Tagged Times Two

A little gift tag I made several months back from some vintage paper and a Victorian button

What a Friday!  I've been tagged by two creative and lovely friends, Nicolette of Simply Colette and Carolyn of Pretty Pink Rat.  Here are Colette's questions:

1. What books are on your favorite shelf?  

Oh, wow.  That's a hard one.  I teach literature and creative writing for a living, so I have a teensy obsession with books.   Among my all-time favorites are Jane Eyre, The Magic Mountain, Mrs. Dalloway, and To Kill a Mockingbird.  I also adore children's books like The Secret Garden and Charlotte's Web.  Honestly, though, I'll read the back of a cereal box or a shampoo bottle when there's nothing else available.  Anyone else out there have this same addiction to words on the page/box/bottle?

2. What DVD's are on your favorite shelf?

I love vintage classics like The Thin Man with Myrna Loy and William Powell.  I also love, love, love Moonstruck.  La bella luna!  Food movies like Big Night are high on my list.  I adore Tim Burton's films, too, oh and I almost forgot one of the best heartwarming films ever: The Secret of Roan Inish.  A few more recent films I like are The Station Agent, Stranger than Fiction, and Lars and the Real Girl.

3. What are your two favorite cookbooks?

Just two?  Oh, I have a wee addiction to cookbooks, too.  Man, these questions are tough.  Can I go with three?  Two classics and a new treat:  The Joy of Cooking, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and a recent favorite is Sophie Dahl's new book called Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights.  I bought it in London, but it's available on Amazon now.  Delicious recipes, good writing, and GORGEOUS photos of the the food and of pretty Sophie!

4. Select 1-3 recipes you would cook for guests.

It's fall, so I'll go with autumnal, homey favorites: corn spoon pudding, my roast chicken (I don't eat meat, but I make it for other people), apples and onions sauteed in butter, brown sugar, and pomegranate balsamic vinegar.  For dessert, a flourless chocolate torte with creme fraiche.  I hope everyone's hungry.

5. What will we be drinking?

These days I'll probably be drinking San Pellegrino, but I always have a selection of white and red wines for my friends.  Malbec is always nice in the fall.

Carolyn's tag is much harder.  I'm supposed to list 10 random things about myself.  I hope I don't put you to sleep, my friends! 

1. I love thunderstorms.  When we lived in Indiana, I used to adore the almost daily boomers we'd get in spring and summer--real crashing, wrath of the gods kind of stuff.  

  

2. If I were to choose another career, I'd be an architect or a landscape designer.  

3.  I'm a terrible singer, but I sing all the time anyway.  I also make up my own lyrics to popular songs.  

4.  I actually like cleaning the bathroom.  Nothing cheers me up like a sparkling bathtub.  

5.  Vacuuming, on the other hand, I loathe.  Good thing my husband doesn't mind vacuuming or we'd be up to our eyes in dust bunnies.

6.  One of my favorite treats is to take a nap.  I don't do it very often, but I can think of few things more delicious.

7.  I make a mean eggplant parmesan.  

8.  When I was little I secretly wanted to be a professional figure skater.  I, like a million other girls in the seventies, had my hair cut in a "Dorothy Hamill"--not a good look for me, I'm afraid.  

9.  I'm addicted to the show Glee.  This relates back to random fact #3.  When I was in high school I wanted to be in the movie Fame (which relates back to #8: the ice-skating fantasy had morphed into the singer-dancer dream by that point).  Imagine how excited I am that there's a new Fame movie.

10.  One of my favorite places on the planet is the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.  Think they'd notice if I just sort of moved in?  

Rather than choose a few individuals, I'll pass this tag along to any of my blogging friends who'd like to play along.  I love learning new things about the people I meet online.  Thanks so much Carolyn and Nicolette for tagging me!

Happy weekend!  

Gigi