Surprise Soup and The Wedding Banquet

Hello hello! I'm glad I'm getting this done before the end of the world happens!
Excuse the tardiness, I've been preparing to travel ... and watching some Real Housewives of Miami in preparation of course.
I had nothing in mind to cook when Syd came over. That said, I think one of the things you should be able to do, as someone who says they cook, is just be able to take whatever you've got in your cabinets and wing it! And that's what we did. It was delicious.


Here's what we worked with:

Cream of mushroom soup
Black Beans (canned)
Corn (canned)
Chicken breast
1/2 an Onion (chopped)
Garlic (diced)
Salt and Pepper
Hawaiian bread rolls

Boil the chicken to thaw (not recommended by all, but as we've mentioned before, this is how we roll) in a medium sized pot.
In a small pot combine corn, black beans, salt & pepper, onion and cream of mushroom.
When the chicken is cooked, take it out of the pot and shred/chop it up. Pour some of the chicken water out, but leave a nice amount for the soup part. Combine shredded chicken and all the contents of the smaller pot into the original chicken pot. (I added some spices, I don't really remember which. But yeah.)
Let it all simmer a bit.
Scoop into bowls.
Eat along with bread rolls.

Yum!

I will be out of town for a week, so expect us back sometime in the New Year!

-Lore

The Wedding Banquet (1993)
Directed by Ang Lee
Trailer

Relationships can be trying things, and according to movies and the teevee, weddings seem to be the ultimate test. Like, the actual thing, not the idea of marriage. But this movie is from the 90s, so it is not the happy gay couple Wai-Tung and Simon getting married, it is Wai-Tung marrying Wei-Wei, his starving artist tenant, so she can get a green card and he can get his parents off his back. Of course the parents want to show up for the thing.

Naturally they have to try to play the right parts, but Wei-Wei can't actually cook so Simon sneakily does everything, Wai-Tung creeps off to Simon at night, and things get awkward when Wai-Tung tries to fake affection. Still, they almost pull it off, until at dinner they run into an old family friend who insists he host a huge wedding banquet for them!

Things get bad but end up surprisingly good, watch it and see for yourself! Also, I would like to say I really enjoy the tagline: "A little deception at the reception." Top notch.

Queer Rating
Lore: 6
Syd: 6.5

Overall Rating
Syd: 5
Lore: 4

See you next year!
-Syd

Fried Avocado Sandwiches and Heavenly Creatures

Sometimes I enjoy editing the video because I get to check in on how my haircut looks. I cut it myself, so it is always kind of an experiment in progress. I know that sounds narcissistic and irrelevant, but really no part of my regular life actually ties in with this crazy movie. I was so put off that I said "like" probably as often as a valley girl. 




So, these sandwiches are probably the best snack-food-for-a-meal thing ever. Crispy and filled with avocado. A friend introduced me to them in high school and they blew my mind, and I have continued to pass on the delicious since. 

Ingredients:
It's like, ¾ of an avocado per person if you like your sandwich stuffed, but ½ is fine, especially if you're adding things.
bread
butter/butter substitute
salt & pepper
veganaise (optional)
tempeh bacon (optional)

Mash up your avocado and add salt & pepper to taste. Sometimes I add garlic or whatever I feel like. You're not really going for guacamole, more savory. Cook the tempeh bacon. (I guess you could use real bacon, but I really like the tempeh texture. Also I can pretend I'm eating well.)

Butter one side of each piece of bread, this will be the outside. This is the secret to perfect crispyness. Slather avocado and some veganaise on the inside of the pieces, lay in some bacon, and put it together and fry it. Devour. (I often cut it in half because it can be kind of messy.)

-Syd

Heavenly Creatures 1994 

Trailer

Directed by Peter Jackson (yes, THE Peter Jackson)

Starring Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey

Oh my goodness.
This movie was so intense... it made us both decide that we never, ever want to have children, because kids are nuts. And murderous. The scariest part is that it was all based on a very true story (yeah, all of it, we wikipedia'd it!)

So. This movie is about these awkward outsiders who meet in private school in New Zealand in the 1950s. They are portrayed by Kate Winset (as Julie) and a scowling Melanie Lynskey (as Paul/Pauline/Gina/Yvonne) in their debut as young aspiring actresses. You all probably know Kate from Titanic and numerous other roles and films. Melanie may not be as familiar to you, as she has not had as many starring roles. BUT, she was in But I'm a Cheerleader, The L Word... some other random things... and unfortunately Two and a Half Men. I like her very much.

ANYWAYS. These two girls are kind of weird and in their own heads a lot, and nobody understand them, etc. Kate is really rich and worldy and Melanie is kind of poor and her family is a little less cultured. They become friends and bond over being creative and artsy, kind of sickly, and super cray. We see their friendship turn into a kind of love and then obsession with each other. It quickly goes from being kind of cute and funny to really scary and dark when people get in the way of their relationship.

It's a wonderfully made movie. The acting and cinematography is brilliant. But it leaves you with this terrible feeling in your gut and your heart... which I guess, speaks for its success as a movie. Regardless, I never want to watch it again.

Queer Rating
Both: 2 out of 10 tempeh bacons strips
Though there was girl on girl loving... it was more in an obsessive, crazed nature, and not about identifying as gay. In fact they were pretending to be other people.

General Rating
Lore: 2
Syd: 4

On a brighter note, the sandwiches were absolutely delicious.
-Lorena