I woke up on Saturday morning, thinking I was going to have an easy, breezy (beautiful, Cover Girl) weekend. Little did I know I would meet Marilyn Monroe!
Me: “But Marilyn, don’t Gentleman Prefer Redheads?“Marilyn: “Oh honey, everyone prefers redheads.”
(So true. So true.)
Although one of the highlights might have been meeting Miss Marilyn, this whole weekend was a whirlwind that came unexpectedly (like the tornado in The Wizard of Oz, perhaps?) I might have thought I would spend the weekend reading, cooking, and perhaps having a My Boys: Season 3 marathon…but that is not what happened.
As I told you on Friday, I went to the Alamo Drafthouse immediately after work to meet a bunch of friends for the Master Pancake Theater screening of The Breakfast Club. The live comedians were hilariously inappropriate, and we all were dying with laughter. Despite being exhausted, I had a wonderful time! [If you ever have the chance to experience a showing of a film with live commentary, I totally recommend it.]
Bonus: People were handing out free Swedish Fish samples when we left the movie!
For dinner Friday night, I had ordered “The Big (Organic) One” burger, but had opted to have a veggie black bean burger replace the two quarter pound beef burgers. [This worked out perfectly, as I really just wanted the toppings that were on the original, and also wanted to try the veggie burger.] It was incredibly delicious and I polished off the whole darn thing. I was left, of course, with inspiration.
The burger had had a rosemary aoli* on it, as well as roasted red peppers, and the whole flavor combination with the black bean burger was a shock of delicious pairing I was not expecting. Needless to say, I wanted to recreate the flavors.
*”Aoli is short for delicious mayonaisse”–Cara
When in doubt as to what to do, Sarah makes hummus. Rosemary Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, to be more specific.
Since we have rosemary growing in our front yard, that was easy enough to pick and wash.
Although I wanted to do a black bean hummus to fully recreate my Drafthouse burger experience, I already had garbanzos in the pantry, so I stuck with those. Roasted red peppers were also in the fridge, left over from my 10-Layer Greek Dip.
Into the food processor went one can of beans, rinsed, as well as 1 whole roasted red pepper.
I recommend you start with just one, but if it isn’t flavorful enough for you (it wasn’t for me) add another! (This also helped with the consistency.)
Then I added a good 2-3 tablespoons of rosemary leaflets, which I just pulled off the stem by gliding my fingers down it. (Not all of what I used is in the photo.)
So what did I do with that hummus? Well, I saved some of it in the fridge….but quite a bit had a more important destination….
See, this was apparently a blockbuster weekend, since I had made plans to see a matinee at the Paramount here in Austin, which has been screening old films all summer. On the docket for Saturday? Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which I had never seen, but had always wanted to. (I’m pretty sure it has been in my Netflix queue for ages but kept getting knocked down.)
A girl can’t go to a movie without snacks, of course, so I packed up some hummus…
…and a bag of veggies…
…and, well, POPCORN of course!
Some people might think this* is crazy, but even if you think you aren’t going to want it, as soon as you walk into the theater and smell that buttery goodness, how can you NOT just want at least nibble? I decided to come prepared, and popped this prior to departure. [As a side note, this Jolly Time is AMAZING. I had no clue when I bought it on sale it would be so good.] Try not to burn it though, because your purse will smell like popcorn for a few hours afterward. 
*I was referencing bringing popped popcorn into the theater…but on retrospect, bringing hummus is probably crazier.
Speaking of purses, the key to a good snack smuggling is a very large, preferably elastic-topped, bag.
The movie was hilarious, in that oh-my-goll-look-at-what-they-just-did-and-can-get-away-with-it-because-it’s-the-1950s kind of way. It’s also the film from which “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” comes, although during its entirety I was dubbing Marilyn’s voice for Nicole Kidman’s singing from Moulin Rouge in my mind.
There is also a production number in the film that no one ever mentions involving Jane Russell surrounded by buff athletic men wearing flesh-colored Speedo-type shorts and doing rather erotic-for-the-1950s “dances.” That was interesting.
The Paramount is a very old theater and they are competing to win grant money for a historic preservation. Since I signed the petition for it, I was able to get $1 off at the bar. Since I wasn’t in the mood for beer/wine/cocktails [yes, there is a bar in the lobby], I got myself a Diet Coke! (And oh boy, it was delicious.)
So long any idea of a relaxing Saturday evening, as I was invited spontaneously that afternoon to not one, but TWO BBQs. I originally had just thought I would be going to the one, last-minute invitation, but then I realized that I can’t read, as the BBQ I thought was Sunday was actually Saturday as well. [I guess I was more tired on Friday than I thought. Hey, they both do start with S!]
What would Marilyn do? Obviously she would party hop.
I threw together a fruit salad from whatever was in my fridge to take to the first shindig…
…where my friend Amanda and I split a fajita with incredible grilled beef, on one of the best tortillas I have ever had, along with some amazing salsa, the brands of which I wish I had remembered to write down.
(You know you’re in Texas when “BBQ” means “fajitas.”)
On our way to the second party, we stopped to pick up a watermelon, a bottle of girly Rose wine, and some carrots and hummus. (Gotta bring the healthy…) That is pretty much what we consumed when we got there, although there were some shrimp skewers with pineapple that would have been delicious…
…had we not forgotten about them and they burned to a crisp and reduced to at least 1/3 of their original size.
And if you thought I decided to make up for the surprisingly busy Saturday by resting on Sunday, well, not so my little chickadees. I did laundry (including sheets!), prepped lunch and breakfast for the next two days, as well as made a casserole to eat throughout the week (details on that to come)…AND, excitement of excitements, I went to eat Salt Lick BBQ last night, which is uber-famous and so worthy of an OH. MY. GOLL. on the deliciousness scale. [I will be posting those photos separately, as they deserve their own tribute.]
