Movies
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934). I would watch anything with Leslie Howard in it.
Dangerous (1935) / All This, and Heaven Too (1940). I would also watch anything with Bette Davis in it.
The Awful Truth (1937). I would watch most movies with Cary Grant; this happens to be the one that started my classic movie obsession. (However, stay clear of the sequel, My Favorite Wife; it kind of sucked.)
Ninotchka (1939)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Suspicion (1941) / Shadow Of A Doubt (1943) / Notorious (1946)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Scarlet Street (1945)
Brief Encounter (1946)
Sabrina (1954)
Paths Of Glory (1957) / Barry Lyndon (1975)
Some Like It Hot (1959). The best comedy of all time. Period.
Charade (1963)
Dangerous (1935) / All This, and Heaven Too (1940). I would also watch anything with Bette Davis in it.
The Awful Truth (1937). I would watch most movies with Cary Grant; this happens to be the one that started my classic movie obsession. (However, stay clear of the sequel, My Favorite Wife; it kind of sucked.)
Ninotchka (1939)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Suspicion (1941) / Shadow Of A Doubt (1943) / Notorious (1946)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Scarlet Street (1945)
Brief Encounter (1946)
Sabrina (1954)
Paths Of Glory (1957) / Barry Lyndon (1975)
Some Like It Hot (1959). The best comedy of all time. Period.
Charade (1963)
Books
The best reason to have amnesia would reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters over again, as if for the first time. Another recent great read was Bleak House by Dickens.
Podcasts
I thrive on good audio (indispensible while working on knitting projects and other needle-work). Aside from This American Life and Radiolab, other favourites are Spilled Milk and Judge John Hodgman.
Travel in the Pacific Northwest
The Southern Gulf Islands
Pender Island - Oak Bluffs was lovely, and well worth a visit. As of July 2011, I found 3 vanilla beans for $5 at the Medicine Beach Market.
Galiano Island - Dionisio Point. Maybe it was the beautiful spring day when I went there, but I thought it was as beautiful as any place in BC that I'd ever been. (Access is by boat, only.) I also had the most excellent sandwich on Galiano Island, at the Grand Central Emporium & Diner (close to the ferry terminal.
Salt Spring Island - If you're on Salt Spring, do yourself a favour, and go to the Salt Spring Island vineyard for a glass of wine on their terrace; it's absolutely lovely. Then do yourself another favour and go (through some lovely woods) to the Salt Spring Island Cheese Company. Not sure where all the goats are considering they specialize in goats' cheese; the samplings on offer are plentiful and very very delicious. Moby's, a pub in Ganges, has excellent food.
Gabriola Island - oh the bread! the bread! I've been tempted to go back to Gabriola just for the Slow Rise bakery bread. On a trip a couple of years ago, I had a sundried tomato and feta loaf, and it was divine. I see from their website that their products are also available in Nanaimo (joy! joy!). (I'm a bit of a carb fiend. Ahem.) I can also attest that the Arbutus Bluff B&B is just lovely; and as a cyclist, staying at the high point on the island ensures that you work off the bread.
Pender Island - Oak Bluffs was lovely, and well worth a visit. As of July 2011, I found 3 vanilla beans for $5 at the Medicine Beach Market.
Galiano Island - Dionisio Point. Maybe it was the beautiful spring day when I went there, but I thought it was as beautiful as any place in BC that I'd ever been. (Access is by boat, only.) I also had the most excellent sandwich on Galiano Island, at the Grand Central Emporium & Diner (close to the ferry terminal.
Salt Spring Island - If you're on Salt Spring, do yourself a favour, and go to the Salt Spring Island vineyard for a glass of wine on their terrace; it's absolutely lovely. Then do yourself another favour and go (through some lovely woods) to the Salt Spring Island Cheese Company. Not sure where all the goats are considering they specialize in goats' cheese; the samplings on offer are plentiful and very very delicious. Moby's, a pub in Ganges, has excellent food.
Gabriola Island - oh the bread! the bread! I've been tempted to go back to Gabriola just for the Slow Rise bakery bread. On a trip a couple of years ago, I had a sundried tomato and feta loaf, and it was divine. I see from their website that their products are also available in Nanaimo (joy! joy!). (I'm a bit of a carb fiend. Ahem.) I can also attest that the Arbutus Bluff B&B is just lovely; and as a cyclist, staying at the high point on the island ensures that you work off the bread.
Vancouver
Downtown, lunchtime: Finches (for the baguette sandwiches or for the soup/salad/bread combo), Nuba (for Najib's special cauliflower), Goldies (for the best place to grab a slice of pizza), Acme Cafe (retro atmosphere and excellent home-made food - I've been favouring the high-falutin' grilled cheese with the house potato chips; I wish that left room for their pie), the Pourhouse (, Bel Air?. Lunch, other: Las Tortas. Dessert: Mondo Gelato.
Pubs: The Railway Club, The Wolf and Hound (make sure you try the Black Plague stout). And not really a pub, but the Jericho Beach Yacht Club is an excellent (and casual, depsite the name) place to grab a burger and beer with an outstanding view.
Shopping: Chintz & Co for their extensive selection of realistic fake flowers and abundance of beautiful fabrics (supposedly for upholstery and drapes, but I'd wear them), and The Cross for all round loveliness.
Pubs: The Railway Club, The Wolf and Hound (make sure you try the Black Plague stout). And not really a pub, but the Jericho Beach Yacht Club is an excellent (and casual, depsite the name) place to grab a burger and beer with an outstanding view.
Shopping: Chintz & Co for their extensive selection of realistic fake flowers and abundance of beautiful fabrics (supposedly for upholstery and drapes, but I'd wear them), and The Cross for all round loveliness.
Food and Cooking
Okay, so I haven't made all of Smitten Kitchen's recipes, but I've certainly made a lot. From an archive containing hundreds of recipes, these are the ones that make me go - oh, THAT was GOOD! These are recipes that I actually add to my repertoire, and cook more than once:
breakfast apple granola crisp
artichoke-olive crostini
butternut squash and carmelized onion galette (the wild mushroom and stilton galette was pretty awesome too)
warm butternut squash and chickpea salad
shakshuka
chard and white bean stew
raspberry limeade slushies (I actually prefer these without the soda water) and vermontucky lemonade
Elsewhere:
honey-mustard marinated tofu (even non-vegetarians will love this, promise)
this baked oatmeal changed my life (or at least my breakfast routine)
this is the pizza dough recipe I use
Rebar. My dear, beloved Rebar.
breakfast apple granola crisp
artichoke-olive crostini
butternut squash and carmelized onion galette (the wild mushroom and stilton galette was pretty awesome too)
warm butternut squash and chickpea salad
shakshuka
chard and white bean stew
raspberry limeade slushies (I actually prefer these without the soda water) and vermontucky lemonade
Elsewhere:
honey-mustard marinated tofu (even non-vegetarians will love this, promise)
this baked oatmeal changed my life (or at least my breakfast routine)
this is the pizza dough recipe I use
Rebar. My dear, beloved Rebar.
The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. I know, I know: everyone with an ice cream maker raves about this book. I can personally vouch for the strawberry frozen yogurt, toasted coconut ice cream, lemon-buttermilk sherbet, blackberry-lime sorbet, and raspberry-rose (wine) sorbet. However, many of the ice creams call for a mixture of 1 part whole milk (3.25%) and 2 parts heavy (whipping) cream. As this is too rich for my taste, I've found that substituting half-and-half (10%) for the heavy cream still produces a delicious ice cream, without the formation of ice crystals from too low a fat content.
Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache by Harry Eastwood.
Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache by Harry Eastwood.
