Thanksgiving 2011

I can’t believe our tiny Thanksgiving break is almost over. It flew by in what seemed like a matter of seconds. I suppose that’s what happens when you have lots to do over a few days. We started off our celebrations at Madeleine Bistro for a four course Thanksgiving feast. We’ve been to Madeleine’s for the past few years but this meal topped them all. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a delicious Thanksgiving meal in my life. Everything was exquisite. Next year we plan to have Thanksgiving at our house and I hope we can make something even just a fraction of how good this meal was.

We spent the rest of the weekend with friends and family relaxing and eating lots. I did very little cooking considering. I made this wonderful green bean casserole and an apple pie. Yesterday Shawn was in a short film so I had the day to myself. I spent it watching British period dramas, knitting and sewing. It was pretty nice to not have to worry about work and projects for a whole day.

When I was a kid, after every school break I would make a list of all the cool things I did in my time off filled with movies I’d watched or things I’d made. This year if I made a list, the two biggest things would be finishing the binding on our wedding quilt (which took FOREVER) and hanging up some clothes that have been sitting in our bedroom for about a month. Pretty simple, but a major relief to have finished at the same time.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. What would you put on your list?

Oslo August 31

Oslo August 31 is the kind of film that sits with you, waits in the back of your mind and haunts you for weeks to come. It is a portrait of a man on his one day of leave from rehab. He takes the day to explore Oslo and reconnect with old friends as he tries to face his impending release. It’s a simple story, that goes beyond just one person’s struggle drug addiction.

Joachim Trier is able to create a perfect balance of emotion and imagery with his melancholic storytelling. There is beauty and hope mixed in with Anders’ disappointment and despair as he navigates the last day of summer. Anders Danielson Lie captures the nuances of his character with flawless realism. He is subtle and reserved, only occasionally letting his raw pain seep out, just enough to for you to connect to him and hope things will turn out okay.

The film is one of the saddest I’ve seen and yet one of the most honest portrayal of the reality of living today. Beyond the fact that I think it is a great film, if you’ve ever known anyone who has been severely depressed, I feel like you have to see this movie. I’m not saying this as some sort of public service announcement, but rather that I think Oslo August 31 is able to capture an unexplainable emotion.

dinner time

I bet you thought I was going to talk about movies all week. I guess I tricked you, didn’t I?

I’ve been trying to make some more wholesome dinners. It’s easy to eat pasta or rice and broccoli every night when you’re busy, and as much as I love both of those, variety is good too.

I picked out some easy recipes this weekend and with the help of our slow cooker have made them in no time after work. The first experiment was lemony pan-fried chickpeas with rainbow chard. This lovely dish came together in about 20 minutes and was shockingly flavorful especially for how simple it was. I added in some seasoned jackfruit that I had cooked up over the weekend just to make it a little more substantial and used rainbow chard for a little bit of color. The whole thing was very satisfying and I loved the varied texture of chard, chickpeas and jackfruit together.

It was a nice reminder that meals can be simple and still be special.

Snowtown

Snowtown is based on the true story of the serial killer, John Bunting, and his accomplices in the run down suburbs of Adelaide, Australia. It’s a tale of influence centered on a boy, Jamie, as he gets dragged in to a horrific universe of murder. It is possibly the most disturbing film, but also one of the most well crafted pieces of cinema I’ve seen. The thing that makes this film so effective is it’s simplicity and honesty. Everything you see is so real and matter of fact and believable, and yet so terrible, you don’t want to believe it. Snowtown‘s intensity is unrelenting.

The film is beautifully shot; stylized but still evoking the realism essential to the story. The performances are flawless. The music is powerful. Everything about the film is masterful. It is not for the faint of heart though. While it is based in the psychological and dramatic, it is the story of a deranged serial killer so you should know what to expect going in.

While I know it’s not for everyone, I can’t recommend Snowtown enough. It totally blew me away.

Kill List

Dear readers, I am now going to ask you to have complete blind faith in me when I tell you that you must see Kill List. I want to tell you all about how fantastic it is, but I also don’t want to spoil a thing about it. I’m going to keep the chatter to a minimum and you’ll just have to trust me.

Here are the basics; it’s a film about a hit man, but one who outside of being a killer, is pretty much you’re average guy with a family and a bad back. He’s been out of work for the better part of the year when he reluctantly takes a job with his former partner. Then things get crazy. Really crazy.

I just loved this film and thought it was so well executed. It managed to be a perfect thriller wrapped neatly inside a character study with a few treats thrown in there for good measure. Kill List has already been released in the UK, but expect it early next year in the US. Seriously, go see it.