31 Days of Film - Day 27: A film from your childhood

Sleeping Beauty is the first movie I ever remember being obsessed with. I had it on VHS and wore that sucker out. I loved (and still do) everything about it. Samson was an awesome horse, Prince Phillip dashing, Aurora beautiful... the fairies were hilarious and Maleficent is the most awesome villain EVER. She turns into a DRAGON!

I loved the sounds that Samson's hooves made on the cobblestone. How he dumped Phillip into the water. I loved how Maleficent flew into her rages, and how she mocked Phillip in the dungeon.

That Merryweather, like me, hated pink and wanted the dress to be blue. And I laughed at how stupid Flora was trying to make a cake. (I have been known to quote her "what's a tsp" while in the kitchen.)

I've had a crush on Prince Phillip since age three. He's my favorite prince of all time (which is why I'm always so bummed that Once Upon A Time doesn't give him a good storyline... so much potential!).

And really I love everything about Maleficent. She is just so... deliciously evil. And she turns into a Dragon... that makes her pretty much the most awesome thing ever. The movie starring Angelina Jolie does not do the mistress of all evil justice. They wimpified her.

A Tasteful Countdown: Sleeping Beauty

A meal fit for royally hungry people.

We are 271 days away from Disney World! After taking a couple weeks off from the whole dinner themed stuff we were back to it for this week.

The movie is my favorite of all time: Sleeping Beauty. I can't think of a time when I wasn't in love with this story and movie. I love everything about it - even the pink element, if you can believe that - the characters, the animation, the music. It's the perfect "Fairytale Come True." So it was alarming that I couldn't figure out a menu right away. In fact, I didn't come up with a full menu until the day of, so it was a menu based on stuff we already had in the house.

This was a big night for me because it meant I had to use the grill. I hate the grill, not because it doesn't cook the food or anything (it does a great job at that) but it uses fire and they can go BOOM and I don't like that. I'm very very scared of cooking after the fire when I was 16. Aunt Judy got me over the fear of the stove, but a BBQ is a whole new realm of scary for me. Dad said he would help me on that one, so it was set. Why the grill you ask? Well, mainly because of the Dragon element of the movie. Everyone knows I LOVE Maleficent's Dragon (you should see me during those scenes, or the ones during the Park show Fantasmic! LOL), so it should be no surprise that this is the route I ultimately took in theming the menu.

So the menu consisted of Honey Brined Grilled Chicken with a roasted red pepper, tomato, almond, and garlic relish (they call it a romesco in the recipe, all done on the grill). For our side it was herb roasted (in the oven) potatos and carrots. The whole house and outdoors smelled divine while it cooked! For dessert I went super simple with Vanilla Ice Cream (admittedly not homemade, maybe next time!) with a mixed berry syrup (which I did make from scratch - remember Briar Rose goes into the woods to collect berries - lots of berries - even though she picked berries the day before because her aunts - the good faries - told her to).

We did manage to have left overs, but it was a definite hit with dad - he immediately informed us of what he was taking for lunch at work Friday. He told all of his coworkers about it - it smelled great in the lunch room - and now I have several requests to share the recipe.

All in all another successful night. Next week we are going back in time - movie list wise - and will watch a double feature of Saludos Amigos & The Three Caballeros, so it will be Mexican. After that who knows, we're debating if we want to go live action, Pixar, or what animated movie to do next (next in line would be 101 Dalmations).



 

Before going into the oven.

The relish all ready to go.

The chicken was sooooooooooooo goood!

Mom may have licked the bowl clean...

Here are the links for the recipes I used for dinner:
Grilled Chicken and romesco
Herb roasted potatos and carrots
Mixed Berry Sauce

30 Days of Disney: Day Two

Day 2: Favorite Princess

Everyone, say it with me: Princess Aurora. Known best just as Sleeping Beauty, I actually prefer her peasant name of Briar Rose. Aurora is Disney's second princess (Snow White, of course, being the first). I love just about everything in that movie, and the princess is no exception. I love the fact that she doesn't mouth off or run away or defy authority - sure she DREAMS about meeting someone, and she DOES dance with Phillip, but she doesn't go out of her way to break the rules... she's not happy with them, but what can she do?

I'm not sure exactly what it is about her that I love, but I always come back to her even after my mini obsessions with Belle and Jazzy when the movies first came out (actually the only princess I didn't like, and still don't, is Ariel).

So here's to the girl with hair as bright and golden as the sun, and lips the shame the red, red rose...

Princess Aurora outside her Castle, Feb. 2011

30 Days of Me: Day Two

There are no words, right now, on Senator Stevens Memorial. I am deeply honored to have shared in the memorial. More will follow when I get my thoughts in order. So, for tonight, I will continue the 30 Days of Me.

Day Two: Favorite Movie
This is just as difficult as the favorite song question. However I guess Disney's Sleeping Beauty should get the nod. I've loved that movie longer than I can remember. I don't know why it's my favorite, it's so girly - which I am not - but I love the entire film. It's got a great villain, wonderful music and animation, and it never ceases to crack me up. Merryweather is a fairy I can identify with.