Frances Ellen Speaks!

10 Recent Books I Have Read and Loved

1. Stealing the Dragon by Tim Maleeny (suspense intrigue thriller)
2. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (sort of a historical memoir)
3. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (historical romantic time travel) My favorites in this series were the first and the second, Dragonfly in Amber
4. A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire) by George R.R. Martin (fantasy) This entire series is not to be missed.
5. The Other Bolelyn Girl by Philippa Gregory Don’t think history, think a really fine read.
6. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer Now if you DO like a little (history) mixed in with your (humor), try this book on for size. The entire book is written in letters. Sounds boring doesn’t it? Trust me, it’s not.
7. If you love Renoir, then you will love Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland. (fictionalized biography) It’s not a book about his entire life, but instead covers the period during which he was painting the luncheon masterpiece, one of his most recognizable  works.
8. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (thriller) You’ve never known a character like Lisbeth Salander.
9. Bloodsworn: Bound by Magic by Kathy Lane (fantasy romance suspense) What more can I say?
10. If you’ve never read a Janet Evanovich book, run to the nearest bookstore or tiptoe to Amazon.com and start off with One for the Money If you like human, colorful, (laugh out loud) characters, you’ll love her books. Easy reading, don’t be expecting Pride and Prejudice. These are just fun books in a series.

Diet – 2012 New Tricks

The most popular New Year’s Resolution year after year? Try to lose weight.

Here’s the newest suggestion that has come down the pike for the year 2012 and I’m going to give it a whirl since it has to do with carbohydrates. And I love my carbs.

Eat your three meals, as usual, but don’t eat any carbohydrates with your dinner. That means you can eat a sandwich for lunch with actual bread and you can have a slice of toast for breakfast with an egg or two.

At dinner, fill up on proteins and veggies. If you start with a salad or a vegetable beef soup, for instance, you will feel quite full without potatoes, etc. with your main meal.

For your sweet tooth, later in the evening, raid the freezer and munch on a sugarless fudgesicle.

If it’s salt you crave, crank up the microwave and pop a single serving of popcorn. I know technically that’s considered a carbohydrate, but what harm can an itty-bit of popcorn do if it assuages your hunger?

Of course, one of the other ways to lose weight that’s being touted loudly these days is to eat five or six small meals throughout the day. Maybe that works for some people, but personally, that means I’d have to think about food all day long. To tell you the truth, I get busy and forget to eat all those tiny meals, so that doesn’t work for me.

The bottom line–there’s no panacea. It’s still about eating less and exercising more, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try new ways of taking off the weight.

Footloose – Kevin Bacon vs Kenny Wormaid

No one could ever fill Kevin Bacon’s boots, but Kenny Wormaid gave it a royal, good try. The new Footloose is more athletic and possibly more energetic than the original 1984 flick, but again Kevin takes home the bacon. There is no way to remake an iconic film. Footloose is one of those.

The movie was entertaining, though. And cowboy hats off to Miles Teller (Willard). He added his own brand of humor. The scenes showing him trying to learn how to dance and then finally conquering the moves were so, so enjoyable.

Too bad they didn’t show more of the famous red boots. But the music was still phenomenal.

Project Runway

Is anyone else getting bored with Project Runway? The designers don’t seem to be as talented as they have been in past seasons. There definitely should have been more excitement for that challenge where they teamed up with a school art class. There was so much inspiration there from the young artists, but the same lackluster array of clothes was trotted out. Pitiful!

When I think of “Runway,” I think of glamor and extraordinary fashion. I want to see some gowns and cocktail dresses coming down the runway, not tailored pants and jackets constantly. What fun is there in that?

The avant-garde challenge should have been evening wear.

There should be a different red carpet challenge every season. Let’s see the difference between a Grammy Awards red carpet as opposed to what we might see on Oscar night.

With so many Hollywood-type events to choose from, the best they could come up with was the Nina Garcia challenge? I have never seen Nina wear anything electrifying, and why in the world would I want to see her in clothes she would wear to work?

And the challenges themselves are getting old and stale. Okay, making a garment from stuff you can buy in a pet store was fun the first couple of times, but come-on! And then to put one designer down for using umbrella material, while rewarding the designer using fleece wasn’t even a fair assessment of the project, especially when the guy who made a dress out of birdseed was the clear winner.

And by the way, the bully in the playroom should’ve been kicked off the show, not one of his victims. But, oops, I forgot–the ratings. Maybe people are looking forward to more hysterics and mood swings. I, for one, would like to see more “out of the box” design and less drama.

Tomato, Tomahto

Whichever way you say it, you haven’t eaten a really good tomato in a very long time–well, unless you’re growing your own or buying from a farmers market. However, you are eating really, really pretty tomatoes: bright red, no blemishes, smooth skin, firm to the touch, perfect green stem. Too bad they’re red rocks with little or no juice inside.

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Every year, it gets harder and harder to find an awful looking, ugly tomato–the ones that are grown to taste good, not to look good.

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If you’re lucky enough to find one, don’t expect it to be bright red. Sometimes they’re more orange. And don’t bother to look for a perfect stem sticking out of its misshapen body, because there probably isn’t one.

If you’ve ever bent over and picked a tomato direct from the plant, you’ll know the minute you hold this ugly baby in the palm of your hand that it’s been sun-drenched and grown outside and maybe it hasn’t even been sprayed with “who knows what.”

So, the next time you pass the tomatoes in your supermarket, try to figure out why you don’t see those hideous looking tomatoes in the store anymore. Are we so enamored of beauty that our food has to look gorgeous, while real taste suffers?

Oh, well. Pretty is “in.”  So, I won’t even get started on our pretty, pretty red beef, or our pearly white eggs, or …

Harry Potter

80% of the time, Hollywood does a lousy job of translating a wonderful book to the screen, but Harry never disappointed. I read all the books. I’ve seen all the movies.

And The Deathly Hallows doesn‘t  miss a beat. Action galore. Magic sublime.

Over 1,000 people showed up at our theater for Friday’s midnight show – over half dressed as one of the characters. For a small town, that must be some kind of record. Balloons and crepe paper festooned the lobby. Everyone partied like there was no tomorrow. And maybe there isn’t.

It’s quite a letdown to know that there will be no future books or movies to look forward to. The fantasy world of Harry, Hermione and Ron has reached its expiration date. What a bummer, but what a fantastic ride!