Moneyball- Starring Brad Pitt

*This whole post is a spoiler alert* 

I still haven't really decided my feelings on this movie, and I watched it over a week ago. I love good sports stories: Remember the Titans, Coach Carter, Glory Road. But maybe I like these movies because they actually win in the end. But in Friday Night Lights, they don't win, and that movie was tough for me to watch. I'm sure almost everyone has had their hopes high for their team to win something big, and when they lose, it just hurts. That's happened for me with the Spurs, my brother's ward basketball team, and some of my high school teams. It just sucks. So, I just don't know how to feel about this movie. I liked it because I didn't know what was going to happen. When the Oakland A's came to that 20th game, and they needed the win to break the record, I thought they were going to lose and I got all anxious. I really liked that about the movie. But when Billy Beane, the Oakland A's general manager, doesn't ever win a championship, and STILL hasn't won a championship to this day, it's just heartbreaking. I mean, why would they make a movie about this then?! Ok, so he pretty much brought that whole stats strategy to the game of baseball, but I mean, it didn't work for him, so again, why would they make this movie?! I'll just say, I was not in a happy mood by the end of it.

Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant

We went to eat at the Knott's Berry Farm restaurant last night with some friends, and it was a first time for me.  There were a few things I liked and a few things that I did not like at all.  I didn't like the waiter. He seemed like he was always in a rush to get somewhere else and didn't have enough time to answer our questions or give us straws. He took forever to get to us once our whole party was there, he answered my question about burgers like he didn't want to take the time put the order in, he didn't really check on us while we were eating, and he looked annoyed when we asked for biscuits that weren't burned. I didn't like that I only had two options to choose from on the menu. I didn't know it was called Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner, I just knew it as Knott's Berry Farm, so I expected a wider variety on the menu. But instead, I could have either gotten a plate that cost $15.90 that was a different kind of chicken, or a smaller plate that cost $12.50 that consisted of two pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and a salad with no substitutions. I asked the waiter if I could order a burger from the lunch menu, but he looked annoyed and said that it would take a lot longer for that meal to come out if I did order it, and he didn't really seem like he wanted to be there longer than he had to. I ordered the small plate. Having that few of options to choose from for dinner was a little upsetting to me, especially since I couldn't order some fries! I also didn't like that they didn't have Dr. Pepper. However, I did like the biscuits. They were the best biscuits I've ever had. I did like the food, even though it wasn't what I wanted at the beginning. The chicken was good, and the mashed potatoes were delicious. Maybe I'm glad I wasn't allowed to get fries. So, I guess overall, I would go back because it's unlikely I'd have that crappy waiter again, and now I already know what to expect from the menu.

127 Hours- Starring James Franco

 What an awful thing to happen to someone. I can't believe that this was based on a true story. I already knew what was going to happen at the end of the movie, so I couldn't watch it when it came, but I got the jist of it. I didn't really like the movie though. I mean, how interesting can it be to watch someone stuck in a cave for an hour and a half. And these kind of movies make me uncomfortable anyways. I hate caves, deep-sea diving, and other accident movies like that. They make me too nervous. I kept anticipating when he was going to get stuck. I also wish they showed more of what happened after he got out. But I guess it was just as uninteresting as being stuck there. There were some good parts to the movie, like how he kept himself entertained and what he did to keep himself warm and stuff. It was alright.

The Help- Starring Emma Stone & Viola Davis

Loved it! I've been wanting to watch this movie ever since I finished the book a couple of months ago, but my husband wouldn't watch it with me. Well, we were waiting for it to come out on dvd, but even after that it took awhile for us to rent it. We finally ended up watching it this past weekend and my husband loved it! Okay, maybe not loved it, but he thought it was pretty good. It was a long movie, but I enjoyed every minute of it. It followed the book so well; there were only a few things different, but it didn't really matter. It still made me laugh and it made me frustrated, and I also teared up at one point too. I hope they get nominated for some Oscar's next month. I think they all did a really good job.

Wienerschnitzel

We are trying to spend less money on going out to eat this year, that's our New Year's resolution, so this past weekend we decided to eat cheap at Wienerschnitzel. Best chili cheese fries I have ever had. They were so good. I also had a corn dog, but it was just a normal corn dog, no big deal. The fries at Wienerschnitzel have now made my top five fast food fries list. This list consists of Whataburger, Burger King, Dairy Queen (only in Texas), Mcdonald's, and now Wienerschnitzel in no particular order. Loved it.

Farrell's

This past Monday I spent the entire day with my in-laws, and we ended up going to Farrell's for dinner. It's this new place that opened on the corner of downtown Brea, and it is always so packed. The line to get in goes halfway around the building...everyday, all day! There is always a line, so my husband and I figured it must be really good since so many people wait in that line to get in. I also heard from someone at church that the waiters had to audition at their interview in order to get the job; sing and dance, I think. An audition for an interview? That's crazy. I thought this place was going to be amazing. And I was excited because it had an old time kind of theme. So, we decided to go. The wait was about an hour long, and the wait for the food was another 30 minutes. We go in and it is noisy as heck. Our waitress pretty much yelled at the top of her lungs every time she talked to us, not because of the noise, but because she felt that was a way to entertain us. I was always afraid that she was going to spit on us because she sounded like she had so much saliva in her mouth. She even danced a little bit while we were waiting for our food, but it was more of an awkward moment than fun entertainment. Every time there was a birthday, an annoying alarm would go off, a bass drum would be played, and all the waiters would yell for the attention of the entire restaurant and then sing a birthday song. There were probably fifteen birthdays that night. And then this one really, really hyper waiter (because they were all pretty hyper) kept getting the entire restaurant to do the wave, and he would yell and make us yell back. I felt like I was at a high school football game, except less fun and more annoying. It was just too much. The food was alright. I got the "Talk of the Town" burger and both my husband and I had bottom buns that were too hard to eat. And they didn't give me enough FRIES! That's the most important part of the meal for me and I barely had any to eat. Farrell's is known for their ice cream, afterall it is an ice cream parlor, but it tasted just like regular ice cream to me; however, my mother-in-law loved it. Maybe I should have gotten something a little more exciting than a sundae. Overall, it was not the greatest experience. We were all pretty much ready to get the heck out of there when we were done. We were there a total of three hours. I don't think I'll ever be going back.

Duck and Sauerkraut

It's been awhile since I've tried something new. Christmas day I got terribly sick which lasted about a week, and then I got pink-eye so I couldn't really start any new books. I watched the Sound of Music on Christmas day, but I don't really care to post about that movie. I've seen it tons of times, and of course I would recommend it because it's a classic.

For New Years, we went to my sister-in-law's house for dinner, and instead of traditional American food like ham, mashed potatoes, and rolls, we had traditional Asian and German food. Because of my Asian in-laws, we had duck. My husband's step-dad passed away earlier this year, but he was half German so they continued with his tradition of sauerkraut on pork ribs. 

I would say that the duck was alright except that there are a lot of random small bones in the meat. I don't like that very much because I end up biting into a bone and having to pull it out of my mouth in crumbled pieces. I also don't know what part of the duck I am eating like I do with chicken, and that kind of makes me nervous. 

For the sauerkraut, it's not my favorite. I didn't eat much of it, and maybe I was still a little sick and couldn't taste really well, but I didn't like it too much. It covered most of the ribs, so of course being my picky self, I flicked some off. Let's just say it's not something I would eat by choice. Same for the duck. However, my husband absolutely loves it.