TV Bites: Sunset Blvd.

THE SNACK:
Dr. Bieler's Detoxifying Health Broth




Once upon a time, in the last quarter of the 20th Century, I lived in Los Angeles. One New Year's Eve, a couple of friends of mine all shared the same dream - that we all wished we could be transported to Artie Green's New Year's Eve party in that little apartment on Las Palmas Blvd. It was agreed it was the best New Year's Eve party we could imagine. And I'll stick with that belief, even today.

TV Bites: A Christmas Story

THE SNACK:
Chinese Turkey aka Peking Duck



Being raised Jewish, I never celebrated Christmas in any way, shape, or form. I can only understand it the way a cultural anthropologist might. Dahlia Lithwick wrote an article in Slate a few years ago covering the issue of how Jewish parents deal with Christmas, and especially Christmas TV specials. Like she describes, I didn’t watch Christmas TV specials growing up. They weren’t “illegal” to watch, we just never watched them because we didn’t relate to them. Never really thought about them. It was one of those things we just didn’t take part in.

TV Bites: Get Shorty

THE SNACK:
Jalapeño Jack Cheese Omelette w/"Slightly-Browned" Shallots



Well I made it through the upper respiratory infection and watched a really great documentary on Robert & Richard Sherman that's streamable on Netflix. It's making me think about wanting to do Mary Poppins here.

Meanwhile, since I figured I already referenced Get Shorty in the recent post on Rio Bravo (and to tie it all together, Elmore Leonard wrote the script for High Noon II!), why not just do it as the next TV Bites. So here we are.

TV Bites: North by Northwest

THE SNACK:
Bourbon Cured Steelhead Trout



Well, currently I'm stuck in bed with an upper respiratory infection which means it hurts to talk and I've been on a liquid diet for the last 48 hours. And I'm contagious. But the show must go on and I'm hard at work trying to knock out the special Christmas and New Year's editions of this blog. So, in the meantime.....

I hope you will believe me when I say that I have no grand master list of films I'm choosing, but rather selecting them as the urge strikes. So it's as much of a surprise to me that in the few films I've chosen so far, this is now the third film that was made in 1959 (along with Some Like it Hot and Rio Bravo). Why this year has such a pull on me for this "adventure," I'm not sure. But here we are, number three.

Tickets Available NOW for Charade Class - 1/30/2011!

Time: Sunday, January 30, 2011 · 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Location: Central Market North, 4001 North Lamar, Austin, TX

For my third Chef du Cinema class, I am featuring the Cary Grant/Audrey Hepburn classic Charade. In this very special class, I will be preparing a meal based on recipes from Audrey Hepburn's personal unpublished recipe book.



THE MENU:
Audrey's Kippered Herring Salad on Roasted Potatoes;
Italian Tossed Salad with Audrey’s Vinaigrette;
Audrey’s Pasta Pomodoro;
Rosemary, Garlic & Sea Salt Focaccia; and
Fresh Vanilla Ice Cream with Maple Swirl (her favorite dessert!)

TV Bites: Waste Land

THE SNACK:
Brigadeiros (Brazilian Chocolate Truffles)



I spent a lot of wasted time thinking about a film to do for Thanksgiving. Now Woody Allen especially has a thing for the holiday and almost every movie he makes features people eating turkey (Broadway Danny Rose, Annie Hall, and Hannah & Her Sisters are all examples). But I just did Broadway Danny Rose and didn't feel like diving into another Allen film back to back. I guess there's Pocahontas.... but yeah, no.