Bad Home Cooking

This pasta dish is child's play

Well, it is. I love this video

Songs about foods I love...

I live in L.A. I know where Malo is. Why don't I get to have drinks and sing songs about food like these guys? Oh yeah. Because I sing like I cook....

Just watch for a moment through the drunken prattle, which I wish I could edit out, although it is sorta cute. The singing starts, with the burrito song, at 2:13 on the timer. And it's brilliant. Ay-jai-jai-jai!! Now I want a burrito...

How to paint a PB&J

The Internets have been good to me; opening hidden doors and pushing me through. I stumbled upon artist Duane Keiser's work perusing Boing-Boing, where I go when I want to waste time. I was rewarded with hours of further procrastination spent enjoying his gorgeous small paintings.

So when I saw the above clip, I realized a marvelous synergy here. Consider the humble peanut butter and jelly sandwich. How dare I take up space on a food blog writing about that most basic of kiddie food?

Well, like the above clip, a good PB&J arises out of nothingness. Nothing to make. No better ideas. No more pasta. No time for anything else before the blood-sugar level of your progeny hits bottom and the screaming starts.

Nothing but two pieces of bread, a swipe of peanut butter and the very last blurp of jelly or jam between them. Nothing but comfort and familiarity to save the day. Nothing simpler to nourish the nits. Nothing like a quick PB&J for yourself as well, because as long as you're making them, one will pull you through 'til dinner, and didn't your mom make them for you when you were a kid? Of course she did. Nothing but memories.

Everybody has a different version they prefer. Certain brands of peanut butter, favored jellies. Some people like honey instead of jam. Lots of people still insist on somebody cutting the crusts off their PB&Js. There's nothing to a PB&J, but we want them like we remember them. Like the ones Mom made us. And so, like the above painting so deliciously illustrates, turns out there's a lot of something to be coaxed out of nothingness.

Tell me a favorite PB&J memory of your own.  

Top five sexiest movies with food...

In my last post I listed some of my favorite books about food. It's only fitting that I list a few favorite movies about food. And in the interest of SEO (Search Engine Optimization, for those of you who don't work in the online world), I thought I'd go ahead and pimp my blog by including the word "sexiest" in the headline.

But then the best movies involving food by definition must acknowledge that food is a sensual experience. Right? Of course right. Allow me to present, then, my top five sexiest movies that involve food. And here's a spoiler: the list does NOT include the one with Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke.

1.) Tampopo (1985) The scene with the egg yolk burned into my brain when I first saw it some 20 years ago, and I never forgot it. With the miracle of YouTube, you can watch it for yourself. And good luck trying to forget...

 

2.) Like Water for Chocolate (1992) Hard to choose which scene is most infused with pheromones in this one. But in the end, I choose this. Because this is a family blog, I omitted the next part, which involves the sister becoming so inflamed with desire that she runs outside, rips off her clothes and runs right into the arms (er, rather, onto the horse) of a dashing revolutionary. I have always wanted to taste quail with rose petal sauce after this. Just once.

 

3.) Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (1994) The opening scene, of a master chef preparing his family an elaborate dinner, is alone worth the cost of renting this film. The cliche "feast for the senses" truly applies here. The food here represents ties to family, and the relationship between father and daughter. Among my favorites.

 

4.) Tom Jones (1963) The original food-as-metaphor-for-sex scene. Finger lickin' good...

 

5.) Chef in Love (1996) Gotta love them Georgians (Stalin excepted). They know how to live. I can't find the trailer on YouTube, but you can watch it here.

Why isn't 91/2 Weeks on this list? Isn't that the quintessential sexy food scene? I say no. That's because Kim Basinger, with that mouth, could sit in the kitchen burping the alphabet and still look sexy. No need to waste a perfectly good basket of strawberries on such a contrived scene. Really, it was a cringy cliche the day it came out. Or maybe Micky Rourke just annoys me. Didn't he die recently?

But surely there are other worthy films I'm not recalling, nu? Hip me to some of your favorites.

The shiny guy always worries

I just saw this on Diary of a Food Whore and had to repost here because I'm a mom and I can't help myself. It's Star Wars according to a three-year-old. Not really anything to do with cooking...but she is having herself a little drink, and she is at the kitchen table as she explains it all to us.

Consider this filler while I work up a *real* Bad Home Cooking entry for y'all. Enjoy, and don't talk back to Darth Vader.

How to Cook Your Life

A certain flamenco guitarist knows me all too well.

He found this movie trailer, and sent it to me. I love everything about it, from the music to the sentiment to the scenery. I MUST see this film. Unfortunately, the screening dates in L.A. are now behind me. Maybe it will come back soon? I let the universe decide.