The Class: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

THE CLASS:
Jailbird BBQ Chicken Wings
Pappy O'Daniel's Buttermilk Biscuits 'n' Honey Butter
Grilled Boneless Rib Eye Steak with “Gratinated” Potatoes
Sauteed Greens & Corn
Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie


First things first... Wow, what a great class. Full house. Thanks all who came and especially the staff and volunteers at Central Market for a great job in making it happen.

I'm gonna say it one more time, though I've said it in the last few posts, that if you've been following this adventure, you'll know I got myself a herniated disc at the end of February which pretty much put me out of commission for almost two months. After that, my life was pretty much focused on physical therapy and getting myself functional again. The biggest problem, and remains so, is that sitting for long periods of time is not beneficial for me (as if it ever was!). So I took a break from it all in for the sake of my health.

And as I have for the last half decade now, I hightailed it up to Montreal to get away from the Texas heat of summer. This summer, because being in Montreal affords me a lot of opportunity to walk, I decided to take a longer than usual trip. I also took on more work than I usually do which meant more sitting on my duff than I wanted, but everyone's gotta work and thankfully, so far, I haven't had any recurring issues, though I'm still not all back (in my back) yet.

Hopefully, you've been following me on either Facebook or Twitter as I've been posting some cool links, to try and keep you amused, of food and/or movie related articles, as well as some of the articles I've written over the summer. If not, here are some links to them (shameless self-promotion time) which I hope you will enjoy reading.

TV Bites: The Wanderers

THE SNACK:
City Island Clam Fritters


I'm still slowly recuperating from my herniated disc, which has kept me from doing much for the last month other than laying in bed, popping pain killers, and getting acupuncture. But now I'm off the pain killers, I'm on to physical therapy, and hoping to rejoin the human race soon.

But here we are with part two of "The 70's Looks Back at the 50's" double bill.

I initially chose this film because I've always been fond of it, and I thought it would make a good double-bill with American Graffiti. But in putting this post together, I got to watch it several times, and I've come to really fall in love with it. Also, I was quite surprised by how much they were connected. I see the movies like cousins, one from California and the other from New York. American Graffiti takes place in 1962 and Richard Price's book The Wanderers also takes place in 1962, though the Kaufmans bumped it up a year for the movie to 1963. Rolling Stone magazine said of Richard Price's book The Wanderers, from which the movie is based, that it is "the flip side of American Graffiti."

But there's more connections. Between 1973, when American Graffiti was made, and 1979, when The Wanderers was made, George Lucas and Philip Kaufman worked for a while on a screenplay together. If you follow this blog (or are just a movie fan) you'll know that movie was (previous Chef du Cinema pick) Raiders of the Lost Ark (which, like today's pick, costars Karen Allen). Also in Price's book (but didn't make it into the movie), there's a somewhat older character whom the lead character (Richie) seeks out for advice known as "The Wolfman." In American Graffiti, there's Wolfman Jack who offers up advice for Curt, the lead character.

TV Bites: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

THE SNACK:
The Formosa Cafe Sticky Ribs


One more Chinese food recipe! Who knew?

First off, let me get this off my chest.... This was going to be part one of the "Hollywood Celebrity in a Fictional Story" double bill with the second feature to be JCVD. I had seen JCVD at Fantastic Fest before it opened and really, really liked it. But I hadn't seen it since. When I rented to view, I discovered that when it was theatrically released (and on the DVD) they had "Tarantino-ed" it, i.e., they jumbled the timeline of the movie in such a rotten way that I think they completely ruined it. The version I saw was linear, beginning to end. So I decided to pass. It's a real shame. I kind of understand why they probably did it - some idiot told them to move the action sequences forward. But they should have trusted their initial instincts. Sorry, Claude. And what really pisses me off is that I really wanted to make Mussels in Belgian Ale to pair with it. You can do it, but I ain't.

Alright then. Let's move on.... When I was like 10 years old, there was only one thing I wanted to be when I grew up.... a secret agent. I was obsessed with James Bond, Derek Flint, (all one day coming to Chef du Cinema!) and The Man from UNCLE. A life of intrigue, danger, espionage, and mysterious women. Sign me up. I guess that's why I relate to this movie so much.

The Class: Chinatown

THE MENU:
Shrimp & Watercress Steamed Wontons w/Orange-Soy Dipping Sauce
Chinese Seaweed & Pork Soup
Soy, Honey & Coriander Grilled Tuna w/Jasmine Rice
Orange-Ginger Chinese Broccoli
Chinese Toffee Apples w/Ice Cream



Well, I'm back from Montreal and having a great time with my 4-month old kitten, Miles. And this is part one of a Chinese dim sum double bill.

When I was living in Los Angeles - over 15 years ago now - almost any wannabe or successful screenwriter (and more significantly any screenwriting teacher) would say without hesitation that Chinatown was the perfect screenplay. In fact, the Writers Guild of America named it the third greatest screenplay ever in a survey in 2005 of its members. (And two of those top three - Chinatown and The Godfather were produced by Robert Evans And, just to keep it all connected, Chinatown scribe Robert Towne also did some polishing on the script of The Godfather.) Even today, almost 35 years since its release, Chinatown is still considered to be one of the great screenplays ever.

But what usually isn't mentioned in these praises is that the screenplay went through a very difficult birth process. Even though Towne gets full credit as the author of the script, director Roman Polanski's incredible input is rarely considered by writers and their teachers. Yes, it suits our writers' egos (which is the butt of many jokes - "How many screenwriters does it take to screw in a light bulb?" Answer: "Why does it 'have' to be changed?"), but I wish they'd teach this to writers on the first day of school. That's just the way it is, kids. Hopefully I'll not mangle this quote too much (because it was in one of several Charlie Rose interviews he did and I'm not going to listen to all of them to find it), but I once heard writer Richard Price describe what being a Hollywood screenwriter is like: "Screenwriting is like the Pony Express and the screenwriter is the horse. If the horse goes lame, you shoot it and get another one. Because the idea is to get the thing out to Los Angeles." Even Towne himself, who has script doctored many others' work, has said, "'Doctoring' is kind of misleading because all scripts are rewritten. Every script has to be rewritten;, it's just a question of whether or not it's going to be rewritten well."

TV Bites: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

THE SNACK:
Boiled Edamame (枝豆 - Soybeans in the Pod)



It's part deux of the "of the" double bill!

So, it's been up and down this last month or so. First, my cat Rocky came down with skin cancer in mid-April and I had to put him down about two weeks ago. It was initially a blow as with Chazz (my cat who died last year) gone, me & Rocky really started to develop a strong relationship. Originally he was my neighbor's cat across the street where I used to live. His owner was a very sweet little old lady who was so gracious my first year in Austin that she invited me over to spend Thanksgiving dinner as I really didn't know anyone much there then. Her name was Ophelia. Rocky and Chazz hated each other. But when she passed away and there was no one to really take him in, I did. He wouldn't come inside unless it was below 65*F or raining, otherwise he wanted to stay outside. So when I moved I took Rocky with me and he and Chazz operated under these very complicated rules of détente they had formally agreed upon. So for the last year, Rocky and I have been pretty chummy and I was expecting that to continue for a time. But so it goes. We did it here at the house. Actually outside. On this tree that has a big dip in it which he used to hang out on.

And now I'm looking forward to getting me some new kittens. 'Cause everyone loves kittens. Especially, on the Internet. My dear friend Tony recently found a kitten which became an Internet sensation. What a strange little world we live in. For those brief 15 minutes, Mercedes the cat was in millions of people's minds, trending higher than probably some reality TV stars. Who knows? But there's lots of things to concern ourselves with on this here planet we be spinnin' on. And yet, the 24-hour news cycle makes time for a story about a rescued cat. Perhaps we're not 100-percent pod people yet. Some of our emotional responses are still operative (and can be manipulated...beware!)

Obviously, of course, I'm merely setting up today's movie. Invasion of the Body Snatchers was a movie that was not supposed to be what it was. It was supposed to be just another B horror/sci-fi flick. But it wasn't. It did and continues to warn us of the dangers of what happens if we stop using our critical thinking abilities.

The Class: The Harder They Come

THE CLASS:
Hot Pepper Shrimp
Jerk Chicken
Baked Yams with Sweet Onions & Ginger
Caribbean Cole Slaw
Gizzada (Spiced Sweet Coconut Tart)



When I was a teenager, there was this weird little theater in the quiet suburb of Uniondale, New York called the Uniondale Mini-Cinema. Before the "midnight movie" craze hit the mainstream, this was one of those first experiments in letting young people, especially young people who were influenced by what was then known as "the counter-culture," and certainly those who had a love and reverence for movies, be allowed to program an actual movie theater.

Now remember this was before there were videotapes, or even cable TV. This was the only place where you could stay up all night and watch Marx Brothers movies, the new "concert" films like Woodstock or Jimi Plays Berkeley, and was a home for "outsider" filmmakers such as Robert Downey Sr. and John Waters. Later, after I had gone to seek my fortunes on the West Coast, it was one of the first theaters to do the whole Rocky Horror Picture Show thing. But it was also one of the first theaters to run The Harder They Come.

TV Bites: Paris, Texas

THE SNACK:
Chile avec Fromage (Chile con Queso)



A shorter version of this post was originally published on the Criterion Collection website.

In April, a new arthouse theater opened here in Austin, the Violet Crown Cinema. (Our city has several pet names and one of them is the “City of the Violet Crown.” Why it’s called that has been completely lost to history.) Local film director and cinephile Richard Linklater pick eight films from the Criterion Collection as a test run of their facility (and as a benefit for the Austin Film Society). Of the films he chose, the one I was most attracted to seeing was Paris, Texas. First, I couldn’t remember the last time I saw the film but always remembered how much I liked it; and second, I needed to pick something for my post here and was hoping to be inspired by something in the film. And I was.

TV Bites: My Favorite Year

THE SNACK:
Pot Stickers (Jiaozi)



My Favorite Year is one of those movies I go back to again and again whenever I feel the need for the warm & fuzzy. Even though I wasn't born yet, it reminds me of the New York I grew up in.... when real New Yorkers lived there, not people who say they're from New York but are actually from Ohio (no offense to Ohioans).

In the beginning of his commentary track on the DVD, director Richard Benjamin speaks about how this kind of comedy, those writers and comedians, could only have come from Brooklyn, the Bronx, and the Lower East Side and that they "clawed their way out" of there. Both my parents grew up in Flatbush (part of Brooklyn to your out-of-towners). My grandparents never watched a baseball game after the Dodgers left to Los Angeles. Going to visit them on the weekends was a lot like the dinner Benji takes Alan Swann to in the movie (if only Rookie Carroca was there!). They had the only color television set on the block and, on Sunday evenings, all the neighbors would come over and cram into the living room to watch with us.

The Class: Buena Vista Social Club

THE MEAL:
Empanadas de Queso y Espinaca
Mango, Avocado & Red Onion Salad with Papaya-Seed Dressing
Roasted Chicken, Versailles Style w/Black Beans & Rice and Fried Plantains
Coconut Rum Flan



Class was great tonight. I want to thank everyone who came out. Also, I just spent a few days up in Dallas for the premiere of the new documentary I co-wrote, OK Buckaroos, about singer/songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker at the Dallas International Film Festival. All was great - two sold out performances! My favorite moment was during the Q&A when someone asked Jerry Jeff a question about which "Green Frog Cafe" writer Guy Clark was referring to in the song "Desperados Waiting for a Train." Jerry Jeff pulled out his cell phone and gave Guy a call.

TV Bites: A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari)

THE SNACK:
Clint Eastwood's Hush Puppies



Well, I survived the "overcrowded & overmarketed" edition of South by Southwest and it's time to get back to work. Though, for Chef du Cinema, it was a very productive shmoozefest. I've got some interesting things in talks for some fun projects - more to come on that. But, if you've been following me on Twitter, you'll know I met with Mike Etchart of Sound & Vision Magazine Radio and I did a live interview with them. But the most exciting news is that I got contacted by the Rachael Ray Show about possibly doing something with them. We'll see what happens, but either way it's all good and it means that Chef du Cinema is moving onwards and upwards. Maybe some day soon, I'll be able to take this on the road and - if you're not in Austin - have a class in your town!

TV Bites: Citizen Dog (Mah nakorn)

THE SNACK:
Nam Tok Moo (Waterfall Spicy Pork Salad)


Note: volume on this trailer is high, turn down volume before playing

Well, I'm on the road in Southeast Asia, so posting will be sparse on the writing, but interesting in the recipes.

My plan is that I've written the movie stuff prior to the trip and will fill in some background & context on stuff from my adventures, but most exciting for you is that I'm taking some cooking classes along the way. So I will be posting recipes from them for this post and the next one on Vietnam. In planning and researching this trip to Thailand & Vietnam I went catching up on some indigenous films looking for one that I wanted to chef-du-cinema-ize.

TV Bites: Cool Hand Luke

THE SNACK:
Huevos Diablo al Newman (Deviled Eggs, Paul Newman Style)



Since I'm not (yet) teaching classes every week, I'm going to toss up here the occasional featurette for film & food lovers. TCM is running Cool Hand Luke this week (8/21 - 10:15 EST, 9:15 CST, 7:15 PST) as part of a Paul Newman night. And if you don't catch it then -- and especially if you've never seen it -- run, don't walk to your nearest video rental store. If you have a Netflix account, you can stream the movie instantly here or rent on Amazon on Demand here.

The Class: Casablanca

THE MEAL: 
Borani Laboo (Beet & Yogurt Dip) with Pita Chips
Sultan’s Tajine (Chicken Tajine w/Preserved Lemons and Sultanas)
Whole Wheat Couscous with Toasted Almonds and Dried Cranberries
Moroccan Mint Tea Sorbet



The inaugural “Chef du Cinema” class was a huge success. I want to thank all the folks who showed up as well as the Central Market Cooking School (especially Meredith, Scott and Louis) for helping to make it all happen and go so smoothly. We were sold out and everyone left satiated and happy.