Miso and Miyazaki January 25, 2009

Matt (easily) convinced me to start a special meal plan with him. For the next two weeks we will eat miso soup and maybe some rice for dinner. Look at it as kind of a purge diet that tastes really good. I used to hate miso soup, but Matt makes mine special by not adding any wakame or tofu. This is what tonight’s dinner looked like:

Steamed rice with furikake and miso soup with enoki mushrooms, bean sprouts, daikon, negi, and shishime. Matt added wakame to his. We also have different types of mushrooms and potatoes to use this week for some variety. Hopefully I’ll get Matt to get a little wild and add some fish in my soup. I love flaky fish in miso soup.

And to prepare for our upcoming trip, we watched a selection from this collection of Miyazaki films that Andrew bought for us a few years ago.

Old City, Philadelphia August 24, 2008

Matt and I really made our rounds tonight in Old City. Tuesday was his birthday so we spent today down town going to various drinking/eating establishments and to the movies. Luckily, our parents basically funded this outing (thanks parents!) through birthday gifts (cash) and since Matt and I never really want material things, we bought movie tickets and food! It was a great day and now at 12:45 I am too excited to sleep.

We got down town and dropped our wine off at Bistro 7 where we had dinner reservations later in the evening. Bottle Shock was playing at the Ritz East but we had some time to kill so we got refreshing beverages first.

The move was amazing. Based on a true story and scarily inspiring (especially because Matt’s grape vine is doing really well in our back yard). Everyone, please call Matt “Farmer Matt” whenever you see him from now on.

After the movie we stopped at Beneluxx because we had some time before our dinner reservation. Beneluxx is housed in the old SoMa dance club building (sad that SoMa is gone, but Beneluxx is more my speed now), the establishment provides a variety of tasting items, specializing in wine. cheese, beers, and chocolate. Since we were eating dinner soon, we just sampled a couple of wines and cheeses. They bring your samplers in cute little scientist beakers and provided self-cleaning glass mechanisms at the table.

I don’t even know if I can comment on the food right now because every single dish was perfect. I’ll just post what we ordered, and photos (usually bad ones, since I hate using the flash inside of restaurants).

Green Vegetable Gazpacho with Lemon Cured Salmon, Crème Fraîche and Pickled Vegetables

Wild Burgundy Escargot stewed in Fennel Pernod Cream with Tiny Sourdough Croutons (Matt tried escargot for the first time. I declined.)

Olive-Oil Poached Rabbit Rillette with Avocado and Pickled Baby Carrots

Herb Roasted Striped Bass Filet over Saffron-Scented Mussels Stew with baby arugula, Israeli couscous, yellow pear tomatoes and basil aioli

Crispy, Slow-Roasted Pork Belly Glazed with Honey, Lavender and Peach Gastrique with roasted peaches, French green lentil pilaf and mâche greens

Vanilla Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Lemon Jelly and Summer Berry Terrine

We caught the last train back home feeling very satisfied and happy.

The Crossroads Aftermath August 3, 2008

I am sitting here watching Crossroads because I can’t sleep and I was hoping this would do the trick. Then I started noticing all of the then B-list actors that actually gained success after the laughable reviews of this film.

Taryn Manning: went on to star in films, including Hustle and Flow and Brokeback Mountain, and currently has seven films in post-production!
Justin Long: Hello, the MAC guy! Also had parts in Dodgeball and Walk Hard and has six films in post-production.
Zoe Saldana: went on to have parts in Pirates of the Caribbean and will soon star in the new Star Trek film. (She was also in Drumline–not a blockbuster but one of my personal favorites.)
Dan Akroyd and Kim Cattrall: wait, they were already famous. Well, this movie sure didn’t hurt their careers.
Britney Spears: this film may have actually been the height of her career. Enough said.

The Dark Knight: a character discussion July 21, 2008

**Before reading, beware of spoilers!**

Yesterday, to escape the heat, Matt and I went to the movies to see The Dark Knight. I’ll make this short and sweet.

Heath Ledger (The Joker): amazing. Amazing, amazing. He delivered humor with the right amount of tension, pity, and disgust. A far better joker than Jack.
Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent/Two-Face): Took this role and ran with it. It was my favorite character of his yet. The forshadowing of the major change his character would go through was so subtle (to people like me who didn’t know the full story of Batman) and he got it just right. He was a tragic hero.
Gary Oldman (Lt. James Gordon): I always love him. I think his role may have had the least amount of dimensions but you could tell that at his core, he was a decent human being trying to do the right thing for his city and his family.
Christian Bale (Batman): What can I say about Christian Bale? I’ve followed his career since Empire of the Sun, through Swing Kids, up to his current super hero status. In this film, I felt that he almost played a lesser role in order to create an in depth portayal of Gotham City’s many levels. Batman was always the driving force and the catalyst, but his was the character I noticed the least on screen.
Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox): Always Morgan Freeman, always level-headed, sly, and brilliant. I wish I could find this line he says that perfectly encapsulated his performance, but for some reason, the entire script to the film is nowhere online! Hmmm.
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Rachel Dawes): The one female character among the men, she held her own and came across strong and caring, yet cycnical and calm. Although her major agenda was to “create” Two-Face, she was the one character who was able to break through Batman’s tough exterior and bring out some emotion (other than rage).

It’s a great film–long, but kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

Today we celebrated our Independence Day July 4, 2008

With bratwurst and Jean de Florette.

Is something wrong with us?

How did you celebrate?

Yakuza and Human Rights May 15, 2008

Today is “Bloggers Unite Day” and in going with the theme of blogging on a human rights issue, I chose to post about the yakuza in Japan and an article I recently read. I’m stealing the article from my friend Miki (she posted on Facebook yesterday) about a gaijin (foreigner) writing about the Japanese Mafia (yakuza). It was so incredibly disturbing that it almost seems made up, but unfortunately I think it is very real. You can read the article here.

It brought back memories of a film I saw at a film festival in Tokyo call Dead or Alive. The first time I saw it, I couldn’t believe how absurd it was, and actually got a kick out of it. A few years later, I watched it with Matt and the two of us were disgusted.

Anyway–I love Japan and I loved living there and visiting, but I also think it’s important to know “what else” goes on below the surface and to expose the terrible acts against Children’s Rights.

50 days until The Swell Season March 30, 2008

I spent a fair amount of time in our car this weekend running errands, something I rarely get to do, and it was fun because I could listen to the Once soundtrack over and over (and over) and belt it out at the top of my lungs. Matt and I are worried that “Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy” won’t be played the the concert we are going to on May 20, but I think it may be a possibility. This is some footage from a November 2007 show of The Swell Season:

And a more unique spin on the song:

We really can’t wait. I may start an official countdown.

Jean de Florette March 22, 2008

I have been hearing the theme song from Jean de Florette everywhere lately. Most significantly was at The Chieftains concert and the new Stella Artois commercial. The first time I watched the film and heard this music was in 9th grade and I honestly think that it’s the most beautiful score I’ve ever heard (it’s also one of my favorite foreign films). I’ll see if I can post the full version of the theme song here:

Jean de Florette theme

The Beatles March 2, 2008

Matt and I watched Across the Universe last night and it inspired me to search for footage of The Beatles on You Tube. There isn’t as much as I thought there would be but I found some really cool stuff. Here are some of my favorites.

This is the trailor from Across the Universe. Very cool movie and the actors were amazing singers!

And…one of my favorite current performers, Brandi Carlile, singing the same song:

Holiday Movie Releases November 16, 2007

There are so many movies coming out around the holidays that I’d love to see:

1. The Golden Compass

It looks exciting, magical, and full of fun special effects.  The only downside is that Nicole Kidman is in it (I’m not a fan).

2. Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

I love Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman.  This film also looks hilarious and also has great visual effects.

3. American Gangster

I don’t know, the previews just look really cool.  And Russell Crowe is one of my favorite actors.  Plus, it hits close to home due to the recent arrest of famous Philadelphia Drug Lord Ace Capone. 

4. Across the Universe

I’m not sure what to make of this film.  Matt and I saw a preview in the theater and it looked very interesting up until the end when things got a little trippy.  But it’s set to the music of the Beatles, so it at least has that going for it.

5. Elizabeth: The Golden Age

I love any movie set in this time period.  I still need to see the original Elizabeth movie, though.

6. August Rush

This movie just looks adorable.  And it revolves around music, which makes it sound even better.  Plus, the child actor, Freddie Highmore, was in Finding Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

7. Enchanted

Patrick Dempsy is in it. 

8. Stephen King’s The Mist

I read this novella back in high school and since I am a die hard King fan, I feel obligated to see the film.  I probably should go back and read the book, though, because I don’t really like horror movies and I need to be prepared. 

The problem, is that movies are so expensive now, and I really just like watching them from my own home in my PJs, so I probably won’t go to the movies at all this season!  But these are all on my list.