Yesterday, right after I published my post, I was given tragic news.
The beloved Robin Williams has passed away.
I've never hoped so badly for a hoax in my entire life. I kept waiting for someone to say "guys, no, this isn't real". But then, as this popped up on the news and was confirmed by the police, my heart sank to my toes and into the ground and through the Earth.
Today, I'm not going to talk about his death. I'm not going to talk about how badly the United States needs to fix how they handle mental illness. These are issues, but this is not the time or place.
Today I'm going to talk about how Robin Williams saved my life, and why he was such a treasure to the world.
Everyone knew about Robin Williams' depression. We all knew that he had suffered. He never made it a secret. And that is part of what made him so great. In a time where people look down on you if you're ill, he spoke up and showed people that you're not a freak for being depressed. You're not a freak for having problems. People could look at him and go "Oh wow, I'm not alone!".
I'm scared to write this article. I'm scared that, well, people (my parents) will see this and they'll be devastated. But it's easier to write than to speak, so I guess I'll just say it.
There have been multiple times in my life when I have wanted to die. Where I have planned it, where I have curled up and cried over it.
One of Robin Williams' films helped save me. And that is part of why I am so upset about his death. This is part of why I get so mad when people say, "You've never met him so you shouldn't be crying". Even if I never met him, his work saved me. And everyone has the right to be sad. I have the right to be sad about a man's death, for goodness sake.
(Parents, I'm sorry if you see this. It's hard for me to admit this to you guys because I know you only want my happiness and I know you try very, very hard to make me happy. And I always appreciate and love your gestures. So please know that none of this was from anything you did. It was a mixture of my own illnesses and my personality in general. Please do me a favour and don't talk about this with me, though. If we tried to speak, I'd leave the room. I can't talk about this face to face. Only when I write can I really talk about this comfortably.)
I still have days where I think about what it would be like to die tomorrow. I think people would be lying if they didn't admit to at least one moment of this in their lives. And I also think it's true that the funniest, kindest people are usually the ones who are ripped apart inside and can't find happiness for themselves.
But, humour can save lives. And I'm glad Robin Williams could help save me, but I'm heartbroken that he couldn't save himself in the end.
(And I realize I didn't mention it earlier, but the movie that saved me was 'Patch Adams' of all things.)
Not only was Robin Williams able to educate people on the dangers of addiction and depression, but he genuinely did make people laugh.
Robin Williams was kind of like a big kid. I feel like, maybe in a way, he had more power than he knew what to do with. Maybe that was overwhelming at times. He just wanted to make people laugh, and suddenly it was like everyone in the world was watching him.
But with his jokes, how could we not look at him?
This scene, from Mrs. Doubtfire, was the first thing to honestly make me laugh after I heard the news. One of the upsides of this incident is that people are talking about him. We're all talking about our favourite scenes from his movies, and while this whole thing is a tragedy, it's also bringing laughter.
Almost every single person I know is falling apart from this news. Everyone is posting about it. Everyone is crying about it. Everyone is making memorial posts and beautiful photo collages and singing praise for him. And in a way, this is beautiful. Coming together like this is beautiful.
He was my childhood. He was my hero. He saved me. He was like any person; he had his problems. But he was also special because he took those problems, said "Fuck you", and tried to make people laugh anyway.
Rest in peace, Robin Williams. And I really hope that people respect his family during this awful time. (I'm especially worried for Zelda Williams - I enjoy her work and she seems like an incredibly nice person, so I hope she's relaxing and has friends and a good support system during this time.)
So a few days ago, my parents insisted that I had to go see a movie with them. (I say insisted, but really I love movies so maybe that's too harsh of a word.) They said I'd love it. They wouldn't tell me what it was or who was in it or anything like that.
Today, I finally went with them to see it.
It was playing in a little theatre in Philly (the best one) and I never get to go here anymore, so I was thrilled.
I cannot even describe my love for this place. I hate that I can't go here for every single movie. They kick you out if you use your phone and it's so clean and beautiful. Also they've started showing older movies again (ughhhhhhh they're gonna show 'Back to the Future' and I wanna go!).
(I saw a preview for a movie that I demand to see, by the way. A piece called 'A Letter to Momo'. I'll let you guys know if/when I see it.)
So as the film started, I was trying to figure out why they had chosen this for me. And then I figured it out.
Audrey Tautou? Michel Gondry? I'm on board! (From this point on, I'll refer to the film by its English title.)
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
'Mood Indigo' is a colourful film about a dashing, rich young man named Colin. As he watches his friends enter relationships, he grows lonely and wishes to fall in love. He meets the beautiful Chloe at a party, and from there they continue their awkward and adorable relationship until he asks her to marry him.
While on their honeymoon, Chloe falls ill. She has a "water lily" in her chest, and the only way to help her is by surrounding her with fresh flowers. He loses his fortune while providing for her, and does his best to work hard and save money to keep her alive.
I should've known this wouldn't be a carefree film. Not really, anyway. It starts with a bright palette and joyful characters, but quickly turns into a drab, sad film.
Some of you may know of director Michel Gondry's work - he's also directed 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' and 'The Science of Sleep'. I couldn't really place his name until I had watched a few minutes of the film - he uses a lot of the same filming techniques in this that he did in 'The Science of Sleep'.
I was trying to figure out why I recognized Romain Duris, and it wasn't until I got home and looked him up that I realized he was in the French film 'Populaire' (I haven't seen it yet, but I've researched it recently so his face was familiar to me). He was incredibly captivating as the hero, and I just wanted to squeeze him up.
And I mean, I'm such an Audrey Tautou fan. I think she's ridiculously cute. Like a woodland creature.
Like many, I was introduced to her from 'Amelie'. And after that, I was hooked. My other favourite film of hers, I think, is 'He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not'.
Basically, you'll enjoy this film if you like films by Wes Anderson. The director is the French version of Wes Anderson. He creates these whimsical, emotional pieces that can be a bit slow sometimes, but they're always filled with heart.
I ended up crying at the end of this and the only thing keeping me from sobbing outright was my own shame. And naturally, they turned the lights on in the theatre while I was mid-bawl. Great.
People look at me like I have seven heads when I tell them that I am generally not a fan of Stephen King. I remember I once told a guy about how much I disliked King's writing, and this guy immediately started calling me obscenities and told me I must be stupid.
Well then.
Despite not really caring for him, I've read a lot of his work. A part of me keeps hoping I'll find stuff I really like (and I have), but I'm usually disappointed.
Before I talk about Cujo specifically, I guess I'll address some of the reasons why I tend to dislike King's writing.
I have a problem with unsympathetic characters.
I find most of King's characters to be completely nasty and vile, and it makes it hard for me to read his stories. This is a basic complaint in the literary world. People want to cheer for the hero. Or for anyone. Maybe even the twisted anti-hero, or the villain. Just, somebody!
But King's characters are usually these mounds of farting, pissing, shitting, cursing flesh. (Typically his male characters, anyway.) And that's fine. People do fart and piss and shit and curse. So why not write about that? And in a way, it's kind of a relief - in books, writers tend to romanticize their characters to death (I'm glaring at you, Nicholas Sparks; you hack). You just start picturing these 60s-esque TV characters that couldn't be shown in bed together or weren't allowed to use a toilet. So, while it's fun to run from reality and picture a world where we all have our pinkies in the air 24-7, it's also nice to occasionally be reminded that we're only human, and we all have bodily functions.
King kind of takes it to the other extreme, though - the Sparks extreme. Instead of writing these fluffy and clean characters, almost ALL of King's characters are just these vile buckets of soul, I guess. They're so disgusting and terrible that I don't even want to be near them anymore.
And not only are they these vile people in their natural behaviours, but they're vile people in their hearts! Almost every story has a man that beats a woman or cheats or steals or kills. And I know he's a horror writer. I am FULLY aware of this. I don't expect his tales to be filled with unicorns and happy bouncing babies. But it's almost as if he's incapable of writing someone who is good. I'm not even asking for like, Superman-level goodness here. Just an okay kind of guy. And while this happens in his work, it's RARE. And in those rare instances, it's usually a child. (And while children are usually seen as these innocent beings, children can also be horrific. And I find it cliche of him to write the children as the good guys.)
One of my other problems with him is his within his actual writing style. He's in this weird level between Hemingway and a college student sometimes. And then other times, he writes beautiful sentences that portray the surroundings well. It's conflicting. The quality that we get from him isn't consistent.
You don't have to use a lot of beautiful words to write a beautiful story. But sometimes, it doesn't hurt.
For example: as I stated earlier, he often talks about bodily functions of people. But he'll say it as simply as "He farted". And I just... It does nothing for me. It's okay I guess, but there are so many other routes he could go with that. He could make farts a lot more eloquent. (But I guess that kind of takes away from the farts in the first place.)
The last and final problem that I'll poke at before I go into the actual review is this... Well, just watch the video.
Sometimes, King really reaches.
But rather than purely turn this into an entry where I complain about King, let's delve into this actual book review.
(Today's special guest - my Nook named Lucy.)
I started this entry in a kind of negative tone, but actually I started off this possible Stephen King marathon with one of his books that I actually generally like.
Warning: There are spoilers past this point. It's been out for over three decades, but god forbid.
Donna Trenton and her son Tad are going out to get their car fixed. You know, run-of-the-mill kind of chore. When they reach the home of the man who does their repairs, they're met with the sight of a rabid dog named Cujo. It's then that Donna's car finally chooses to die, and she's stuck in this car with her son while this nasty dog tries to kill them.
Oh, and did I mention there's a record-setting heatwave happening? And they're stuck in a CAR? And conveniently, everything falls into place perfectly so they're left stranded for days?
Yeah, not an ideal situation.
Since I started this entry on a rather negative foot, let's get all of it out of the way now and end it nicely, shall we?
I actually don't have many issues with Cujo. My biggest one seems kind of silly, actually.
While this seems like a simple "dog's gone rabid" kind of situation, King wants to make you doubt that. He talks of a man who went a bit postal before the Trentons moved to this town - a man named Frank Dodd, who murdered women and children.
Throughout the story, King keeps coming back to Dodd and linking him with Cujo. He gently implies, at times, that Dodd may be possessing Cujo through the rabies. I believe it's the sheriff named Bannerman who says something along the lines of "Was hell too hot for you, Dodd?".
And I just... Ugh. This IRKED me.
Personally, I find that the more realistic horror stories are the scarier ones. I tried to actually ignore these Dodd comments because I just wanted it to be a dog with rabies. Not a dog with rabies that was possessed by a dead killer through the rabies. There's something terrifying about this story because it could easily happen (although not as much nowadays because of how strict people are with vets and animals, but it could still occur). The heart of true terror comes from being able to imagine it happening to you, and I can't really picture some dead guy taking over my neighbour's dog before it goes insane and tries to kill me. I CAN, however, picture that same dog getting rabies and jumping over my fence and ripping my throat out.
You see what I mean?
The supernatural is nice, but once in a while you just have to let it go and face the fear. The real fear in real life. This could have potentially been a great story if he had eased it a bit with the Dodd references (although I think the idea of Tad overhearing the story of the Dodd murders and later imagining him in his closet was good).
My other problem with this story was that, yet again, I was left with a (mostly) unsympathetic character. I really didn't like Donna. I found her to be shallow and kind of idiotic and selfish. And I mean, some people are like that. But they're people I try to avoid in real life, as well as in literature. Maybe the presence of Tad was supposed to help, but it didn't really. (When she talked about how she slept with Steve Kemp because she was afraid, I was ready to throw a table. I couldn't handle how childish and stupid that sounded. You're afraid of getting old, basically? How vain are you? I don't want to be your friend or know you, go away.)
Now, with all of that out of the way, let's address what I liked about the book.
I liked that we finally had a sympathetic husband! Usually they're selfish or stupid or mean too, but poor Vic was actually fairly nice. I mean it's not like he was giving candy to babies on the street, but he was a sweet and simple guy. He didn't beat his wife or beat his kid, he actually took care of his kid, and he somehow didn't instantly leave his wife when he found out she had had an affair? I mean, go Vic.
I also really enjoyed the parts from Cujo's perspective. How he thought of THE MAN and THE WOMAN and THE BOY. It was almost a shame that he had to die, and that Donna was only able to see how "bad" he was. (I wasn't alive when this was first published, but I wonder if this book inspired people to distance themselves from Saint Bernards? You know, kind of like the Jaws effect?)
My favourite part of the book is also definitely the most morbid part - I liked that King killed off Tad. Not only was it realistic, but it just made the book really grim and you were left with this sadness at the end. He didn't cop out. (Although they copped out with the film, damn it. I was so angry! But I guess reading about a child dying from dehydration is easier than seeing it, so maybe I should let that go.) And I mean, let's be real. Even though I just talked about King's lack of realism at times, this was the one point where he really nailed it. There's no way Tad, a little four year old boy, would survive that. Maybe if he was older, sure. But not a little boy. And not when Donna was dumb enough to eat some of their rations early on because she didn't assume the worst, sigh.
I think I'm going to go on a Stephen King kick here and review all of his books, but we'll see what strikes my mood! I started The Shining (my other favourite book of his) and then who knows after that?
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about what I should read next, feel free to comment here or send me an email!
Hello everyone, and welcome to Sailor Moon Saturday! We'll have a new episode next week, but until then we'll talk about more mythology today!
Warning: This post is spoiler-heavy for those who have never seen the 90s show or read the manga.
Today I'll be discussing Ami Mizuno, as well as the traditional mythology of the planet Mercury.
Quickly, we'll talk about something REALLY basic. So, as you probably know, Sailor Mercury uses the power of water when she fights.
Well, for those who don't speak Japanese, here's a basic lesson - see her last name, Mizuno? The kanji for mizu (水) stands for water! So, there's that. Basic lesson. Now, onto the fun part. Roman mythology. So far, our characters have been the same genders as our mythological gods, right? But now we're drifting from that a bit. While Ami/Sailor Mercury is a woman, Mercury in Roman mythology is portrayed by a man. (We'll discuss it in a future article, but there's a lot of gender fluidity within the original Sailor Moon manga, so we can't really be surprised by this.)
One interesting thing is that in traditional tales, Mercury is often seen as the son of Jupiter (watch out there with that boy-chasing attitude, Matoko). Mercury was also known by multiple, similar names! It varied from Mercury to Mercurius (which is probably what really lead to the word mercurial) to Merqurius to Mirqurios to Mircurios. One fact that I did find interesting (and actually kind of links Mercury to Ami/Sailor Mercury a little bit) is that there was a festival to celebrate Mercury called the Mercuralia. It took place on May 15th and involved sprinkling water over the heads of merchants and their merchandise/transportation. The water was taken from a well located at the Porta Capena, a gate in Rome. I'm kind of going backwards with this article, but now let's discuss Hermes, the Greek counterpart to Mercury (and the god that came first, actually).
I'll talk about it more in a second, but really Ami doesn't relate much to the god counterparts. However, she at least shares one common trait with Hermes - she's smart. Hermes may not have held the same type of intelligence that Ami has shown to us, but they're both smart in their own ways. But that's pretty much the only common element between the two characters. While reading the Wikipedia entry for Hermes, I did find something interesting. Psychiatrist Carl Jung had once discussed the psychology behind Hermes; Hermes was seen as a guide to the underworld, and Jung interpreted this as a way of guiding information between the conscious and the subconscious. So perhaps Ami does this too, in a way? She brings information that would seem obvious to attention in order to constantly save the entire party. I highly doubt this was the author's original intent, but it's an idea to chew. To be honest, I feel like Ami is the character that can least relate to her god counterpart(s). Usagi and Luna remind me of theirs, but when I was researching Mercury and Hermes, I just didn't get the same feel. Which is good! It's nice that Naoko Takeuchi wasn't afraid to carve her own path with these characters and not stick entirely to mythology. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please leave a comment below or email me! Next week we'll have another episode. Thank goodness. I can't handle the wait in between new episodes, ugh. xo, Kate
Originally I was just going to watch this week's episode when it came out at 6 a.m. (which is the EST for the releases, I think) but I ended up going to sleep around then so whoopsie!
Let's dive in!
(Warning: This post will be filled with images and will be spoiler-heavy, so turn back now if you wanna avoid all of that.)
Today's episode was entitled 'Act 3 - Rei, Sailor Mars'.
Within the first few minutes of the episode, we're introduced to some of the other villains in the first season.
Nephrite! Lookin' good, chickadee. (I wonder if they'll keep the romance between him and Naru in this adaptation? It didn't happen in the manga but all of my friends really liked it in the original anime so hmmmm. They've already taken some liberties from the manga so I could see this happening. But I'm doubtin' it.)
And a view of Zoisite! AND HEY HE'S A MAN AGAIN. (American censors felt the need to change his gender because he's so ~*feminine*~ and by that I guess they felt like kids would be confused at the idea of a man with a ponytail? I dunno. Understanding gender in the United States is like trying to understand trigonometry when you're in diapers.)
We haven't gotten a GREAT shot of Queen Beryl yet, but I thought this was the best one as of now. We get quick glimpses of her in the opening theme song and throughout other episodes, but it's always a flash and then she's gone. I wonder when they'll actually give us a grand reveal of her? Hmmmmm.
I need to sit everyone down and just praise the background artists right now though. I think they're the ones who worked the hardest on this anime. I'm blown away by the beautiful watercolour illustrations? I mean, I suck at backgrounds/landscapes AND watercolours, so this is overwhelming to me.
Like the original anime, today's episode talks of the haunted demon bus that basically spirits whoever is on it away. Unlike the 90s version though, this seems less like the Magic School Bus and more like a messed up version that I'd expect to see in a Japanese horror film. I'm just waiting for girls to come crawling off it with their heads twisted backward and their faces covered in long black hair.
This is another instance of just a BEAUTIFUL background. It may seem really simple, but oh man just look at that shading. Mmmmmmm.
One of my biggest complaints about this show is the conflicting quality of animation and artwork. Unless you have an EXTREME closeup of the characters, I feel as though they look sloppy. And when you put that next to gorgeous background art, it kind of leaves you feeling a little muddled. It bothers me, heh. In this episode especially I've noticed basic anatomy that was really thrown off (and I mean, I know anime anatomy and art school anatomy are two different things, but I'm specifically talking about anime anatomy here).
And here we have Rei Hino! Thankfully they've kept her eyes relatively small (to convey how serious and "adult-like" her character is) and she's not really loud and chasing after boys. At least, so far. In the manga she's more concerned about her career and her own success and isn't really boy-crazy, and I'm hoping they keep that aspect of her character. Not because being boy-crazy is necessarily a bad thing or that being concerned with your career is necessarily a good thing, but because this attitude brings a nice kind of "foil" reaction to the rest of the group. Since, you know, everyone else besides Ami seems to be kind of boy-crazy and loud.
This scene quickly reminded me of the anime 'Jigoku Shoujo' (another great series) due to the specific nature of the red here. I wonder if they brought someone in from that animation team?
I wish I could read Rei's talisman here. I wonder if anyone can? (Which, on a slightly related note, I've noticed the English translation is a little off. I can understand Japanese better when I hear it than I can read or write it, and I've noticed a few little things. Maybe they cut dialogue to save time or because it was unnecessary, but I haven't really seen the point yet.)
Rei is a miko shrine maiden (part of the Shinto religion), as evidenced by her earlier methods of prayer and her outfit here. Perhaps I'll go into that more when I talk about her character another week.
More mentions of the demon bus, wo0o0o0o.
GUYS LOOK MAMORU OWNS SOMETHING BESIDES A TUXEDO! (Granted, it's still a suit, but shhhh. And I think it's kind of weird that he wears a suit as his school uniform - even if he goes to an exclusive high school, I'd still think his uniform would be more practical - but whatever.)
More applause goes to this series for the quality of their background music. It's much darker than the 90s series and adds a more serious tone to conversations like these. Rather than expecting a melodramatic sob story ripped off from a soap opera, I get a more supernatural and sad sense from these kinds of scenes. It's a good thing.
GOD this series is more traumatically scary than the 90s one. I fear for the children.
For some reason, Usagi felt the need to transform herself into a flight attendant while chasing the bus??? Which apparently included adding A SUITCASE WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST DROP IT AND RUN and also you're not even flying please stop.
(I couldn't even make that into a proper sentence, that scene frazzled me that much.)
Well, at least Luna's safe. But uhhhh yeah, bye bye.
I felt kinda bad for screenshotting this because do we really want to see Usagi being so sad? But I was just kind of happy that the animation for her face wasn't bad soooo. Whoops.
Does the idea of Luna using a computer tickle anyone else, or is it just me? Catsby just rolls all over mine and ruins everything.
OKAY SO, before anyone starts really calling the "creepy alarms" on this statement...
In the manga, he and the other "Kings of the Dark Kingdom" (as they are referred to in this anime) are actually kind of like knights for Prince Endymion. So they're like Earth knights. And while Endymion was off frolicking with the Moon Princess, the four knights were like "oh uh uh". And they all basically went off and paired with the Moon Princess' knights for some hookin' up fun I guess. And hey, you guessed it, the Sailor Scouts were her knights.
So in a past life and before he was kind of "hypnotized" by Queen Beryl, Jadeite was romantically involved with Rei. So he's kind of remembering his past relationship here, not just drooling over an unconscious girl.
Rei won't take your nonsense. I love how she just grabs these supernatural villains WITH HER BARE HANDS? BEFORE SHE EVEN KNOWS SHE'S A SAILOR SCOUT????? That takes dedication.
I can't stand the fact that everyone else so far has a much better transformation sequence than the star of the show. IT'S DRIVING ME UP THE WALL.
Ahhhhh, so wonderful.
Now, this kind of confused me, but if this is going to be like the manga I think I know where this is going. I'll let you guys know if I was right when I write up Sailor Moon Saturday #7.
The next episode of Sailor Moon Crystal will be debuting on August 16th and is entitled 'Act 4 - Masquerade Dance Party'.
I'm currently watching the show on Crunchyroll but there are a few other places to watch it too! Hulu also has it.
If you guys have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to leave me a message below or email me!
So yet again, we are left with a void in our hearts. No new Sailor Moon today! (However, the new episode will be up next week.)
I'll be continuing the theme I have at the moment with the Sailor Moon column - today I'll be talking about mythology again, only this time I'll be discussing Luna.
Warning: This post is a little spoiler-y for those who have never seen the 90s show, watched the movies or read the manga.
Last week I also touched on Moon mythology, but rather than talk about Selene again I'm going to talk about Luna, the Roman goddess.
Luna is the Roman equivalent of Selene (who is Greek).
In Rome, there is a spot called Palatine Hill, which was once the home to a temple for Luna. Supposedly this temple would shine in the night, but not much is really known about said temple besides that.
Like in the image above, Luna was often shown driving a chariot. This chariot is called a biga, and is meant to sort of "pair" with the chariot that the Sun god drove (called a quadriga) to show the balance of the morning and the evening.
What I found unusual about Luna was that she was a minor god, so to speak. She was often paired up with two others, Hecate and Diana. I had always thought that they were three separate and bigger gods, but really they sort of acted like a triangle. (Also, we shall discuss this more later, but in Sailor Moon Diana is actually the daughter/kitten of Luna and Artemis.)
Because she is the counterpart of Selene, she was also commonly paired with Endymion in stories. (Which, while understandable, skeeves me out a little bit. Mamoru and Luna.... Um. Although if we're going to discuss animal-human love, we can always nod to the second Sailor Moon movie.) She was also paired with Jupiter!
I know these articles are short, but I kind of like to keep them brief. Maybe it's my way of balancing out how long next week's will be!
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please leave a comment below or email me! Next week I'll be reviewing the new episode, so hurray!
Hi everyone! It's been a while since I posted one of my own recipes, and today I was feeling adventurous. I just started exercising again today, so why not pig out and negate all of my hard work!?
Unfortunately I don't have many pictures from the actual cooking process, but hopefully my instructions will be easy to understand!
ingredients:
3 Tbsps all-purpose flour
1/2-3/4 cup beer (I only used 1/2 but whatever floats your boat will work)
1 tsp spicy brown mustard
2 8-ounce packages vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti), softened
1 8-ounce package Daiya shredded cheddar
3 Tbsps dry ranch dressing mix (most store brands are vegan but read the labels carefully anyway!)
optional: Sriracha, to taste
instructions:
In a medium pot over low-medium heat, pour in the beer. Quickly whisk in the flour. It will turn into a weird beige "paste"; at this point, remove from heat (but keep heat at the ready!).
Whisk the spicy brown mustard into the paste, and put this back on the heat. Keep the heat on low-medium.
Slowly raise the heat to medium and mix in the cream cheese. Once this has begun to melt, start mixing in the Daiya shredded cheddar. I mixed a little at a time to make sure it was evenly distributed throughout the cream cheese.
Mix in the dry ranch dressing mix and the optional Sriracha.
Optional: Before eating, broil the dip in an oven-safe bowl on high for two minutes to make it extra melty and more of a golden colour!
Here's my little mise en place! The blue mason jar has my homemade dry Ranch dressing mix (which I'll talk about more in a second), and that bowl in the lower-right corner has flour in it.
I am not responsible for any of you bad little kiddies that are under 21, so none of that! But yeah, this is pretty much the East Coast's beer love. (I don't really drink much in general, especially beer, but I like Yuengling. Whoops, fulfilling that stereotype I guess!)
Please note that, despite what you may think, not all alcohol is vegan. If you're unsure about what beers are safe/if you have any questions, please visit Barnivore for more information!
Now, I got the recipe for the homemade Ranch dressing mix from this wonderful book! You can follow the lovely Lane Gold on Twitter or on Instagram! I love this book and always highly recommend it. I've loved everything I've made from it, although I tend to lower the amount of salt in my recipes just because I'd like to cut down in general.
Here was a picture from the mixing process. Mmmmm, dip.
Eric and I had a box of soft pretzel mix in the cabinet, so we whipped those up too. I mean, nothing like beer and pretzels and cheese right!?
I hope you guys enjoy this recipe! I pretty much scarfed everything down in sight, heh. I recommend this for big parties or a night in with your friends. It's pretty easy to make AND it's delicious! Even people who don't like alcohol/beer will probably enjoy this dish.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, feel free to leave a message for me here or email me!
