Movie Marathon – Food

(Avon Park, FL) Hi 62 Lo  45 -- We don’t get to go to many movies while on the move in the summer so we catch up on the new ones that come out while in Florida for the winter months, plus it gives us something to do. We saw two movies this past week.

The first was Unbroken.

It's the true story of Louis “Louie” Zamperini, an Olympics track star who joined the Army in WWII, crashed in his B-17 over the Pacific, endured 47 days marooned at sea only to be rescued by the Japanese, and survived brutal treatment as a POW for the rest of the war. Although the movie drags a little (we think most movies should be less than two hours), it's a very inspiring story and should have been one of the Best Picture nominations.

The other movie we saw was American Sniper, the story of Chris Kyle, the US navy Seal who is considered the greatest American sniper in history.
















The movie has received some criticism from some of the usual liberal whackos in Hollywood as "glorifying" the war. In our opinion nothing could be farther from the truth. We think it very accurately describes the horrible effects of war, especially the effect it has on the warriors after they return home. One thing is for sure, the movie is very popular; we were there for a weekday matinee and the theater was packed! Which illustrates the disconnect between what some in Hollywood think we should be watching, and what we actually want to watch. I think some of the criticism is because it was directed by Clint Eastwood, whose conservative views go against mainstream Hollywood. Sorry if I got a little political there. We both think American Sniper should win as Best Picture, and we're rooting for it. It's certainly one of our favorites. After the movie we went to Cody’s Original Roadhouse in Sebring for dinner. We got there early enough for the "early bird" special prices, so Jim had a steak and I had grilled salmon. Both were scrumptious!



The place has a cool "roadhouse" atmosphere.




While we were there we were flabbergasted to see an older couple come in, the gentleman in a wheelchair and his wife behind him pushing a baby carriage. At first we thought they were babysitting their grandchild for the evening, but when they got closer we saw there was a small dog in the baby carriage! What the...??!!



I know public establishments have to accommodate service animals. But I always thought that meant seeing eye dogs. Apparently you can get a service permit for your dog (or just about any other animal) if you depend on it for "emotional support." It didn't particularly bother us, although as a rule we don't think a restaurant is the place to bring your dog. But it sure did cause a lot of stares.

Thursday evening we went over to the clubhouse to see The Crystal Cage and Ryan Show.

They’re a Canadian duo who sing and Joke around with the audience. She is a wonderful country singer who also sings pop and broadway style. Bryan, her fiancee, sings backup and plays the guitar and fiddle. It was a very enjoyable and fun show.

I cooked up the last two of our Blue Apron meals this past week. As you know, Blue Apron sends three meals at a time in a refrigerated box with all the ingredients. All you have to do is put them together and cook. Riiiight! They don't mention all the cutting, slicing, grating, dicing, and mixing that's required. I’m not a cook/kitchen person. My dinners tend to be simple, comfort food meals (which Jim loves, by the way), and I like to limit my "kitchen time" to 30-40 minutes max. These Blue Apron meals take an average of two hours to complete, which is more than I can handle, even with the wine I love to drink while I'm cooking. :) The first meal was Mexican-Style Rice and Beef Casserole. It's supposed to be for two people, but as you can see it makes a lot more than that. This is what was left AFTER we took our two servings.



It was good, but like the other Blue Apron meals we've had, it wasn't anything special. The last meal was Chicken Mulligatawny Soup. It had coconut milk and lime as two of the ingredients. Who would have ever thought coconut milk and lime would go together? Here are some the other ingredients that went into it: Chicken thighs, basmati rice, kohirabi (?), carrot, red onion, lime, cilantro, raisins, ghee (?), coconut flakes and can of light coconut milk. Then there were the spices, which included ferugreek seeds, black mustard seeds, ground coriander, ginger, turmeric, madras curry power and cayenne pepper. And one of the things I had to do was "zest" a lime. I had to send Jim to the internet to find out what the heck that was. Whew, that's what I call gourmet cooking! Anyway, it's bye-bye Blue Apron. It was fun, but we're just not gourmets. It's back to meat and potatoes, and simple casseroles.

Last night (Friday) we had a cold front come through that brought storms with lots of wind and rain. Fortunately we planned ahead and brought in our awning. We’re going to be chilly again (60's during the day and 40's at night) for a few days. We're not complaining though. We'll take our weather over what the rest of the country is going through.

See you in a few days