Definitely, Maybe

Movie: Definitely, Maybe

Like/Don't Like: Definitely, Maybe Don't Like

Boy, does this movie have some pretty people in it. And songs from the 90s. And Rachel Weisz (who, incidently, is up on my fridge because she happens to be in a print ad with a very fetching Ioan Gruffudd) wears the most adorable dresses in it. And for a romantic comedy, it was made of brown sugar and honey as opposed to high fructose corn syrup. Meaning that it had a lot more depth than most in its genre. People break up and some end up in the hospital and Bill Clinton gets elected. You know, serious.

But about half-way through I realized that I had been watching this movie for about 18 hours. Nine of which I had to go to the bathroom. And we still had 18 more hours to go. What I'm saying is that it seemed really long. Longer than Gone With the Wind kind of long. It was only two hours, but what with all the is it going to be her, or her, or her, or back to her, but maybe it's her, although the other one was nice but she's prettier and laughs at the good jokes but I think finally it's going to be her, but maybe not - well, you get it. Long.

It's one of those movies that if I were home sick and it happened to be on ABC Family I would probably watch it, but only during commercial breaks from Little House on the Prairie.

Under the Blacklight

Album: Under the Blacklight
Artists: Rilo Kiley
Like/Don't Like: Like, mostly.

Poor Rilo Kiley. I got their newest album the same day I picked up the Allison Krauss/Robert Plant album. Tough break - because that album is MAGIC and I couldn't seem to bring myself to take it out of the player. So Under the Blacklight has been sitting on my stereo, waiting to be listened to for about a month now.

I finally gave it a real shot yesterday and I like it. Mostly. Catchy songs that I can sing along with always score high with me and this album has plenty of them. But it's pretty thin lyrics-wise. One of my biggest pet-peeves in songs is when lyrics are repeated over and over again. Nearly every song on this album suffers from this. I got bored with a lot of the songs because, even with the catchy tunes, I couldn't get past hearing the same phrases repeated a dozen or so times. I don't think this will be a problem for a lot of people, but it was for me.

But aside from that, it had a real quirky and fun vibe that I liked a lot. It won't go down as one of my go-tos but it certainly will be one that now and then I'll be driving along and get tired of the radio and will want something different and will flip through my cds and stumble across it and pop it in and remember that I liked it.

Oh, and one of the added benefits of listening to Rilo Kiley is that you can have Troop Beverly Hills quotes running through your head. Bonus!

The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton

Movie: The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton
Like/Don't Like: Like

I put this on my Netflix because 1.) It was a Masterpiece Theater that I had not seen yet 2.) I'm 80 and 3.) It had the guy from Northanger Abbey who was so adorable.

I'm glad that it gives you the ending at the very beginning because otherwise I would not have liked it nearly as much. Let me just say that she does not die of consumption like I had hoped. No, not consumption.

I believe it's a true(ish) story. Mrs. Beeton was a wife of a publisher who wrote a very popular cookbook and home management handbook back in the 1860s (I think it was the 1860s. Don't quote me on this.) This chronicles how it came about and how she convinced people that she should do it. While it was a little sad at times, I really enjoyed how it portrayed her as a very real woman with very real domestic problems while creating this image of perfect domesticity in her book.

And the guy from Northanger Abbey was very cute. I run pretty deep here.

Miss Austen Regrets

Movie: Miss Austen Regrets
Like/Don't Like: Like.

What with quitting my job and thinking about quitting my job and trying not to throw up over my job it completely slipped my mind to review that lastest Masterpiece Theater Jane Austen offering.

Sadly, it is well past the 3 day point I have in my brain for remembering crucial things about movies. Things such as why I liked it. But I remember that I liked it. Really, I did. Um...I liked the actress who played Jane. And, er, it was a nice movie. Wait, I can do better than that. I can recap. It was about Jane Austen near the end of her life. And...let's see...it included a bit with her niece and a former suitor and getting Emma published. Blast. I'm useless. Oh, just take my word for it and put it on your Netflix queue.

This weekend begins the A&E Pride and Prejudice. I'll just give you two words to let you know how I feel about it: piano scene.

Mansfield Park

Film: Mansfield Park
Like/Don't Like: Don't like. I guess. I'm getting tired.

Oh, it's been years since I've read Mansfield Park. And I remember it not being my most favorite of her books. Big surprise, I can't remember why. Curse this memory of mine! But I do remember characters and the plot and I've seen the version that came out in 1999 a number of times so I'm not wholly unfamiliar with it. I feel like I'm just repeating myself here so I'll give you the abridged version: It was too short and too chopped up. No continuity. What happened to all the characters. 90 minutes is not enough time, blah, blah, blah. The ending was very sweet and romantic so it left me with moderately good feelings and I felt that everyone, with the exception of Fanny* was well casted. But there were several times during the show that I felt like just chucking it all and going to bed. It didn't grab my attention at all.

And it was too modern**. It felt like I was watching a dress rehearsal of a plucky young troupe of actors pulling something together at a country estate and their hair people hadn't shown up yet so they had to do it themselves. Which brings me to my real criticism. Hair. It's a shame Fanny couldn't stroll down to the local merchant and pick up a box of Miss Clairol Ashy Blonde to touch up her roots. I'm pretty sure that woman in Jane Austen's time had eyebrows that matched their hair color. And Edmund's looked like it was styled by some emo kid with too much gel on his hands. Distracting, to say the least.

*I will NOT say anything about her unfortunate overbite. No I will not.
**"Hold the phone," you're saying. "Wasn't the 1999 version really modern too?" True. But it was also beautifully done. Loosely based, yes. Liberties abounded. But as a film, very nice to watch.

Chicken & Dumplings

Recipe: Chicken & Dumplings
Like/Don't Like: Mmmm. Warm & tasty. Like.

So it's really cold here. Let me amend that, it's really cold here in California. Which means that it's about 55 during the day and about 40 at night. Brrrr. And it's rainy. Cold and cloudy and rainy. Anyone feel sorry for me now? I didn't think so. But that does not change the fact that for the last week I've been very chilled. So I was in need of comfort food last night. Warm comfort food with dumplings. Because nothing says, "Let me hug your tummy" more than dumplings, right? It was too late to think about stew, which is my go-to vehicle for dumplings. So I wracked my brain and remembered the one time I had chicken and dumplings. It was heavenly. This may have something to do with the fact that Courtney made it. Anyone who knows Courtney knows what I'm talking about. In heaven, all of our meals will taste like Courtney made them. I digress...I remember it being warm and creamy and delicious. And last night as I drove home from work in the cold, cold rain all I could think about was how perfect chicken and dumplings would be.

And it was. Warm and delicious. I got the recipe off of allrecipes.com but I changed it so much that it doesn't really even resemble it so here's what I did, including the changes that I will make the next time I make it, which may be tonight since it is still cold and rainy and I'm still a wimp.

1 - 2 chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
some celery chopped
some carrots chopped
some onion finely chopped
maybe some minced garlic if you want it
whatever other vegetables you want to add, maybe potatoes or peas or corn
some Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
whatever other seasonings you feel like, this is your soup, go for it.
1 box of low sodium chicken broth
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. flour

In a big pot heat up about a teaspoon of olive oil and throw in everything but the broth. Cook it until the chicken no longer is pink on the outside and the onions are translucent. Pour in the broth, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken is completely cooked and the veggies are soft. Mix together milk and flour until smooth and pour into soup. Return to a medium boil.

Dumplings:

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp margarine
1/2 cup milk

Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in medium size bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in milk to make a soft dough. Drop large spoonfuls into the boiling soup. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes without lifting the lid. DON'T LIFT THE LID! Ha. I said that just to scare you. I don't actually know what will happen if you lift the lid but maybe we don't want to find out. Insert a toothpick into a dumpling and if it comes out clean then your gold. Last night I didn't have any flour so I used corn starch to thicken it and refrigerated biscuits for the dumplings. They worked alright but I'm still craving the real deal.

I have no idea how much this will make. The dumplings soaked up a lot of the liquid and it was enough for me and Katie with just enough for leftovers for my lunch. So I've upped the liquid ingredients here. Probably about 4.

Northanger Abbey

Movie: Northanger Abbey
Like/Don't Like: Like. And a sigh was heard from apartment 103.

Okay, this was more like it. After my disappointment with Persuasion last week I didn't have much hope for Northanger Abbey. Especially since, once again, it was only 90 minutes. (Dear PBS, Get a clue! The people who are watching your shows are not 13 year old girls who thing that TRL is a little long and like, ya know, boring sometimes. We may be 80 but I think we can handle staying up until 11 if it meant having a better movie. Hey, how about trying a mini-series? I can wait a week because I'm practically a grown up. Regards, Rachel) So I settled down in my jim-jams with a cup of cocoa (or, as the kids say, ho-cho. To go with the fro-yo. I'm gagging now.) and a skeptical look on my face. Katie joined me because she has today off and could stay up past her bedtime.

Well, I went to bed with peace in my heart because I liked it. Truly. It was charming and funny and captured the whole feel of the novel. Kind of tongue-in-cheek gothic. Catherine was appropriately naive and Henry did just the right amount of teasing. And the actual Northanger Abbey was as spooky as it should be. The ending was a little rushed but they still did a pretty good job with it considering how much time was left. My one thumbs-down was that every single man in Bath seemed to be a leering cad. Everywhere Catherine went men were turning their heads and raising their eyebrows and nodding to their fellow scoundrels as if to say, "Nice spencer. I'd like to help her with that." If they had had mustaches they would have been twirling them. I don't know if that was done to give it a danger-at-every-turn feel but I found it to be kind of laughable.

But really, besides that and the 90 minutes I was really thrilled with it. Next week...Mansfield Park. In the previews the girl who plays Fanny Price looks like a buxom Swiss milk maid. I'm fearful.