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

Monday Favorites

This week only I'm adding somethin' extra to my favorites post. As those of you who follow my Twitter may have noticed already, I've recently discovered (and become a wee bit infatuated with...or at least that's what my bf keeps insisting =p) the incredible actor, Michael Fassbender, of Hunger, Fish Tank, Inglorious Basterds, Jane Eyre (as Rochester), and X-Men: First Class (as Magneto) fame. Having seen him in just a handful of movies, I can already tell that he'll be one of the top actors of our generation and hopefully making movies for a long, long time. Michael has already shown himself to be a rare chameleon who disappears into whichever character he's playing at the moment. But whether he's a metal-bending mutant or an IRA volunteer on hunger strike in prison, his performances rivet you from start to finish. As if that weren't enough reason to fall head over heels, he seems humble, funny, and a real gentleman in real life. And the final kicker...he sings and dances (see below), too! My apologies to my male readers for this post, but to my lady friends...ENJOY ^_____^!

Cherry Tomatoes Photographs from James Ransom

Apple Upside-down Cake from Pictures and Pancakes

Passionfruit with Yogurt from Margaret & Joy

Black Plum and Ginger Crumble from Verses from My Kitchen