TV Bites: Mad Max

THE SNACK:
Australian Beef & Mushroom Pies



It's the end of September here in Austin and that means one thing -- FANTASTIC FEST!!! So, I'm going deep for the next week watching films and to tie in with it, I decided to go with one of the great genre action films of all time, a film that redefined and reinvigorated the genre.

TV Bites: Wait Until Dark

THE SNACK:
Audrey Hepburn's Raisin Bran Muffins



So, I bet you all thought I was going feature Roman Holiday for my Hepburn Month. You know Hepburn-Hepburn, Holiday-Roman Holiday, obvious-obvious. But really to be quite honest, I can’t stand Roman Holiday. Just don’t get Gregory Peck at all. But the real genesis for planning this double Hepburn bill was that I was looking at TCM’s schedule for late September and when I saw it listed, I immediately thought, “Gee, I haven’t seen Wait Until Dark in years." I then proceeded to search around to see if Audrey Hepburn had any recipes of her own and, lo and behold, I found a mess of them.

movies I will not do classes on.... part deux

Right from the beginning, I decided there were films that were just too obvious to be included in my adventure. I listed them here. Now check out this new book which was unleashed last month and compare the list of movies they DID do to my list in that post. Sure these guys got a book, but I'm sticking by my premise of avoiding such movies -- Because if it's too easy, then I'm bored. And you don't want me to be bored, now do you?

Cooking Session with Classic Movie Stars....

just a bit of YouTube fluff featuring clips from old movies (featuring both hepburns) showing off their skills (or lack their of) in the kitchen. cute. Thank my new friends at FilmFood for discovering it.

TV Bites: Holiday

THE SNACK:
Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies



This is one where I found the recipe first and then chose the movie. There are just so many great Kate Hepburn movies, but the trio of comedies she made with Cary Grant: Bringing Up Baby, Holiday, and The Philadelphia Story, are my favorites. So which to pick? It wasn’t hard. Both Baby & Philadelphia Story I think are more popular, while Holiday is the often overlooked as neglected middle-child. But what I really love about this film, besides Grant & Hepburn, the script, the acrobatics (both physical and verbal - check out this analysis of Grant's backflip), is because from the first time I saw it I’ve wished I could be friends with Edward Everett Horton & Binnie Barnes’ characters. I would love to spend a night playing gin rummy in their flat, to say nothing of going on a transatlantic journey to France with them. It’s that simple....

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.