Tag: Shallots

Pizza, Salad, 4 Movies and the Oscars

Last weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Shallots
  • Jalapeños
  • Portobellos

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For me, a spinach salad.

(Recent) Movies:

Hidden Figures

Gold

Fanny’s Journey

Lion

The OSCARS are coming!

Not surprisingly, La La Land has received lots of nominations. Although I enjoyed it, I don’t think it should be awarded Best Picture (but I expect that it will). There was much about that movie to like, but the story just didn’t do it for me. It was the ending that killed it – not to mention some aspects of the plot. A recent Wall Street Journal article sums up my feelings almost exactly (note: spoilers!)

I saw the four films listed above after seeing La La Land. Each are based on true stories, and I loved all of them except Gold (and I liked that a lot). What I didn’t like about Gold: the way Matthew McConaughey looked (he gained weight for the role), and the fact that I found the film too long.

The other 3 movies were fantastic, in my opinion.

Fanny’s Journey was in French with English subtitles (I saw it during the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival), so you may not know about it. I highly recommend it. Hidden Figures and Lion were very, very good, and I think each should win some awards. My pick for Best Picture? It’s a toss up between the two.

We’ll see what the Academy decides, tomorrow night.

 

 

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Pizza, Salad, and a Movie: The Accountant

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Anchovies
  • Jalapeños
  • Shallots

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Me? Wedge salad.

Movie:

The Accountant

He liked this movie better than I did. I did enjoy several scenes, but as a whole it wasn’t exactly my thing. However, I did think it was pretty well cast, even if I found the story a little bit out there. He thought it was actually set up for (or could be set up for) a sequel.

As for the pizza toppings, I know anchovies don’t look that good, but I think they taste pretty good – better than jalapeños, anyway. He’s running through every combination (it seems) he can make with jalapeños as one of the toppings, since I dislike them and am not eating pizza for the foreseeable future.

And all those salads (and other healthier food choices, + daily exercise) is paying off: Today is exactly 6 months since I started focusing on losing weight. In those 6 months, I’ve lost exactly 45 pounds!

People have asked me how I’ve done it. I use the app “LoseIt” to keep track of calories, and of pounds. I’m not at my goal, but I’m more than halfway there. When I reach it, I think I’ll pick all 3 toppings and have 1 very tasty slice of pizza (and a side salad, of course). I plan to continue using the app then (and for life, too – why not?) so I can maintain, after such a long weight-loss journey.

That’ll be my sequel.

 

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Pizza and a Movie: Joy

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Green Peppers
  • Ground Beef
  • Shallots

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Movie:

Joy

The angle of the photo above is a little off – it was on a pizza stand, close to the end of our table. But the pizza was delicious, and “just what the doctor ordered” that evening.

With Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, and Robert DeNiro in the cast, this movie somehow reminded me of Silver Linings Playbook. They’re just a good combination of actors. I liked the story, and since it was based – maybe loosely – on a true story, that made it even more appealing. Having stayed home with kids growing up for many years (and constantly cleaning my house), I related to Joy’s invention. Like a lot of people maybe, I thought, Why didn’t I think of that?

I’ve used what she invented, though I’ve never bought anything on QVC. And I’ve known people who came up with great ideas, yet couldn’t get attention or funding for them. What this film seemed to say was, “Never, never, never give up.”

A very good motto, I’d say.

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Pizza and a Movie: Man from Uncle

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Anchovies
  • Mushrooms
  • Shallots

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Movie:

Man from Uncle

Because the weather this week in Atlanta was unbelievably beautiful (for August), my husband and I had our pizza on the patio.

Maybe you don’t like anchovies. We do. It’s an acquired taste, and we don’t choose them on our pizza very often; trust me, they taste better than they look. And you don’t need to add any salt to the pizza.

Now for the film. I watched Man from Uncle on television in the 1960s and loved it. This movie was well done, funny, and entertaining. The car chases were great, and one scene, while the characters were clothes shopping, was particularly good. If you never saw the TV series, I still think you’ll like this movie.

Especially if you were alive when there was an Iron Curtain.

The casting was great, too. The Russian was played by the same actor who played the twins in The Social Network, and the woman was in one of my favorite films, A Royal Affair. Both nailed their roles in this film, as did the other male lead.

Just like with anchovies on a pizza: Try it, you’ll like it.

 

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Pizza and a Movie: Amy

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Bacon
  • Black Olives
  • Shallots

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Movie:

Amy

This weekend’s toppings were (eerily) similar to the “BBC” pizza we had a few weeks ago when we saw the film Inside Out, and there was a little negotiating involved:

  1. My husband initally suggested something other than Bacon (I don’t remember what, exactly, but I think it was vegetarian). I vetoed it, though, saying we needed something with a little crunch, so we chose Bacon.
  2. I pushed back on the Black Olives (proposing Green ones), but he didn’t agree.
  3. And – the Shallots were his idea.

Like every pizza we’ve ever shared at Corner Pizza, it was delicious. However, we decided that we’ve had enough Black Olives * for a while.

Now, for Amy:

I like documentaries, and this one was very good. I didn’t know much about Amy Winehouse before I saw it, but I learned a lot. The music was fabulous and haunting at the same time. And there’s something about true stories…

I knew how the story would end, and watching such a talented singer spiral down so fast and so hard was difficult. But – maybe because of that, and because she was so talented – I still enjoyed it, tragic though the story was.

Life can be very complicated, even – or, especially – when it’s short.

* And after last week’s film and then this one, I’ve had enough of sad movies for a while, too.

 

 

 

 

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Pizza and a Movie: Spy

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Feta Cheese
  • Italian Sausage
  • Shallots

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Movie:

Spy

You may have noticed that my movie titles are getting shorter. (I can’t imagine a shorter one than this week’s selection.)

Spy was a good film, and very funny. Yes, it was a bit raunchy and had a lot of profanity, but even so, I thought the dialogue was great: well written and well delivered. There were so many funny lines (evoking laughs from the audience) that sometimes I missed the next (probably funnier) line, because I couldn’t hear it above the laughter. The physical humor was also funny, and I didn’t find it over the top. The story was entertaining, and unlike last week’s film, the movie didn’t dissapoint.

If you want to laugh a lot and you don’t mind bad words and silliness, go see it. I thought one of the supporting characters was even funnier than the star of the film.

Now for the pizza. I chose feta, and my husband chose the other two toppings. It worked out fine (even though we had Italian sausage another time, recently), but we agreed that next time, we ought to go for a vegetarian pizza, and make sure at least one topping is green. When I suggested arugula, my husband had a lukewarm reaction – but I have a week to work on him.

Speaking of working on him, our wedding anniversary is coming up later this month (as it happens, on a Friday). I’m sure that over the years, we’ve negotiated quite a bit about decisions, big and small – probably, tons more times than there are pizza topping combinations at Corner Pizza (click on above tab “Pizza and a Movie“ for more about that number). However, it doesn’t feel like it’s been that many times.

Because, I’ve found that if you keep a sense of humor about things (and if you can laugh together), that’s way more important than getting exactly what you think you want, all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

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