movies

Bech and I got Netflix last August, but we spent the first 5 months watching 5 seasons of NCIS. We couldn't decide on a new tv show to watch after NCIS (which we love), so we have been watching a lot of movies lately. We also have seen several movies at the theatre lately, which is pretty unusual for us.

Sunday, we watched Percy Jackson & the Olympians...amazing! I loved it! I mean, everything wasn't right on with Greek and Roman myth, but I thought they did a great job. The story was really interesting, and I loved their portrayal of classical characters.

Bech and I also watched Avatar...again, so amazing! The story is pretty much a Pocahontas/John Smith story, but its the scenery and colors that make it so amazing. Pandora, the planet from the movie, is full of bioluminescent flowers and plants...so cool. I would suggest going to see it, if only because this movie really will set the bar for future movies.

This movie is coming out next week...I can NOT wait! I love Tim Burton and I love Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I am rereading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass right now in preparation for the movie. Although, from what I've heard, the movie is going to be a total new story line, almost a sequel to the first two. But who can resist Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter?

Another movie which is related to Alice is Phoebe in Wonderland. It is about a little girl who is obsessed with Alice's world. It is so good...and its on Netflix watch instantly.

Bech and I watched The Constant Gardener the other day on Netflix. I remember wanting to see it when it came out, but I think it was right before we left for Malawi. It is a really intense movie with a good amount of violence. But it is an incredible story. It takes place, for the most part, in Kenya and few other parts in Africa.

Friday night, Courtney and I are going to see Valentines Day...I am so excited!!!

We have a bunch of good movies coming up on our Netflix queue: The Proposal, Time Traveler's Wife, Where the Wild Things Are.

Any suggestions for more movies to add?

We had yet another snow day in Mississippi! This is the second this winter, which is kind of a big deal. We are luckily if we get some snow flurries. And this time, we got about 4 inches of snow!

Bech got to stay home from work, and my class and work got cancelled as well (Don't you love the South, where 4 inches qualifies as a good reason to cancel work?). We played in the snow some, cooked lots of fun food (heart shaped pancakes for V-Day and pumpkin soup with curry and red pepper). Then we went out for dinner to Julep's for our Valentine's Day date.

Here is our street...I love snow so much!

Our front yard:

Belhaven looked gorgeous with snow:

We do not look gorgeous in the snow, but we had fun!

Our little snow man. At my staff meeting at First Pres today, someone commented that we probably had the most snowmen per capita ever in Jackson this past Friday. I really think thats true...everyone built snowmen! It was so fun, and who knows when we will have that much snow again!

I had to make snow ice cream. My mom used to make this whenever we had enough snow. All you need is 1 can of condensed milk, 1 can of evaporated milk, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and FRESH SNOW! I actually didn't have the evaporated milk, so I just left it out.

The condensed milk with the vanilla:

Then with snow slowly added in:

It was SO good! I still have some in the freezer that I am working on!

Last night, Bech was a part of a womanless beauty pageant. The pageant was in support of the Mustard Seed, so they wanted somebody from the Mustard Seed staff to compete. Bech looked hilarious! He was such a good sport about it. I had to put makeup on him, which was really weird. But the seedsters loved seeing him up there, so I guess it was worth it!

Well my mother believes my last post was incredibly boring. Which it was. But I had nothing else exciting to write about. And I do use all of those kitchen items a lot. Plus nobody tied her to her computer and made her read my blog. So there. But I will try to be less boring, if that's even possible.

Bech and I have been having trouble figuring out the new schedule of this semester. I now have class most mornings (and staff meeting the one morning I don't have class), lunches with students most days, then I work every afternoon. Then several nights a week I have MCF related stuff. Last weekend was really tough. I babysat for a family all weekend, while Bech stayed at the mens home at the Mustard Seed. So we didn't see each other from Friday morning until Sunday night.

Of course, that will not be the norm but we were in need of a date night. Bech hadn't had sushi in a while, so we went to Sakura Bana (or you can call it Little Tokyo #1, whichever), which has the best sushi in Jackson, no question (but they just lost the JFP best of Jackson to Nagoya! Nagoya...really? That shouldn't even be a competition...Little Tokyo is SO much better!). Anyway, back to the topic, we went to Little Tokyo and Bech got his beloved Chirashi. I tried a new roll, the scorpion, which was amazing. Plus, we tried Saki, which was amazing!

After dinner, we watched our latest Netflix movie (we are HUGE netflix fans), "Paper Heart." It's a pseudo-documentary by Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi. It was sorta weird but really cute! I would suggest it, especially if you like Michael Cera. I think he is so charming, in a completely awkward way.

So that's what we've been up to lately. Tonight, we are making hamburgers. We have not eating regular beef, so we haven't had a hamburger since last summer. But we ordered a portion of a grass fed cow (we actually got it in about 2 months ago), so we are going to use that meat. Bech is going to attempt to make homemade ketchup, but I'm not sure how that will turn out.

Okay, Mom, is that better?

Top 5 Kitchen Items

I love to bake. I like cooking, but I love baking. Anyway, I wanted to share my top 5 things I use in the kitchen...mostly because I can't think of anything else to right about.

5. Mixing bowls with lids. We actually have these pyrexs ones, but I know tons of people have other brands. They are just great because they make storage so easy. Yesterday, I made a coffee sugar cookie. I had to chill the dough, so I put it inside one of these bowls, stuck the top on, and put the whole thing in the fridge...so easy! I don't think these are very expensive at all, and they are sold at Wal-Mart.

4. I have been wanting a Cuisinart food processor for a while, and finally got one through our wedding registry. I love love LOVE mine! A lot of these things seem even better after being in Malawi last year. My favorite thing to make in my food processor is salsa. You just throw in the ingredients and puree. You can also use the grater attachment to grate vegetables and cheese. And you can puree chunky soups. Its kind of like a better version of the blender.
3. Nice knives. We use Wusthof, but I know Shuns and Henckels are really good, too. We actually took our knives to Malawi and were so thankful we did. These were bought via our wedding registry as well. They are amazing. Bech uses them more than I do, but we both love them.
2. My love for my Kitchen Aid has increased so much after not having a mixer at all last year. Bech actually bought this for me for my birthday one year. I know they have tons of fun colors, but my mom has white, so that's what I wanted. Last year, I mixed all of my cookie doughs by hand. I also made meringues several times by hand...not fun at all. But now my mixer does all the hard work.
1. My new favorite thing in the kitchen is the silpat. It's a silicone baking sheet. You stick it on your pan and the pan is instantly ready for baking. Plus, then you just wash the silpat and not the pan. I just got this sheet a few months ago, and I use it at least once a week. I think its about $15 or $20.