Chasing down a Globe...

Over the holiday break or so, I managed to catch 3 films that are nominated for Golden Globes - I would say 2 are easily on the Oscar shortlist. Did you know they aren't announcing Oscar nominations until Groundhog Day?! I'm going to have to do a lot of guessing until then. But without further ado...



"Inglourious Basterds" - This film was best summed-up by my father-in-law: "I don't know what I was expecting, but that wasn't it." And that is in a good way. I suppose I was expecting another World War II movie - but hello - first and foremost this is a Quentin Tarantino movie - and I liked that!! This film is his spaghetti western re-imagining of the end of WWII and was very interesting and evocative and fun and tense, all at the same time. The first scene is artfully and meticulously done - you won't breathe the entire time. The casting was right en pointe - Brad Pitt is delightful and Christoph Waltz (a well-known German actor) is Col. Landa to a smarmy tee. I would say B.J. Novak was under-used as one of the Basterds, but he makes it count when he is on-screen. Of the 3 movies reviewed here, this is the one I would say, "run out and see it right now. NOW." I'm only disappointed that I hadn't seen it before Christmas Day.



"Fantastic Mr. Fox" - I wanted to go to the movies on the day after Christmas with the husband to unwind a little bit and it was so overwhelming because there are just so many movies I want to see right now! We came across "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and realized it was only showing at one theater in town - so we snatched those online tickets right up. As with "Inglourious Basterds" I was expecting an animated, fun kid's movie; but was pleasantly surprised that first and foremost, it was a Wes Anderson movie. Same look, same feel, same cast of characters - it was charming and homey all at the same time. I think Kylie, the opossum was my favorite character. I was also able to enjoy Mrs. Bean's Mulled (non-alcoholic) Apple Cider with my meal. We are so lucky to live in Austin.



"(500) Days of Summer" - Santa brought my husband Netflix for Christmas and last night was our maiden voyage. This movie is nominated for 2 Golden Globes which surprised me because I hadn't heard many good things about it. But still we wanted to see it because we're both suckers for Zooey Deschanel and the hipster-related things. I thought the movie was ok. As it claims at the beginning, it's not a love story, but you just can't help but think of it that way. So you kind of bump along watching this look back at a relationship and break-up and kind of go with it, and then it ends with this total eye-roll moment. I like the idea of the movie in the abstract, but I just think it could have been done much better. I would say no Oscar noms in sight for this one, nor will it win anything from our friends at the Hollywood Foreign Press. Sorry, Zooey and Joseph, you tried.



I don't think I'll be able to get back to my Oscar quest until after the long New Year's weekend. My husband and I will be traveling out-of-state and will probably get to hole up on some family's couch in Birmingham and spend the weekend watching old movies and college football. Sounds perfect to me!!!

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear

Since Thanksgiving I have been indulging in one of my favorite holiday pastimes - listening to Christmas music (thanks, Majic 95.5) nonstop. This love for Christmas music developed some time while I was in college. Probably the long drives home to San Antonio over Christmas break or something. But, the caveat to all of this holiday music is that there is much good as there is bad. Since yesterday, I have mainly been hearing bad. Here are my thoughts...

#1 - Did you know Bryan Adams has a Christmas song? I am not generally opposed to Bryan Adams - I'm definitely a sucker for "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)," but this particular song just sounds like a Bryan Adams song with the word Christmas thrown in the chorus. Who wants to listen to that like it's a special occasion?
#2 - What did "O Holy Night" ever do to you Martina McBride? I know you like to yell and call it singing, but to do an a capella version of this song like you're God's gift to serious Christmas music? I don't think so. Plus Amy Grant has already cornered the market on scoopy-singing Christmas songs.
#3 - In the same vein, Celine Dion and "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" - not so happy. She tries to take the song the serious route, which the song deserves, but relegates the children/Yoko chorus line ("War is over, if you want it, war is over now") to faint background noise. THIS IS A MAJOR PART OF THE MESSAGE OF THE SONG. Don't pretty it up, lady, this song needs to be a little messy.
#4 - If you have to have only one tropical holiday song on your Christmas/Holiday Mix, do yourself a favor and include "Mele Kalikimaka" rather than "Christmas Island." It seemed like lazy writing and didn't have a fun island feel like ol' "Mele" does when Bing sings it. Trust me on this one. Side note - I just googled the song title to get some more info on it - there are no less than FIVE ACTUAL Christmas Islands. Insane. And, of course, Jimmy Buffett recorded the song on his album of the same name. Should have seen that one coming.

I'm sure you're thinking, "Maggie, I thought you said you liked Christmas music..." Yes, yes, we're getting to that. Following is my ultimate Holiday mix with preferred or alternate versions. Maybe a little commentary, too.

* "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Andy Williams - this is a non-negotiable. It must open the mix (and the whole Christmas season, for that matter) and it must only be the Andy Williams version. Amy Grant made a good effort, but doesn't capture the unbridled joy that Andy brings. No order from here on out.

* "Merry Christmas Baby" by Christina Aguilera and Dr. Jon - This bluesy Christmas song is incredible, I actually saw them perform it on Letterman once. It is a great melding of Christina's best, vampy vocal stylings and Dr. Jon's dirty swamp music. You just feel loose all over and ready to get "lit up like a Christmas tree..."

* "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Judy Garland - Christina does a wicked cover of this as well, but in order to infuse some variety, we'll go with classic Judy. Plus her original version captures a little bit of the sadness of it's place in the movie, which I think is appropriate. I'm also a little partial to the way Kelly Osbourne sang it on her family's Christmas special, don't have a recording of it, though.

* "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey - we'll keep on the diva track, although I don't feel the need to explain the need for including this song. It is obviously awesome.

* "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" by Gayla Peevey - "only a hippopotamus will do"

* "Breath of Heaven" by Amy Grant - back in my younger days I used to sing this at church each Christmas Eve.

* "Oi! To the World" by No Doubt - this is actually a cover of a Vandals song, but I'm not really interested in the original. Now No Doubt has a song for all seasons, not that that would stop me in the first place.

* "Father Christmas" by Save Ferris - a little dramatic, but maybe especially poignant this particular holiday season (sample lyric - 'give my daddy a job 'cause he needs one, he's got lots of mouths to feed').

* "Carol of the Meows" by Guster - featured on a Chrismakkuh episode of "The OC" in 2004, this song immediately became a Holiday Mix staple. It is 1.5 minutes of "Carol of the Bells" in meows. By a human. You're welcome.

* "Maybe this Christmas" by Ron Sexsmith

* "Winter Wonderland" by Phantom Planet, my dad likes to sing it the way it was sung on the tv show "Evening Shade" - 'later on we'll prespire' (rather than conspire) and 'walking in my winter underwear.'

* "Blue Christmas" by Bright Eyes - I do like the Elvis version, but you just know Conor Oberst had a blue Christmas at one point and it was bleak. There is also a really pretty rendition of "The First Noel" on this cd that I would maybe include as well.

* "Fairytale of New York" by Pilate - word on the street is the original version of this song by the Pogues is ridiculous, but I've never heard it. If it's better than this one, I would switch it out.

* "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" by Pedro the Lion

* "Baby It's Cold Outside" by Zooey Deschanel and Leon Redbone - another great version is done by Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison (sample line, "but Kelly it's cold outside," so cute!), so with that thought...

* "Santa Baby" by Kelly Willis - my mom's favorite version is by Art Alexakis of Everclear, although Eartha Kitt's rendition is nothing to sneeze at either.

* "Merry Christmas from the Family" by Robert Earl Keen - 'CAUSE WE ALL WANT ONE!! This is another non-negotiable.

* "Don't Forget to Feed the Reindeer" by Peggy Lee - on an old Christmas mixtape I remember listening to while riding back and forth to grandparents' houses.

* "Christmas Coming to the USA" from SNL - still a good listen even if you can't see Tracy Morgan dancing.

* "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano

* "Bizarre Christmas Incident" by Ben Folds

* "If You Were Born Today" by Jimmy Eat World, plus there's "12/23/95," so hard to pick just one Jimmy Eat World song, thus the difficult part of the list...

* "Last Christmas" - honestly my favorite version is the Jimmy one, but the mix already has at least two Jimmy songs...the Wham version is pretty good, it's on Taylor Swift's Christmas cd, what's a girl to do?

* "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" - this will be a shocker for those who know me well, but my favorite version of this song is the one done by U2. I know, that's crazy, I hate U2, but it's just good. Great singing, emotion, orchestration, background vocals, all enjoyable. Runners-up - Death Cab for Cutie.

* "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)" - gotta bring it full circle, guys! Best version, hands down, still the original version by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. However, I implore you to give these other versions a listen: Street Drum Corps featuring Bert McCracken from The Used and the cover by the Polyphonic Spree.

Did I miss any of your Christmas favorites?

Blogging Oscar Hopefuls

I know I kind of dropped the ball on my 'Top Chef' review/recap posts. I discovered quickly that pausing and rewinding and note-taking during my initial viewing of each episode (usually on their first-run-time, which is late for me!) really diminished my enjoyment of the show. My next plan of attack was to save them on the DVR and do a re-watch. Worked better, but ended up being very time-consuming - meaning it was hard to find a 2-hour block in which to do this. I will try to redeem myself for the finale episodes, but don't spoil tonight's because I will not be watching it. My husband is out-of-town for a conference and it's something we watch together. Onward...

My dear readers followed me last year on my 2nd attempt to watch every movie (and short) nominated for an Oscar (the ones they show on tv, not the ones given out 2 days before). I believe I'm committed for a 3rd year, so I thought I'd go ahead and get started and tell you about the ones I've seen. This list is based on predictions made on Vanity Fair's "Little Gold Men" blog - my foremost source on Oscar action. Let us commence!

* "Where the Wild Things Are" (Dark Horse prediction for Best Picture and Best Director, prediction for Best Adapted Screenplay; I would at least add a pick for both Best Original Score and Best Costume) - I may be one of the few who genuinely liked this movie. I was so excited about it as soon as I learned Spike Jonze and Karen O were attached to it and got goosebumps each time I saw the beautiful, emotional trailer featuring "Wake Up" by the Arcade Fire. I liked that the fuzzy line between fantasy and reality is never addressed and leaves the viewer to decide. I know a lot of people thought this movie was too angry for a 'children's movie,' but the whole story is about an angry kid, of course his fantasy (or experience...) are going to reflect that. The monsters were fun and monster-y. I will say that it did drag a bit and felt much longer than it's 90 minutes. Best Picture - no, but Good Picture - yes.

* "The Hangover" (Dark Horse prediction for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor - Zach Galifianakis) - It's possible "The Hangover" may be the reason for the Best Picture category to now include 10 films. The critical and commercial ($$$) acclaim for this movie was outstanding. I believe the thought is, why shouldn't a fun, funny, raunchy movie be the Best Picture of the year? Everyone freakin' loved it, including myself. I laughed the entire time, even when it got a little ridiculous - and anytime Zach G. can get some attention, I'm there. I don't think it will win Best Picture, but the consideration is well deserved.

* "Public Enemies" (Dark Horse prediction for Best Picture and Best Actor - Johnny Depp) - Has Johnny Depp won an Oscar yet? He should have. Although I wanted this movie to come together a little better, Johnny Depp is sensational and sympathetic as bank robber (and murderer, I suppose) John Dillinger. The ending is a bit anti-climactic and Christian Bale doesn't quite deliver, but it was a fun night at the movies (I remember we were at the Drafthouse and I had their Green Chile Mac & Cheese, highly recommended). Again - a no on Best Picture (I don't think it will be nominated), but I think it's possible Johnny could pull down a statue for this one.

* "Star Trek" (Dark Horse prediction for Best Picture, surely at least effects nominiations) - I actually have never watched the original "Star Trek" series (I was more of a 'Next Generation' sort of girl), but this movie made me want to. This interpretation, set in the future or the past, is fast-paced (but not in a breakneck-I-have-no-idea-what's-going-on type of way) and fun the whole way through. I'm sure it was filled with great bits for Trekkies, but is easily as enjoyable for someone not too familiar with the backstory (myself). The character development and effects were great and I was never bored. This film definitely deserves recognition.

* "Julie & Julia" (prediction for Best Actress - Meryl Streep; Best Supporting Actor - Stanley Tucci; Dark Horse prediction for Best Adapted Screenplay) - I know I'm hearing a collective "duh" out there. Meryl Streep is so hot right now - and you all know it. She shines in this movie and as best I can tell, really captures the natural charm of Julia Child. I found I looked forward to the Julia parts more than the Julie parts while watching and I love Amy Adams, too. I think Stanley Tucci is a stretch for a nomination. He is supporting so far as he plays a very supportive spouse, but I wouldn't say he's particularly special in this role. I like him, so the recognition is exciting. I don't think it will end up with Best Adapted Screenplay - the real magic here was adapting the blog into the book - the movie part is easier after that (I guess except for the incorporation of the Julia Child story...hmm...let me think on this...). For sure Meryl (at least) will get nominated and not having seen any of the other films, I'd give her at least a 50% shot at winning at this point.

* "Up" (prediction for Best Animated Film and Best Original Screenplay) - Total dead lock for Best Animated Film. Like "Wall-E" before it, this movie should be up for Best Picture, hands down. If you didn't see this in 3-D, you missed out, but you should still run out and see it RIGHT NOW. Who would have thought a curmudgeonly Ed Asner and initially irritating scout could capture love so well? I guess the same people who knew we would fall in love with a robot. The colors are gorgeous and the story enveloping. This movie should win all it can.

Well, does seeing 6 count at all? I guess we'll see in the coming weeks when nominations will be announced. Would you like a shortened re-cap of Little Gold Men's other picks? Well, here it is:

LGM legit picks - Hurt Locker, A Serious Man, Up in the Air, The Lovely Bones, Invictus, Precious, Inglorious Basterds, Nine, An Education, Avatar, Crazy Heart, A Single Man, The Last Station, It's Complicated, Whatever Works

LGM Dark Horse picks - Fantastic Mr. Fox, Bright Star, The Informant, Amelia, Brothers, Sherlock Holmes, The Road, Trucker, Broken Embraces, The Stoning of Soraya M., The Messenger, (500) Days of Summer

Happy Watching!

"I'm a MacGyver when it comes to cooking"

Since this week "Top Chef" brought us to the Southwest for some cooking and camping, I thought Laurine's quote about her upper hand was appropriate. One of the blogs on www.bravotv.com pointed out how nice it was that the show was showcasing more of Las Vegas and Nevada by taking the chef-testants out to the desert. I agree. I was also very glad to see them head out to Nellis Air Force Base a few episodes ago. Incidentally, the only person I know in Nevada is stationed there while serving in the Air Force, so that made it personal for me.

Our Quickfire is pretty cool this week (I mean, they usually are, but you know). It is judged by Padma and Tim Love (of Fort Worth, I hope to go to his restaurant whenever I make it up there) who we remember from 'Top Chef: Masters.' The twist for this Quickfire is the ingredient - chosen by text message vote of 'Top Chef' viewers. Cactus - here we come!!! To be honest with you, I think this is the right choice of the three options, the other two being rattlesnake and kangaroo. To me, meat is meat. But cactus appears to require skill, and so it does. Mike Isabella wins for his raw cactus. He knew how to work with the cactus the best - un-goo it. For the first time, Mike Voltaggio is in the bottom. Crazy!

For the Elimination Challenge, they Highland the chef-testants out to a ranch. They must cook a high-end lunch in very rustic conditions (4 grills on the ground, no refrigeration) for two dozen ranchers. In order to acclimate to their surroundings they camp out on the ranch in tepee's. This provides some funny outside-of-the-competition moments - scaring each other around the campfire, horseshoes, the usual. However, it seemed only half of our chefs were really able to adapt - Jen and Kevin (who were praised, but not put in the top at Judges' Table), Laurine, Ashley, Bryan Voltaggio and Michael Voltaggio. The bottom was rounded out by Robin, Mattin, and Ron.

Bryan won easily with his pork tenderloin on corn polenta with braised dandelions and grilled rutabaga. This being his THIRD elimination win he remarked concerning his brother, "everytime we stand at Judges' Table together I seem to win, so I think he's getting tired of that." Then he laughed and actually smiled - I swear this is the first time I've seen him smile the entire season.

Mattin packed his knives due to the 3 bad ceviches he prepared. One involved cod and Tom actually spit it out (!!) and Tim said it made him sick. Mattin seemed to have no idea how bad his food was, and this was ultimately what sent him home. Robin at least knew her dish was terrible (that is what saved Laurine when Preeti was sent home for their bad pasta salad, if you'll remember) and Ron made a 'disgusting' drink, but was saved by his pretty good ceviche.

I think the frontrunners are still the Voltaggios, Jen, and Kevin - although Mike I. and Ashley are sneaking up there. Robin and Ron's exits are inevitable, they just happened to stave it off this week.

By the numbers!!!

6 - The number of times the M Resort was mentioned or shown this week. This resort was the runaway on product placement this week!!
5 - The number of chef-testants that claimed to be outdoorsy when faced with camping and cooking outside (Robin, Laurine, Mattin, Ashley, and Bryan - coincidental?)
4 - The number of times Mattin mentioned he grew up in the Basque country of France. As Tom Colicchio pointed out on his blog, Mattin kept telling them that he did Basque food, but he never actually made Basque food in the competition. Hmm... Four is also the number of arrogant statements Mike Voltaggio made this week. I mean, I think he can back it up, but let's remember that you were in the bottom on the Quickfire and your brother won the Elimination Challenge.
3 - The next prevalent product, the Toyota Prius, was only mentioned thrice!

Next week's teaser brings in Penn & Teller and the first moment of self-doubt from Jen...

"I cook how I cook - heart and balls."

I feel like this quote from Hector really speaks to the character of this sixth season of 'Top Chef." The personalities are over-the-top across the board and I am going to assume the food will be as well - I guess that's why they chose Vegas, baby!



I have decided to step away from my previous recap blah blah blah for the sake of infusing this blog with something different. It's supposed to be a review, right? Not a regurgitation. That being said, the recap will remain, but in a more precise and snarky way. I hope you'll stick with me.



This season begins ambitiously with 17 chefs and the beloved mise-en-place (literally "putting in place") relay race. The winning team then moved onto a cook-off using the ingredient they worked with in the relay. Jen C. (who name-dropped Eric Ripert twice) wins $15,000 with her clam ceviche ('seh-veech,' in her words). People are impressed.



The elimination challenge is centered around creating a dish based on each chef's personal vice. What would yours be? Mine would be either reality tv (*ahem*) or some combination of potatoes, pasta, and cheese/cream. Delicious, right? Well, the chefs broke it down like this: 6 of them chose alcohol as a vice (and almost all of them spoke to a specific liquor), 8 chose a personality trait (procrastination and hot temper each coming up more than once - sounds like a great recipe for a reality cooking show...), and disappointingly (to me), only 3 chose food. You're freaking chefs!! But back to the challenge...they remain in their teams from the relay and cook against each other. The winning dish for each group gets judged for the win, and the same idea for the losing dish. Based on screen time and foreboding editing, you knew Kevin and Jen Z. were really going to be in the mix. Jen Z.'s first moment on screen has her declaring that she believes unpacking will bring bad luck...uh, whoops! Then she chooses to stuff her chile relleno (representing her hot temper) with seitan - a wheat gluten product often used as a substitute for meat or protein. I know! As Kevin said, "Nobody f#*@in' likes that stuff. It's yuck." While she thought this 'bold move' would set her apart from the other chefs, it backfires and the judges hate the way she cooks it. I guess bad meat product is worse than overcooked shellfish and chicken or deep-fried steak. Note to self...



On a more exciting note, Kevin wins for his arctic char, though the editors led us to believe that his procrastination vice was going to trip him up. Sounds like it ended up being right on the yummy money. My personal front-runners are Kevin, the brothers, and Jen C. (self-proclaimed 'bitch in the kitchen'). Other bloggers keep talking about someone named Ashley that I can't even remember. All in all, I think we're in for a fun season, even without all of the Las Vegas gimmicks.



Now, the fun part you've all been waiting for...Top Chef by the Numbers!!!



5 - The number of times the M Resort was mentioned (do I smell a Top Chef Destination vacation?! The finale of the first season was also filmed in Vegas.)

4 - The number of ads for both the Glad Family of Products and the Toyota Prius - and Toyota isn't even sponsoring a prize! 4 is also the lucky number of times the producers let Jen Z. warn us that she's going down this episode.

3 - The number of misogynistic comments made by Mike Isabella. Classy.

2 - The number of times Eve let us know how terrible her shellfish dish was going to be. Way to throw us off the scent, guys!

1 - It only took one statement to let the viewers know (but apparently not the cheftestants) that Preeti's team was going to lose the relay race - lose like she's still shucking clams for the first leg while the blue team won. I bet she learns how to shuck a clam stat when she gets home.



I'll leave you with my favorite Wolfgang Puck quote of the evening (did I mention he was the guest judge for the elimination challenge?), outlining his thoughts on purees: "People think you need the steak and you need some baby food with it." He also referred to a dish as looking like 'chicken testicles.' Haha.

It's a love story

Baby, just say yes! Just kidding, this is not a Taylor Swift review (although I could give you a one-word review: awesome.). This is actually a review for "Adventureland" - my brother's fiance's dad (I will be so glad when most of that is shortened to sister-in-law!) reminded us often before we saw the movie that though it may seem to be a slacker comedy, it's a love story. And so it was...

The movie opens in 1987 at a commencement weekend at Oberlin College where our hero, James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) has graduated with a degree in something like romantic poetry. He has been informed by his parents that due to a salary cutback, they can no longer pay for his graduation trip to Europe nor his fall apartment in NYC and that he must move home to Pittsburgh and find a job to fund his grad school enrollment at Columbia. He can't find a job since he has no experience and an un-marketable major, but he ends up working in Games at the local amusement park (Adventureland), where no experience is necessary. From there he makes new friends, falls in love, and earns little money. Ah, being 22 in the '80's...
The movie is super-sweet, predictable, and very funny. The breakout star is Frigo (played by Matt Bush, you know him as the older son from the AT&T old rollover minutes commercials). He is HILARIOUS as Brennan's best friend (until he turned 4) and his reference for the job at Adventureland. This kid has a future. I liked Jesse Eisenberg in the lead role, but with co-stars such as Martin Starr, Ryan Reynolds, and Bill Hader, you kind of wonder if this role was supposed to be for Michael Cera or someone in that pantheon. Still he was good and believable. I also liked the 1980's setting...I assume this is the time when writer/director Greg Mottola worked at the amusement park that inspired the movie. It gave it some authenticity since it wasn't finding a way to update it for the '00's. Like - this is exactly how he remembered it. Music and all.
Criticisms - I mean, you kind of figure where it's going end up, although the end kept me guessing a little bit. Kristen Stewart played the main love interest (Em Lewin) and while her emotions felt real, I wasn't really into her method of acting. Meaning, she spent a lot of time tossing her hair for effect and kept her hands near her face to convey the emotion that her face couldn't get to. It was weird. I'll be interested to see if she does this in "Twilight" as well...
Overall - very fun movie and very glad I saw it. Definitely recommended.

We also saw some great previews for "Funny People" - 3rd Judd Apatow film starring Adam Sandler, "Away We Go" - an indie film with John Krasinski and Maya Rudoplh starring as a pregnant couple, and "Hungover" - starring Zach Galifinakis, Ed Helms, and Bradley Cooper at a Las Vegas bachelor party gone awry. I want to see all of them!!!

Some things to look forward to...I had Mother's Day lunch yesterday with my husband and in-laws at Sullivan's and this Saturday we're headed to see "Rent" and have dinner at the Backstage Steakhouse. Last night, we went out to Stubb's to see a show, so I may give you my thoughts on that as well. I'm also hoping to see "Star Trek" and "Wolverine" this week, but who knows...

Literary musings

I figure it's time to open up the ol' blog to book reviews! Yay - I know you're stoked. As my brother said when I told him about this post, "I don't even read books, why would I want to read about them?" Either way, I'll let you know what I've finished, and what I'm reading currently.



"Breakfast at Tiffany's and Other Short Stories" by Truman Capote - I was given this book for Christmas by a dear friend and read it in little bits here and there. My friend had realized that everyone had seen the movie and no one had read the book. My husband and I had seen the movie at the Paramount last summer (get in on this, it is such a fun place to see a movie), so she figured I could be the first. First off, while the character of Holly is pretty much exactly the same, although not much of the rest of it is. "Fred," the narrator is just a writer and not a kept man in the same vane as Holly is a kept woman. The very end is different as well - I won't spoil it, though. However, I'm glad to have read it. Mr. Capote's way of writing Holly is very endearing and her character is compelling, as flawed as it is. You feel like everyone else in her periphery - a bystander drawn in by her personality, an acquaintance consumed by pity at her naivete, and a friend that she has hurt in her whirlwind of a lifestyle. I remember that the movie "Capote" suggested that Mr. Capote was not thrilled by the casting of Audrey Hepburn in the lead - I can't really separate the two - and at this point in pop culture, they are synonymous. While "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is the star story (and the longest), the other 3 are no slouches. My favorite was the last one, "A Christmas Memory." It recounts the story of a 7-year-old boy and his best friend, an aging female relative. They spend their days together with an old dog, save their money to make fruitcakes for all of their acquaintances (and the President) and love each other fiercely. The other two stories are about a reformed prostitute in the Dominican Republic and about an old man in prison. Both are told with such great imagery, that my mind's eye can picture the setting and the characters as I type this. The only other work I have read by Truman Capote is "In Cold Blood," and reading these stories made me want to get ahold of more of his fiction. Recommended!



Confession time...I read "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer, and even worse, I liked it! As far as easy to read and compelling - this book is it! Once I got going, I didn't want to put it down. Yes, it's silly, and yes (like the Vanity Fair profile pointed out) Meyer describes Edward's perfect beauty way too often, but it is still good old vampire fun. One thing I will say about Meyer's writing (and I read this somewhere else, but I can't recall where) is that she evokes that feeling of teenage like/love as accurately as when I felt it all those years ago (haha). She brings back that crazy tension of "do I like him? does he like me?" and sitting so close to someone that you just want to touch them, icy vampire or not. I liked her interesting setting of the Pacific Northwest, as it is something I am way not familiar with. It's not as edgy as the vampire literature I read as a teen ("The Last Vampire" saga by Christopher Pike, I have re-read it since and it's still good), but it was still a lot of fun. I am looking forward to reading the next one (one my co-worker's teenage daughter finishes it), and I may even cave and rent the movie (don't tell my husband!).

I'm currently reading "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy. I first became familiar with Roy while watching a documentary she was featured in in my Hinduism Seminar in college. The documentary was about damming one of the main rivers in India - by damming it to use the energy for a wealthy dwelling up river, they were depriving poor communities downstream of fresh water and livelihood. Fascinating. This book is pretty upfront about poverty, the residual caste system, and colonization in India, and I've had to put it down to take a break, but that doesn't mean it's bad. It's just real, and some times you have to take that in small doses.

There are two other books I would say I'm reading right now as well. One is "How I Became Stupid" by Martin Page. This is my husband's favorite book and I'm doing all I can to read it (after all, he read my favorite book - "Bunny Bunny: A Sort-of Love Story" by Alan Zwiebel - on my recommendation), but I can muster up no feelings of warmth for the main character. He is a self-important French college graduate who thinks that stupid people are happier, since he is so tortured by his intellect. I bet I have read a chapter a month (and it's not that long) - so we'll see when I finish. I feel like it has to get good because my husband loves it so much, but it hasn't happened yet. The other one is "Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas." I have pretty much read all of Chuck Klosterman's collections pretty voraciously - I think he has a biting wit and I appreciate his nerdy honesty. However, Part IV of this book is a fiction novella. I'm used to reading his non-fiction essays, reviews, and interviews - so it's been hard to switch the brain over to fiction. I need to since his newest work ("Downtown Owl" is a fiction book. I think I'll get this one finished before "How I Became Stupid."

To read is always an interesting list...there are a ton of books I'd like to read, but I'm not as good as getting around to them as I used to be. Of course, "New Moon" is at the top of the list once I get my little paws on it (I decided to not buy it at Best Buy this weekend - it seems more like Half-Price Books purchase). From there I have "The Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoyevsky hanging around along with Marx's "Communist Manifesto." Don't be impressed, ask me how long those have been on my bookshelf unopened. I'll probably get distracted by the 2 for 3 table at Borders again before I get to those.

Are you reading anything interesting? Or anything at all?

Aloha

My husband and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary last week and we decided to make a night of it and have a celebratory anniversary dinner at Roy's Restaurant. Roy's is a national fine dining Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine chain. We decided on Roy's because we spent our honeymoon on Maui. We intended to go last year, but decided to go to the Round Rock Express game instead (who is gonna say no to Dollar Dogs night?). So, last Tuesday, we headed out to Roy's downtown.
I had made our reservation for 6:45pm, but once my husband and I got home from work we were kind of ready to go, so he called the restaurant and they graciously moved our reservation up to 6pm. We headed into town and once we got down to 2nd street our GPS gave up and we promptly got lost. We headed west while the restaurant was east (right across the street from the Convention Center). Did you know that 2nd Street is numbered both up and down? We did not. After traipsing up and down 2nd Street we finally called the restaurant and they directed us there. The host met us at the door, wished us Happy Anniversary and whisked us to our table (not a moment too soon as I still have blisters on the bottom of my feet from all of the traipsing in heels). They had a card at the table for us, as well as a full page congratulating us in our menus. The ambiance of the restaurant was nice and felt private although the dining room was very open. We ordered Mai-Tai's to start (not as good as the free ones in our hotel in Maui...) and some calamari. They also brought us edamame. The calamari was good, but I did not like the asian-inspired dipping sauce. We probably should have gotten some sushi or a signature appetizer - but we just kind of love calamari. Our waitress was excellent and very knowledgable about the menu, plus she gave recommendations which I love at a restaurant I have not dined at before.
For entrees I ordered scallops over cous-cous and assorted vegetables and calamari (not fried, I had to give the animal-looking ones to the husband so they wouldn't look at me) and my husband ordered swordfish over quinoa and greens. His was better, although I didn't love the quinoa. My scallops were good, but a little meaty and the cous-cous was almost pea-sized (my husband thought it was baby corn). I've never seen cous-cous that big! It was best when I got a bite of sundried tomato with it. I didn't love the presentation of either of our plates, because the plates were 3 times the size of the food - so the portions did not look very generous. We also each had a glass of white wine (I think it was a pinot grigio).
For dessert we ordered the signature dessert - a flourless, molten chocolate cake with a raspberry coulis. It was delicious - and they wrote "Happy Anniversary" in chocoloate on our plate. Another nice touch was the complimentary champagne for celebration.
All in all, we left the restaurant full and had a nice evening. The food was not really anything I would go back for, but I did love the service. Every employee that walked by our table wished us a Happy Anniversary and we were not rushed at all. I felt like a valued patron, I just wish the food had been that good.

Puppets and wild game

This Saturday found my husband and I observing our 3rd of 5 shows in our Broadway Across Austin package graciously provided by my in-laws. This month's musical was "Avenue Q." "Avenue Q" opened earlier this decade and I remember hearing about it on the Tony's and whatnot - it is unique in that it involves puppets interacting with humans (a la "Sesame Street") - but is firmly not for children. My in-laws saw it when they were in NYC this summer and LOVED it - so they have eagerly been awaiting seeing it again, and for us to get a chance to see it as well. The premise is a puppet named Princeton, a newly-minted college graduate, turns up on Avenue Q because he can't afford any avenues closer into town (his opening song is "What Do You Do with a BA in English?" - hit a little close to home for me...). He rents in an apartment building managed by Gary Coleman and occupied by an odd assortment of down-on-their-luck humans, monsters, and puppets. Part of the intent of the show is too shock you and catch you off guard, so I don't want to reveal too much more. Regardless, the show is a lot of fun and something interesting and different to catch if you have a chance.

The show was good, but the real star of the night was...Hudson's on the Bend!!! We went there for dinner after the show and while it is price-y (thank you again, in-laws!) it was SO SO SO SO SO SO delicious!!!! We started out with an amuse-bouche - a wild boar tartlet topped with crumbled cheese in a white chocolate tomatillo sauce - REALLY REALLY GOOD. Then my starter was their creamy chipotle lobster bisque - if you can imagine the best soup you have ever tasted, then you know how good my soup was. My husband got a mixed greens salad with tomatillos that they did something to that were phenomenal. For my entree I ordered Grilled Pheasant Breast stuffed with a cilantro pesto in a mole sauce, served with a pheasant tamale with the aforementioned white chocolate tomatillo sauce, Shiner Bock ancho mashed potatoes, and some seasonal veggies. I made a happy plate!!! My husband ordered chicken fried antelope that was fried in masa flour. It was light and tender and delicious. My mother-in-law ordered a steak and my father-in-law ordered their wild game sampler plate that included - quail, venison, venison sausage, buffalo, and rabbit. I tried a few - all good. We had not saved room for dessert, but never fear! We were sent home with samples of the pecan pie. I can't wait to go back and I can't say enough good things about our experience. It was high end without being stuffy, fine dining with a very accessible menu, and a very polite and knowledgable waitstaff, not to mention they have a sommelier on staff that served us our wine! I recommend it for any special occasion. I'm telling you, I did not put one bad bite of food in my mouth.

Next up - my husband and I are having dinner at Roy's tonight for our anniversary, so I can't wait to tell you about that. And from there - just more of my thoughts on television and movies. Although, I am in the middle of a couple of books, so I may just flesh the ol' blog on out to include those reviews. So exciting.

Reality TV Round-Up

I realize I have been extremely absent - and for that I apologize. Let's just chalk it up to MTV premeiring two of my shows in one week.

First up - "The Hills." As of today, we are three episodes into the 5th season (I believe). Lauren has already stated she will not be returning for another season, Audrina is shopping around her own reality show all about her, Whitney is living in "The City," and Heidi and Spencer want to be on "The Hills" forever. So as far as I'm concerned, this will be my last season of "The Hills" - I hope. The last 3 episodes have been pretty Heidi-Spencer-centric, my least favorite kind of episodes. I just typed out a long recap - but then I realized - who cares? Basically, Spencer has been lying to Heidi and Heidi continues to forgive him. At this point I can't help but suspect that the Pratt-Montag clan is trying to pull the proverbial wool over our eyes. I would hope that they watch the show - assuming this fact, Heidi would learn that yes, Spencer is a gross, controlling liar. Not to mention the fact that Stephanie seems to be egging on drama wherever she can (pushing Heidi on Lauren, reporting to Spencer Heidi's whereabouts, encouraging Heidi to stay with Spencer, trying to get a job at Lauren's work). My hypothesis is that the 3 of them have to be in some sort of cahoots to further drama on the show, like at this point they are really characters (or caricatures) to ensure the focus on their storylines - this is no longer their real life. I feel this way because I don't understand how, after 4 seasons, that Heidi could stand for this constant barrage of emotional abuse. Here is your chance to be a role model and stand up for yourself and be a strong woman, but instead you're getting plastic surgery, getting fired from your job, losing all of your friends, and alienating your family. What a winner. Part of me was really hoping they had broken up since their names haven't been on the interwebs mush as of late, but I caught a snippet the other day that said they are planning to get married in June. Maybe it's fake PR so people won't see their break-up coming? The unfortunate thing is that the show is perpetuating these other story lines while Lauren is dating Kyle Howard (Bobby from "My Boys"), but she has chosen to keep that out of the show. Wouldn't that be so much better to watch?!

Then there is the sweet sweet return of "RW/RR Challenge:The Duel II" - was it everything I hoped it would be? Maybe more...of course, there was drama before the challenges even started. Diem (RW/RR:Fresh Meat) and CT (RW:Paris) are no longer together (speaking of emotionally abusive relationships), and she hears from Katie (RR:Extreme? and hells yes, Katie is back!) that CT messed around with Shauvon (some new, questionable, RW girl). CT thinks that Adam (RW:Paris) told her and he and Adam get in this RIDICULOUS fight. RIDICULOUS. Like uncomfortable to watch and people are bleeding and the house is being destroyed. Diem cries and they are both sent home. This all happens while Diem is dressed up as some sort of slutty cavewoman. QUESTION - does this mean that she and Paula (of RW:Key West, who was dressed as Poke-your-hontas, I think you get the picture) packed these outfits with them? Like just in case they threw a birthday party? Or is this one of those things that MTV provides, like copious amounts of alcohol? I would really like to know. Fast forward to the challenge the next day, Nehemiah (RW:Austin, Beth's 'tenderoni') and MJ (RW:Philadelphia) have joined us in place of the ejected RW:Paris competitors. The first challenge is a rugby challenge - oops! - MJ is a former SEC football player (it was Vandy, but still, did you play SEC football? I didn't think so). He doesn't win, but he gets close - Evan (RW/RR Challenge:Fresh Meat) wins along with Robin (RW:San Diego). MJ gets Robin to save him in the selection process and the two duels are set up - Ryan (Fresh Meat) vs. some new guy who I can't remember his name and Aneesa (RW:Chicago) vs. Shauvon. Are you kidding me?! Who would pick Aneesa to go against? Anyways...Ryan beats the new guy and we won't learn about the girls until tonight. I think this season could really hold a lot of outside-of-the-challenges drama. Robin and Mark (first RR) are exes, Diem is left without CT, Rachel (RR:Campus Crawl) and Jenn (RW:Denver?) have hooked up previously, Brad (RW:San Diego) and Tori (RR:Viewer's Revenge) appear to break up on the show, there are two gay guys and at least two more lesbians, Big Easy (Fresh Meat) is back (shocking, that takes a lot of nerve), and I just love all of it!

Some other, non-MTV reality shows I have been viewing are "America's Next Top Model" and "Last Restaurant Standing." I have really been enjoying this season of ANTM. I didn't ever really get into the last cycle (evidenced by the fact that I finished it about 2 weeks before this cycle started), and I didn't mean to start this one because of my indifference, but then the DVR just picked up recording it, so I may as well watch it if it's there, and it's been pretty good. I could easily say that I pretty much like all of the girls that are left - and I am interested to see how this cycle plays out. I also like the addition of "Top Models in Action" during the commercial breaks once an episode. Nigel narrates what past contestants have been doing in their modeling careers - it's kind of nice to have an update to see that they are actually modeling. I guess they are doing this in place of 'Cover Girl of the Week' now that I think about it...

As for "Last Restaurant Standing," we are down to just 3 couples and 2 episodes. Last week, one of our faves - Nel's, went home - so that was kind of a bummer. The three that are left are the Cheerful Soul, True Provenance, and The Gallery. The interesting challenge/twist for this week was the invitation of some dietary special needs customers - vegetarians, vegans, and celiacs. Oh, and a fine dining supper club. None of them handled it perfectly. True Provenance didn't really have any viable vegetarian/vegan options, Michelle of the Cheerful Soul wasn't familiar enough with the menu to figure out where the gluten was so it took 20 minutes to take the celiacs' order and they were then served crostini, the celiac 7-year-old at The Gallery was served a biscuit on her dessert, and the fine dining club kind of ripped James up and down on his food at The Gallery. I don't really know anything about Raymond Blanc's restaurants, but The Gallery and True Provenance seem more up his alley, but to me the front-runner kind of seems to be the Cheerful Soul. The thing about it all now is that none of them seem to be doing particularly well, thus all three couples are in some sort of special challenge (saw that coming) for next week.

New show alert - Bravo will be premeiring "Top Chef: Masters" on June 10. This will pit 24 established chef's (including some fave guest judges) against each other in "Top Chef"-style challenges in order to ultimately win the title and $100,000 to their charity of choice.

"Project Runway" update - Season Six will finally be premeiring this summer on Lifetime. I'm really bummed that Bravo lost out on this show, and I am wary about the two replacements - "The Fashion Show" and "Buy My Line" or something like that. Hmm...

Paul Rudd - one way or another

After the busy-ness of two weekends ago, my husband and I made the realization that we had no plans for this past weekend. We had some dinner and hang-out time with friends on Friday night, but Saturday was pretty much wide open. After doing some damage on the DVR and some clarinet serenades (now do you understand how little we had to do?), we decided to go to the movies. We haven't actually been to a movie theatre the entire month of March - since the Oscars. We set out to our local Alamo Drafthouse (Lake Creek, the red-headed step-child of the Austin Alamos) to see "I Love You, Man." An important caveat to this story - while I LOVE the concept of the Drafthouse (food and drink/booze while watching a movie), I don't really love their food - especially not any of their (in my mind) healthier fare. HOWEVER, since Lake Creek doesn't really share a menu with the others, they carry a delicious salad known as the Buffalo Chicken Salad. This was my compromise - no guilt about popcorn and sangria if I have a salad. Anyways, we arrive at Lake Creek ONE HOUR BEFORE the movie and it is sold out. There is nothing else there that we want to see, so we head back to the car. Upon calling two of the three other Drafthouses, we discover one is not showing said film and the other one is, but, you guessed, it's sold out. If this was a review about the Alamo, I would be PISSED. Next time, buy online, is all I have to say.
So...since we were in town, we decided to get some take-out and rent a movie. Predictably we grabbed Banzai - our favorite local sushi place. The food was delicious even at home, but since they drizzled some sort of sauce on my shrimp tempura roll, it was a little mushy. But not the end of the world. The miso soup was still hot and I felt satiated and pleased.
Since we couldn't view "I Love You, Man" in the environment we intended, we opted to rent "Role Models," featuring Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott and McLovin (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Here's the thing - it goes just like you expect it to, so don't think they're out to fool you. But it is funny. The real stars were their mentees from Sturdy Wings - C M-P and Bobb'e J. Thompson. They play their roles well and end up being very endearing. Plus, the little one curses a lot, which my husband finds hilarious (don't we all?). Once it was over, I enjoyed it, but I probably wouldn't watch it again. I don't think it's worth a buy either, although my husband does.
We may try to venture to see "I Love You, Man" this weekend, but if not, maybe we'll just rent "Zack and Miri Make a Porno"...

Recovery?

Last night my husband and I settled in to watch "Chuck." As some of you may remember from my last post about "Chuck," I'm getting a little frustrated with this show. This week's episode started on the journey back to a story and character I care about. Chuck did some of his own reconaissance work and was able to locate Orion - the creator of the intersect. Though it may have been a Fulcrum trap, their mission ended up being successful. It was really fun to see the General in person and to hear her compliment Chuck, especially since he may become a real spy (great guess, Will!). I really felt like the show recovered last night. The mission wasn't too outlandish - and Chuck didn't really screw it up like usual. Plus the Buy More subplot was pretty fun (I have gotten to where I really enjoy the messed-up shenanigans of Jeff and Lester - Jeffster). I am not pumped about next week's plot twist (Agent Walker - out!), but my husband reassures me that, of course, it won't stick.

Things I'm looking forward to in tv land...

• The next new episode of "The Office" - last week's episode left me shocked! I thought I knew where it was going, but I was wrong. I am INTERESTED to see how this is all resolved.
• The return of "My Boys" - I would venture to say again that this is the best show you're not watching. It is genuinely funny and if you even claim to be a Jim Gaffigan fan at all, then you must watch this show. Third season starts next Tuesday!
• The next "Real World/Road Rules Challenge" - This time it's "The Duel II." I don't know if TJ's back, but I can tell you who is: CT, Adam, Diem, Brad, Ruthie, Aneesa, Robin, EVAN (!), Paula, Ryan, drama drama drama. That one is premeiring on April 8.
• And to be totally honest with you, the last season of "The Hills" starring Lauren Conrad. She has stated that this will be her last season (good for her), so it will most likely also be mine (my husband is rejoicing somewhere). I like the show, although "The City" ended up being a little disappointing, and will stick with it till the end - premeiring on April 6.

Are you looking forward to anything?

Week in Review Wrap-Up

As my husband and I have been busy busy - I haven't been blogging! Shame! Never fear - I'll share with you all that we've been up to.

The most exciting thing of the last week or so was our outing last Saturday. My in-laws took us to see "Spamalot" at the Bass Concert Hall on the UT campus. It was a very fun and silly show. I was glad they brought in the most memorable lines and situations from the movie (killer rabbit, French insults, "the curtains?!," and the flesh wound) and twisted all that in with great musical numbers. I really loved the Lady of the Lake - what a great role to ham up! One other treat of the afternoon was that Richard Chamberlain (yes, the one who was naked in "The Thorn Birds") played King Arthur. His acting and timing were right on, but ol' Richie looks like his aging a little bit in the ol' body. I wouldn't really say he danced, but he moved around some, so that was kind of sad. Another fun thing were the references to other Monty Python works - John Cleese was the voice of God, one song made reference to "suspenders and a bra" and the song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" was used. In fact, during the bows at the end, the cast led the audience in a sing-along to that song. They also slipped in a location-wise song - during the Knights Who Say Ni bit, when the knights change their name, the end of the name was the entire "Eyes of Texas" (followed by a Patriot Act joke). I was pretty impressed that he sang the whole thing - and audiences love that crap. My one main criticism was that the second act seemed really unfocused and disjointed and then it just kind of ended with a bow on top. It was still a ton of fun, but I was kind of like, "what?" and then it was over. Next month we're seeing "Avenue Q."

After the show we drove out to Steiner Ranch Steakhouse for an early dinner. The unfortunate thing about the Steakhouse is that in Austin people only know of it because a disgruntled employee shot and killed a manager at the restaurant last year. Please, people, don't let this deter you. The food is excellent and reasonably priced (for a high-end steakhouse). We also had dinner at the Steakhouse after we saw "Legally Blonde:The Musical" last month, but I wasn't feeling well. This time, I felt better. The main drawback of this dining experience was our waiter. He was this squeaky guy in his 20's who was just kind of doing his job - no banter or anything like that. Our waiter the previous time was very distinguished, knowledgeable about the menu and wine list, and was very friendly and personable and let us take our time. Daniel - I miss you. Let me tell you about what we ate! Our appetizer was a special of asian lettuce wraps with ground sirloin. Pretty good. Last time we ordered 2 appetizers, one of them involving elk and the other was a spinach-artichoke-sort of hot dish served in a bread bowl. All good. I have ordered the same entree both times - the Pasta Light, grilled shrimp on fettucine in a garlic butter sauce. I really am more of an adventurous eater than that, but I ordered this last time because my stomach hurt, but it was so good I ordered it again. My husband and in-laws have all ordered steak something or others each time and really seemed to be pleased with those. I finished my husband's mashed potatoes and they were delicious. This time we saved room for dessert! I had an apple tart in a fried philo shell with a butter and pomegranate sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream - all very very good. The only drawback was that the tart was deconstructed so it was hard to build that perfect bite of all of the flavors. My mother-in-law ordered white chocolate mousse, smartly served in a martini glass. She let me have a bite and I really liked it. It had the consistency of a good mousse, but with the lightness of flavor that white chocolate provides. My father-in-law ordered the cheesecake and it had a blueberry-Grand Marnier sauce. The portion was huge, but it was gone quickly - I didn't get to try it. My mother-in-law pointed out that the sauce was balanced perfectly between the two flavors. No booze this time, but some good iced tea. I'm sure we'll go back.

Quick thought on "House" this week - this portion will be all about spoilers. House's patient, a nurse at a nursing home, fakes all these symptoms and ailments to be his patient because a cat sat on her desk. This cat is a pet of the nursing home (named Debbie) and if Debbie sleeps on your bed - you die. This had happened with 10 patients - and actually, this story is straight out of the news. The nurse turns out to actually have cancer, so good thing House treated her, right?! This episode addressed a little bit of my frustration from last week, as well as a divine aspect. At one point later in the episode (right around the time House should be making some realization and solving the case), Debbie the cat meanders into House's office and lies down on his laptop. He realizes that the cat is just looking for something warm. The patients all had heating pads - she's not a harbinger of death. The nurse had cancer (apparently cancer heats you). The nurse is glad for the diagnosis and House kind of comes in to gloat, I suppose. The nurse maintains that all of this has happened for a reason, and of course, House is incredulous and dismissive. She states something along the lines of, "don't you find it interesting that Debbie chose to lie on your computer at that exact moment?" That is how I feel each episode - isn't it fortunate that Wilson said something while they were in the city visiting Wilson's mentally ill brother? and so on and so forth. Is the show implying that God has a hand in House's work? Probably not. BUT it was interesting to me!

That's it for now. There may not be a new post until next week - it's going to be a great and busy weekend!

I told you...

that "Last Restaurant Standing" would be a great replacement for "Top Chef" - because Tuesday night's episode was straight out of the "Top Chef" archives. This was a challenge episode - where the bottom 3 couples are pitted against each other for a chance to stay in the competition. The challenges are very interesting - the first was at a large petrol station, the last one was at a university, and this week's was on a plane! I'm sure you all remember "Top Chef: Miami" where the chefs had to prepare a dish for the Continental Airlines staff in order to advance from Newark, NJ to New York City. Well, this was essentially the same thing. The bottom 3 had to shop for and prepare a meal for first class that was representative of the concept and theme of their restaurant. Since there are 6 couples left, each of the challenge couples was paired up with a non-challenge couple. The chef counterpart of each pair worked together in preparation, while the front-of-house counterparts had to learn how to properly set up and serve first class all while keeping within the time limits. We did have a classic "Top Chef" faux-pas - the chef of one of the challenge teams bought frozen prawns (Spike and frozen scallops, anyone?) - big no-no. If some of you are trying to catch up with this show, I won't post any team spoilers, but there were a few things in this episode worth noting.

• As I have mentioned before, the head judge is Raymond Blanc, a French chef and restauranteur. The ultimate prize of the show is to open a restaurant with him. I'm pretty sure this is the first time he has tasted the chef's food since the very first episode - or, as my husband pointed out, as far as we know. That was kind of exciting, but probably kind of a bummer for the teams who were in the clear - that would seem to be good exposure.
• One of the other two judges was initially forgotten by two of the three teams. I could see that happening once, but twice! That was pretty crazy.
• The prize for winning this challenge (besides staying on the show) was kind of a big one. If your meal and presentation won, this particular airline would start serving your dish. Kind of cool, especially if they advertised it with your restaurant name.
• Lastly, even though this challenge didn't take place in a restaurant, it further solidified the connection between quality food and quality service as the key to success in the food world. This show really highlights both of those aspects, which I've never really seen in a reality cooking show before. Good job, BBC!

Exasperated

This is how I feel about a lot of tv shows I have been watching as of late. Most often mentioned was this past season of "The Bachelor," but this extends to 'scripted' shows as well (no "Hills" or "City" cracks, please). I guess I just need some resolution or something.

First up, "Chuck" (I just said upchuck, hahaha). I realize that my husband, myself, and my in-laws are the only ones watching this show, but more people should. If you need a little Seth Cohen in your life now, Chuck Bartowski is your man. To get you up to speed, Chuck (Zachary Levi) is a twenty-something-year-old guy, working at Buy More (Best Buy), but he also has goverment secrets in his head like he's a human hard drive or something. Since he is a valuable government asset, he is monitored by two handlers - Sarah Walker of the CIA (Yvonne Strahovski) and John Casey of the NSA (Adam Baldwin, no, not those Baldwins). Chuck and Sarah are in a cover relationship, but Chuck is really in love with Sarah and she may be in love with him. So basically I'm really freaking frustrated because Chuck is a nice guy who doesn't deserve to have this information in his head and he can't have a normal relationship because he's in a fake relationship (although he did try to have a secret relationship with Rachel Bilson, I'm not kidding about this Seth Cohen thing). I feel bad for the guy and I am not into the Ross-Rachel, will they/won't they thing. So...exasperated.

"Terminator:Sarah Connor Chronicles" - Full disclosure time people - I have not seen any of the Terminator movies. I, more often that not, have no idea what is going on with the show anyways, plus my husband (who has seen all of the movies) can't even really fit this in with the Terminator storyline. Talk about frustrated! The first season was pretty good, fast-moving and whatnot. Now it's at this mopey standstill, although someone did get killed last Friday. I kind of feel like, let's resolve all this time travel nonsense and I don't know what because I don't know what happens. One MAJOR plus is the addition of Shirley Manson to the cast. This woman is PHENOMENAL. Best robot ever - except for Summer Glau as Cameron. I don't know if it's a compliment to be able to play a robot well, but these ladies handle it!

A fellow blogger mentioned the P-L-A-Y-E-D nature of this past week's "30 Rock" and I will agree that the Liz-baby, Tracy-Jenna storylines are a little washed. But my favorite dynamic is that between Liz and Jack anyways, so I'm doing pretty good on that front. Plus - Kenneth.

"House" is the other one that's got me frustrated. The Foreman-Thirteen relationship seems forced, and House and Cuddy get into that whole Ross-Rachel territory. Again - the best dynamic is that of Taub and Kutner. I did like the look into House and Wilson's relationship this week. It's nice to have friends. Plus - the plot is kind of the same each week. Unsolvable case, some random something that applies to it in House's personal life - case solved. There's no variance, except for the patience and the illness.

Last, but not least - "Project Runway." I'm just ready for the Weinsteins (or whoever) to get over themselves and get this business on the air. I don't watch "Make Me a Supermodel," so my Wednesdays are empty now!!!

Reunion wrap-up + long-promised preview/review

Well, readers, it has been a week of reunions in the world (or my world, I suppose) of reality tv. Let's get to it.

"The Bachelor: After the Final Rose, Part Two" - I'm not kidding, that's the full name. This hour was just about as throw-away as I expected it to be. Probably the weirdest part was the opening where they threw together Naomi, Kari (my husband kept asking who she was), Nikki, Erica, and Stephanie to rap about the shocking ending. I totally buy Naomi and Stephanie being there - they made it pretty far, had all kissed Jason, knew the girls - but the other 3 were kind of random. To my unsettled surprise, most of them seemed to support Jason, because they all knew what it was like to be in love with him and they knew he had a tough choice. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Maybe they were just really glad they weren't part of this switcheroo, but I mean, come on, stand up for your fellow ladies! He did you girls wrong! So that was a little disappointing, not to mention pointless. They did take some comments from audience members, so that was kind of cool. But again, these people weren't there. Move it along, Chris! He does by reading a quote from Melissa, who obviously didn't want to be there. She's doing surprisingly well, glad things played out the way they did (I also read a statement from her that mentioned she had been extended the offer to be the next Bachelorette, but turned it down as she has decided her reality tv days are over). Love her. So then they bring Molly out and Chris talks to her about how and why she took Jason back - stellar question. She said she never fell out of love with him and she grilled him the night of the first 'After the Final Rose.' In this case, I agree with what Trista Sutter (the first Bachelorette) has said about this whole thing - it would be really hard to trust someone when you knew they have already picked someone else over you. Blah blah blah, bring out Jason. He again said he didn't have any regrets and didn't want to. My main question here is - don't you kind of regret needlessly breaking Melissa's heart? I mean, I know it only made his relationship with Molly stronger, and of course Melissa is better off, but wouldn't you kind of wish you had seen the forest for the trees and picked your right girl in the first place? I mean, I do. I dated some lame guys - they did get me ready for my husband, but there is a part of me that wishes I could have avoided some of that. ANYWAYS, long story short, they did actually appear really into each other, which is good, and Molly will be moving to Seattle. Plus they gave them the tent from their first one-on-one date. Now it's Bachelorette announcement time! And it is none other than America's Canadian Sweetheart - Jillian. I had previously stated that unless Stephanie or Melissa were the next bachelorette, I was done with this franchise (sorry, Chris!). We'll see how long this resolve lasts since - what else am I going to watch this summer?

"Top Chef: New York" Reunion Special - Hosted by the ever-lovely Andy Cohen, featuring, I believe, all of the contestants and judges. What a treat! I think my favorite part about these reunions are the previously un-aired footage along with the montages. Favorite un-aired moment - Jamie and Leah drunk at Judge's Table. HILARIOUS. Most of the montages concerning Stefan were great as well. Everyone seemed to be getting along, so that was also a plus. Hosea and Leah have both been broken up with by their significant others and are not together, though they mentioned that if they were in the same place they would give it a try. Fabio was voted fan favorite. Fabio's mother and Hosea's father are not doing well, and they showed a picture from Gail's wedding!!! Pretty good special, nothing earth-shattering.

So what will you watch now, you ask? I recommend "Last Restaurant Standing" on BBC America. The premise is: world-renowned restauranteur Raymond Blanc (my husband says he must not be that famous since he hasn't been on "Top Chef") has selected 9 couples with which he would possibly like to open a restaurant. One half of the couple is the executive chef, while the other half is in charge of front-of-house. Raymond also has two restaurant expert judges to form a panel. He gives each couple an actual restaurant and they have challenges and are eliminated. At the end, the winning couple gets to open a restaurant with Mr. Blanc. My husband and I were initially confused by the format, so I'm going to lay it all out for you. Each episode is an hour and a couple is only eliminated every other episode. So one episode they have a particular challenge that they have to execute within their restaurant. They meet with Raymond and the judges and one restaurant is selected 'restaurant of the week' and 3 couples are selected to go into the challenge. The next episode is the challenge - they are thrown into a different part of the food world and must adapt excel because otherwise they are eliminated. In these challenges, the members of the other couples are split up into the challenge couples, making for a sort of team challenge. The thing I really like about this show is that it is more about restaurants than cooking. I am learning how hard it is to run the front-of-the-house and that good food really matters. It is filmed in Britain (one guy looks like he is straight out of Wallace & Gromit, I swear) and Raymond is French, so the accents are struggle, but we have found it very compelling. I really recommend adding it to your weekly viewing if you have BBC America and are looking for another food-related competition. Woo!

I will not accept this rose...

Congrats, ABC, you've done it again - pulled off "the most shocking and dramatic finale/after the rose special in Bachelor history." Oh, yes, along with most other females in my age group across this great country of ours, I watched 3 hours of "The Bachelor" last night with bated breath, only to be continually jerked around by ABC and Jason Mesnick. Good Lord.

Let me tell you about my history with "The Bachelor/ette." Of the 13 seasons of "The Bachelor," I have watched 4. Of the 4 seasons of "The Bachelorette," I have watched 2. I was first introduced to the show by my freshman year roommate. We watched Aaron Buerge smash 3 ladies into the ground (our favorite was Gwen - second runner-up). Then ABC so smartly brought Trista Rehn (first runner-up from the first season of "The Bachelor") back for the first season of "The Bachelorette." As said roommate had already watched Trista get crushed in the first season, we of course watched Trista's search for love (did I mention that some hall-mates of ours seriously considered a tv intervention in the form of stealing our tv? this may have had something to do with the fact that we would tape stuff in our room, someone else's room, and then watch tv in a third person's room - in hindsight, the intervention may have been a good idea). But as this roommate moved on to another college and I moved onto another roommate (the one who let us watch her tv while we were taping in two other rooms), "The Bachelor" and its derivations fell by the wayside. I didn't even watch Trista and Ryan's wedding.

Fast forward to my after college roommate. She DVRed the entire season of "The Bachelor:Rome" - you know the one with the 'Italian' 'prince' who didn't speak Italian? Enter Ice Storm 07 and a marathon watch session/DVR cleaning out and ABC had me back, even though Lorenzo didn't pick our fave (Sadie). Then, in a GENIUS MOVE, ABC picked a bachelor from Austin - my hometown. Well, I had to watch it (although as a rule, I am not a patron of his bars due to the cast of "The Real World:Austin" - wow, this post is not endearing me as particularly intelligent or social). Then Brad Womack did the unthinkable, and the most awesome thing I have seen to date on this meat market of a show, he didn't pick either girl! People were pissed! Not me, though. I applauded Brad for his honesty, I mean what are the actual chances of finding true love on a reality show with 25 women picked out for you by producers? I mean, really. I read this week that Brad actually knew none of the women were right for him much earlier than the final rose ceremony, but he was contractually obligated to go through the rest of the hoopla. So then jilted DeAnna is the new bachelorette, so I'm already sucked in, and then they go ahead and keep recycling and pick Jason for the new bachelor and now you're up to speed.

My husband and I actually watched this season together, which I really appreciated. We both got into it, had a clear favorite, made fun of everyone else along the way, and were generally glad that we met each other at a club like normal people. We were way pulling for Melissa, though we both had a soft spot for Stephanie, and had a categorical dislike for Molly. Imagine our elation when he finally proposed to Melissa. And then just like that, ABC ripped it away. It didn't even last 5 minutes (much like their relationship - OH!!!). Then Molly just took him back like it ain't no thang. Really? Does this happen in real life? Overall, I feel duped and confused and I don't like Jason anymore. I'm glad he gave ABC some genuine drama, but was it worth it to break two women's hearts in the end? Did the arbitrary DeAnna appearance ensure a confusing finale? Maybe we'll find out tonight on part 2 of "After the Final Rose."

Something I haven't mentioned...Chris Harrison. I'll tell you why - I love the guy. He has the best job and seems to have genuine relationships with these crazy contestants. In his blog this week on ew.com he mentioned that the next time he and his wife go to Dallas, Melissa will be the first one they call to go grab a cold one. Well, Chris and Mrs. Harrison - let me extend the offer that the next time you're in Austin, we'll go grab a cold one. I didn't really love the way he had to coddle the break-up along last night, that was uncomfortable and awkward. But I guess when your contract mandates it (on all sides) you just have to grin and bear it. And while we're talking about ew.com, check out their recaps blog as well. I can only hope to learn to write that way - it's phenomenal. Here's a tease from this week's edition entitled "This is (not) your wife": "And by 'putting it all out there,' she means mounting him on a rented massage table and tenderizing him with baby oil like the big piece of beefcake that he is." I KNOW - AWESOME.

Quick clarification of my "Top Chef" post - I didn't want to imply that I thought that Hosea didn't deserve to win - he apparently cooked the best meal. I only wanted to express my disappointment that Carla (especially) and Stefan did not rise to this particular challenge. Thank you.

Hmm...

Spoilers ahead - FYI.

One time, I was reading up on "Top Chef" drinking games on the interwebs. Each version I found was very complicated. One in particular involved having two teams - Contestants vs. Judges. Again, it was confusing, but it was something along the lines of every time Padma said something ridiculous or that she didn't seem qualified to say, the Judges team took a drink. On the other side (and this is the one I do remember very accurately), if a contest said something full of foreshadowing that would probably doom them in the end, the Contestants team took a drink. This is exactly what went through my head during the "Top Chef" finale last night when Carla said early on, "I know I can do this if I just cook my food."

So last night my husband and I rushed home (we were at church for Ash Wednesday, but we have priorities, man!), grabbed some beverages and cookies, and settled in to take in the episode.

The episode broke down like this: Breakfast; pick sous chefs by drawing knives; Hosea-Richard, Stefan-Marcel, Carla-Casey; cook the best meal of your life using what's available at this restaurant; fight over foie gras; sous-vide; TWIST - eat king cake, find baby, dole out Cajun protein for appetizer course - Hosea-redfish, Carla-Blue Crab; Stefan-alligator; alligator sucks; service; judging.

With the aforementioned quote, it did not start off looking well for my buddy, Carla. Alongwith the rest of the "Top Chef" viewership, we wondered who would the sous chefs be? I would like to say that I recognized Richard Blais while they were still in the shadows - it was the hair. The pairings seemed perfect, until it went downhill.

Carla and Casey teamed up for a girl power team, and I was a little excited by this. They are both Southern with French training (Casey learned how to cook from her French grandmother) and super ladies. Oh, was I wrong! The SECOND Casey mentioned doing the steak sous-vide, I knew Carla was done for. This was also when I realized I was really really pulling for Carla. Then came the tart-souffle debacle. It was painful.

The OTHER irritating part was Hosea and Stefan's exclusive competition. Not ONCE did they mention Carla (maybe this was creative editing, but I think they were just being competitive boys). Had Carla cooked her love-soul-food, she would have blown both of them out of the water. Their respective menus are as follows.

Appetizer course: Hosea - redfish on griddled corncake with remoulade, Stefan - alligator soup, Carla - chiso Blue Crab soup with chayote salsa (TIE - all awesome)
First course: Hosea - sashimi 3 ways, Stefan - hamachi, Carla - bouillabasse (Carla wins, but Hosea's is a little better than Stefan's)
Second course: Hosea - scallop with foie gras, Stefan - squab with cabbage, Carla - Meat and potatoes/sous-vide NY strip steak with potato log and excellent sauce (TIE between Hosea and Stefan)
Third course: Hosea - venison with mushrooms and blueberries, Stefan - ice cream with chocolate mousse and a banana lollipop, Carla - something that was missing a bleu cheese souffle (Hosea wins)

Judges Table was just heartbreaking. You could see that the judges were disappointed by Carla and she was even more disappointed in herself - and then just had to count her out and choose between the boys (this same thing happened to Casey during her finale...). Then followed one of the most touching moments in "Top Chef" history (in conjunction with the 12 Days of Christmas challenge earlier in the season when all of the chefs pitched in to help Hosea and Radhika), Carla was explaining why she should be Top Chef while tears were streaming down her face and Stefan was moved and reached out to comfort her. Then later, in the stew room, he wiped away her tears. He may be cocky, but it was nice to see a gentler side.

When it was all said and done, Hosea edged out Stefan, and I was just disappointed. I liked Hosea a lot early on, he was even one of my faves, but then came the dalliance with Leah (didn't you like their lip-to-lip congratulatory kiss?!) and he (and she) just lost all class in my eyes. Although Stefan was overly-confident, he was much more constistent than Hosea. I will concede that his cockiness led to him phoning in the last few challenges, though. And Carla - my least favorite after the first episode, but then my heart's pick to win. She cooked with soul (like Stephanie) and maintained a positive attitude throughout, gaining friends rather than enemies. Good luck always.

Next week we are treated to a reunion special. I'll be tuned in and let you know what I think.

The ballots are in...

and one girl had to win ("Bring It On," anyone?)!

Anyways, the long-anticipated Academy Awards aired last night from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Clocking in at 3.5 hours, it felt a little eternal. How did I fair in my movie-viewing, you ask? How were my predictions? What did I think? Don't worry, readers, you are about to find out.

First off, as far as all of the big awards go (not including documentaries, foreign language, and shorts) - we did see all of the movies that won. I did not think that was going to happen because I was almost FOR SURE that Mickey Rourke was going to win for "The Wrestler." I did see all of the animated shorts (shocked by that win, but I should have seen it coming, I'm just a sucker for rabbits), but none of the others. Biggest upset of the night - "Departures" over "Waltz With Bashir" in the Best Foreign Language Film category, I had read some articles arguing that "Waltz" should be eligible for Best Picture. Period. It looks violent, but I imagine we'll see it when it opens in Austin.

So my husband and I printed out scorecards and filled them out while watching the red carpet coverage. We came up with a scoring system that entails making up to two selections for each category - what WE want to win, and what we think the Academy will pick. Last year we had 3 categories - what we wanted, what should win, and what will win (I think it was because of our love for both "There Will Be Blood" and "Juno", and the inevitability of "No Country for Old Men") - this proved to be too complicated. So for scoring you got 2 points if you accurately selected what you thought the Academy would pick and 1 point if what you wanted to win did in fact win. For instance, I thought that the Academy would pick Mickey Rourke for Best Actor, but I personally thought Sean Penn would win. Since Sean Penn won, I got one point. Conversely, I thought the Academy would pick Kate Winslet for Best Actress, but I thought Meryl Streep gave the best performance. Kate Winslet won, so I got 2 points. I ended up with 36 out of a possible 48, while my husband got 26. A few I was just totally wrong on - Best Costume, Best Animated Short - and a few I just didn't amply use my 2 selections (Best Original Song). I was overall happy with all of the awards - especially the sweep by "Slumdog Millionaire." Everyone that won was gracious and I almost choked up a few times (Dustin Lance Black's win for Best Original Screenplay - phenomenal and well-deserved, plus he looked all of 15!).

The show itself...was okay. I thought Hugh Jackman was a good host. Each of his musical numbers went on a little long (plus we all just really wanted to see Beyonce do "Single Ladies"), but they were fun. As per usual, WAY too many montages. I think it's honorable that the Academy was trying to recognize films that were not nominated, but the Oscars are not about those movies. Mostly that was 15 more minutes of blah blah blah. I did like the vignette with James Franco, Seth Rogan, and the DP guy - especially when he told this year's best cinematographer to suck it. I appreciate the "In Memoriam" montage each year, but this year they were trying to do all of this artful camera work to keep Queen Latifah in the shot and you couldn't read all of the names. Cyd Charisse just deserves a little more remembrance than that. The 5 actors/actresses things was kind of cool, but I was disappointed because I had tried to pick out in each movie we saw what scene they were going to show for each nominee as they were announced. I'll just have to assume I was right.

Everyone looked great, no blatant missteps. Didn't love Sophia Loren or Jessica Biel. Lies - Miley Cyrus' dress was terrible. Mickey Rourke was right on and I loved his tribute to Loki, his chihuahua. I mostly didn't like getting to bed after 11, but I don't think this sort of thing will ever change.

To look forward to...maybe some commentary on "The Girls Tell All" tonight, definitely a "Top Chef" wrap-up, the promised look into "Last Restaurant Standing," and I believe Tuesday night will become movie night at our household - so there are still movie reviews on the horizon. Thanks for reading!

Hootie!

EXCELLENT episode of "Top Chef" last night, wouldn't you say?! Spoilers ahead, so be warned!

First up - my one issue with the episode (and I guess reality tv in general) - the bringing back of eliminated contestants to get their hopes up and get in the heads of the remaining contestants. Don't get me wrong - I love Jamie and really wanted her to be in the finale (I suppose I sort of got my wish), but these people already lost fair and square. Fair and square on the other side, the remaining contestants deserve to be there (thank God Leah didn't make it through either time). Basically, I think it's unfair to those who were rightfully on their way to the finale.

Side note - I definitely fell in love with New Orleans over the course of this episode. My in-laws took a trip there over New Year's and told us how much we would love it. I was already convinced, but this made me start planning a visit in my ol' noggin. Gorgeous. All I can think about are grits and gumbo now.

Let's move on to the Quickfire. Once I got over the initial shock of ridiculous-ness, I was intrigued. Emeril Lagasse was the guest judge and I was expecting the Emeril from tv ("Bam!" and yelling and such). There was none of that. He was simply a great New Orleans chef who is very passionate about New Orleans and its food. The challenge was to cook a Creole dish using crayfish (I would say crawfish, but whatever, they're delicious so what does it matter). It really seemed that they were all successful. Leah, of course, seemed the least motivated, but as Stefan pointed out - she has often had no idea what she was cooking and pulled off a win, so you can never really count her out. Jeff, our friend from Miami, got the win and an opportunity to compete in the elimination challenge. But in a twist straight from "Project Runway" (black and white challenge with Angela and Vincent, anyone?), Padma informs the Final Five that in order to compete in the finale-finale Jeff had to WIN the ENTIRE challenge. In that case, two of the chefs who came to New Orleans originally would be packing their knives. Heavy stuff, man, no pressure.

ELIMINATION TIME - The chefs are taken to a warehouse that stores Mardi Gras floats to hear about the challenge. They must cater a masquerade party at the New Orleans Museum of Art (I would assume thats, NOMA, coloquially) for Orpheus (some group). The catering consists of two appetizers and one cocktail - and one dish must be in the Creole style. They got to do their prep work in the kitchen of one of Emeril's restaurants, pretty cool. So if you win, you're in the final and YOU WIN A CAR. I liked it better when they surprised Blaise with the car last year, but maybe they thought that surprise was blown. I don't know. What follows is typical kitchen drama - will I be done in time? what in the world do they think they're making? I hate this guy, my food is just so much better than everyone's, I hate that guy, blah blah blah.

Party time - the judges arrive in masks. Poor Tom and Emeril, is all I have to say. Padma is kind of dressed like a barmaid, but what does any of that matter because we soon learn that Gail is back!!!! I loved Carla's exclamation of "love you, girl!" As we all know, Carla missed Gail immensely, and so did I. Party food rundown:
Hosea - Gumbo (with a dark roux, this is key), pecan-crusted catfish, and a hurricane
Fabio - rabbit sausage maux chou (?) over grits, pasta of some sort, muffaletta bread, and a bell pepper martini
Stefan - gumbo over grits, apple beignet, and a black cherry and rum beverage
Jeff - fried oyster, Pot de Creme with crawfish, and a cucumber mojito
Carla - oyster stew, shrimp and andouille beignet, and a cranberry lime spritzer
At the end of the party, they all seem to have done a phenomenal job and I had no idea who they would eliminate.

When it's all said and done, the top 3 are Carla, Jeff, and Hosea while the European Duo comprises the bottom two. Carla is announced the winner - as far as I can tell there were no missteps or complaints. Even though her drink was non-alcoholic, Emeril still found it refreshing and her food had soul! I love love Carla now, so I was pretty excited. Jeff was so close on this one, but said he would be leaving with his head held high - and he should, he really stepped it up. Good for him - though it was ok with me because I really thought the other four deserved the chance. I thought they strung Hosea along a bit because he was really in the top, but they left him in there with Fabio and Stefan like he was in the bottom. Ultimately, Fabio was sent packing for the muddled flavors of his rabbit dish and his too-sweet cocktail. Stefan was admonished for his cocky and laissez-faire behavior.

Next week - the finale! with a twist! of course! Soon, I will blog about the best show you're not watching that will also fill the void that "Top Chef" will leave in our lives once it ends next week - "Last Restaurant Standing."