I LOVE cooking from recipes, and making up meals, I LOVE spending time with my boys (all three) and entertaining my family and friends, I LOVE bargain shopping (vintage stores included), I LOVE flipping through fashion and design mags, I LOVE the smell of libraries and how often I could get lost there, I LOVE scanning realty websites, I LOVE Trader Joes and LUSH, I LOVE fresh flowers and all four seasons, I LOVE Cincinnati and am always ready to travel, I LOVE stationary and stamps, I LOVE diamonds and pearls, tulle and lace, I LOVE smelling coffee and drinking tea, I love marshmallows and chocolate, I LOVE cozy sheets and morning sunshine, I LOVE me and I love GOD!
Last weekend I came across The Josephine Baker Story movie on TVOne starring Lynn Whitfield. Boy was I intrigued and moved to do a little research.
I admired her persistence courage and strong will to integrate where ever she was, on stage, restaurants, the military...
***
Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was a dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. Born in St Louis, Missouri, she renounced her American citizenship in 1937 to become French. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"
Baker was the first African American female to star in a major motion picture, to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States (she was offered the unofficial leadership of the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, but turned it down),[3] for assisting the French Resistance during World War II,[4] and for being the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de guerre. (excerpt taken via)
This movie is a must see next weekend! Be sure to tell your family and friends they need to support! Check out my girl Shelby's blog on a great conversation as to why!
xoxo,
Ronita
In trying to be the best budgetisa I can be as well as not wanting to pay for things I don't have to, I took a trip to the library recently and stacked up on a pile of really great films and some very fun craft and cookbooks!! One of the movies I picked up was The Reader. I popped this in the dvd player thinking it would entertain me right before I feel asleep and let me just say, I couldn't take my eyes off it!
What is the nature of guilt–and how can the human spirit survive when confronted with deep and horrifying truths? The Reader, a hushed and haunting meditation on these knotty questions, is sorrowful and shocking, yet leavened by a deep love story that is its heart. In postwar Germany, young schoolboy Michael (German actor David Cross) meets and begins a tender romance with the older, mysterious Hanna (Kate Winslet, whose performance is a revelation). The two make love hungrily in Hanna’s shabby apartment, yet their true intimacy comes as Michael reads aloud to Hanna in bed, from his school assignments, textbooks, even comic books. Hanna delights in the readings, and Michael delights in Hanna.
Years later, the two cross paths again, and Michael (played as an adult by Ralph Fiennes) learns, slowly, horrifyingly, of acts that Hanna may have been involved in during the war. There is a war crimes trial, and the accused at one point asks the panel of prosecutors: “Well, what would you have done?” It is that question–as one German professor says later: “How can the next generation of Germans come to terms with the Holocaust?”–that is both heartbreaking and unanswerable. Winslet plays every shade of gray in her portrayal of Hanna, and Fiennes is riveting as the man who must rewrite history–his own and his country’s–as he learns daily, hourly, of deeds that defy categorization, and morality. “No matter how much washing and scrubbing,” one character says matter of factly, “some sins don’t wash away.” The Reader (with nods to similar films like Sophie’s Choice and The English Patient dares to present that unnerving premise, without offering an easy solution. –A.T. Hurley (Amazon.com)
This is an awesome movie filled with romance, war, guilt, anger and pain!!!
While sipping on a little wine and flipping through the channels Friday night, I came across a movie (and play) I had heard of before but had never seen. Thoroughly Modern Millie filmed in 1967 tells the story of Millie Dillmount, a naive young woman who finds herself in the midst of a series of madcap adventures when she sets her sights on marrying her wealthy boss in the 1920s (wiki).
Not only do I LOVE this awesomely quirky movie but the costumes were fabulous!!
Take a look..
I even love the fashion of the sweet Miss Dorothy Brown played by Mary Tyler Moore, who seeks a life on the stage as an actress. She likes to wear light pastels and soft materials like chiffon and lace ( you know I love the ever feminine chiffon and lace).
Even the men looked stunning with their tailored suits and stunning pipes!!
I would love to see some details of the the 1920s flapper fashion return!!
xoxo
Ronita
PS
Watch the youtube clip...it's very interesting to see Millie's fashion transformation from the opening of the film.
Last night I stayed up and watched Julie and Julia and am in love!!! I had such a great time by myself. I think this was a combination of what I enjoy most, great food- cooking and eating, blogging, romance, comedy...it was just so awesome to watch. I think I will take a trip to half price books to see if I can score Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I think it would be absolutely delightful to try some of her recipes. The movie made me miss Paris!! I can remember when I went in 2001 and how much I loved the food!!! I think one of my future goals will be to save for a trip back to France and I would love to tour Italy...with my amour of course!!!
I think I will try this recipe for Sunday dinner.
French Roast Chicken Recipe
Julia Child's recipe from 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking.' This makes a wonderful, moist, juicy bird. I think it's the turning technique while roasting that does it. It may sound like a lot of work, but it really isn't much more than roasting a bird any other way. The sauce reduction is a LOT easier than any gravy, and is out of this world! In the book, she suggests serving this with green beans or peas (buttered, of course! this IS French cooking!) and sauted, roasted, fried, or souffleed potatoes, or potato crepes. I have also posted the recipe for brown chicken stock, which can quite easily be simmering away as you cook the bird (you don't need the stock until the very end). Using the homemade stock makes a huge difference in the flavour, but it can be substituted, I suppose.
Preheat oven to 425. Sprinkle the inside of the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt, and then smear in 1 tablespoon of the butter. Truss and dry the chicken, and rub the skin with the other half of the butter. Baste: Melt butter in a small saucepan with cooking oil. Leave on stovetop with a basting brush for later use. Back to the chicken: Place the chicken, breast side up, in a shallow small roasting pan. Scatter the veggies around it, and set it on the rack in the preheated oven. Allow the chicken to brown slightly for 15 minutes, turning on the left side after 5 minutes, then onto the right side for the last 5 minutes. Baste with butter quickly after each turn so that the oven does not lose a lot of heat. Reduce heat to 350. Leave chicken on its side, baste every 8 to 10 minutes, using the butter in the bottom of the roasting pan once you have used up all of the baste in your bowl. Watch and adjust oven heat so that the chicken is noisy, but fat is not burning. Halfway through estimated roasting time (which is 70-80 minutes; so after about 35 minutes), salt the chicken and turn it onto its other side. Continue to baste regularly. 15 minutes before end of estimated roasting time, salt again and flip chicken breast side up. Continue to baste regularly. Chicken will be done when drumstick moves easily in socket and juices run a clear yellow. Let sit on a platter 5 to 10 minutes before carving. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the roasting pan. Stir in shallot or onion and cook slowly for 1 minute. Add stock and boil rapidly over high heat, scraping up bits that are stuck in the pan with a wooden spoon. reduce to about 1/2 cup. Season with salt and pepper. Off heat just before serving, swirl in the last 1 to 2 tablespoons butter by bits until it is absorbed. Pour a spoon of the sauce onto the chicken, then pour the rest into a gravy boat and serve with the chicken.
I'm looking forward to spending an evening viewing this controversial movie. Some people say it's racist, some say it's about time. I'm excited to see how they capture New Orleans in animation (as my family is from The BIG Easy) and so excited that now our little girls will have a princess of their very own. There will be dolls, hair products, and accessories all marketed to them.
(amazon.com)What are your thoughts? Are you going to bring your daughters/sons to see the movie? Do you think it is racist in anyway? Share your thoughts!!!
Winner of three awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, including the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, Lee Daniels’ “Precious: based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire” will be shown in UN CERTAIN REGARD at Cannes Film Festival. This is a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome.With sheer audacity and utter authenticity, director Lee Daniels tackles “Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire” and creates an unforgettable film that sets a new standard for cinema of its kind. Precious Jones (Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe) is a high-school girl with nothing working in her favor. She is pregnant with her father’s child – for the second time. She can’t read or write, and her schoolmates tease her for being fat.Her home life is a horror, ruled by a mother (Mo’Nique) who keeps her imprisoned both emotionally and physically. Precious’s instincts tell her one thing: if she’s ever going to break from the chains of ignorance, she will have to dig deeply into her own resources. Don’t be misled – “Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire” is not a film wallowing in the stillness of depression – instead, it vibrates with the kind of energy derived only from anger and hope.The entire cast are amazing. Starring Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Sherri Shepherd, Amina Robinson, Nealla Gordon, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz and introducing Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious” directed by Lee Daniels from a screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher based on the novel Push by Sapphire. (Film Filia)
I am so excited to view this movie after reading the "can't put down book," a couple years ago. The movie comes out before the end of this year .
This sounds like a Girl's Night Out to me... xoxo, Ronita
When Madea catches sixteen-year-old Jennifer and her two younger brothers looting her home, she decides to take matters into her own hands and delivers the young delinquents to the only relative they ...( read more )have: their aunt April. A heavy-drinking nightclub singer who lives off of Raymond, her married boyfriend, April wants nothing to do with the kids. But her attitude begins to change when Sandino, a handsome Mexican immigrant looking for work, moves into April's basement room. Making amends for his own troubled past, Sandino challenges April to open her heart. And April soon realizes she must make the biggest choice of her life: between her old ways with Raymond and the new possibilities of family, faith ... and even true love.
(amazon.com)
