Fay Everyday

We celebrated Mother’s Day today (living in Paris has its perks). And since the Queen’s Diamon Jubilee festivities continue, we lunched accordingly with an oh-so-British meal! I spent most of the day in the kitchen, and I must say I was really proud with it. We had Smoked Truit mousse and Cucumbers sandwiches, Egg and Bacon sandwiches and Avocado and Shrimps sandwiches as appetizers.

Then, we feasted on Diamond Jubilee Chicken (wich is a mix inspired by 1953 Coronation Chicken and Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver’s versions).

And finally, this delicious Victoria Sponge Cake.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and line two cake tins with baking paper. Cream the butter and the sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, and stir in the vanilla extract. Fold in the flour, adding a little extra milk if necessary. Divide the mixture between the cake tins and gently spread out with a spatula. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes, then remove from the tin and peel off the paper. Place onto a wire rack.

Sandwich the cakes together with raspberry jam (cook 2 dozens frozen raspberries with ½ cup sugar until simmering), fresh strawberries and vanilla whipped cream.

Of all the movies I’ve seen, my least favorite is Simon Says, and ‘least favorite’ is an understatement because it is just plain horrible. And I hate to say this because Blake Lively’s whole family seems to be involved in it (even if she, herself, only appears like two seconds at the end and is absolutely not responsable for the disaster it is), but I wouldn’t recommend this movie to anyone -or maybe just my ex-boyfriend; that pretty much says it all!

Missing by Costa-Gavras changed my opinion on political movies and on politics. The film is based on the true story of American journalist Charles Horman who went missing after the Chilean coup of 1973. It tells the story of his father Ed (Jack Lemmon) and his wife Beth’s (Sissy Spacek) relentless search for him and their quest of the truth. The first time I saw it, I was too young to understand all the plots’ intrications and their consequences. Charlie Horman, being a journalist, was a disturbance for the new Chilean leader (Pinochet, after he chased Salvador Allende). But the US had interests to preserve in the country. Which makes for really complicated and really controversial politics. But what I mostly love about this film is that, even though it denounces the afore-mentioned controversial politics, it focuses on the human. On the father who lost his son, the wife who lost her husband; and how the terrible situation brings together two people who didn’t like each other before. Jack Lemmon’s performance is outstanding (and Sissy Spacek and John Shea are great too) and it shows you how talented he was. There is so much depth and subtlety in his interpretation of this heartbroken father who won’t give up until he finds either his son or the truth. He is just fascinating. Absolutely fascinating!  I don’t understand how he didn’t win the Oscar for Best Actor in 1982; well, I actually, I can see why he didn’t win: Ben Kingsley as Gandhi was probably far less controversial… At least, Lemmon won in Cannes. I learned a lot from watching Missing, and it seems I learn more each time I see it: you can open people’s eyes with a film, you can make a film with a controversial political backstory that centers on the human factor and casting is the director’s most important part of his job. 

I know without the slightest doubt the movie with the best sountrack is a movie which soundtrack was geniusly composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The trouble is choosing between their fabulous work on The Social Network and their fabulous work on The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo… Mmmm, dilemma. Well, because they won Oscars for TSN, I’m gonna go with TGWTDT! Only for their hypnotic remix of Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song! Besides, everyone know I have a soft spot for Lisbeth Salander and everything related, including the music playing when she investigates a 40-year old mystery, plans her revenge or has sex!

I can answer that one without the slightest doubt: Sunset Blvd. is my favorite Classic movie. I wish I had more time to explain why, but I don’t so that’s all I will say. Or, actually, what is there to explain? A tragic story about a fading Hollywood diva and a gigolo. Brillantly written by Billy Wilder. Brillantly directed by Billy Wilder. Starring Gloria Swanson, William Holden and Erich Von Stroheim. With cameos by Buster Keaton, Cecil B. DeMille and H. B. Warner. Gloria as Norma Desmond deliciously saying: ‘I am big; it’s the pictures that got small’. Nuff said.

I’ve read a lot of Agatha Christie lately. Well, re-read is more like it. See, Dame Agatha is more to me than the undisputed Queen of Crime novels. She is an inspiration. She is also the one who wrote the first ‘adult’ book I ever read. I was eight, or nine maybe –yes, nine probably- and I went from Enid Blyton to murders with The Body in the Library. I’ve read most of what she wrote, all those murders thoroughly plotted and I’ve enjoyed the ride. More than that, I decided I wanted to be part of it and become a writer too. But that’s another story, the one I want to tell you about today is one of my favorite of hers. It doesn’t involve Poirot, or Miss Marple, Tommy and Tuppence or Parker Pyne. Ordeal by Innocence is a story told backwards, sort of, through flashbacks. The murder of Rachel Argyle has taken place a couple of years ago. Jacko Argyle, her adopted son, has been convicted, and hung. But one night, under a showering rain, Dr. Arthur Calgary knocks at the Argyles’ door. He is here to provide an alibi for Jacko who was with him at the time of the murder. The news should be relief for the family, but it isn’t. Evryone was too happy that Jacko, bad seed and constantly broke Jacko, was the one who killed their mother because she refused to pay for his debts. This is not an idyllic, loving family. The children were all adopted after the war, and Rachel wasn’t as generous and caring as she was authoritative and controlling. And if Jacko didn’t kill her, it means one of them did it and it’s not a pleasant idea. Arthur will investigate anyways, because he thinks he owes it to Jacko and that makes for a thrilling story. I loved it. I loved it because of that initial mistake, that missed opportunity that can’t be repaired. Like Lady Macbeth would say: ‘The deed is done and cannot be undone’. It seems unfair that Jacko was convicted and killed for a murder he didn’t commit, but is it really? He was not a likeable person, but did he deserve to die? Those are the questions Dame Agatha must have wondered about when she wrote that brilliant piece; and she now serves them to us. With a plate full of murders. Enjoy!