Monday, December 12, 2005

Memoirs of a Weekend Gone with the Wind in a Goblet of Fire


Tales from the hen
Originally uploaded by Hobo pd.
Okay that was a rather lame attempt at combining some movie titles to turn your attention to the world of cinema, which occupied Sunday's waking hours.

Saturday was basically 'chore day' (and slipping-over day, as you would recall from earlier post). My thanks to those who emailed me privately to ensure that my butt wasn't too injured. And here's an update - I'm just fine. No more headache neither.

On Saturday night I stuffed and roasted an Amish chicken for myself and Lexie to enjoy for dinner. I only mention that the chicken was Amish because the packet promoted this fact quite liberally so I imagine it is an important distinction in the world of poultry.

Never having before seen a whole chicken prepared for roasting, Lexie was slightly put-off by my hand disappearing up under the chicken skin to delicately flavour the flesh with butter and herby goodness. Even my protests that it was Jaime Oliver's idea didn't calm her fragile nerves.

So distraught was Lexie that the Amish chicken was henceforth christened Franny, to personalise it before the consumption could begin. I would have thought that being Amish, the chicken would have approved of Ruth or Sarah, but who was I to get so personal with the chicken, when I was already contemplating where to stick the lemon wedges and garlic cloves?!

So Franny was stuffed and trussed and deposited into the oven for just over an hour. And boy was she tasty. The garlic roast potatoes were delicious too, if I can say so much myself.

Sunday morning was fairly unremarkable, insofar as it involved me draping myself artistically across the couch in a hungover condition (pre and post-Franny champagne was required the night before you see).

By late Sunday afternoon, Lexie and I were ready to face Downtown, and so we hopped a bus to the cinema to watch the latest Potter instalment. Pardon my French but "kids movie my ass". I wasn't frightened, I hasten to add, but there were some pretty creepy moments in this Goblet of Fire saga.
JK Rowling has created some evil nasties and they have been brought to life fairly creatively by the special effects gurus. I can imagine some little ones in the theatre with us yesterday had some restless dreams last night.

For a complete change of pace, we then crossed town to see a charity premiere screening of "Memoirs of a Geisha". I loved the novel, but admittedly had forgotten the specifics of it. Still, that made the whole movie-going experience quite enjoyable. At the risk of sounding wanky, the cinematography was beautiful and the costumes in this movie were just superb. Okay that's enough of that. But to be honest, see the movie when you're feeling alert. Coming down from a hangover was an invitation to sleep - not to watch a pre-WW2 Japanese epic, filmed in English with Chinese actors. Phew what an emotional rollercoaster.

And so here I am at my new working week. One flat mate in Florida for work; the other house sitting her mum's friend's place about 15 minutes from our apartment.

Living the solo life with no champagne left and no chicken either - Amish or otherwise. Sigh.

4 comments:

kilabyte said...

If it will help I'll put a Lenard's chicken in a post bag and send it over to you??? Nothing Amish about our chickens - good Salisbury North free-range who can handle a little rough treatment - pansy garlic butter and all.

Anonymous said...

If Lexie has trouble with the way you do chicken, what is she gunna be like with a prawn on the barby?

Unknown said...

I think I will need to check her into a clinic if I break out the BBQ.

She doesn't eat red meat (needless to say she didn't put THAT in her advertisement for a flatmate!)

Unknown said...

My advice would be to part microwave all red meats prior to cooking that way they get that whitey lumpiness and she can then be easily fooled!! It's genius I tell you.
Or maybe bleach which will obviously leave an unusual aftertaste and reinforce her dislike ... I'll think this thorugh and get back to you.