Day 20: HP7 Party Update-8 pieces of 7, The End of an Era

So I have decided to throw a Harry Potter Party after all…

Here  is the menu, what does everyone think?

Happy Hour- 6:00-7:00 pm
In honor of our valiant hero trio we will be enjoying Ménage Trois wines throughout the evening.

…Gillyweed Salad (Seaweed Salad)
with toasted sesame seeds and orange slices-V

Dragon Rolls (sushi)

Rosé and Lake Water (Green) Tea

First Course 7-7:30 pm
Pumpkin Soup with roasted sage and garlic-V

Main Course- 7:45 pm
Bangers and Mash
with roasted onion gravy and baked beans

Rumbledthumps-V
Potatoes, cabbage, leeks, cheese, cream, chives

Dragon Tofu-V*
Zucchini, tofu, yellow squash, garlic, spinach, peanuts, cashews
This dish is spicy.

Red and White Proprietary Blends

Dessert- 9:00 pm
Pumpkin Pasties

Treacle Tart

Butterbeer
Cream soda, butterscotch schnapps, vanilla ice cream

English Tea

V= Vegetarian
V*=Vegan

I am actually pretty stoked about it! I got my ticket the other day, to the 12:05 am show, and I ordered formal invitations that are going out Wednesday…this is going to be awesome!!! I just hope I am not in over my head…

I know, I know, I am a mega nerd…I don’t care. 🙂

Day 13: Perks revisited…

This will be a quick one, as I have a ton of work to do today.

Here are some pictures of the building where they were shooting Perks a few weeks ago. Enjoy! (warning…these are boring, but I thought it might be nice to have a reference point when you are watching the movie 🙂 )

 

Oh how did that get in there?? 🙂

Isn’t he a cutie 😉

 

Day 12: A still unhappy boy

We are still very unhappy, but we are easily entertained.

A few weeks back I had bought Benji the first disk in the WhistleFritz series Vamos a Jugar and I think Maria is his new best friend. 

This DVD is great. It is a total immersion program–the only English you see is the credits, and you hear none. It is kind of Blue’s Clues-esque in its style and the songs are familiar (head and shoulders–er… cabesa y hombros.) Ben likes it so much that we just ordered another one.

Needless to say, he has been so cranky that I plan to let him watch it all day if that is what it takes…I’m pooped.

Day 9: A recipe…

So I am thinking of throwing a Harry Potter Party for the last movie release… but I am not sure I want the fuss. Primarily I want an excuse to make all the wonderful Harry Potter food in the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. Although, today’s recipe is not in there…

Today, or tonight we are making butterbeer. 🙂

Enjoy!

Butterbeer-for grown ups

Ingredients

• Butterscotch Schnapps
• Cream Soda
• Vanilla Ice Cream
• butter (optional)–use real butter

Directions 

1. In the bottom of a pint glass place 1 small scoop of vanilla ice cream.
2. Add 2-3 jiggers of butterscotch schnapps.
3. Top, carefully*, with cream soda.
4. If you choose you can swirl in a half tsp of melted butter (use salted to bring out the flavors) to finish it off.

*the purpose of the ice cream is to create the beer foam head. As with any float it will foam a lot so keep that in mind as you pour.

Day 8: Your chick card is showing–Spoiler Alert

I really try not to fall into the chick lit out there, I really do, but occasionally I find myself in denial.  And they say when you have an addiction, the first step to over coming it is admitting you have a problem, so here it goes.

My name is Ellē, and I am a Twihard. Yes, it is true. I remember when I finally gave in and became and addict; it was 9:00 pm on August 1, 2008.

I was helping run the Breaking Dawn release party at my Borders. Before then I had never even touched the series to shelve it.  I knew nothing about it except that it was an obsessive love story about a girl and a vampire. I did know that one of my co-workers who is a teacher steered parents of younger children away from it due to the obsessive nature. And I was definitely one of those people who got all defensive about the Vampires or Wizards argument (ok so my nerd card is showing too…) because nothing, NOTHING in the children’s/YA vampire category beats Harry Potter. I stand by that statement. There is no comparison. If I had to choose, Potter will always win over vampires. ALWAYS!!

Any whoozle, I was working this party because I always worked the midnight release parties [they are so much fun] and on my break I decided to pick up Twilight and give it a skim. I figured it would be nice to see what it was that I was here to promote. Now, I am not going to go into a full on review, today, but while the writing was not fantabulous in the first novel, the voice sucked you in instantly and the story kept the heart and the blood pumping.  I was hooked. I read all 4 books in 10 days.  It consumed my life for a week and a half, and then I re-read it at a slower pace.

Actually, funny story, while I was reading Eclipse–I have a very distinct memory of reading this one as it is my favorite of the four– at some point I had a day off work. That day I remember I got up and had breakfast with my husband and the minute he walked out the door I plopped on the couch and starting reading. When I couldn’t hold it anymore I got up to go to the bathroom and looked at the clock and it was 11:45 am! My husband [fiance at the time] had left at 9:00 and would be home for lunch in 15 minutes! I rushed through getting ready for the day and was just coming out from getting dressed (I had been in my pjs) when he walked in the door, Eek! Now a normal person would say to themselves, “ok you have wasted your entire morning, make it up this afternoon.” But no, I went right back to the book the minute he walked out the door. I finally tore myself away  in time to make dinner, but only for an hour. At the time we [my husband] were building a retaining wall in our backyard. Immediately after dinner he went out to work on the wall, while I did the dishes. 3 hours later he came in to wash up and get ready for bed and I was still working on the dishes! I had a rhythm..was three dishes, read a chapter, wash three dishes, read a chapter–this was before we had a dish washer–it is embarrassing to think about even now…

And so obsession was born. The movies are not as big of a deal, however, I have been to the midnight release of them all, and they were good enough [I am not going to review them all at this time] that my husband is addicted at well. However, the movies are what I am here to talk about–Breaking Dawn Part I to be precise. Has anyone not seen this trailer yet??? If you haven’:

Now I need to ask you, as readers not viewers, what do you think? As a fan of the books and a reluctant movie lover [I like the films, but they don’t do the books justice,] I feel like they are giving EVERYTHING away. While I understand the idea with movies is to bring in ALL viewers, for those of us committed to the story, this feels like a total jip [I guess my age is showing too…who says jip anymore?]  Before I actually read the first sentence of Twilight I heard the opening chapter of Breaking Dawn, at the party. I remember the swooning and the shrieking of the teens, and the undeniable romance of the story in their reactions to telling Charlie about the engagement.  [Spoiler alert…NOW] But with this trailer, telling Charlie about the engagement, telling Renee about the engagement, the wedding, the honeymoon, and the pregnancy are THE BIG ITEMS ON THE LIST when it come to Breaking Dawn. And they are all ALL covered in the TEASER!!!!!!!!!!! What is left for the trailer, better yet what is left for the MOVIE!?!?!?!? Yes we are waiting on the details, but everything has been given away…well almost everything.  I guess I wanted some mystery. I have been waiting and waiting for this trailer and here it is, disappointment at every turn. And they are splitting this book into two. What is left besides the birth for the second one? The film looks great, but…I wanted somethings to be a surprise and they are giving everything away! I am just so…what is the word…disheartened? by this trailer, I just don’t know what to say besides see the movie anyway… fingers crossed it will be more comprehensive…