Land Ho! (2014)

This is a small independent movie with two lead actors you have probably never heard of and a character driven plot.  It might be supremely unappealing if you are under 30, but for us, well in the throes of middle age, it was a pleasant movie.

Mitch (played by Earl Lynn Nelson) goes to visit Colin (Paul Eenhorn), who has recently been divorced.  Mitch and Colin were married to sisters, but neither of them is any more.  Mitch is happy about it but Colin is not, so Mitch arranges a trip to Iceland for them to relax, enjoy the good life, and forget their current problems.  It turns out that Mitch has some issues of his own, and the two of them are cheering each other up.

Mitch is unabashedly crude, talking almost incessantly about sex, asking inappropriate questions, and telling people what he thinks of them, even when they clearly do not want to know.  This may or may not have something to do with his marijuana smoking, hard to say.  Colin is alternatingly bemused and irritated by Mitch's behavior, and is a much needed counter balance to him in social situations.  The two of them have a number of small adventures, enjoying Iceland's profound natural beauty, and working on getting up the energy to move forward with their lives.  Very pleasant movie.

The Good Kind of Anniversaries

I never really questioned the model for long term relationships when I was a young person, but as a woman in the second half of my life, I am amazed (and blessed) to have found someone when I was newly booted out of my parent's nest who I have happily spent the middle of my life with.

It has been 34 years, three cities, four children, ten dogs, two cats, and a number of fish and I am still enjoying the ride.  Our offspring are all in the adult age range and while not completely independent, they are acting their age. 

So the back end of a long term relationship that includes children looks very much like the front end in that it is just the two of you.  What you lack in vigor and youth you hopefully make up for with the comfort and joy that comes with knowing someone up close and personal for many many years.   That and the fact that you bred together.  So all those of you in long term relationships--cherish them.  This is the person who knows you best.  For those of you not, figure out why that isn't working for you and if it suits you, get that element of peace in your life.  Remember what the research shows: a good long term relationship is worth $100,000/year in income.  For those of us not in the rarefied air of the .01%, that is a good compensation for the work of keeping a relationship together.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson

This is a wonderful memoir of the author's growing up experience during the tumultuous Civil Rights movement, all in free verse.  She is a poet, after all, and against all odds, a poet won the National Book Award for Young Adults.  So even if you are not a big fan of poetry, please take a read of this wonderful volume. Here is the poem about her birth, taken from another review.

February 12th 1963

I am born on a Tuesday at the University Hospital
Columbus, Ohio
USA?
a country caught
between Black and White.
I am born not long from the time
or far from the place
where
my great, great grandparents
worked the deep rich land
unfree
dawn till dusk
unpaid
drank cool water from scooped out gourds
looked up and followed
the sky’s mirrored constellation
to freedom.
I am born as the south explodes,
too many people too many years
enslaved then emancipated
but not free, the people
who look like me
keep fighting
and marching
and getting killed
so that today?
February Twelfth Nineteen Sixty-three
and every day from this moment on,
brown children, like me, can grow up
free. Can grow up
learning and voting and walking and riding
wherever we want.
I am born in Ohio but
the stories of South Carolina already run
like rivers
through my veins.

Wish I Was Here (2014)

According to other reviewers who actually know about Hollywood, Zach Braff had trouble with this movie.  He couldn't get a Hollywood backer to fund this project (or maybe he couldn't get a backer to do it on his terms, who knows), so he crowd sourced the funding to make it. There was a to do about whether someone who is well known should use crowd sourcing, but as an occasional donator to such causes, you usually get something back for your support, so hopefully they all got a free movie ticket or something of that sort.

I knew none of this back story when I saw the film, and both my spouse and I enjoyed it.  Aidan Bloom (ably played by Mr. Braff) is an unsuccessful actor who is well into his 30's and dependent on his wife Sarah (Kate Hudson) to support the family.  He consoles himself with the thought that she loves her job but in fact she does not.  The crisis comes when his father, who has been paying his two children's school fees, is diagnosed with metastatic cancer and decides that he wants to spend all his money on an improbable and not medically recommended cure.  So two things happen.  Aidan has to home school his two children and deal with his issues with his father, which also entails dealing with his brother and his issues with family.  It is all very emotionally complicated.  The good news is that while Aidan does not entirely enter the world of grown ups, he does move forward, it seems like his kids will be okay, and the movie never looses site of the fact that it is at heart a comedy.  Highly recommended.

Winter Squash and Bean Chili

This is a great use of winter vegetables.  Chili has tomatoes, which add a sourness that the winter vegetables counteract with their sweetness.  The beans and the squash have a similar firmness on first bite, but softness in the middle that blends well.  Finally, the richness of the chili flavor is still highlighted in a dish than a vegan can enjoy.

• 3 c. cooked pinto beans
• 1 onion,  chopped
• 2 d carrots diced
• 1 red pepper diced
• 2 large garlic cloves minced
• 3 tablespoons or more ground chili 
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin 
• 1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste dissolved in 1 cup water
• 2 cups diced winter squash (about 3/4 pound)
• Salt to taste
• ½ cup chopped cilantro
• Grated cheddar or Monterey Jack, or crumbled queso fresco for garnish  if so desired

1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a heavy nonstick skillet and add the onion, carrot and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender and beginning to color, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic, stir together until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute, and add the ground chili and cumin. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture begins to stick to the pan. Add the tomatoes and oregano, and salt to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until the tomatoes have cooked down and the mixture is beginning to stick to the pan, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste dissolved in water and bring back to a simmer. Season with salt to taste and simmer, stirring often, for 10 minutes, until the mixture is thick and fragrant.
2. Add the beans. Add the winter squash and bring to a simmer. Simmer, stirring often, for 25 to 30 minutes. It is important to stir often so that the chili doesn’t settle and stick to the bottom of the pot. It should be thick; if you desire you can thin out with water. Taste and adjust salt.
3. Shortly before serving stir in the cilantro and simmer for 5 minutes. Spoon into bowls. If you wish, top with grated cheddar, Monterey jack, or crumbled queso fresco.

Oaxaca Al Gusto by Diana Kennedy

This is a cookbook that is stunningly gorgeous and impossible to cook from.  The book is arranged by regions within the state of Oaxaca and there is no index, so if you are planning a dinner and you want to serve fish, you would have to either know the region in which fish would be a likely dish or flip through the entire book to find the various fish recipes.  It is possible that there are people who pick out the recipes and then go buy the ingredients.  It is even possible that those cooks outnumber people who cook as I do.  I am largely driven by what I have in my refrigerator and my freezer, combined with putting together the components of a typical weekend meal with invited guests at my house.

So why am I writing about this book?  Because it is a beautiful book to look through.  The pictures are spectacular.  There are pictures from markets, pictures of food and the raw ingredients that go into the food, and pictures of the people.  It is a gorgeous collection of pictures and recipes that would look fantastic on any coffee table.

Hercules (2014)

Any time you see an action movie hero as the lead in a movie, you know you are not going to get a historically accurate rendition of a story.  When it comes to Greek myths there is not so much a historical record but rather stories that may or may not have a single source.  That is certainly the case with the myth of Hercules.

So perhaps the movie can be excused for it's inaccuracies.  The thing that Hercules is best known for is the 12 labors that he was more or less sentenced to complete after he murdered his family.  He was a man of enormous strength and a very bad temper, which is a volatile combination--Dwayne Johnson's Hercules is a fierce warrior, but he is also portrayed as having a gentler side.  This gentleness and love is consistent with the mythological Hercules relationship with his third wife Deianera, but not how is is largely thought of.

Hercules travels with his nephew Iolaus and a band of warriors that includes the Amazonian Atalantis and Amphiaraus the Oracle.  Most of them are simpatico with Hercules in many ways, and the main story is about a battle that they come to regret and then endeavor to fix.  Not a deep movie, but my son who is a Classics major and an action movie fan enjoyed.  Lots of violence so not for child consumption.

Yucatan Fish

Having just gotten back from Oaxaca, where we bought a molecate before we had even learned recipes that required one, so that when we came home it was inevitable that we would want to replicate some of the food.  This fish recipe is intensely flavored without having additional added fat, so is a great main course for a low calorie meal.

• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper
• 1 serrano pepper, sliced or chopped
• ½ cup orange juice
• ¼ cup lime juice, more as needed
• 2 teaspoons achiote (annatto) powder, available in Latino and Indian markets
• Pinch of cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
• ¼ teaspoon chipotle chile
• ½ teaspoon cumin seed
• ½ teaspoon cloves
• 6 allspice berries
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed to a paste
• 1 ¾ pound grouper or sea bass fillet, skin on
• 2 ripe tomatoes, sliced thick
• Banana leaves, available in Latino and Asian markets, or use parchment or foil

1. Make the pickled onions: Put onion in a bowl and season generously with salt and pepper. Add serrano, 3 tablespoons orange juice and 2 tablespoons lime juice, then mix well. Set aside for at least 15 minutes. Combine and reserve remaining citrus juice for marinade.
2. Make the marinade: Put achiote, cinnamon, oregano and chipotle in a small stainless steel or glass bowl. In a small dry skillet over medium heat, lightly toast cumin, cloves and allspice until fragrant, 1 minute or less. Grind toasted spices to a powder in a spice mill or mortar, then add to other spices. Add garlic, 1 large pinch salt and remaining citrus juice and stir to make a paste. If very thick, add more lime juice. (Note: achiote may stain surfaces or clothing.)
3. Season fish on both sides with salt and pepper. Using a sharp knife, score skin at thickest parts, if desired. Paint fish on both sides with marinade. Squeeze a little lime juice over fish. Chill for 45 minutes (or up to 2 hours).
4. Bring fish to room temperature and heat oven to 425 degrees. Cut banana leaves crosswise into footlong lengths and soften by passing them briefly over a stovetop burner. Rinse leaves and pat dry. Lay a double thickness of leaves on a baking sheet and lay fish on it, skin-side down. Top fish with a large handful of pickled onions. Arrange tomato wedges over onions. Sprinkle with salt and a little more lime juice. Lay more leaves on top, then wrap like a package, tying with string or strips of leaf. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove and let package rest, unopened, for 15 minutes. Serve with remaining pickled onions.

Twelve Recipes by Cal Peternell

I think that Mark Bittman's 'How To Cook Everything' is the best first cookbook to receive if you have some experience cooking, but what about the person who really knows nothing about being in the kitchen?  That person needs to start at a very basic level, and this is the cookbook for them. I think it will be my 'going off to college' cookbook gift.  Cal Peternell is the author.  He is a professional chef, working at the legendary restaurant in the Bay Area, Alice Water's Chez Panisse.  The story goes that when his eldest son was leaving home he suddenly realized that he really hadn't taught him how to cook.  Knowing only one professional chef, I can extrapolate from that friendship to why it might not be great to cook at home.  First of all the hours are long, and second of all, it might be similar to the cobbler's children having no shoes.  You just don't want to bring your work home with you.  In any case, he wrote this simple approach to cooking that is both instructional, true, and beautifully done.  It reminds me of Mark Ruhlman's book "Ratio", in that it gives a basic recipe and then variations that can be cooked with that basic recipe.  The chapters are things like "Pasta", "Toast", "Beans", and "Eggs".  It is a guidebook into the world of cooking.

Love is Strange (2014)

It is not just love that is strange.  The movie has a slowness of pace that makes it hard to remain interested in it.

John Lithgow and Alfred Molina are two men who have lived together as a couple for 39 years before one day they stand up in front of their friends and tie the knot. And unfortunately that is when it all starts to unravel.  Molina is a music teacher at a Catholic school and while they were entirely comfortable with him living with another man for the majority of his life, but they were most certainly not okay with him being married to another man, and they fired him, effective immediately.  The loss of his income sent them into a quick tail spin, where they sell their apartment and are elderly and homeless. 

What happens next is what is hard to figure out.  Instead of leaving New York City and finding an affordable living situation they split up, one going to live with his nephew and his family and the other living with two young gay cops.  So within no time the family is at each others throats and the other is getting no sleep, and not much in the way of work to turn the situation around.  The vast majority of the movie is in this in between situation.  Then something very good happens followed by something very bad.  The end.