I Solemnly Swear That I am Up to No Good

List item number 16, Harry Potter Movie Marathon is complete!! It was a pretty big undertaking and I was horribly exhausted when it was over, but it was an amazing chance to spend time with my cousins (who love Harry as much as I do), try some new food and watch some wonderful stories come to life.

For those of you who haven't read or watched the Harry Potter series, they are fantastic. As usual, the movies cannot possibly live up to the books, but they do a really good job (with the possible exception of the third movie, but more on that later). The casting is impeccable, the visuals are (for the most part) excellent, and the performances are stellar. I still recommend that everyone read the books because I feel that many things are only vaguely explained in the movies and some absolutely wonderful things from the books are left out entirely. If you know nothing about HP you may be slightly confused by some of the things in this posting, but I hope you will gain some knowledge and maybe I'll spark an interest in some of you to join the world of Harry Potter yourselves.

Why do I love Harry Potter so much? It's hard to say. Obviously, as you will have learned by now if you've read much of my blog, I am a geek, so naturally I gravitate towards the fantastical aspects of the stories. But I think the thing that sticks with me the most is the humanity of the series. Strip away all the magic and fantasy and you are still left with an incredible group of characters, with relationships that run deep and stories to tell. J.K. Rowling has a way with words that can have you laughing out loud one minute and crying the next, and more than one of her quotes has stayed with me long after I finished reading. It is the ultimate 'good vs evil' story, proving time and time again that even the worst times will end and hardships can be overcome.

I have learned throughout the process of completing list items that I have a lot more dedication to my plans than I thought I did.  It first hit me when I made all those gifts. At any time I could have given up and bought people gifts, but I persevered and ended up with some really great, special gifts. When I started planning for the Harry Potter marathon I decided that I'd make some HP themed treats to munch on while I watched, and soon after the plan morphed into a Harry Potter themed food only weekend (which came complete with a $100 grocery bill to feed all of us. Ooops). Shortly thereafter I decided to invite my 4 cousins (the same cousins who have participated in several other list items including Sleep Under the Stars and Handmake as Many Gifts as Possible), which proved to be a challenge, since I then had to work around the work schedules of 4 other people who all work at least one day of the weekend, but I figured it would be more fun to have a crowd and definitely less hermit-ish than me sitting in my apartment watching 8 movies and gorging on chocolate frogs by myself. We eventually found a weekend when most of us were off for most of the weekend (and with a well-timed snow storm even more of us were available at once), so four of us were here for day one and all five of us were present for day two.


We started later on day one, around 2 pm, and only had one meal and some snacks. Day two started pretty early and went pretty late, since we had 5 movies to watch and multiple meals and snacks. I did a lot of prep ahead of time, and was actually up until about 3am on Friday night making treats that took some extra time. I have since come to learn that a lot of HP food is VERY heavy and too much of it will wreak havoc on your digestive system. As a side note, I used recipes from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook (Bad idea. I will explain as I go). Many of the recipes HP fans may recognize from the books, but a lot of the meal food was only mentioned in passing. You die hard fans out there will recognize some of it though.


And now, the saga begins.

 Each of the movies runs roughly 2 and a half hours, and there are 8 of them. That equals out to roughly 20 hours, plus time for eating. Our schedule ended up looking something like this;


Day One

Three of my four cousins arrived around 1:30 or 2, and there was still some prep to do, so we actually ended up starting half an hour late. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone began at about 2:30.






We toasted the beginning of the marathon with glasses of nice, cold pumpkin juice. This was actually better than I'd expected, although it tasted more like the juices used (apple, pineapple and white grape) than pumpkin, and it required a lot of stirring since the pumpkin pulp is not a liquid and kept sinking to the bottom. Overall it was quick, tasty and a lovely shade of orange.

Chocolate frogs made from melted chocolate and a frog mold I was lucky enough to find at the bulk barn. The chocolate melted really nicely in the microwave and was delicious. Sadly, I couldn't get them to hop for some reason...

On the right are some lovely gummy snakes I bought because I thought they were appropriate, being giant snakes and all. During the course of the movie giant gummy worms popped up everywhere treats were sold. On the left are a simplified version of lemon drops, in honour of Dumbledore's beloved Sherbet Lemons.





Lemon Ice Lollies like Harry eats when he goes to the zoo with the Dursleys. These were pretty good, but I found they tasted more like sugar than lemon and all the zest ended up in the tip.

We originally planned to stop for supper here but decided to keep going and eat a bit later. We stopped about halfway through to put our supper in the oven. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets began at around 4:45.

We had the first of MANY cups of tea at this point. Tea is a staple in Harry's life, as it is in mine and my cousins'.

We added in a few licorice wands (one of the few things we DIDN'T make).

We ate supper while we watched the third movie. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkban started around 8. This is the movie I have the most problems with. The new director went in a different direction than the last and it ends up seeming disjointed and doesn't flow as well as the other movies. AND they completely relocated Hagrid's hut and the Whomping Willow which just seemed sloppy to me. Makes me mad.

We decided to make Hagrid's beef casserole (minus the talons), which my cousins ended up liking a lot more than I did. The recipe was written badly. Told us to remove the meat, make the sauce and put the sauce in the oven without ever telling us to put the meat back in. Luckily we aren;t idiots and figured it out. The meat ended up being nice and tender, but the sauce had a strange flavour to me. Maybe it was the lack of talons...

For dessert we had Mrs. Weasley's fudge. This took a bit of time and was better the second day, when it had really hardened. It was delicious though, and I'd definitely consider making it again. This movie ended at around 11, at which point my cousins went home and I went to bed.

 I was up at 8 the next morning to get a start on breakfast. All four of my cousins arrived around 8:30 and we started cooking away. Check out the spread!!

 These tomatoes were horrible. You see them on plates in the movies all the time. Fried tomatoes didn't sound too bad. Two of my cousins went up to my mom's stove to cook these bad boys and gave up half way through. The end result were mushy, flour coated tomato skins with very little tomato still intact. Bad recipe.

  
The Cheesy Chivy Scrambled Eggs were yummy, but it's pretty hard to screw up scrambled eggs. One of my cousins doesn't like scrambled eggs (???) but she said these weren't too bad, which is pretty much a glowing recommendation from her. We also had bacon and toast, but I didn't take a picture of those since they're just plain bacon and toast.

 These little darlings are sausage rolls. I got breakfast sausages because they were cheaper (and I knew my total would be astronomical as it was), but I don't really like breakfast sausages. They're wrapped in puff pastry and have mustard inside, but the mustard disappeared so I ended up dipping the whole thing in mustard. One of my cousins used ketchup and said that was good. They were ok but I wouldn't make them again.

 This. THIS is marmalade. This stupid bottle took me HOURS to make and made the whole house smell like boiled oranges (which, incidentally, smell like soggy, hot Froot Loops, and is DISGUSTING). I had to drag out the candy thermometer, which I hate and had to use 3 times that weekend, but only this time did I consider throwing it, pan and all in the trash. Marmalade is not supposed to look like this, but I followed the (horrible) directions and this is what I got. Tasted like orange jam. I hate it. Anyone want it because I NEVER want to see it again. You can even keep the jar.

 
With our breakfast all ready, we toasted day two with another glass of pumpkin juice and some tea. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (my favourite book in the series) began at around 9:30.

We were still full from breakfast when G of F ended, so we forged ahead. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix started just before noon.

Our very own Crookshanks joined in the festivities! My cat Diggory is actually named after one of the characters in Goblet of Fire.  He thinks it's cool.

For lunch we had Bangers and Mash, a very British dish that is made up of sausages and mashed potatoes. It was supposed to have gravy, but since we were already stuffed we opted out. This was another bum recipe. The 'bangers' were basically hot dog shaped hamburgers, not sausages. They were dry and tasted of tarragon, which the recipe called for but I don't like. And yes, I had too much butter on my potatoes.

 My times are totally off, but I think Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince started around 3.

At this point we had afternoon tea, in typical British style. We had tea, some leftover fudge and chocolate frogs and a couple of new treats. These are Hagrid's rock cakes, but mine weren't rock hard. They were actually really good, and pretty easy to make. I'll probably make them again.

 Pumpkin pasties!! My cousin made the crust, which was really nice, and the pumpkin filling was tasty too. They were like a mini pumpkin pie without so much filling (my main reason for not liking pumpkin pie is that there is too much filling). I'm still not a huge pumpkin fan, and I hate making pie crust, so I probably won't make them again.

  
We settled in with our supper to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One at around 6:30.

This is chicken and ham pie. I cheated a bit here and used the easy recipe, which called for pre-made pie crust. I'd roasted the chicken and taken the meat off the bones on Friday night, so that cut down on prep time. This was another poorly written recipe. It instructed us to make a gravy and to put the meat and veggies in the pie, but it never tells you to put the gravy in the pie. This woman and her editor were apparently drunk while finishing this book. Again, my cousins liked this more than I did. I don't think I finished my piece and gave the leftovers to my parents.

 By this point in the evening we were all pretty tired, stuffed with heavy foods and sick of cooking. At least the movies were good! I hadn't see the last 2 movies since I saw them in theatres and I hadn't read the last few books for a while either, so it was almost like seeing them for the first time. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two started around 9.



We decided to relax and cap the night off with a Butterbeer. This recipe didn't come from the cookbook, my cousin found it on the internet. We'd tried a different recipe once before and we didn't like it so we tried this one, hoping to like it better. It was REALLY sweet. I also mis-measured the salt, so it was overly salty on top of overly sweet. I ate too much of the topping and got a stomach ache, so for the next few days every time I heard or said the word Butterbeer I could feel the vomit rising in my throat. Even now I cringe at the thought of it.


All in all it was a really fun weekend. It was nice to spend so much time together doing something we love and trying new things. I have to say, I'm really glad they were here to help me with the cooking, because if I'd had to do it all by myself, I'd probably still be at it. Also, I'm really glad I found the cookbook online and didn't pay for it, because it was really poorly written and very few of the recipes I tried were worth the trouble involved in the preparation. The movies themselves were enjoyable, as always. Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Rent) directed the first two and did an amazing job making you emotionally invest in the characters. The third was directed by Alphonso Cuaron and I really don't think he much for the series. He seemed to focus more on his vision and less on J.K. Rowling's, and it took the series to a really dark place a lot earlier than it went in the books. Mike Newell directed number four, which I enjoyed overall. The final four were directed by David Yates and his films were very well done. I'd forgotten how quickly you are able to connect with the characters in these films, so much so that every time one of them dies, you can feel a tug at your heartstrings. By the final two movies, where many, many of the characters you've come to love leave the series forever, you feel like you're right there with the characters, fighting their battles with them and you come to realize that the lessons they learn are applicable to your own life. 

So if you haven't read the books, I recommend you do. And if you're not a reader, at least watch the movies. Everyone can learn from Harry Potter and can share in his joy and in his grief. And there will be many lessons you will take with you, just like I have.

 

Mischief managed.