Ole' Ole' and There Will Be Blood

We had a late Friday lunch (we like to meet-up on Fridays) at OLE' OLE' and ordered our typical "Fajitas for Two". AUDREY ordered steak and STEVE got chicken. As always, the food arrived fast and hot and the flavor was just right for our Gringo palates. It would have been worth the trip just to have the chips and salsa that was brought to our table without asking and free of charge. The salsa was not hot but had a deliciously tangy bite that made it hard to not eat the whole bowl very quickly.

The food was not the only pleasant experience at that restaurant. The service was friendly and efficient. I think the restaurant is family owned and there has been a low turnover rate of servers. We have seen the same servers at work there for years and they know their job well. We highly recommend this restaurant as a very relaxing, casual dining experience. Ole' Ole' is located on the south side of Broward Blvd, just west of Sears in the Broward Mall.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD was critically acclaimed (Daniel Day Lewis is being highly touted) and promised to be a better pick than the current flurry of mindless chick-flix. STEVE would agree that it fulfilled its promise and was an interesting movie. The action was intense and interesting and well-depicted. The acting seemed first-rate. However, he wished that the story had been a little more complete with a fuller depiction of the forces that were, at that time, shaping the future of America. He would have liked to have learned more about Standard Oil and the man behind that burgeoning empire. He was confused by the story, left wondering if it is just the simple story of one man's life and the improbable twists and turns that that life took, or if the film was some sort of allegory for bigger and more meaningful ideas.

Maybe it is trying to depict that crude oil is the "life-blood" of America, and that, for some people, money is of more value than family. Maybe it is trying to show that religion, and/or other service industries, are leeches to the economy and are at the mercy of the real money-makers who generate the infusion of cash upon which they feed. Whatever the intended meaning, it was unsatisfyingly obscure.

AUDREY was a good sport and tolerated the movie (Steve's choice) without complaint. She did no have much to say about it, though, and is still not quite certain what her review will be. She said the movie left her baffled, but that she liked it enough to think about it several times since seeing it.

J Alexanders and P.S. I Love You

ALEXANDER'S: Audrey enjoyed the soup (chicken pasta) and salad (Alex's house) combo while Steve ordered the Cypress Salad. The soup and salad is often just the right amount of food for Audrey, and is one of her favorite items to order. Steve was satisfied with the Cypress Salad, but was less happy with it than other items on the menu.

P.S. I LOVE YOU is a cute "chick flick" that stars Hilary Swank and some other good actors in a story of love and loss and moving on with life. AUDREY and STEVE both admire Swank's acting and enjoyed the movie well enough, but thought that it was flawed. The character played by Harry Connick Jr. was not developed well enough for us to care about him, and the ending of the movie seemed contrived. Steve and Audrey would recommend the show to others, but not enthusiastically, and might suggest waiting to see it on DVD.

Carrabba's and I Am Legend

At CARRABBA'S ITALIAN GRILL we shared a Margarita Pizza, which we found to be both plenty to share and satisfying to our tastes. Audrey also ordered the fired Mozzarella cheese sticks and Steve had a house salad. Overall, the food quality was quite good and the atmosphere was very pleasant. We had chosen to sit at an outside table, adjacent to a parking lot with a view of a busy road beyond. While the sights were not the best, the weather on that night was so pleasant that it more than compensated.

I AM LEGEND was a great show the we both enjoyed and would recommend to others. AUDREY found the action to be a bit alarming and the suspense to be overly intense, and she thinks that she would enjoy it more at a second viewing where she could relax (having already known the outcome). She said that the movie was well made and that Will Smith's performance was great. STEVE enjoyed the surprises and the action and the high production values. He felt that the treatment of the subject was a bit brief and would have liked to have seen a broader depiction of what it would be like for the last living person to explore an unpopulated New York City. Overall, we both liked the movie and are likely to buy the DVD for our personal collection.

Il Mulinos and The Golden Compass

IL MULINO (http://ilmulinofl.com) is one of the first full-service restaurants that we discovered when we moved to Florida seventeen years ago, so it was easy to commemorate our 23rd wedding anniversary while dining there.

Audrey ordered PENNE CONTADINA: Fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, onions & fresh mozzarella and Steve had FILETTO Beef tenderloin, mushrooms & mozzarella, side of rigatoni in a Porcini mushroom cream sauce & sausage. The service was efficient, if a bit brisk. The food was tasty and plentiful. One small complaint: the garlic rolls were so spicy hot that they were almost inedible.

For us, the occasion so overshadowed the meal that a good experience was guaranteed. A more objective evaluation of our food would rank it as somewhat less than we had hoped for, however.

THE GOLDEN COMPASS is a movie made from a book that AUDREY had read, so she was eager to see it. She said that the movie stayed true to the book and that she found them both entertaining. "I liked the book -- I did not love the book" she said. She was grateful that the movie sanitized the story, somewhat, by removing objectionable material dealing with children suffering at the hands of adults. Audrey is a Nicole Kidman fan and was impressed by her performance.

STEVE enjoyed the high quality of the special effects and battle-action, but the storyline in the middle scenes was not enough to overcome my sleep-deprivation. Even though my wife later informed me of the important plot-twist that I had missed during a brief nap, I found the movie much less interesting than The Lord of the Rings and Narnia. This show seemed to me to be a mixture of those two with some Harry Potter thrown in. While I did not hate The Golden Compass, I am not likely to return to the inevitable sequel.

J Alexanders and George and the Dragon (dvd)

J ALEXANDER'S (one of our favoriate restaurants, see 20 Oct 07 post): Audrey ordered the Chicken Salad sandwich (another favorite of hers) and Steve ordered the Grilled Chicken Salad. Because it is a salad it might sound small or not filling. But the truth is that it is a salad that is large in volume and large in taste, as it comes piled high and filled with many many wonderful ingredients such as thinly sliced chicken breast, feta cheese, olives, tomatoes, tortilla strips with fresh herb vinaigrette dressing. [J Alexander's menu can be seen at the following websight: http://www.jalexanders.com/locations/menu/plantation.pdf]

GEORGE AND THE DRAGON: We didn't really see anything in the theaters that we wanted to watch (mostly violent movies, rated R, or otherwise seemingly uninteresting) so we rented a video. George and the Dragon is rated PG and the star (James Purefoy) is a very likable, if relatively unknown, actor that you may recognize as the disguised Prince Edward in A Knight's Tale. This dvd selection proved to be a great family movie that we could easily watch with our 14 and 7 year old daughters. The plot is a clever twist on the old familiar theme of St George slaying a dragon. There is some implied violence but it is all very sanitized in the depiction. There is no vulgar language or immodest/immoral dressing or behavior. The show is filled with a fair amount of humor that will be pleasing to most all ages.

So the movie is not the best movie and the acting is not the finest acting that you will ever see, but it is a great alternative to mind-numbing and spirit-sapping "action" or "horror" flicks that are currently in the theaters.

Landlubbers and Across the Universe

LANDLUBBERS: We (Belle, Courtney, Audrey, Steve, and Hayden [a two year old visitor that we are watching over the weekend]) had lunch today at Landlubbers where Saturday mid-day meals have become something of a warmly held tradition in our family. This non-franchise restaurant is lined with thirty or more tvs tuned mostly to sports channels, provides paper and crayons for young kids, has a fairly robust menu that addresses a wide range of appetites, is run by a well seasoned staff, and has some very tasty food (located on the northwest corner of Pine Island and Sunrise). Audrey and Steve appreciate the large glasses of diet coke that are refilled generously. Audrey's favorite dish is the Philly-Cheese-Chicken sandwich with a side of french fries cooked extra-crispy. Today Steve ordered a cheeseburger with everything and a side of onion rings. The food its usual tastiness and neither diner was disappointed. Belle (7) ate two grilled cheese sandwiches made on thick Texas-toast and was proud to have eaten so much.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: We (Audrey and Steve) went to see ATU, having already allowed Courtney (14) to see it with her friend last weekend. We had seen a small portion of ATU previously and it had seemed innocent enough, as well as highly entertaining. Unfortunately for Courtney, now that we seen the whole movie, we will be having many conversations to reinforce our family values that oppose those portrayed in the movie. (Such is a teen's life with parents. There was too much "artistic nudity", non-marital sex, and drug use portrayed as normal fun-loving experiences.)



STEVE thought that the movie was indeed very highly entertaining, and that most mature people (old enough to remember/recognize the music) will like the movie very much. The soundtrack is a string of Beatle classic hits performed in fresh and moving voices and images. The love-story plot, set within the context of the 1960s anti-war and drug experimentation movement, seems secondary to the musical performances. Steve will recommend this movie to friends and will happily watch it again on dvd. He could actually just view the separate song segments as stand-alone video clips. Favorites scenes include the songs I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Come Together, and I Want You.

AUDREY was moved to tears more than once by the love story. She found the Jude character to be charming and funny, and most all the characters to be likable. Some of the references to the 1960s psychedelic movement were lost on her (she's only 41), but she did love the music and found the movie to be overall highly entertaining. She would recommend it to friends and hopes to watch it again on dvd.

J Alexanders and Michael Clayton

J ALEXANDER'S: Audrey ordered the Chicken Pasta Soup and Alexander's House Salad with Honey-Dijon dressing (a favorite combo of hers) and Steve ordered the Grilled Chicken Salad (a favorite that I've had many times). We both found the service and food to be quite good, even excellent. We are frequent diners at this restaurant (located on the Southeast corner of Broward Blvd and Pine Island Road) and we find that the service is always top-notch. Drinks are refilled promptly and unnecessary dishes removed throughout the meal. All items on the menu seem to be high flavor, high quantity, just plain high quality.

MICHAEL CLAYTON: AUDREY thought this attorney-flick was a little slow, at times, but had refreshingly realistic characters and was very well acted (she usually is not a fan of George Clooney, but thought he did a great job here). She liked the ending, especially the little twist. She said she would mildly recommendation this film to a friend and that she would watch it again on dvd, but she would not pay to see it again in the theater.

STEVE thought the movie was entertaining enough, and that it also carried a cautionary message about greed, the law, ethics, and relationships. He thought that Clooney looked comfortable in his character and that the film looked good on the screen, representing the story's murky morality through the use of gray lighting and an overall worn and disheveled look in the scenes. However, Steve was left feeling a bit unresolved, unfulfilled, or unsatisfied in the end. But that seems to be what the story was going for, as demonstrated by the very very last scene (he won't ruin the ending for you). He would recommend this movie to friends, but with the warning that it is not the typical Grishamesque-attorney, action-thriller, Hollywood-happy-ending movie that one might expect. He will quite likely watch it again on dvd, but would not pay to see it again in the theater.