Food and Film; Culinary Cine

I have a confession to make: I am a foodie. Not obsessively so, but I am. Like my new hero, Remy, I love good food. Friday night, however, is usually my slacker night in the cooking department. But seeing Ratatouille Friday afternoon inspired me to cook something half-way decent instead of ordering pizza. I ended up going with something easy, but tasty. Salmon fillets, marinated in soy sauce with fresh garlic, fresh ginger, Chinese 5-spice, and fresh-ground black pepper. Grilled in foil, with some brown sugar and the marinade on top. Served with jasmine rice, scallions, slivered yellow sweet pepper; spinach salad with red onion, yellow pepper strips, strawberries and a soy-ginger dressing (homemade, of course). I loved it. Husband loved it. My children - not so much. Culinary philistines. Actually, the girl seemed to like the salmon and rice, just not the salad. Boy wanted ramen noodles instead. Ramen noodles! How could I have given life to such a heathen?

If you want to see the ultimate foodie movie, rent Big Night. Great, great food porn movie. Best line: "To eat good food is to be close to God." After we saw it, my husband wanted me to make everything in it, especially the timpano (it's like timbale). Thank goodness my college boyfriend was Italian (3 of 4 grandparents actually born in Italy). I learned a lot about Italian families and Italian cooking from his family. Helped in understanding the movie and recreating the dishes. I really wish they had published a cookbook of recipes from this movie. I know I would have purchased it. The Timpano recipe, however, is available in this book.

I think Ratatouille is one of my new favorite movies. Animated, at least. And the animation is exquisite in Ratatouille. The gleaming pots, the steam, the vegetables - everything in the kitchen is perfectly rendered. A portrayal so vivid you can smell the food, taste the wine. Amazing. And there's a real script!! A story. It's not predictable, which is amazing. I don't want to get into too much detail, because I want you to go see this movie. I don't want to spoil any part of it for you. I love the fact that, aside from Peter O'Toole, they didn't use big stars for the voices. The voices fit the characters and you aren't distracted by overly familiar intonations. Though one character sounds exactly like David Schwimmer, but it's not. I would have bet the house that it was and husband thought so too. There's no farting, burping, scatological humor, no sex - it's rated G. A wonderful family-friendly movie that will appeal to plenty of child-free adults. It truly has something for everyone. (Can you tell I really liked this movie?)

I've actually been seeing other movies lately without telling y'all about them. Can you believe it? We saw Ocean's 13 a couple weeks ago. It's an light, entertaining romp, but nothing to write home about. Scary thing - Casey Affleck's scenes are just about the funniest in the movie. Casey Affleck. That's just wrong.

We also watched The Queen on DVD. (Have I mentioned lately how much I adore Netflix? Well, I do, in case you forgot.) Helen Mirren disappears into the role of Queen Elizabeth II. She totally deserves that Oscar. The guy playing Tony Blair is almost too boyish for the role, but he's adorable. If you don't know, the film is an inside look at the machinations between 10 Downing Street and the palace in the immediate aftermath of Princess Diana's death. I recall that time pretty vividly. It will be 10 years in September. I remember it so well because I got up really early on my 30th birthday to watch Diana's funeral live on television. I recall being absolutely devastated for those poor boys, stuck now with only the Windsors to raise them. Scary. This movie only reinforces that view.

The conclusions from this edition of Bunny Goes to the Movies? Go see Ratatouille immediately. Ocean's 13 is a fun date movie, see it but have low expectations. Rent The Queen and Big Night. That's all.

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Bumper sticker I want to have made:

Jesus Loves Me
You He Doesn't Like So Much
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Moby got a new home!! Moby/the POS/mommyvanthefirst was picked up by a local charity Friday. Now we just need to get rid of the POC in favor of a little "rice burner" and I won't feel so overminivanned. (Isn't it fun to make up your own words?) You know, I used to be cool. I drove a 1967 Mustang in high school and college. I had a 1972 Buick LeSabre convertible to goof around in for a couple summers. I had an Opel GT. I even had TWO geek-chic Subarus. Now I have driven a minivan (mommyvan) for 6+ years. *sob!*