Loudon September 2011

5 Favorite Coen Brothers Movies

I love movies by the Coen brothers.  For those of you who are not in the know, that would be Joel & Ethan Coen.  Their movies are different, quirky, make you think.  I usually have to see them more than once to truly get everything about them.  The more times I watch them the more subtle little things I notice.  They are fantastic film directors.  Now I have not seen all of their movies, but I would say a good 80%.  For the true fans you could argue I've missed a couple of the best, Millers Crossing, Barton Fink & The Hudsucker Proxy.  They are on my to do list, and when I see them on HBO or maybe Retro I will Tivo (Yes I still have TiVo and not DVR) and watch it at my leisure, until then the list is......

5.

First off the music.  It's phenomenal.  George Clooney, John Turturro, John Goodman, Holly Hunter and Coen brothers staple Stephen Root.  The story line, escaping the chain gang, corrupt politicians, the Soggy Bottom Boys, and my favorite part when they think Pete has been transformed into a toad.  It's awesome.

4.

Raising Arizona, I saw it at the Salem Tri Cinema with my Mom.  Another family walked out about 20 minutes into it, apparently they thought it was inappropriate for their kids.  I thought it was hyseterical even then.  Should have been a sign that something was wrong with me.  Nicholas Cage (Best role ever!), Holly Hunter (again), John Goodman (do you see a trend here with the Coen's?), Frances MacDormand (Phenomenal actress!!!).  Cage & Hunter kidnap a baby from a couple who recently had quintuplets or something like that, since they have not been able to have one of their own.  A Bounty Hunter is on the trail of the baby, while Cage's former jail cellmates are looking to cash in on the reward as well.  One of the best lines ever "I'll be taking these Huggies and whatever cash you got in the register_/

3.

The Big Lebowski.  This could be #1, depends on my mood.  The first time I saw it, I hated it.  Then I watched it again, and again, and again.  And it more than grew on me.  Now I love it.  How can you not love The Dude.  Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, Julianne Moore and many more people.  It's mistaken identity, a missing rug, a faked kidnapping, German nihilists, bowling, Caucasians (white Russians) and The Jesus.  It's just about perfect.

2.

No Country for Old Men.  Another one that could be #1, depends on my day, and today says it's #2.  Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem (perfect villian), Woody Harrelson, Steven Root, Tommy Lee Jones (magnificent).  Brolin stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone bad, discovers the loot and tries to keep it.  Persuded and then shot with buckshot by another set of drugdealers, he gets away.  A hitman is on his heals, to track down the money and get it back to the druglords.  The hitman, Bardem sporting the best Dorothy Hamel haircut I've seen since my youth, is a killing machine, touting around this captive bolt pistol (yes I had to look up what it was actually called), killing everyone (almost) he comes in contact with.  See with him it's chance, fate, on whether you live or die.  If you've seen the movie think of the scene in the gas station where he has the clerk call heads or tails.  That's what it all boils down to.  Harrelson is another person hired to retrieve the cash, but he offers protection and a cut to Brolin, knowing that Bardem will kill him eventually.  There's a shoot out, followed by a scene where Bardem takes a bullet out of his own leg, yuck, not much bothers me but even I flinced on that one.  By the end nearly everyone is dead, leaving only Bardem & Jones who never even share the screen.  It's an awesome movie.

1.

Fargo.  I think I've seen this movie 100+ times, or at least parts of it.  It's one of those that as I am flipping the channels I have to stop and watch, even for a couple of minutes.  Frances MacDormand, Steve Buscemi, William H Macy, Peter Stormare.  Not a huge cast, doesn't need it.  The starring roles are just perfect.  Frances MacDormand is awesome as Marge, the pregnant police chief (she won the best actress Oscar for this role), Macy as Lundergaard who arranges to have his wife kidnapped so he can steal the ransome from his wealthy father in law.  Buscemi & Stormare are the kidnappers and they make the movie.  I can't think of a cast that was better than this.  From the way the characters are written, to the actors who play them, and the phenomenal story line.  Top it off with Steve Buscemi going through a woodchipper and you have a pretty much perfect movie.

Crockpot Balsamic Chicken

Made this last week.  Very good.  Served it over spaghetti (recipe called for Angel hair but that wasn't on hand.).  Best part was this is 100% stuff I keep on hand so it can be a replacement meal any time.

Ingredients

1 package boneless chicken breasts
1 thinly sliced onion
2 14.5 oz. diced tomatoes
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 T olive oil
1 t each oregano, basil & rosemary
1/2 t thyme
salt & pepper

swirl olive oil around bottom of crock pot, place chicken in.  Mix remaining ingredients and dump over chicken.  Cook on low for 8-9 hours.  Serve over pasta.  Even the kids ate this.  Not over pasta of course, they had the chicken as a side to a bowl of plain pasta but whatever they ate it.

/Weekly Menu 9/11/11-9/17/11

Last week went really well, no takeout at all.  All proteins accounted for, switched up a few but it worked out well.  Here's to another successful week.

Sunday-steaktips & oven fries
Monday-Slowcooker Italian chicken over eggnoodles (new recipe I'll post later)
Tuesday-Chinese pork ribs w/sides
Wednesday-Grilled Chicken legs w/sides
Thursday-hotdogs & mac & cheese (total comfort food)
Friday-French Fried Onion Chicken w/sides
Saturday-Kids Night Out, Allen and I are trying the new Mexican restaurant in Salem, NH

I have another new crockpot recipe but it requires peach preserves, which I could not find at the grocery store.  If you happen to see any when you are out and about let me know.

September 11th, 2011

I, like most people, can remember exactly where I was and how I felt the morning of September 11th, 2001.  It's amazing that 10 years later it's still so fresh.  I have read and watched several articles over the last week regarding heroes lost and survivors of September 11th, each one has made me cry.  While I don't know anyone personally who perished that day I feel as though I did.  I think part of all of us died that day.  We lost a sense of security, that we were safe within the borders of our country.  Who would ever attack the United States of America?  Now it's a constant threat.  I wonder if it will ever go back to the way it was.  For my kids, and others, I hope it does.  But in order for that to happen I think all of us need to remember what happened that day, and not just on the anniversary.  God Bless America

Slowcooker Pork Chops w/Gravy

This was awesome!  Everyone in the house liked it, in fact Alex ate all of his pork chop before even eating his applesauce.  That says a lot about a meal. 

1 package of pork chops
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 package dry pork gravy mix

place pork chops in crockpot, mix all other ingredients in a bowl and then pour over pork chops.  Cook on low 8 hours. 

Slowcooker Salsa Chicken

For those of you who are FB friends with Jenn Ramsden Lawson you have already seen this recipe, but I know that not all of my dedicated readers are so I will share.  This was so easy and really good.  Easy to adapt to different tastes.  Even my kids ate it, not of course without some complaining, but once they dug in they actually liked it.

Ingredients:

1 lb boneless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 package taco seasoning
1 cup salsa
1 can black beans
1 cup sour cream

cheese, green onions, cilantro to top off

Combine first 5 ingredients in slowcooker.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  Take chicken out and shred, add back into slowcooker.  Add the sourcream, mix well and let it sit for about 30 minutes.  I served it over white rice with some cheese and green onion on top.  Delish!

Weekly Menu 9/5/11-9/10/11

Last week we went way off course.  Some take out, some whatever is in the fridge nights and now we are back from a long weekend away and ready to get back in the groove for school, sports and work.  I have a few more days off before I go back and then it will be some long days getting caught up from all the stuff I missed.

Monday-Chicken quesadillas & spanish rice
Tuesday-Crockpot Salsa Chicken & Rice (thanks for the recipe Jenn!)
Wednesday-Swiss Steak & Mashed Potatoes
Thursday-Crockpot pork chops w/gravy and something on the side to sop up said gravy
Friday-decisions, deciscions.  Will decide once I do the actual food shopping for the week
Saturday-ditto

Still have ground beef & hotdogs in the freezer so I am sure one of the two mystery nights will be covered.  Even though one of the new crockpot recipes is from Jenn and most of you saw it on FB I will post it as well after I make it.  The pork chop recipe will be posted later in the week as well.

Mini Golf

Over Labor Day weekend we also went mini golfing up at Lincoln.  The kids love mini golf, and Allen and I don't mind it either.  By the way I won.

Labor Day weekend

We were fortunate enough to spend Labor Day weekend up at the mountain house.  We did a bunch of day trips and had a blast at which may be our last time up there.  Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Friday we went to Lost River.  We were not sure how things would be since Hurricane Irene destroyed alot of the attractions up north.  I had been checking in daily at the places we had planned on going and Lost River seemed to be the one that had either sustained the least amount of damage or had managed to get things repaired.

The kids were psyched to go here.  We've been to Polar Caves twice so this was right up their alley but at the same time a bit different.

The kids are fearless.  There were a few caves that Allen and I weren't thrilled about and the kids went through alone. 

Overall it was a greta day.  The staff at Lost River had done a decent job repairing what was damaged, only 3 caves remained closed and 2 were because of flooding.  The water was still very high, 5 days after the Hurricane, I can only imagine what it was like on Sunday night.