Movie: Leap Year

I love this movie!! I am especially fond of their first kiss.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: Discussion Question #6

What do you think is the Major's "last stand?" What are different ways the title could be interpreted?

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: Discussion Question #5

A bonus Thursday question! 

Both the Major and Mrs Ali have histories of Infertility. How has their infertility affected their lives compared to siblings or other family members?

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: Discussion Question #4

Were you surprised by how strongly the Major's friends and club members responded to his relationship with Mrs. Ali? Do you see those kinds of prejudices in society?

Editor's Pick: The Last Unicorn Discussion Question #2

The Unicorn sets out on a perilous journey, not knowing how far she will need to go to find others like her. But she knows she must find them. Starting out in the journey of Infertility feels like this. Most of us start down this path not knowing how long - how far we will travel or what challenges we might face. What were your feelings about starting down the path of ttc and infertility at the start? And then later on? Here is a link of the movie at this part. "On Man's Road" I tear up almost every time.

Movie: Valentine's Day

A great little romantic movie for today. :) There are all kinds of love. I hope you can reach out to someone today and hand out a little bit of cheezy love.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: Discussion Question #3

There are obvious differences between Mrs Ali’s Pakistani/Indian culture and Major Pettigrew’s English culture. 

What stands out the most to you? 

And what do you see in common between the two?

Hot Chocolate Melting Cake

These are very similar to chocolate lava cakes except I serve mine in the ramekin with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top and/or fruit. They are fantastic and I can never just eat one! Plus you can purchase cute little heart shaped ramekins at places like TJ Maxx or Marshalls!

Makes 6 servings. Preheat oven to 390 degrees F.

Ingredients:

8 oz. semisweet chocolate (1 cup) - be sure to pick a high quality chocolate!
8 oz. butter (1 stick or 1 cup)

1 teaspoon vanilla - I prefer Madagascar bourbon vanilla (Spice Islands or Watkins makes a good one)

1 pinch of salt

6 eggs (room temperature)
4 oz. sugar (1/2 cup)
4 oz. all purpose flour (1/2 cup)


To Prepare:

Spray your ramekins with cooking spray.

Melt the chocolate and the butter. You can either do this on the stove top using a double boiler and stirring or the easier method by microwaving the two ingredients in a glass bowl on defrost for 2-3 minutes, stirring after each minute. Add in the vanilla and pinch of salt to the melted chocolate mixture.

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs and sugar and whisk for a few minutes. Add the flour and mix until smooth.

Stirring constantly, add the egg mixture to the melted chocolate mixture and mix well.

Pour the mixture into the ramekins and bake directly in the oven at 390 degrees F for 15-18 minutes.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream. Enjoy!

Editor's Pick -- The Last Unicorn: Part 2

The last half of the book includes the journey of Shmendrick the Magician, Molly, and the Unicorn as they seek the Red Bull's lair. They soon discover it under the castle of the evil King Haggard. During an attack by the Red Bull where he relentlessly pursues the Unicorn, she is cornered. Molly screams at Shmendrick to "Do something!" and he does. He turns the Unicorn into a woman. It's a blessing and a curse all at once. As the Unicorn, she didn't know human feelings. Things were more clear. She didn't know love but she also didn't know sadness or pain. Soon, she learns to feel all these things. Soon, she falls in love with the prince, an adopted son of the King, who falls head-over-heels for her instantly. But, as you can guess, their love is doomed. She tries to hide from her true self, the Unicorn, and wants to become human, mortal, forever. It is Shmendrick who reminds her of who she really is. Her human form is only able to fool the Red Bull for so long, though, and soon it comes for her. The Prince valiantly tries to protect her but he is injured. During the chase, Shmendrick is able to change her back to a Unicorn. The bittersweet ending is shown here (sorry for the echo-y sound): I really, really hope you all enjoyed this book (and/or movie). It's one I hope to share with my future kids someday too. :) This clip asks a good question: Is this story reinforcing gender roles or is it "subverting" them? What do you think?

Dutch Sugar Cookies

Did you miss baking for the holidays because of all the December rush?  Are you missing all the cookies and sugar?  Valentine's Day is your chance to start baking once again.  Here is a tasty recipe for sugar cookies.

3/4 c. butter
1 c. + 2 TBSP brown sugar, packed
1 egg yolk (save the egg white)
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg white
1 TBSP water
1/3 cup sugar, for topping

Cream butter; add sugar gradually; blend in the egg yolk and dry ingredients.  Roll 1/8" thick on floured canvas.  Cut with cookie cutters.  Put on a greased cookie sheet.  Combine egg white and water; brush over cookies; sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

I'm not great with frosting so I loved the colored sugar to decorate cookies.  As a matter of discussion, I often have a hard time with rolling cookie dough.  I think it has everything to do with the temperature of the butter when you make the cookies.  It has to be a perfect room temperature and the dough cannot get too warm when you are rolling it out.  Does anyone have any great suggestions for making the perfect rolled cookies?

Editor's Pick: The Last Unicorn - the Movie

This movie was watched as much as my parents would allow as I grew up. The introduction to the movie is ingrained in my memory: http://youtu.be/VxoJLJx-mJw After seeing the part where the unicorn is shown in the clouds, I would literally run to the window and look out to see if there was a unicorn in the clouds. Even now, I see shapes in the clouds and hope for the unicorn. The music is by America. It stars so many famous people. Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, Tammy Grimes, Angela Lansbury, Jeff Bridges, and Christopher Lee. You can see a lot of the tapestry artwork shown in the animation. I still have each line memorized; no matter how corny it is. :)

You can usually find the movie pretty cheap. There was recently a re-release to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the movie.

All the singing is beautiful except for one scene which I openly admit is horribly sung by Mia Farrow. :) Listen at your own risk: http://youtu.be/lIUnq2d9pMU Acting, her voice is perfect. Singing... not so much.

The Last Unicorn: Discussion Question #1

Lots of little girls love unicorns.  

Did you have a favorite creature or character growing up?

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: {Discussion Question #2}

The Major has a strong desire to reunite the two Churchill guns as his father dictated on his deathbed. He is faced with obstacles such as his son and SIL who would rather just sell the guns at the highest price.

If you were in a similar circumstance, which would you choose to do? Would you find a third option?

What did the guns represent to the Major? How did his view of them change over the course of the novel?

Valentine's Day Cards

Over the years, my friends and I have formed a card group. We meet about 5 times a year and create cards together. On our own, we create a card design, cut out the paper for everyone to make 3 sets of our card, and then get together to put together the cards. It is great fun and a good chance to get together with friends. A stop at Joann's or Hobby Lobby or any craft store can usually take care of supplies. Don't forget your coupons! Although we use stamps, often times you could print out some designs or wording from the computer or get paper with designs printed on it and cut them out. Hearts are fun and easy to cut! Here are some of the ideas we have come up with through the years:

Have fun crafting up some cards and have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Love Poems

For this romantic month of love, we are sharing a series of love poems.

Here is the first.

"How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways..."
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, ---
I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! ---
and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

Valentine's Day Heart Wreath

Necco Wafers are my favorite (non-chocolate) candy, so you can imagine how much I like this time of year with conversation hearts at the corner of every store display. This craft project is not only simple and fun -- but also inexpensive.

Start with a styrofoam wreath that has a flat surface and sides. So yes, round and flat at the same time. Wrap the wreath in pink tissue paper. I cut it in half and then folded in half and wrapped it around that way. It doesn't have to be perfect -- it's just to cover the styrofoam. I also used a little tacky glue to hold the final end down.

Use a glue gun and start placing small hearts on the top surface of the wreath. It was easier to go three across rather than one row all the way around. I also used the small hearts for the inside of the wreath; and large ones for the outside.

Tie a long sash with a ribbon to hang the wrath from. I used a couple straight pins to hold where I tied the ribbon to the back of the wreath, out of sight. Make a bow around the sash for decoration. 

From start to finish, it took me less than a full episode of Private Practice on my DVR. In the end, I opened three bags of small hearts and two bags of large ones, more for color choice than quantity (who knew that yellow is not as populated in the bag as the other colors?!). I probably could have gotten away with three bags total for the whole wreath.

Using a 40% coupon for the wreath and finding the ribbon in the Christmas clearance section, the total for the project was under $10.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Editor's Pick: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

I must make a confession right now. I am a huge nerd for this story. I grew up watching the movie over and over and over. Move over Barney and Dora, this Unicorn story is why I still, to this day, love unicorns. The mythology of unicorns is fodder for any dreamy-eyed young girl. Stories are told of how young virginal maidens would walk into a clearing in a forest and sit quietly or perhaps play a song on an instrument. A unicorn, it is said, would then be drawn to her and would gently put its head in her lap. A series of historical tapestries illustrates some of the story. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunt_of_the_Unicorn)

 This book is a story of a unicorn who has discovered that after many years of living in a forest, she may indeed be the last of her kind. Unable to believe this, she sets out from the safety of her home to wander the land in search of others like her. On her journey, she meets a bumbling young magician with a good heart and a middle-aged woman, Molly, who has lost her faith in so much until she sees the unicorn. There is a very acute moment in the story (done well in the book and movie), where Molly first sees the unicorn. At first she is angry; how dare she come to her now, when she is now so bitter and worn with life's trials. The unicorn understands the pain, if not the circumstances, and soon Molly is able to follow the unicorn as a faithful friend. It's easy for me to now see a parallel to my IF journey and my struggles with hope and bitterness, faith and failure. (http://youtu.be/sFfBuzddUMk)

Unicorns represent a kind of purity of soul. It's not hard to understand, then, why the tapestries mentioned above use the symbol of the unicorn to represent Christ. A unicorn is pure white and all its power is contained in its horn. Men often seek out the unicorn, not to know or understand it, but to take that power for themselves. In the book, only pure-hearted, or magical people can see the unicorn for what she is. Most just see a white mare. In the book, during her travels, the unicorn is captured by an evil witch, Mommy Fortuna, in a traveling carnival of magical animals. Mommy Fortuna's animals are not all magical in the assumed sense though. The unicorn sees through Fortuna's spells to see a toothless lion, an ape with a twisted foot, portrayed as bigger, scarier mytical creatures. And since most people would only see a white mare in a cage, the unicorn is given a false horn.

Symbolism abounds, as you can imagine. :) I'll post a summary of the second half of the story later, for those of you who aren't reading this one.