PreValentine Date Night

Pizza and a movie. And a bottle of wine. Perfect date night.

The pizza? Start with some Trader Joe's herb crust dough. Heat up that pizza stone nice and hot. Add some TJ fresh mozzarella and bake five minutes. Now top that disc with the following: browned fresh italian sausage (no casings), caramelized onions and garlic, lightly sauteed spinach, sun dried tomatoes, a little prosciutto if you have it, kalamata olives, grated asiago cheese, goat cheese, then bake 5 more minutes.

The vino? La Boca Malbec from TJ's. Under $4 a bottle. A steal.

The movie: courtesy of Netflix, The Visitor

Strange coincidence with the film. We were driving around Trout Lake looking for decent snow for an afternoon cross country ski (which we didn't find), listening to Fresh Air on our local public radio station. There was an interview with actor Richard Jenkins, nominated for best actor in The Visitor (2007). This film kind of went under the radar. When I put it in my queue I had never heard of it. I read the reviews on the netflix site, and decided it was worth a viewing. Anyway, I'm listening to this interview, thinking, this sounds like a great movie. I didn't know what movie I had waiting to be watched...I was really surprised when I opened the red envelope that night!

The Visitor is about a widowed economics professor (Jenkins as Walter Vale) who finds his NYC apartment occupied by a couple of illegal immigrants, Tariq (from Syria) and Zainab (from Senegal). He gets wrapped up in their lives when Tariq is thrown into a detention center. I highly recommend putting it in your own queue. It is VERY worthy.