The ABC Life Blog

2 points – Activity – DOCUMENTARIES

Laura – I don’t typically watch Documentaries (hey, I am a fiction buff), but I wanted to branch out and widen my viewing choices. So I picked three documentaries whose subject matter appealed to me: 306 Hollywood; Life, Animated; and Jiro Dreams of Sushi. According to the experts, there are certain elements that make a documentary worth watching. It must be compelling, giving you a glimpse into the heart and soul of people’s lives and reminding us that every life has many elements. It needs to share a fresh perspective or exclusive access, showing you people, places or ideas that are new to you. A documentary must have depth, and its story and message should linger with you for days. And finally, it must have creative elements: be visually imaginative and often use animation that is artful and playful.

Here’s how the three documentaries stood up:

Life, Animated. At the age of 3, Owen Suskind suddenly stopped speaking and was diagnosed with autism. Salvation came from an unlikely source: Disney animated movies. They helped him understand the world and taught him to read and eventually to speak. The film follows Owen’s childhood and brings him to present day, where he is now living on his own and making a contribution to helping others understand what it’s like to be autistic. Pros: This hit all the marks of a good documentary. Compelling story, exclusive access, creative storytelling and animation that showed Owen’s own stories. Cons: None for me. Really enjoyed this documentary and how it enriched my understanding of autism.

306 Hollywood. When their grandmother dies suddenly at age 93, siblings Elan and Jonathan Bogarin decide to “excavate” her house and its contents in the hopes of portraying her life. After all, the objects we leave behind can tell a story of how we spent our time, what we found important and what we loved. Pros: The photography and visual images were extremely creative and the true strength of this film. For days after, I thought about what my “stuff” would say about my life. Cons: I don’t want to sound harsh, but she wasn’t my grandmother so I really didn’t need to know that much about her. It was only 95 minutes but it felt much longer.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi. This is a film about the pursuit of perfection and the pleasures of mastering your craft. It showcases 85 year-old Jiro Ono, considered to be the world’s greatest sushi chef and whose Tokyo restaurant earned three Michelin stars. Food lovers will enjoy this documentary, while everyone, regardless of culinary skills, will benefit from the interesting viewpoints on Jiro’s philosophy: Pros: I gained a new perspective and exclusive access into a very specific culture. It made me think about the pros and cons of having a passion for what you do loom so large that everything else takes second place. Cons. I felt a bit removed from the film. Maybe it was because Jiro was a guarded personality.

2 points – Activity – DINNER DARE

Both of us are addicted to cookbooks. You would think that would mean that we both cook up a storm, right? Wrong! We each have a bookcase filled with cookbooks and overflowing with recipes we have ripped out of magazines to potentially make at a later date. Out of this insanity comes our Dinner Dare. We have dared ourselves to each month take one of our cookbooks and blindly choose a page. We can take either that page, the page before, or the page after and we have to cook one of those recipes. We will then rate from 1-5 the recipes on three criteria: taste, time, and ease.

Laura: Pasta with Baby Spinach, Herbs and Ricotta

Taste: 3.

Time: 4

Ease: 4

I would not make this again, but I might “reinvent it.” The dish was too bland, so I would add more veggies to the pasta and more seasoning than the recipe called for. But it did make me more aware of how I can use up leftover ricotta. I occasionally make a Healthy Lasagna Skillet dish and always have leftover ricotta and spinach. This dish calls for both so it might be worth my time to improvise.

Barbara: Crab Cakes with Tartar Sauce

Taste: 1.5

Time: 3

Ease: 5

This recipe fell short on the taste category. The cakes were mushy and needed something to punch up the taste. I discovered that crab is not my favorite seafood and we wasted a lot of money because no one in my household was interested in saving the leftovers. Not to be repeated.

2 points – Activity – DENTON

Barbara: Laura and I were planning on a day trip to Denton but it wasn’t meant to be. But I was able to squeeze in a last minute activity there – James Hood’s Mesmerica which showed at University of North Texas in Denton. Although the people with me did not enjoy it, I was mesmerized (which I guess was Hood’s intention given the name). I’ve always loved kaleidoscopes and this was like being in one. It was held in a planetarium setting so the audience leaned back and watched the images. Boy, if this was around in the 70s, my fellow college students would have packed the room!

.

We are still planning on returning to Denton to explore the town because it looked DELIGHTFUL.

2 points – Book

Laura – Matchmaking for Beginners: A Novel by Maddie DAWSON

This book is totally charming and just the escape I needed. It was a welcome change from heavy themes or dark passages. Instead, it was easy and fun to read. Predictable, yes. But that’s okay when you are “visiting” with interesting, yet eccentric, characters. The author created a magical story with mystical overtones about two women from different generations (a 20+ and an 80 year old) who have matchmaking skills – one who knows it and the other who doesn’t. An unlikely duo but a very likable pair! Lucky for me, Maddie Dawson has written several other books, which I will definitely check out when the mood strikes. Discovering new authors is just one of many reasons I’m loving the ABC Life.

Barbara – Ireland by Frank DELANEY

I’ve been to Ireland and loved it so when I saw this book I was eager to read it. One thing I found in my travels to other countries is that people overseas seem to be much more familiar with their country’s history than we are. If someone came to visit me, I could show them around my city but I couldn’t tell them the background or history of Dallas. Yet every B&B host/hostess or even people we’ve met casually can talk about theirs or the significance of a monument, etc. That is why the theme of Mr. Delaney’s book was appealing. It is the story of Ireland from the voice of an old Storyteller who travels from town to town and gathers the townspeople around to tell them the tales of how their particular town came to be. What a wonderful thing that would be! While some parts were hard for me to get through since I’ve never been good reading historical books, just visualizing a wizened old man – almost unearthly – coming to Plano to tell the story of how it was settled makes me wistful. Anyone want to volunteer for the position?

1 point – LEARNING CENTER – Laura: DECISIONS

As a true procrastinator, I have a bit of difficulty making decisions. I waste too much time on the small ones and on the big ones – well, I just procrastinate. So I decided (wow, a decision made) to check out how others do it and learn something in the process. Decisions fall into three categories: small (they account for roughly 150 decisions a day), medium and big! Small decisions have a small impact, usually affecting only one day: what to wear that day, what to eat for breakfast. So make them quickly and move on. Some people turn small decisions into routines, such as Steve Jobs who wore black turtlenecks every day and my Aunt Jo who ate oatmeal and bananas every morning. Medium decisions can impact your life for a year or so, such as deciding which apartment to rent, whether to go back to school, etc. whereas big decisions are even more important since they can have lasting consequences. Think of big decisions as forks in the road – and take an active role by choosing the road you take. Don’t be random: align your big decisions with the goals you have in life for better success. Research the facts, check out the alternatives, list pros and cons and think about whether the decision fits in with the way your want to live your life.

Barbara: 

In my favorite quest for learning the origin of phrases, I came upon Don’t Throw the Baby out with the Bathwater. The explanation was the following:

Meaning: Don’t get rid of valuable things along with the unnecessary ones.

Origin: In the early 1500s, people only bathed once a year. (Yuck). Not only that, but they also bathed in the same water without changing it! The adult males would bathe first, then the females, leaving the children and babies to go last. By the time the babies got in, the water was clouded with filth. The poor mothers had to take extra care that their babies were not thrown out with the bathwater. So I guess next time I think “what is this world coming to” when I read an article about a mom who mistakenly leaves her child in the car I’ll realize it’s the modern form of a 1500’s mistake. History does repeat itself.

Our situation has improved a bit but we are still not able to do as many outings as we would like. But we’ve kept busy, mostly pursuits that we can do from home. So let’s DELVE into our DOINGS.

2 points each – Movies
Laura – Ordinary People

I chose to watch Ordinary People to cover the theme of Depression. However, it more aptly fits the topic of Dysfunctional families and Denial. This Oscar winning film (1980’s Best Picture, Best Director (Robert Redford), Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor (Timothy Hutton) carries you through the disintegration of an upper middle class family who has lost their oldest son to a boating accident and then subsequently experienced the tragedy of their younger son’s attempt at suicide.  I didn’t much care for the film, although the acting and directing were first class. It was tedious and distant, but then again the subject matter was not designed to entertain or uplift. What I took away from the film, however, was that when you can achieve emotional honesty, you definitely better the odds of working through serious problems. Sadly only the father and son made progress, whereas the mother chose to just leave the family rather than confront her demons.

Barbara – Virgin Suicides

Virgin Suicides, while perhaps not about the theme of Depression, certainly left me extremely depressed. I think it is more about repression than depression. Starring James Wood and Kathleen Turner as very religious and strict parents of 5 daughters, all of whom eventually commit suicide (that’s not a spoiler), it confirmed my personal belief that not allowing a child to go through the normal behavioral stages does not bode well for their mental health. I know that the parents cannot always be blamed for their children’s behavior but in this case they certainly were the largest factor. It’s sad, though, that the feeling among the sisters for each other did not allow them to hold on until they could leave that household.

2 points – Experiencing new restaurants

DELECTABLE DESSERTS

Having seen some depressing films, we wanted to balance out our feelings with some sweet and DELICOUS DESSERTS. We chose two of our favorites: cupcakes and donuts.  First place was WOW! Donuts and Drips in Plano. There were four categories of donuts: Classics, Fancy, Gourmet and Boutique.

We skipped over the Classics and went for the more enticing choices. Our choices were Orange Creamsicle (Fancy), Biscoff (Gourmet) and Key Lime Mousse (Boutique). These were about the tastiest donuts we’ve ever had. First, each donut was made to order. Second, the “donut” itself was delicious: not too sweet, yet not too bland – the perfect platform for added toppings. And third, the flavors, design and overall blending was unmatched by any of the other donut shops we’ve been to (and we’ve been to a lot). Our favorite was Orange Creamsicle!

Cupcakes were next. We tried two places: Cake Tales and Smallcakes Cupcakery and Creamery. Cake Tales’s gimmick was that their batter was chiffon and their butter cream icing homemade. We tried Red Velvet, and while the icing was good, the chiffon cupcakes fell a little flat in that they were too similar to a cake consistency. Smallcakes, on the other hand, delivered BIG! Their cupcake batter was moist and their icing was fabulous. We sampled two: plain chocolate with vanilla icing and a variation of the famous “Hostess” cupcake . Both were out of this world delicious: sweet enough to accomplish its purpose yet not overwhelming in the sugar department. All in all, our depression was lifted.

There are times in life when things happen that are beyond our control. Because of this, the ABC Sisters  are going to Delay posting our “D” activities and include them with next month’s Deeds.

In the meantime, why not try some “D” outings or projects of your own and Describe them in your comments!

Laura and Barbara

1 point – Cooking Something New – (Barbara) – CHINESE DUMPLINGS

How could I not take advantage of access to someone who can teach me how to make my own Chinese Dumplings? A Meetup group of women met at the home of our teacher, Leigh, who is a foodie and loves cooking with exotic spices and making international food. She was a great teacher, showing us how to create our dumplings and giving tips along the way. As a devotee of the show, Next Food Network Star, I know how important those tips are when doing a food demo so kudos to Leigh. Although my dumplings may not have looked perfect, they tasted pretty darn good for a first effort. It remains to be seen whether I’ll actually do them on my own but the experience was a lot of fun.

1 point – Cooking with a “C” ingredient CARROT MUFFINS

We really enjoy baked goods made with carrots but have never tried our hand at it before. Since muffins are a special temptation for both of us (Barbara loves the muffin top and Laura the whole thing), we thought we’d attempt a Glazed Carrot Muffin recipe. We just love when recipes say that prep time is 20 minutes. Hah! This one was very time consuming but we plugged on and came up with these muffins. Were they worth the mess and fuss? Probably not but not terrible considering we were doing a low fat recipe. Maybe for “D” month we’ll attempt something more Delicious.

1 point – Barbara – LEARNING CENTER – Cakewalk

Ever wonder why something you think is pitifully easy is called a “cakewalk”? I did so I did some research into it and was appalled to learn that it had an origin in racism. Cakewalk originated in the South of the 19^th century. It was a dance where slaves were invited to dress up and put on airs of the white aristocracy. The couple who did the best imitation won a cake, baked I would guess by another slave. Even though the cakewalk was invented to mock the aristocracy, they were allowed to do that and in doing so, the plantation owner was establishing his authority even more strongly. Even worse, it developed into a minstrel show wherein white actors in blackface made fun of the efforts of the slaves to mock them. Now the term means something so easy you can just walk and get rewarded.

1 point – “C “Author Rebekah CRANE

For most teenagers, life isn’t as simple as one would hope. Complex problems exist everywhere – which is why Esther is obsessed with math. After all, with math, every problem has a solution, whereas family, friends and love often involve situations that are harder to resolve. The Infinite Pieces of Us by Rebekah CRANE is a wonderful Young Adult novel that has it all : fascinating and loveable characters, humor, coming-of-age plot and a believable journey of self-discovery. Plus, woven into the narrative are creative math problems (“if souls really do travel in groups, but one is subtracted, is she lost forever?) and silly but charming math riddles (“You know what’s odd, Moss? What? Every other number.”).  A quick and delightful read, we both loved this book.

2 points – “C” place – CLEBURNE

From the time she was in 7^th grade, Gone With The Wind was Barbara’s favorite book so when we discovered that the city of Cleburne, Texas had a museum named Gone With The Wind Remembered, it was a no-brainer. We envisioned one large room with some scattered memorabilia. Boy, did we underestimate it. Founded by Vicky Lynn Rogers, who started her collection when she was 4 years old, the museum houses around 600 (!) dolls and a huge collection of memorabilia on just about every character in the book, plus Civil War Artifacts. There is a room with a video of interviews with the people involved in the making of the movie, as well as a small theatre where you can sit and watch some of the film. The museum doesn’t even house all of her collection; she has nearly 850 dolls and is still collecting. So the next time your husband or roommate tells you that you have too many shoes, just say “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

2 points – “C” restaurants/dishes

Two tacos and a Cristo waffle – sounds like it could be a country western song but it was our culinary experience for C month. Leading the way was Crush Taco in Frisco – a fabulous place for an elevated taco experience opened by the chef of two fine restaurants in Dallas: Capital Grille and Perry’s Steakhouse. We had cornflake crusted shrimp tacos and fried chicken elotes style tacos. If you’re in the area you’ve got to try them. Next up was the Legacy Hall food court in Frisco where we tried a Cuban taco at Velvet Taco (just average) and a Cristo waffle (Monte Cristo between two waffles in place of bread) at Pressed Waffle. The Cristo was delicious and worthy of their Shark Tank backing.

2 points – Activity – CLUE Murder Mystery

A favorite game in our family, both growing up and raising our own children, was CLUE. So it made perfect sense for us to register for the Dallas Museum of Art Murder Mystery. Who did it, Where and With What?

We expected a turnout of about 30 people but close to 200 people showed up! The mystery took us to all 4 levels of the museum, each of which revealed some suspects and possible murder weapons and one room with the outline of a body. Had we not overthought the obvious (since the body was riddled with stab wounds, surely it would be too obvious to say the weapon was a dagger, right?…WRONG!), , we would have been one of the many winners.

2 points – Movie Theme CHOICES

Although we do look at movie reviews, we’ve always felt that if the subject sounded interesting to us we could easily ignore the review and watch it, as many good movies could be missed if one chose solely based on its rating. We’ve definitely been vindicated with the movie The Words, starring Dennis Quaid, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons and Zoe Saldana. It’s a movie about living with your Choices and how they affect the rest of your life. Loosely based on a real life incident of Ernest Hemingway (his first wife, Hadley, packed all the pages he wrote prior to 1922 in a briefcase and forgot it on a train), it’s the story of a young, unsuccessful writer (Cooper) who finds a briefcase in an antique store and discovers a manuscript in it. There is nothing to indicate the owner of the briefcase or the author of the manuscript. After much deliberation, the writer decides to retype it and pass it off as his own. The repercussions of this choice, along with others made after the true author reveals himself, is the heart of the movie. It made us think of what we would do, how bad actually was his initial choice, etc. – and any movie that makes us think and discuss after we’re done watching is worth it. We both felt the reviewers were definitely too harsh on this film.

2 points –  Activity – CHRISTIAN Dior COUTURE COLLECTION

You couldn’t grow up in the 20^th Century without having heard of Christian Dior – the ultimate symbol of Parisian haute couture. Although we are not high fashion minded, we were interested in seeing his collection first hand. Our impressions:

• The collection was beautifully displayed. Our first step into the area was very striking.
• We were surprised to learn that Dior only designed from 1947-1957, the year of his unexpected death, and that the baton was then passed to Yves St. Laurent who had been his assistant. Subsequently the “Dior” collection was run by various other designers, which explains the difference in looks over the years.
• Dior was one of the first to offer coordinating shoes, hats, makeup and jewelry.
• We saw several dresses we would love to own. Barbara has a birthday coming up in November, hint hint!
•                             

2 Points – New restaurant: BENEDICTS

We are always excited about breakfast, with eggs benedict dishes being particularly appealing. So Benedict’s Restaurant seemed like a natural choice for us. While their menu is especially descriptive and tempting (kudos to their Marketing person), sadly the dishes didn’t quite live up to their billing. For example, Baconberry Benedict sounded different and yummy, but tasted like ordinary eggs benedict to Barbara. And the Brooklyn Benedict did nothing to remind Laura of growing up with New York pastrami and potato pancakes. We’re not saying it was a bad restaurant; it just set our hopes up a bit too high.

2 points – New restaurant: BULLA GASTROBAR

Laura: While Barbara was off in England, I decided to visit Spain. Well, not quite. But a friend and I did go to Bulla Gastrobar – a fairly new addition to our local restaurant scene and fashioned after famous gastrobars in Spain. (What’s a gastrobar? It’s a combination of a bar and gastronomy, the study of the relationship between culture and food.) I had Lentil Soup with Chorizo to start – and I could have ended there. It was filling and outstanding. The flavors and freshness really hit all the right chords and I was singing its praises to anyone who’d listen. I also had the salmon with baby spinach, chickpeas and lemon cream. It was good but in my opinion took a back seat to the soup. Tasty food, friendly and courteous wait staff and calming atmosphere – I’ll be back!

2 points – BOOKISH TV themes.

If you love books like we do, then you can understand why the thought of checking out TV series that deal with books would be a fun activity. We chose to review three. First up was Being Erica, a Canadian show about Erica Strange, who has an editorial job in publishing. The premise is that she is sent back in time by her therapist to fix decisions in the past that she regrets. The first episode was enjoyable: likeable characters, quotes throughout that added a bit of pizazz, a “life lesson” and curiosity as to what regrets she will tackle next. Of course, we all know from other shows and movies that when you go back in time to change events, one change will trigger other changes and you could wind up affecting major world events. However, her therapist points out that to some degree her life is insignificant so it’s highly unlikely that her “fixes” will alter the course of history. The second show was You, about a stalker who works in a book store and his obsession with a customer. But his stalking was a bit too creepy to get us hooked. Watched two episodes and that was about all we could take. The third and last show was Black Books, a British sitcom about a grumpy owner of a small bookshop who hates customers and would rather they all leave him alone. Surprisingly, it’s a critical success and has a devoted fan base, but we could barely get through the first episode. The canned laughter was horrible – too loud, too often and too inappropriate. So annoying that it ruined any chance that we might have found some parts amusing.

1 Point Each – LEARNING CENTER

Barbara – BRITISH-ORIGINATED EXPRESSIONS. On my trip to Britain I learned the origin of several expressions, all of which made me happy that I wasn’t born in Britain during the Middle Ages!

Frog in your throat – if someone had a sore throat it was prescribed that they hold a frog and let it spit into their throat to soothe it.

Rule of thumb – a husband could beat his wife but the thing he beat her with could be no wider than his thumb

Saved by the bell – when you got buried, just in case you were still alive, they attached a string to your finger, which was attached to a bell, so if you woke and found yourself in a coffin you could ring the bell and hope someone heard it.

Laura – The BOOGEYMAN. It’s so interesting to me that almost every country has some form of the Boogeyman  – a monster or mystical creature that is used to scare children into behaving as the adults in charge deem proper. The name may change (Sack Man, El Coco, Babau, Butzemann, Div, Babaroga, etc.) and the threat (e.g., being kidnapped or eaten) may vary, but it would be hard to find a child who has not heard of this scary beast. In most cases, it’s the parents who are to blame – telling their child that if they don’t do something (put away your toys, stop fighting, go to sleep), the Boogeyman might come and take them away. Although this threat takes the pressure off the parents as the “bad guys,” it’s really laying the groundwork of mistrust and not instilling good habits. Plus, it just doesn’t seem right to prey on the vulnerability of children. Although I don’t remember being threatened with the Boogeyman as a child, I do remember that the vision of such a creature was in my head. There was a movie that Barbara and I both watched as kids that had a monster/Boogeyman figure sail off unharmed at the end of the movie and we both felt in our hearts that the Boogeyman was sailing towards our house now and we better take cover! To wish that no one would use the Boogeyman as a scare tactic to change behavior may be honorable, but I’m afraid (not literally) that will never happen since fear is still one of the most effective motivators out there.