Dinner And A Movie Monday – Awakenings

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Awakenings, Dinner and a movie monday, movies, Robert DeNiro, Robin Williams

Awakenings is a 1990 film based on British neurologist Oliver Sack’s 1973 memoir, directed by Penny Marshall. In 1969 the doctor discovered the beneficial effects of the drug L-Dopa when administered to catatonic patients who survived the 1916-28 encephalitis lethargica epidemic. Leonard Lowe and the rest of the patients were awakened after decades of catatonia and have to deal with a new life in a new time.

Robert DeNiro plays Leonard Lowe, one of the patients. After a trial run with L-Dopa produces astounding results with Leonard, it is administered to the rest of the catatonic patients.

Robert DeNiro was nominated for Best Actor for this role. In my opinion, he should have won. He did a remarkable job of bringing Leonard Lowe to life. Through his portrayal, we see the despair and isolation of his condition, and the attitude of wonder he adopts when awakened. We watch his struggle to relearn, his fight to find a place in the world, and the heartbreaking realization that the miracle is only temporary. It will probably move you to tears, but it is a poignant movie that has a lesson for everyone. Enjoy the wonder of living. Learn to appreciate every moment.

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Dinner and Movie Monday – The Dressmaker

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Australian, Judy Davis, Kate Winslet, Liam Hemsworth, movies, reviews, The Dressmaker

When my sisters and I were little, sometimes my parents let us stay up late to watch an old black and white classic. Other times they took us to the drive-in. There we piled into the back seat in our pajamas with pillows and blankets, watching a double feature.

The three of us love to get sit back, get comfy and lose ourselves in a good flick. All kinds. So, when we had lunch together recently, one of my sisters recommended one she’d recently seen. She said it was great and loaned us her copy. She was right.

The Dressmaker is a 2015 Australian film written and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, based on the novel of the same name, written by Rosalie Hamm. Kate Winslet plays a dressmaker, Myrtle “Tilly” Dunnage, who returns to a small Australian town to take care of her mother. It’s a story of revenge and reckoning. Moorhouse has described the movie as “Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven with a sewing machine.

After being accused of being responsible for the death of classmate Stewart Pettybone, Myrtle Dunnage is sent away from her hometown of Dungatar. Twenty-five years later, she returns to take care of her mother and ends up unraveling the mystery of Stewart’s death.

The whole town is buzzing about Tilly, especially handsome Teddy McSwiney. It only gets worse when she fashions a beautiful dress for one of the local girls who successfully uses it to catch a young man’s attention. Soon, every woman in town is wearing a “Tilly original”.

The film was filled with funny as well as touching scenes. Judy Davis played her mother, and she was a wonderful character. Liam Hemsworth was good as well. And when Tilly ends up getting her revenge, you’ll want to applaud.

Thanks for the heads up Jo Beth. This was a good one!

Lamingtons – In the movie, Tilly’s mother made Marijuana Brownies, which were a hit. However, this is an authentic Australian recipe I thought looked interesting.

Prepare time: 30 min

Cook: 60 min

Serves: 6

 Ingredients

•   Butter – 1 cup + 4 tbsps (unsalted and softened)
•   Sugar – 1 3/4 cups
•   Vanilla – 2 tsps
•   Eggs – 4
•   2 1/2 cups flour
•   Baking powder – 2 tsps
•   Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
•   Milk – 2/3 cup
•   Buttermilk – 1/3 cup
•   Salt – 1/2 tsp
•   Coconut – 2 cups, for coating
•   For Chocolate Sauce/Icing:
•   Butter – 2 tbsps, unsalted and softened
•   Milk – 1/2 cup
•   Sugar – 2 cups, powdered
•   1/3 cup, unsweetened cocoa powder
•   Hot water – 2 1/2 to 3 tbspsPreheat oven to 350° Grease and line two 8″ cake pans with baking/parchment paper. In a bowl, cream butter, castor sugar and vanilla on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the flour, a few tbsps at a time. Use a wooden spoon to combine. Next add a little milk and stir to combine. Repeat with remaining flour and milk, ending with the flour. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool down to room temperature and store in fridge. Next day, prepare the lamingtons. Stir the mixture until smooth and a bit thick. It should not be a thick liquid as the cake will not absorb the chocolate coating. Once the excess sauce is drained which takes about 2-3 minutes, place each chocolate coated cube on a plate of dried coconut. Lamingtons can be stored in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
• Sprinkle dried coconut all over the chocolate coated cake and allow to set for a couple of minutes and serve.
• Once the cake is firm on touch and not crumbly, cut into small 2 inch square pieces. Cut each square in half, sandwich with jam or chocolate sauce. Use a fork or wooden skewer and dip each sandwiched cake squares in the chocolate sauce and coat well on all sides. Place on a cooling rack and allow excess sauce to drain by placing a parchment paper below the rack.
• Prepare the chocolate icing. Place the icing sugar, cocoa powder, butter and milk in a stainless steel bowl over a pan of simmering water.
• Divide the cake batter equally into the two greased and lined pans. Bake for 55 mts to an hour or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to combine. Add the buttermilk and beat for 10 seconds.
• Sieve all purpose flour, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl. Add salt and whisk together. Keep aside.
• Method for making Lamingtons

Dinner And A Movie Monday – The Magnificent Seven

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Dinner and Movie Monday, movies, The Magnificent Seven, Western

Every once in a while a good western comes along. And it’s even more surprising when it’s a remake. I don’t know how many of you have seen the 1960 version of The Magnificent Seven with Yul Brenner, but it’s a re-imagination of the 1954 Japanese film call Seven Samurai. That makes the 2016 version the third time around.

Another little piece of trivia: It is the final film of composer James Horner. He died the previous year and his friend completed the music.

When one the locals in a mining town try to stand up to bad guy Bartholomew Bogue, he murders the man in cold blood. His wife rides to the nearest town for help where she encounters warrant officer Sam Chisom, played by Denzel Washington. Washington plays the perfect mix of cold-blooded determination and the desire to right a wrong.

Chisolm recruits a group of gunslingers. Chris Pratt plays Josh Faraday, a joker who is fast with the gun and cards. They are joined by an unlikely crew, sharpshooter Goodnight Robicheaux and friend, knife-wielding Billy Rocks, a notorious Mexican outlaw, a skilled tracker and a Comanche warrior.

They kill Bogue’s men and drive the corrupt sheriff away with a warning to leave Rose Creek alone. Certain that Bogue and reinforcements will return, they begin training townspeople to defend their home. Fighting side by side with ordinary people determined to take back their town, the cold, hard gunslingers find themselves feeling like a part of something good for the first time in a long time.

When Bogue returns, he brings an army and a Gatling Gun. Somehow the town manages to defeat them. But it is a costly victory.Those who did not survive are honored by the people of Rose Creek as heroes, while Chisolm rides off with the survivors.

Even though unlikely comrades, these men become friends who are willing to fight for a cause and die for each other. If you liked the l960s version, you’ll like this one. The music is perfect. The setting is perfect, and the characters have the same gritty appeal.

Pinto Beans

In every western I’ve ever watched, at some point in the movie you see a cowboy scraping beans out of a plate with a spoon and sopping up the juice with cornbread. I don’t know what spices they used or how they were cooked, but this is how my mama taught me.

1 lb dried pinto beans (washed, sorted and soaked in water for 24 hours. Rinse and add water to cover)

1 onion, finely chopped

1/4 c bacon grease.

Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

Brown the onions  in the bacon grease. Add to crockpot. Add Beans and water. Add spices. Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours. Serve with cornbread and jalapenos.

 

 

 

Dinner and a Movie Monday – The Water Diviner

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ANZAC, movies, turkish coffee

 

My sister and I watched The Water Diviner  last week, and it was one of those movies that stays with you. An Australian historical war drama, it starred Russell Crowe and was also his first time directing. The film opened in Australia and New Zealand in December of 2014, with a limited release in the United States the following spring.

Shortly after the end of World War I an Australian farmer named Joshua Conner travels to Turkey where his three sons died serving in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). He travels to Gallipolli where they died so he can find them and bring them home so they can be buried beside their mother. In the end he learns far more than the location of his sons’ bodies.

What happened to his sons is told through a series of flashbacks. The battle scenes are stark and realistic. Rather than glorifying one side or the other, they show brief glimpses of humanity along with the cruelties of war. In every battle and on both sides there are young men fighting for their country, their ideals and what they believe to be right.

I couldn’t help but admire Russell Crowe’s first attempt at directing. The movie was very touching and it made me think.

 

Turkish coffee is a method of preparing unfiltered coffee. Coffee beans are roast and finely ground and then they are simmered (not boiled) in a pot. They can be served with or without with sugar and poured into a cup where the grounds are allowed to settle. Turkish coffee has a significant part in this movie.

Batteries Not Included

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*batteries not included, Dinner and a movie monday, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, movies, Stephen Spielberg

Over the weekend, my grandson and I watched an old Netflix movie I hadn’t seen in ages. *batteries Not Included is a 1987 movie directed by Matthew Robbins. The first time I watched the movie was when my kids were little. I rented it because it looked like something they’d enjoy. Turns out the whole family loved it.  I found out was originally intended to be featured in the TV series Amazing Stories, but Stephen Spielberg liked the idea so much that he decided to expand it and make it a movie.

It was memorable to me because of the characters. Real life husband and wife, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy play an elderly couple, the Rileys, who run an apartment building and café in a rundown neighborhood. A development manager wants to tear it down to make room for skyscrapers. He hires a neighborhood thug to bribe the couple and their tenants to move out. When they resist, Carlos and his thugs punch through artist Mason Baylor’s door, intimidate pregnant single mother Marisa Esteval and break retired boxer Harry Noble’s jar of tiles. Frank Riley refuses to move, so Carlos vandalizes his café.

Things look bleak until the appearance of a pair of small living space ships descend into the Rileys’ apartment that evening. They have the ability to repair anything that’s broken in a matter of seconds, making it look brand new. They even restore the vandalized cafe, putting Frank and Faye back in business. The two extraterrestrials take up residence in the shed at the top of the apartment building, and are dubbed “The Fix-Its” by the residents. Carlos comes back to threaten the tenants once again, but the Fix-Its lure him to the top of the building and into the shed where they scare him away.

I love the interaction between the Rileys. The story is touching and funny and a delight to watch. It reminds me of all the stories we watched on the television series, Amazing Stories. Cronyn and Tandy were such good actors. They rediscover their love for each other. The artist and the single mother grow closer and Harry Noble opens up and communicates for the first time in years. You felt like they believed the little space ships were actually real and they make you want to believe it too. Even Carlos becomes a believer.

I’m so glad I got to see it again. And with my grandson this time!

 

Hamburgers

Whenever I think of eating at a café, one thing in particular springs to my mind…a hamburger. There are about a million ways to cook and serve a hamburger, but only one way to enjoy it like they do at your favorite greasy spoon! Cooked on the grill with melted cheese on top and served on toasted buns with mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomatoes and grilled onions. Makes my mouth water just to think about it. In fact, I think I’ll get a hamburger for lunch!

 

Dinner and A Movie Monday Coming Soon!!!

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good food, Monday nights, movies, reviews

In the next few weeks, I’m going to be trying out some things on my blog. My plans (please note the term I use, because we all know how even the best of plans can go by the wayside) are to do a review on Monday (or at least every other Monday) over a movie (it might be an old favorite or it might be a new one) and post recipes for a meal that fits in with its theme.

If you’re like me, there’s nothing better than watching a good movie, unless it’s eating really good food along with it, so this promises to be great fun. Do you have a favorite, you’d like to see? Feel free to let me know. If I’ve seen it, I’ll be glad to feature it.

So stay tuned…