My Transformer's Keeper

First things first, this weekend I discovered 100 calorie packs of Sour Patch Kids. Such an amazing idea. I always want something to snack on in the theater, even though I don't really need one. And 100 calories of Sour Patch Kids, its about a kids fruit snack serving. That's really all I need, plus since its tiny its awfully easy to sneak it into the theater. They made at least one appearance this past weekend. But let's get too it!

Transformers: Rise of the Fallen
We actually saw this last Wednesday, right after LSU won their baseball championship. Midnight showings were the night before, but due to the game we had to see a 10:30-ish show. Even the second day the theater was absolutely packed.

The actual movie was really good. I would say better than the first. I think my problem with the first movie was that there wasn't a well thought out plot. Granted most people saw that movie for the action and really didn't care about any plot. This time though they actually made a plot that seemed to make sense. Which I though overall, made it for more enjoyable.

The acting wasn't the best, especially Megan Fox's big emotional one near the end. I wouldn't say the acting was bad, just not amazing. But if I had to pick, I'd go for plot over amazing acting.

I also liked the location shooting. I would LOVE to go to Egypt someday, and pretty much love looking at the pyramids. And while Petra is not on my top 3 locations to visit I would easily go there if the opportunity presented itself. Moving to the opposite end of the spectrum.

My Sister's Keeper
I'll be honest I cried the entire movie. I've heard that it is supposed to be an uplifting movie, and maybe you could say that at the end of it. But if you cry during some movies, you won't stop during this one.

I've never read the book, so I can't comment on the differences. I have heard that they changed the ending, but I'm not quite sure how. The ending of the movie did seem to fit with the overall feeling of the film though.

The actual movie was done with a series of flashback and constantly changing who the narrator was. While it wasn't completely confusing, even now I'm still not sure how to arrange all the scenes completely chronologically. (They did have a preview for The Time Traveler's Wife during this one. And that time of film, where you're never sure where you are in time would be perfect for that!)

Overall I'd say go see Transformers. If you do feel like a good cry, then My Sister's Keeper might be the one for you.

~Shoshanah

Another Weekend Down

This weekend actually seemed to go my slower than most. I'm not quite sure why. I think it might be partly do to the fact that we do more than normal. Or maybe it was partly due to the lazy Friday night I'm not really sure.

Saturday, the Boy came home from work and decided we needed to go for a walk. What he really meant was I am going to force us to exercise. We walked/jogged for about 30 minutes. There was even a bit of a grass hill we sprinted up. Overall it wasn't anything too crazy. However it was the first time I have actually run outside since I graduated college 3 years ago (has it really been 3 years?). I'm not a big self motivator and once I no longer had a team that was pushing me to do work, well, that's why I haven't done anything athletic. I have worked out a few times on an elliptical, but I could probably count the number of times I've done that on my two hands. So basically I am completely out of shape. I would have been content to literally walk for 30 minutes, but clearly that wasn't it his game plan. Lucky for me, the Boy is actually a pretty good trainer. And will push me, which is exactly what I need.

After we came back, jumped in the pool to cool off (did I mention its around 100 degrees outside in Louisiana right now), and took a shower we were ready for dinner. We were originally planning on Italian (because I ALWAYS choose Italian), but we started watching Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Bar-B-Que. Since we weren't willing to drive to Texas to go to The Salt Lick (aka Bobby Flay's and Dave Duff's pick), we went to a bar-b-que place down the street. VooDoo BBQ & Grill
I had really wanted BBQ Beef Ribs, but no go. So I went with BBQ Brisket. I got to pick two sides and went with potato salad and rattlesnake beans. And of course it came with Texas toast (since that's the main thing you can see in the picture).

After dinner I felt I had to reward myself for working out. A little counter productive? Maybe. But so worth it!
Coldstone's cake batter ice cream with gummi bears and caramel. Its my go to pick at Coldstone's. I thought about changing it up with pink lemonade sorbet, but I don't get cake batter often enough to do it.

Sunday again we worked out. Two days in a row. It was much easier the second day actually. Yes, I was more sore. But I knew what to expect. And I do say I felt pretty good about myself afterwards. Hopefully we can keep this up for a while longer!

After jumping the the pool to cool off (I LOVE having a pool just out our backdoor!) we decided to buy food for dinner at Target. Yes Target includes a grocery store here. I'm not sure how many states do that. Normally the food at Target is pretty good. But last night it looked like someone ransacked the produce department. There were selling corn for $0.10 an ear, so there were maybe 5 ears of corns left in the whole corn section. But there were corn husks all over the ground. Plus all of the other produce didn't look right. I thought I was planning it safe and buying a box of raspberries. But I come home and find there is mold growing in the center. Not too sure I'll ever buy produce at Target again.

Instead we bought frozen edamame to make for dinner. For our main course we decided to make meatballs.
I got the recipe from June's issue of Redbook. It was a recipe from Giada from the Food Network. She actually made them using chicken but we substituted ground turkey. And if you're curious to see the recipe, its here. The meatballs turned out really good. We would easily make them again. The edameme turned out good as well (but its frozen, its hard not to turn out well). Overall I'd say it was a weekend well spent!

~Shoshanah

Looking Back

Yes, I know I don't normally post on Fridays, but I'm not really posting a new post. Maybe by now you've heard of 20 Something Bloggers current Carnival prompt. If you haven't the point is to post an entry from the first two month of blogging to show how you've changed as a blogger.

For me the hardest part was actually decided when I started blogging here, as silly as it sounds. If you look at my archives you'll see a few posts dating back to 2007. But back then this blog was at a different address and simply called, "Shoshanah's Blog." It was only last December when I changed the url to the current "http://shoshanahg.blogspot.com/" and created From LA to L.A.. While I could get rid of the earlier archives from before December I do enjoy reading them. If your curious I encourage you to do so as well, in general they are normally entries writing about my trip to Japan and later trip to Israel.

But back to the task at hand. I choose an entry from December 29, 2009. Part of the reason why I choose it is because its an entry that somewhat shows the differences from going from LA to L.A.

Yes Ma'am
Originally posted December 29, 2008

"One thing no one prepared me for when I moved to Louisiana, was the differences in etiquette or manners if you'd rather. The first time I met the Boy's parents I was told to be on my best behavior. Turns out we had a different definition of what, "best behavior" meant.

In the South when you're asked a question you're not really supposed to say "yes," defiantly not "yeah," and probably not even "no, thank you." It turns out the correct response is actually "Yes, Ma'am" or "No, Sir" or any combination of the like. I didn't realize people said this in real life still! It completely sounds like something from the movies or 100 years ago. Needless to say I did not make a very good first impression.

I have however, tried to improve. I did try it out on my parents when I was home that first year for the holidays. (My dad told me it sounded awkward and like I was trying to hard.) I got most adept at using those responses at work. Particularly when I had to make phone calls to people, or when I worked after school care and had to talk to parents. Honestly, most often now I'll be in a situation where I'll answer yes (or more realistically yeah) to a question, and my immediate thought afterwards will be, "That would have been a perfect time for a yes, sir"

Of course, if I do wind up having children with the Boy, he (and his parents) will expect our children to be well versed in their Ma'ams and Sirs. Maybe be that time I will have been here long enough to recognize when you're supposed to say it. We can hope..."

While I don't think I've necessarily change a huge amount since last December, I still do enjoy going back and reading some of my old entries. And as time goes on, I'm sure I will continue to do. Hopefully you've enjoyed this little flashback as well.

~Shoshanah

P.S. I'm not sure why blogger didn't post my Frozen Thursday post from last night. But if you look below its up now!

This post is a part of 20SB’s Looking Back Blog Carnival, and Ben & Jerry’s is awarding free ice cream to lucky bloggers and readers!

Garden Vegetable Pasta

Kashi's Garden Vegetable Pasta
I've said it before that I'm not a big fan of broccoli. I know I had tried the before (pre-Frozen Thursday posts and probably even pre-blog), but really didn't like it. Mainly due to the fact that there was broccoli in it. This time I picked out the florets when it was still half frozen, but was afraid that it would still taste all broccoli-like.

Lucky for me the most overwhelming flavor was the sauce. According to the box its a "Roasted Red Pepper, Garlic & Four Herb Sauce." According to me it pretty much amazing, and completely masked any of the leftover broccoli flavor.

I don't really have a lot to say about the other non-broccoli vegetables. I don't think I can say anything negative or positive about the squash. It was just kind of there. In general the white beans were good, although a few of them were a little too hard.

Overall, I might have this one again. Assuming of course I pick out the broccoli again. I will say the broccoli probably would have livened the picture up a little, but I guess I'm not willing to sacrifice my meal for a good picture.

~Shoshanah

It's a Blog, Not a Memoir

Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster
I had heard a lot about this book but wasn't sure I wanted to read it. My co-worker had the book and lent it to me which meant I didn't have to buy it so that was in its favor. And I brought this book with me to California a few weeks ago. Trapped in the car on the 8 hour drive from Long Beach to Santa Cruz there wasn't a whole lot else to do. Thankfully I don't normally get car sick. I think the reason I was turned off from reading her book was because it was a memoir. I knew she had also written four books total. Did a person really need to write four different memoirs?

Then I actually read the book. About halfway through I realized, "She's a blogger! That's where she got her book deal!" Is it bad that I think to myself that I wouldn't want to read a general memoir, but I will want to read it knowing its based on a blog. A bit of a double standard there don't you think?

Once I had that figured out I really did enjoy the book. I found it funny and captivating. I know there are people out there who haven't been able to get into her books. Maybe if I hadn't been stuck in a car that might have been the case here. However, I had the book finished within minutes of arriving at the apartment. My co-worker did lend me her second book, which I am planning on reading.

I do have one complaint, although it isn't actually about the book. After I go home from Santa Cruz I went to her blog hoping to read some of the entries that turned into the book. But it looks like she's taken down the original blog that got her the book deal. There are a good amount of archives on her current blog, but all from around when Bitter is the New Black was published. Anyone know if her early entries are still around somewhere? Or does anyone currently read her blog? I did try to look at some of her current entries, but most seemed to be listed dates on her book tour. It looks like she's more of an actual book author than blog author now.

~Shoshanah

P.S. And if you're curious, LSU baseball won last. Which means we're the current NCAA baseball champions! Again, Geaux Tigers!

Superstitious Much?

Last night during the LSU game, I took a break between innings to check my e-mail. While I was on my computer LSU got a lead off walk to start the inning.

I closed the internet and went back to the couch. LSU got three quick outs to end the inning. I was told I had to go back to my computer and was not allowed on the couch. And if I stayed on the couch and LSU lost it would be all my fault.

Well, LSU lost. So I would like to apologize to all the LSU fans out there for being the absolute ONLY reason that the team lost. Clearly it had nothing to do with the actual team that was playing in Omaha. Therefore, I wanted to apologize say I'm sorry I let everyone down.

We'll see if I'm allowed to watch tonight...

~Shoshanah

Geaux Tigers!

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the LSU World Series game. Of course we order our food (mozzarella stick and $0.40 wings), and almost immediately after the announcer comes on to say there's geaux-ing to be at least an hour rain delay. So instead they start showing last night's game (which we won in the 11th inning). The waitress cheered when they hit their home run and asked us, "Do they normally hit this many home runs? I mean last night and now today." Yeah, we told her it was because this WAS last night game. We ate, came home, and now of course the game is starting. So, I'm off to geaux watch the game because I'm told being on my computer is bad luck. Hopefully next time you here from me, LSU will be the NCAA baseball champ! Geaux Tigers!

~Shoshanah

P.S. In case you're a little confused, geaux is the Cajun spelling of go. Makes sense now?

A Life Together

A generation or two ago your life as a couple would start once you got married. After you were married you'd move in together, buy a house, start a family, and everything else. But the actually wedding and marriage, was a clear indication that you would be starting a life together.

Now it isn't quite so easy to define. People live together and then get married. Couples have a baby together and then get married. Buy a house and then get married. That is if they decide to get married at all. With this all mixed up where do you define the start our your life together? Yes, you can same getting married is the official start. But if you've lived together for 10 years and then decide to get married, what really changes at that point? Really besides impacting your finances, there isn't going to be anything different with your relationship.

And what if you really don't need your finances to change? A good example it Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, clearly they don't really need to be worried about their finances. Does that mean its the only reason they should be married, and the only why they will truly have a life together? But, would you say they have not made a commitment to each other because they are not married? With 6 kids together, I sure hope that they've made a commitment!

Yes, there are still traditionalists out there whose life together truly does begin when there are husband and wife. But what about the rest? When do you think you can officially say we've decided to make a life together? Maybe its only a simple verbal decision. Or do you need to sign a piece of paper (or post-it) like Meredith and Derek on Grey's Anatomy?

On a similar note, is there anything you absolutely would not do unless you were married? Would you live in an apartment together before the actually wedding, but draw the line at buying a house together before you're married? Or would buy a house together, but make sure to avoid having a child together until you actually tie the knot? Or is there something else you feel absolutely can't happen until your official in the government's eyes, the US government's eyes at least. Or would you say Heidi's and Spencer's Mexico wedding made them official? Do you think there's a clear cut guideline?

~Shoshanah

Year Proposal

Yes, I could have called this "The One" instead, but where the fun in that! Before I start with my actual review of The Proposal, let me just say if we had left after the previews I would have felt we had our money's worth. Going to the movies as often as we do, we see a lot of the same previews over and over. But this time 4 out of 5 were new previews. Or at least new to see on the big screen. I most definitely watched two of these on-line as soon as they came out. Care to guess which to they were? The official The Proposal list was:

• New Moon
• The Time Traveler's Wife
• Julie and Julia
• Shutter Island (aka the new Leonardo Dicaprio movie)
• Old Dogs (new movie with Robin Williams and John Travolta)

I will pretty much go see all of those movies! But getting to the actual reason we were in the theater.
The Proposal
First I like Sandra Bullock. I can't think of any movie she's been in that I haven't liked, but she doesn't stand out as one of my favorite actress. Then there's Ryan Reynolds. I haven't seen very many movies that he's been it, but I do love him in all of the ones I've seen.

Yes, its a bit cliched, but aren't all romantic comedies. Yes, you already know how its going to end. But they do put in a few twits for you. Overall, its a fun date movie or even a girl's night movie.

Year One
I think there was a great concept behind this movie. And its not that it wasn't cleverly executed. More of the fact that I don't really seem to "get" a lot of comedies. I can't seem to really get into them, and stop taking them so seriously. There are some comedies I've really enjoyed (The Hangover), but this doesn't really compare. I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it either.

I did enjoy the Biblical references, even though they weren't the most chronologically accurate. Cain & Abel one scene, Abraham and Issac the very next... that's not quite the way it went. But it clearly wasn't trying to be accurate. Unlike say 10,000 B.C., anyone remember that one?

Yes, it was funny, but if you're choosing between the two, go with The Proposal. And if you think I'm just choosing the more "girly movie," I asked the boy's opinion and he agrees that The Proposal is the one to see unless of course "you're under 18, then you'd probably like Year One better.

~Shoshanah

The Dream of Blogging

A few weeks ago when I was doing a little decorating around the apartment I bought a bulletin board. I really wanted a white board with a bulletin board, but Target was sold out of them so I made do. There's nothing to crazy on our board, mainly bills that have to be paid, coupons, and a Chinese delivery menu. Although you have no idea how long it has taken me to find Chinese delivery in Baton Rouge. I haven't tried it yet, but when I do I will let you know.

I arrived home from my weekend in Santa Cruz to see that my loving boyfriend had left me something on the bulletin board.
Thanks for the support baby! :)

~Shoshanah

The Food In Santa Cruz

I told you I would be writing more about my trip to California. But what I really meant was that I will be writing about the food I ate on my trip! This is me after all. I don't have pictures of everything, which is probably good, because do you really want to see pictures of my creme brulee latte with a rainbow sprinkle doughnut?

My parents picked me up at the airport with fries and a hamburger from In-N-Out, plus a Vanilla Shake. I haven't had In-N-Out in probably years, and even if it had gotten a little cold in the car, it was still amazing. Of course I don't have any pictures of my meal, because I ate it before I could think of it.

Nor do I have pictures of the amazing meal my grandmother made when we went to dinner at their house Thursday night. But we had chicken, potatoes, and an apple tart. Although my favorite was the salad (with nuts, squash, cheese, and maybe cranberries in it?).

Friday we started our drive from Long Beach to Santa Cruz. We stopped for lunch at The Hungry Cat in Santa Barbara (They have a second restaurant in Hollywood if you're curious). Since its pretty much impossible for me to find a good fish taco in Louisiana, I had to go for their fish tacos.
Fish Tacos at The Hungry CatThe tacos were pretty much amazing. The avocado was prefect, and there was just the perfect amount of cheese. But the best part was probably the home made tortillas.

After a million hours (fine, more like 7) we made it to Santa Cruz. We checked into our hotel and went to dinner, at a win bar called Soif. At least I think that was the name. No pictures of this meal, but we had a bunches of different small plates to share. My favorite was probably the asparagus soup.

Graduation was Saturday, and afterwards we all headed to lunch. We were planning on getting sushi, but the two sushi places we went to were closet for lunch. There was a Chinese place done the street, so we decided to go there an order family style.


1st Row: Sizzling Rice Soup, Fried Sweet Potatoes 2nd Row: Spicy Green Beans, Ginger Beef 3rd Row: Spring Rolls The Ginger Beef was probably my favorite, but clearly the spring rolls have the best picture. If anything came with a dipping sauce I tried to include it in the picture, and of the three we had, I liked the peanut sauce that came with the spring rolls. Overall, it was a nice lunch, but nothing incredibly amazing.

After lunch we had a Japanese tea ceremony with my brother's tea ceremony tea. Then went to his room to pack up all his still.

The went to out for my brother graduation dinner. We went to a restaurant called Oswalds. I think my mom described it to my brother, as farmer's market type food. I started off by ordering the cassoulet

1st Course at OswaldsI'm not sure if I've ever had a cassoulet before. But I remember seeing someone make on on the food network and thought to myself I HAVE to try that. In case you weren't sure, cassoulet is basically a white bean dish with pieces of pork that's left too cook forever. You can kind of tell in this one that it had a bread crumb crust. This wasn't the type of first course I'd normally go for, but I wanted to try it. Looking back, maybe I should have had the foie gras.

But the main reason I didn't have foie gras is because I had duck for my second course. I have done that before and ordered duck for my main dish and appetizer, but it always seems a little silly.

Main course at OswaldsI pretty much love duck, and will order it whenever I see it. The fun thing about this duck is it came with a blueberry sauce. This also came with a salad, which came with blueberry cornbread croutons!

And of course dessert!

Dessert of OswaldsCreme brulee. Probably my all time favorite food. Let's say I will decide I am too full for dessert, and if I will see a creme brulee on the menu, then I always have room for creme brulee.

And finally the last meal on the trip, breakfast on Sunday morning.

The Last BreakfastSorry, I can't remember the name of this place, but I had their huevos mexicanos. After all it was my last meal in California, and had to end it with the last good Mexican food I'll have in a while. The eggs were scrambled with avocado and tomatoes (I had them hold the cheese). And it came with black beans and tortillas. There was also a side of salsa, but that didn't make the picture. It was really good, but the tortilla didn't quite compare to the homemade ones from Hungry Cat a few days earlier. And that's my trip to California! Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll be back out there for a while.

Now that I've made everybody hungry I'm off to make dinner! Although, I can guarantee you it won't quite compare to the food above.

~Shoshanah

One Year Ago Today

I just spent the past weekend in Santa Cruz (which I will be writing more about). And while I did have a great time it doesn't quite compare to what I was doing at this time last year. What was that you ask? Well let's see, last year on June 16, 2008...

I hiked up Masada to watch the sunrise.

Had a second hike at Ein Gedi, that ended at a waterfall.

Floated in the Dead Sea

Covered myself in mud from the Dead Sea to beautify myself

Arrived in Jerusalem

Where I discovered a bar named, "Shoshanah's Bar"

Crazy to think how much can change in a year!

~Shoshanah

P.S. I went to Israel on Birthright Israel with Experience Israel, if your Jewish, between the ages of 18 to 26 and you haven't been on Birthright yet... well what are you waiting for!

Congrats Class of '09

I spent the weekend out in California for my brothers college graduation. Can I first say that if my little brother is old enough to graduate college, that makes me ridiculously old by comparison! Here is a picture of me and my brother, the official college graduate!
My brother graduated from UC Santa Cruz in Northern California, but to make coordinating schedules easy I flew into LAX, and drove up to Santa Cruz with my parents on Friday. It was my first time in Santa Cruz...Let me rephrase that, according to my parents I was there when I was around 3. Thus, it was only time I ever really remember being in Santa Cruz. Overall I didn't really know what to expect, except I knew there was a beach
and there were redwood trees
So expectations meet!

I will post more about the trip, but I'm still catching up on everything else. But I really did want to say, Congratulations Josh! And Congrats to everyone else in the Class of 2009!

~Shoshanah

Sepulchre

Sepulchre by Kate Mosse
A few months ago I wrote a review of the book Labyrinth. My mom had lent it to me, but I really didn't enjoy it. I just couldn't seem to get into it. She had also lent me a Sepulchre also by Kate Moss, and told me that even though I didn't like her first book that much I should try the one.

I was a little skeptical to do so, but am definitely glad I do. I had almost the exact opposite experience with this book and loved it! There are a lot of similarities between the two, but I'm not sure I can pinpoint the exact reason why I like this one so much better. I think Sepulchre was a little less complicated, and easier to follow which made it easier to get into.

Curious about the story? Like Labyrinth this follows the story of two different girls. The first is Leonie, a teenage girl living in Paris in the 1890s. She and her brother go to visit her Aunt in the country under mysterious circumstances and of course Leonie stumbles onto a mystery. The second is a modern day American named Meredith. Meredith is in France working on a biography of a famous musician, but also attempting to find out the past of her birth mother. And as you would expect, by the end the stories have become intertwined.

The two books are not really sequels. However, there were a few characters from Labyrinth that have cameos. I can't say you wouldn't be able to understand this book if you read it first, but it was interesting to see what happened to a few of the characters from Labyrinth. Looking back I would say I'm glad I had read her first book previously, and would advise you to do the same. And know that even if you're not a huge fan of Labyrinth, you won't be disappointed with Sepulchre.

~Shoshanah

From Maryland to Louisiana

Last week I wrote about how after growing up in California, I decided to head to the east coast for college. Today, I will tell you Part 2, or how after going to college in Maryland, I decided to go to grad school in Louisiana.

I had originally gone to college thinking I would be a history major, but wound up double majoring in Math & Chemistry. Yes, I am a bit indecisive, basically I thought I would be avoiding writing papers. No one tells you freshmen year you will have to write Math papers. But entering senior year, again I had no idea what I wanted to do. I didn't know what kind of job I wanted to have. I didn't know if I wanted to move back to California or try living in Maryland for a few more years.

Most of my friends in my major knew exactly what they were doing, but only because they were going to grad school. I knew people going to med school, to pharmacy school, to law school, to get a math PhD, and to get a chemistry PhD school. So I figured I might as well go to grad school too! I had spent the previous summer working in a chemistry lab. And while parts of it were fun, I really didn't want o spend a lot of time in a lab. Which left math. Guess I was going to grad school in math!

Which meant I had to decide where I wanted to apply.I wound up with a list, about 5 or so schools long. With schools in North Carolina, in Georgia, in South Carolina, in Maryland, and in Massachusetts. Except for heading up to Boston, they were all somewhat coincidentally in the South. Was it a conscious decision, not necessarily. But I did like the idea of trying out a new part of the country.

Then the day I finished all of my applications I received an e-mail asking me to apply to LSU. I figured why not, it couldn't hurt, especially since there was no application fee.

Again, I got into most of the schools I applied to, and I had to make yet one more decision. I had actually been to Louisiana to visit a friend the previous summer. And while they would no longer be there when I started school, I liked to idea of going something that I had at least been before. Also I had applied to a slightly different field of math at LSU, and would be a little more familiar with my coursework. But I can't say there was an overwhelming right decision. I definitely worried that I was making the wrong choice. And now looking back, I can't even imagine where I would be if I hadn't made it. Its funny the way things work out.

Did you have a hard time deciding what you wanted to do when you finished college? Or if you're still in college, do you know what you want to do once you graduate? O, the possibilities.

~Shoshanah

Land of the Hangover

Like any normal weekend, me and the Boy went to at least one movie over the weekend. And like any normal Monday, well.. Let's start with

Land of the Lost
First off this wasn't a movie I was dying to see. I do remember having reruns of the T.V. show come on when I was younger, but I that they were boring so I would always change the channel. So I didn't have a strong sense of nostalgia towards it. But I do like dinosaurs. Honestly, any time I see a preview with dinosaurs in it I want to see it. I mean I even saw the awful Disney film Dinosaur a few years back. Didn't see that? Well don't, it was awful.

But back to Land of the Lost. We saw this on a Sunday matinee. And the marketing campaign made it seem like a family friendly film. And there were dinosaurs, and what kid doesn't like dinosaurs. But I'm not sure the producers quite understand what family film means. Showing half-naked girls with hair long enough to barely cover certain parts of their body. I wouldn't call that family friendly. A lot of jokes that me and the Boy would look at each other like, "Seriously? There's a 4-year-old girl a few seats down from us." I'm guessing they assumed most of the jokes would go over the head of any kids watching the movie. But I'm still not sure why they would market it as a family friendly movie, when it was so clearly not. Granted it was rated PG-13, but I'm sure was awfully close to making an R.

Overall, it was assuming, as long as you're not looking for a film to take little kids to see. But I would say if you're looking for a comedy, then you should go see

The Hangover
I will say that when we went to go see this Friday night I was so tired I wasn't sure if I would be able to stay awake for the whole thing. But did that wake me up! Laugh out loud funny the entire time, plenty of unexpected happenings, and well there's a tiger in it! I do remember hearing someone say the following after it was over, "That's the type of movie I need to watch over and over, so I can memorize the whole thing and quote it."

And yes, The Hangover was far less family friendly than Land of the Lost, but it was most definitely not marketed to be family friendly. That's the big catch. And The Hangover had better previews. Overall, go see The Hangover and if you want to see a family movie, go see Up

Samosa & Chutney

Sukhi's Samosa & Chutney
You might remember a few weeks ago I posted about Sukhi's Chicken Tikka Masala. Well, we went to Fresh Market over the weekend and they had two other Sukhi's products. Another chicken dish (with Naan!) and the samosas. While I wanted to get the other chicken dish mainly because it came with naan, only eating chicken and bread wasn't the most filling (or wholesome) meal for myself. So I went with the samosas. The samosas were actually vegan and filled with potatoes and peas. And it came with a cilantro chutney.

Of course I kind of failed because I didn't get the samosa out until I was really hungry. And then read the box. They only had oven directions. Oven directions that took 20-25 minutes. Since I had my heart set on eating these I sucked it up and put them in the oven to wait.

Here's fail number two. When I was putting them onto the baking sheet I noticed there seemed to be a lot of samosas (10 to be exact). So I looked at the nutritional facts. The box only contains 1 serving! I can eat all 10! Alright! When I took them out of the oven I gave the box another glace. Serving Size: 1 Samosa. That meant each of the Samosa was a serving and 80 calories. And eating all 10 would be 800 calories. If I had known that I might not have heated up all 10.

Fail number three. The chutney came in its own little plastic bag, that did not go into the oven. I just thawed at room temperature for the length the samosa were in the oven. Once the samosa came out I just kind of poured it on the plate. Not the best idea as you can see, some sort of cup might have been better.

But how did the samosas taste? Absolutely amazing! So so so good! Both the samosas were amazing and the chutney was amazing too! It was hard to stop before eating them all, but I somehow manged. (I'm not going to reveal how many of the original 10 actually made it into the fridge.) I even poured the rest of the chutney into a container so I can eat it when I eat the last few samosa.

I would definitely say buy this if you find it. (I bought it at Fresh Market, I don't think I've seen it anywhere else, but if you have, let me know!) While it might not be the best for a dinner for 1, it would be perfect for appetizers and some type of dinner party. Or eat them alone if you really want. Either way, you pretty much have to try them!

And for dessert? I'm having some rock candy & salt water taffy the boy's parents brought me back from Tennessee.

~Shoshanah

P.S. I stopped at Whole Foods to have their salad bar for my lunch today. Whole Foods, like a lot of grocery stores, normally has free samples. And what type of free samples did they have in the bakery section? Slice of cake! Seriously, I've never seen anyone do that! They were thinly slice, but still pretty big, and wrapped up in parchment paper so you could pick them up with your hands. Guess what I had with my lunch today?

Off to the East

You've probably noticed this, but the name of my blog is from L.A. to LA. But I've never actually talked about how I wound up moving from Los Angeles to Louisiana. So I figured I'd start that story, except I can't jump straight to Louisiana, because I didn't move strait from California to Louisiana.

I've already talked about going to high school in California. And I've said I went to college in Maryland. But never really explained why I took the first jump across country.

And honestly, for most of my life I expected to stay in California. Up through the start of my senior year of high school my number one choice for college was UC Santa Barbara. But by the time I actually started filling out applications I changed my mind, and decided I wanted to go to the East Coast. I'm not sure why I made the decision. I think part of me pictured the east coast as something similar to a movie college experience. I think the idea of being able to start over completely also intrigued me. There was also the fact that if I went to a huge Division I California state school I wouldn't be able to play soccer. And if I went to a small Division 3 school on the east coast I would be able to.

But since I had decided on the east coast so late in the game, I didn't do a lot of research. I only applied to two east coast schools. One that was kind of small, but a well known for its sciences. They other which was a tiny liberal arts school. Although thinking back, I might not have really decided for sure on the east coast until I had already applied. Its weird what you forget about 7 years. And crazy to think its been 7 years since I graduated high school.

But luckily for me, I got in to both of the east coast school I applied for. (I actually got into all of the California schools I applied to as well. Except for Berkeley, but I never really wanted to go there, so it wasn't a problem for me.) I'm not sure now I can pin point the exact reason why I choose the school I did out of those two. Part of it had to do with money as most college decisions do. Part of it had to do with the fact that I was assured a spot on the soccer team at one school. And the other part of it? I'm not quite sure what it was. But yes, I did pick the small liberal arts school, and I think it wound up being a better decision than I could have ever known at the time!

Next time I might have the next part of my journey. Or I might make you guys wait a little longer for it. We'll see... but while were on the topic, how did you pick where you went to college? Was it where you always expected or did you have a last minute change of heart?

~Shoshanah

Grilled Cheese Please

I've written several times about how big of a fan I am about different cheeses. But you might be surprised to hear I'm not a big grilled cheese sandwich. Mainly because I don't like American cheese (or most heavily processed cheeses) and that's normally what grilled cheese sandwiches are made of.

Enter Zoe's Kitchen. I had never heard of this restaurant until I moved to Baton Rouge. It is a chain, but they don't have it in California or Maryland (the two states I've lived in before). Or if they do have it I was uninformed. It is similar to Panera, but doesn't quite replace it. Mainly because they have no French onion soups, or Asian Chicken Salad, or well... everything about Panera. But this isn't a post about how the need to open up a Panera franchise in Baton Rouge, this is about Zoe's. And do you want to know the reason why I love Zoe's so much?

My HeavenYes, that is a grilled feta sandwich. Pretty much my perfect grilled cheese sandwich ever! I've talked to my co-workers about this sandwich, and they don't really enjoy it. They thinks there's probably a little too much feta on it. But remember I like eating feta by itself as a snack! I'd probably be ok if they added more feta. So now I can say I love grilled cheese sandwiches, as long as the cheese is feta!

~Shoshanah

Not Quite a Comedy

Up
Have you seen the commercials saying that UP is currently America's number 1 comedy? Well, its a bit of false advertising. Not that it wasn't the number 1 motion picture this past weekend, but because I wouldn't quite classify it as a comedy.

The date before I saw the movie I was listening to the radio. The DJ said not to see Up if you didn't want to cry. "Seriously," I though, "How could that be sad?" I came up with a few ideas, none of which were what actually happens in the actual movie. I will tell you though by the end of the first scene of the movie, its pretty clear what the tearjerker will be.

Now you might be a little confused. Isn't this after all a Disney/Pixar movie? Aren't they supposed to be happy? But you you think about it, there's Finding Nemo where Nemo's mom dies in the first scene. And of course Bambi's mom dies. Fox and the Hound is yet another sad Disney movie.

I think in Up especially, they're assuming the sad stuff will go over the kids' heads and they'll just pay attention to all the funny stuff. (And yes, there are a lot of funny moments. Talking dogs, flying houses, giant birds it is still funny.) But I think they underestimate how much kids pick up. And as a parent how are you supposed to respond when they ask, "Why is he so sad?" The response I've heard, "It's because she went away," not the actual, "She died." After all do you really want to explain what it means when Nemo's Mom gets eaten in the middle of the movie?

Overall, Up IS a really good movie. I'm pretty sure its a shoe-in for next years Best Animated Feature Oscar. But just don't go into it expecting a laugh out loud kids movie. If you're anything like me you'll probably cry several times.

~Shoshanah

P.S. Why is it I have no tv shows I want to watch except for tonight? I'll be trying to flip between The Bachelorette, Jon & Kate Plus 8, the season finale of The Hills, and Here Come the Newlyweds. I seriously need a Tivo.