Dinner and a Movie: Steak Diane Cort

BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!! It being close to Valentine's day, I felt it was time for something romantic. So, here ya go...
Steak Diane Cort.

2 pieces of filet mignon(or mock steaks. That's the question. Are they worth it? That's up to you)
butter
1 oz brandy(One of those tiny liquour store bottles will do)
2 shallots
4 crimini mushrooms
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 tbsp Dijon mustard (Grey Poupon or equivelant. Trader Joe's for me.)
1 pint heavy cream
2 medium yukon gold potatoes
half pound green beans, trimmed and cleaned
2 strips of bacon
1 bag slivered almonds


Steak Diane Cort
1)Chop shallots and cut mushrooms into slices
2) Preheat pan with butter, season meat
3) Sear steaks on both sides
4) remove steaks, set aside
5) add shallots and mushrooms cook until done (try to keep it moving.)
6) add worcestershire sauce and dijon mustard, mix until uniform.
7) add brandy, flambe. stop when flames disappear
8) add cream, stir. replace steaks, cook for 3-5 minutes

Potatoe
Lightly salt skins, Wrap in foil, put in oven at 375 for about an hour

Green beans.
1) Blanch green beans, cool in ice water.
2) Fry bacon in pan, crumble, set aside, saving drippings
3) add green beans, bacon and almonds to taste.
4) cook 5-7 minutes.

Say Anything...
In your humble reverend's opinion, This is Cameron Crowe's masterwork. You can love Singles, or even We Bought A Zoo. You probably know this one. John Cusack holding the boombox
aloft. This is the best story of teenaged love ever put
to film. Everybody nails it to the wall.
"I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen."
"Bitches, man. Hey, I've gotta bail."
"That'll never be me, that'll never be me..."
Wait... Is that Jeremy Piven?
I can't say anything bad about this one. This movie
has informed me. The message:
BE LIKE LLOYD.I even developed "that nervous talking thing'
Even today, I wonder whatever happened to Lloyd. Did he and Diane make in in England?
This movie drips with romance without ever being schmaltzy. Crowe has a knack for dialogue that, while he may have matched, he never surpassed

Reverend Cecil B. DeReel signing off.

Next month: a little fusion action. This one should be fun.

BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!!

LIGHTS...

CAMERA...

AND ACTION...

Welcome to the first of what I hope to be many sermons by the Reverend Cecil B. DeReel.

Why movies??

    I know that you've all stopped at the flickering altar at least once. What is it about movies that moves us? Is it the fact that the good guys win? That they get the girl(or guy). That the solutions to problems often involve high explosives and cyborgs?

For me, it was those lazy Saturday afternoons. I grew up in a small town. Those days, the syndicated channels ran movies all day. Not the best films, either. For every The Incredible Shrinking Man, there was at least one STARHOPS(Look it up, on second thought. Don't.) I got to see greats like Bogart and Becall. Old films where everyone smoked and every woman a femme fatale. Science fiction films, spy films(UK  and US) war films, horror, action, comedy.

Then, my dad came home from Japan(He was in the military), with this machine called... a VCR... Now, we could watch films at home. Whole new worlds were available to me. Mad Max, The Last Starfighter, The Neverending Story. And, of course, the crappy films(It WAS the 80s...) Saw so many films, between the videotapes and Saturday afternoon tv... Well, I had it covered.

In my teen years, there was the job I had at the local video store. I knew every film in the place. These were the days. Scorsese, Kurosawa, Rey... I wanted to do this. Then life got in the way.

It was at my lowest point, when things weren't going particularly well for me, that the idea for this community came together. 

Movies have the power to change your feelings. In this particular instance I happened by the Ash vs his hand scene in Evil Dead II. And I laughed.

I laughed so hard, I started to cry. By the time Ash says "Groovy." I felt better. And it made me think.

There must be others. Those who need movies the way others need love... or air.

So, what say you brothers and sisters? What is it about movies that connects us all?