Movies of the Month

This is probably a stupid title for this post as we're only a few days into March but I like alliteration, what can I say?  Also, I watched the three films that I'm about to give mini reviews to within a 30 day period, so calling them Movies of the Month seems completely valid, at least in my head....  As with the previous fashion post, feel free to skip over this if you just come here for food, or if you haven't seen the movies yet and want to avoid spoilers!

True Grit

True Grit was a film I'd been looking forward to for a long time, and while I enjoyed it and believed that it deserved its Oscar nominations, it was a little different to what I expected.  The film follows 14 year old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) as she attempts to track down Tom Chaney (Josh Broslin), the man who killed her father.  Accompanying her are US Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), a man rumoured to have "true grit" who Mattie hires, and Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon), who wants to apprehend Chaney for the many other crimes he has committed.

Being a fan of the Coen Brothers' movies, I found that True Grit was not as offbeat or bizarre in style and tone as I had been expecting, especially compared to some of the Coens' classics like O Brother Where Art Thou?.  However, the Coens' famously artistic cinematography can be seen throughout True Grit, with many very beautiful shots.  Sadly I couldn't find any of the shots I was looking for online, as apparently only stills of the characters are available, but the moments that really stood out to me were Mattie's glance back at the corpses leaning against the hut in the snow, and the clifftop shot of Cogburn facing down four of Chaney's men - these were classic Hollywood western moments turned into art.

Cogburn's brilliantly delivered line 'You are not LaBoeuf,' following the arrival of the bear-doctor guy creates a moment of humour in the movie, but even this scene is beautifully shot, creating a desolate, muted-coloured scene of bare trees and flurries of snow.  Although True Grit has some serious themes, I feel that Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon bring the film to life in the way they portray their (sometimes darkly) funny characters. 

Also, Hailee Steinfield is fantastic as Mattie, and I would love it if she got the role of Katniss in the movie adaptations of The Hunger Games (the series of 'Young Adult' novels that I am currently reading and may review here at some point, if I ever recover from the trauma and tragedy that they have made me suffer).  It's refreshing to see a film where a girl is allowed to shoot people and be a badass without also being a spandex-wearing sex symbol, I'm looking at you, Sucker Punch!

Never Let Me Go

I went to see this movie with friends with no idea of what it was about.  All I knew was that it had Andrew Garfield in it, and as he is a total hottie, this was more than enough to convince me.  Never Let Me Go centres on the life of Kathy (Carey Mulligan), and her best friends Ruth (Keira Knightley) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield).  The story begins in the 1950s with the characters' childhood at boarding school Hailsham.  However, hints soon creep in that the children's lives are not as perfect as they seem, culminating in their discovery that all the children at Hailsham are clones, created for the sole purpose of providing organs for others in order to unnaturally prolong their lives.

While the film's premise makes it seem like a sci-fi thriller, Never Let Me Go is in fact more like a touching, tragic love story, but with serious and condemning ethical questions.  Set primarily in the English countryside, the film is aesthetically very beautiful, with this surface beauty creating a thin veneer over the ugliness of the realities of the characters' lives.  I was completely unprepared for the levels of tragedy in the film, with many of the scenes sticking in my mind long after I left the cinema.  One poignant moment in my opinion was Ruth's death, her heart monitor flatlining like in so many medical dramas but provoking no reaction from the doctors, who calmly finish removing an organ and leave Ruth on the operating table with her face uncovered, the end of the breathing tube left carelessly in her mouth.  However, the most distressing scene in the film was Kathy and Tommy's visit to their former Headmistress to apply for the 'deferral' of their donations for a few years, as they are in love and want to spend more time together.  Tommy shows the Headmistress his drawings to prove his love, only to be told that the drawings the children were made to do at Hailsham were not to enable the teachers to look into the children's souls as he believed, they were to determine if the children had souls at all. So sad, poor Andrew Garfield! :(

Tetley disliked the ending of the film, saying that it was frustrating that Kathy and Tommy made no attempt to escape when their fate was revealed.  Personally I liked this aspect of the film though, as it emphasised the hopelessness and inevitability of the clones' situation, and the way their upbringing had mentally conditioned them to the extent that escape could never cross their minds.  Plus, some dramatic escape attempt might have brought the film a bit too close to the plot of The Island, a film with similar but far less emotionally presented themes to Never Let Me Go.  The film can be relentlessly bleak, but it is also beautiful and very thought-provoking, plus there was Carey Mulligan's super-cute hair and Andrew Garfield's amazing awkward teenager walk to keep me happy!  Have a bonus picture of Andrew Garfield being all moody in a scarf:

Rango

To lighten the mood slightly, I'm going to finish off with Rango.  It's the second animated movie I've seen this year after Disney's Tangled, and while Tangled was a fun and pretty film, I found it very light and forgettable compared to a lot of my Disney favourites, and certainly not 'a return to Disney's classic days of Aladdin and The Little Mermaid' like some critics claimed.  Rango, on the other hand, is very far from being a sterotypical kids' movie.  A summary of the plot may make it sound generic: Rango, a lonely pet lizard (voiced by Johnny Depp) is separated from his owners, and inadvertently becomes the hero that a small desert town needs.

However, the main thing that separates Rango from the endless half-term releases of animated films is its character design - the inhabitants of the town of Dirt are anything but cutesy, sanitised Disney-esque creatures.  The first character we are introduced to other than Rango is a wise old armadillo, giving profound advice whilst lying in the middle of the road with a car tyre-track splitting his body almost entirely in half. The rest of the animals aren't much better, all scruffy, weather-beaten and more often than not comically wounded in one way or another.  The film's many bizarre sequences also makes it seem more like an adults' film, such as Rango's theatre-inspired imaginings, or his hallucinations of the Clint Eastwood-esque 'Spirit of the West' character (disappointingly not voiced by Clint Eastwood himself).

The highlight of this weird yet enjoyable film has to be the way in which it , like True Grit, (is it weird to compare these two movies?) plays homage to traditional Westerns in its portrait of frontier town Dirt, yet still emphasises that its characters are animals.  When the wise, shaman-like raven character plucks his feathers while staring off into the distance, Rango asks him if he's communing with the spirit world and he replies 'No, I'm moulting, it means I'm ready to mate.'  For a more straight to the point highlight, the film also features Bill Nighy as a snake with a gun for a tail - what's not to love?

Probably my favourite thing about Rango was its Greek Chorus-like band of Mexican owls, I probably would have seen the movie just for them because they were amazing!

Have you seen any great movies lately?

Spicy Chicken Skewers

Hey guys, here's another recipe for you all.  These chicken skewers are quick and easy to make, you literally only need 4 ingredients.  On top of that, they're super tasty as well, so why not give them a try?

The ingredients you will need are:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 peppers (and other vegetables if you like)
• 5 tablespoons natural yoghurt
• 1/2 tube of chilli paste

These quantities serve two people, if you want more or less skewers the the quantities are pretty easy to adjust.

1. Firstly, work out roughly how many wooden skewers you're going to use and soak them in a bowl or washing up basin full of cold water.  This will stop them burning in the oven.

2. Next, make the marinade by putting the yoghurt into a dish and adding the chilli paste. The paste I used is from Schwartz and it or something similar should hopefully be available next to the herbs and spices in most supermarkets.  I also add a bit of chilli powder and some tabasco at this point, but if you don't like your food to be too spicy then leave the marinade as it is.

3. Cut the chicken into small pieces and mix into the marinade.  Remember to wash hands or utensils thoroughly if they have touched raw meat.

4. Cut up the peppers into small pieces and add them to the marinade as well.  For variety, you could add in other vegetables, like courgette, cherry tomatoes or small wedges of red onion, or whatever you like best.

5. Mix everything together and leave to stand for a while if you have the time, to allow all the lovely spicy flavours to work their way into the meat and veg.  Put the dish in the fridge to marinate if you're leaving it for more than 15 minutes.

6. Pat the skewers dry and push the chicken and pepper pieces on to them, alternating between meat and veg.  Place on a baking tray or a grill tray with a dish underneath so your oven doesn't get ruined by drips.

7. Cook in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes, turning once halfway through cooking.

I appear to have taken more photos than usual for this post, so I'm sorry if that creates the illusion that these are complicated and time-consuming to make, they really only take about half an hour!  I normally serve them with my spicy potato wedges but I realised too late that I only had one potato in the cupboard (that was attempting to grow mutant baby potatoes), so I made some rice instead which complemented the spicy chicken very well.  For a lighter meal, the chicken skewers are perfect on their own or with some dips - enjoy!

Tetley's 21st

Yesterday it was my lovely boyfriend Tetley's 21st birthday.  Here is Tetley in his typical attire, if you want to find out more about him then visit his blog Betterccino, which mainly features plagiarism and otters; or his other blog, A Ramble into Territories Homer, which has Sherlock Holmes-eque stories involving our friend Homer's bumbling crime fighting experiences.

Tetley's whole birthday weekend was a great success, as well as being possibly the first sunny weekend of the year.  We woke up to the sun streaming through the curtains, and I made Tetley a special birthday breakfast.  It's becoming a tradition with us to have Buck's Fizz for breakfast on special occasions, I believe that it's nice to start the day as you mean to go on!

We spent the day with our friends and then had a party at night with a Masquerade theme.  We had planned to go to a Burlesque Masquerade night at a local club but it was too expensive for us poor students, so we had the theme for our flat party instead.  Tetley is getting worryingly fond of gambling (which I probably endorsed by buying him a set of Vegas poker chips for his birthday...) so we played some poker, and then drinking games as the night went on.  Laura also made Tetley an amazing 3D dinosaur cake, he was almost too cute to eat, and impressively constructed with matchmakers for a spine!

One of my fondest memories of birthday parties as a child was eating marshmallow top hats, so I was shocked to find out that Tetley, with his love of all things top hats, had never heard of them!  Maybe it's a Scottish thing?  I made some for him and stupidly forgot to take a picture, but here's one from Google images to prove that they are a thing that exists:

These are super tasty and literally only take 10 minutes to make.  All you have to do is break up a large chocolate bar into a glass bowl and melt the chocolate by putting the bowl on top of a pan of boiling water.  Then spoon the melted chocolate into cupcake cases, stick in the marshmallows and stick a Smartie or another colourful sweet on the top of each one with a little dot of chocolate.  Sadly mine were not as pretty as this picture as I apparently have no glass bowl, and melting chocolate straight in the pan doesn't make it turn out so smooth-looking and attractive...  They still tasted great, although we did eat them after several drinks so I feel that I am not the best person to comment on this!

Here are a couple of photos of some the amazing and creepy masks that people created for the party:

My mask is from Accessorize, I love it but part of me wished that I had made one of my own after seeing the boys' masks, home-made costumes are always my favourite.  I think a Masquerade theme is perfect for a student party as you can dress up as cheaply or as extravagantly as you want.  My 21st is in a couple of months, so I'm currently brainstorming some ideas for that - I can't wait!

Extremely Delicious Pecan Pie

Another recipe from the fabulous Hummingbird Bakery for you all today!  This Pecan Pie is probably the tastiest dessert I've ever made myself, and it requires hardly any ingredients, it's like magic... 

For the pastry you will need:

• 260g plain flour
• 110g unsalted butter

For the filling you will need:

• 200g caster sugar
• 250ml dark corn syrup (this is another foodstuff that doesn't seem to exist in Dundee, so I used golden syrup)
• 3 eggs
• 60g unsalted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 100g shelled pecan nuts

1. First of all, make your pastry.  As I have a) no pie dish or baking beans and b) no time right now, I bought this top quality pastry case from the supermarket for 69p.  If you are more of a baking puritan than me,  follow Hummingbird's advice and make your own pastry by mixing together the flour and butter and adding tablespoons of water until it reaches a doughy consistency, then leaving to rest wrapped in clingfilm for an hour (see what I mean about not having the time?).  Next, roll out the dough, place it in the pie dish and cover with greaseproof paper and baking beans.  Bake in an oven preheated to 170 degrees for 10 minutes, then remove the paper and baking beans and bake for another 10 minutes.

2. If you haven't fallen into a coma reading the previous step, finely chop the pecans, reserving some nice looking ones to stick on top of the pie for decoration if you wish.  Hummingbird's pecan pie is also pictured below, to show what you're really aspiring to.

3. Put the sugar and syrup in a saucepan with a pinch of salt and bring to the boil.  My hand always looks really odd when it makes it into these in photos, I assure you it's normal in real life though!

4. When the syrup and sugar mixture looks like the picture below, remove from the heat and leave to cool.  I left mine for far too long as I was scared by Hummingbird's warning about the eggs scrambling if the mixture wasn't cool enough, and it all solidified, so I would suggest only leaving to cool for about 15 minutes.

5. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and pour in the warm syrup mixture, stirring quickly.  Add the butter and vanilla extract and stir until the butter all melts.  If you leave the mixture to cool for too long like I did and the butter stays in ominous lumps (hence the lack of photo for this step) use the microwave to melt the butter.

6. Put the chopped pecans in the pie dish and pour the mixture on top.  Bake in an oven preheated to 170 degrees for about 50 minutes.  Arrange the whole pecans on the top for decoration when the pie comes out of the oven as they will burn otherwise.

Here is the finished pie, I forgot to take a photo of it when it was whole as I was too hungry, sorry!  The ice cream is Vanilla Caramel Brownie from Lidl, I suggest giving Lidl ice creams a go as they are really cheap but taste amazing.  The pie was also super tasty, you should give it a try even if you're not the biggest fan of nuts as it doesn't have a strong nutty taste at all, even Tetley likes it and he's the most fussy person ever!

More stuff should come in Pterodactyl Print

As you've probably gathered, I love food and cooking.  However, there are lots of other things I love as well, and when I find something that really excites me I want to share it with everyone.  My absolute favourite blogs to read are definitely those where people write about lots of diferent things in their lives, like the lovely Fiona, who blogs about fashion, music, films and lots of other things I enjoy.  That's why I've decided to start doing some non-food related posts - I'll still be posting just as many recipes as before, so feel free to just look at them if you like!

Recently I've been on a bit of a clothes shopping spree - the weather is still disgusting here in Scotland, but all the shops are so full of pretty spring clothes that I couldn't resist!  I am especially loving all the bird print clothes that seem to be fashionable right now, they're so quirky and feminine and birds always remind me of spring time and sunny days.  I bought this sheer bird print shirt from New Look and I absolutely love it:

I apologise for the terrible lighting in the photo, as I said the sun hasn't been out for a week so dingy indoor photos are the best I can do right now!  I'm also wearing my new high-waisted shorts from Miss Selfridge.  Here is a better picture of the shirt:

 While browing online I have come across lots of other cute bird print clothes, like this green dress from Modcloth.  I spend far too much time on this website, pining pathetically over beautiful things I can never own as postage from the USA is far more than my student budget can stretch to.  I've only caved twice, once to buy the perfect dress for my 1920s themed birthday party last year, and once to buy my prized stag's head toothbrush holder (named 'Fawned of Hygiene' by the website, I also love Modcloth for their terrible/amazing puns)...  Anyway, look at this dress:

I actually love everything about it, the material, the colours, the sleeves... And take a closer look at the print, the birds are wearing tiny little top hats!  Oh Modcloth, you're just too whimsical for your own good!

Another gorgeous bird print comes in the form of this dress from Get Cutie.  I love the retro style of the print, and the best thing about Get Cutie is that you can choose from 9 different styles of dresses and loads of different prints, so you can get something that's a lot more unique than your average chain store purchase.

Next up is something that's slightly more within my price range, this super-cute top from Asos.  It's a really subtle take on the bird print look that's perfect for people who aren't into really girly clothes.

You can only see the birds when you closely, making a plain stripy top into something a lot more fun.

If you're really strapped for cash then get some bird accessories - this beautiful peacock necklace from Accessorize is only £12, and there's matching earrings too, although having three peacocks dangling from your body at once may be going a bit too far.

I've left my absolute favourite bird print item till last, this amazing blue dress which is also from Modcloth.  At first glance it's just your average prom dress...

...Then take a closer look and it's covered in pterodactyls! What more could a girl want?  (I am aware that pterodactyls are not birds, but they have wings so I feel that they still count.)  This is the reason I love Modcloth, I'm very girly yet also quite geeky so this dress gives me the best of both worlds.



Have any of you bought any cute clothes lately?  Or do you know where I can find more dinosaur related apparel?  All comments are very welcome!

Comfort Food Friday

It's been terrible weather all week here in Dundee, and in such situations I find that there's nothing like a hearty, winter meal to cheer me up.  This fish pie is perfect comfort food for a rainy day, and it's pretty quick and easy to make as well! 

  

 For the fish pie, you will need:

• 1 fillet of fish per person (I tried to find something other than cod but Tesco failed me yet again and I ended up with a pack of 'fish pie mix' with cod, haddock and salmon - sorry Jamie Oliver!)
• 3 potatoes per person
• 1 leek
• 1 onion
• 2 ounces plain flour
• 2 ounces butter
• 1 pint of milk
• Dill and/or parsley

1. Peel the potatoes and chop them into small chunks.  Boil for about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, chop the onion and the white part of the leek and cook in some sunflower oil over a low heat, stirring occasionally.

 3. Chop the fish into small pieces and arrange in the pie dish.  I normally use prawns in fish pie but I forgot to buy them this time, but you can use any fish or seafood that you like in this dish.

4. Next, make the white sauce.  I apologise for the old-fashioned measurements, I got the recipe for this sauce from some ancient recipe book.  If you can't be bothered measuring, it's basically a spoonful of butter, two spoonfuls of flour and enough milk to make it a nice looking consistency.  Firstly, mix the butter and flour together into a paste as shown:

5. Then, add the milk a little at a time, stirring constantly, until the sauce is smooth and slightly bubbling.  Don't forget about the potatoes while you're doing this, if they're cooked then drain them and set them aside until the sauce is done.

 6. Add the leek and onion to the pie dish and pour the sauce on top, then sprinkle with the herbs.  Mash the potatoes with a little bit of milk and butter and spread on top of the sauce.  Grate some cheese over the top if you like, I did mine half and half as Tetley will only eat cheese in food if he can't see it, much like his attitude to vegetables.

7. Bake in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for about half an hour.

Here is the finished pie, it's not the most aesthetically pleasing dish but it tastes so lovely!  It's basically a meal in itself, but serve it with some green vegetables or carrots if you want some bonus vitamins.  The white sauce is handy for lots of meals, throw in a handful of grated cheese and serve with macaroni for a super quick and easy macaroni cheese dish.

Valentine's heart-shaped Biscuits

Valentine’s Day is still a pretty big novelty for me, as this is only the second Valentine’s Day of my life on which I’ve actually been in a relationship.  Tetley and I did get together in 2009, but we started going out a week after Valentine’s Day, what terrible timing!  I’ll ask you to humour my excitement and the terrible girlyness of today’s recipe, I’ll make zombie-shaped cookies or something next time to make up for it…

For the biscuits, you will need:

·         150g butter at room temperature

·         100g caster sugar

·         2 egg yolks

·         200g plain four

·         25g cocoa powder

·         ½ tsp vanilla extract

·         300g icing sugar

·         Food colouring (I used a tiny amount of red and blue to get pastel-ish colours)

1.  First of all, beat the butter until it is smooth.  I find that putting it in the microwave for 10 seconds before doing this greatly saves my limited upper body strength.  Add the sugar and cream the butter and sugar together until they look like this:

2. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and mix in the yolks.  To do this, gently break the egg over a separate bowl to your main mixing bowl and tip the yolk from one half of the eggshell to the other until the white has drained into the bowl below.

3.  Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and add the vanilla extract.  Mix everything together, using your hands to squish the dough together at the final stage.  If the dough takes on the consistency of really terrible dried out playdough, add a little bit of water.

4. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for 20 minutes.  Use this time to finish making the card for your boyfriend if you, like me, are both very disorganised and have a boyfriend who literally will not notice anything you are doing in the same room as him if he’s playing on his Xbox.

5. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to the thickness of about 1cm.  I discovered that I have no rolling pin at this point, but being a master of improvisation I used a bottle of peach schnapps instead.  Classy!

6. Cut out heart shapes with a cookie cutter.  For non-Valentine’s themed biscuits, use a different cutter, or if you don’t have any cutters, use a sharp knife to cut your own shapes or an upside-down glass to make circles.

7. Put the biscuits onto a baking-paper lined tray and cook in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for 12 minutes.  Take out and leave to cool.

8. Mix the icing sugar with a little water and food colouring and drizzle onto the biscuits with a teaspoon.

I got this recipe from the Asda magazine and it worked very well, my only criticism is that it claimed that the given quantities would make 24 biscuits and I only ended up with 10, I feel that Asda’s biscuits must have been freakishly small.  If I was making for more than two people, I would definitely double the quantities!  I leave you with a gloriously geeky Valentine’s picture: