An Ode to the Grey Stuff... It's Delicious!

July Fourth was not only Independence Day, but it also marked the one-year anniversary of deciding to go to Disney World! Best decision I've made in a really long time. To commemorate it, I wanted to bake something to take to work. So last weekend I spent some time looking through Disney recipes. My initial idea was to make Magic Cookie Bars. But, I've never actually eaten one of them at Disney World! My mom makes them for Christmas every year, but I wanted something Disney-related that I've actually had AT Disney.

Then I remembered seeing a bunch of recipes for the Grey Stuff. If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, you probably haven't been to Disney World in the last year or so! One of the highlights of the New Fantasyland expansion includes a restaurant called "Be Our Guest" and it is amazingly Beauty and the Beast themed. And one of the desserts they offer is called "The Grey Stuff"... as in Lumière's line from the song "Be Our Guest" -- Try the grey stuff, it's delicious! Don't believe me? Ask the dishes!

Now, I would never have expected the grey stuff to be a dessert. But I'm really glad it is! It's had several different incarnations since the restaurant opened and this is a picture of what I had when I was there in February:

The description was: Chocolate Shell, Cookie Crème topped with Lumiere’s special “Grey Stuff”.

The grey stuff itself is kind of a mousse-y type thing and I would describe the cookie crème as being sort of like the inside of a truffle? Maybe? All of the recipes I've found online are ONLY for the grey stuff. I didn't know how my coworkers would feel about just eating a bowl of that, although I highly recommend it! Haha.

So I decided to experiment a little bit. And while my version is NOT a replica of what I had at Be Our Guest in February, everyone loved it! I decided to make a cookie crust, bake brownies on top, and then frost them with the grey stuff! And I really wanted to include those edible pearls! Unfortunately, Target didn't HAVE edible pearls. But I actually LOVE what I was able to find instead!

Here's what I came up with. I used a brownie mix, but you can obviously be ambitious and make your own. I wasn't too concerned with that part of the experiment. I used almost the exact recipe for the grey stuff as the link above. But because I was using the Oreos for two different things, the measurements are probably a little off, so I'll include mine here. I also used skim milk and it turned out fine. I sort of used this recipe for Oreo Crusted Brownie Pie as the starting point for my cookie crust, but I was using a 9x13 pan and not a pie pan. (That recipe looks delicious as well, by the way!)

1 package of regular-stuff Oreos
6 tablespoons butter, melted
Packaged brownie mix (9 x 13 size pan)*
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 1/2 cups milk
1 (8 ounce) tub Cool Whip
6 tablespoons instant chocolate pudding mix (use the leftovers to sprinkle on ice cream!)
Edible pearl sprinkles

* You will also need whatever ingredients are listed on the brownie box

Preheat your oven to 350º.

Spray or grease the bottom of a 9x13 cake pan.

Crush the Oreos in a food processor until they are very fine, almost like sand. If you happen to eat a couple beforehand, it will still turn out fine. I think I ate three cookies and crushed the rest! Ha. Reserve two cups of the crushed cookies and mix the rest with the melted butter. Press into the bottom of the pan. Bake for five minutes. Remove from oven.

Prepare the brownies according to the package directions. Pour over the cookie crust and bake according to the package directions.

Mix the vanilla pudding and the milk together in a large bowl. Set in the refrigerator, about eight to ten minutes.

Remove from the refrigerator and mix in the reserved cookie crumbs. Fold in the Cool Whip. Mix in the chocolate pudding and stir well. Let chill in the refrigerator for about an hour or so.

Frost the brownies with the grey stuff and sprinkle with the edible pearls.

This is what I found at Target instead of the edible pearls!!!

Tell me those don't look like snowflakes?! As in... Frozen! So yay! My Beauty and the Beast inspired dessert also has a touch of Elsa in it. What more could anyone ask for?!

Kill, Refurb, Marry: Disney Princesses

I've been following the Disney in Your Day blog for a while now and it's my favorite Disney blog. Becky has a great mix of fun Disney stuff and one of the things she does regularly is the "Kill, Refurb, Marry" game. I never quite paid attention to the fact that it's a blog hop, but after reading the latest incarnation I was terribly intrigued, so I actually hopped over to the main page for the game and checked out other people's answers as well.

The theme for this month is Disney Princesses. And I actually gasped at the idea of killing a Disney princess! Blasphemy. But I decided to put my creative thinking cap on and play along! So here we go!

Kill: Merida
Okay. I know. But here's the thing... I thought long and hard about this, and while I don't dislike her per se it was the Princess movie that I liked the least. And I wanted to LOVE it. The Irish accent, the I-don't-need-a-man thing, etc. But I thought the movie was mediocre at best. The whole bear thing was bizarre to me and as Disney fans, we all know that sometimes we have to suspend belief sometimes. But it still has to make sense, and I think it failed. Plus, I think there have been other Princesses who did the "I can do it myself" thing much better. And since Merida was the one Princess I didn't make any attempt to meet on my last trip, unfortunately she's the weakest link for me. And since I had to pick someone, well, there ya go.

Refurb: Aurora
The only reason I'm picking her is because it's been SO long since I've seen Sleeping Beauty that I honestly don't remember a whole lot about it. And as others have pointed out, her character has the least amount of storyline. I actually think Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather are the stars of this movie. So I would love some additional backstory. I'm guessing we might get that soon with Maleficent, so maybe we'll all start to appreciate her a bit more. (On a side note, I'm not really looking forward to Maleficent; I'm not a huge Angelina Jolie fan and my gut reaction is that the movie is going to make us all feel bad for the poor, misunderstood evil queen. I'm hoping I'm wrong! And of course, I'm still going to go see it!)I've met Princess Aurora several times and she's always been perfectly lovely! And my favorite color is pink, so that's another vote in her favor.

Marry: Tiana
I went back and forth on this one, because there are so many that I love. My gut reaction was to choose Elsa, because anyone who can make it cold with a flick of the wrist would get my undying love. But she didn't stay a princess for very long, so I disqualified her.

Ultimately, I picked Tiana. She was a hard worker, who didn't give up on her dream. She loved her family, and she didn't put finding a man to complete her as a top priority. SHE was her top priority and the love fell into place when she wasn't expecting it. She loved to cook and when I took one of the Facebook quizzes on "which Princess are you", I came back as... drum roll... Tiana! My meet and greet with her was pretty cool, too... even if she wasn't willing to part with her gumbo recipe. Hehe.

The Best There Ever Was

In case you didn't know it, I am a self-proclaimed entertainment junkie. I love movies, music, sports, television, books and, of course, celebrities. When you can take two of those things and combine them together, it makes it even better.

For the past eight years, Buffalo has been home to the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival (BNFF). I've always been intrigued by it, but never actually attended. That all changed this year when the event organizers announced that they would be premiering a documentary entitled "The Natural: The Best There Ever Was".

I adore sports movies. All of them. And "The Natural" holds a very special place in my heart, since it was filmed in Buffalo! That's right... Robert Redford, Kim Basinger, Barbara Hershey... all came to Buffalo over thirty years ago to film this gem of a movie. Buffalo was chosen as the location for the film because of our architecture and the fact that we had an actual baseball field for them to use.

The documentary was directed by Bill Cowell, who founded the BNFF. It's a celebration of the filming of the movie. He interviewed a lot of major players from the movie including the actors I mentioned above as well as director Barry Levinson, producer Mark Johnson, and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. Randy Newman scored the movie and he was interviewed as well. In addition, several of the local Buffalonians who appeared as extras in the movie were interviewed for the documentary.

It was incredible hearing these famous people talking about how wonderful Buffalo was to them and how much they enjoyed their time here. The movie was filmed during a time when chicken wings were not yet popular, and most the actors commented on trying them here for the first time!

In attendance at the premier and also debuting his directorial debut at the festival was Barry Kivel, who played Pat McGee in the movie. He has been in a lot of TV shows including Scrubs, Murphy Brown, and Judging Amy as well as parts in Crocodile Dundee and One Fine Day. Barry was awarded a star on the Buffalo Walk of Fame.

This was an awesome way to spend a Friday evening and I will definitely attend the festival again in the future!

In Which I Rank the Best Picture Nominees

I am BACK from my wonderful four day trip to Walt Disney World!!! It was absolutely amazing and I will post about it soon. But right now, I'm getting excited for tomorrow... because tomorrow is OSCAR DAY!!!!

As per usual, I've seen all nine movies nominated for Best Picture. So here is my ranking... worst to first.

9. 'The Wolf of Wall Street'
In addition to this being a movie that unapologetically celebrated the sleaze of one completely unremorseful man... I thought it was incredibly boring. Not only will I be incredibly angry if it wins, I will be equally as angry if Leo wins Best Actor. He's done some amazing work in the past which he wasn't recognized for. If the Academy decides to reward him for a performance that just came across as overly caffeinated, I won't be impressed.

8. '12 Years a Slave'
I think this was a very important story to tell. And I think they did a good job with it. Sometimes, they did too good of a job and it made me question if some of the actors were actually... acting. I came home from seeing this and went to bed early and could barely sleep. It wrecked me. I have a hard time celebrating performances based on something so horrible. But I absolutely understand why it's nominated and I expect it to win.

7. 'Her'
This was a weird one. Although I thought ScarJo was pretty amazing without ever being on camera. The premise was interesting, but I didn't like the way it all played out. As far as movies about relationships with fake people go, I much preferred 'Lars and the Real Girl'. That was a charming movie. This one was... just odd. But again, I kind of understand why it was nominated. It's unique enough that I wasn't really surprised by the nomination.

6. 'Gravity'
This is ranked at #7 simply because I don't feel that movies should need gimmicks to win Best Picture awards. The movie was stunning... in 3D. I just don't think it has the same appeal in 2D. I fully expect this to win in several other categories (and deservedly so.)

5. 'American Hustle'
I enjoyed this, but don't think it's Best Picture worthy. 'Saving Mr Banks' or 'The Butler' should have been given this spot.

4. 'Philomena'
A very touching movie and a powerful performance by Judi Dench.

3. 'Nebraska'
I absolutely loved this movie. I don't think it has any chance of winning, but I would love to see June Squibb take the Best Supporting Actress award. This was such a sweet movie and I loved Bruce Dern's performance as an innocent, trusting man who wanted to see the good in people.

2. 'Captain Phillips'
Outstanding. Tense. Tom Hanks was robbed.

1. 'Dallas Buyers Club'
Until I saw this, 'Captain Phillips' was my choice and it's really hard to even compare the two. But this one gets my vote. It had all the elements of a Best Picture movie... humor, sadness, fantastic acting. I don't think this will win, but I am definitely pulling for Matthew AND Jared. I think Jared is the closest thing to a shoo-in this year, and I think Matthew has the momentum to be awarded.

I personally think '12 Years' is going to win. Not my choice by any stretch of the imagination but I'll be surprised if it doesn't win.

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway

Happy Thanksgiving, blogosphere!

I've been doing the "attitude of gratitude" challenge on Facebook.... every day I post something I'm thankful for. Some days it was profound, other days it was goofy (yes, I AM thankful for the entertainment industry, thankyouverymuch)... and on the days I had to get needles stuck in me, it was a struggle. Not because I wasn't thankful for anything, but because typing it out just felt so fake. But yes, I am incredibly blessed. My favorite day was the one where I said I was thankful that I had a family that I missed instead of one I didn't want to be around. And I've said that many times since they moved away, and it keeps me going when I'm feeling down!

Right now, I'm just sitting here... reading trip reports on the Disney message board and watching it snow. It's a very light, beautiful snow. Most of what we got yesterday is melted, which makes me sad. Because LOOK at this:

How do you not look at that and just see beauty?

Speaking of snow, I just got back from seeing Frozen. I am so completely mesmerized by it! I wanted to stay and watch it again. I've been looking forward to it for some time now and it was well worth the wait. I just feel all warm and fuzzy, which is pretty impressive considering the name of the movie. *grin*

Next Saturday, I'm signed up for a 5K called the "Holly Jolly 5K". We all get to wear Santa hats! Hooray! Of course, I will once again be walking... not running. And who knows what the weather will be like. But I'm excited for it. Should be a good time, mainly because I needed the push from myself to just go out and LIVE.

I've had my moments since the diagnosis where I feel like I'm just spinning in circles, afraid to do anything. I feel like such a fraud when my friends call me strong. I definitely don't feel strong. I feel like I want to close my eyes, sleep really well, and then when I wake up it will all have been a dream nightmare. I mean, seriously. An entire season of Dallas was able to be wiped out that way! Is it really too much to ask? I'm really good at sleeping!

The title of this post is from the song "Let it Go", which is from my new second-favorite Disney movie. Hmm... I wonder what that could be? *giggle* Idina Menzel sang it beautifully in the movie, and I really like Demi Lovato's version as well. I don't necessarily agree with all the lyrics, but I try very hard to just embrace the "let it go" mentality. I can't change what I can't change. And that applies to more than just a chronic illness. It applies to life in general.

And to quote my favorite marketing slogan ever...

{Life is a special occasion}

Happy Star Wars Day!!!

This Blog Post is Based on a True Story

Life has a way of throwing you for a loop and sometimes all you're left with is the question,"What the hell just happened?!"

Frequently, it's life occurences:

Receiving test results that are anything but positive

Dealing with the aftermath of a car turning the wrong way down a one-way street

Finding out that til death do us part was only until something better came along

Other times, it's walking into the gym and glancing up at the TVs and seeing nothing but smoke and police cars and headlines about a bombing at the Boston Marathon.

As these stories unfold, it's become pretty standard to question when the movie is going to be made. You know somewhere, someone is already working on the screenplay and subconsciously wondering if Daniel Day-Lewis would be interested in playing an FBI agent. While ex-cop Christopher Dorner's relatively short reign-of-terror was consuming Los Angeles, I couldn't help but think that if this had been a novel-turned-movie that it would be number one at the box office.

There are some stories that I think are importatnt to preserve as a movie, Hollywood poetic license notwithstanding. I thought Argo was very-well done and captured a small, albeit significant, chapter in our country's history. Last weekend, I had the immense pleasure of hearing movie-goers clapping in the theater as Jackie Robinson's story unfolded on the big screen.

But where do you draw the line? Nobody is going to applaud a movie showing Timothy McVeigh as a hard-working, misunderstood schmuck. I don't think that I would be quite so enthralled with the true story of the LA cop and what made him seek his form of revenge on innocent people. As a work of fiction where you're allowed to feel sympathy for what makes the antagonist tick, sure. Bring it on. As a piece that tries to offer insight into why someone would want to turn 26.2 miles of sweat and perserverance into a bloodbath, not so much. And that brings me to a rather perplexing situation I found myself in earlier.

Pain and Gain: Based on a true story. We're told that twice while we're watching it, just in case the insanity of it all made us forget. I left the theater feeling guilty.

It's a movie. Why should I feel guilty?

Because signifcant parts of this movie were very, very true. Others had some liberties taken with them. But ultimately, bad things happened to people. Their lives were changed forever. And this movie was entertaining. And at times, comedic. And number one at the box office.

I'm still struggling with how I feel about that.

Clickety-click here, here, and here to read the original source material. It's fairly long. Or you can click on the book to buy it from Amazon.

Five Things I'm Thankful For

Right now, to be totally truthful, what I'm most thankful for is that Thanksgiving is almost over. That's uplifting, huh? It's very hard spending the holiday HERE while my family is THERE. And I spent it by myself. That's a long sob story that I won't get into right now. And I've been avoiding Facebook like the plague today, because I'm just a million shades of cranky. So I thought this would be a good place to post my list. (And I have no intention of making that title grammatically correct, even though looking at it kind of makes me cringe.)

It wasn't a totally wasted day. I went to see Wreck It Ralph, which was adorable. Probably one of the most clever premises for a movie that I've seen in a long time. I really enjoyed it. And after that, Michaels opened at 4:00 so I headed there to kill some time. Bought some fun stuff, including these cool ornaments that you put on your artificial tree to make it smell real:

And yes, that *is* my tree in the background. It's been up for over a week now.

So, here are five things I am thankful for right now. (I never said all five of them would be deep and philosophical):

1. MY FAMILY I have the best family in the world and when I'm really sad and missing them like crazy, I remind myself how lucky I am to have a family worth missing. Not missing them would be so much worse than missing them.

2. SOME PRETTY AMAZING FRIENDS I would have fallen apart a long time ago if it weren't for the love and support of a couple incredible people.

3. CHRISTMAS Yeah, that's a pretty broad topic. But I love everything about it and it makes me incredibly giddy. My entire house apartment is decorated and I just smile looking at everything.

4. BUSINESSES THAT ARE OPEN ON HOLIDAYS I never, ever thought I would feel this way. Spending a holiday on your own sure changes your perspective.

5. PINTEREST When I wasn't killing time at any of the aforementioned businessed, I spent a good deal of time on my favorite website. I truly do love how convenient it is to have all of my favorite stuff organized on a fun website. It was also helpful to be able to pull up a recipe on my cell phone using the Pinterest app when I was in Michaels today!

So it all comes full circle. LOL.

I hope everyone had a happy day with family... or friends... or Pinterest.

Lightening Up the Mood

So heartbroken over the shooting in Colorado this morning. And that's all I can really say about it, because it's just so utterly senseless.

It's the weekend, and I'm ready for some fun. Not sure where I'm gonna find it, but I'm ready for it! Ha.

Found this funny little card on Pinterest... and I have a feeling it was created because of Christian Grey (althought I really have no idea):

Source: iwastesomuchtime.com via Clarissa on Pinterest

Personally, I'm not a fan. Haven't read the books, have no intention of doing so. But I totally get the concept of being in love with a fictional character! I have a loooong list of those I've become smitten with throughout the years:

Steve Andropolous on As the World Turns was probably my first fictional crush. He was followed by other TV characters: Lujack on Guiding Light, Alex P Keaton on Family Ties, Dylan Walsh on 90210, Joey Tribbiani on Friends, Peter Petrelli on Heroes.

*sigh*

I'm a huge Tony Stark fan... and as much as he was criticized, Anakin Skywalker holds a very special place in my heart ♥

My current fictional crush?

Dr Sheldon Cooper.

Bazinga!

Who is your fictional crush?