WINTER ENTERTAINING

by Evelyn J. Mocbeichel

Let the winter winds blow and the snow fall because it is a great time to stay inside and watch a good movie! A dear friend of mine, JoAnn, lives near Niagara Falls and surely has plenty of winter weather that keeps her and husband inside. Their snow totals are unbelievable when she tells me of the latest storm that passed through their area. However, that doesn’t prevent her from entertaining or visiting nearby friends. During one of our phone calls, she told me that evening was her “Pizza, Chocolate, and a Movie” night and her two lady friends were coming over. She explained how it started and what it was.

Dinner: To make the longer winter months go by a bit quicker and more enjoyable the three friends came up with an idea. The ladies take turns visiting each other’s house every other week during the winter. To make it easy on the host, the menu is simple. Dinner is pizza and dessert is always something “chocolate” that one of the other ladies would bring. It could be a cake, brownies, éclairs, or a chocolate cream pie, anything luscious. Their movie choice is decided beforehand and one of the ladies would bring a DVD over or the host would borrow one from their local library. The only decision to be made was what kind of movie were the ladies in the mood for that night. Would it be a drama, mystery, romance or international film? As JoAnn described, by having the same easy dinner, there was no guessing what was on the menu, the pizza was ordered in, so the host never had to cook. This was a lovely way for friends to spend time together and pass a winter’s evening! However, it doesn’t have to be cold weather to have friends over and this idea they devised is fun year round. Give it a try!

International Films: Our neighbor subscribes to Netflix and often invites me over to watch some of the selections offered. We’ve discovered some of the most interesting foreign film choices that are so engrossing they can easily be called “binge worthy”. Perhaps most people are hesitant about “reading subtitles”, but after two or three episodes it becomes second nature. If you feel adventurous, give it a try if you have Netflix or a library that has international film DVD selections. Our recent Netflix favorites were Velvet and the other was Kurt Seyit and Sura. Velvet is a romance about the son of a wealthy department store owner that falls in love with the orphaned niece of the store’s manager. The niece came to live with her bachelor uncle, the older brother of her late mother, when she was a young child. There she met the young son of the luxury department store chain owner, when he was also a youngster. Their friendship grew into their teen years and blossomed in a love story, but the boy’s wealthy father was against this match of a couple with such different economic backgrounds. The chemistry between the two young, romantic lead actors made this a believable and riveting series to follow. Newly filmed, it is set in Barcelona in the 1950’s. Another favorite, Kurt Seyit and Sura takes place in pre revolutionary Russia and revolves around a handsome Turkish officer in the Russian army who falls in love with a young, beautiful girl of Russian nobility. The costumes and lush scenery are fantastic and the story line is absolutely engrossing. Happy viewing!