Cuisine & Screen: Home Edition, Part 11

Summer is here, y'all. I guess it's technically not here until June 21, but these temps have me longing for days at the beach or the pool. Is everyone else itching to get out of town, but hesitant to do so, like me?

Sprout says "hi!"

If you're not into sweets or seafood, I'm sorry - my blog has been practically nothing BUT seafood and sweets during this whole quarantine. 

I oven-roasted my first ever Sea Bass this week (it melts in your mouth!) Again, if you have a meat thermometer, you cannot lose! I also pan-seared some more scallops because they're one of my favorite foods.

Mediterranean Orzo Salad makes a great summer side, and uses up just about any produce you have on hand. Toss cooked orzo with a variety of veggies - diced cucumber, chickpeas, diced bell pepper, kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, roasted broccoli, edamame - squirt some lemon juice, drizzle some olive oil, sprinkle some S&P, garnish with feta cheese and parsley. It's best served cold!

Pan-seared Scallops with Mediterranean Orzo Salad and Sauteed Kale

I've been on a big cherry kick lately, and have always loved the Cherry-Pistachio flavor combo. I raided my pantry to see what I could make work and was pleased as punch with the results of this Cherry Pistachio Cake:

-1/2 box yellow cake mix (+ half of the ingredients it calls for)
-1/2 box pistachio pudding mix
-1 cup chopped fresh (or frozen and thawed) cherries

Combine above ingredients and pour into a greased 9” round cake pan. Bake according to box instructions. Frost with Cherry Cream Cheese Icing:

-4 ounces (half a block) cream cheese, softened
-4 TB butter, softened
-1 ½ cups powdered sugar
-splash of vanilla extract
-splash of almond extract
-sprinkle of salt
-splash of maraschino cherry juice

Beat together the cream cheese and butter, then slowly add powdered sugar. Once combined, add remaining ingredients. Frost the cooled cake, and decorate with pistachios and more cherries, or just eat it already!

Cherry Pistachio Cake

SCREEN

Honey Boy - OMG. Heartbreaking. Say what you may about Shia LaBeouf, the guy is crazy talented. He wrote this screenplay about his tumultuous childhood relationship with his troubled father, whom he plays in the film. Noah Jupe plays young Shia and no doubt has Oscars in his future. Lucas Hedges gives an emotional performance as older Shia, and it is utterly devastating to see the impact this man's childhood has on his adult life. I'm pulling for the real Shia to continue beating his demons, star in more Sia music videos, and keep cranking out work like this.

In The Line Of Fire - I remember seeing this movie about 20 years ago, and it made quite an impression on me. It started my obsession with John Malkovich - he plays such a nefarious bad guy! - and I loved all of his disguises in the film. Clint Eastwood plays a secret service agent taunted by this supposed assassin. At 27 years old, the film is certainly dated, but the premise is excellent. 

Dirty Harry - I didn't intend on doing a Clint Eastwood theme, but I had never seen this classic film, and thought I should watch it already. I could have sworn this was a Western (he has done so many Westerns, I just figured this was one of them!) but I was wrong - Clint plays a detective investigating a slew of murders by a rooftop sniper in San Fran. It was cool to see the iconic "do you feel lucky?" scene. If I had watched this in 1971 when it came out, I'm sure I would have loved it. It's entertaining, but I'm not sure how well it holds up over time.