Sunday, March 30, 2014

Valentine

My eldest nephew's Valentine's Day birthday cake. This year his little brother helped me put some heart-shaped sprinkles on both the main cake and the cupcakes. I thought the fresh strawberries would give it a bakery look. 


As usual, the cake was Double Fudge Chocolate Cake with raisin-size pieces of dried strawberries. The frosting is Mrs. Milman's Chocolate Frosting. The cupcakes don't have any dried strawberry pieces for the crazy few guests who don't like that delicious combination.

The center of the two-layer cake (not pictured) was diced fresh strawberries in a strawberry glaze. I've been looking for a homemade strawberry glaze recipe for years, and it only occurred to me to look for one in a strawberry pie recipe this year. It was sweet and delicious, and I'll never use store-bought glaze again!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Rice Krispies Treats

Everyone and their mother can make Rice Krispies Treats. But since I've been complimented more than once on mine, I thought I'd do a post about them.


I always use mini-marshmallows since they melt faster than regular ones. It's very important to completely melt the marshmallows - make sure there are no lumps!

I add the Rice Krispies to the melted marshmallows slowly - by the cupful if possible. It's easier if you can have someone else add them while you stir the marshmallow mixture. You should stir the mixture very well - there shouldn't be blobs of marshmallows left before you pour it into the pan.

Instead of cooking spray, I butter the pan with A LOT of butter. Once I pour the mixture into the pan, I lightly butter my hands and press the mixture into the pan with bare hands. Once it's pressed,into shape, I flip the entire thing and press it again. This makes them both more buttery and prettier.

Sorry if these "tips" seem obvious, but I've found that small details in preparation can make a huge difference in the final product.

Sunday, March 02, 2014

Winners and Losers

My choices are in CAPS. Feel free to crib my picks.
(Note: Edited)

BEST ACTOR
Christian Bale (American Hustle)
Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR (12 Years a Slave)
Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

It was hard to watch so it must have been even harder to act. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street)
JARED LETO (Dallas Buyers Club)

He was very convincing as Rayon and damn could he walk in some heels!

BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams (American Hustle)
CATE BLANCHETT (Blue Jasmine)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

Just going with the front runner since I didn't see the movie.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
LUPITA NYONG'O (12 Years a Slave)
Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
June Squibb (Nebraska)

I really liked June Squibb, but Lupita Nyong'o is a fresh face and had a challenging role that she did very well.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine
FROZEN
The Wind Rises

Let it go, Academy. Let it go.

PRODUCTION DESIGN
American Hustle
Gravity 
THE GREAT GATSBY
Her
12 Years a Slave

It's got great in the title so it has to win. 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Grandmaster (Philippe Le Sourd)
GRAVITY (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Inside Llewyn Davis (Bruno Delbonnel)
Nebraska (Phedon Papamichael)
Prisoners (Roger A. Deakins)

I believed Sandra Bullock was lost in space.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
AMERICAN HUSTLE (Michael Wilkinson)
The Grandmaster (William Chang Suk Ping)
The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
The Invisible Woman (Michael O'Connor)
12 Years a Slave (Patricia Norris)

Lots of white fabric was put to good use in that movie. 

BEST DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
The Square
20 FEET FROM STARDOM

The backup singers' lament. 

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
CaveDigger (Jeffrey Karoff)
Facing Fear (Jason Cohen)
Karama Has No Walls (Sara Ishaq)
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)
PRISON TERMINAL: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall (Edgar Barens)

I didn't research this category. 

BEST FILM EDITING
American Hustle (Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, Alan Baumgarten)
Captain Phillips (Christopher Rouse)
Dallas Buyers Club (John Mac McMurphy, Martin Pensa)
GRAVITY (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
12 Years a Slave (Joe Walker)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Broken Circle Breakdown, Belgium
The Great Beauty, Italy
The Hunt, Denmark
The Missing Picture, Cambodia
OMAR, Palestine

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Stephen Prouty)
The Lone Ranger (Joel Harlow, Gloria Pasqua-Casny)

Hard to believe American Hustle wasn't nominated in this category!

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
The Book Thief (John Williams)
Gravity (Steven Price)
HER (William Butler, Owen Pallett)
Philomena (Alexandre Desplat)
Saving Mr. Banks (Thomas Newman)

BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
Happy from Despicable Me 2
LET IT GO from FROZEN
The Moon Song from Her
Ordinary Love from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
Feral
Get a Horse!
Mr. Hublot
ROOM ON THE BROOM

My littlest nephew likes this story.

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)
Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)
Helium
PITääKö MUN KAIKKI HOITAA? (DO I HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING?)
The Voorman Problem

BEST SOUND EDITING
All Is Lost
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor

Water and gunfire are probably hard to sound edit.

BEST SOUND MIXING
Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Lone Survivor

Movie about a musician. Seems like a logical choice. 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
GRAVITY
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness

In space, no one can see your green screen. 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Before Midnight (Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke)
Captain Phillips (Billy Ray)
Philomena (Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope)
12 YEARS A SLAVE (John Ridley)
The Wolf of Wall Street (Terence Winter)

True stories must be hard to adapt. (I tossed a figurative coin)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
American Hustle (Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell)
Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)
Dallas Buyers Club (Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack)
HER (Spike Jonze)
Nebraska (Bob Nelson)

I'm sure the guy in a "real relationship" with his OS is mad he didn't write this screenplay. Or did he?

BEST PICTURE
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 YEARS A SLAVE
The Wolf of Wall Street

Tough choice but I think the most serious picture will win.

BEST DIRECTOR
American Hustle (David O. Russell)
GRAVITY (Alfonso Cuarón)
Nebraska (Alexander Payne)
12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)

Did any other director thank their mom in the credits?

Good luck to the winners!