Some Things I Watched and Some Things I Should NOT Have Watched: 7 Quick Takes XXV

by | Aug 16, 2013 | 7 Quick Takes, August, Kendra's Thoughts, Liturgical Living, Parenting | 19 comments

I see what you did there. And I like it.
I hope everyone had a lovely Solemnity yesterday. We did!
I really try to incorporate traditions, historical and/or from other cultures into our liturgical feasts. But there don’t seem to be all that many traditions associated with the Assumption. All I’ve been able to find was that it’s the traditional day of the Blessing of the Fruits and Herbs. So, I based our dinner menu on that. Also, since it’s a Solemnity, I thought there should be meat. It just seems right.
So, I made herbed steaks, grilled Parmesan corn-on-the-cob, watermelon, bread, and for dessert, angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries.
I started with fresh herbs from the garden (which I forgot to bring with us to Mass, so they just got sprinkled with Lourdes water here!) and made basil pesto, rosemary and onion crunch, and blue cheese and parsley toppings. The husband grilled the steaks and then I put the toppings on. They turned out great!
The corn is a recipe my MIL sent me and which I just love. Spread fresh corn on the cob with mayo (I do not like mayo, but it works better than butter in this recipe, and you really can’t taste it.) then roll in grated Parmesan cheese and sprinkle with paprika. Cover in foil and cook on upper rack of grill for 30 minutes or until cooked. Voila! Delicious.
Decorations were limited to putting all our little Mary statues on the lazy susan, which turned out to be super infuriating to Frankie, who was not allowed to have them during dinner.
Dessert was homemade whipped cream on not homemade angel food cake (it was nearly 100 degrees here today, so “no” on the baking) with fresh strawberries. Yum.

You’re probably heard about the fire that destroyed the home of the Davidson family of Little Flowers Press, well, my bloggy friend Heather is having a fundraiser for them.

For more information, go check out MamaCreates, where you’ll find links to lovely things you can buy from Origami Owl and Lila Rose, all for a good cause!

In an instance of science finally getting around to proving something we kinda already knew . . . I enjoyed the flurry of coverage this week about a study out of Ohio State University that has shown that having many sibling makes a person less likely to end up divorced.

It makes perfect sense to me. I am fortunate that my parents set a great example of marriage for my sister and me, but with there only being two of us, it was really easy to just live our own lives. I had my own room and my own stuff and my own friends. When I got married, it was an adjustment to learn to consider the way that another person does things.

But my kids do not have their own stuff or their own rooms or their own friends. They have to share everything. They are learning how to compromise and how to subjugate their own whims and desires for the greater good. (And a sleeping baby is ALWAYS the greater good.)

It’s easy to see how that might translate into an easier time adjusting to married life and a long happy marriage. Here’s hoping anyway!

And have you seen this yet?

You’re not going to believe it, but Ashton Kutcher of all people has some pretty inspiring thoughts to share with his teenaged fans.

Good for him for using a platform like the Teen Choice Awards to lay some truth on people. Also, it turns out Ashton isn’t his real name . . .

Have you ever wondered what a romantic comedy pairing the Tenth Doctor and Merida might be like?

Well, wonder no more.

If you’re a grownup in the mood for a romantic comedy, The Decoy Bride will probably do the trick. And, really, it’s THE DOCTOR and a girl with an awesome Scottish accent (and the rival girl, of course). How could you resist? The setting is lovely and decency is maintained by all. And perhaps most importantly, it’s on Netflix streaming.

Buuuuuuut . . . if you watch that, Netflix just might think that you would also like to watch Casanova. And you shouldn’t. I mean, of course not, right? But it was David Tennant and Masterpiece Theater and there wasn’t any swearing or nudity so I watched it for way too long.

But I finally came to my senses and stopped. It’s not a nice show.

That gal on the left is a girl in real life, but in the movie she’s a boy who’s just dressed as a girl. Plus old Peter O’Toole is super creepy in it. And David Tennant wears very fake-looking blue contacts. He looks like an alien.

But you know what is a nice show? Duck Dynasty.

I’d heard about it, but we don’t have cable, so I hadn’t seen it until this summer. I’ve only seen a couple of episodes, but what I saw had a very pro-family vibe. And it showed the family saying grace before a meal, which I thought was nice.

It’s also hilarious.

I was never comfortable with the Kids and Counting show, because I felt like the Duggar family was being made a spectacle of and didn’t know it. These guys are being made a spectacle of, but they’re in on the joke.

19 Comments

  1. Cristina

    I love #5!

    Netflix thought that I would like Decoy Bride too and it was true, I loved it! But then it started recommending several other romantic comedies of a much ummm…..less nice variety and I was all, "Netflix, don't you know me at all? Why can't you be more like Amazon?" 🙂

  2. Jenny

    I have always laughed that one of our greatest gifts to society is children who have to share rooms…society can thank me later!

    I have not seen Duck Dynasty but I hear about it all the time. Maybe I need to visit someone with cable so I can catch a peek.
    Suscipio4women
    3-2-1 Party

  3. Nanacamille

    I can't believe those words of wisdom came from an actor I have always believed was a total air-head waste of time. Good for him saying those things for teens. I heard about Duck Dynasty in Iowa and saw a lifesized poster of the dad in Walmart…that fits. Guess I should watch it but looks creepy.

    It doesn't always have to be a large family to learn how it share. You can learn it in a smaller family if you all spend time together and learn to consider each other in choices you make. I always found that flight attendants who had husbands and kids at home were much better as sharing small spaces in the airplane galleys than the ones that lived alone. They were just used to sharing and helping each other out.

    Nanacamille

  4. Joy

    Will have to check out Decoy Bride. I think you described Duck Dynasty perfectly. Thank you for sharing how your family celebrated the Solemnity.

  5. Abby S.

    I hate to leave a comment about mayo, but my elderly widow neighbor recently gave me the exact recipe as your corn, but put it on chicken breast instead. She's from Wisconsin, so maybe those midwesterners are on to something?!

  6. Christy from fountains of home

    I thought I'd hate Duck Dynasty and now I can't stop watching it. I think its great! Its funny, but its also a great family who love each other even though they're all crazy…like a normal family!

    • Suzette

      "love each other even though they're all crazy…like a normal family!"
      I can't agree more!
      My parents have been out to the business and the show doesn't glam anything up. It's just real people. Gotta love that. I totally follow "Wise Man Si" on Twitter – his tweets totally make my day, way too often.

  7. Suzette

    I love that you like Duck Dynasty! Home state bay-bay! 🙂
    I am hoping to watch a movie for myself during nap today…for the first time in like i dont know, a year, so maybe decoy bride it is!

  8. Kara Warme

    Ashton is from IOWA, so the Midwest gets credit for the speech AND the yummy corn recipe 🙂
    And I think right after you said you would never do it, you published a quick Quick Takes!

  9. Kristen Bright

    I thought that meme was going to say "I assume you…went to Mass?" haha Will have to check out "The Decoy Bride". I saw another good period drama movie: "Tess of the D'urbervilles" (2008 version). Serious (and for adult viewing only)but moving. I had to read the novel in high school but didn't get the story at all then

  10. Heather

    Thanks for including me!

    I love your feast day feast! I really have to start doing that more often.

    I'm glad you suggested Decoy Bride. It came up as a possibility for me, but I judged the movie by its cover and dismissed it. Now I will go back and give it a real look.

  11. Julia

    Yes and YES to Decoy Bride and SO wishing I'll forget #6….rewind, erase! haha! 🙂

  12. Bonnie

    That meme is fantastic! And thanks for the movie suggestion.

  13. J. Giunta

    I thought the decoy bride was terrible. I'm a huge David Tennant fan, but it was just slow and unfunny. Casanova is one of my new favorites. And yes, Duck Dynasty is very very entertaining.

    • Kendra

      I found The Decoy Bride very entertaining for what it was, a silly romantic comedy.

      The Masterpiece Theater Casanova is noteworthy for how it manages to be so very risque and titillating and inappropriate without containing any actual nudity, it's dogged attacks on the idea that any behavior can be sinful or displeasing to God, and it's wildly inacurate representation of historical facts.

      Giancomo Cassanove is an actual person, who wrote twelve volumes worth of his memoirs. And he wasn't gay. He wrote: "Feeling that I was born for the sex opposite of mine, I have always loved it and done all that I could to make myself loved by it." He wasn't gay. He just historically, factually wasn't. He WAS, however, riddled with venereal disease, which creepy old would-be-deflowerer Peter O'Toole didn't seem to be.

      I strongly recommend against anyone watching this show.

  14. Mrs. Green Acres

    Still catching up, but if you wanted to incorporate a cultural theme this year (if you haven't done so for 2014 or 2015), you may wish to look at the Acadians. The Blessed Virgin is their patron saint (as evidenced by the gold star in the blue of their "triocolore") which is why they chose her feast day as their "national" day.

    About their day: http://museeacadien.org/an/online-resources/frequently-asked-questions/de-la-fete-nationale-des-acadiens/

    About their flag: http://museeacadien.org/an/online-resources/frequently-asked-questions/du-drapeau-acadien/

    Their anthem is Ave Maris Stella…
    http://museeacadien.org/an/online-resources/frequently-asked-questions/de-lhymne-national-des-acadiens/

    Cajun culture is derived from them, as the people that came to be known as Cajuns landed in Louisiana as a result of Acadians being deported by the British from the Canadian maritime provinces.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajuns

    On a side note, it's also my folks' wedding anniversary 🙂

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Hi! I’m Kendra.

For twenty years now, I’ve been using food, prayer, and conversation based around the liturgical calendar to share the lives of the saints and the beautiful truths and traditions of our Catholic faith. My own ten children, our friends and neighbors, and people just like you have been on this journey with me.

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