Month: November 2019

MJ Monday: MJ’s Movies-What’s Cooking?

I’ve seen this movie only twice, but that doesn’t stop it from being my favorite Thanksgiving movie of all time.

It is the story of four ethnically different families preparing for  then participating in Thanksgiving dinner.  As one reviewer said, “There’s stress, there’s food, and there’s stressing over food.” The ensemble cast is wonderful.

My favorite part is the variety of textures. Textures in stories matter a lot to me, and this movie sets the tone for each of the cultures by using textures.

I’m truly surprised the movie isn’t better known.

MJ’s Musings: SEP-Lady Be Good

Lady Be Good is not one of my favorite SEP novels. I don’t particularly like Emma (the heroine) or Kenny (the hero). I’m not a fan of golf.  The plot is absurd.  A prim-and-proper British schoolmarm wants to create a scandal to avoid marriage to a stuffed shirt back home, while the disgraced golfer she’s decided to use as a boy toy is bent on changing his image so he can resume his career on the green. Good goals, good motivation, nice conflict. But for some reason the story doesn’t do it for me. Of course the novel is well-written, laugh-out-loud funny at times, but I don’t care enough about either of them to care if either one succeeds.

My favorite character is Kenny’s sister, Torie. She’s strong, she’s quirky, she has baggage. Her love interest, the geeky Dexter, is wonderfully sexy.  I wish more of the story focused on them.

MJ Monday: MJ’s Meals–Sloppy Joes & Sweet Potato Fries

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This is a simple meal my family always enjoyed.

Preheat oven, then bake frozen sweet potato fries per the package instructions.

While that happens, make the Sloppy Joes:

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 3 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  1. Brown the ground beef and onion over medium heat. (If you want you can add green bell pepper and/or chopped celery at this stage, but I don’t know why you’d want to).
  2. When the pink is gone from the meat and the veggies are tender, drain.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
  4. Serve on a roll of your choice, along with the sweet potato fries.