Exploring Food and Movies

         I went to Beirut Bites for lunch. It is a spinoff of the restaurant Nicholas. It's on SE Grand. Parking is a challenge. It is a small place. The bottom part of the walls are bright yellow painted wood planks. The top is either white or black, depending on which side of the place you're on. The yellow is kinda obnoxious.  It would be better with a different color. There are modern tables and chairs, as well as modern chandeliers. There was cool Lebanese music playing. It's the type of place where you order at the counter and then find your table. While I was waiting they brought some warm pita with harissa cilantro sauce (spicy) and a sesame spice olive oil (?). The bread was warm. Nice on a cold rainy day. But it's clearly meant for multiple people to share because it was fairly large. I only ate a little. I got the shawarma wrap. It comes with hummus, fettoush salad, and pit bread roll kebab with harissa sauce. I scrapped off most of the harissa s...

        Last Sunday I went to Rockabilly Cafe with my parents for brunch. It is on N Lombard Street near St. John's Bridge. There is plenty of neighborhood parking. It is a 50s diner. More cars and motorcycles, less Marilyn. There is the classic checkerboard floor, red vinyl booths, and counter. There is still a bit of that vintage Portland feel to it. There's memorabilia decorating the walls. Mostly signs for Coca Cola, car wheels, and vintage gas cans.  There was great 50s music playing. There is a jukebox but it was out of order when we were there. We got there after 1, which was a good time to go. Before that we were told it was packed. The menu is fun. The menu items have fun names like The Chuck Berry and The Lassie. I got the Patty Wagon, which is a patty melt. I got it with mushrooms instead of onions. It was good, but not the most exciting thing. My dad got the reuben. He liked it. My mom got a make your own omelette. She said it was good, a little bori...

 Sunday: Wolfwalkers (2020)        Robyn and her father move from England to a city in Scotland. The city is surrounded by high walls to keep the wolves out. Robyn's father was brought there to hunt the wolves. The Lord Protector wants the nearby forest cleared of wolves so he can expand. Robyn wants to be a hunter like her father. One day she follows him into the forest. She falls into a trap. A wolf comes and helps her out. Robyn chases the wolf into a secret lair. Only to find the wolf gone and before her is a little girl. Mebh introduces herself. She is a wolfwalker. When she sleeps her wolf form comes out. Now sympathetic to the wolves Robyn must find a way to help them. I liked this movie.  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Friday: See How They Run (2022)        A successful play on the West End in London is going to be turned into a movie...

 Sunday: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)           This film is set in Australia. Tick is a drag queen. He performs at a club with his friend Adam. Tick gets a four week residency gig at a casino in a secluded city. He decides to bring along Adam and his friend Bernadette, a transgender woman. Bernadette has recently lost her longtime partner. Tick thinks this trip will help her get her mind off things. They face many obstacles along the way. I thought this movie was good. Not as weird as I was expecting it to be. I think I was mixing it up with Pink Flamingos in my mind for some reason. Even though I've never seen that movie. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tuesday: Quality Street (1937)       This movie is set in the 1810s. Phoebe is a beautiful young woman. She falls in love with a doctor named Valentine. She believes he ...

 Sunday: Murder Most Foul (1964)          Miss Jane Marple is picked to be on the jury of a murder trial. A woman who was found out to be a blackmailer was strangled. A man is caught and accused of being the murderer. Miss Marple is the only member of the jury who doesn't think he is guilty. The trial is put off. Miss Marple takes it upon herself to solve the murder. She believes the murder is connected to a traveling theater troupe. She joins the troupe so she can investigate. Soon other members of the troupe start to be killed. Miss Marple must find the murderer. I thought this movie was good. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sunday: Nope (2022)       OJ works on a horse ranch with his father. They train horses for movies and TV shows. One day his father is killed under strange circumstances. Soon other strange things start happening. Horses get o...

 Sunday: Chungking Express (1994)        This is a Hongkongese film. There are two stories. The first is about Cop 223. He has just broken up with his girlfriend of five years. He is desperate to get back together with her. He does strange things like buying a can of her favorite food everyday and talking to her whole family on the phone. Also he runs into a mysterious woman who is always wearing a trench coat and sunglasses, as well as a blonde wig. We see that she is a drug smuggler struggling to get by. The second story is about an older cop, Cop 663.  He has also just broken up with his flight attendant girlfriend. He copes by talking to different objects in his house. Like his dish rag or his bar of soap. At his local sandwich shop he meets a young woman who just starting working there. She becomes obsessed with him. He may like her back. I thought this movie was alright. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

 Friday: Bullet Train (2022)         Ladybug is an assassin known for his bad luck. After being out of the game for a while he decides to take a job. It's supposed to be simple. He gets on the bullet train in Japan, retrieves a briefcase, and gets off at the next stop. The job ends up being anything but simple. There are other assassins on the train all going after the same case. It call comes back to a Russian crime boss who is feared by all. Ladybug must do his best to survive the night. I thought this movie was good. Weird and violent but fun. It's by the same director who directed Deadpool 2 . So the action and comedy are similar. He also was Brad Pitt's (Ladybug) stunt double in a couple movies. Sunday: Birdy (1984)       The movie begins after Al has come back from Vietnam. He's going to visit his friend Birdy, who also recently came back from Vietnam. Birdy has had a mental break and thinks he is a bird. We see flashbacks of when they becam...