Wedding Style - My Top 5 Picks for Gowns in a Motion Picture

It's RED CARPET season, and i'm sure everyone knows this (well those that care anyway).

One aspect of this blog that you will see an adequate amount of writing on will be weddings. Yes, I'm one of those women who's quite obsessed with weddings from the engagement to the last dance.

Being a movie buff, or connoisseur if you will I love a good "movie wedding" so I figured i'd play at my own red carpet of weddings past.

Shari Headley in Coming to America 1988 - I CRIED WHEN I SAW HER IN IT

- I was 7 when this movie came out and if you were an Eddie Murphy fan or part of an African American household….you KNEW allllllll about this movie. It is one of the funniest movies EVER!!!!! My husband often times walks around the house reciting many different phrases "ah haaaaaa" (inside joke). BUT….the last scene of this movie, when Prince Hakeem thinks he's about to marry someone his father (King Jaffe Joffer) arranged for him to marry. All of a sudden you see a veiled woman with this stunning bubble gum pink ball gown and a train to rival ALL trains (including Princess Diana's train) and he lifts the veil and it's LISA (the love of his life) ugh what a moment in a movie! Ok so on 2014 this dress might not be "in" but if you take a look at celebrity brides throughout the years (Gwen Stefani, Jessica Biel, and recently Kaley Cucoco) the pink wedding dress trend is very on trend.

Kimberley Williams in Father of the Bride 1991

C'mon what little girl didn't sqee when she saw "Annie" in that beautiful white (diamond white at that) wedding gown. It was one of the most EPIC wedding movie moments in history

Jennifer Lopez in Monster in Law 2005

If you didn't wish you were "Charlie" in this movie when you saw her in this gown. It was simple and so elegant. Her hair was pulled into the perfect chignon accented with a beautiful flower. She definitely was prepared to make a statement in front of her mother in law's elite friends and family. 

Anne Hathaway & Kate Hudson in Bride Wars 2010

What I love about the dresses in this movie was that the fashion stylists really paid attention to the characters that these women were playing in the movie. In the movie Anne wore "her mother's dress"which turned out to be a dress by the amazing Amsale (I don't believe she was designing gowns in that age but I digress) it was perfect for her. Meanwhile Kate adjusted her body for the wonderful world of Vera Wang in a gown that most little girls dream of but once she gets older the amount of pouf decreases to a sleeker silhouette. 

Thanks for reading…..and YES I will be announcing my Top 5 Wedding dresses TV EDITION

City Slicker Ribs

Happy Monday!!!!

I hope you all had a great weekend. I stayed in and kept it very low key this weekend. Ran some errands with hubby and went to visit a new church with some of my girlfriends.

I'm really curious to know why I keep on posting about food on this blog. Every time I make a meal I'm anxious to get onto Blogger to share it with you all (you know…those that actually ready my posts).

A few weeks back my husband asked me "Why don't you ever make BBQ ribs for dinner"…my response was something along the lines of "well..I really don't know actually". After that conversation, I forgot about it completely until last night I was food shopping and came across a nice meaty pack of country ribs and I decided that tonight would be the night he gets ribs.

But…they couldn't be just any type of rib recipe, it had to be authentic to my brain something that wasn't pulled from another cookbook etc. Somewhere out there, I know there is a Chef, or a Home Cook who has made ribs this exact way and that's fine because great minds think alike.

But…here is my version of my version of slathered, juicy, and tender ribs.

Maple Whisky BBQ Baked Ribs aka City Slicker Ribs
1 pack of country ribs
Lawry's Seasoned Salt this stuff is like the mecca of all southern kitchens
Ground Black Pepper
3-4 twists of Sea Salt
1 hefty sprinkle of raw sugar

BBQ Sauce 
1/2 an onion thinly sliced
1 lemon wedge
1 bottle of a basic BBQ sauce I used K.C. Masterpiece
1/2 c. of Maple Whiskey 
2 tbsp of Maple Syrup
2 tbsp. of  Port Wine
Throw all of this in a small sauce pan, cover with a lid and cook on low for 30 min

Step 1. Season the ribs with sea salt, black pepper and Lawry's Season Salt *
Step 2. Put ribs in a deep dish pan and cover with foil and bake on 350 for 1 hour
Step 3. Pull the ribs out of the oven and turn the temperature up to 365
Step 4. Drain the juice from the pan completely
Step 5. Sprinkle the ribs with the raw sugar and then pour the BBQ sauce on top and make sure you get every inch of those ribs covered in sauce
Step 6. Put them back into the oven for 15-20 min to let it soak up the coating
Step 7. Take them out of the oven and let them cool for about 10min (this also allows the sauce to get sticky which is how I prefer them)

* Season your meat to eyesight. I like to see sprinkles of every seasoning on the meat that's how I judge it. Be careful with the Lawry's though; because we're using sea salt we don't want the ribs over salted

I whipped up homemade mashed potatoes with ricotta cheese and a little bit of steamed kale and onions for our sides. It was probably some of the best ribs i've ever had (besides the ribs my father makes now those are game changers)

Enjoy!!!!!

p.s. some people think I cook "fancy"….this dish is not fancy to me at all. I don't think I cook fancy nor do I think I AM fancy. I cook what I like, that's all. I don't necessarily make these meals just to play in a fantasy life thinking everyone wishes they could eat like me. I have a very versatile palette when it comes to food. I'm not a repeat player, meaning if i'm investing time to turn on a stove, you better believe I want to enjoy it and not feel completely BORED with what's on my plate. No dish is ever the same….EVER. Why? Because I don't follow recipes per se, I go with my gut and hope it turns out good. Experimentation is what I love and adore about the process of cooking/baking. So if you do read my blog and you're intimidated….please don't be. Just because it's plated a certain way doesn't mean it's so hard to make. I like to eat different things and I like it to look pretty on a plate. Plain and simple.

"Pie It Forward"

Happy New Year!!!!!!

So I made a small resolution that I think I can adhere to keeping. I am not going to promise you posts all the time, it'd just be wrong for me to do that. I don't even think I have that much of a following, but I know my time will come when I do.

Until then I'm going to keep sharing.

Anyway….I baked a pie. It was delicious, i loved it. BUT I ate 2 slices, my husband ate 1 bite and the rest I gave it to my co-workers because it was so delicious that I didn't want it to be wasted.

There are really no words because it was THAT Good. I didn't follow a recipe for the filling, but I did use Ree Drummond's Pie Crust recipe because I have yet to come up with a crust recipe of my own. She never fails me EVER!!!!!

But let's rewind, this pie was not planned, because if it had been I would have put more thought into it. I had some apples that were 1 day shy of being tossed into the garbage. I'm trying my best not to be so wasteful so I sliced those babies up and Googled a crust recipe and voila…pie. I did jazz this one up in the end a smidge. I added mini marshmallows into the lattice holes, and then drizzled some chocolate syrup on top. I thought it was add something cool, new and more oozy and … well…it did!!!!!

(Sorry about the shadow, I have to get better at taking photographs of my food)

So I'm going to spare you the dramatics of putting Mrs. Drummond's pie crust recipe here, just click the link above and there you have it.


FILLING
5 apples (I used McIntosh apples)
1/2 c dark brown sugar
3/4c white sugar
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Vanilla Extract (pure)
1 pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp flour

TOPPING
1 handful or less of mini marshmallows
Chocolate syrup


Step 1. peel and slice the apples, if there are brown spots, take them out and discard and use whatever is good of that apple
Step 2. let them sit in a bowl and sprinkle the lemon juice and mix it through so your apples won't turn
Step 3. this is going to sound like a hot mess, but in a large bowl throw in your apples and gently stir all of the ingredients in slowly making sure every slice has flavor on it
**if you notice I didn't put a measurement for the Cinnamon, Nutmeg or Vanilla extract. It's quite difficult for me because I was taught to cook without measuring, and by eyesight. What I will say is if you shake your cinnamon and nutmeg containers 3-4 times that should be enough. (sorry but it's the best I can do as I didn't plan this recipe post it just happened)

Step 4. Take 1 of your pie crusts, roll it out, and lay it into a 9" pie plate (the crust should overlap the pan so you can crimp it)

INTERMISSION

Step 5. I don't like "wet crust" so if you're anything like me you will poke some holes into that crust with a fork and crimp the edges a bit and bake on 350 until it's light golden brown

WE CONTINUE WITH THIS RECIPE

Step 6. Let the crust cool once you take it out of the oven for a good 15minutes
Step 7. Pour the apple mixtures into the pie dish
Step 8. I did a lattice top on this pie because I think it's pretty
Step 9. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes then remove from the oven and add mini marshmallows anywhere you can fit them in the lattice holes and put back into the oven for 10 minutes
Step 10. Once the pie has cooled drizzle some chocolate syrup on top

ENJOY!!!!!