I don't care about spoilers. At all. Often times, I have read the Wikipedia page before I even see the movie. I just believe that knowing how the plot of the movie unfolds, doesn't affect the quality of the viewing experience and that people shouldn't be so uptight about spoilers. There is something to be said about going into a movie cold and being blown away. That is exactly what happened to me with Bean Wheatley's Kill List. Kill List is not the best movie I've ever seen, it doesn't have the best performances or best script, but it may be one of the ballsiest. The less you know about Kill List, the better. If you are interested in watching it, don't look at the trailer, don't look at the poster, just watch it. Kill List is the story of Jay (Neil Maskell), an everyday seeming guy who clearly loves his wife and child but can't really find a good way to provide for them. And so, after he returns from serving in the army, he and his mate Gal (Michael Smiley) go back into their former profession, contract killers. All I will say as with most "final job" movies, is it doesn't go as planned. But where Wheatley takes it, is not where you imagine. The real reason to watch this movie is to see just how ballsy and f&$#d up it gets (I should say that I am not one for shock cinema, but I think Wheatley plays it so well that the movie is worth seeing). Wheatley builds suspense perfectly in the film, and also does a great job of disorienting the viewer. The final 20 minutes of the film are shocking, exciting, and terrifying. I won't say much more but I will tell you that the imagery at the end is so striking and so haunting that sometimes at night, when I have to use the bathroom, Kill List is the scary image I can't stop thinking about.
Tequila and I have a strange relationship. It is the one liquor that never fails to knock me over quickly so sometimes a margarita isn't the best option since K makes them strong! So while we always have tequila in the house, sometimes I like to mix it up and have something other than a margarita. A Tequila Sunrise is a great option because it is beautiful, refreshing and doesn't pack too much of a punch.
Before we proceed, one word on the quality of liquor K and I use for mixed drinks. In general, when you are making a cocktail you want to have a decent quality of liquor but it is rarely necessary to use top shelf liquor, those should generally be reserved for sipping. I actually find that the quality of your mixers is more important than your liquor. A decent tequila makes a fine margarita but a terrible margarita mix makes a terrible, sugary one.
A Tequila Sunrise depends not so much on the quality of the tequila but on the orange juice. I am almost always a proponent of fresh squeezed juice and usually always use fresh citrus. With this cocktail, I don't, mostly because it is a pain to squeeze that much juice and I don't have a juicer. Therefore, it is important to use pulp free orange juice or else you will have a chunky cocktail, which isn't good for anyone.
Tequila Sunrise:
1.5 oz Golden Tequila
4 oz. orange juice
splash of grenadine.
Mix the Tequila and the Orange Juice in a shaker with ice. In the bottom of a frozen martini glass, put a splash of grenadine (probably about a half teaspoon to a teaspoon). The more grenadine you use, the more the drink will resemble a sunrise. But I find to much grenadine can make it syrupy. Carefully strain the cocktail mixture into the martini glass.
Enjoy this beautiful cocktail and imagine you are on a deserted Mexican beach!
I'll admit it, I am prissy. I don't like to get dirty, I don't like to sweat and I don't particularly like to be out in nature. So as you may have guessed, I am not a big fan of camping. I've never done and I never plan to. That said, after having a wedding and a three week Portuguese / Parisian honeymoon in April, K and I didn't exactly have the cash needed for a nice long summer vacation this summer. So we decided to cash in a gift certificate and went glamping! What is glamping you ask? It is glamorous camping, which basically means that you stay in some kind of a tent but it has a bed, a bathroom and electricity!
So two weeks ago, K and I drove over the mountains to Quincy, WA and spent two nights in a yurt at Cave B Inn and Spa. The yurt was quite large with a king size bed, large couch, and small refrigerator and coffee maker, and wi-fi! The bathroom had a real toilet and shower and although it was probably the worst shower I've ever taken, I was glad to have a real shower. The resort also had a beautiful pool area where we spent a lot of time; they also have regular rooms if you aren't into yurting it. The view from our yurt was gorgeous so we spent both evenings with appetizers, wine and music, enjoying the gorgeous views of the vineyards and the river beyond it.
Cave B Inn and Spa was a beautiful facility in a gorgeous location. The main problem with our stay was the limited dining options in the area. We spent two nights there and had a dining credit for $100 so we had dinner one night at Tendril's restaurant. I am not a food critic and won't pretend to be but I will say that I love dining out and I go out enough to know good food. Tendril's food was perfectly acceptable. My Carrot Riesling soup was lovely, my steak was overcooked for what I like. I requested medium rare and it was definitely medium. The main problem with the restaurant is it wildly overpriced. My steak was $42.00! Since Quincy is a 25 minute drive away and the options are fairly limited (we did drive into Quincy for lunch one day at Casa Jalisco and it was surprisingly good family Mexican food); we would have eaten at Tendril's again but didn't want to spend the money for food that wasn't worth it. So instead, we had a little picnic out on our patio, which was a lot of fun. Next time, I'd bring along our portable grill and have a cookout.
Cave B Inn is also a winery. I drink a lot of wine but am by no means an expert. The wine was perfectly adequate and the tasting room was lovely looking. The Tempranillo was my favorite and we ended up buying that, a white and a rosé. All in all, Cave B Inn was a perfect weekend getaway for K and I. It was relaxing, beautiful and hot! K and I are already thinking of spending a few days in a yurt next year.
It is finally summer and I had a little getaway in Eastern Washington last week. All this Vitamin D got me thinking of movies that perfectly capture that certain tone and feeling that summer has: carefree, joyous, endless and sometimes sweltering. Here are five that I enjoy.
Raise your hand if you know the movie referenced!
1. Do the Right Thing (1989, Spike Lee): Do the Right Thing is about how a city in a heat wave can be like a pot about to boil over; at first everything seems harmonious but look away for a minute and there is a big mess. Taking place over the course of a single day; racial tensions rise in Brooklyn when Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito) asks Sal the white pizzeria owner why there aren't any black people on his wall of fame (which shows famous Italian Americans). As the day gets hotter, the cast of characters, (including Spike Lee himself as pizza delivery boy Mookie and Radio Rahim, he of the Love and Hate knuckles above, shout out to Night of the Hunter!) get more and more frustrated with the inequality they see around them. Though this is absolutely a movie about prejudice and racism; it is also about what a hot day feels like and how even the issues can spiral out of control when you are so hot you don't even want to move.
2. Dazed and Confused (1993, Richard Linklater): This is a movie I definitely remember watching on my summer vacations in middle school. This is the second movie on this list that takes place in a single day, in this case, the last day of school (the best day of the year!). We follow a group of kids on their last day of middle school in Austin Texas in 1979 and of course, they end up having a memorable night with the older high school kids. There are so many people in this movie who would go onto bigger and better things, including Ben Affleck, Adam Goldberg, Parker Posey (love her!) and of course, Matthew McChonaughey as the eternal Wooderson (I have embedded a clip for your enjoyment!). This movie creates a nostalgia for a time that I have never experienced, but I think that the movie perfectly captures the excitement and anticipation of summer vacation and the way summer nights can hold an adventure that you never expected.
Lisa P. K's favorite character.
3. Adventureland (2009, Greg Mottola): This is bound to be a controversial choice since K and I watched this movie together and he promptly declared it one of the worst movies he has ever seen. I found it oddly affecting and funny at the same time. Jesse Eisenberg plays, James, who in the early 1980's has just graduated from college and is planning on going to graduate school in New York City in the fall. His parents tell him they can't afford to send him and he has to get a job for the summer. So he works at the local amusement park, Adventureland. This movie is your typical coming of age story, with Eisenberg falling for Kristen Stewart's Em. Ryan Reynolds also gives a strong turn as the hotshot of Adventureland. This movie captures both the drudgery of working in the summer at a dead end job and the fun and camraderie that is formed in those transient moments.
Bonjour fake out Louis Garrel!
4. Summer Hours (2008, Olivier Assayas): I once heard someone refer to this movie as "Antiques Roadshow: the Movie". And while that is a little unfair, the film does focus on what happens to a valuable decoartive item collection when the matriarch of the family dies leaving her idyllic home and precious collection to her three children. I know that sounds like a total snoozefest, but the characters are so fully drawn and the atmosphere is so perfect, that the movie is completely compelling, you care what happens to the teacups and teapots! This home is a European fantasy, out in the country, sprawling, sun dappled but her three children are of a new, global era, and don't see the same need for the home, to them it is a museum of memories. Melancholy, pensive and spectacularly beautiful, Summer Hours, perfectly expresses the fleeting, ethereal moments that summer can have, and especially the memories of summer, and the memories of childhood. Charles Berling is fantastic and the final scene will knock your socks off.
5. Smiles of a Summer Night (1955, Ingmar Bergman): Delightful may not be the first word that comes to mind when people think of Ingmar Bergman, but this film is exactly that. A Midsummer Night's Dreamesque story of mismatched lovers who will end up properly matched after a summer's night at a Swedish country estate, this movie has a light, sweet tone that I wasn't expecting from Bergman. Starring my absolute favorite Swedish actor of all time, Gunnar Björnstrand, Smiles of a Summer Night deftly swings through the different social strata of early 19th century Sweden, and does so with wit and humanity. It also shows what it is like to live somewhere where summer days literally do go one endlessly (this is something I can definitely remember from the summer weeks I spent in Sweden). This film is simply put, magical.
Enjoy of one these movies on a long summer night (I recommend a Rosé to accompany them)!
