The 8th wonder of the world: Gnocchi

Sadly, I did not do as many food blogs as I would have liked.  Luckily, I did find the motivation to make something that I have been dying to make for a while now.  The delicious Italian wonder (and vegetarian): Gnocchi.  For those of you who don't know what Gnocchi is (pronounced nee-yo-key), it is a mix between pasta and a dumpling ( made from potato.  I would say they are more like a dumpling as they are pretty thick, but they have a pasta like consistency.  As it is an Italian dish, it is mostly served like a pasta, mixed with various pasta sauces.

The taste, density, and shape is very versatile.  I have tried so many different types that I was able to find my favorite style of gnocchi.  Although I am never disappointed by gnocchi, I generally like the lighter, more potato-y (yes, I made up my own word), more similar to a potato cake.  Typcially, the ones you buy in the store are tend to more dense and doughy.  How yours comes out depends entirely on how you make, whether it is with more or less flour.

I have researched, researched, researched to find the perfect gnocchi recipe for the light pillowy gnocchi that I was going for.  I searched endless amounts of blogs and recipe sites, and I knew that it was not going to be easy to achieve this type of delicate gnocchi.  Luckily I found a blog that made the type of gnocchi I wanted, with step by step instructions, with pictures (thank goodness).  Shout out
to this amazing recipe that helped me through this painstaking process.

The ingredients

Scant 2 pounds of starchy potatoes (2 large russets)
1/4 cup egg, lightly beaten
scant 1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour
fine grain sea salt

I found some recipes that only called for potato and sprinkles of flour, which is something I would like to try in the future, but for now, I'm glad I had the flour and egg to bind it all together

I started with boiling the potatoes for 50 mins, a lot longer that I thought.  I had a hunger roommate so when she heard that just boiling the potatoes was a little less than an hour she was not a happy camper.
After fifty minutes, I removed the potatoes from the pot and waited until they were cool enough to peel.  Once I peeled them, I began the process of breaking up the potato to be combined together into the gnocchi dough.  Everywhere that I read said that this process was the most important in creating the consistency you wanted.  Typically, you'd use a potato ricer for this process, but since I did not have one, I followed the recipe's instructions of "deconstructing" the potato running the tines of fork down the sides.  The potato mound was a little more lumpy so I'm assuming I did not master the fork method  on my first try.  After I "deconstructed" all the potato, I began to gently fold the egg and half of the flour into the potato, using a rubber spatula to incorporate the ingredients together.

 After I mixed the right amount of ingredients, the dough was too delicate to roll out into a snake-shaped log to cut into little bits of gnocchi, so I continued to add more flour.  I was waiting for the dough to become firm, but it began to get sticky.  I ended up rolling the dough through flour as I formed the potato log, which ended up working for the most part.  I had already added more flour than I would have liked, so I knew that I was past the light potato-y consistency I was going for.  I cut the low into tiny pillow-shaped gnocchi, ready for cooking.

There are several ways to cook gnocchi.  The most popular way is to boil it, like pasta.  I decided to pan-fry it, which lightly crusts the outside of gnocchi.  I added a thin layer of vegetable oil to the bottom of the frying pan on medium heat.  I cooked 7-9 at a time, and flipped after 30 secs- 1 min, or until golden brown.  I decided to serve the fresh cooked gnocchi over a layer of ricotta cheese, and topped with pesto.

As I figured, the gnocchi was not that light delicate consistency that I was hoping for, but it did not turn out as dense or doughy as the store-bought ones.  It was pretty delicious if I do say so myself.  I learned a lot about the art of gnocchi making (and trust me, it is an art).  I'm excited to try it again soon, and hopefully nail down that soft, potato cake-like gnocchi that I've been looking for.

                                                         (Points off for food presentation)

Thelma and Louise

This week: Thelma and Louise

I was glad I was able to finally watch this cult classic film from 1991 (the year I was born I might add).  I went into this with no preconceived idea of the plot line. I just knew that Thelma and Louise, played by Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, were two close friends that were traveling on the road (oh, and that made his debut Brad Pitt with an awesome shirtless scene).  I was definitely not disappointed after watching the film, as the movie packed more plotline than expected.

The story follows Thelma and Louise, two best friends who set off to take a vacation from their humdrum lives.  Louise leaves her diner job, while Thelma leaves her role as a typical housewife to her misogynistic husband.  During their first night out, Thelma gets into trouble with a man she was dancing with at the bar as he tries to rape her when they went off alone together.  Louise finds Thelma in time to save her friend from the man, but ends up shooting him.  Thelma and Louise are then forced to flee the scene and are officially on the run as they try to escape from the crime they committed.  They endure a few mishaps along the way, which in turn builds them into the characters they are by the end of the film The film follows them as they transition from timid fugitives on the run into confident criminals who take control of the hand dealt to them.

Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis were phenomenal together.  I thought that they were so in tune with who their characters were, and who they became, which made the movie worth watching.  After I watched the movie, I looked up researched Thelma and Louise, and saw what an impact the movie had on women's roles in movies at the time.  The 90's was big on woman characters identifying with masculine roles and characteristics (i.e. G.I. Jane).  It's always fun to see woman hold dominant roles in movies, so I really liked the movie in that aspect.
 

Pulp Fiction

IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED.

I no longer have to embarrassingly admit that I have never seen Pulp Fiction.  I feel like I'm finally apart of this club that is made up of only cool people.  It feels good to be here.

I am also happy to say that I LOVED IT.  That Quentin Tarantino definitely never disappoints.  He has perfected his unique style of film, and is always amazing to watch as he turns entertainment for the masses into an art form.  He takes stylistic risk by challenging the neat and orderly style of typical hollywood movies.  The more I watch Quentin Tarantino films, the more I have grown for appreciate Tarantino as a director.

The film not ordered in chronological order, much like other Tarantino movies.  I think this approach really calls on the audience to piece the movie together on their own.  I thought that this stylistic approach was affective since creates a game of sorts for audience, which kept me involved with the movie all the way to the end.
Pulp Fiction was the perfect mix of satire and realistic drama.  The film redefines dark comedies as it brings humorous dialogue to serious situations.  The writing was amazing, which really helped give such depth to each character in the movie.

I have a tendency to pick my favorite character/actor in the movie, and I was impressed by almost every character's performance.  Travolta and Jackson's chemistry as the two "gangster" hit men was amazing. The two's rapport was enough to make me love this movie.  Uma Thurman's brief, but iconic role in Pulp Fiction just solidified her outstanding acting abilities.

Bonnie & Clyde

So this week I got the original Bonnie and Clyde (1967), which was actually made the same year as the last movie I watch from the Fish Bowl, The Graduate.  The past 3 movies I've watched have some weird connection to the last.  Lets see if next week it happens again!

So Bonnie and Clyde is a movie depiction of the real-life crime duo Bonnie and Clyde.  They were famous for robbing banks across America and being very public about their lawlessness through photographs.  In the movie, Bonnie and Clyde form a bank-robbing group with Clyde's brother and his wife, along with C.W., a young man they met along the way of their crime spree.

Overall, the movie was good.  It had a storyline that was pretty easy to follow, but it was very predictable to me.  Bonnie was a southern girl bored with her life, while Clyde was fresh out of prison looking for excitement.  Naturally Bonnie was smitten with Clyde's wild lifestyle, and decided to impulsively leave her life behind to follow join Clyde, within a day of meeting him.  The rest of the movie follows them as they rob banks and escape from the cops.  Of course, their life of crime doesn't last forever.

That Graduate and Cupcakes

This week was a successful week in both my film watching endeavors, as well as cooking.

Let's start with the cupcakes.  I made chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter- butter cream frosting, which came out great (of course I forgot to take any pictures...again).  I found a recipe from scratch (that's right, no more boxed cake for this girl!), and it was easy and delicious.  I am never buying boxed cake again.  The cake was so moist and chocolatey, I didn't think it could taste any better until....PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING.  Can you say amazing?!?! Granted I love peanut butter, so I'm a little biased, but this frosting was amazing.  I was ready to have it on everything and anything I ate that day. Once paired with the chocolatey cupcakes, I was ready to marry whoever put this recipe together.

**Things I learned from baking:
When I recipe calls for room temperature butter, especially one that heavily relies on consistency, USE ROOM TEMPERATURE BUTTER.  It makes the world of difference.  I ran out of frosting to I tried to make more without room.. I found tips on how to solve this problem, and most suggested microwaving it at 5-10 sec intervals.  Although it sufficed, it was still not as smooth and thick as the first batch.

Best part: Eating the cupcakes, hands down.
Worst part: Making that second batch of mediocre frosting.  It was almost a sin to alter that beautiful peanut buttery goodness of icing.

NOW, on to The Graduate....
I've been wanting to watch this movie for a loooooooong time, so I was beyond happy when I fished it out of the fish bowl.  I have heard so many great things, especially about how innovative it was in the production of film making at that time (which was 1967).

I was sold within the first ten seconds, with my favorite Simon and Garfunkel song, The Sound of Silence, open the movie.  Turns out that the entire movie's soundtrack consist of songs from Simon and Garfunkel, which was an awesome surprise.  (What I coincidence that I picked two movies in a row that had soundtracks based solely on one music group....weeeeeeird).  Right off the bat I could tell this was going to be an indie-like movie.  The style was subtly artistic throughout the movie, which I really enjoyed.

I was further surprised (even thought I should have saw it coming) when I realized that the Mrs. Robinson concept (as well as the song) originated from this movie. A cultural reference that almost everyone is familiar with, and I had no idea that it came from The Graduate.  This definitely got me excited for the rest of the film, which did not disappoint.

I'm not going to spoil the plot line because I want EVERYONE to watch this movie, but the storyline is very intriguing and and easy to follow.  Dustin Hoffman was amazing in his role as Benjamin, the newly college graduate with no clue as to what he wants to do with his life next.   The movie follows his life as he deals with this very confusing time, as he chooses unconventional outlets to solve his emotional issues. Anne Bancroft, who played Mrs. Robinson, played the role perfectly.  Watching the two act opposite of each other was nothing short of magical. Hollywood's plot lines have definitely progressed since then, so this movie might not be as interesting to some compared to the more modern day movies, but witty dialogue and character development was enough to keep me interested all the way to the end.

Best part: I can finally see what everyone has been raving about.  I absolutely loved this movie! I highly recommend if you have not seen it.
Worst part: NOTHING

Across the Universe

Soooooo I have definitely decided to choose either a movie or a dish every week.  Hopefully on good weeks I can fit in both, but for the sake of my sanity, we'll go with either or for now.

This week from the fishbowl-o-movies was one that I've seen in the past, but have been meaning to re-watch.  Across the Universe is a musical of sorts, based entirely on the Beatles songs.  If you're not sold already then I do not know if we can be friends.  The story follows a group of young adults as they make their way through the 1950-1960's.  They deal with the issues of that time period (getting drafted to war etc.) as well as issues that most young adults deal with (choosing adulthood over youth, attending college).  Mostly, it follows the lives of these young adults as they transition from their  cushy, 50's "american-dream" like life into the free-spirited, psychedelic hippie lifestyle of the 60's.

Besides the amazing sound track made up entirely of the Beatles best hits, from the early "All My Loving" and "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" to the later "Let it Be", the film's cinematography/special effects is a noteworthy aspect of the movie.  The effects of the movie matched the psychedelic nature of the movie, with abstract sequences that could arguably make this movie an art piece.

Although the movie is abstract and artistic, the relatable storyline makes Across the Universe an great movie for wide audience range.  Most importantly, if you love Beatles songs, there is no way you can miss out on this movie.

21 and over

So this was a hectic week and I was unable to fit in a recipe.  I'm hoping I can compensate next week and cook two things! I'm also considering kicking it down to either one movie or one recipe.  If I do both that's great! But it might more realistic to set out to do one instead of both.  We shall see...

So this movie I picked a more recent movie that I wanted to see in the theaters, but I missed out on it.  I watched the young college flick 21 and Over (2013).  I remember it's opening weekend wasn't spectacular, but I added it to the bowl because it was one I wanted to watch when I first saw the trailer. Overall I liked it.  If you're into the raunchy hangover-workaholics-21jump street types of comedies that are full of relevant pop culture references, than this is the movie for you.  Personally, I enjoy those types of comedies so this was an easy watch.  The premise of the movie is about 3 best friends that set out to celebrate the 21st birthday of one of the friends.  He has a very important Med school interview in the morning, which is where the trouble ensues.  The entire movie follows the 3 friends attempt to get their newly 21 year old friend back in time (as well as competent enough) for his interview.  The witty banter between the friends is enough to keep you entertained, but the hysterical situations that they get themselves into is enough to make you wish you were celebrating your 21st birthday all over again. There were times that the storyline fell flat, and pushed the lines of reality, but I would recommend it for anyone that enjoys the movies stated above.