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.

Crepes and the Oscars

I started my first week of new cooking with something fairly easy: crepes.  I love everything about crepes.  I could probably eat a crepe everyday of my life.   When deciding on which crepe to create, between breakfast and dessert, I couldn't so I made both (if you couldn't tell by now, my decision-making skills is not my strong point).  Surprisingly, crepe batter is unbelievably easy to make.  Flour, milk, water and eggs mixed together in bowl.  The real feat was the cooking of the crepe.  I would like to give a shout out to all you crepe artist out there that make crepe cooking look easy.  By the end of the batch I think I got the hang of it, but I am a far ways away from opening up my own crepe shop. My breakfast crepe consisted of egg, homemade breakfast potatoes, and cheese, topped with some home made hollandaise sauce.  I've been wanting to try making hollandaise sauce for a while now, and I'm glad I did because it was AWESOME.  And extremely easy.  In my breakfast crepe I put nutella, strawberries, bananas, and a dollop of homemade whipped cream, which was absolutely delicious.  I say my food venture this week went fairly well.

BEST PART: NUTELLA NUTELLA NUTELLA

WORST PART: 3 hours in the kitchen and a ridiculous amount of dishes. 

The fishbowl has been started!  I've added a few movies, but there are definitely a lot more coming.  In honor of the Oscars I decided to make a special edition Oscars fishbowl with movies that were nominated (not just best picture, but the movies of supporting actor/actress nominees, best animation, etc).  I picked August Osage County, with Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep, but you can guarantee that the rest of the movies I didn't pick are going straight into the real fish bowl for future watching. I really enjoyed August Osage County.  I LOVE Meryl, so any movie with her in it is fine by me.  The movie is about a (dysfunctional) family that is brought back together after the father, Meryl Streep's husband in the movie, is found dead after he went missing a few days before.  The movie focuses on the odd family dynamic between the characters, and uses the relationships within the family to drive the storyline.  Definitely a good watch.  FYI, there is a curve ball towards the end of the movie that will give you an "OMG" moment.  

BEST PART: Meryl Streep and Julia Robert's amazing performances (oh and we can forget Benedict Cumberbatch...meow)

WORST PART: The ending.  It had me saying to myself "Really?  That's it?  That's how they're going to end it?"  It's safe to say that the ending was somewhat of a disappointment to me.