36th Annual Portland International Film Festival

Beyond the Hills - Cristian Mungiu

I went to the 36th Annual Portland International Film Festival to see this story which was based on a real-life case of supposed demonic possession. The lead actresses Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan received the best actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival and their performances were very well done; however, the film was 150 minutes and I think it could have been done in 90 minutes. 150 minutes is just tooooooooo long for me to sit and watch most any film. In fact it's the reason I haven't gone to the new Lord of the Rings show - yet.

I can't stand sitting still that long. But aside from the length of the film, I was also hoping to be sitting on the edge of my seat...at least a few times during the show. I wasn't. This was a slow moving drama that was more about strict religious dogma than demonic possession.

Cristina Flutur was a strong-willed young woman who cursed at the priest because she was frustrated that her girlfriend would not leave the monastery, where she was training to become a nun, and return with her to Germany.

If everyone who got frustrated with religion and priests and then swore were demonically possessed, it would leave very few non-possessed  people in this country.

So, overall I thought the film was interesting...the acting well-done, but the film was too slow and long for me.

DIY Valentine's Day Cakes

I love to bake and I was having a "Welcome to the Neighborhood" party for some new neighbors so I figured why not combine the two (or maybe) three things: Valentine's Day, Baking, and Welcome!

Here's how I did it.

First I baked a couple of heart shaped cakes.

Then I made some whipped cream and colored it pink and yellow with food coloring. Then I frosted the cakes and put fondant words on top.

I also made a checkerboard cake and some cupcakes...

yeah, I tend to go overboard on things.

More Cookies

I'm having a neighborhood get-together this weekend and so I wanted to practice on some more goodies to serve. This was my idea: Valentine's Day Cookies that look like real Valentines.

So, I used my Royal Icing for the white frosting and then I cut out a bunch of red fondant hearts and stabbed them with toothpick arrows. I "glued" the fondant hearts onto the cookies with the frosting.

I thought they turned out cute. 

Prepare Yourself

March 16, 2013 The SCBWI Oregon will be having a Prepare Yourself Workshop to help everyone get ready for the May conference.

Location: TaborSpace, 5441 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR 97215


Cost for Shape-Ups:
SCBWI members - $8.00      Nonmembers - $10.00
What to Expect at the Conference is FREE!
No refunds after March 9^th. 
Registration will be closed on March 13th.
To read more, click here.

Poseidon's Arrow by Clive Cussler

This was our book club choice for the month of January.

Clive is my husband's favorite author and I have never read one of his books until now. I really didn't expect to like it at all because I don't like action/adventure movies or books but this was more fun than I thought it would be.

It was a quick page turner and I had no problem getting through it.

Although I do think Dirk Pitt is totally unbelievable. I mean he's like a Navy Seal on Super-Steroids. No one could do all the things he did, including fighting a bull. I mean, I think being a matador might take a little training rather than simply hoping into the ring and waving a red cape around. But never mind all that, it was an exciting story. And I did like the fact that Dirk included his kids in the story. Of course they were Super Seals too but what the heck. How else can you save the world and a super-stealth submarine at the same time?

Anyway, this was a new genre for me and now I'll know what my husband is talking about when he talks about Summer and Al and Dirk, Jr.

So all in all, if you're an action/adventure kind of person and if you enjoy James Bond, I think you'd love Poseidon's Arrow.

Valentine's Cookies with Royal Icing

Sugar Cookies Recipe:

Original recipe makes approx. 4 dozen

Ingredients: 

3 cups all-purpose flour  

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened 

2 cups white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sprinkle powdered sugar on the table and roll out the dough to cut into shapes. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 8-12 minutes.

Royal Icing:

This is a smooth, hard-drying icing.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
3 Cups confectioners' sugar
4-5 tablespoons of warm water

Makes 2-3 cups of icing

Beat Meringue Powder, sugar and water until icing forms into peaks.

All That Glitters

All that glitters isn't always gold. At least in my book, glittering gold isn't always the best.

Of course I grew up a tomgirl...yeah a tomboy but what the heck, I wasn't a boy. I just liked to wrestle, climb trees and play almost every sport. I was never "into" purses, jewelry or fancy clothes and it's a good thing because my parents couldn't afford them. I was more into basketball, tennis, and track...

I wanted to run not try to balance on high heels. I wanted to climb not curl my hair. My mom was a beautician and she was always styling my hair, which I would pull down out of it's fancy "waterfall" style, when she wasn't looking, and let it get tangled.

Guess that's why I still only have one pair of high heels and they aren't even that "high" and when my husband buys me jewelry I kind of sigh and say, "do you want me to put that on?" I hate changing jewelry and I almost never wear earrings.

BUT when my husband brought home this funny aluminum "coin" he found when he was out jogging on a business trip, I said, "wow. That's really cool."

The next thing I knew, he was drilling a hole in the scrap metal and making me a necklace.

And isn't this necklace cool?You can even see it from a distance.

So, I guess I'm a cheap date...or at least a cheap wife. I don't ask for diamonds and pearls. I like scrap metal and salvaged aluminum.

Here's how he did it.

He drilled the hole in the metal.

Then he engraved "Kim and Lars - 30" (because this is the 30th year we've been married).

 Then he clamped on an "OH" ring through the hole and inserted a chain to make it a necklace.

 The "OH" ring only cost $1.99 for about 50 of them and the chain was $2.99. So, it was less than $5.00 for the entire necklace.

I think it turned out super cool and I love this piece of jewelry just as much as most of my other pieces. (I do have some sentimental pieces, like my Mom's wedding ring, etc. that mean a lot to me but this is so cool because he made it for me.)