Friday, July 17, 2009

Shall we play?


It’s been forever since we did, darlings.

I think we’ll go with an all-food theme tonight -- won't that be fun? As always, your answers in the comments if you please.

1) Name your favourite food-related movie.

2) Name your favourite take-out dinner.

3) And just to change things up, name your favourite type of chips.

1) Big Night ... an absolutely delightful little film starring Stanley Tucci and Tony Shaloub as brothers Primo and Secondo. Doesn’t this clip make you hungry?



FYI, I’ve made the timpano that figures rather prominently in one scene but without the hard-boiled eggs -- they offend me. It was beyond delicious and so very bad for you.

2) Thai from The Green Papaya on Preston Street -- it’s what baby boy and I are having right now. Tonight’s dinner consists of Tom Yam, Green Papaya Grilled Chicken, Nuer Pad Prik Sod, Goong Sam Rot, Bai Gra Prow Pak, Pad Thai and lots of sticky rice.

3) Miss Vicki’s Sweet Chili and Sour Cream.

Your turn.

21 comments:

Balbulican said...

Tampopo, by Juzo Itami. One of my all time favourite films, just recently re-released on DVD. Goro, a Clint-Eastwood like taciturn long distance Japanese truck driver arrives at a run down roadside noodle shop managed by Tampopo, a lovely but worn-out widow. When a couple of the patrons insult her noodles (really), he invites them to step outside…and gets the crap beaten out of him. Next morning he wakes up in her house. She presses him to be honest about her noodles, and he reluctantly gives her a gourmet’s critique. (”They have sincerity, but they lack depth…”) Thus begins a hilarious quest for the perfect noodle, in which he acts as her mentor/guru, and we are introduced to the mysteries of noodle cuisine, as well as a mysterious gang of homeless gourmet beggars, who only rummage through the garbage cans of the very best restaurants.

This story is weird and wonderful enough, but periodically the camera will pick up on and follow a character who walks through a scene into an entirely unrelated but food-centred story. To make it even stranger, this is all apparently a film being watched by a Yakuza style gangster and his girlfriend, who are intermittently shown having wild, food-related sex. It’s all a bit difficult to describe, but trust me - if you like movies, this is one you absolutely have to see.

2) Salt and Pepper pork with snow pea leaves in garlic from the New Hong Shing on Greenbank.

3) Not a big chips fan, but I want to be buried in a coffin stuffed with Hawkins Cheezies.

KEvron said...

1) the cook, the thief, his wife and her lover, even though i still don't get the changing color schemes.

2) haven't done take out in a while, but emmy's prawns and eggplant in garlic sauce is to die for.

3) kettle chips, sea salt and vinegar.

KEvron

Frank Frink said...

1) I'm with Balby on Tampopo. Might add Like Water For Chocolate as an honourable mention and/or just to toss another title out there.

No surprise to me that Balby would name that one. From The Bunker archives a couple summers ago. ;-)

How about favourite book involving food (i.e. a novel, not a cookbook or chef's biography)?

2) Pretty much everything on the menu from Hon's Wonton House on Robson St.

Best. Potstickers. In. The. World.

Although I am also having Thai tonight.

3) I only do potato chips when offered while visiting another abode. Otherwise, like sodie pops, I don't do chips.

M@ said...

1. Eat Drink Man Woman. I could watch the preparation of the feast during the movie's opening again and again. Watch. Marvel.

2. Whatever's on today at the little Portuguese BBQ place on the corner.

3. Zesty Cheese Doritos or sour cream and onion Ruffles.

M@ said...

Btw, I might have said Big Night if Lulu hadn't taken it. Way to save the best for first, Lulu. Thpt.

deBeauxOs said...

Yeah! Big Night is amazing. That's the first one I thought about.

1) The original, European 'Mostly Martha' - NOT the remake.

The very appetizing Martina Gedeck plays the title role. Like an exquisitely savoury dish, the film has excellent ingredients, good chemistry, intuitive dashes and perfect preparation. Delicious.

2) Chicken shawarma from Shawarma's King.

3) Organic corn chips, I can't remember the brand.

ThinkingManNeil said...

1) The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. Helen Mirren looked - and was - superb but my appetite was beginning to suffer by the end of the film, especially after she'd been locked in the back of the van with all the rotten meat.

2) Camarra's Pizza on Dufferin Street, south of the Yorkdale Mall in T.O. A light, almost pastry-like crust, incredible toppings, and a light drizzling of olive oil. Wash it down with an ice cold Coke and you have a real treat.

3) Old Dutch Regulars. A friend of mine and I lived on Old Dutch chips and Cokes when I helped him move cross-country from northern Alberta to Southern Ontario several years ago in the dead of winter. They weren't a national brand back then like they are now so there was only Regular, Salt & Vinegar, and Ketchup flavours and could only be found in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, but they were light and tasty and didn't give me heartburn like a lot of chips do.

Lindsay Stewart said...

1. Nosferatu. Count Orlock is hungry.

2. Beef Madras wih either the Bombay aloo or sloo gobi, onion bhaji, and naan bread straqight out of the tandoor from Koh-I-Noor in the cruddy strip mall on Philip and Albert. Or maybe the vindaloo... both? Anyway, that from there.

3. Fresh kettle chips deep fried salted and parked in front of you at the Kava Bean Commons on Gaukel Street by the bus terminal.

And the clip, nope, didn't make me hungry. Fish with head, pig with feet, asparagus... ick. Though Allison Janney is delectable.

Lindsay Stewart said...

spleling chkeck in aisle thr3e

KEvron said...

"asparagus... ick.

try it grilled on the barbecue, with a little olive oil and some salt and pepper. my bandmate/landlady had a biopsy on her brain recently. all food tastes wrong and bad now, except for my asparagus.

KEvron

Dave said...

1. A Year In Provence - Episode 10. (Charlemagne the rooster scares off Parisienne visitors and becomes a delicious Coq au Vin.)

2. Take Out? Halibut and chips from Fish on Fifth. Best in the world.

3. Oven baked home-fries... with the skins on!

KEvron said...

ooh! close second for 1) vatel.

KEvron

Cameron Campbell said...

1) Chocolat, though I guess Hunger counts as well.. I like the lighting and the idea of chocolate in large quantities and the lovely french farce nature of the film

2) At home in Montreal it would be Emilios Pizza, EuroDeli or umm.. bugger the Indian place just south of Carre St-Louis on Ste. Denis. Here in Dunedin? umm... well.. I guess the China Wall takeout does good takeaway fish and chips (good, not great: the best are eitehr Mommy's in Lachine or the place near the harbor in Oban).

3) Salt free Cape Cod.

Paladiea said...

1) Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

2) Fried Tofu from Yummy BBQ on Yonge st. Bestest tofu evar!

2) Salt and Vinegar, but not Ms. Vickys. Those are gross.

Anonymous said...

1) Babette's Feast

2) Fish & chips - with salt & vinegar, of course; preferably wrapped in paper!

3) Chinese prawn crackers

Thanks for the fun!

Boris said...

1) Babette's Feast

2) Street curry and pad thai hawkers in Ayuthaya, Thailand.

3) Chicken salt chips (fries) from that place across from the pub that let you in barefoot in Bundaberg, Australia. Failing that, cracked pepper from Miss Vicky's or Kettle or which ever one does them.

KEvron said...

mmm. bundaberg ginger beer....

KEvron

Boris said...

Oh, I had forgotten about that. Mmmmm. I wish I could forget XXXX.

Jennifer Smith said...

1) Ratatouille. Not just the best food-related movie, but the best animated family feature in a very, very long while. 'First Night' is also fabulous, as is 'Mostly Martha'. Although I did enjoy 'No Reservations' at least as much.

2) The Sushi B Platter from Midori Sushi in Milton, Ontario - sadly now out of business. We know our sushi, and this place was the best. It was in a ridiculous location - in a professional office building across 1st Line from the hospital - but everything was always super fresh, beautifully presented, and unbelievably affordable. 18 pieces, at least 2/3 nigiri with none of those bullshit 'California rolls', plus salad and miso soup: $13 and change. Man, I miss that place.

3) Also sadly no longer available: Lay's Wasabi Chips. Seriously - they went with the Curry?! A near substitute is Lundberg's Wasabi Rice Chips, with Miss Vickie's Salt & Pepper a close third.

Jennifer Smith said...

I meant 'Big Night'... what did I say?

I was also always stuck by that scene in 'Goodfellas' where they're all in prison and making the gravy and the guy is slicing the garlic paper-thin with a razor blade so it just dissolves in the sauce. Don't know why.

As far as asparagus goes, go with Jamie Oliver's version: parboiled, then roasted with olive oil, garlic, anchovy paste (seriously), pepper, and a touch of lemon juice. Works great with green beans, too. My teenaged son loves it!

sinned34 said...

1) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

2) Colander Special (spaghetti, meatballs, chicken, and roasted potatoes) from the Colander restaurant in Trail, BC (remember to bring your own dish to take it home in!)

3) Dutch Crunch Regular