La Buche - Film Review

Oh by gosh, by golly.... this film was not that jolly! Netflix told me this was a light-hearted French Christmas comedy... NOPE! Not light-weight or light-hearted, by any means (unless things are F*ing awful in France)! There was a lot of talk about Christmas, but not much of a Christmas-y feel. Nothing warm and fuzzy, no holiday spirit. Every one is cheating on each other and it's kinda depressing. They drink a lot of vodka, which makes me want to drink vodka. But, I will say, that if you look at it as a drama, it wasn't so bad. It's a story that opens with a funeral, three sad daughters of a sad mother and sad father, a sad neighbor, and some twists and turns as they figure out, or bash, Christmas and each other. The acting was good. The characters were fairly interesting; not so much at first; it took a a few minutes to get into them (about half an hour in I started to say "okay, it's worth a shot, plus I've already watched almost a third). But the story goes a very interesting and unexpected way at the end, that maybe only people with weird family relations (like me) can appreciate. The camera is pretty awful, but that's probably just because it's a low budget film. Not something I normally want from Netflix, but as a film school grad, I can appreciate when someone had a good story but didn't have the funds for a good camera, and I can't really judge. The camera wasn't THAT bad, but it was noticably poorer quality than usual (although I've seen much worse on Netflix (ugh... sometimes I think it must be the Netflix CEO's nephew distributing his crappy movies through his uncle... or lover... that's how the film industry works, right? You have to know someone or sleep with them if you suck?)
La Buche is all in French with English subtitles, as a warning to those who hate to read.

I shall give it 2.5 thingys... still working that part out. Stars? That's so uninspired! I'll figure it out soon! It's basically a 2.5 up until the end, where I'd possibly give it a 3, but overall, a 2.5 with a good ending! How about a 2.9? 2.9's! On me!

If you're looking for something sweet, heartfelt, precious, and or funny, may I recommend It's a Wonderful Life, or Elf? Or heck, even Home Alone... at least it's funny!

Sophie's Revenge

Rom-Com time! ASIAN ROM-COM TIME! Sophie's Revenge is a super-cute, watch with a cocktail/glass of wine, chuckle, feel-good type of film that really hits the spot. I was about to watch it in bed next to the husb, while he was sleeping, but as soon as I hit play on my laptop (yeah bro, it's available instantly on Netflix) I knew it was going to be special and I should go watch it out in the living room with a fresh cocktail and a blanket and snuggling with Dave (our kitty). Good times!

The film stars Ziyi Zhang, whom you may recognize from: Memoirs of a Geisha (a must-see!);  Crouching, Tiger Hidden Dragon (I must watch through); Hero (again, I must watch through); House of Flying Daggers (I must watch again); and Rush Hour 2. Ziyi is adorably gorgeous, a great actress, and has won way more awards and nominations than I could ever dream of!

The script is fairly typical rom com, with a little extra zany and imaginative-fantasy flairs thrown in. The film is obviously Asian, but, if you can read subtitles, it's got a familiarly enough American feel; it doesn't alienate. The script can be a bit goofy at times, as rom coms often are, but it's mostly genuine, with pretty good acting, gorgeous and fun set design, cinematography, and entertaining computer graphics. The editing was again, playful, but not overly so. My only complaint is an extremely long shot of Sophie's character  turning to CG ice, and then... finally, cracking. But hey, I've seen much worse. The whole style of the movie is a very playful, fun thing. Sophie is a comic book writer (perhaps manga, but not translated as so because most Americans don't know what that is?) and the film often shows her internalized thoughts and emotions externalized through CG. It's mostly very cute and well done.

I'll give it a 4.5. I'd happily watch it again with a female friend, or my lifetime boy friend/husband (if I could get him to agree to another rom com).

Recipe: Artichoke lover's pizza! Or: my new favorite pizza!

For the Zesty ricotta:

1/2 cup raw cashews

juice from 1 1/2 lemons

2 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 lb tofu

10 leaves of basil (or more if you want it really basil-y)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Other ingredients:

whole wheat pizza dough (you could use any type, but the whole wheat really compliments this pie; I use Trader Joe's)

Wildwood aioli (you could probably use a homemade aioli or even Veganaise, but if you can use Wildwood's I'd recommend it)

Artichoke Antipasto (Trader Joe's)

marinated artichoke hearts (again, I used Trader Joe's)

onion (one or two slices, chopped)

black olives (sliced)

1 strip Yves Canadian Bacon, chopped into little pieces

olive oil for pan

flour for rolling out dough

Preheat oven to 450. Spread a THIN coat of oil over your pan. Roll out dough on floured surface. Move dough to pan, and set it aside to rise while you make the ricotta.

In a food processor, blend the cashew, lemon juice, garlic, and oil until it is smooth. Add tofu, and blend again. Add basil, flakes, and salt, and blend a final time. OMG, so good already! (You will probably have a bit left over which can be used on baked ziti or any other pasta dish, toast, or as a sandwich spread.)

Spread a THIN layer of aioli on the dough (I used under 1/4 of a cup). Next spread another thin layer of Artichoke Antipasto on top. Gently spread about 1/4 to 1/2 of the ricotta on top (careful, it gets kinda tricky!) and sprinkle on remaining ingredients to desired amount. Less is more with toppings, because the sauce and cheese have a very rich savory flavor on their own, plus, too many toppings will weigh down your pizza and effect how it cooks. Bake for about 20 minutes, checking after 12 or 15 (it will vary on your dough, amount of toppings, and oven; the dough I used said 8-10 minutes, but I needed 20).

Slice, and enjoy!

A Knight's Tale

I forgot how much I love this movie! Zach was blasting Golden Years while in the shower this evening, and I burst in on him excitedly yelling "Let's watch A Knight's Tale tonight!" We both love David Bowie, but I think that song will always remind me of this movie. It's terrible and wonderful at the same time. Here's my favorite thing about the movie: the characters! They're all very well thought out, and most are really fun and/or likable. My least favorite is Jocelyn; I kinda wish that Heath Ledger's character had fallen in love with Kate (the Blacksmith, played by Laura Fraser), but other than that I can't complain. They do some fun things with the camera here and there, but it's nothing too flashy or overdone. The editing is great. The script is fantastic: I laugh, I cry, I feel happiness, anger, sadness, triumph, am swept away by romance, and shake my fists along with Kate (she's so cute!) whenever her worth is being challenged because she's a woman. In the beginning, Shannyn Sossamon (Jocelyn)'s acting sounds a bit too rehearsed, but I think she settles into the role soon enough that it can be forgiven. She is Zach's least favorite in this film, too. It's funny watching it now, because Zach kept making cracks about her looking like Lady Gaga (maybe that's where LG's inspiration came from?) and in one part where William/Sir Oreck writes Jocelyn a love letter and asks her to send something in return, Zach blurts out "Please don't send your hair stylist." Gotta love him. Yeah, I have to agree that while the hair and makeup and costumes were good everywhere else, I think they tried a bit too hard with her. They took a bit too much artistic liberties. I get that they want her to stand out, but she sticks out like a sore thumb in my opinion. Anyway, that banquet where they dance to Golden Years makes me want to be a part of it so badly; it looks so fun! Now I need to throw a David Bowie party! Oh man, how cool would that be? Ah, and I want to go back to another Renaissance Faire! I'm a dork! I embrace it! 5 stars! I'm in  a fantastic mood after watching this one!

New Addition

I've finally found the perfect picture to go with my blog. Check her out, on the right.
She sure is one hungry vegan femme fatale!

Kissing Cousins - movie review

Hey you guys! Long time no post! But I can explain: see, my computer screen is messed up more than usual in a way that I can only see the screen if I am poking the side of it, so anytime I try to type with two hands, I can't see what I'm doing. That plus I worked everyday last week and didn't feel like doing much else. And this week I was sick. And my dog ate my homework. No, just kidding: no dog!
Anyway, tonight Zach and I watched this movie called Kissing Cousins. If you can't tell by the title, it's an independent rom com. It was actually pretty cute. The main character, Amir, is a professional relationship terminator (people hire him to break up with their partners for them) whose friends are all settling down. He  begins to feel lonely, and even his family thinks he's a joke. His cousin Zara comes to stay with him and she ends up introducing herself to Amir's friends as his girlfriend. As you can imagine, this gets complicated, and it has a lot of potential to be amusing. It delivers. There were a few LOLs from both Zach and I. The camera isn't all that great, but it's really not too bad, and I think they did the best with what they could. Don't let Amir's neighbors in the beginning throw you off... they're awful, but the rest of the characters are interesting enough, and the acting is quite good! Guess who's in this movie?! Steve Urkel! I mean Jaleel White! I mean Stefan Urquelle, as he is more like in this film, except that he thinks he's just the cat's pajamas and isn't trying to hide it. I think he's trying to overcompensate for his role as Urkel by trying his hardest to be super cool and funny and tough like "no one had better dare to mess with me! I'm going to stab this pancake right under your nose and make bad jokes but act like I'm a genius when I spout them out!" Surprisingly Urkel's Jaleel's acting was the worst. But it's still fun to be like "Haha, it's Urkel!" and makes jokes about his lame character. You know, maybe he just knew how absurd his character was and decided to have fun with it? I don't know. But enough about Urkel! Overall the writing was good for an indy comedy. It's not too smart to alienate today's American viewers, but it's not so stupid that I couldn't enjoy it. It's a nice blend somewhere in the middle. And you may be thinking the whole time "Eww, how can they pretend to be dating? They're first cousins!" but did you know that it's totally legal to marry your first cousin in most US states? It is! (I'm pretty sure the people who made the movie didn't even know this.) It seems to be a major taboo with anyone you talk to, and I had been under the impression that it was a major cultural taboo here for all of my life, up until recently, when I read about it on Facebook and was about to be all like "nuh uh!" and school an acquaintance about it until I checked my facts and found out that yeah, it's totes legal in most US states! Boy, I sure am glad I usually check my facts before talking smack about a subject I think I know. Sidetracked again! Anyway, check out Kissing Cousins one night when you're in the mood for a comedy (available instantly on Netflix). I'd totally watch it again. We'll give it 3.5 stars or bullets or $ or popcorn kernels or whatever it is I decide to use on here for movie reviews in the future.


****Update****
Going with cocktails!

Sage Bakery

A long long time ago, back in February or so, Zach and I bought a Living Social coupon for 1 dozen Sage Bakery cupcakes, which is supposed to be half price. Yes, you can tell already that it wasn't. After traveling an hour each way to Seattle for said cupcakes, we arrived twice to find them closed. That was our fault, as we went once on a Sunday (their baking day, on which they are closed to the public), and once at 7 (where we found out that they are open until 7 and must have closed early that day).  The third time that we tried to trade in our coupon for cupcakes (which was about a month and a half ago), we made it on time, and a very nice girl told us that we were supposed to come in and order them first, and then come pick them up, although we had no choice in what flavors, and that there would actually be a baker's dozen.
We left optimistic.
When the day came that they would be ready to pick up, we hoped to ourselves that they would be amazing, and worth all of the trouble since they had cost us a total of 8 hours and about $100 in gas... seriously. Perhaps we went into it with a bit of a chip on our collective shoulder, but:
When we got there, the girl behind the counter got our box of cupcakes and placed them on the counter in front of us. We peered inside at 12 cupcakes, as she rang us up for an additional $3 in tax... I don't know how you get $3 tax from $16. Perhaps there was tax on the free half of the cupcakes? But that doesn't really make sense to me, especially since the other coupons we've purchased always included the tax; we've never handed in our coupons and then had someone say, "Okay, now let me ring you up for the tax." It has always been included. We asked about that, and were answered with a laugh. We asked about why the other girl said a baker's dozen (which means 13) but there were only 12 cupcakes. The answer this time was an "Oh, I don't know" and another laugh.
The cupcakes consisted of 3 chocolate on chocolate (which seems like a cop-out to us), two vanilla on vanilla (still boring, but at least we both like vanilla), two vanilla on chocolate, one lemon graham cracker frosting on vanilla, four with raspberry frosting--two vanilla cake and two chocolate.
None I would call moist. The chocolate cake was basically inedible. The vanilla cupcakes were easier to force down, but none were really good. The only one I actually sort of enjoyed was the lemon graham cracker frosted one, of which we had to split because they only gave us one. It was at least interesting, and the lemon provided some flavor while the graham cracker mixed up the texture and helped to fool my mouth into forgetting about the dry bland cake. I was able to eat the vanilla on vanilla, but the frosting basically tasted like buttery sugar, not vanilla flavored, but maybe more of a wet chalk flavor (don't ask how I know what wet chalk tastes like). The raspberry frosting was just "vanilla" frosting with raspberries haphazardly tossed in, creating a greasy, buttery, seedy frosting with a little raspberry flavor and plenty of awkward chunks.
Needless to say we were totally unsatisfied; we were more so outraged at the fact that they normally charge $3 for those tasteless things. Zach said they might be good if you lived in a sewer.
I'm sorry, but if you are trying to run a business, you should have a quality product, especially if you're a small business. I know Walmart, McDonalds, and Ikea can get away with selling junk because they are huge chains, but Sage Bakery, you can not afford it! I mean, honestly, a child could make better cupcakes. Too bad...
I give them the "You make me want to become a bulimic" rating, which is the equivalent of zero stars.

If I don't finish a cocktail, it's got to be pretty awful. This is a good rating system for me. I did not finish those cupcakes.

Film review: The Women

I have seen the 1939 original and the remake of The Women. I have to say, they are both badass. I saw clips of The Women in a film study class in school, and didn't get enough out of it to really think much of it, but then the remake came up on my Netflix queue,* which I happily watched and fell in love with. I have finally watched the original, and it is truly spectacular!

Here are the highlights:
It's an all women cast. The acting is (overall) wonderful (old skool, and sometimes it's hard to follow what they say because they often speak so fast, but still it's wonderful!)  The shots are great. The editing is snappy. The story is enthralling! Let me make it perfectly clear: I LOVE THE WRITING. It's smart, sharp, witty, funny, and the original writing still holds true for today's women. It was edgy back then, but I feel like in a sense it is still edgy enough for today. The film industry today is still predominantly a man's field, and so there are very few films that show women in a truthful unabashed light like this film does. I WISH I HAD MADE THIS FILM.

Enough said.

I don't know that any straight men will be interested, as my husband wasn't, but whatever; it's got a theme in it about a cheating husband which is dealt with in a way that perhaps is better left unknown to men. If you are female I highly urge you to watch it.

P.S. Rosalind Russel really reminds me of Lucille Ball. I can't help but wonder if either of them influenced the other.

*Hey Netflix, want to pay me for advertising for you? Please?!

Portland, part 2: Sweetpea Bakery & Cafe

After a super fun night of drinking and laughing until our tummies hurt, Zach, Veronica, and I felt well enough to leave V's apartment at 3pm for nourishment. We decided to go down the block to that vegan mini mall everyone's always talking about, and chow down at Sweetpea.

Leapin' lizards, did we all have a massive craving for bagels! I was really interested in their chive and bacun cream cheese... but they were out of bagels. And soup. So disappointing! We satisfied ourselves with two BLTs and an unTuna sandwich. I liked both, but they need to put more tuna on the tuna, and more bacon on the BLT! It felt a little cheep. Veronica said it was fine for her. Maybe hers had more? I don't know. The bacon was really good; Zach said it didn't taste that much like bacon, but it was nice and salty and rich, so he still liked it, and so did I. However, he didn't like the unTuna. I did. It had a good flavor, but I like my tuna with lots of veganiase, and this was really lightly veganiased. It's a chickpea based tuna (which I had been craving for a while) mixed with herbs and chopped celery.
They offer lots of fun hot drinks, including a variety of teas, two types of bottomless coffees which vary each day, hot chocolate, and a bunch of coffee drinks that I don't understand because I'm not much of a coffee drinker. Next time, however, I'll have to try one, because why not?!

We ordered some treats, too. The oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookie was a bit dry, but Zach gobbled it up anyway, so I guess he was down with its flavor. The snickerdoodle was definitely good, especially if you like that typical bakery cookie flavor from your childhood (or is it just mine?), although it could use a bit more cinnamon and sugar... it tastes to me like the cookie baby of a sugar cookie and snickerdoodle who fell in love and wanted to start a family. The brownie ain't bad either. I like fudgy brownies, and theirs is more cakelike, and while I despise baked goods that aren't very moist, the flavor totally makes up for it with all of its rich chocolatey goodness.

I would definitely go back, but I don't know that I'd order a sandwich again, just because they didn't put enough of the good stuff on it. I will certainly try a bagel and a fancy pants coffee drink, perhaps a donut on a Saturday or their brunch on a Sunday, and probably another brownie.

Portland, part 1: Loving Hut

Zach and I just got back from our little trip down to Portland. We had two friends who were getting married (Congrats, Nick and Tori!) and while we were there we wanted to see my friend Veronica who lives there. The wedding only served cake, and it wasn't vegan, so we decided to try the Portland Loving Hut for dinner with Veronica. Zach and I are fiends. I want to order everything on the menu, and split it so I get to try it all; he has a big appetite. Neither of us have any self control.

V & Z ordered fries to start. Veronica ordered wonton soup (it was full of veggies; so good!) I ordered chicken nuggets which were strips, and we all agreed they were more like fish sticks, and should have been served with tartar sauce rather than ketchup; and the amazon salad because it was cheaper than the Paradise salad, which was dumb (in hindsight) because we saved 30 cents... what a steal... I also had ordered it because I wanted something with lots of fresh veggies. I was totally disappointed in the salad though, because it was supposed to consist of purple and green cabbage, and carrots, which were replaced by rice noodles and iceberg lettuce (which I don't consider a vegetable). And there were no other veggies in it! So disappointing. I should have sent it back and ordered something else, but I didn't feel comfortable doing that, and I assumed that the other salad would be the same deal since the menu said that they were practically the same thing. Anyway, we all shared the blissful fried rice, which had a lovely hint of a smokey flavor. Zach ordered the chow mein. I thought it was funny that I tried to order a nice healthy salad, and my dinner ended up having the least vegetables in it. Next time I'll just order a regular entree. You never know with Loving Hut, because each one is a little different.

If you've never been to a Loving Hut, you should go at least once in your life. It's quite an experience for a first timer. If you have been before, then you'll know what I'm talking about when I say that the cult vibe was mild at this particular Loving Hut. They had the TV station on, but it was quiet, and we didn't hear it. That and we were probably laughing too hard telling our gross throw up stories and other inappropriate bodily fluid stories.

Which reminds me; we also had dessert. Veronica and Zach got the cheesecake, which they both went crazy over. I've only met one cheesecake that I liked, the rest make me want to puke (as did this one, I don't like the weird cream cheesy[?] flavor they have) which is what brought up our sophisticated dinner conversation. I had the banana fritters, which weren't bad, but the coating was a lot thicker and greasier than I had expected.

All in all, the food was good, the cult vibe on the medium-lower side (for a Loving Hut), the waiter was really nice and helpful and even had a good sense of humor, and the place felt clean, but not hospital creepy clean like most other Loving Huts. I definitely recommend it.

P.S. Loving Huts normally have pictures on the menu to go with most items. I wish every place did that!

Last Man Standing

So I don't normally like action movies, but Zach wanted to watch one, and so we searched Netflix's instantly available shtuff, and agreed upon Last Man Standing, because who can say no to Bruce Willis? It starts out with silly narrating from ol' Bruce, but it wasn't too bad for an action film. It felt like a western film noir, and had enough comical parts that I was able to get into it. Plus, it had sweet accents (NY and Mexican) and Christopher Walken, whom people usually seem to appreciate. The cinematography was actually kind of great, and I love the lighting. So maybe the script was slightly silly--I'm still not sure if that made me enjoy the movie more or less--but the shots, editing, and acting made up for it, anyway.
All in all, I'd say it was a decent watch, but not something I'd want to see again.

If you like Bruce, Christopher, Westerns, Film Noir, Action movies, alcohol*, fun accents, or garlic, I'd recommend you check it out.

*Although Last Man Standing takes place during prohibition that doesn't stop anyone in the film from regularly being seen with a drink in their hands.

Pizza Pi: in-depth review

Hey you guys, last night Zach took me to Pizza Pi in Seattle (you should be totally jealous)! We've been there a few times, and of course we often order way too much food because we want to try everything, so I feel like it's time for our first review!
As far as pizzas go, these are usually phenomenal! So far we have tried:

-The Sunny Day (sun-dried tomato cream sauce, spinach, black olives, cashew ricotta, and potatoes which we subbed for broccoli) was perfect (at least with the broccoli. The sauce was tangy, flavorful, and creamy... perfect! The cashew ricotta is also what hooked me.
-The Bruschetta Deluxe (white garlic sauce, bruschetta mix, Field Roast sausage, and cashew ricotta) was really good. Again, the sauce was fantastic... I'm literally salivating thinking about it! The bruschetta mix is basically chopped cherry tomatoes (tasty!) with garlic, balsamic, and some herbs. It works very well on pizza. My only minor dislike was the Field Roast. I usually like Field Roast products, but I didn't think it really worked on this particular pizza. But perhaps others would disagree? Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for mock meats that day? Or perhaps the pizza felt healthier, and therefore somehow better without it? Moving on...
-The St. Patrick's Revenge (spinach and artichoke sauce, green bell peppers, broccoli, spinach, and basil) was a great time. Again, the sauce! Oh, how I love their unique sauces! It's actually the same as their spinach and artichoke dip, which has a great creamy flavor and texture, it almost seems cheesy... hard to explain, you'll just have to trust me and try some! I'm not a big pepper fan usually, but it worked on this pizza. This was another one of my favorites.
(We found that most of their pizzas normally use Daiya or Teese, neither of which I care for, so we've been subbing the cashew ricotta for that since. And honestly, you could make your own pizza using Daiya or Teese, why not try their amazing housemade ricotta?)
-The Aloha (marinara, pineapple, mushrooms, tomatoes, and Canadian bacon) sadly, was my least favorite. I love Pizza Pi, but their marinara sauce needs work, honestly. It has a canned taste, which especially stands apart since every other sauce of theirs is so otherworldly good. I usually love Hawaiian pizza, but here I also felt that the tomatoes clashed with the pineapple.
-Thai Chicken (white garlic sauce, mushrooms, pineapple, fresh spinach, and soy chicken tossed in housemade peanut sauce) is what we got last night. (Again, with cashew ricotta!) My first bite led me to think that I wasn't going to be pleased, because my mouth was focused on the uncooked mushroom that it had been tricked into eating, but after another few bites, I decided that this was another favorite. Here's the thing, the mushrooms need to be sauteed! But, with every bite you get something new: a mildly spicy peanut buttery bite... a sweet and slightly tart pineapple bite... a creamy tangy garlic sauce bite... It's like a crazy fun party where you never know what is going to happen next, only better because it's happening in your mouth and it's delicious!

As far as appetizers go, we've had:
-The Saucy Sampler (toasted garlic flatbread served with marinara, white garlic sauce, housemade ranch, and spinach and artichoke dip) was really fun! This is a good and tasty way to try some of their different sauces. They even let us sub the marinara for one of the other sauces! Sweet!
-The Cheesestix are basically toasted flatbread like their breadstix, but there's Daiya grated over them. Needles to say, I didn't like it, but Zach had no problem finishing them all himself.
-The Fried Mozzarella Stix are made of Teese, and you can order them from Vegan Essentials (gets expensive between shipping and freezer pack prices), but never the less, I actually enjoyed them. Would I get them again without Zach? Probably not, because I'm not a big fan of Teese (since they "improved" it), but if he was to order them I'd bat my eyelashes and try to look cute so that he'd agree to let me snack on 'em. They were on a special Pi Day menu, so we've only seen them the one time. Sorry folks!
-The Sample Platter is decent. It consists of delicious spinach and artichoke dip (of which they give you a lot) with toasted flatbread, bruschetta with toasted white garlic sauce drizzled flatbread, and three chicken nuggets with ranch dressing and honey mustard dressing. Zach and I don't care much for the chicken nuggets (but we'll eat 'em!) but I have to ask, why three chicken nuggets? They give you four of each flatbread. Three just seems like an awkward number. Anyway, the bruschetta isn't what I expected, it's sliced cherry tomatoes with chopped garlic and herbs in balsamic. It's really good, don't get me wrong... just not what I expected. I think it's better though. I like how fresh and healthy it is.

And finally, the salads. We've only ordered the large Garden Salad, and found it to be mostly lettuce. The ranch dressing is good, but we thought it was a little pricey (at $5) to be basically a bowl of shredded romaine.

We haven't really had any desserts, other than a smores pocket which was decent (and again on the special Pi Day menu so you can't have any until next year!) but I'd be interested in trying more of them, some calzone poppers (please!) and more specialty pizzas (of course!)

Pizza Pi also has some all natural sodas that you can purchase if you're into soda, and free water that you self serve from a jug if you're not.

The atmosphere isn't anything special, but it's a pizzeria in the city, so what do you really expect? The people who work there are super friendly. They take last orders at 9:30, so don't be like us and show up last minute every weekend because you'll find yourself very disappointed after an hour long drive just to have to come up with a new (very late) dinner plan while your tummy is growling at you!

****Update****
Pizza Pi now serves beer! I'm not a big beer drinker anymore, but they sure do hit the spot with pizza. $2 Rainiers (like the volcano over here), anyone? Or how about a pitcher?

Also, I've finally (02/28/12) come up with a pictorial rating system. The more cocktails I'll stick around for the better; or, this makes me feel as good as if I'd had this many drinks.
And so I give you Pizza Pi's rating:

Hey guys!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

I'm combining two of my passions here: I'll be reviewing vegan restaurants, products, etc., and sharing recipes, and I'll also be reviewing movies, new and old. (FYI, I'm really not into violence, so there probably won't be too many horror flick reviews on here. Sorry, if that's your thing!)  I'll also talk about whatever else I think is worth talking about... and hopefully you'll enjoy it!

I'm going to be giving you my honest opinion, the good and the bad. Feel free to take it into consideration or toss it out the window (that's called defenestrating, kids!)*

You CAN expect a lot of reviews from the following genres:

-film noir 

-fantasy/sci fi

-dramas

-comedies

-rom coms (Sorry, sometimes they just make me so happy!)

-foreign films

-indie

-psychological thrillers

AND:

-food related posts

So there you have it. Those are some of my fav-or-ite things... (Okay, and perhaps musicals.)

I'd also like to thank my family and friends who suggested this. Hooray, I'm finally doing it! --Thanks, guys!

*How educational!