect.  They're both completely at ease on the screen.  They just flow together and really seem to be enjoying themselves and each other.  Could it be that their apathy brought out natural acting?  Whatever, it works.  I do find that a lot of acting from these early talkies is very staged.  I don't mind it at all, I love these movies, I find the "acting" to be part of their charm.  This movie doesn't have "acting" and I just fall into it every single time.

I just delight in watching Claudette Colbert's character evolve.  She doesn't start off as unlikable, but you can see she's got room for improvement.  I suppose that's the best way to put it!  She's not selfish, she's just unaware.  It's lovely to watch her grow up before your eyes.  She doesn't want to be a brat, she just doesn't know any better.  Her character learns her lessons as the movie goes on with grace.

You just love her, she's adorable.

As for Clark Gable...sigh.  Dear Mr Gable(Ha!).  He's always charming.  I don't think he can help it.  This role is a little bit different from others for me.  He plays this character A LOT.  Lovable bad boy.  In this role though, there is a ease that I don't recall seeing this from him before.  It's really wonderful.  You laughingly fall in love with him from the second his drunk ass is on the screen!     

I love his drunk ass!

The script is funny and sexy and interesting.  There are great innuendos.  It perfectly toes the line between being conservative and risque.  Frank Capra does some great shots that escalate the emotions of a scene and also make you smile at the same time.  I love smiling at movies.  

See how Gable embraces Colbert and the shot embraces them?

One blanket creates sexual tension, isolation, and anticipation.

Another really enjoyable evening.  The movie was wonderful as expected.  Dinner?  It was pretty good.  I ate too much.  Shoulda stuck with one donut like they do in the movie.  Two made me a little sick to my stomach.  I'll never ever learn,  They were pretty good though.

Really looking forward to next week!

Had to throw this in because it's the scene EVERYONE thinks of when they think about this movie!

You didn't think I wouldn't include it, did you?

Love,

Olive  

PS: I'm starting to feel like I'm getting my writing voice back...slowly.  I think I'm getting better.  It feels like it!

New Year's Resolution Week Six: King Kong

Here's week six!  Finally getting back on track!  I just watched this film on NYE, so I wasn't super excited to see it again.  However, it's such a great movie, I really didn't mind watching it again so soon.  Just not whoopty-do thrilled about it.

I was left on my own for ideas for dinner again.  Nothing in Movie Night Menus.  So I was thinking, the film's most iconic moments happen in New York.  So what do I think of with New York?  A nice juicy steak smothered in sauteed onions and mushrooms with a big old baked potato!  New York is kinda fancy to me so I was thinking, fancy....caviar and champagne!  Then I thought I would bring the jungle aspect into it with dessert by serving a pineapple and banana concoction.  Now to make it all vegetarian and alcohol free!   Believe it or not I was able to find a vegetarian steak and vegetarian caviar!  Amazon will deliver anything.  To replace the champagne, I used sparkling apple cider.

I fried up the steak and sauteed the mushrooms and onions with a little olive oil and salt and pepper.  Really easy.  I then sauteed the bananas and pineapple.  I mixed some plain Greek yogurt with brown sugar and honey and spooned it over the cooked bananas and pineapple.  For the vegetarian caviar, I served it on crackers with whipped cream cheese.  What!  I looked up how to serve caviar, but couldn't find creme fraiche and toast points just sounded silly.  And I'm a little trashy....  ;-)  Hey, we're lucky they weren't generic Ritz crackers, ok?  Cause that's more my speed!

Vegetarian steak smothered in onions and mushrooms with a baked potato, vegetarian caviar, sparking apple cider, and sauteed bananas and pineapple slices with Greek yogurt for dessert.  Note the awesome depression glass.....  :-)

This movie always amazes me.  It is a prime example of one of the reasons that I love classic films.  People actually had to do this stuff.  They had to figure it out.  The stop animation is incredible.  The effort that went into it...I just can't imagine the patience and concentration it took.  

The stop animation mixed with the live action is so impressive!  Truly innovative!

I gotta admit, the acting is really really cheesy.  I'm sure everyone will agree.  You watch this movie for the ac-tion though, not for the ac-ting.  In fact, I'd say the best actor in the movie is Kong.  You really get attached to him and you really feel for him.  You're supposed to.  I didn't want him to get hurt!  Poor guy.  The rest of 'em?  Meh.  The did make me giggle a bit with their bad acting.  It was just so silly at times.  Fay Wray is absolutely stunning though.  The camera just loves her.  Her beauty steals every scene.  I can completely see why she was chosen.  No one could have done the role better.  The did want Harlow for this role, but I can't see it.  Wray's beauty was just so much softer and luring, while Harlow's smacks you in the face.  BEAUTIFUL!  BAM! 

Absolutely beautiful!  Acting?  Not so much!

How can you not love him?  He's going, "Yeah!  Thanks for the pretty lady!!"

The last scene of this movie is worth the ticket price alone!  It's amazing and always makes me cringe.  It's shot so well.  It really seems like they're on top of the Empire State Building.  I'm afraid of heights even when I'm just watching a movie.  I'm close to the ground.  I belong on the ground.  I need to be on the ground.  I like the ground.  Ground.  Plus I'm a total klutz that has no sense of balance at all.  I fall all of the time.

Gaaaaa!  ::::Shudder:::::

I had a lovely lovely evening with the monkey.   Always entertaining.  Dinner was very good.  I've had caviar before when I was very young and thought it was gross, but it was some weird pink stuff from a tube.  I don't think it was right.  This vegetarian version was delicious though!  Little salty pearls.  Very good with my cream cheese and crackers!  :-P  The vegetarian steak was wonderful too.  It wouldn't fool anyone into thinking it was steak, but it was very good.  The only gross part was the dessert.  The bananas just didn't turn out good.  Neither did the pineapple.  Both were dry and leathery.  And chewy.  Chewy dry bananas are nasty.  I should have cooked them in some kind of sauce or just not cooked them at all.  The Greek yogurt with the honey and brown sugar was good though!  Rich and creamy and nummy.  I threw the fruit out.  Bleck.

Still having fun!  I'm really looking forward to next week!!

Love,

Olive  

New Year's Resolution Week Five: Duck Soup

So this week I had to switch things around a bit.  The next movie was supposed to be King Kong, but we just watched that on NYE.  I can watch movies over and over again, but my cohorts can't, they get bored, so I'm skipping the monkey until it's an evening of just me.  So tonight we're watching Duck Soup!  I love the Marx Brothers.  Groucho was so incredibly clever.  I love every movie he's made(I'm pretty sure I've seen them all), love You Bet Your Life on the radio, love You Bet Your Life on the TV, love watching him interviewed.... So you get it, I love Groucho.

I was on my own for dinner again.  I couldn't find anything in Movie Night Menus.  Didn't matter though, this one was going to be easy!  And fun!  I bet you can guess what I'm serving, right? Duck Soup!  But I had to make it vegetarian.  Luckily, in this century, you can pretty much find a vegetarian equivalent to any type of meat.  I found me some canned vegetarian duck.  Yes, yes I did.  I was a little creeped out by it to be honest.  Canned meat creeps me out to begin with(it just seems wrong) so you can imagine what vegetarian canned meat will do to me.  I expected gross and mushy and slimy.  But nope!  It was beautiful!  Even so, I sauteed it before adding it to the soup, cause somehow that purified it in my head.  Plus, I was a bit afraid it would go all mushy if I cooked it in the soup.  It didn't look like it would, but ya know, whatever, phobias.  I made a really simple soup.  I've been craving good old fashioned diner style noodle soup, so this was perfect.  Just sauteed up some garlic, onion, celery and carrots with salt and lots of pepper.  Then added some vegetable stock and egg noodles and let it simmer for 10 minutes.  Then I added the faux duck at the end.  Done!

So what to go with it? This was the fun part, and it made for a....eclectic dinner.  I served crackers, apple salad, peanuts, and to drink?  Lemonade!  If you've seen the movie, you get all of these references.  In addition to using my mismatched depression glass, I got to serve the lemonade in my coolest of the cool WC Fields vintage Arby's glass.  Made it feel a bit special, and boozy...but not.  Sigh.  I'm trying!

My fabulously eclectic dinner!  Crackers, Apple Salad, Vegetarian Duck Soup, Peanuts and Lemonade!

Now for the movie!  This is a totally over the top Marx Brother's film.  Big and bad!  Bit cornier than the others.  And there is random singing.  That was pretty typical in early sound films.   Filmmakers were making full use of the new medium.  I'm not a fan of musicals.  Some are ok, but the musicals from the 30s through the 50s were just too cutsie for me, unless I'm in the mood.  I was prepared for the random singing in this one and my love for Groucho lets me get over it.  The singing is really really bad in this though.  Ugh.  Why?  The rest of the movie is typical Marx Brothers.  Lots of clever banter and lots of physical comedy.   Very chaotic. Watching Groucho play off of Margaret Dumont is always funny.  Robert Osborne said that he discovered something new every time he watched this film.  He's right.  I find that with all of Groucho's work though.  That's part of his brilliance.

Random musical numbers for no reason.  Hmmmm not a fan.

It's fun to stay at the YMCA!  

The other brothers were ok in this film.  There really weren't any instrumental musical numbers, which is where Chico and Harpo excel.  I love to watch Chico at the piano.  It's poetry the way this man plays.  And Harpo on the harp, well, enough said.  I would love if they would have let them play.  There was a tiny teaser of Harpo playing the piano like a harp, but it was only seconds long.  I'm not sure why this was omitted, I mean everything else was in this movie, why no harp or piano?  Just a radio.  Bah.  I missed the playing!  And Zeppo, well, he's Zeppo.  I'm never really sure why he's there other than for the pay check.

Harpo and Chico could have been used so much better in this movie.

Finally, the mirror scene!  For this scene alone, see this movie!  We've all seen it on I Love Lucy, but this is the real deal.  Brilliant!  Hysterical!  And filmed in only 2 hours!  Amazing!

No mirror, just genius!

I really had fun with this one!  The movie not my favorite Marx Brother's film, but I love them all , so I'll take it.  And dinner was delicious!  Weird combo, but yummy.  My food never looks very pretty, but damn, it tastes good!  Though I've got to be honest, I've never had duck in my life, I don't know if this tasted like duck, but it was nummy.

Love,
Olive
PS: Kong, I'll get to you! No worries! Just waiting for us to be alone.