Fabulous Friday: Charade

This is one of my favorite movies. It's perfect. Absolutely, perfect. I love the part where she takes his glasses and says she bets he doesn't need them. It would have been so easy to overplay it, but Audrey is just charming.

Happy Friday!

The Clever North Wind

Chocolat is one of those movies that I forget how much I enjoy. When it crosses my path, and I sit still long enough to pay attention, it never fails to leave me smiling.

There are so many elements that make it wonderful. To begin with, the cast is marvelous. Juliette Binoche is incandescent, Johnny Depp is at his charming rag-a-muffin best (perhaps the only movie I like him better in is Finding Neverland), and let us not forget the divine Leslie Caron as Madame Audel. She barely has a line, but she eats chocolate so impishly.

The costumes are lovely. Does any one look bad in a cardigan and those flared 50's skirts? And the music! To think how pale life would be, if I had not been introduced to Django Reinhardt and the intoxicating rhythm of Gypsy Jazz. I dare you not to dance.

Chocolat also reminds me why I love to cook. I'm afraid I subscribe to the Mary Poppins School of Crisis Management, which is probably why my waist band keeps expanding and all my pets are overweight. No, food can be miraculous. A dish made with loving sincerity may not fix the world's woes, but it can give a troubled soul the few moments of calm it needs to find a solution. Why I have known a homemade oatmeal cookie to calm the most stressed of law enforcement officers! Never underestimate the power of a homemade cookie.

Stupid Groundhog (grumble, grumble)

So, Phil saw his shadow. 6 more weeks of winter. I think there's a conspiracy - darn rodents just want to hibernate longer.

If you're interested in new food combinations this Food Pairing guide should be hours of fun. I'm not suggesting you start your day with a grapefruit and licorice breakfast beverage but it does certainly open your eyes to new possibilities. Salmon baked with a grapefruit, mustard glaze sounds pretty tasty to me.

Almost forgot, I started a painting for that big blank wall . I treated myself to new brushes and beautiful tubes of paint this weekend. I'm a bit rusty but the fingers are starting to remember how to paint.

photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/annemiel/

Clever things

I found this nifty little bird feeder in my recent ramblings and had to share. It is available on-line at Greener Grass Design.

Although a bit pricey for a bird feeder, I admire the simplicity and elegance of the design.

Of course, I also have the "You Could Make That" muse whispering in my ear. Not out of glass granted, but you just know there's a plastic container on the grocer's shelves that I could recycle for my purpose. I'll be on the look out.