Movie Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a sequel to the 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger.  The film is set two years after the battle of New York (Avengers). Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) now works for S.H.I.E.L.D. under Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).  While sent on a mission, he discovers that Agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) had a separate mission. So he confronted Fury after returning and he was brief on a project.

Fury was then attacked while on his way to meet with Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders). He survives the initial attack only to be ambushed by the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan). Fury escapes to Rogers' apartment and warned him that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been compromised by Hydra before being gunned down.

Together with Romanof and with the help of Sam Wilson and Agent Hill, Rogers sets out to uncover the truth and bring Hydra down.

Like:
This sequel has a lot of more action and adventure. It's packed with tons of CGI effects especially the aerial battle that was the highlight of the film. Acting was superb especially the new characters. Story was easy to follow and you will definitely be glued to it especially if you are a Marvel junkie or an action junkie.

Dislike:
Nothing really to dislike with this film.

Don't forget to stay when the credits start - there is a mid-credit scene and an end credit scene.

Movie Review: The Other Woman

The Other Woman is a comedy about three woman - Carly (Cameron Diaz), Kate (Leslie Mann) and Amber (Kate Upton) - who became friends and plotted ways to get back against Mark (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), the husband of Kate, who is cheating with Carly and then Amber.

Like:
The acting was great especially Leslie Mann and Cameron Diaz. Both of them have that push and pull thing going on.  Major props to Nikolaj as well with his acting skills especially in the middle and latter part of the movie. The scenery were gorgeous.

Dislike:
Being a comedic film, I was expecting more laughter in the theater. But the place was mostly silent the entire film. I think I only heard the crowd laugh like three times the entire duration. Some of the scenes of the movie seems unconnected - jumping from one scenario to the next.

Conclusion:
Save your money and wait for it to come out on DVD or Netflix

o/ o/

Recipe: Menudo

Someone handed me a bag of raisins and that gave me the idea of making Menudo. Menudo is a staple in almost every Philippine gatherings and almost a comfort food. Everyone has different interpretation when it comes to this dish. I used Chicken and Pork with this recipe as well as Cayenne Powder instead of Paprika to give it a kick. Also, since I cannot find pork liver, I used chicken liver instead.

Ingredients:
2 lbs pork, cubed
1/2 lb chicken liver
1 chicken leg quarter, cubed
4 hotdogs, sliced
4 small potatoes, cubed
4 medium carrots, cubed
4 large plum tomatoes, diced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
3 tbsp garlic powder
3 tbsp cayenne powder
1 can (10 oz) chicken stock
1 cup raisins
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
3 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp fish sauce (patis)

Cooking Procedure:

1. Combine soy sauce and fish sauce in a boil. Add in pork and chicken and marinate for 10 minutes.
2. Heat cooking oil in a pot. Add in onion and garlic powder, saute for a minute.
3. Add in pork and chicken and cook until brown. About 5 to 7 minutes
4. Pour in chicken stock. Add in cayenne powder, hotdogs and chicken liver. 
5. Stir in tomato paste. Add in raisins, potatoes, carrots and yellow pepper.
6. Once its boiling. Lower heat to simmer. Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes. 
7. Serve with rice. 

Enjoy!

Variation:

• You can cut down on the cayenne powder if you don't want it to have too much of a kick. Or use paprika instead.  
• Use tomato sauce instead of tomato paste. 
• Pork liver instead of chicken liver. If you are using pork liver, make sure you saute it first in garlic to remove the gamey smell. 
• Instead of fish sauce, use calamansi or lemon.

Recipe: Chicken Rice Curry

Curry is a blend of spices used mostly in Indian cuisine. Curry has a lot of benefits like lowering your blood sugar, cholesterol and preventing the C word. This recipe is easy to make.

Ingredients:
4 chicken leg quarters, chopped to smaller portions
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 cup chicken stock
1 large onion, diced
1 cup green peas
4 potatoes, cubed
2 tablespoon minced garlic
4 tablespoon curry powder
3 tablespoon oil

Cooking Instruction:

1. Heat oil in a cooking pot. Add garlic and onions. Saute for five minutes or until the onion is translucent
2. Add in the chicken and cook until the chicken changes color. 
3. Add potatoes. Pour in the chicken stock. 
4. Add in curry powder and stir until blended. 
5. Add the uncooked rice and green peas. 
6. Cover and cooked for 25 minutes until rice is cooked