Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Hi y'all and sorry for the delay! It seems like forever since we watched a girls night movie because the holidays. Well now we are back to watching and this last week's movie was bedknobs and broomsticks! This movie debuted in 1971 and featured a younger Angela Lansbury, which for those who don't recognize the name, she was the TV series star of Murder She Wrote. This a is a fun filled British movie (I mention British because it used a lot of British terms we didn't quite understand) that stars Lansbury as a witch in the making. She's under the impression she is enrolled in a witches school where she receives lessons in the mail to complete.

The story takes place during the WWII, which is why three children find themselves staying with Miss Price (Lansbury). Sound familiar? The movie reminded me of Harry Potter meets chronicles of Narnia at this point. As this was my first time seeing the movie, I don't want to give too much away to those who haven't seen it, but the movie focuses on Miss Price trying to learn the last lesson of "substitutiary locomotion" to help in the war effort. Miss Price, the children and Emelius Browne (the headmaster of the witches school) embark on an adventure set out to find the spell.

The movie features early Disney animation mixed with real life acting, much like the famous Mary Poppins. And of course, the feature has some fun song along songs (what Disney movie doesn't?). So if you ask me, embark on the flying bed (yes I said bed) and using the traveling spell and search for the spell to help end the war on this Disney adventure.

Candlelight Processional at Epcot

This is the first year that my family and I (Anna) went to the Candlelight Processional at Disney’s Epcot. A friend at work had told me that I needed to go this year and as usual (she also convinced my family to get annual passes) we took her advice. For those of you that don’t know what that is, it’s when Epcot host several famous people that will read the Christmas story (you know, the one with Christ actually in it) while local choirs sing Christmas songs. They have three showing a night.

One thing I’m glad we did was make reservations in advance to eat before the show and then get priority seating for the processional. It’s called the Candlelight Dinner Package. It was well worth it for us!

The restaurant we chose was Tutto Italia Ristorante. I had wanted to eat here for a while anyway and this provided the perfect opportunity. The food was absolutely delicious! As part of the dinner package, my dad, mom, and I each got to pick a non-alcoholic drink, a starter, an entrée, and a dessert. Everything we all ordered was great. I shared the Calamari Fritti to start with my mom, the Filetto di Sogliola (lightly breaded fish served with white asparagus, capers, and a lemon butter sauce) as an entrée, and the Torta di Ricotta (lemon ricotta cheesecake topped with marinated strawberries) for dessert. I would definitely recommend any of my choices.

After we ate, we had enough time to walk around the other countries and make our way back to “America” for the spectacle. On our selected night Dennis Haysbert (might recognize him from All State commercials or the TV show 24) was the person reading the Christmas story. There were two lines. One of the lines was for the people that got the dinner package, and the other line was for the people who were waiting in standby. Both lines were so long that they were flowing into the nearby countries. It didn’t look like any of the standby people were going to get in, which was disappointing because Matt was going to meet us there after work. Luckily we were able to save him a seat, but hardly any other standby people were let in for our time slot.

The processional was very good. All the singers were excellent and Dennis Haysbert did a great job reading after a few mix-ups at the beginning. I was a little confused when the audience didn’t get any candles to hold, but I guess it’s safer that way. Overall, it was a great experience and I highly recommend it to everyone!

Brother Bear

We finally were able to have another girl's night and watch our next Disney movie after a few weeks of conflicting schedules. It was held at my (Anna's) house and the movie was Brother Bear. Brother Bear has always been one of my favorites because of the main characters overcoming adversity, so I was pretty glad to see it on our list at number 94. 

Brother Bear starts out with the main character, Kenai, coming of age. Before he can become a man though, he must achieved what his sacred totem symbolizes. Much to Kenai's dismay, his totem happens to be the Bear which symbolizes love. With the help from his brothers and other friendly creatures he finally learns that love is actually all he needs to become a man. It's not that easy and it's a great adventure so you're going to have to watch it to find out.

Since the movie was based in North America, I made our little group a Canadian themed dinner. As an appetizer I made Maple Bread with Soft Cheese. I thought it was a fitting start and pretty delicious too. As our main course I got a recipe from this year's Epcot's Food and Wine Festival cookbook. The recipe came from the Canadian pavilion and I think it turned out better than it was at Epcot (if I do say so myself). If you want to try it yourself (which I highly recommend) the recipe is below. For dessert, we had Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bars. These were also delicious, but something Canadians probably only have in the summer. Us Floridians can enjoy it all year long!

Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup

Serves 10

Ingredients:

·         ½ pound bacon, chopped into ½-inch pieces

·         1 medium red onion, finely chopped

·         3 celery ribs, finely chopped

·         4 tablespoons butter

·         1 cup all-purpose flour

·         3 cups chicken stock

·         4 cups milk

·         1 pound grated white cheddar cheese

·         1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

·         1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

·         Coarse salt, freshly ground pepper to taste

·         ½ cup warm beer

·         Chopped scallion or chives, for garnish

Directions:

1.       Stir bacon over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned, in a 4-or-5quart Dutch oven.

2.       Add onion, celery, and butter and sauté until onion softens, about 5 minutes.

3.       Add flour and stir constantly for about 4 minutes over medium heat. Whisk in chicken stock and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4.       Add milk and continue to simmer for 15 minutes. Do not boil after adding milk.

5.       Remove from heat and stir in cheese, Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper until cheese is melted and soup is smooth. Stir in warm beer. If soup is too thick, thin with some warm milk.

6.       Serve hot, garnished with chopped scallions or chives.

Disney's Frozen will Melt Your Heart

Last night I (Anna) was able to FINALLY go see Disney’s newest movie, Frozen! I’ve wanted to see it since the day it came out (and it’s not just because I’m a little bias with the new Princess being named Anna). I went with Matt, Shannon, and Neil. Ashleigh was also supposed to be in attendance, but her dog, Maximus, thought some Christmas ornaments looked a little tasty.

As you could guess, the movie did not disappoint! Disney has once again outdone themselves. The story was cute and thought provoking and the songs were beautifully done! To no one’s surprise, Idina Menzel who plays Elsa, the Snow Queen, sang amazingly, as did the rest of the actors. Before attending the movie, I heard critics saying that “it was their best movie since The Lion King!” and that made me a little nervous. I was afraid I was going in with my expectations set too high, but that was not the case. They were definitely met and exceeded.

Now about the movie… since Disney refused to give too much away while they were marketing the movie, I will have to follow their lead. The movie is based very loosely on The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen; although I didn’t find very many similarities. The movie’s themes focus on courage, not judging a book by its cover, and, of course the Disney favorite, true love.

Trust me; your heart will melt for Disney’s Frozen. Go see it!

The Mighty Ducks

So I'm a little behind again, but I'm pretty forgetful and I've been busy with school work. Anyways, us girls being me, Ash and Anna got to finally continue our girls night again after it being interrupted for a month or so. The next movie on the list Anna has was The Might Ducks, which I remember watching as a kid. Even though this ones a little older I still don't want to give away the complete story just in case someone hasn't seen it and would like to watch it.

In the movie Gordon Bombay is now a successful lawyer and as a kid he had played hockey, but never wanted to return. This is due to him failing to win the championship for his team. Upon making some poor choices one night, Gordon is sentenced to do community service meaning he's the new coach for a small and uncoordinated youth hockey team. As the story progresses bonds begin to form between the youth and their new coach as he helps them improve their hockey skills. This definitely has a nice story and overall is a fun movie to watch. There are also two sequels that follow the same team. Since I saw this when I was young it was nice to see it again after so many years and I would say regardless of if you like hockey or not you can probably find this movie to be enjoyable.

So once again sorry for getting this up so late, but overall I give this movie a thumbs up!

MARVELous Review: Thor 2!

Hey y'all, here's a different movie review other than our girls night Top 100 disney movies countdown. This last Friday we made our way to the Merritt Island theater to watch the much anticipated new Marvel movie, Thor: The Dark World. Everyone has their favorite superheroes, but Shannon and Anna prefer Thor as their fave (although seriously who doesn't love those muscles?). So we were quite excited to see the movie and not disappointed at all.

Without giving the plot away, the movie was action packed, moments that pulled at your heart and well muscles for our lady viewers! I highly suggest everyone seeing this movie. During the movie, there were several moments of shock and fear and sadness for some characters. You'll cheer along Thor to succeed and your heart will melt as his romance with Jane Foster grows. You'll be in shock and awe as the plot thickens. And enjoy the humorous dialogue that seems more and more in Marvel movies. This movie is pretty family friendly besides some violence and maybe some minor language (I honestly can't remember if there was cursing). The movie is full of some high tech technology and science from Jane along with some more mythical legends from Thor's side of things. It makes for a very interesting sci-fi kinda movie.

This movie didn't disappoint as a superhero sequel and I look forward for the series to continue. My only hint to the plot would be not everything appears as it seems but that's my only hint! Let the movie captivate you and take you away to Asgard and enjoy Thor 2. :)
 

Food and Wine- My experience

     On October 19th, we made our way to the food and wine festival finally! Of course, Shannon and I were running late to meet up with Anna and Matt. However, upon arrival we checked out our passports and started making our way around the world! We skipped a lot of the beginning places like Mexico due to the massive crowd, deciding another visit would include those. We stopped at China for our first try. Now for those who don't know, these are all basically samples and best to share and try different things with a group otherwise it probably will be WAY to expensive. And in an effort to share all we had, here is the list:
1. Kung Fu Punch-China
2. Almond Crusted Blue Cheese soufflé with Fig jam- Cheese
3. Schofferhofer Grapefruit-Brewer's Collection
4. Zapiekanki- Poland
5. Ravioli de Formaggio all'Emiliana- Italy
6. Teriyaki chicken hand roll- Japan
7. Griddled Greek Cheese with pistachios and Honey- Greece
8. Ouzo- Greece
9. Guylian Belgian chocolate seashell truffle- desserts & champagne
10. Chocolate orange cupcake- dessert & champagne
11. Morello cherry pistachio mouse- dessert & champagne
12. Kalua pork slider with sweet and sour dole pineapple- Hawaii
13. Leinenkugel seasonal shandy- craft beers

     I would say most were excellent and a few fell shy of expectations. All food samples we tried were between $3-$6 each. Liquor was around $8 each. While beer was $4-8 depending upon size. Not too bad for prices I would say. I would have to say the dessert were my personal fave followed by any alcohol hahah!

     I would suggest to bring your own regular drinks to stay hydrated (it was horribly hot that day). In addition, every so often seek some shelter (again from that sun). It might be hard to find a place to sit with your food so investing in a food and wine tray might be worth it. It holds your food and drink in one tray (even the wine glasses)! We missed out on the Night Ranger concert but I suggest checking the schedule whose playing when you plan on attending.

    
 We called it a day early to take advantage of Anna's family staying at Fort Wilderness with a dip in the pool. Following an awesome grilled burgers, baked beans and chips. The Barrett family did a great job feeding us a big full meal before we had to say goodbye for the day. Overall, a great experience and I look forward to going back!