For those of you (read: all) who weren’t aware, I started the Movie-Food.com site a few months back at the behest of my sister after Husband and I whipped up the delectable Maraschino Cherry Chicken from the horrendous Six Days, Seven Nights.

It was surprisingly easy to come up with a HUGE list of food items/dishes from movies and we were well on our way with the site.  Life, as it often does, intruded so very rudely shortly thereafter, and the site has languished since April.   But due to overwhelming (read: one guy) demand, we’re starting Movie-Food.com back up!  Upcoming still are the Nancy Drew Lemon Bars, Blazing Saddles Baked Beans, and in just a few moments here, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle Beachside Corn Dogs.

And because I am the tech goddess that I am *bow down* I’ve added an RSS feed for the movie-food.com site to this site’s sidebar, there to the right, which will automatically pull in the last two recipes posted. 

Vive la Movie Food!  Oh, and if you have any movie food suggestions, please send them to chiefcook@movie-food.com

Yesterday the creativeness overtook me and I did some experimenting with f-stops, apertures, all aided by my beloved Manfrotto tripod.  The results, which I’m rather happy with, are below. 

Dried red rocket and thai hot peppers from the garden this summer:

And a Brown Turkey Fig:

Man, I love natural light.

UPDATE:  Oops, one more pepper shot:

I really like the idea of doing (at least) one of these things a month. These are my current song obsessions, burned to CD and played on repeat in my car.

I value melody and style over almost anything else, so you’re going to find some REALLY eclectic mixes here.

1. The Presets - I Go Hard, I Go Home
2. The Album Leaf - Always for You
3. Rufus Wainwright - Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk
4. Emiliana Torrini - Heartstopper
5. Better Than Ezra - Juicy
6. The Hollies - Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress*
7. Robert Palmer - Trick Bag
8. Allison Krauss - It Doesn’t Matter
9. The All-American Rejects - Gives You Hell
10. Pigeonhed - More Than Just a Girl
11. Robbers on High Street - Crown Victoria
12. Martha Wainwright - Bleeding All Over You

If you follow along on Twitter, you probably saw the tweet regarding the snake that lives in our pool patio drain.

Here is what you can see of him.  On a clear day.  When the sun is shining directly overhead.
 

Here is a scale pic to show the relative size of the drain.
 

Here’s how we found out we had a snake in the drain in the first place.
 

Yep, Hermes, the (apparently) great hunter, both smelled and saw the thing plotzing around in there.
 

And with the optimism of the very young, thinks if he just gets the right angle, he can get his paw down in there and snag the beastie.
 

That angle didn’t work, how about this one.
 

It’s still there…how about this way.
 

Or maybe this way.
 

Ah screw it…
 

I’ll just lay in the sun instead.
 

What?
 

We’re pretty sure it is a Mole Kingsnake, which spend most of their life underground.  And since his main diet consists of bugs and lizards, I’m more than fine with him being a guest in our drain!

I love Chinese food.  I mean I LOOOOOVE Chinese food, would gleefully eat it at least four five six nights a week.  But alas my picky family just won’t put up with that - plus, hey, EXPENSIVE! - so I have to sneak it in where I can.  And cooking it myself at home makes it that much easier!

Ingredients

(these specific proportions served three)

• 1 LB london broil (our fave) or flank steak
• 1/4 c soy sauce
• 1/4 c mirin (sweet cooking wine)
• 1 tsp grated ginger root
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1/4 c water
• broccoli
• water chestnuts
• sesame oil
• sesame seeds

Doing anything at all as long as it keeps me from pondering the outcome of tomorrow’s election, I took the camera out for a little checkup today.  The weather down here is glorious, and everything is rewarding me appropriately…

Discovered the secret to getting the birds of paradise to bloom…FEED ‘EM!
 

The gallardia has become one of my very favorite plants, and - thanks to it being a Florida native - it thinks the crappy soil under this robellini palm is just fine:
 

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I love these Literal Videos that are making the rounds lately.

A-Ha’s Take on You:

Tears for Fears Head Over Heels:

And now, Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up:

Pity that last guy can’t carry a tune in a bucket.  Still funny though, especially with the whole Rickrolling angle.

Accidentally caught an episode of Iron Chef: America a few nights ago, in which Cat Cora was making savory waffles (cheddar cheese, onions, etc.) topped by fried chicken, and I immediately declared this weekend was Fried Chicken Weekend.  With no particular favorite recipe, I scoured the links in my sidebar for ideas, and came across Smitten Kitchen’s version, which is adapted from the extraordinary Cook’s Illustrated.  (I let my subscription lapse, but this is one of the best cooking mags out there, highly recommended.)  I’ve not materially changed it from SK’s version (yet), but am printing our version here for those of you who are interested.

Ingredients

8 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

For Brine

• 5 cups buttermilk
• 1 cup kosher salt
• 2 garlic heads, smashed but not peeled
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp paprika

For being myself a creative type, I’m still always amazed at some of the ideas people come up with for Halloween costumes.  This Wired reader’s costume gallery has some nicely original stuff:  the iPod silhouette girl, the Facebook guy…these are excellent costumes, until you’re falling down drunk at 2AM of course.

Halloween was never one of my particularly favorite holidays, I can’t even recall a single costume worn as a child.  In my legal-to-drink years my only concession to costumery was to paint my face dead white and create a two bloody-looking holes on my neck…Vampire Victim, of course.  That allowed me to dress normally (read: lots of cleavage) yet still participate, even if only in token fashion.

Now that I have kids, the emphasis is all on them of course.  (Though a few years ago we all dressed as pirates, even me who stayed home to pass out treats.  And Husband definitely enjoyed the ruffled shirt removal later.  :D  Oops, TMI.)  This year the Girlchild is a ninja and the Boychild is a classic Bela Lugosi-type vampire, though he informed me this morning that he did not have that freaky feeling in his stomach this year, which I think means this should definitely be his last year begging for handouts trick-or-treating.  

This year we’ll be trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood since Nana moved away, which means near-teenagers without costumes expecting to be given candy, and carloads of kids being driven over from nearby neighborhoods.  I expect to swear off the entire thing FOREVER by about 9:47PM EST tonight.

Oh look, ponkins!

1. Dance With Me Tonight: That Thing You Do! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
2. Shut Up and Let Me Go: The Ting Tings
3. Lucky: Jason Mraz 
4. You Don’t Know Me: Ben Folds (w/ Regina Spektor)
5. Oxford Comma: Vampire Weekend
6. Tamacun: Rodrigo y Gabriela
7. Struggle: Ringside
8. I’m Yours: Jason Mraz
9. Twilight of a Champion: The The
10. Go!: Tones on Tail
11. Infected: The The
12. Diablo Rojo: Rodrigo y Gabriela
13. That’s Not My Name: The Ting Tings
14. Out of the Blue (Into the Fire): The The
15. Save a Prayer: Duran Duran
16. In the Air Tonight: Phil Collins