need a good cry?

. . . then i have some movies for you.

bright star and the young victoria had been on my list for quite a while and i finally got around to watching them this week. i can now say that i have not a tear left. seriously, i was a mess. it was about time though, since i hadn't cried in a movie for ages. i was starting to think maybe i was dead inside, but it turns out i just wasn't watching the right movies. throw in a couple lovestruck young people, give them some difficult circumstances, a beautiful setting and a few poignant lines and i'm good to go.



bright star is the story of the romance between the english poet john keats and fanny brawne. this movie was super dramatic, but i loved it because it was so beautiful to watch. the scenery, the colors, and the clothes were all amazing. i loved the actors [ben whishaw and abbie cornish] who played john and fanny. they were so captivating and managed to create tension in just a look or a touch. swoon.


















the young victoria is the story of queen victoria and prince albert. i was fascinated by all the history in this movie and kept pausing it to look up facts online. i was so moved by victoria and albert's relationship. i loved that they had such a great partnership and it just killed me that she continued to rule for forty years after he died.



one of the special features on the dvd had excerpts from queen victoria's diaries read by emily blunt, the actress who played her. i thought this one, about albert's death, was especially beautiful:

"… to be cut off in the prime of life - to see our pure happy, quiet domestic life,
which alone enabled me to bear my much disliked position, cut off at forty-two
- when I had hoped with such instinctive certainty that God never would part
us, and would let us grow old together ... - is too awful, too cruel!"




have you seen these? what did you think?

bright star pictures from movies.yahoo.com and the young victoria pictures from rottentomatoes.com

Father's Day food

We had our monthly family dinner today at my house and I tried out some new recipes as well as some tried-and-true favorites. And of course, I forgot to take a picture of anything.

I made a citrus marinade for chicken tenderloins and a flank steak that we grilled for fajitas and they had such a great flavor! I also made a black bean, corn, and tomato salad * that was delicious with a lime dressing on the top. I finally opened my food processor that has been sitting in my closet since my birthday and made my first salsa from scratch. I also made some guacamole, my latest food obsession. I think that I have made guacamole at least 5 times in the last few weeks and i'm pretty sure I could survive on just that. There really is no comparison between fresh and store-bought guac.

I also made Marta's limeade except without cucumbers. It's so refreshing and I probably drank way too much of it because I have a little sugar buzz.

Everything turned out so well, even though I was so tired and hungry that I kept forgetting what to do next. I think it's a good sign that we hardly have any leftovers.

* i did not use a bay leaf or jicama in the salad.