My Week in Movies: January 7-13

This week was my birthday week and although I wasn't expecting to watch much, I ended up having a pretty good week for movies despite only watching two. 

Haunters: The Art of the Scare
This documentary focuses on individuals running "Haunts" throughout the US. I find this fascinating because as much as I love horror, I am not big on haunted/spooky attractions. In fact, I have been known to cry and run through a haunted house in attempts to get out as quickly as possible. 
The attractions in this documentary are two ends of the spectrum: the stereotypical spooky haunted house and the extreme, over-the-top "must sign a waiver" style attractions. 
I really enjoyed this. There's a few reasons: 1. I *hate* haunted attractions despite my love of most other things "horror" related. 2. I've always wondered what prompts someone to create such attractions. and 3. The people in this documentary cannot be made-up. They are raw and strange but so so amazing. 
Now I wonder: how many of my parents' suburban neighbors are creating haunted attractions in their basements and garages? 

Phantom Thread
This film is going to be a tough one to top for me for the 2017 Oscar season. It is beautifully made and the story is unlike anything I've watched before. PTA is a favorite of mine and this has officially jumped in the list as my favorite by the director. 
Daniel Day Lewis plays a dressmaker in the 1950s and his behaviors are obsessive but driven by the women that surround him: he is compulsively inspired by affection and love. 
The film's score, by Jonny Greenwood, is captivating and moving. Personally, I'd say it's the best out of the four he's worked on for PTA. 
I got the opportunity to watch this in 70mm and am so glad that I was able to. 

Black-Eyed Pea and Vegetable Soup

A variation on a traditional “Vegetable Noodle Soup”  I find this to be heartier and more “meaty” The key to this recipe is Liquid Smoke, which I love to use when cooking beans for a more smoky, almost “ham-y” flavor and scent. 

Soup is a great way to use leftover vegetables both for vegetable broth (if you save clippings, skins, etc.) or to put in the actual soup. Sometimes, I will have bits of squash, leftover carrots and random amounts of chickpeas. Waste not, friends ;)

This soup is directly inspired by the flavors of Hoppin’ John and is sure to warm you from the inside out! 

This is about eight servings. 

INGREDIENTS
1 cup dried black-eyed peas
1/2 tbsp of liquid smoke
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup white/yellow onion, chopped fine
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup chickpeas
1 cup pasta shells, uncooked
4 cups vegetable broth
3 cups water
2 cups kale (or any other variety of green of your choice*)
+additional black pepper and salt to taste
+any vegetables you have and want to add! 

METHOD

1. Rinse and soak your Black-Eyed Peas  To start, you will want to rinse then soak your black eyed peas. I usually soak these overnight in a pot of water, with about 1-2 inches of water above them. If soaking overnight is not an option, opt for a quick-soak** Once you’ve soaked, drain the black-eyed peas and set aside.
2. Cook onion and garlic In a separate heavy-bottom pot, cook garlic and onion until onion is translucent and garlic starts to brown. You can cook the garlic/onion in oil or water, whichever is preferred.***

WARNING, THESE NEXT STEPS MOVE FAST. Have ingredients measured and ready prior to moving forward so you do not burn anything!

3. Add black-eyed peas and chickpeas + liquid smoke. Stir until all ingredients are well-combined.
4. Add parsley, salt, black pepper. Stir again until well combined and evenly seasoned.
5. Add vegetable broth and water. Bring to a boil.

NOW WE ARE BACK TO NORMAL SPEED.

6. Add you pasta shells once at a boil and cook until desired pasta temp or per package instructions.
7. Simmer the soup on low low low until you are ready to eat it :) Prior to serving, add kale and simmer a couple of minutes to allow the kale to wilt into the soup.

This soup can be frozen then reheated. May need water if you do this! 

*I prefer Lacinato Kale, but per picture above, I used a mixed green! Use what you have and don't fret if it isn't exact. That's the beauty of vegetables: they all taste good :)
**To quick-soak, simply soak for the amount of time that you have available THEN bring the black-eyed peas and water to a boil for 2 minutes then drain. 
*** I usually will put a splash of water in the pot, heat the garlic and then add onions and 1/4 cup of water. This way, you are limiting the amount of oil that you use while cooking. 

Quinoa Beanballs

I like this variation of a meatball as they are hearty and have a fantastic texture. The sage and paprika together will bring through a meatier, smoky flavor. This recipe created ~24 balls and they can be kept in the refrigerator, uncooked, up to 1 week or you can freeze them for about a month. 

1 cup dry quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth or water
1 can Great Northern White Beans
1 jar sundried tomatoes, with oil (4oz jar)
2 whole cloves of garlic
1.5 tsp paprika
1 tbsp sage
0.5 tbsp parsley
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste

**PREHEAT YOUR OVEN BEFORE GETTING STARTED: 375° F

1. Blend the Beans and tomatoes! In a food processor or blender, you will want to pulse the beans along with the garlic and sundried tomatoes until smooth. Once this is done, set aside. No need to strain the tomatoes prior to adding to the food processor: the oil from the tomatoes will assist in holding the mixture together. 
2. Rinse the Quinoa. If you are using a quinoa that is not pre-rinsed, you will want to rinse the quinoa.* You can rinse quinoa by using a fine sieve and running warm water over the quinoa while agitating the quinoa a bit with your hands or a spoon.
3. Cook Your Quinoa. I like to cook my quinoa in vegetable broth. Combine the broth and quinoa in a saucepan, bring to a boil. Once boiling lower the heat and cover your saucepan. It will take 10-15 minutes for the quinoa to cook. Cooked quinoa will be fluffy and most (if not all) of the liquid will be absorbed.** I then let the quinoa rest for a few minutes, removed from heat so that it cools a bit before being handled.
4. Mix it all together. Once your quinoa has cooled a bit, combine the bean mixture and quinoa in a large mixing bowl. At this point, you will also add your spices: the sage, paprika, black pepper, and salt. The mixture should be tacky (that's the beauty of the white beans! food glue!) 
5. MAKE THE BALLS. roll the mixture with your palms into 1.5inch balls. I like to scoop the mixture into my palm using a spoon -- this creates less mess. Once you have your balls, place them gently on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. 
6. Bake at 375° for ~35 minutes. The outside will brown a bit. 

These quinoa and bean balls are great with pasta. I like to add these into my marinara and simmer for a few minutes prior to serving. I'd image these would be AWESOME on a sub too :)
 

*Rinsing quinoa removes the natural coating on it. If you do not do this, your quinoa might taste a little more bitter than you're expecting. Some brands of boxed quinoa comes pre-rinsed so no effort is needed there :) If you buy bulk foods, you will need to rinse! 
**Cooked quinoa will have "germ" (the outer ring of the quinoa) start to separate from the seed. 

2017 Favorites: Cosmetics

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There were quite a few products purchased this year, so I will keep this extremely brief. The below are the items that I kept revisiting and became staples in my cosmetics drawers and now I cannot imagine what makeup life would be like without them ;)

image from my instagram - lcatkinson

Fenty Beauty Stunna Lip Paint

This is both a recently released product and recent purchase of mine -- Beyond it being recent and fresh in my mind, this is one of the best lipsticks I have purchase in a while (and yes, I own a lot) The color payoff is honestly, unreal. The application is both smooth and feels luxurious. Once dry, this lip paint is more of a matte-velvet finish. The only downside is there is some transfer when eating but the color lasts all day otherwise! 

I am hoping that this product results in additional colors in the line and I am confident that as soon as those colors are released, they would sell out immediately. 

Image via TomFord.com

Tom Ford Lipstick - BOYS&GIRLS Collection

Not only is the packaging perfectly Tom Ford, the ad campaigns for this line are some of my favorite. The images are striking and sexy. 
I picked up the shade "Evan" which happens to be my most worn lipstick at the moment. It's a mauve-y nude and looks great on both glammed up and effortless days. This lipstick is a creamy matte: It applies smoothly but has a matte finish. 

image from drunkelephant.com

Drunk Elephant - like, everything...
This year I've been really focusing on skincare. One of the brands that I cannot get enough of is Drunk Elephant: I love nearly every product of theirs that I have purchased. My favorite has been a secret to keeping my skin in great condition all year: The T.L.C. Framboos™ Glycolic Night Serum. This stuff kept my skin smooth (I tend to get dry patches on my cheeks and the skin is stubborn to lift) and the Night Serum allowed for a beautiful exfoliation -- you can feel it working without the harsh impact or burning. 

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What cosmetics and beauty items to you grab this year and love? 

My Week in Movies: December 3 - December 9

This was a lighter week for movies with only two movies being watched. 

Image via variety.com

The Revenant (2015)
Prior to watching this at home this week, I had only viewed The Revenant once before in theaters. Although I enjoyed the movie in theaters, I had a not so great experience of sitting too close to the screen. So watching this at home proved to be a better experience. 
The director Alejandro González Iñárritu has an interesting range of filmmaking and I'd say that the only common thread is that many of the stories are grim and have hints of supernatural/metaphysical plane involved. 
There's a reason that DiCaprio finally got his his Oscar with this one. He plays emotional, apathetic, tough, and quiet all so well in this film: it is his most dynamic performance. 
This gets 4 stars for me. It is one of the most beautifully shot movies of recent years. 

Image via IMDb

Sun Choke (2016)
This was a rough watch. A rough watch that I loved.
Our main is a twenty-something year old suffering from psychological trauma and under the watch of a caretaker is going through some...interesting holistic treatment. 
At the start, I was unsure whether to be sympathetic towards the main character but as the story unfolds, I felt a disconnect from both the main and her nanny as they both carry darkness and disturbing habits. That only further rang true as the movie progressed. 
This takes you on a slow but wild ride where at first you are hoping for vengeance and then you are looking towards relief. 
I give this one 4 stars for originality, cinematography, and pure creepiness. 

Throwback Thursday: Pictures from the past few years

Not sure what it is about the holiday season, but it always has me reminiscing of where I've been and all that has happened in the past few years. It got me scrolling through photos and I figured I'd share simply the photos from December 7. 

2016:

On 12/7/16 Jesse sent me an Usagi and Luna funko pop to my office. It was a cute surprise and this now sits on my desk at home. She's the guardian of my work habits, too 😊

2015:

Nothing has changed. I take a lot of pictures of my food now and did then as well. This was captioned as being a salad made with leftovers. A "kitchen sink" salad, if you will. 

2014:

This is just a shot of our livingroom. It's changed so much from 2014 -- we had just moved in and knew that we finally had a more permanent place to live but hadn't really spent the time decorating to our liking yet. I remember that our apartment (especially the livingroom) still felt like a hodge-podge of furniture and wall decor but there wasn't much that we absolutely loved. Looking back on this, I am glad we've taken the time this year to really decorate our apartment exactly as we want it. We've also gotten rid of so much clutter: looking at this picture, all I see is mess (I know, that's just me) 

2013:

Ahead of the holidays in 2013, I was eating extremely clean. There was a point where about 75-80% of my meals were raw foods. It paid off because I was in great shape and felt good. Looking at this encourages me to get back to eating clean but not taking it to such extremes. 

2012: 

And finally, a selfie. This is actually the oldest picture on my instagram too and was posted in March. Looking through my photo library, however, it's conveniently taken on December 7. I look younger, of course, but not that different really 

My Week in Movies: November 26 - December 2

A new thing that I am starting is to watch as many movies as possible in a week. I've been focusing my attention on de-stressing and taking time for myself throughout the week. Part of this is breaking up routine with things that I enjoy. The best break for me is watching movies.

In the coming weeks, I will re-watch old classics, see new horror and experience recent releases. The goal is to not watch only new movies but to also watch films I haven't seen in a while.

I will post brief impressions and reviews here... if you hate spoilers, better to not read (although I will keep them to a minimum)

This week:

What We Become
A Danish zombie movie. Slowly everyone in a smalltown becomes quarantined and it is unclear who is infected and who is clean. 
This sticks to every zombie method: bleak apocalypse. 
Spoiler alert: this doesn't end as happy as most zombie movies. That's the calling card, in my opinion. 
The effects (makeup, practical, digital) were all solid -- but I do wish there were more of them. 
2.5 stars. Although I really enjoyed the plot and the visuals, this lacked anything special. 

A Dark Song
A grieving mother consults an occultist in an attempt for vengeance. The occultist takes this woman through rituals in order to see her son. 
This is cinematically... pretty. The sound is fantastically eerie and the dialogue is solid. The part where this one lost me is with some of the visuals of the alternate realms and explanation of the rites. At points, it was unclear which part of the ritual the two were partaking in and it left me questioning that instead of paying attention to the plot unfolding on the screen. This was both distracting and made the pacing feel to loose. 
2 stars. The plot was original and although visually stunning, the ending felt rushed and lackluster. 

The Babysitter
Comedic gore gold.
Parents go away for the weekend quite a bit and leave their preteen son with a hot, feisty, yet super sweet babysitter. She's seemingly attentive except...The Babysitter has a dark secret: she's the leader of a pack of satanists. 

I love this Babysitter: she's relatably nerdy and a babe, yet makes deals with the devill. Lots of references to cult classics: red bikini-clad babe in the family pool à la Fast Times at Ridgemont High. A sequence of the babysitter and preteen acting out western shoot-out scenes from Billy Jack. Arguments about Star Trek. A preteen boy watching his babysitter play a round of spin the bottle. Human sacrifice...

I adore this one. 4 stars. It's original, smart, and fun. Highly recommend if you're into comedic horror. 

The Imitation Game
I am behind the "game" with this one, but here we are. 

This movie is pretty... standard. It's somewhat predictable and simple except for Benedict Cumberbatch's Alan who is exceptionally played. Alan's story is more important and compelling to me than the main plot thread.