Thor: The Dark World

This is the first Marvel Studios produced movie that I almost didn't go see in the theater. I didn't really like the first Thor all that much, and it didn't seem like the story was all that great, and I just didn't care about the character all that much either. If Tom Hiddleston had not been in this movie, I can only imagine how bad it would have been.

Loki provides a lot of the comedic elements in the movie as well as a lot of the general entertainment. I wish there was a way that Loki could have his own movie, but that just doesn't seem likely, but he will likely be a part of all future Thor movies, especially with how this movie played out.

I found the style and special effects in the movie to be kind of off putting, they reminded me of a combination of the style and effects from the Star Wars prequels and the Lord of the Rings movies. It was trying to be a combination of both science fiction and fantasy. I really didn't like the science fiction elements, the awkward flying ships, the laser cannons that appeared for the situation, when also they fight a normal battle without cannons or anything, just hand to hand weapons. It really just didn't work for me, I think they wanted to replicate things that were successful in other movies, but that stuff didn't work all meshed together.

I felt like Natalie Portman really phoned it in in this movie. She just seemed out of place in it. I don't know if it was just the feel of the film, or the lackluster script, but it really felt like she wasn't really caring about her performance.

I don't know if there will be another Thor movie, but I think they can do a lot better than they did with this one. I think the fact that Thor isn't that well known to people who haven't read the comics makes it a bit harder for him to carry a film. A lot of the Avengers are in the same boat, Iron Man was able to break through this in the 3 movies, now I think people will know what to expect from an Iron Man movie. I really don't know what people will expect out of another Thor movie.

I have updated my movie rankings for the year, and while I haven't seen all that many movies this year, I just couldn't put this above World War Z. I think I would much rather see World War Z again than I would Thor: The Dark World.

9. Pain & Gain
8. Thor: The Dark World
7. World War Z
6. Pacific Rim
5. Iron Man 3
4. Star Trek Into Darkness
3. This Is the End
2. The World's End
1.Gravity

Food Adventures: Black Cat Cafe in Green Bay, WI

This will be a shortish entry, but I just wanted share about this amazing cafe that has the best savory breakfast dish I have ever had. My mouth is actually watering just as I am typing this.

The Black Cat Cafe is on Broadway Street just a little bit south of downtown. The cafe has 2 halves, there is a dining area as well as a bar area. The decor is quite unique with paintings by local artists all over the walls, as well as some unique kitschy decor. I really like the feel of it, almost a little bit hipsterish, there isn't much that is like it in the Green Bay area.

They only do the full brunch menu on Sundays, and I believe they are known for the variety of bloody marys that they offer, although I don't drink so I have never tried that specialty.

The main thing I wanted to show was the dish that I have gotten each of the last 5 times I have gone there:

I present to you the Pulled Pork Eggs Benedict from the Black Cat Cafe. The dish consists of cornbread topped with pulled pork, topped with poached eggs and some amazing hollandaise sauce, with a side of their cafe potatoes. Once again my mouth is watering just at the thought of this dish. I had it earlier today, but I am hungry for it again.

The buttery hollandaise, the gooey egg, the salty pulled pork, and the sweetness of the corn bread all combining together for an amazing taste combination. It truly is the best savory breakfast dish that I have ever had. I am not someone who will always get the same thing at a restaurant, but I can't bring myself to get away from this one, its just too delicious.

Here is the shot of my plate after I was done:

I would normally have eaten the orange but it was sprinkled with pepper so I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to eat it.

Peter's Cooking Diary #11

So last week I made my chili, but as usual I adjusted the recipe, I am always adjusted things each time I make it and based on what is on sale too. This time around I tried to use lots of spices out of my spice cabinet instead of a seasoning packet. There were no measurements for this at all, just put them all together and mixed them together.

I am going to try to remember all of the ingredients in this bowl I know there was curry powder, garam masala, ancho chile powder, sweet paprika, oregano, some kosher salt, and cocoa powder which I have seen used in many chili recipes, I think I need to add more of it next time as I couldn't taste it at all in the chili. I liked what the chili tasted like, I will keep trying to make my own spice mixture as it seems like the type of thing I would enjoy doing, I might even try to mix up a big container of it so I don't have to try every time.

The cooked down onion and garlic mixture that I usually use, 3 green bell peppers, and a pack that contained one red, one yellow, and one orange bell pepper that I got at Aldi. I normally check all the produce thoroughly at Aldi as not everything is great, but the bell peppers were firm and smooth which is what I look for in a bell pepper.

I added the spices from the bowl to the veggies and stirred them up and let them heat together in the crock pot on high for 10-15 minutes, to just get the flavors mixing together. I usually use fire roasted canned chiles but I forgot to buy them. This is also the step I would add in tomato paste into the mix if I were including it.

I added a large can of crushed tomatoes and a large container of stock to the pot and mixed to combine everything together. I put just a little bit of soy sauce into it as well, I love the depth of flavor of soy sauce, even though it seems a bit out of place with these ingredients. I seasoned some chicken breasts and cooked them on high on each side for 7-8 minutes to get a nice golden brown color in the pan, let them sit for a few minutes, and then nestled them into the crock pot with the mixture.

After cooking for about 6 hours on low, I remove the chicken breasts from the crock pot, and let them cool, once they cooled I shredded them up and added them back to the pot, along with 3 drained cans of sweet corn.

I stirred the corn in and added 3 rinsed cans worth of black beans, some people don't rinse their beans out of the can, but I cant stand the starchy water that comes with the beans in the can. I drain them thoroughly. I turn the the chili off before adding the corn and beans, I let them sit mixed in for about 20 minutes just enough to heat everything through.

Here is a shot at the finished pot of chili, my chili is very chunky, and doesn't actually have that much meat it in, I am sure you could take the chicken out and it wouldn't be all that much worse, you would just want to take out the chicken stock and substitute veggie stock and then cook veggies in oil instead of bacon fat and it would be vegan if you wanted it to be.

I wanted to fry up some potatoes to put on top of my chili for a little bit of crispiness. When I pan fry potatoes I will always pat them dry to try to get some of the moisture out of them, it causes less splatter in the hot oil.

I added some salt to the potatoes in the hot oil, they are just starting to brown a little bit in this picture.

I don't turn the potatoes too quickly or they don't brown up as well, let them be for a few minutes before doing anything at all to them. Cooking them like this only takes maybe 10 minutes before they are brown and crispy. I like using Yukon Gold potatoes for this purpose.

I drained the potatoes after frying them, and salted them a little more.

A bowl of my chili covered with cheese and topped with my fried potatoes, it was delicious, the chili with my own seasonings was good too. I will continue to adapt the seasonings, and will probably never have a set recipe.

One last thing I wanted to add was this item I found at Aldi, which chocolate peanut butter, it seemed like an amazing idea, they also had a dark chocolate version. I tried it, and well I was a little bit disappointed by it, its just a bit too sweet for me when it comes to peanut butter, I might have to get some of the dark chocolate, which I bet goes better with peanut butter.

Netflix Chronicles #1

Well I thought I would start posting my thoughts on different things I have seen on Netflix, they aren't new movies, but there are many great movies, and also many great tv shows on Netflix Instant, as well as on demand on the premium channels that I get, and even some movies on DVD that I might have missed watching when they first came out. I just thought I would write about them as I watch them, not everything will get written about, but anything I find interesting. Netflix may be in the title, but this is not really limited to Netflix.

Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil- I watched this movie again recently with one of my friends, and I really enjoyed it, maybe not quite as much as the first time, but I definitely laughed a ton and jumped at the times I was supposed to. I think not knowing anything about the story going into it helps, other than knowing that it is a horror comedy, so there will be some scares and a bit of blood, while there are also some lovable characters. I highly recommend this movie.

Brick- This movie really wowed me, I really don't know where to start with the awesome things that it did. This was the movie that Rian Johnson wrote and directed with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in it because they worked together again in Looper. This movie takes the classic genre of film noir and places it in a high school setting. I still got the feeling that the movie was from another time, other than the semi-modern tech like cell phones. The movie was just simply awesome, and I would advise everyone to check it out. It is available on Netflix Instant, and can likely be found through other means as well, that was just the most convenient for me. I think this move was somewhat of an independent film and did not get that large of a release back in 2005 when it came out, I definitely did not heat about it until much later.

House on Haunted Hill- This is the original with Vincent Price, I had seen at least one movie with Vincent Price in it previously, but I thought another would have been a good taste of history around Halloween. This movie, I believe was likely wonderful when it was released in 1959, there were some very scary moments. I think they chose the right times for scares and the right times for twists, I liked the story, and even some of the effects were good, I just think some of it was just too dated to hold up over the 50+ years since its release. If you want to see a classic, check it out, otherwise I think you can pass on it.

Don't Trust the B in Apt. 23- I honestly can't explain why I started watching this show on Netflix, but I did. I had always thought that Krysten Ritter was funny in a weird sort of way. I think the weirdness is what I really like about this show, you have the party girl, the quiet Midwestern girl, and James Van Der Beek playing himself, or a comedic version of himself in New York. There is a lot of strange and dirty humor in this show, but that is just my kind of thing after all. I would say it is worth watching if you want a short funny show to check out, I think there are only 26 total episodes, and I am almost half way through the series, and it has really breezed by so far.

Drive- There was a lot of hype around this movie when it came out, I guess I never took the time to go and see it in the theater, and for some reason I never really felt an urgent need to see it. I don't know if I just didn't connect with this movie, but it wasn't all that enjoyable for me. I honestly think one of my favorite parts was the opening driving scene, and how that opening chase ended, such a brilliant idea! Other than that part, I felt like the movie was a lot of flash with only minimal bang. I didn't find the story very compelling, and while there were a lot of people I like in the movie, I didn't think the performances were that great. I could be a downer, but I just thought this movie was a miss for me.

Well this concludes the first edition of my ramblings about random visual media consumption that I have to share.

Peter's Cooking Diary #10

Its time for a slightly delayed edition of my cooking diary, and this week I had some fun, I actually made 2 dishes in my slow cooker this week, but without much further ado I will start with some of the pictures!

 This is some of the onions garlic and mushrooms from last week as well as some bacon getting warmed up.

 Next I added some eggs and cooked up a nice scramble for breakfast, I had this for breakfast most days last week. It was a delicious and very flavorful way to start the day!

This is another example of things I mixed in with my eggs, chopped up and smoked salmon with bacon as well. Another delicious breakfast scramble.

How do I start just about every cooking day, bacon!!!!

The delicious bacon after it has finished giving up all of its delicious fat.

I also start a lot of my cooking with onion and garlic cooking in bacon fat, I love the smell of these all cooking together.

This is tomatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, and spices in my slow cooker on top of the pork loin that I was cooking this week.

This is what it looked like once I covered the pork with the sauce.

This is another reason why I love Aldi, they have great German food available for cheap prices. I love hand made Spaetzle a little bit more as they have a unique texture to them that I am not sure you can get from a dried product.

The cauliflower that would go into my 2nd dish, it was a total of 2 heads chopped up.

This is the creamy cheesy cauliflower when it went into the slow cooker. The foil was in the crock pot to prevent the cheese from burning. One of the ingredients in the liquid sauce is condensed cheddar cheese soup, which is a great base for cheese sauces.

This is the steamy and cooked cauliflower that I ended up with. I really like the recipe, I may try to add a little flavor to the recipe next time, but the recipe did call for it to be topped with the rendered bacon. I liked it with a lot of black pepper for that little bite to it.

This might be a little hard to tell, but this is what I ate for lunch this week, and actually some for dinner too. Pork loin steak served on top of spaetzle smothered in the sauce it was cooked in, along with some creamy cheesy, cauliflower.

So this weekend I also had a friend over for our own little dinner party, I don't do much entertaining, but we both wanted to have a kind of spread like this. There is some cranberry cheddar cheese, kalamata olives, smoked salmon, garlic and herb cheese curds, pickles I got from my aunt in Missouri, pumpkin spice cream cheese, almonds, amish hand rolled butter, wheat crackers and a baguette. It was great and a lot of fun!