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Yesterday, I got gas for $1.99.  Unfortunately, it was at Taco Bell.

Unknown.

This would be hilarious, were it not for gas being so ridiculously expensive right now!

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A few weeks ago, I watched the movie India Sweets and Spices on Hulu. I used to watch a lot of Bollywood movies, but not so much nowadays. This was an interesting movie because it involved Indian families living in the United States, and the entire movie took place in the USA. There was none of the typical Bollywood musical dance scenes, and basically all of the movie was in English. So it definitely had the feel that it was an American movie about Indian families, rather than a true-blue Bollywood movie.

The IMDB description says “When college freshman Alia returns home for the summer, she discovers secrets and lies in her parents' past that make her question everything she thought she knew about her family.”

As someone who is mixed race and is used to interacting with a lot of different cultures, I am fascinated by cultural similarities and differences, and the customs and cultural idiosyncrasies that exist in the world, and how they are portrayed on the big screen. You’ll notice that the tagline on the photo above says “Let the aunties talk.” I thought the movie producer did a good job of showing the dynamics that exist in the Indian community, and how peer-pressure and fear of what the “aunties” will say dictate what many people do.

It was definitely an intriguing movie. If you like Bollywood movies or foreign films, you’d probably like this movie as well. 

This movie is rated PG-13.

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Here’s the link to Paul Hollywood’s City Bakes S01E09: Miami, Florida (Paul Tries the Best Pastelito de Guayaba in Miami)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIqMhxrkshQ&ab_channel=Tonic

I’ve never vacationed in Miami, but I have had guava pastry in Puerto Rico and it was AMAZING! Would love to try the ones in Miami some day!

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Love this song!! Such a classic.

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Prayers for Ukraine!!

In Ukrainian folklore, the sunflower is believed to symbolize fertility and unity. Ukrainians believe that these flowers look towards the sky looking for hope and well-being, and lower their heads at night to reflect on their lives.

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Here’s the link to City Bakes S01E02: Paris, France (Paul Finds the Best Baguette of Paris).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wdsIxSdMcg&ab_channel=Tonic

I love France and I adore Paris, so this was a fun episode to watch! Brought back a lot of memories! I would love to visit Paris again one day and eat some of these patisserie and boulangerie delights!

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Here’s the link to City Bakes S01E05: Naples, Italy (Sfogliatella: the Unique Neapolitan Pastry That Surprised Paul): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVRU2Qm1nk0&ab_channel=Tonic

I LOVE Italian food, so naturally I enjoyed this episode! Btw, sfogliatella is called “lobster tail” in the USA! If you haven’t had one of these pastries before, you need to try it! Preferably in Boston’s Little Italy in the North End! :)

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I am a HUGE fan of The Great British Baking Show!! Such a fabulous show - but that’s for another post. Paul Hollywood is the quintessential British food competition judge, and so when I stumbled upon his show City Bakes on YouTube, I was quite excited!

For the show, Paul travels to famous cities across Europe, North America, and beyond to sample their classic and innovative bakes. And as part of the episode, he tries his hand at baking something unique to that culture (with his own twist on it, of course!). After seeing him only judging on The Great British Baking Show, it’s been really cool to see him actually cook / bake on City Bakes.

It appears that there’s only two seasons that he’s filmed, but they’re available for free on YouTube (on the Tonic channel)! The first season, the episodes were only 23 minutes long, but for the second season they doubled the time to 46 minutes.

As I watch the episodes, I’ll be sharing them here on Tumblr. And here’s the link to the Tonic channel’s playlist of City Bakes:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNTIDk6mjdSMudYAkBNmrif1U9xLsv0VL

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This is one of the several pairs of Fuzzy Babba Slipper Socks that I own! These pig slippers are sooooo adorable!

I’m a huge fan of Fuzzy Babba slipper socks because 1) of the safety treads on the bottoms; 2) you wear them like socks but they’re really slippers (such a better style and so much safer than slippers that have no backs to them and you just flip flop around in a bulky slipper); and 3) they are SO cute!

I highly recommend these slippers! I always get my Fuzzy Babbas at Walmart - such a good price!

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The Outer Boulevards: Snow by Camille Pissarro, 1879

Learn more about this painting at https://www.camillepissarro.org/the-outer-boulevards-snow.jsp

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So I’ve heard this song on the radio for the past few months, but my SoundHound app wouldn’t recognize it. Then yesterday I turned on the radio, and this song was playing!! I quickly grabbed my laptop and googled the lyrics. After a bit of searching, I was able to find it! 

It’s called “Resurrection Power” by Rebecca J. Peck, and it’s performed by the Mylon Hayes Family. I absolutely love this song - the lyrics, the half steps, the voices!! I particularly like the daughter Kennedy’s voice and how she belts out the lyrics. 

Such a powerful, powerful song! Hope you are as blessed by this as I am!

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I watched Boyfriends of Christmas Past last month. What a cute Christmas movie! I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was sorta a play on A Christmas Carol’s “ghosts of Christmas past” - but with a young professional woman who struggles with commitment and always breaks up with her boyfriends during the holidays. Below is the description from Hallmark:

Leading up to Christmas, marketing executive Lauren is visited by the ghosts of four ex-boyfriends. She must learn to open her heart or risk losing her best friend, Nate.

I also really loved that the lead female character, Lauren, was Korean-American (played by Catherine Haena Kim); and the lead male character was of Indian descent (played by Raymond Ablack). And Lauren’s father was played by Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, of Kim’s Convenience fame!! It was great to see some delicious Korean cuisine in the film as well. 

I highly recommend this movie! You’ll love it!

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A Castle for Christmas is a 2021 Netflix holiday movie. I watched it this past Christmas season and absolutely loved it!! I’m a big fan of Scotland, so naturally I loved the plotline and location of this movie! Here’s the description from Netflix:

To escape a scandal, a bestselling author journeys to Scotland, where she falls in love with a castle — and faces off with the grumpy duke who owns it.

This was a great holiday romcom for sure! Highly recommend it!

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I watched this music video for the first time on Sabbath (also the first time I’ve ever heard this song), and I really enjoyed it! Fountainview Academy puts out such great musical performances. Hope you are as blessed by this as I was! Click on the link above, or click on it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHvMceXQVpQ&ab_channel=FountainviewAcademy

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A Royal Queens Christmas was the first Hallmark movie I watched during the 2021 holiday season. It was interesting, because unlike other Hallmark royal movies which are set in some fictional royal kingdom in Europe, the story took place entirely in the USA (in Queens, NYC).

A quick synopsis: Prince Colin is sent by his parents to New York City for some charity function. He doesn’t necessarily have the typical playboy-prince aspect found in most Hallmark movies, but he does love to play the piano in semi-public areas, much to his bodyguard’s chagrin. 

Dee Dee is retired military and helps out in her cousin’s bakery in Queens. She’s on her way to an upscale hotel kitchen to deliver some baked goods (for a catering audition) when Prince Colin quite literally stumbles into her and ruins all the desserts. She manages to win the catering bid based on taste alone, and as she leaves the appointment with the chef, she sees Colin playing the piano in the hotel lobby. Dee Dee conducts a local children’s choir and she is in need of a pianist, since her dad who normally play piano for the choir has injured his hand. So Dee Dee, who has no idea who Prince Colin is, recruits him to help with the choir performance. She comes from a big Italian-American family, which Colin is not used to but is nevertheless charmed by. They treat him like a regular guy and feed him lots of delicious Italian food, because they have no clue who he really is!

I don’t want to spoil the plotline, so I’ll end the synopsis there. It is a Hallmark movie after all, so the storyline is slightly predictable but still cute. 

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I just finished watching Holiday in the Wild on Netflix! (Yes, I’m still watching Christmas movies!) This was such a cute movie! I visited Africa almost two decades ago, so watching this movie brought back a lot of memories of safari!

This chick-flick was slightly predictable in spots, but overall had a good original storyline. Would definitely recommend it!

As a fun side note, Rob Lowe’s son (in real life) acts in this movie too, as Luke, the son of Kate. Towards the end of the movie, I was like ‘man, this kid really looks like Rob Lowe” - so I googled it and guess what?! It’s his son! Fun.

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One often finds his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.

Jean De La Fontaine