I started writing these the day after Project Hail Mary came out (in March…) & this is how many movie nights I’ve had just as a reference for what life looks like for me right now.
Listen, I’m a busy gal. I work a lot. I have a lot of people with a lot of things going on, both in-person & over the phone. I travel a lot. It’s a good gig I’ve got going on here. But you know what they say:
the busier the girl, the more she appreciates a night in.
I don’t know who said that besides me just now, but I 100% agree. When I get a Delaney night in? All bets are off. And things have been getting pretty crazy around these parts…
Recently, I’ve rediscovered the movie & sweet treat combo. And I can’t believe I ever let them slip away in the first place. No phone, no work, no people, no tv shows. Just me, a single-sitting flick, & whatever the good Lord calls me to put in my stomach that night. It hits so hard, it’s sick in the head. And somewhere on this journey, I realized I watch a movie like I’d imagine an Amish kid would. Mouth gapping open, locked in as if he’d never laid eyes on a screen before. You’d think I’d never seen a movie in my life the way I look when I’m watching one these days. It’s like a mother who gets to pee without hearing the word “mom”. Such a rare feat that when it’s happening, it feels like ecstasy.
So, although, it’s not often I get to experience these nights, I have been keeping tabs on a few recipes & movie reviews that have gotten me going. Each choice — both movie & dessert — was a hardcore hankering led by dessertuition & impulse, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Actually, not the movies. I’m terrible at making decisions when it comes to movies. It’s quite a frustrating experience to be a part of, actually. Glad I’m the only one that has to deal with myself in those moments. But, do know that the following recipes & movies came from a moment of clarity & knowingness. God, it’s so poetic. Let’s get into it.
Project Hail Mary
So, I have a confession. I did not want to see this one. Like, at all. I also did not want to go out of my house on this night. It was a Friday night; I hadn’t worked less than 16 hours any day that week; I was running on 4 hours of sleep. But I made a commitment to go see this movie with a friend & knew I had to follow through. I was under the impression that it was going to be adjacent to Interstellar. And if you’re a die-hard Interstellar fan, I’m sorry for what I’m about to say. By god, I cannot stand that movie. I have tried to watch it so many times & I just can’t get into it. I feel like nearly 50% of my guy friends, it’s one of their favorites too. Maybe I’m just friends with a bunch of nerds though. Definitely. Anyways, I’ve really given her the ole, college try a handful of times, but it’s just not meant to be. But who knows, maybe it’s like taste buds & in a few years, I’ll try it again & like it. Point of that tangent is:
I was not excited to be going out of the house, let alone watching a 3-hour-long space movie & having interact with a human being.
It was a VERY (internally) complain-y version of Delaney. But I made my craving of the night — bananas in purgatory. We’ll get to that down below. Hang tight. I threw her in a thermos; put a spoon in my pocket; I walked a block to the theater; I met my friend; we exchanged as few words as I could pass as socially acceptable; and I reluctantly watched the movie. Turns out it was nothing like Interstellar. Thank God. Outer space is just about the only overlap they had. And it turned out to be wonderful. It was quick-witted, dry humor. It was refreshingly awkward with both the script & soundtrack. It was heartwarming, selfless, & full of love without a love story. So, I walked in a cynic & I walked out a lover. A girl can be wrong. Sorry, not sorry!
I couldn’t stop smiling, because I forget how special it is to be a part of a screening or any form of live entertainment. Everyone in the theater was laughing & reacting together. I forget how uncommon that is these days. Hearing everyone lose it at the same time was infectious. You can’t get that everywhere. Anywho, It’s a great family movie. Couldn’t recommend any more. But even more than this movie, I recommend going to the movies if you haven’t in a while. And sneaking in a snack. Speaking of said snack…
Bananas in Purgatory
This recipe is simple, quick, & my mom’s. She never had a name for them, so I named them. Even though purgatory is typically associated with questioning or teetering on the brink of good or bad. There’s nothing questionable about this gal. It’s basically caramel & bananas. She’s straight-shooting, hits the spot, & easy to put in a wine thermos to put in your coat pocket, so you can have a little mid-movie snack (if you can make it that far without taking a bite). Just make sure you bring a spoon & let it cool down before taking a bite (I didn’t).
Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup cream
2 bananas
Instructions:
1. Melt butter in a skillet
2. Stir in sugar & cook until light brown
3. Stir in cream & let boil 1 minute
4. Add in bananas & cook for 2 minutes
5. Serve & pretend it’s soup. You can have it for dinner if you call it soup.
The United States vs Billie Holiday
A heartbreaking, graphic, invigorating, honestly told story of the life of Billie Holiday. Little change of pace from a Ryan Gosling Fest. Billie Holiday has always touched a special part of my soul. I love jazz. I love blues. I love music that you can listen to & somehow understand where they’re singing from. I love a rebel with a cause. And that she was — to her core & to her dying breath. She was so many things I admire.
Honest. Adamant. Convicted & proactive about her convictions. Authentic. So able to stand on her own to feet, it’s like God gave her four. A believer.
This movie is a hard watch for a good chunk of it. It doesn’t shy away from many of the truths that this world brings. The good, the bad, & the downright heartbreaking. She endured much in her short life. But with every unrelentingly graphic scene, there’s purpose & reason behind its actions. And because of that, you can’t help but understand her. I cried alongside this one quite a bit. One of those ones you sit with for a while after.
Single Serving Sticky Toffee Pudding
Listen, I make a lot of things, but this will forever & always be my birthday dessert. I feel like I’m getting hugged by Santa himself every time I take a bite.
Ingredients:
Cake:
3 medjool dates pitted and chopped
1 oz boiling water
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp corn flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp salt
Sauce for Cake:
1 tbsp butter tiny cubes
1 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp boiling water
Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350
2. Add chopped dates, baking soda and boiled hot water to a bowl. Let soak for 3-5 minutes until dates get soft
3. Add the brown sugar, honey, vanilla to dates and stir. Add the dry ingredients and stir together using a rubber spatula.
4. Pour the batter into a ramekin it’ll fit in. Put some butter on top of the batter along with brown sugar & hot water
5. Bake for 13 minutes.
6. Serve with ice cream & a sprinkle of sea salt if you’re feeling fancy.
Pretty Woman
I’ve watched it a million times & I’ll watch it a million more. It’s down-to-earth, elegant, endearing, & a outright classic. A woman of the night that’s so infectiously charming & human that she can’t help but make the too-serious businessman soften up & fall in love with her. It’s the kind of romance that makes you believe in romance.
Berry Crumble
Exactly as you know her, except when I have free reign, it’s not putting a crumble on my berries; it’s eating some berries with my crumble. And that’s obviously only because I’m a firm believer in fiber. But much more than fiber, I’m the firmest believer in butter… I was a butter kid. When my mom used to leave the kitchen, I’d sneak in the fridge with a butter knife & cut off a few slivers. Little 8pm snack. This is a 3:1 ratio with crumble taking the majority. So, do as you please, but know that I’ve doubled the crumble of the original recipe.
Ingredients:
Berries:
1 cup berries (your pick. You have full autonomy over your berry choices.)
1T sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
Splash of vanilla extract (God will still love you if you add more. You might even become his favorite.)
1 tsp cornstarch
Crumble:
1/2 cup rolled oats
2T flour
3T brown sugar
4T butter
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Mix berry ingredients in a bowl & set to the side
3. Here’s where things get tricky, hang with me here. Mix all crumble ingredients in a separate bowl.
4. Put however much berry concoction you want in an oven safe dish & then pack however much crumble concoction you want on top of said berries in said dish
5. Bake until golden brown. Probably 25 minutes if I had to put a number on it.
Baby J
I made the Guidesly Guys watch this while we were sitting on the couch one night in the Keys, reconciling data for one of our dive shops, and I forgot how good it was. This is John Mulaney’s post-rehab Netflix special. He’s just as charming as ever, yet humble, reformed, & effortlessly joking his way through tough topics. For anyone that has been affected by addiction in any capacity, I will forever & always recommend this as a watch. Mulaney does a tremendous job at weaving light & laughter into something that is inevitably messy, hurtful, & difficult. But that’s the beautiful art form that is standup comedy, no? To bring laughter into every nook & cranny of the human existence, even the most confusing & painful. Probably why it’s my favorite art form. This special is endearing, relatable, comfortable in the uncomfortable, & so downright impressive that Mulaney can still knock out such a clean set (both sobriety-wise & curse word-wise).
Peach Cobbler
The team & I were in an Airbnb back in May with minimal ingredients, but I was craving peach cobbler. Here’s the simplest recipe ever that will still hit the spot.
Ingredients:
8 fresh peaches – peeled, pitted and sliced into thin wedges
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
¼ cup boiling water
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Chop peaches, combine 1/4 white sugar, 1/4 brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, & cornstarch in a bowl, toss in a pan, & bake for 10 minutes
3. Combine the rest of the ingredients in another bowl & then plop it on top of the peaches once you pull them out of the oven. It won’t cover fully, don’t worry it’ll spread.
4. You can put cinnamon sugar on top if you’re feeling fancy
5. Bake for 30 minutes
6. Don’t forget ice cream or you’re an insane person.
Kangaroo Jack
You guys. Come on. Christopher Walken. Western Aus. A killer soundtrack. And a kangaroo that wears a jacket? You can’t beat it. Watched it the other night with my sisters for the first time in a while & I can confirm that it’s still the quotable, fun-loving classic that I remember. This was always an Olexa household favorite & ends with Sheryl Crow singing “Soak Up the Sun.” Do you need to know more than that?
Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies
As big as your head & as fulfilling as a prophecy. I’ll just leave Joshua Weissman’s dupe recipe here…
https://www.joshuaweissman.com/recipes/best-levain-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe
Redeeming Love
I had all the intentions of this movie being a quick decision, most-likely-a-flop, Netflix choice with terrible acting. I was in desperate need of a romance movie that I hadn’t seen (I’ve seen more than I care to admit) & went for it. While it might’ve been some of the actors’ first big breaks (Major props. We all gotta start somewhere), I ended up being a bit more than moved by it. So much so that I got on FaceTime with my sisters the next morning & they said my face was puffy. Sorry, rude. But also true, because then I remembered that this movie made me sob for a good 20 minutes after watching the night before. So, turns out they were spot on. Then I realized, I don’t remember the last time I cried. Not teared up or cried alongside someone else’s joys & pain (I do those often) – but truly cried for myself. I guess this movie did the trick in getting that process started! It struck some type of chord that didn’t know it was there until it got turbo-blasted by — apparently a biblically based film?
The movie is about a farmer out in California during the Gold Rush who started the movie by praying the ole faithful, “God, help me find the love of my life” prayer, and then God laughed & pointed him in the direction of a prostitute. It was a slow-burner — almost 3 hours. But it needed to be. Plus, those movies are my favorites — you get more bang for your buck when they string it out & get down to the nitty gritty details & backstory.
Redeeming Love frick & fracked between the present & the past, relaying how that girl (his prostitute, future wife) got to where, what, & who she was in that moment he met her. It was a story of a broken woman — unable to receive love & unknowing of what unconditional love feels like — being pursued by a man who wanted nothing more than to give it to her. 3 hours of gut-wrenching visuals & truths of sex trafficking, child abuse, murder, what the journey of loving sex can look like after abuse, unhealthy power dynamics in relationships, grooming, being a barren woman with a man who wants children, the white underbelly of the sex work industry, & feeling suffocated by your circumstances. This movie certainly didn’t miss many beats in the Trauma Department. It reminded me a bit of Les Miserables — watching people do something out of desperation, then having it lead them to a lifetime of dealing with their circumstances & being trapped by the aftermath.
Graphic. Painful. Frustrating to see someone continue to take 3 steps forward, 2 steps back. Yet I got to watch a woman met with patience, gentleness, forgiveness, & a warm hug at the end of every one of her screw ups. Beyond romantics, I wish that kind of love to be felt by everyone.
Love that wants the best for someone, expects nothing in return, & understands it will probably cost you something.
It’s a rare phenomenon that will bring you to your knees, time after time. Unconditional, without strings attached, & without explanation.
Also, side note: this movie was based on the story of Hosea in the Bible & was apparently super controversial in the conservative, Christian community after hitting theaters. Couldn’t have been the sex scenes & 1/3 of the movie spent in brothels… jokes aside, I think it was a ballsy move for a couple of Christian kids to take a biblically sound, kind-of-hard-to-read, painful, yet beautiful story & bring it to life on the big screen. And somehow got Nina Dobrev to partake in it as well? They knew it’d be spat on. But props to them for telling such a profound story that will touch many more than just those in their religion & community.
Espresso Brownie, Chocolate Mousse Trifle
I had some of this leftover from what I made for my friend’s potluck the other day & gosh darn it, I did something with this one. It’s a pretty brain-dead recipe though. I just took my favorite brownie recipe & then layered it into a classic mousse recipe & topped it with whipped cream. She’s simple, but SUCH a crowd pleaser.
Brownie Recipe:
https://juliemarieeats.com/espresso-brownies/ (I love you forever for this one, Julie.)
Chocolate Mousse:
Ingredients:
6 oz dark chocolate bar, finely chopped
4 Tablespoons butter
5 large eggs, whites and yolks separated
¼ cup granulated sugar, divided
Pinch of espresso powder, about ⅛ teaspoon, optional
Healthy pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (118 ml) heavy cream
Instructions:
1. Heat butter & chocolate til melted & set aside (stir in espresso powder if using)
2. Combine egg yolks, 1T of sugar, & vanilla. Whisk until mixture thickens & turns a light yellow
3. Add chocolate mixture in 3 parts to egg mixture, whisking in between each addition
4. Add egg whites to another bowl & mix until foamy. Add in the rest of the sugar intermittently. Whip until stiff peaks form.
5. Slowly add in chocolate mixture to egg white mixture. Mixing & folding in gently. Don’t over mix.
6. In another bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks form. Fold this into the chocolate mixture.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours & your mousse is finito.
Whipped Cream:
Just pour heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar to taste, & vanilla (until your heart tells you to stop) into a bowl & whip with a mixer until it forms stiff peaks.
Assembly:
Layer mousse & brownies, then once you reach the top, put whip cream on. It’s like a parfait.
“You know what else everybody likes? Parfaits.” -Donkey from Shrek
In Conclusion:
Go watch a movie, eat a sweet treat, & tell a few people you love them (and mean it).