I love food in movies

{Disney's Lady and the Tramp}

I think this is how it started...

{Babette's Feast, 1987}

I was too young to understand the nuances, but it got me hungry!

 {Like Water for Chocolate, 1992}

{Eat Drink Man Woman, 1994}

{Big Night, 1996 - Isabella Rossellini looking stunning as usual}

The '90s served forth many epicurian treats (food + more :)).

{Chocolat, 2000}

{Ratatouille, 2007}

And I couldn't say no to Juliette Binoche or cute Pixar creatures.

 {Eat Pray Love, 2010}

I admit, I read the book first and the movie (understandably) couldn't capture all those evolving inner thoughts. But it will make your stomach cry: vino, pizza and pasta! (And then you'll want to hop the next plane to Italy :)).

{I'll be traveling all day and so sorry I can't visit your lovely blogs right away! Can't wait to visit and comment when I'm back online!}

(Images via starpulse, Dimsy's Top Period Dramas, Virtual Gourmet, mubi, Apronistas, film-otaku, The Cute Blog, Recipes for Trouble and IMDB.)

Photo du jour: Dawn

Near Hanauma Bay, Hawaii. Afterwards, you can go snorkeling in the Bay with tropical fish (you see more fish early in the day :)).

{An August Break Continued Post: Photographed on Oahu.}

P.S. I'd rather be behind the camera than in front, but here's a hazy photo of me in this location, after dawn - I was watching waves and saw whales by chance! (Sadly hard to photo)
P.P.S. Why am I always soo overdue for a haircut?

Chocolate with a twist

{Dark chocolate with lavender from Haute-Provence}{Dark chocolate with Earl Grey tea}{Milk chocolate with hot masala}{Dark chocolate with crystallized ginger peel}

In case you feel like indulgent Belgian chocolate, but with a twist, anything by Dolfin is intensely tasty & amazing. (Other flavors include dark chocolate with mint leaves or Damascus rose).

(Images via Dolfin. Click any image to see product & description.)

Just dance

A little Monday energy, that's all :)...

I love seeing Wendy Whelan at the New York City Ballet

Dancing bin man of W. London (the YouTube clip made me smile)

My favorite ballerina, Suzanne Farrell (in Don Quixote with George Balanchine, mid-60s)

The legendary Frankie Manning, swing dance king

I had to add hula kahiko (ancient hula), of course. :) {Every dancer of hula kahiko is an oral historian, telling ancient stories.}

~ Wishing you a lovely week! ~

(Images top to bottom from Harwell-Caledonian, Jack Mitchell via AKQA, Metro UK, William Hamon, Dey, BOMB Magazine, Bertrand Monney, Hullabaloo, and hokulea.)

Pseudo paella

(via)

I've posted before about my pseudo paella: This recipe would make a true connoisseur weep sadly, but is full of yum ingredients and won't take too long (35-45 min., instead of hours over coals).

Note: This recipe was adapted from Isabel Allende's "Aphrodite" and has a special story. After publishing "Paula," a sad but beautiful account of her daughter's illness, Allende said her days were grey with grief. But one night, she dreamt in Technicolor of eating Antonio Banderas wrapped in a burrito (!) and realized her senses were re-awakening; thus "Aphrodite" -- a celebration of the senses (and life) through food, and vice versa -- was born.

~ Have a wonderful weekend! ~

***

PSEUDO PAELLA (Feeds 2 hungry people)
Adapted from Isabel Allende's "Aphrodite"

• 1-2 tablespoons (~15-30g) minced onion
• 3 tablespoons (~45ml) olive oil
• 1 pinch turmeric
• 1 pinch saffron
• 1 pinch paprika
• 2 cups (~450g) mixed seafood (squid, shrimp, scallops, others) --> I know it's sacrilegious, but seafood straight from a frozen pack saves LOTS of time & works in this recipe
• 1 small tomato, chopped into medium chunks
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 cups (~500ml) fish stock (ideally) or other stock
• 1 cup (~250ml) white rice
• 1 red bell pepper (sweet pepper or capsicum), cut in strips
• Optional: 1 cup (~225g) peas
• Optional: 6-8 mussels in shell
• Optional: Lemon wedges to squeeze over seafood

In a large pan, saute onion in oil over medium-high heat until transparent. Add the spices and saute 1 minute more. Add the seafood--but not the mussels--tomato and garlic. Cook 4-5 minutes, turning occasionally. Add stock. When it reaches a boil, sprinkle in the rice and peas. Lower the heat, cover pan and let bubble and cook gently 15 minutes. Arrange the red pepper and mussels on top, cook covered for 5-10 minutes more. Test to see if the rice is done and check seasonings. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat, uncover the pseudo paella and let steam evaporate 2 minutes before serving with lemon, then chow!

{Feel free to play with the recipe and add your fave ingredients - recipes (and food) can be freestyle, fun and personal. :)}

Tagged! 10 things I love

I've been tagged by You can call me Meghan to reveal 10 things I love. Thanks, Meghan! My family and friends are a given, so in no particular order...

{The Maldives}
#1. Traveling - I'm always moving to new places so it kind of goes together :)

#2. Paddling down a lazy river (I love water)

#3. Eating, of course! Today, I'm succumbing to these chocolates

#4. Secret grottos and waterfalls

#5. Music has always been important. I love many genres.

#6. Late afternoon light

#7. Seeing butterflies

{I love this dancing image from a Netherlands dance festival}

#8. Dancing! (I'm awful at it! But love how it makes me feel.)

#9. Man's (and woman's! :)) best friend

{English sunrise, Scholes}
#10. Sunrises and sunsets - like daily doses of magic

I'm excited to hear what you love too! :)

(Images top to bottom via FreeWine, Druid Labs, Ozgur Mulazimoglu, morberg, blmurch, Creativity+, Haags Uitburo, nattu, Laughing Squid and tricky.)

On food and life

People often asked the legendary food-writer, M.F.K. Fisher, why she wrote about food, and not more "worthy" topics like love or war. Her wonderful response:

"It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am writing about love and the hunger for it...and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied...and it is all one."

To paraphrase Gourmet, Fisher redefined food-writing & helped make it "worthy" (breaking ground for female writers too!).

(Image via TreeHugger. The quote is in the foreward to Fisher's The Gastronomical Me.)