Movies: Action fun.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) - Saw this Monday night in IMAX. It was good. It picks up right away and it's non-stop action all the way through. Just the way I like my movies. I might suggest watching Part 1 before going just to refresh your memory. The CGI was great. I wasn't really impressed by the 3D, but I never am. I guess if you've seen the other seven movies you might as well see this one too. Here's what happens just in case you don't want to see it: Harry Potter dies, and so do all his friends. The End.

 

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) - What can I say about this movie... LOVED it. We went into this on Friday night, hoping it would be good, but we came out of it thinking it was AWESOME! We seriously pulled out our phones at dinner after the movie to see when the next showing was that we could make it to. And that's saying  A LOT. We haven't done that for any movie for quite a long time. Yes, we did see it twice this weekend. The movie was just good. The action. The character build. The plot. The actors. There was noting about this movie that I can complain about. We highly recommend it... in fact, if you go, invite us. We'll gladly go again. I hope they make a sequel, and not just the Avenger's movie.... and speaking of... don't forget to sit through the credits. You wont be disappointed.

Movies: Only one? Really?

Winnie the Pooh (2011) - I loved this movie! It was funny and heart warming. It taught a moral lesson. Eyore was as gloomy as ever. Owl was super entertaining and all the characters of the Hundred Acre Wood were as enchanting as ever. I was expecting this to be cute, but I was completely bowled over by how "Pooh" it was. The animators and story tellers stuck very well to the nostalgia of Winnie the Pooh. They didn't try to modernize it or make it action packed. It was pure and simple and very fun. The music was nice. It was 69 minutes long, just right for the theater full of children that we attended with. The short before the movie was also very cute. and In the end both the short and the movie taught us great moral lessons of life. I ♥ it. Take your kids. and don't forget to sit all the way through the credits.

Eating with Liz 2011 - Crustless Quiche

Like I have pointed out, John and I have been pretty busy the last little while, and it turns out that when we're busy we tend to eat out more because we're lazy and if we're busy doing one thing it's just that much extra work to expect us to make dinner for ourselves. I guess this means that I have to admit that I have pretty much failed in trying a new recipe once a week… or maybe I haven't. I know I HAVE cooked at least once a week off the http://www.e-mealz.com/ menu, I just have no recollection of it… so that means that I most likely have made something new, but it just got swallowed up in everything else that has been going on.
That being said, John made dinner last night. What does that say for these recipes being easy to follow. I had this goal once to teach John to cook, and alas, with our tiny counter space and ill laid out kitchen that has yet to come to fruition, but I do try sometimes… But these recipes are simple enough that I think almost any one can figure them out.
Silly me switched our subscription to the Low-Carb Meal Plan so we'll be eating a lot of meat over the next three months, but had I really thought about it I should have gone Vegetarian so I didn't have to use the stove so much over the hottest months of the year. Ugh! My bad, but I can't change it back. (They only allow one switch per subscription period.)

HAM & SWISS CRUSTLESS QUICHE

6 large eggs
5 T milk
½ t nutmeg
1 t salt Pinch of Salt
1 T olive oil
½ c deli ham, chopped
4 oz Swiss cheese slices, cut into pieces

Heat oven to broil. In small mixing bowl, combine first four ingredients; whisk well. Heat olive oil in oven-safe skillet on med-hi. Pour egg mixture, ham and cheese into skillet. Cook until eggs are set around edges. Place on middle rack under broiler about 3 min until brown on top and set in the middle. Let it set and cool.

Sautéed Asparagus

1 T olive oil
½ lb asparagus
½ T salt

Toss asparagus in oil and salt. Sauté in skillet until crisp-tender.

I'm a Quiche fan so I was hoping that it was going to be edible. Turns out that it was really pretty good. It was cheese-y and egg-y. After the fact we discussed that it probably could have used some extra veggies, like green peppers or tomatoes, but that was easily solved by serving it with some salsa.
I changed the One Teaspoon of Salt to only a Pinch because the end result was too salty with the ham. We also used the pre-cut vacuum packed ham instead of straight from the deli ham.
The suggested side dish for this meal was Asparagus, but neither John or I are fans of that particular vegetable, so we substituted it for strawberries and yogurt with some granola on top. Nom Nom Nom.
This made a great dinner, and of course it would make a good breakfast too. It was simple and tasty and filling enough for our evening meal.

Movies: Some we forgot to mention

The Mechanic (2011) - Jason Statham. Need I say more? He's a hit man who is double crossed by a double cross-er and he is out for revenge. With his new side kick, the crazy son of the man he murdered wrongfully, of course. This one wasn't as great as it could have been. It doesn't hold a candle to other Statham movies I have seen... even the dumb ones. I was disappointed. It could have been better.

 

Thunderball (1965) - SPECTRE has stolen two nuclear war heads! It's up to Sean Connery to get them back. You can never go wrong with feeding people to sharks. There were a lot of epic under water battle scenes in this one. Making some of the fights rather ridiculous. But that's Bond for you. Great movie with lots of action... even if it's in slow motion in scuba suits.

 

Diamond Are Forever (1971) - How many times do the villains have to create diamond satellite laser guns before they realize that they will never work because James Bond is there to thwart their plans? At least twice (this movie and Die Another Day, I believe.) 1970's Las Vegas is great. Stealing moon rovers. Blofeld and his cat. What a great move. Sean Connery doesn't disappoint as Bond again.

 

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - Back to Roger Moore as Bond. This movie also has Jaws in. He's featured in several bond films as the henchman. Again with the missing Nuclear Subs. There is some underwater action. People being eaten by sharks. Explosions. James Bond stopping world domination.

Busy Busy Busy

Sunday 7/3/2011 – Fireworks at the Evans’ late into the evening where I was allowed to do all the lighting of the wicks. I also tried to light the lawn at the school across the street on fire by chucking ground blooms over-hand and not under hand.

Monday 7/4/2011 – The Fourth of July. I woke up totally sick. My head was stuffy, My nose was runny and I felt like I was drowning in snot. I was quite upset because it was the 4^th of July after all, and I wanted to go to the parade. I laid in bed for quite a while and informed my family I wasn’t coming to the parade even though my dad was going to be in it again this year riding on the Veterans of Foreign Wars float. Eventually I forced myself out of bed and into the shower. Then I frosted this cake that I had made:

That looked like this inside:

And we loaded our car with the supplies for the day, and a lot of tissues, and ran to the parade. John let me out on the corner and I ran up the hill to join my family in the usual spot while he drove to his parents to unload... I missed the Davis High School Marching Band, which is something I look forward to, and also missed my dad on his float.

But I did get to sit on the hot hot street with two of my favorite girls trying to catch candy. After the parade john and I went back to the Evans' for a continuation of 4th of July fun. There was a barbeque. Homemade ice cream. Extended family. City Fireworks. and then, finally, more fireworks at the Evans'. This time John tried to light the school on fire with an aerial bloom that should have gone up, but the firework fell over and shot into the lawn at the school across the street. We're pretty lucky that it didn't head towards us in front of the house, or to our cars that were parked at the school.

Yep, I spent the entire day with the family even though I was sick. Touching peoples kids and going through tissues like there was an infinite amount of them. I felt like complete crud by the time I got home that night.

Tuesday 7/5/2011 – John and I took this day off because we were smart. Who wants to wake up the day after a long holiday like that and wants to go to work. We sure didn’t. John helped his dad clear out some yard work while I stayed home sick in bed. I’m sure there was something else we did that day, but for the life of me I can’t remember. I do remember crawling out of bed and getting ready for the day around 1:00 pm-ish.

Thursday 7/7/2011 – We got ourselves a real estate agent and took a look at the house next door it went up for sale for only $80K. Verdict: The house next door is totally trashed... it may only be $80K to buy it, but it would take another $80K to live in it. They only re-sided the front and sides of the house. The back is old cedar shingles that are falling apart. All the carpets will need to be replaced. Several doors. The bathrooms will need refurbished and tiled. The linoleum in the kitchen would have to be replaced. The entire thing would need to be repainted. Don't even get me started on the back yard and the state of the cement patio. Or the fact that the entrance to the crawl space (one of two) is just covered by a warped piece of particle board. So who knows what else other than Banjo is living under it. Then there is the questionable wiring throughout. It is more work and money than we have to put into it and all that would need to be done BEFORE it could really be lived in. I just wouldn’t be worth it to us. We’ll just stay where we are for a while longer.

Friday 7/8/2011 – John’s Mom’s Birthday. We went to Rachel’s and roasted Hotdogs and Marshmallows over a back yard fire. Also, this was the 7 year anniversary of bringing Mahana the Cat into our lives.

Saturday 7/9/2011 – Chris Isaak w/Blues Travelers Concert at Spring Mobile Ball Park. John had to work that night, and I really wanted to go to the concert so I contacted my sister Jessica and convinced her and Toby that coming with me would be a great idea... and it was. the concert was fantastic. I do love Chris Isaak. The Blues Travelers weren't that bad either. Chris Isaak sings good old time rock and roll type music. He of course sang a lot of his own music, but he also threw in some Elvis, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins. It was a great concert and a good evening with my girls. There were fireworks at the end of the night... Even Chris Isaak stopped to watch them before he was herded out of the ball park.

Monday 7/11/2011 – We skipped work, because we could, got some grocery shopping done, went out to dinner at Pepper Bellies, and visited Logan and Jenny and their air conditioning. This summer has been crazy for the humidity and heat and rain and the strange weather patterns. We were sitting at home after grocery shopping in the dark, with the swamp cooler blowing on high and all the fans on, but it seemed like there was no respite from the heat. Thank heavens for good friends who called and invited us over.

 

That brings us up to today.... What's going on with the rest of our month or so? This is what is planned so far:

 

Friday 7/15/2011 – We’re going to see the Winnie the Pooh movie. I’m excited for this one. I hadn’t actually heard that there was one until like last week.

Saturday 7/16/2011 – “The Music of the Eagles” Concert preformed by the Utah Symphony with my sister Jessica at Deer Valley while John goes to work at the ESA for a Blaze game.

Monday 7/18/2011 – Three days after it’s opening we’re going to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 7.2 movie in IMAX.

Friday 7/22/2011 – We are excited to see the Captain America movie with Holly. It will be awesome. (that’s our hopeful thinking.)

Monday 8/1/2011 – Ludo in Concert (Space night) with our friends John and Angie.

Thursday 8/4/2011 (more like Tuesday-Wednesday 8/2-8/3) – Make a Batman cake for a special order for Holly’s friend.

Saturday 8/13/2011 – Another Trip to Deer Valley and the Utah Symphony. This time it will be for “The Music of Queen” while John is at the ESA again for the Josh Grobin Concert. Who will I take to this one with me? It's still up in the air.

Friday 8/19/2011 - Monday 8/22/2011 – St. George! I think this will be our first trip down this year. John’s nephew Mitchell will be coming home from his mission on 8/17 so we’re heading down to see him and hear him speak about his mission experiences.

 

So... Yeah, that what our calendar looks like. Those are just the planned events... I don't know what we'll do if too many unplanned events pop into out schedule. If you don't hear from us it's not because we don't love you, it's just that we're super busy. But, if we're busy we're not wallowing in our little house.

Movies: Our Weekend in Films

Legendary Assassin (2008) - This movie wasn't full of the legendary assassin-ness that we were hoping for. I think this was added to our blockbuster queue when we were looking for another ninja assassin movie and was just never removed. We watched it anyway. There was very little action and the over-dubbing was terrible. I don't know if it would have been more interesting if we had watched it in its original Cantonese. As it was, we didn’t enjoy it, but we did sit through the entire thing.

 

Crocodile Dundee II (1988) – I think I have tried watching this movie several times over the years, but I always only manage to see the end. This time… I saw most of it. I think I still missed the first 45 minutes or so, but probably didn’t miss anything. This is just another cheesy 80’s movie that is watched for the nostalgia, and not for the great content.

 

The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968) – We didn’t actually get to finish watching this movie since life invaded out lounge time, but what we saw we enjoyed. There is something to be said about these old movies that have no real violence, language, sex or action, but they incite a laugh every time. Don Knotts is entertaining in this movie as the bumbling Dr. Haywood. Such a great movie. We’ll have to rent it and watch the rest one day.