Weekend Movie Review ... oops!

Last weekend (12/15) I forgot to do my movie review! The hubby and I saw three different movies last weekend.  They were all already out on DVD. 

1. Mr. Brooks - I found this to be and interesting roll for Kevin Costner.  I think I need to brush up on my Kevin Costner movies because besides The Guardian and Message in a Bottle (both of which I enjoyed) I can't think of any of his other newer movies.  We all know some of his older movies (Waterworld, Field of Dreams, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Dances with Wolves) but as I got wondering what other movies he was in I decided to do a search.  He has been in about 40 different movies (some of which were very small rolls - when he was starting out) and produced 13 (1 of those being a TV series) Mr. Brooks included.  I would have to say that Director Bruce Evans was right up there with David Fincher (Se7en & Fight Club) as far as psychological thrillers go. The cast was excellent, I even think Dane Cook showed how broad his acting spectrum is (compared to the usual roll I see him in).  I will give this move 4 truffles (out of five). 

2. Wild Hogs - Ok, the first thing you need to understand is that I like Tim Allen (not so much "Tool Time" Tim Allen but more "Santa Clause" Tim Allen) so I liked this movie simply for the fact that it had Tim Allen in it.  I don't know that I would go as far as calling it a 'Good Quality' movie.  I bought it from Blockbuster and will be returning it... It had some good humor in it but I really didn't enjoy the plot of the movie at all.  John Travolta as a whining shell of a man doesn't do it for me. I need John Travolta like he was in Grease, Pulp Ficition or Swordfish (also need to brush up on my John Travolta movies I guess).  I realize they are very different movies but... I guess I just can't handle John Travolta in that type of a roll, it depressed me a little and didn't do anything to show off how good of an actor he is.  Overall I wouldn't recommend the movie unless you have young children that will enjoy it. I give it 2.5 truffles.

3. Delta Farce - I put a lot of time and effort into this one, don't bother... I lost any interest after the first couple chapters. 0 truffles.

Final Product

Final Product, originally uploaded by WysteriaJ.

Here is the final product of the cupcakes that I was talking about in the previous post. To see the others look at my pictures at the bottom of this page or go to my flickr site!

Holiday Goodies!

My holiday party is today at work. I was aloud to bring a desert! I was originally going to make cheesecake... I have been absolute in love with this Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe from Vermont Magazine.  But someone else signed up to make cheesecake so I opted for the next best thing. CAKE! I actually made cupcakes from a Martha Stewart Recipe (the batter was heavenly and the cupcakes are a little dense but nice and moist).  After I took my precious cupcakes out of the oven they promptly began to sink.   So I had to get a little creative! I remembered seeing somewhere filling sunken cupcakes with ganache ... so I ran out to the store and got the requirements! I was in a pinch so I just used the first recipe I found online.  It didn't harden the way I would have liked so I don't know if I will be using it again... Then I frosted with the frosting that came with the cupcakes....mmm buttery goodness!   I frosted it like it was a large cake not individual cupcakes and added tiny gingerbread men that I had baked earlier to the top.  I had some Royal Icing (also a Martha Stewart recipe), colored it green and wrote "Happy Holidays SAVH" on the top.  Then I drew a very bad Holly... I had extra cupcakes so I decorated them seperatley for my husband to take to work.  He said he was afraid of hurting them on his walk in (he's got about a 10 minute walk from where he parks) boo... alright now I have 10 cupcakes that I need to figure out what to do with! They are also very cute!

I will post pictures.

Wrestle Mania & Tea

So I am writing this while puppy rages on in my living room. It's all ok with me as long as they don't move on the herding the cats next! They play so hard and for whatever reason they seem to think that those little kitties are dogs too and can play just as hard...poor kitties!

Alright on to the topic that I was originally pondering...Tea. I love tea, and it doesn't seem to be any particular kind. I like herbal, and regular caffeinated (I rarely drink decaf b/c I can get the same stuff in caffeinated.) I am beginning to think that one of my new favorites is white tea. I think I need to understand the process more, if it is how it is dried or if it is refined? I have an amazing Melon White Tea that my husbands aunt got me. It's all natural (so I think it has melon rind in it) and tastes like honeydew. I also really enjoy Celestial Season's Pear White Tea. I am beginning to think that tea is like wine, you can find a nice flavor for any occasion, it has certain temperatures that it's better at and it seems to bring an instant smile to some faces (mine being one.)

Hope everyone is having good luck gearing up for the holidays!

Meringue Stars

mmmm....sugar.

So here's the deal, I modified this recipe from one on Epicurious, so if you want the basic recipe you will have to go visit them. I will post pictures later I am still working on the perfect batch!

Anyway I made Pumpkin & Maple Meringues (separate, not together...but ooh there's a thought!)

Pumpkin

Preheat oven to 200 F

2 egg whites (at room temp if you have the patience)
1/3 tsp salt
1/3 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp canned pumpkin
pinch of nutmeg
1/3 tsp cinnamon
mix all these ingredients with an electric mixer until whitish orange tufts form and hold peaks
Mix in 2 Tbsp powdered sugar slowly
This should help the tufts hold better and they will get a little glossier.
Do that for another 2 minutes or so on med high speed then pop it up to high for a minute or so. ('till it looks right)
fold in an additional 2 Tbsp powdered sugar, place in a pastry bag with a large star tip and make your cookies.
I put them on parchment paper... Let bake for an hour and a half.

Then I let them cool and they fall off the parchment paper with little effort. The original recipe said they keep for about a week at room temp.

And enjoy...or give as gifts!

Weekend Movie Review

Alright so this weekend the hubby and I watch a few movies we hadn't seen before.
1. Super Bad - funny, definitely gross at certain points! I loved "McLovin" he cracked me up. If I had children it definitely would be on while they were in the house. And the out takes were great.
2. Ocean's Thirteen - It was good but I have to say I hope that was the last one... I am tired of the casino plots...
3. Death Proof - (Quentin Tarintino's new movie it's a Blockbuster Exclusive) it was awful...there was no back story it just jumped into this strange story. It's redeeming factor was an amazing car chase at the end. If you rent it, do not bother watching the first hour or so...just skip to the part where the girls are test driving the white 1970 Dodge Challenger.

JMHO

Pancakes

Hello Again!

Alright, so I made some WONDERFUL pancakes this morning...although not as fluffy as I would have liked, still very good. Added frozen blueberries after mixing almost everything (except the egg whites) in...YUM! So the usual happened, I got sidetracked, ended up playing on here and forgot about my plate. Low and behold, there is my dear Kitten chowing down on syrup... now she's kacked-out on my lap in kitty sugar coma...gotta move...dilemma!?

If I want to be just a little productive today I guess I will have to move her. Oh...and if that pancake recipe interests you just drop me a line I will send it to you.

Blog Revamping

Hello All...long time no chat.
Okay so I am revamping my blog...I haven't used it in a while so I thought it was time to redo it. I will have a few more posts today probably.

Hope everyone is doing well :)