Holiday Weekend

I hope you all had a lovely weekend bookended by not one but two holidays! So I had two semi-Valentine's parties neither of which were on the 14th. The first was last last weekend when I got together with my college friends and we had a Death by Chocolate party. It was delightful and chocolaty. As I already wrote, I brought a red devil's cake, and French silk pie, and mousse. All of which, if I may say so myself, were quite delicious. When we did this two years ago, we felt quite chocolated-out by the end, so Ellen decided this year we needed real food too. Which meant that by the time I got there (I had a wedding reception to attend to first), everyone else was FULL with real food. So of course most of the chocolate items were largely untouched. It was a real shame. We played Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit which we all failed at except for Cat. We also played Movie Star or the Movie Game where someone names a movie and then the next person has to name an actor in that movie and then another movie that actor was in and so on. It was during this that I realized I need to go to Syracuse so I can be near Cat and Daniel who are basically my soulmates. We had a lovely discussion of the movies nominated this year for Oscars and we spent way too much time discussing Gilmore Girls. These are my people!

On Friday I spent time with my old high school gang and we got very drunk as we are wont to do. But first we made the second most amazing macaroni and cheese I've ever had. The best I've ever had was at Lynn's Paradise Cafe in Louisville. If you ever find yourself in that neck of the woods, you must go to this cafe. It's terribly kitschy but the food is fandamntastic! It was also the first place I had fried green tomatoes and they were delicious. The macaroni and cheese I made--and I did make it myself--is from The Barefoot Contessa by way of GQ. It has gruyere and sharp cheddar and is topped with tomato slices and bread crumbs. It was divine! If you think tomato slices are weird then you've never had them on your grilled cheese sandwich--or on your macaroni and cheese. It works very well. Gruyere is also basically the most awesome cheese ever but it's ridiculously expensive. However, I think in the end it's worth it because it makes everything ridiculously delicious. We drank an unoaked chardonnay which helped cut through the cheese and the fat. I also had my first Sazerac which was quite good, and my friends went through most of a bottle of Midori as well as a large bottle of vodka to make Arizonas. They were plenty smashed. We then tried to watch Vicky Christina Barcelona because it's awesome and a sexy, romantic comedy perfect for Valentine's but nearly everyone was too drunk to watch it. Damn them!

Saturday was just a nice, easy day for me. I've never had a relationship on Valentine's Day (or really ever), but I've never been a hater or an advocate for Singles Awareness Day. I like Valentine's Day just fine--probably because I'm a marketing whore. Last year I ate chocolates, read a trashy romance novel, and drank a bottle of red wine--it was lovely. This year was much more low-key. I did my chores, read some of my Edith Wharton, and in the end watched The Jane Austen Book Club which is definitely one of my favorite movies. (I nearly opted for Sabrina which is another of my favorites.) I think you all need to see The Jane Austen Book Club because it is hilarious and a very well executed movie. It's not really a courtship movie--instead there's infidelity and rocky relationships--but everything ends well just like in a Jane Austen novel.

On Sunday I went and saw the Oscar shorts which is detailed in the previous blog. Today, being President's Day was lovely as I didn't have work. My sister and her husband came down yesterday and today we went and saw Coraline. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. It didn't freak me out like The Nightmare Before Christmas did--probably because Tim Burton didn't work on it--and it didn't terrify me with its stop animation. I generally hate and loathe stop animation and claymation. I did not find it too scary or disturbing as I had expected. I didn't want it to be disturbing but I was hoping for some good scares. It was creepy throughout but not overly so. So I guess I was a little let down. The plot line was somewhat simple but fine. It was a well-done film, but it was good to see, but it's not a new favorite or a must-see by any means. Anyway, my mom is making crepes right now which is very exciting. And I need to see Postcards from the Edge tonight which I got from Netflix and want to put in the mail tomorrow. And then it's another week of work and winter. Hrm.