Book Review: The Witching Hour

The Witching Hour by Ann Rice.... dislike. I really wanted to like it, I did, but I cannot.

It started a little slow, which I could forgive. It started getting more interesting after the first few chapters but once I got past the hundred page mark, shit got boring. The story itself is interesting, if you just examine the bare bones of the plot. The problem is everything in between. All the small details and elaborate descriptions which get repeated further down the line. You could take out the whole 400+ pages which comprise the "history of the Mayfair Witches" and still know everything that you need to know about the characters. Towards the end, I just wanted to know what was going to happen, I wanted to climax, I didn't want to get pulled along hundreds or more pages setting up was proved to be an anti climatic ending- an ending which wasn't really an ending since this is just the first in a three book series.

I just can't give this book my recommendation. It's just too long. Too many useless descriptions. Too much repetition. More effort than it's worth....

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I have seen a lot of spinach artichoke dip recipes passing around on the internet and honestly, some of them are too complicated for what it's worth. In fact, the recipe I am about to pass to you is more complicated than it needs to be. First I'll give you the run down of the recipe I am using now, but after I'll tell you how much easier it could be.

mozzarella cheese not shown

First, lets gather all the ingredients.
8 oz. cream cheese
1 (14 oz.) can of artichokes (drained)
6 oz. frozen spinach (thawed)
sour cream, mayo, garlic, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses




Put a medium saucepan on the stove top set to low.

 Now this is the easy part, go ahead and add each ingredient one at a time to the sauce pan. First add your spinach, then your artichokes, then the cream cheese, then a dollop of sour cream and a dollop of mayo, then grate some mozzarella cheese and add about a teaspoon of garlic. Make sure you are stirring this the whole time and soon you will have creamy deliciousness. Also note, I give you no real measurements because really, you can't mess it up. If you have more sour cream and mayo, it with just be more smooth, if you add more cheese it with just be more cheesy, it really is all on you and what you like.

Transfer it into a serving bowl and serve warm. I topped mine with a little Parmesan cheese ( I can never have enough cheese) and ate it with some tortilla chips (you can use bread too!)







Now you might be asking, but how can it get any more simple than this recipe? Well it can. The first time I made this I used one can artichokes, once bag frozen spinach, one container cream cheese and what ever mozzarella I had left. I simply put it all in the saucepan and stirred it over low heat till it was warm and creamy. No fuss. And really, I add some more to it this time after seeing a lot of different recipes, but it was practically the same. Add m ore stuff to it if you want to, but it is just as yummy with four ingredients.

Movie Review: The Grey

Alright, I admit it. I watch a lot of movies. A lot. I can't help it, I love them. Even ones that I don't like, I still love. I love to analyze the movie afterwards, I love to point out flaws and I appreciate the little details. Now, it isn't that I didn't like Liam Neeson's latest movie, but let's just say it was not without flaws.

The quick rundown: Great scenery, cool idea, but don't get caught up in logistics or else you'll spend the whole movie saying "you got to be f'ing kidding me...." (much like I did).

The long rundown: Just a heads up, the whole movie was filmed to look a little grainy/gritty which I actually like. We find our fearless hero (Liam Neeson) up in east bum Alaska working with ex cons as a wolf sharp shooter. We know Liam is unhappy with his life and right from the start he is contemplating suicide. The next day the whole crew hops on a plane heading back to Anchorage. What I really did like about this movie was the crash scene. They did a real nice job catching the wild fury and panic of a plane crash. After the crash Liam steps up as a leader trying to get survivors to work together. Soon they realize they are in wolf territory and that's when things start getting unbelievable. The rest of the movie is about their journey from the crash site trying to find safety by getting stalked and hunted by wolves of mythical proportion. If you've never seen a Discovery documentary on wolves then maybe you wont care how ridiculous they are portrayed but you still will probably raise eye brows when the survivors have to jump over a cliff edge and hope they can reach the tops of trees since that is the only way off the cliff, but then once they get there the wolves are already waiting on the ground (they must have took the stairs?) As the survivors struggle for their lives their characters get developed further but let's be real, at this kind of movie you aren't here for the character development.

All in all, the movie was entertaining. You are there asking yourself what would you do in that situation? As ridiculous as some of the wolves were and some of the plot lines were and some of the stunts were... bottom line it is still an entertaining movie. You want the characters to survive, you fear for their lives and root for them to win (as in, beat the mythical wolves who want to kill them for pleasure more than for food).

MMMmmmm Good

We're getting over colds in our household so that means soup. Something we like to do (any maybe you will too) is to use orange juice instead of water or milk in out tomato soup. The soup is a bit more tangy and less creamy than if you usually use milk but it's the perfect way to add some extra vitamin C to the mix. So next time you're sick, give it a try (even try it when you're not sick so you can appreciate it's awesome deliciousness all the more). Simply substitute the one can of water or milk you would normally use with one can of orange juice.

Movie Review: The Whistleblower

Last night we watched the 2010 Rachel Weisz move, The Whistleblower (based on a  true story).

The quick rundown: A tense movie with a tragic story line, not for the faint of heart.

The long rundown: Rachel Weisz plays a divorced mother whose child was in the custody of the father.Although it is never really explained why she doesn't have custody, you are led to believe it has something to do with her loving her job as a police officer? (that makes sense?) Not really an important plot point so moving on. In an effort to make neough money to move to Georgia so she can be closer to her daughter she signs up to work for the UN in Bosnia. She gets there and is quickly promoted because she is so good at her job, yaddie yaddie yadda, she is soon causing trouble. She finds out that sex trafficking is a huge problem and she wants to save all these girls but every one seems to be telling her not to bother.

Without ruining the movie for you, I will just say that she gets herself  and the girls she is trying to save into more and more trouble. The whole movie had me upset (mostly because this really does happen and this is really how governments handle it). The move was fairly well done in that respect; it makes you want to help these girls. Story line wise, there were some things I would change (such as the poorly developed love story between Weisz and some Dutch guy whom the whole time you are thinking must be some sketch ball since every other guy in the movie seems to be...) but there are some good plot twists as well that make the movie worth while.

If you like political movies or tense dramas this would be a good pick. If you are looking for a feel good movie, this is definitely not it. Also, if you get squeamish there are certainly some scenes you would have to close your eyes (even when they don't show it, they suggest a lot...)

Bandana Holder

I've been really busy lately and haven't been able to do any crafts because we have been having the interior of our house painted and we've been staying with relatives till it was over. Finally... two weeks later, the painting is done and the odors have subsided enough for us to stay in our house for more than 30 minutes. Suffice it to say, first day back and I am already crafting.

Today, I made a nice little container for my bandana collection. I've been collecting new colors over the years and there is no good way to store them without them going everywhere every time I take one out... until today. I found an old box and some scrap fabric and got to work. All in all, it only took about a half hour to do the whole thing and it looks a heck of a lot better than the pile of bandanas I used to just leave on my dresser.





Step One: Cut the flaps from the box and make a pattern for the interior. I did this by simply tracing the bottom of the box onto my fabric, then tracing each side along the bottom (does that make sense?). Once you are done tracing, cut it out and fold the flaps over the fabric that will become the bottom.

 

Step Two: Use spray adhesive ( I used Elmer's Multi Purpose Craft Bond) and completely spray the inside of the box. Once you have a good covering of glue, go ahead and place the fabric into the box as pictured. I then press one side in at a time smoothing it out towards the edges as I go until the inside is completely covered.

Step Three: To cover the outside, I cut a strip of scrap fabric about an inch wider and an inch longer than I need to go around all the sides. I sprayed the outside section by section, smoothing the fabric over the box. After the sides were completed I folder the corners under the bottom and with a glue gun, I glued a piece of felt on the bottom to cover the edges.



Step Four: To add a little pizazz, I added some pom pom trim with a glue gun around the top and my box was complete. My bandanas fit in perfectly when folded into squares and they look so nice when they are organized by color!

Movie Review: Midnight in Paris

We had movie night last night and I managed to convince my boyfriend to rent Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris", which was a fight since his first impulse was to rent "Cowboys & Aliens".

The quick rundown: Pretty good, worth the watch.

The long rundown: The movie started a bit slow. As with most Woody Allen films the dialogue seemed a bit contrived at times and it took some warming up before the actors really started to flow. No spoilers here, but here is outline of the plot. Gil (Owen Wilson) and Inez (Rachel McAdams) played an engaged couple visiting Paris while Inez father is there on business. Gil is a screenwriter who is working on his first novel, Inez is the slightly bitchy bride to be who plays the part of the girl more interested in the wedding than the husband. Gil stumbles upon a car that brings him to the 1920's as soon as the clock strikes midnight. He takes traveling back in time every night and makes some revelations about his life.

As I mentioned before, the movie starts a little slow. Took me a while to get into it and there were moments where it just came off a bit awkward. Pretty much all the actors who played the famous characters of the past (Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, the Fitzgerald's...) were awkward and not very convincing. When the story focused more on the individual relationships between the characters it went a lot better. As the movie progressed, it got better and better.

I'll leave it at that, I don't want to give away any major points. If you like Woody Allen, you'll like this movie. If you like Owen Wilson, you'll like this movie. If you like Rachel McAdams, well, she is kind of annoying in the movie so maybe you won't like this movie so much.