Tag: Thanksgiving Cocktail

Comedies

Defending Your Life

LizLockeLeave a comment
Image credit: Defending Your Life, 1991

Picture the concept: you’re dead, BUT you can eat whatever you want without gaining an ounce of weight. You like broccoli? How about smothering it in cheese sauce? Big fan of shrimp? Here’s thirty of them! Pie? We’ve got nine of those—one for every day you’re in purgatory! Defending Your Life (Disc/Download) may be a smart, poignant romantic comedy, but it’s also one of the best foodie films to come out of Hollywood. When you’re planning your Thanksgiving menu this week, be sure to make some room for this Albert Brooks classic (and wear your stretchiest pants).

I remain grateful to The Criterion Collection for introducing me to so many of Brooks’ films this year, and while I love them all, I can’t help but be disappointed that he didn’t make more. This charming, insecure, curly haired man is everything I want in a romantic hero. The chemistry between recently deceased ad exec Daniel (Brooks) and the altruistic woman he meets in the afterlife (Meryl Streep) is off-the-charts sexy, and I wish every onscreen couple would take a lesson in flirting from these two. Daniel has to prove that he’s not going to let fear run his life before he can move on to the next astral plane with Streep, and if he doesn’t, he’ll be sent back to Earth- a miserable place where people only use 3% of their brain (these days, post-pandemic, we may be down to 2%).

Although Daniel is forced to relive difficult moments from his past while “on trial”, this Judgement City waiting room really isn’t too bad. There are bowling alleys and comedy clubs and tons of all-you-can-eat buffets. And did I mention there are no such things as calories? Since this week is Thanksgiving, and this is the only week of the year in which heavy cream is sitting in my fridge, it seems like a good time to go all out with a cocktail. While watching Defending Your Life, I recommend drinking this White Rein-Carnation.

White Rein-Carnation

2oz Vodka

¾ oz Peach Schnapps

1 oz Lemon Juice

1 oz Orange Juice

1 oz Heavy Cream

1 Egg White

1 oz Soda Water

Fresh Mint and Orange Twist (Garnish)

Combine all ingredients except soda water and garnish in a shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a glass, then pour back into the shaker to “dry shake” without ice for another ten seconds, until frothy. Double strain the mixture into a chilled collins glass, and top with soda water. Garnish with fresh mint and orange twist.

One of my favorite moments is when a waiter asks Daniel if he likes pie, and with the unabashed excitement of a small child, he replies, “I love pie!” I love pie too, but fear of hastening my own death keeps me from having it every day. However, Thanksgiving is the one time of year when you’re supposed to let go of the fear and give into pleasure. Where we can have the pie, and the cheese sauce, and the cocktail with the heavy cream, cholesterol be damned. Tomorrow, the fear will creep back in, but today, we feast. Cheers!

Classic Films · Dramas

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

LizLocke2 Comments

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Image credit: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1967.

This week marks yet another Thanksgiving for Cinema Sips, and although in the past we’ve covered cinema feasts such as those in The Godfather and Giant, I really don’t feel like cooking this year. Luckily, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (Disc/Download) features no actual dinner; only cocktails.  In other words, my kind of party!

Made in 1967 during the height of the civil rights movement, this final Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy film collaboration features Sidney Poitier as the fiancé of a white, upper-class daughter of two liberals who have difficulty practicing what they preach.  Sure, they proudly proclaim that African Americans should have equal rights, but when their daughter gets off a plane from Hawaii with a handsome black doctor, those beliefs become complicated.  Directed by Stanley Kramer, this richly drawn film presents all sides to the debate of love vs. societal prejudice.  The daughter (played by Hepburn’s niece Katharine Houghton) comes across as naïve, but with a pure heart untouched by prejudice and hate.  And isn’t that what we all wish for?  That kids would never have to hear ugly racist words, and never be faced with a “pigmentation problem” as Tracy puts it. This girl has found the perfect man, one who’s handsome, smart, and respectful, and looks ever-so-charming with a daisy behind his ear.  I’d say that’s worth fighting a few bigots for.

As this dinner party at a San Francisco mansion grows to include the bride’s parents, the groom’s parents, the central couple, and a priest, the bar cart gets some heavy use. Meanwhile, the maid is hiding in the kitchen with her cauldron of turtle soup, wondering why these crazy people won’t sit down and eat something.  Let’s take our lead from the moms in this movie, those sensible moms with a preference for sherry and young love.  While watching Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, I recommend drinking a Sherry Cobbler.

Sherry Cobbler

3 ½ oz Sherry

½ oz simple syrup

2 orange slices

2 lemon slices

Cranberries for garnish

Combine simple syrup and one slice each of orange and lemon in the bottom of a shaker.  Muddle oranges, then add sherry and ice.  Shake well, until chilled.  Strain into a Collins glass filled with crushed ice, then garnish with a fresh orange slice, lemon slice and fresh cranberries.

Sherry Cobbler

As I write this post, many dinner tables across America are still deeply divided.  There is a chasm between young and old, liberal and conservative, much as there was over fifty years ago in this movie.  Equal rights are still a dream we’re fighting for, but as this movie shows us, it’s worth fighting for.  It’s worth it to stand up to your elders and say love is all that matters; hate has no place at the table.  Cheers!

Comedies · Holiday Films

Home for the Holidays

LizLockeLeave a comment

Home for the Holidays
Image Credit: Home for the Holidays, 1995

After a stressful month at work, I am VERY ready to relax with a bounty of food and a pile of movies. I always look forward to Thanksgiving because it means I get to stay home, in the city I love, with my husband and my dog and do absolutely nothing. Christmas can get a little crazy, but Thanksgiving- that’s just for me. Of course it wasn’t always like that. I’ve had my share of awkward relatives and inedible meals, which is why I have such an appreciation for this week’s film Home for the Holidays (DVD). When you find yourself laughing and nodding along, saying, “YES! This is what it’s like!!” you know you’ve found a great movie.

Home for the Holidays was directed by Jodie Foster and tells the story of the Larson family as they come together for one grand Thanksgiving meal. Holly Hunter is as charming as I’ve ever seen her, fleeing her recent unemployment and sexually active teenage daughter to go get criticized by her mother in a big puffy coat. Robert Downey Jr. shines as her younger gay brother Tommy, and together they team up against their bigoted uptight sister Joanna. Anne Bancroft is amazing as the matriarch, and the scenes of her flirting and arguing with her onscreen husband played by the late, great Charles Durning are forever endearing (see my earlier post about 5 Times Anne Bancroft was EVERYTHING). Of course I’m a sucker for a spinster aunt, and it doesn’t get better than Geraldine Chaplin’s Aunt Glady. She hates orange lipstick, she likes to get drunk and tell inappropriate stories, and she keeps her bathroom as clean as a whistle. In short, she’s me in 40 years. Dylan McDermott pops up as a dreamy love interest for Holly Hunter, but really it’s the family dynamics that make this such a joy to watch. As Hunter’s Claudia says, “We’re family- we don’t have to like each other”.

If you want to be as toasted as Aunt Glady on the big T-Day, you’re going to need a tasty cocktail. This year I’ll be making a drink the same color as Claudia’s stylish puffy coat. It pairs nicely with stuffing, mashed potatoes, and snarky comments at the dinner table. While watching Home for the Holidays, I recommend drinking a Cranberry Mule.

Cranberry Mule

3 oz Deep Eddy Cranberry Vodka

1/2 oz Lime Juice

8 oz Ginger Beer

Lime and fresh cranberries for garnish

Build drink in a glass over ice.  Garnish with a lime slice and fresh cranberries.

Cranberry Mule

I don’t want to sound like I don’t look forward to seeing my family. I do, of course. But often people get so tied up in making the holiday great that they forget what’s really important. By important, I of course mean Pillsbury crescent rolls, and the relief one feels at realizing your life isn’t as bad as sad sack Russell Terziak’s. That’s always something I’m thankful for. Cheers!