Revenge of the 5th!

Like most geeks/nerds know, yesterday was Star Wars Day!!! I heard lots of "May the Fourth Be With You", but I found a meme that made me chuckle. Here it is:

 

Hence the title of this post! ;)

BUT...Today is also popular because it's Cinco De Mayo! The day we all celebrate Mexican culture with food, song, dance, and drink! It'll make you want to take a loooong siesta the next day! ;)

Here's how I celebrate: making guacamole!

Nothing screams "Ole!" more than a big bowl of freshly-made guac and tortilla chips to dip in!

I decided to mimic the way my favorite foodie (The Pioneer Woman - Ree Drummond!) shares her recipes and how to make them: with pictures!

Ingredients:

4-6 ripe avacodos

2 medium/large tomatoes

1 Lime

1 bundle of fresh cilantro

2 small/medium white or red onion or 1 medium white or red onion

salt & pepper

(optional: 1 jalapeno - if you want lots of heat, leave some of the seeds in, otherwise, take the seeds out before chopping it up.)

 

First off, get two big bowls, and put one aside. Next, grab a cutting board and dice up the tomatoes. Dice them however big you want it. If you like chunky guac, dice them bigger. Not a chunky fan? Dice smaller. Pretty simple :) Once you're done, throw the diced tomatoes into one of the bowls.

 

Then tackle the onion next by dicing it up as well. I've used both white and red onion in the past and both versions have been tasty, so just use whatever you've got. Scrape off the onions into the bowl with the tomatoes.

 

Next, take your cilantro bundle and cut off around half of the leafy part and mince that up. It's okay if there are some big leafy pieces :) You don't have to do as much as I do. Just add the ingredients based on your taste preference. Add the cilantro in the bowl with the tomatoes and onions.

 

 Before you cut your lime in half, roll it around on a flat surface. This helps the juices come out better when you squeeze.

 

Now squeeze the lime juice of one of the halves over the tomatoes, onions, and cilantro.

 

Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Mix it all together.

  Now you could just eat it like this! Plus it's got a fancy name too: Pico De Gallo (pronounced guy-o) It's a nice light alternative that perfect for summertime!

But NO, we're not stopping here! Onward we go to the most essential ingredient: avocado!

It's important to pick an avocado that's not too ripe. 

"To determine if your avocado is ripe, gently press on the bottom with your finger; ripe avocados will feel slightly soft. If you need avocados to use right away, look for fruit whose skin has turned dark green or black. The avocado should yield to gentle pressure from a thumb." (source)

I figured it'd be easier for you to watch a video of how to cut an avocado than me trying to explain it to you. Don't want anyone's fingers getting sliced accidentally!

  So after you cut it in half and take out the pit, use a paring knife and cut in a criss-cross pattern in the flesh. Use a spoon to scoop out the flesh and put it in the other bowl.

 

 Once you've cut and scooped each avocado, mash it all together.

 

Combine it with the Pico De Gallo. Take the other half of the lime and squeeze and the juice all over the guacamole. Mix it again.

 

Taste-test it to see if you put enough salt and pepper on.

 

Once you've put the finishing seasoning touches on, you're done! All that's left is to grab a bag of tortilla chips and dig in!

Happy Cinco De Mayo, y'all! :D 

ERW

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories: cinco de mayo, Food, guacamole, recipes

THORoughly Loki'd

I haven't done a movie review in a while so why not start off again with Asgard's Avenger, Thor, who's 2nd (and hopefully more) movie, Thor: The Dark World, opened in US theaters on November 8th to much anticipation (at least by me).  It also doesn't hurt that it opened during a holiday weekend. It smashed the other competition, boasting $86.1 million! I think it's safe to say that everyone's THORoughly obsessed! 

This 2nd installment is definitely better than the 1st one! Chris Hemsworth gives another stellar performance as the hammer-wielding superhero. And let me tell you, he wears long hair REALLY well!! Granted, his hair always seemed to be greasy, but at least the hair department did a better job at making it look like it was actually his long locks. Let's not forget the bushy golden eyebrows he had plastered above his eyes in the 1st movie! So glad those are gone in this new movie. They must've gotten hacked off during one of Thor's battles while he was trying to restore peace to the realms! ;) 

Natalie Portman returns as Jane Foster, and we first see her trying to move on with her, Thor-less life, even though in her heart she still holds a candle for him hoping he'll return for her like he promised 2 years ago. The dinner date scene with Chris O' Dowd's character, Richard, is the perfect stage for us to see how much Jane is NOT all gung-ho for the dating scene. 

I think one of the reasons I was looking forward to this movie was to see Kat Dennings reprise her role as Darcy Lewis. She didn't have a very big role in the first movie, and I was thrilled she got more screen time this go-around. 

I mean, how could you not love her! She may not act it most of the time, but she's pretty smart and a perfect sidekick. She's always the one to lighten the mood, and this time, she's hired an intern for herself which results in some laughable moments!

When I heard the words "dark elves", at first I thought I was in Middle-Earth or in some corner of Skyrim, but apparently they exist on one of the realms in Thor's world too! 

Malekith is the big villain on campus this time. He wants to destroy the universe with a weapon called Aether. Thought that comes to mind is, so when he destroys the universe, how will he survive it and carry on when no one else does? Hmmm? I guess it's a good thing Thor is around so the screenwriters don't have to worry about that question! 

What the Asgardians call The Convergance is starting to happen and linking the realms, earth included, together. Even before it's fully linked, random portals are showing up all over the world, and two in particular are found by Darcy and Jane in London. The second one Jane actually travels through and ends up in Asgard where the deadly Aether is being kept since Odin's father put it there for safe keeping after defeating the dark elves. Not realizing what is it, Jane gets infected by it.

Meanwhile, Heimdall, the gatekeeper at Bifrost, voices his concern to Thor that he cannot see Jane on earth anymore, leading Thor to action to find her even after his father has already spoken to him about how he should forget Jane and realize what he has in front of him (meaning Sif). Thor returns to earth and finds Jane who found herself back in the warehouse she originally found the portal.  After an encounter with the police, who Darcy called because Jane was gone for 5 hours, that ended with the Aether in Jane defending her from the police, Thor brings her to Asgard to figure out how to get whatever is inside of her, out. Only they don't know how and the longer the Aether is in her, it could kill her. 

Natalie did a good job at being completely enthralled by her Asgardian surroundings and the visual team gets kudos for making Asgard look jaw-droppingly beautiful! 

The relationship between Thor and Jane is adorable to...they are both strong-minded and opinionated people but from very different worlds and I think that's why it works. We saw how out of place Thor was on earth in the 1st movie, and now we see the roles reversed. Jane suddenly finds herself amongst royalty and a completely different culture! But she also remains a person of importance with the Aether inside her. I was kinda bummed that there was never really any scenes of Jane and Sif verbally fighting over why they deserve Thor, but if there's gonna be a 3rd movie, maybe there's hope of seeing that develop.

Now I would be remiss if I didn't talk about Loki. I can't tell you how it happened, it just did. I got Loki'd. I almost liked him in the 1st movie before he got all traitor-y. I loathed him in The Avengers even though that was the movie where he got a lot fans on his side and was talked about more than the Avengers! And then there was that dry spell with no Loki in theaters, but there's this little thing called Tumblr that probably had something to do with why I like him now in addition to how his character acted in this movie. 

Loki gets locked up in prison for his crimes on earth and he tries to maintain a snobby attitude, but once he learns of the death of his mother, Frigga, by the hands of Malekith, who attacked Asgard to get Aether-infected Jane, he completely falls apart, and that is why people keep calling him the most lovable villain. Because even though he can be evil, he can also be vulnerable and show some feeling. 

I also think that we naturally want to see villainous people changed for the better, and Loki certainly goes through some type of change even though Thor has a hard time trusting him when he asks Loki for help in luring Malekith away from Asgard using Jane as bait. 

They certainly keep you guessing where Loki's loyalties lie and what his agenda may be, especially when he and Thor face off with Malekith. I know I've given away some spoilers in this post, but I think I'll refrain here because it's something you don't see coming even though we know what Loki is capable of. 

Thor and Jane find the portal to return to London after Malekith successfully extracts the Aether from Jane and escapes after the failed attempt by Thor and Loki to destroy it. 

They team back up with Darcy, Ian, and Erik to figure out where the center of the point of the Convergance will be and where Malekith will unleash the Aether. They figure it out and try to set a trap to open portals through a device that Jane will use. 

This battle is filled with all things that we love to see Thor do in battle and even in the thick of it, there are still those funny moments, especially with Darcy and Ian. 

In the end, good prevails over evil just as it should, and we're back in Asgard, where Thor speaks to his father. Thor gives up the throne, wanting to defend Asgard instead of sitting in a glorified chair, and he also praises Loki for his help against Malekith. Odin accepts Thor's wishes, and Thor takes his leave. But Odin wasn't really acting like himself

Aaaannnd.... 

That's it! I'm not giving away anything else!

But I will leave you with a photo of Tom Hiddleston dressed as Loki at Comic Con! :)

And Loki from a commercial where he asks kids who's the better superhero: Thor or Loki. 

So anyway, if you're looking for something to do, go see Thor: The Dark World! You won't regret it! It's a wild ride! 

I give it 4 out 5 stars. 

ERW 

Categories: movie review, movies

And then it was November...

Hi folks! 

As usual, I'm slacking on this blog! There just aren't enough hours in the day! Speaking of hours, DON'T FORGET TO SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK AN HOUR TONIGHT! 

There... You're welcome ;)

So what's been going on the life of Liz lately???

Since I last posted in September, I have become a volunteer at my local animal shelter! I'm a cat volunteer (*meow*), and it's so much fun seeing dozens of kitties and getting to love on them until they go to their forever home. So if you are a cat person and feel ready to adopt, go to your animal shelter instead of buying a pet in a pet store! (I have nothing against pet stores, but I'm biased now that I volunteer at a shelter!)

Here's some kittens from the shelter. I told them to look pretty because I said I'd  shamelessly do a plug for them on my blog ;) 

October came and went pretty quickly but it was a fun, busy month! Without fail, the leaves change color...

And pumpkins get faces...

...or horses...depends on your obsession! Haha... 

Kids play in the fallen leaves...

Everyone goes to the apple orchard...

And we play dress-up...

And then it was November... The month you voice all that you're thankful for. The month you prepare for winter. The month we remember and honor our veterans. The month we gather with our family and friends for a blessed day of food, fellowship, and laughter (you thought I was gonna type "fun", didn't you? Gotcha!). The month that tries to skip right over Thanksgiving with playing early Chistmas music, commercials, and movies. 

I'll admit that I have been tempted to listen to Christmas music already, but I'm fighting it! Who's with me?! Haha 

ERW

Categories: animal shelter, Autumn, Autumn activities, Halloween, volunteer