¡Viva Italia!

I reached a new level of homework avoidance this week by having a three-day Godfather marathon. Steve let me borrow the trilogy months ago, but I hadn't gotten around to watching it. It's hard to believe that I consider myself a classic movie buff but hadn't seen this one. It deserves the accolades it gets. I liked the slow, subtle storytelling, and I didn't feel like the screenplay beat me over the head with implausible dialogue and plot points. Good acting and amazing cast list, too. Beware of oranges and the color orange in that movie - there's definitely a death symbol there.

The bad thing was that I hadn't eaten dinner before starting this relatively long film. There are a few scenes that take place over the dinner table, and I thought I would probably die if I didn't get some pasta. I ate a Lean Cuisine frozen lasagna at about midnight when the movie was over, which wasn't enough to quell the craving.

So, I followed my own dinner and a movie suggestion on marathon night two. Steve and I ate Chicken Marsala while watching The Godfather: Part II. That Chicken Marsala is a tasty recipe despite being very quick and easy to make. The only problem was that I was running low on Marsala and didn't have time to buy a new bottle, so the sauce was a little oily. I whipped up a honey-dijon vinaigrette for the salad, heated some garlic bread, and I thought it was quite good. Steve was lucky to have a prize-winning cook making him dinner. Part II is good. It would stand up better for me if it weren't connected to the original. On its own, a good film, but it's very different stylistically from the first, and I favor the original.

The next night, after watching the season premiere of The Office (glad to see Pam and Jim dating), we ended up watching The Godfather: Part III. This one was accompanied by Tiramisu from the grocery store. I am determined to make some Tiramisu soon, but I haven't found a recipe I trust yet. There is a delicate balance to be achieved between all the ingredients in that dessert: lady fingers, espresso, mascarpone cheese, eggs, cream, sugar, Marsala wine, cocoa, and rum. I looked for some cannoli at the store, which would have been better. I want to try making those, too. My best quarter-Sicilian friend even has some of the tubes you need for frying the shells. I don't want to be hit by the Mafia, so I'll be sure to return those as soon as I'm finished. Seriously, I remember when we were little and she pointed to a relative in a very old family picture and said he had "connections."

So basically this week was not only lousy for homework, but also for exercise and healthy eating. I expect to get kicked off my Get Fit Lubbock team on Monday when I turn in my points total for the week. I hope you don't lose points for gaining weight.

In other international cuisine news, it is Mid-Autumn Moon Festival time in Asia. They probably have a cooler name for it than that over there. Katie wrote "Zhong Qiu Jie Kuaile!" in her last e-mail. I can only assume that is a translation of "Happy Mid-Autumn Moon Festival", not "Send money and food, you lazy American sister." She also wrote:

There were so many families outside having BBQ and setting off fireworks. I love holidays. But I especially like Moon Festival because it was the first holiday I had in Taiwan. And they have moon cakes which are both strange and delicious. Most of them have a cooked egg yolk in the middle of them. The curry chicken moon cake is my favorite, but they also have red and green bean moon cakes. Everyone has a barbeque, but they don't have back yards here. So everyone sits out on the street and cooks their meat on hot coals on the ground.

Check out the link for a video on making Moon Cakes. It looks fun, but the recipes I've seen online look pretty complicated. I think I'll just hit the Asian stores instead.