Worth Sharing This Week: Romantical Things

Valentine's Evening John put on Puddles Pity Party...Doesn't sound romantic?  Well Puddles is a clown but he has the most awesome voice.  Check him out on Youtube.  He does standards and new arrangements of some rock songs.  This particular video, he did several old standards including "Charade" which was written by Henry Mancini for the soundtrack of the movie by the same name.

This song is so hauntingly lovely.  I wanted to share Puddles singing the song, but I can't find the video John was playing.   However, Andy Williams recorded the song and he's still my crooner of choice.

The film, "Charade" stars Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Walter Matthau among others.   While it's billed as a romantic comedy it's more  a romantic thriller with comic relief.  This is a good couples film  It's got Hepburn and Grant which means we ladies are likely going to like it right away but it's got just enough mystery and thriller to it to keep a husband's attention occupied too.  And there is romance as well you might expect with Cary Grant in the film.  If you haven't plans for the weekend, this  would be a great film for movie night.

Brandy at The Prudent Homemaker recommended this Lucy Worsley PBS special on Romance.  Episode 1 is available until March 8, so don't delay watching it through.  I love Lucy Worsley.  She makes history such an interesting thing and her historical look at Romance is a really good one.   The link above carries you to episode 1 but episode 2 is also online.  Just scroll down the page a bit and you'll see it listed.


In listening to this program, I can't help but recall that as a child I was always fond of romance.  No clue why.  Nothing in my childhood was romantic and certainly I was far too shy to even consider myself as the object of romance but I craved it all the same.  By third grade I was knee deep in young adult romance like Beverly Cleary's Fifteen .  By the summer of sixth grade I shared and shared alike with Granny and Mama, Barbara Cartland novels which were fast reads and yet had a certain historical teaching wrapped within the pages despite the long '......oh......I.......fainted...." lines, lol.  Victoria Holt's sweeping mysteries ranked right up there with Jane Eyre in capturing my imagination for love.  Oh to be that young and impressionable and so sure I knew what romance was and how it would look when applied to my life.

Anne of Green Gables was romantical by her own expression and indeed she was.  If ever a soul took the joy of life as a whole, it was dear Anne Shirley.   I've liked the 'Anne with an e' series on Netflix, but it is a bit dark, and rather free with the screen writer's idea of what might have occurred at times.  That series'  Anne comes across a great deal more hysterical and unreasonable than she does in Lucy Maud Montgomery's portrayal of her in the books.  If you want to watch a good series of film then choose the one that stars Meagan Follows as Anne.  That  is closer to the books and quite romantic in a way that doesn't make romance seem either silly nor hysterical and hormonal.

The Atkins diet doesn't sound very romantic but I learned a great deal while we were eating on that diet.  And one of the things I learned was how to make cheesecake.  Now that is a romantic dessert.  I didn't learn to make the springform pan variety of cheesecake but just a simple recipe that we came to really enjoy and to which I turn still when I want a cheesecake.  Back in the day, I used Splenda which works just fine, but since I've gone back to using just good old sugar.  However, it was a genius moment that had me dump mini chocolate chips into the batter one day while on Atkins.  Oh my!   Here's a further hint to dress it up a wee bit more if you so desire: top with a little chocolate ganache and let it set.  Sooooo good!

Easy as 1-2-3 Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

1 9-inch graham cracker crust

2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325.   Mix cream cheese, sugar and eggs until smooth.  Add in extract and chocolate chips and stir well.  Pour into graham crust.  Bake 40 minutes, until set.  Remove from oven and allow to cool then put in fridge for 3 hours.