good movies about food or cooking

I've been unemployed a lot this year because that's just how freelancing lately has worked out and one of the interesting side effects of that fact is how much I have to cook. There's another post stewing in my head called 'habits of the freelance unemployed' but one of those habits is eating in. I've been in a food rut for a few years now with life in flux as it has been but nothing makes me want to shake the shackles of the mundane meal like a film about food. Here's my favorites.

Ratatouille. Pixar's enchanting and under appreciated film about a rat who dreams of being a chef. Or as Alison describes it: "It's about rats. And cooking. And acceptance."

Julie & Julia. One of the rare films that I was able to read both books of (which Alison also told me to do). Watching this movie always makes me want to move to Paris and take cooking lessons.

Chocolat. Just delightful. I haven't seen it in a long time but it found a new way into the conscience of America when it was referenced in I Love You Man. Stupid. 

Waitress. I watched it again when Alice was a baby and bawled like one thinking about my little lady who someday I hope to learn to bake pies with. The first time we saw this, Alison and I desperately needed pie after so save yourself the hassle of trying to think of a place that sells pies at midnight in Los Angeles and end up in Marie Callendar's on Wilshire (this is before pies were cool) and make sure you have pie on hand before you watch it. I'm sensing a trend with Alison now and this must be where I got the nickname I gave her.

Sideways. There's been a rash of movies about wine lately but this one really got things going back in the day and has led to my prejudice against merlot. I'm not big on red wine to this day but this movie could almost talk me into a pinot noir. 

Jiro Dreams of Sushi. I just saw this for the first time and it's so beautiful it could induce tears. It's a true testament to the power of cinema because I loathe seafood in any and all forms but it makes me want to visit Jiro's sushi restaurant just once to see what all the fuss is about. It's a tale of passion, madness, obsession, family, legacy, and life. Foreign cinema always end up being a fantastic cinematic experience for me because I HAVE to watch it and not have any distractions or else I'll miss things since there's reading involved. It's liberating and captivating all at the same time. 

No Reservations. This is one of those guilty pleasure ones for sure. There's a song in here that has become my cooking song and the foundation for a pretty chill playlist of mine. 

These two I have not seen but I have plans to. Chef is supposed to be pretty dope. I love me some Jon Favreau.

And Burnt is in theatres now and a potential lady's night kinda movie.

Who wants to come with? Dinner would have to happen afterwards though...

weekly alice cuteness

Alice is... ridiculously cute. But she's also really fun and funny and smart. And I'm totally not-biased at all, it's just a fact. She does some stuff that makes us smile like:

- when she sees that we laugh at something she did, she repeats it, trying to make us laugh again

- she figured out that a way to get something off the top of dad's head is to tilt his chin up so the thing on top of his head falls easily

- when we go somewhere new, she prefers to stay close to us and observe quietly from a distance
- she stomps her feet when we ask her too and she looks like she's dancing to 'she's a maniac'
- she twirls around and laughs while doing it
- she carries around stuffed animals when she's out of the house for comfort and security

- if she hears music, she starts bopping her head and doing this elvis pelvic thrust
- she gets the hand sanitizer and touches it and then proceed to pretend rub it on her hands and arms
- she walks around on tippy toe often which both my parents have told me i used to do as a kid

and, she figured out how to grab me by the hand and lead me to where she wants to go

The hand thing just kills me. It's so cute! Nobody told me that having a kid would be so fun. Anyway, I wouldn't have believed them, nothing can prepare you for how much joy children bring.

that darn rug again

A few years ago I bought this rug that was pretty everything. Only one thing. My dumb idiotic self instead of going for a 5x7 that I had in my shopping cart ready to roll went for an 8x10 that is just... out of control big. It never quite worked in the living room. It never quite worked in the nursery (the size of it made her small room so HOT), and now, it's in the office for lack of options. I had considered it going in here awhile ago but nixed it because of the cats but I just don't care anymore. 

Of course the cats love it, it's soft and nice to nap on and it doesn't look too bad in here. The scale is pretty off though and I could have started it at the foot of the couch but that would make it almost hit the litter box area and that was too close for comfort. See the bottom edge of wood... that gives me about 2 feet of wood where the litter can fly before it hits rug. I need that buffer.

The rug in here reminds me of how just freaking big the room is. I could almost put another little bench or couch or chairs across from the sofa. It's that big.

That coffee table almost disappears doesn't it? I guess it works since there's already so many other pieces of furniture in the office, as I had planned.

I was going to write, now let's see how long before the cats barf on it but they already tried to before I moved them out of the way. I have no hope for this rug's survival. Oh well...

is copper the new gold?

Copper is H-O-T Hot right now. I am often swept up with trends but this one is good because what else says 'farm' like copper right? Here's a few pretty copper scenes.

This kitchen below is pretty close to dream kitchen status. The marble, the glass cabinets, the cool island, the wood stools. 

And to think Michelle was ahead of the curve all those years ago.

living room wall art shake up 2015

We bought a few attraction posters on our last trip to Disneyland and framed and put them on this here wall. The walls in the living room had been bugging me for awhile but I never knew what to do about it so after this went up I just took everything down on all the walls and then started over. 

The recent change for the better was that we moved the table that had been behind the couch to the wall instead because Alice kept reaching for everything and pulling things down and knocking things over but now... much better. It's a little cluttered right now and I hastily took the pictures but this is what reality is. Someday nice photo books may sit in that bottom shelf. Someday.

What to put above the table right? I would like a big a$$ mirror. It would work well to bounce some light from the front door, a place to check yourself out before you go out the door, and I would love to use it as a white board for when people come over to write the menu, a greeting, or whatnot.

I really like something like this mirror. It's really big, has that antique but modern look  and I could use the little squares where one could be for drinks, appetizers, main dishes, and deserts. The problem is it ain't cheap so there's of course a cheaper Ikea option which is okay but not as perfect.

Oh, also in the corner is looking slightly better after we put doors on the bookshelf. Ikea changed the doors and while it threw us for a loop at first, it allowed us to be able to keep the amount of shelves we wanted in there and keep the doors too. A rare victory.

As you can see there is still a shelf exposed for the music/TV DVDs that Alice keeps trying to take down so I was thinking of mounting a shelf above the TV to hide those extra ones which would allow me some space up top to put some decorative thingamabobs or geeky things for Matt. Then eventually mount the TV to the wall.

This wall is still a work in progress. 

Sorry for the crappy pictures, this was all very train of thought. I think I'll work on sourcing some pretty images to make up for it.