Sunday Favorites and Some Thoughts on "Shame"

UPDATE: Michael Fassbender just won Best Actor in this year's British Independent Film Awards for his performance in Shame! Congrats, Michael! You really earned it =D.

I was actually planning a recipe post for this weekend, but what can I say but that life had other things in mind 8). Instead I'm now gonna post my weekly favorites a day early and hope to have some pastries up by mid-week!

Among the things that kept me from baking this weekend was the D.C. premiere of Michael Fassbender and Steve McQueen's incredible movie, Shame, about a sex addict in NYC whose predicament only gets worse when his unstable sister drops in to live with him. Yes, it's NC-17 but NO it's not at all like porn or even a sexy movie. I didn't find any of the scenes gratuitous and would even say that a story like this simply could NOT be told without graphic scenes.

The point of the movie, at least for me, was not necessarily about just sex addiction but about the desperate lengths many of us go to in order to numb the pains of our past, the loneliness and isolation of the present, or whatever other demons we each carry invisibly on our shoulders like so many Atlas's. It's definitely not easy to watch Shame, but I strongly urge that you do. For one, you won't want to miss Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan's Oscar-worthy performances. Morever, with sex addiction becoming more and more common these days, I hope this movie will spark more dialogue and understanding, and discourage blind judgment.

Thanks to any of y'all who read through my 2 cents on Shame. But I think the food photos are why you're really here. Right, right? This week was fabulous for finding inspirational food photography because Donna Hay magazine finally joined Zinio!! If you're not familiar with Zinio, it will allow you to read Donna Hay electronically on a subscription that is MUCH cheaper than imported copies ($60 versus $13/year). And noooo iPad required! So I hope you'll understand that my excitement about this resulted in adding a lot of Donna Hay photos to this round-up. They're plenty easy on the eyes, though, so I assume you won't mind ;p.

Raspberry Ice Cubes Photograph from Donna Hay (Issue 59)

Mushroom Pasta with Cream Pesto Photograph from Aisha Yusaf

Plums and Grapes Photograph from Dolce Vita

Chickpea Tomato Spelt Soup from Martha Stewart

Indian Sweets Burfi and Sandesh Photographs from Cintamani

Christmas Tree Cupcakes from Better Homes & Gardens

Lemongrass Cucumber and Raspberry Basil Cocktails Photographs from Donna Hay (Issue 59)

Rosemary Wreath with Olives, Cherry Tomatoes, and Mozzarella Photograph from Julia Usher

Great idea to imprint cookie dough to help decorate later from Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle

Chickpea Veggie Phyllo Triangle Photograph from Tony Briscoe

Coffee Meringue Brownie from Donna Hay (Issue 59)