This Will Be Our Year

How's 2013 going for you? Here, scootch near me and we'll go through mine so far, okay?

First, I made a cake from this Christmas present.





Then, we welcomed 2013 on the roof with friends, glitter in my mouth and champagne spilling all over my gloves. In a totally unexpected strategic move, we managed to see three or four different fireworks displays from that little corner of Prospect Heights.



After that, I discovered incredible WWII spy thriller Restless and made chicken and dumplings (with homemade chicken stock, naturally). This was my "make do and mend" portion of the year.



And a few days ago, I hit beauty junkie jackpot by making the Sephora VIB list. It's the very small, shiny things, ok?



During a potentially illegal public bathroom selfie sesh, I realized I need a haircut.



This weekend, I made the short and enjoyable journey to Briskettown for breakfast tacos.









My compadre there had about 4 brisket, bacon and brussels sprouts tacos by himself.



Aaand, I've already seen three movies since Christmas. Personal best!

Les Mis: Total sobfest for me. I wept openly during I Dreamed a Dream, but managed not to spill any popcorn.
Jack Reacher: Not the Bourne knockoff I so desperately wanted.
Django Unchained: Solid bloody gold.



And I would be remiss not to partake in a few oysters while they're in season.

Last night, we took the KitchenAid pasta attachment for a spin and watched The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Did you know about this? It's Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds, singing and being sexy. Our local movie theater featured it during a country brunch this weekend, but tickets sold out before we could get there. (Check it out on Netflix Instant.)



2013: keep it up.

The Hour

Season two of The Hour absolutely killed it. The costumes, sets, uber confusing storyline—it's all there, and it's wonderful. If you like Mad Men or shows that are astonishingly pretty, this one's for you.

Let's hope it wins ALL THE AWARDS!

The Paradise

Continuing my love of BBC period shows, I have a new one for you: The Paradise.

It's based on a novel by Emile Zola about the beginnings of my beloved Le Bon Marché department store in Paris. The story was adapted to tell the tale of the first British department store. (I thought it was about Fortnum and Mason or Liberty, two of my favorite places, but alas.)

ANYWAY.

The sets are gorgeous, of course, and I grabbed a few caps for you. Behold:





The story revolves around the owner, Mr. Moray, and his flock of employees at The Paradise. There's a country girl with big eyes and big ideas and Mr. Moray's rich love interest, Miss Glendenning. My favorite scenes take place inside the early Art Nouveau store and the Glendenning residence.

Sweet and Innocent

My two newest crafty achievements (flower crown and cross stitch), plus a nailpolish I'm sweating this week. My nails look like a fish, or a gilded Roman slave. [Am I the only one who watches the Starz Spartacus oeuvre? Guess so.]

The Manor Reborn

Over the weekend, I discovered a rather delightful show called The Manor Reborn.

The premise is, a 500 year old manor gets a makeover. Or makeunder? Gets made back up as it should have looked?

It was great.

I had been in the mood for a long, relatively dry home improvement or historical drama show, so this completely hit the spot. My attention was piqued when I found out the manor was located in Avebury, a stone's throw from Bath and a place I had actually visited.

See?





My memory of the place mostly extends to... stones.

Anyway, the manor itself was a Tudor house that had Georgian details and a flashy owner in the '20s. That meant different rooms had different looks and styles—one was Tudor, with an intricately carved bed, and another a dining room with hand painted Chinese wallpaper.

The National Trust was hellbent on making the place into a casual environment where people can actually touch the furniture (antiques and new furniture that fits in with the period). I have personally never had a problem with NOT being allowed to jump on a bed in a historic stately home, but I suppose I don't work for the National Trust.

I liked how the presenters took us to different estates and stately homes around the UK to show how different residences in the same period looked. My British palace exploring has personally extended to Hampton Court and The Queen's Palaces, so this was a welcome addition. It also reminded me of Kirstie's Homemade Home, which was about Kirstie Allsopp using local craftspeople to redo her house.

Yes yes, I watch a lot of British household programming.

Anyway, I recommend The Manor Reborn if you're a history person, like watching home makeovers or want to see your boyfriend's eyes roll into the back of his head when you try to recap an episode. There was a particularly scintillating discussion on whether the ceiling decorations should have been painted or not. Poor guy.

(Image from here)

Gypsy Christmas

Ho ho ho!

And a Big Fat Gypsy Christmas to you and yours.

Night Off

Sometimes all you need to do is take a night off from people (no matter how lovely) and responsibilities (sorry, laundry pile).



Delicious and easy Caprese Pasta. And hey, is that a Le Creuset baking dish I won't shut the hell up about? Yep!



Cheesy goodness in front of Alias. Pastel-colored leopard print nails.

Complete and utter self indulgence. It's a de-bitch-er.

Spooked

Recently I came across (Tumblr'd, probably, but who knows) whispers of a failed Spooks/MI5 spinoff. Now, I'm a huge Spooks fan. It's like Alias combined with darrrk creepy scenes of London combined with delicious Merchant Ivory posh accents. Spooks Code 9, I says to myself. Hm.

After no small amount of poking around, I discovered that the show takes place in 2012, after a nuclear bomb is detonated at the London Olympics. London is destroyed and MI5 recruits a young (and sexy, obviously) team to infiltrate any future terrorist cells and protect the world! W00t! I... got a hold of the six episodes. And I was GRIPPED.

GRIPPED, I SAY!


Spooks Code 9 promo by hamster1992

The hero is a young mathematician (who keeps going, "How could I be useful to the team? I'm a MATHEMATICIAN." Dude. You are well aware that knowing math could be helpful in trillions of ways. Which is why you bothered to study it in the first place. Cripes.). There's two chicks, one of whom we are to view as the "hot one" and one who is actually funny, interesting, smart and has radiation sickness. WHOA, right? Another one is a former doctor wrapped up in some kind of murder conspiracy that never gets resolved. Then there's two other dudes that basically talk a few times and serve no other purpose than taking up space, as far as I can tell.

Antics abound! The actual writing is terrible, of course, and the plot drags like a mothercusser. The idea behind it, though: that London is a wasteland, that the country is facing another bomb of that magnitude, that someone within MI5 is behind the attack... That's what got me.

And of course, since the show got cancelled after one season, the season finale cliffhanger is tragic. Major sighs.

I wouldn't recommend it unless you have oodles of interest in intriguing but poorly written British dramas, but there you are. And the tagline?

For Queen, for country, for kicks


COME ON.

Images from here and here

BBC America... and Beyond!

"Dave Berry surprises teenagers as they wait for their evening takeaway meal. In a bid to offer them nutritional education, they are flown off to the country where their favourite food originates."

"What came first? The chicken and the egg... Now Jamie Oliver turns his attention to the UK pig industry to help consumers make better-informed choices about the food they buy and eat."

"Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall tries to change the way Britain consumes chicken by setting up his own intensive poultry farm to demonstrate how cheap chickens are currently produced"

"Neil Morrissey and best mate Richard Fox have a dream: to open up their own pub and produce their own beer. There's just one problem: neither of them has ever brewed a drop of ale in their lives."

"In this unique experiment, nine 21st century volunteers subject themselves to the weight loss diets and fitness regimes of previous generations. But have they bitten off less than they can chew?"

"Sainsbury's boss Justin King may have hit on an innovative plan to lift them above the competition: he's letting four shop floor workers take over the reins and roll out their new ideas"

The "food" section on Channel 4 alone is better than the majority of US TV programming. Can we fix this somehow? TV people?

When Boris Met Dave

Rushmore moves to mid '80s Oxford for this documentary about Boris Johnson and David Cameron's time at school.

The film alternates between these beautiful scenes and interviews with people who knew the men at Oxford.

As for Boris and... Dave, I'd heard of both, of course. I didn't actually know anything about Cameron until I saw this. On the other hand, Boris Johnson was elected Mayor of London when I lived there-- the actor they cast in this movie did his crazy facial expressions and weirdly pompous voice perfectly.

Everything in the movie revolves around the Bullington Club and the infamous photo of the two men posing with their fellow Bullows.

And of course Toby Young-- Oxford grad and Top Chef... er... Judge-- gave his input. While sporting severe facial injuries.

Max Fischer wishes he were these guys. Good stuff.

photos from here, here and here