I can't stop talking about...

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Delicious Quiche recipe

I like Quiche. At the Jersey Shore there is a Bakery Breakfast place called SUGAR and they make an amazing Quiche, which is a double blessing because I rarely get to eat it (basically before SUGAR opened, I had only eaten the dish as a party appetizer in the form of Petites) and because finding breakfast at the shore can be a challenge for me. Over the winter, perhaps because it was such a horrible one weather wise and I was attempting to recall sunshine on my skin, I tried several different quiches (both bakery and store bought) which disappointing results. Not only did they not equal the taste sensation I was used to but they were bad. I complained over and over and over to my mother like the brat that I didn’t know the problem. Had I out grown the taste for them? Maybe I was expecting too much. Then she discovered the problem; I do not like Swiss cheese which is the most common way it is made. SUGAR uses cheddar and so would my mother, as she promised to make one. Monday night I came home from work to the wonderful smell of my mother’s baking and, being the spoiled thing that I am, had to taste it immediately and not wait for Tuesday’s breakfast. I only had a sliver which but it was an orgasm in my mouth, which it remains even after having it for breakfast the last two mornings. It completely kicks SUGAR’s ass and you knew I couldn’t keep this to myself, so here now is the recipe of what I will code name SPOILED BRAT QUICHE. Enjoy…




1 ~ 9" Pie Shell ~ unbaked

2 to 4 Ozs. Shredded Cheese (Cheddar)

1/2 Cup Cooked Meat (Mom used 1/4 cup cubed ham)

1/4 cup minced onion

6 Eggs

1 & 1/2 Cups Half And Half

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/8 teaspoon Pepper

Any veggies to taste


Sprinkle Cheese and Meat, vegetable etc in Pie Shell.

Beat Eggs. Blend in Half & Half and Seasonings. Pour Egg mixture over filling in pie shell.

Bake at 350°F in regular oven for 35 to 45 minutes OR--- Quiche is done when a knife in center comes out clean.

LET STAND 10 MINUTES.

Cut pie into 6 wedges.


***Ingredients for Quiche Lorraine: Swiss, bacon, onion. Dash nutmeg & cayenne.


***Some other ideas for what you might want to throw in when you make quiche: parsley, ham, sausage, green pepper, mushrooms, paprika, dill, basil, thyme, curry powder, broccoli flowerets

Friday, March 25, 2011

Words to live by, as told by THE DARK KNIGHT'S Joker

While it is quite possible that there are people who haven’t seen THE DARK KNIGHT, I cannot imagine there are many people in this world who don’t know the basic story of Batman so I thought instead of reviewing TDK and it 65 trillion actors, I instead would discuss some of the dialog by Gotham City’s craziest bad guy. While the Joker is clearly considered insane, probably criminally so, and sociopathic to be sure his words should not be taken lightly. After all, they do say genius borders on insanity, or as he puts it, "See, madness, as you know, is like gravity: all it takes is a little push!"




"I believe whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you… stranger."

I know the phrase is usually STRONGER but I feel, since we are a product of what we have lived through, and since strength is arbitrary, it’s more accurate to say that experience causes idiosyncrasies.

"In their last moments, people show you who they really are."

Self explanatory


"If you're good at something, never do it for free."

Why would you? And who does? That is just the American way.

"You’ll see, I’ll show you, that when the chips are down, these … civilized people, they’ll eat each other."

Align CenterThere is no such thing as civility in chaotic times. If you don’t believe this, I recommend you go read LORD OF THE FLIES.

“It’s not about the money, it’s about sending a message. Everything burns!”

You can’t take it with you, smoke ‘em if you’ve got them, and the always popular we are all going to die; they all mean the same thing.





Wednesday, March 23, 2011

I AM PROBABLY NOT THE BEST PERSON TO REVIEW MONSTERS BALL


~~~~~THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS~~~~~

I don't like Billy Bob Thorton and I'm not a huge fan of Halle Berry either. However, since Ledger is in it and all of the roles I've seen are worth watching, I thought I'd try to get through it. When, however, his character committed suicide, it went off. I might not be a great reviewer of this movie but I will talk about the short film centered around a young prison guard with daddy issues who doesn't want to take Puff Daddy to the death chair.

-The acting is good, especially for Puffy's first go.
-Ledger shows alot in his short time on screen, including shades of his future Joker face from his Oscar winning role seven years later.
-Along with his acting chops, and signs of what was to come from the young actor, Heath also showed his booty, which is nothing compared to what he showed in BROKEBACK and again even clearer in I AM NOT THERE but is still nice.

So to summarize, who doesn't love a man in uniform, no wait that wasn't it. Oh right, if you want to decide if this is a movie for you, you might want to read other reviews. On the other hand, if you have a free half hour and really want to see a side of Heath Ledger that you never have before, I recommend this film highly.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

A blog to make you think

"Nothing's permanent... Not even death"
~Johnny Depp, IMAGINARIUM OF DR PARNASSUS



Fun fact: I see dead people, specifically one dead person.

I’m not talking about dreams where those I have lost appear to me (though yes that happens) I mean during the day, walking among the living. Ok, ok before you think I’m going all John Edwards, I should explain; the person that I see is a celebrity who apparently died during the last decade. For this blog I will call the said deceased Robin as it can be either male or female and I want to be vague. I know that seems unfair and the first time (and second) time I encountered Robin or Robin’s double I was actually going to blog about how eery it was but then, once I started to think about it, I figured it would be better to no blow Robin’s cover.

I have always laughed at people who say that Elvis is still alive (now it’s happening with Michael Jackson.) It seems like desperate thoughts by fans that cannot let go of the artist or the time in their lives that he represented. Either that or they were completely delusional because yes I’m sure they do think that they saw Elvis walking around Nashville or going through security at the airport but it was obviously one of the million impersonators who make a perfectly good living imitating him. I’ve seen them perform in LEGENDS and they are great but not Elvis. I do firmly believe that in some cases actors who are thought to be dead *cough* Tu Pac *cough* are seen in public because they are in a witness protection situation because their lives were at risk but that is not the case with Elvis and it wasn’t with Robin’s. I was told by media that Robin was dead, saw pictures of a body bag entering an ambulance, and read the tributes and never questioned it because I am not one of those people.

Then one day I was walking around with GiGi and there, sitting in the bar across the street was someone who, if I didn’t know it was impossible, I would have sworn it was Robin. The voice was the same (except with a rather shitty accent,) the look was exact, I literally had chills run up and down my spine as if I was listening to the laughter of a ghost. I ran over to Lauren and told her and she responded that it was creepy but she hadn’t seen. I got on a train, shaking my head, thinking it was all my imagination until, about forty minutes later, my cell rang.

“Liss, G and I walked past the bar on the way home, that was Robin.”

I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had seen a person I couldn’t have seen but I continued to tell myself it was just a look alike; someone unfortunate enough to have looked like someone famous. Only, the more I thought about it, the more I could see, maybe Robin faked his/her death. It happens all the time in the movies right? And money can buy you anything, can’t it? I finally made my mind rest with the simple, “it doesn’t matter” which kept the thoughts at bay until I saw Robin walking three days before Christmas. Better view of the face which, coupled with being stuck inside because of the blizzard, made me think harder about it. Robin had done a lot of death scenes, so the practice would’ve made Robin an expert, and there were interviews that made me go, “huh?” There were a ton of coincidences- perhaps too many- and some things just didn’t add up.

I had figured out motives, yes plural, and how it might’ve been pulled off by the time I saw Robin the third time -face to face as he/she brushed by me, and have since seen on the internet that I am far from the only one to spot Robin in the postmortem years. I no longer question why, or get that eerie feeling, it simply is a fact as much as when Jude Law bumped in to me a few weeks ago. The only question I have left is, how do you do it?

There is definitely a payoff of dying young and famous, to be sure just as good old Johnny in IODP:

They're all dead.

Yes, but...

Immortal, nevertheless.

They won't get old or fat.

They won't get sick or feeble.

They are beyond fear...

Because, they are forever young.

They are gods.

Now we are told that Celebrities are just like us, so pretend for a minute you have all of the resources you would need to pull this off, you could get away with it, and whatever personal motive would make you consider such a stunt. Whatever it is, it all goes away if you just get up one morning and walk away from everything you’ve worked for. You just have to leave behind every possession you have acquired(people would notice if too much was gone) throughout your life and never see most, if not all, of the people you know in this world, unable to console them and tell them that it is ok because, to them it isn’t and never will be again.


Could you do it?


Monday, March 14, 2011

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM THE FOUR FEATHERS






#1 It is better to live a coward than die a hero.
The whole plot of the movie is based on soldiers believing the opposite and the same can be true about their real life counterparts, as well as many other people. That being said, every member in Harry's brigade ends up dead, badly injured, or has watched his "brothers" suffer one of these fates and it is my belief that anyone who chickened out of such torture is a smart man.



#2 Girls are sluts and men suck but in the end friendship should win out
Harry wimp out of war and about two seconds later his fiance is sending love letters to his best friend, who later proposes to her, not realizing Harry saved his life (which he did after finding the letters.) In the end the men have rekindled their friendship and didn't kill each other.



 




#3 Heath could be anyone.
Not trying to take anything away from the hair & makeup people but Heath had the ability to turn into characters whereas most actors simply look like themselves as something. Heath could be anyone & we'd all believe it

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Irish Soda Bread

It's that time of year again. Time to bring out your greens and drink until you vomit and eat Soda Bread so I thought I's share with you my mother's recipe with all of you.


Ingredients:


4 cups flour


1 tsp. Baking soda


1 ½ cup raisins


2 tsp. Caraway seeds (optional)


½ tsp. Salt


4 tbsp. sugar


2 cups buttermilk



Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl then gradually add buttermilk and using a large spoon mix all together (dough will be sticky). Add a little flour onto a board and shape into two round loaves. After shaping make a cross in the middle on top of each loaf. Spray a cookie sheet and place loaf on top and bake for 35-40 minutes in a 350-degree oven. Test with a toothpick and be sure that it comes out clean.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

WHAT I THOUGHT OF THE PATRIOT

As you may recall on January 29, I warned that readers should be ready because there would be blogs about Heath Ledger films coming. Now something you should know about me is that if I make a promise I intend to keep it and probably will follow through with in a year. : )


All joking aside, THE PATRIOT is one of Ledger's films that I hadn't seen before and it really got me thinking about the REVOLUTION. Now I was great at history and it would take literally no mind to believe that any war is civil but since England is such a good allie most of the time (and, you know they gave us such great entertainers) people tend to forget what bastards they we're. REMINDED

The film is, I'm pretty sure, fiction, at least I don't recall the Martin family. However, pre-crazy Mel Gibson's character watching his son die in front of him represents all of the real colonists who did just that. In addition, while Ledger might not portray an actual newlywed who returned to find his wife and friends had died in a burnt down church, there is no doubt in my mind that many innocent colonist we're really imprisoned in such infernos.


The film, itself, is well acted even if it is a bit long, and I absolutly recommend it but be warned SPOILER ALERT Ledger has a death seen and he lays there so still and realistic you may be disturbed or highly upset wondering about the events that transpired in January '08.

Monday, March 7, 2011

REAL NEW YORKERS DON'T...

So the other day I was reading a blog that 99% of the time I like, about things the author believes are musts for first time visitors to this great city. Some of the suggestions were good like check out the Highline while others were obvious like go to Central Park. However, then she got into things like the Empire State Building and Time Square and stating that "real New Yorkers" avoid ever being in such places.

It should be obvious by now that yours truly is nothing if not a bit unstable so my initial reaction was to copy her post and then comment viciously on her more pompous suggestions but then i realized that, as someone who was actually born and raised in this great city, I wouldn't know what a tourist would want to do the way the author, who was raised in rural Oklahoma and moved here about eight minutes and fourty-eight seconds ago, would. All I know is that people born here, both those who leave and return and those who have never left, do go to places that said author claims are too touristy for natives because, being that we belong here, we never are afraid we'll be confused for out of towners.

God bless anyone who moves here and considers the Big Apple their new or adopted home. If you vote here, if you live here, if you raise a family then, yes you are by definition a New Yorker but if you dare to throw around words like "real" I am going to be forced to point out how your backyard with grass playing, cow milking, general store visiting, no drinking until 5 o'clock selves are filled with horse honkey.

A real New Yorker knows that milk comes from a carton, has played in an opened fire hydrant, can sleep through sirens, knows that bagels (toasted or not, butter or cream cheese) need to be fresh & pizza isn't from chains. We know nature means parks & summer smells like wet concrete.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Cutest Proposal ever



The story, as posted on YOUTUBE


Katie and I had been dating for 3 1/2 years. I knew that I wanted to take the next step and have always wanted to make the proposal extraordinary and something she could never forget. Our favorite movie together is 10 Things I Hate About You. We're both huge Heath Ledger fans, and love the movie. Her favorite scene of all time is when Patrick (Heath Ledger) goes all out to win over the heart of Kat (Julia Stiles) by paying the band and singing to her from the stands of their stadium during her soccer practice. So, I decided I wanted to make it a reality for Katie and make this epic moment just like the movie.

THE SETUP: The strategic plan for 10 Things I Love About You was about 6 months in the making. First, I obviously asked her parents for permission to marry their daughter (I believe in getting and engaged and married the right and respectful way, ha). Then I watched the movie for the 200th-300th time to see exactly what Heath Ledger did, move by move, and studied it from that point on. Next, her high school doesn't have a full band, so I had my good friend Chris Hardy produce the music track for me. I chose the date of the football game, September 16th, 2010, making sure it was home and the right timing. Then I got with some more friends and co-workers to get the audio equipment that would be needed, the cameramen ready, and the photographers ready. A couple of weeks out, we started to plant ideas for her to raise money for the dance team she's over, one of those being promoting and selling Monster Energy Drinks during halftime. Finally, it was topped off by my mom and grandma being able to secretly fly in to see the proposal (hidden in the stands) and spend the weekend with the families.

I wanted to mimic every move Heath did in the movie, but obviously couldn't make it 100% identical because a) they didn't have a pole to slide down (oh but don't think I didn't try to figure out how to slide down the upper box) & b) there were tons of people in the stands to maneuver between as opposed to Heath's empty stadium. Even with my horrible dancing skills, I think it turned out pretty close :)

Pretty much everyone knew what I was doing that night but Katie, and there were definitely a few close calls with trying to hide my mom and grandma and getting Katie on the field. Katie had absolutely no idea, as you can tell, and was completely taken by surprise. And I'm stoked that this moment turned out to be as great as it was. 10 Things I Love About you is also the theme for our wedding, so we've got a couple more tricks up our sleeve.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who helped make this proposal possible, I couldn't have done it without you! And I hope everyone who watches it is inspired to really make the best of every moment in your lives, and if you can dream it, DO IT!


And the original...

Friday, March 4, 2011

Don't you Forget About David Cook

The rumors were true, David Cook will indeed be performing the farewell song on this years American Idol. The song will be "Don't you forget about me," which you can purchase wherever you buy digital downloads starting March 8th or you can pre-order David's new album and get the song, originally performed by Simple Minds, early. However, since the album is nameless so far, you can hear it here now so that you will fall in love and buy it on Tuesday...


Wednesday, March 2, 2011

COULD IT BE... NEW DAVID COOK MUSIC?


Rumor on the blogisphere and twitterverse is that David Cook will be singing the farewell song on this season of American Idol. If that is indeed true, most likely it would be a previously unreleased song and, who knows maybe the season seven winner will even make an appearance.

Tune in tomorrow and see along with a very excited me.