Airplane!

Today we went and saw Airplane! at the AMC theater in White Marsh. Apparently they play old films about once a month. I remember seeing Airplane! as a kid and thinking it was the funniest thing ever.

There were some things I didn't remember, like the disco dancing scene. There were some lines that I didn't realize/remember came from the movie--"Roger, Roger, what's our vector Victor?" and "Don't call me Shirley."

The movie was so simple in its mockery. I don't think this film could be made today. I think it would get mucked up with special effects, political correctness, and bad acting.

Airplane! was still funny. I'm glad we went.

True Grit

We saw True Grit on MLK Monday and I think I've been putting off blogging about it because I don't think my writing can do it justice.

This movie made me feel. I felt so cold. I felt disgust, pride, joy, and sadness. I did not feel fear. I laughed and I cried. I was really impressed.

One thing I really liked was the dialog. The English they spoke was not the English we speak today. It was refreshing to hear the English language spoken eloquently--to hear the characters express themselves so clearly and passionately.

Excellent writing, wonderful acting, and great sound editing made for a top-notch film. I highly recommend True Grit.

Cranberry Oat Bars

So much for staying away from the sweets recipes. I found a recipe on the HoHo site today and mucked about with it and made these bars. Here's my version of the recipe:

Cranberry Oat Bars

Filling:

3/4 c dried cranberries

1/2 c seedless jam (I used a mixture of blueberry, Dundee, and blackberry)

1 Tbl. lime juice

Oats part:

6 Tbl. butter

1/2 c brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 c flax

1/2 c all purpose flour

1/4 c whole wheat flour

cinnamon

nutmeg

ginger

1 1/2 c old fashioned oats

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease and flour 9x9 inch pan.

3. Prepare the filling by combining the ingredients in a food processor and processing until smooth.

4. For the cookie part cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.

5. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.

6. Add flours and spices and mix well.

7. Stir in oats.

8. Spread a little more than half the batter into the bottom of the pan.--This was another case of being more like cookie dough than cake batter. I used the back of a spoon with some oil sprayed on it to smooth out the dough.

9. Smooth out the filling over the dough.

10. Place remaining dough in spoonfulls over the filling and spread evenly.--That is easier said than done, and my dough didn't completely cover the filling.

11. Cook for 30 minutes.

12. Allow to cool completely before slicing.--This is supposed to make 15 squares, but I couldn't decide how I wanted to cut them, so I had a bunch of different sized squares.

These turned out okay. I felt like they were missing something. Might be better with ice cream.

Dang It's Cold!

It was really cold here over the weekend. Ross closed the vents in the back room and I noticed it was frigid in there. As you can see on the thermostat it was 23.6 degrees outside and 54 degrees inside. Brrrr.

My Bad Posture = Bailey's New Perch

Bailey has taken to laying on my back when I'm sitting like this. As cute as it is I shouldn't sit this way because it kills my back.

Bailey Loves Ainsmar

Ainsmar picked up Bailey and put her in his lap and she just curled up and went to sleep!

Cherry Crumble Cake

Last week I tried a cherry cake recipe with streusel topping from Cooking.com. I wanted to use up the leftover cherries from New Year's. Of course I didn't completely follow the recipe. I used a different streusel topping and changed a couple things in the cake. The batter was more like cookie dough than cake batter and tasted much better the second day after it had settled.

Cherry Crumble Cake

streusel:

3/4 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

nutmeg

1/2 c cold butter

1. Mix all ingredients with pastry cutter until it forms small crumbs.

2. Put mixture into the refrigerator.

cake:

3/4 c + 1 Tbl. butter

1 c sugar

2 eggs

2 1/4 c sifted flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 c bottled or canned red cherries, drained

nutmeg

vanilla

almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Grease and paper an 8 inch springform pan. (I used a 9 inch)

3. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.

4. Add vanilla and almond extract. (I probably put about a teaspoon each)

5. Add eggs one at a time, beating well.

6. Add flour and baking powder and mix well.

7. Spread half the cake batter evenly into the bottom of the pan. --This is where things got difficult. The batter is thick and stiff, so I was basically pressing it with the back of a spoon to try and spread/smooth it out.

8. Spread cherries over the cake batter.

9. Sprinkle nutmeg over cherries.

10. Spread remaining batter over the cherries. --Again, not easy.

11. Sprinkle cold streusel over the cake.--I didn't end up using all of it. You can kind of see in the photo how it sort of formed a crust because I used it to fill in the gaps where the cake batter didn't reach the edge of the pan.

12. Cook for 45 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

I think the almond extract is what really made this good. Like I said, it was much better cold the second day than right out of the oven. I haven't decided what recipe I'm going to try this week. I should probably stay away from the sweets.