Are Dean Winchester and Jane Austen Kindred Spirits?

We all know how Dean Winchester feels about pie:

Did you know that Jane Austen felt the same way?

I hope you all have an amazing Thanksgiving Day and enjoy yourself some pie!

And in case you need it, here is a fantastic pie recipe from my sister blog MysteriousEats.wordpress.com

Ingredients:

Pie Crust

• 2 Cups of All-Purpose flour
• 1 Teaspoon of Salt
• 3/4 Cup of Shortening
• Ice Water

Filling:

• 1/2 Cup – 1 Cup of All-Purpose Flour
• 6-7 Granny Smith Apples peeled, and cut into slices
• 1 Cup of White Sugar
• 1 Cup of Brown Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons of Butter

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, mix up the shortening and flour. Add in water, a tablespoon at a time until dough is more malleable. If you add too much and it is too liquid-y, then just add a bit more flour to firm it up.
2. Put dough aside.
3. When cutting up the apples, make sure to remove the hard pieces where the seed grows along with any spots or blemishes.
4. Preheat the oven to 375°
5. Combine the apples, with the brown and white sugar.
6. Add the flour and cinnamon, mixing them all together.
7. Divid the dough in half and roll into two balls.
8. Take a cutting board and put a little flour on the surface, rubbing it. Rub flour on your rolling pin as well.
9. Place the dough down and roll it into a large circle.
10. Place the dough in a cake pan.
11. Lay the apples down on the dough in the pan.
12. Put the two tablespoons of butter on top.
13. Repeat step 8.
14. Place the second ball of dough down and roll it out into a large circle.
15. Place it on top, to be the top of your pie.
16. Cut a small incision on the top of the pie to allow steam out.
17. Add a dash of cinnamon and sugar on top.
18. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

For more recipes, go to Baked Potato Soup

For more on Thanksgiving, go to Is Love at the Thanksgiving Parade Really Just Pride & Prejudice?

For more on Dean Winchester, go to Loving Me Some Dean

For more Jane Austen quotes, go to A Real Non-Party Animal

For more on pie, go to I Before E, Especially After P

For more holiday posts, go to Let Freedom Ring

Is Love at the Thanksgiving Parade Really Just Pride & Prejudice?

So first of all, Happy Thanksgiving!

So I was watching this film as I like Hallmark and it is a Thanksgiving film, perfect for the day, but then it got me thinking…it reminded me of something…

And then it hit me over the head!

It reminded me of a certain Jane Austen story:

Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet (1940)

But is this film really a modern take on Pride & Prejudice? Or is it just borrowing some elements of it? Let’s take a look!

The Story:

Emily Jones, (E for Elizabeth?), is the Chicago Thanksgiving Parade coordinator. She loves her job and vintage things; choosing to shop and thrift stores and live her life appreciating the past. She is currently engaged to a marine biologist, who is full of himself and doesn’t appreciate Emily but wants to change her into something, “better.”

That guy!

Emily has a best friend, Donna, who helps her with finding her vintage clothing and offers her advice. Emily’s life is going great until she gets the ultimate slap in the face; the city has hired an efficiency consultant, Henry Williams (Will as in FitzWILLIAM Darcy?), to cut costs in the parade.

Immediately Emily doesn’t like him. Not only is he trying to destroy her favorite thing in the world, but he is wealthy, arrogant, insensitive, impossible, and hates the past as he believes modernity is the way to go. Henry thinks Emily is stubborn, impractical, prejudiced, and doesn’t understand her doggedness about holding onto the parade or her. But they are stuck together.

Henry Williams: We don’t have to like each other, but we do have to work together.

As they start working together, Henry discovers that he misjudged Emily and starts to understand and appreciate her views; changing more and more with each encounter as he opens himself up to care about the heart of the matters, rather than the money. 

Emily starts to fall for him, but her pride and prejudices still keep her from realizing that he is right for her, and her fiancé, Brian, is all wrong. But when Henry decides to change nothing at all, saving the parade for her; Emily realizes she completely misjudged him in every way, and goes after him and in the end they are together.

So the storyline has quite a few similarities; the bare bones are the same. But what about the characters?

Elizabeth/Emily

So we are going to start with Emily. Emily was born from a middle class family and has worked hard in her job to make it the best she can as she has a strong sentimental connection to it and the city. She isn’t like other people often being “out of time”, as she loves vintage and retro things of the past.

Elizabeth Bennet is born from a middle/upper class; not wealthy like Darcy or Anne Elliot or Emma Woodhouse, but her family does well. She, like Emily, isn’t always connected to the people of the day as she has her own way of doing things. She prefers walks to riding in a carriage, books to games of whist, etc.

Emily’s pride is hurt when she finds out that the city is going to not only going to try to remove something from her parade to make it cheaper, but also that they would pick an outsider to come in and make those changes. She immediately becomes prejudiced against Henry, no matter what others say about him.

Elizabeth’s pride is hurt when Darcy insults her beauty, and after that becomes prejudiced against him. When George Wickham enters her life, she knows barely anything about him but is willing to believe his testimony against Darcy, rather than Bingley who she has begun to know, as she wants a reason to dislike him even more.

Emily is dating Brian who doesn’t really care for her but who he wants her to be. Elizabeth is interested in George Wickham, who also doesn’t care for her as much as using her as an avenue to spread slander against Darcy and hopefully introduce her to a wealthy woman.

Emily decides the best way to get Henry to save the parade is to show him every facet. As they spend time together; Henry opens up a lot and the two become friends and start falling for each other. However, Emily doesn’t realize how Henry is the perfect one for him until she meets the foster care directors that took care of him when he was younger and when he decides to change nothing, but save the parade for her.

Elizabeth and Darcy don’t share the same type of closeness as the social constraints of the day don’t allow them the same kind of time together. But through the time they do spend and conversations they have, Darcy falls for Elizabeth. Elizabeth doesn’t find herself falling for Darcy until she reads his letter of explanation, hears from his servants about how they feel about him, and when he saves her family and finds her sister.

Fitzwilliam Darcy/Henry Williams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Henry Williams grew up in foster care and worked hard his whole life to achieve wealth. Along the way he closed himself off to others, not interested in developing relationships, but chasing after the dollar and making decisions primarily on logical and cool reasoning, rather than emotions.

Fitzwilliam Darcy had a life of privilege, but his responsibilities of being the only son, inheriting and caring for the land, and becoming a guardian for his sister made him focus more on decisions that made sense, rather than emotional.

At first Henry cannot stand Emily as he doesn’t understand her or like the things she likes and the way she dresses (it is strange to him that someone could love wearing used clothing). As they continue working together, he starts to like the way she acts, the things she does, and her.

Mr. Darcy at first isn’t interested in Elizabeth and he really isn’t interested in befriending anybody but being closed off. However, once they spend time together; he starts to like her conversation, her interests, and her.

In the end Henry lets down his facade and barriers allowing Emily in and trying to show her his real self He also decides that his love for Emily is more important and keeps the parade exactly the same. Not only does he save the parade she loves, but saves the actual parade by filling in for their missing Santa.

Darcy does everything he can to try and change Elizabeth’s opinion of him after hearing her objections. He opens his home to her and her family, and tries to show her who he really is under the cold drawn facade. But the thing that really proves to her his care is that he goes to see the people he vowed to never see again, pays a man he never vowed to never give money to again, and saves Lydia and the Bennet family reputation; all for Elizabeth.

Conclusion?

Well this isn’t a direct and true adaption of the novel, I do believe that with the large similarities and the core of the characters; while not perfect…it is a modern Pride & Prejudice. And did I like it?

Yes. Whether you watch it as a modern version of Pride & Prejudice, as a cute Thanksgiving film, or a feel good Hallmark film; I thought it was cute and fun.

I like it!

So that’s our post for today. I thought it would be the perfect Thanksgiving and Jane Austen fusion. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, however you spent it. And don’t forget the pie!

For more Thanksgiving posts, go to You’ve Got to Accentuate the Positive

For more Pride & Prejudice film adaptations, go to A Murder Has Been Committed on Your Property: Death Comes to Pemberley, Episode One (2013)

For more Pride & Prejudice, go to Candy Girls

For more modern retellings of Jane Austen, go to The Dashwood Sisters Tell All: A Modern Day Novel of Jane Austen

For more Jane Austen Quotes, go to Lemon Scones

For more bible verses, go to I’d Lay Down My Life for You: Pocahontas (1995)

A Supernatural Sunday

So for Christmas last year one of my gifts was a set of Supernatural tattoos. I had waited to try them just in case…

As I decided it was time to try them out, why not make a whole day of it?

So grab the drinks and snacks…

Try and see if you can bag a Winchester to join you

And grab your bingo board:

And get ready for non-stop entertainment.

And just in case…make sure you are protected.

For more on Supernatural, go to The Fan, The Girl

You’ve Got to Accentuate the Positive

So today is Thanksgiving!

And I love food and this holiday, so I am all about chowing down.

But Not This Year

Majorly

I just had my wisdom teeth out.

So I will not be able to partake in eating tons of food.

And to make matters worse, I am also on my period. So I’m enjoying pain in my mouth and my lower half.

No joke this enters m mind every month

But while it is easy to get hung up on the negatives in life and be unhappy, that is not what Thanksgiving is about. In a world where it seems as if things are getting worse and worse it is easy to get hung up on the negatives, to just hate on everything, be unhappy. And Abraham Lincoln knew this. As he was facing a time of unrest and uncertainty, just as we are, he decided we needed a day set apart to focus on the positives on the good things we have in life.

“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come..No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens…”

So I decided I was going to do the same. I am going to accentuate the positives, eliminate the negatives, and latch on to the affirmative.

So here we go, what I am thankful for.

1) My Family + Friends

They are always there for me and support me through everything

2) A Roof Over My Head + Food

I am happy to have a home, and food to eat. There are these all people should have, and not all do. I am thankful to be one of those who do.

3) My Country

I know it is not perfect and there have been problems past and present, but I love living in America where I am given rights that all should have.

Many criticize the pilgrims who came to America to begin with, but these people weren’t coming to destroy a nation, they came so that they could have a little bit of land in which they could worship as they please and live in harmony. They tried to work with the Native Americans, not harm them. The negative things came with later colonies who didn’t share the same ideas, mostly because of the people that were ruling Europe and the politics they were playing.

Anyways, one thing that my country does right is give us a freedom of speech. Something some people are trying to restrain all the time, but is currently still something we have. And it allows me to have this blog in which I can discuss whatever I want.

So know I may not be able to eat everything, but I am going to enjoy and eat the few things I can. Hello mashed potatoes and pie.

And I’m going to focus on all that I am grateful to have.

For more on Thanksgiving, go to I Before E, Especially After P

For more holidays, go to Every Heart Beats True for the Red, White, & Blue

 

Turn Your Wounds Into Wisdom, And Your Wisdom Teeth into Wounds

Getting Your Wisdom Teeth Out

One of the most painful things I have ever been through.

So Friday morning I had to wake up early so I could take the valium and the other drug an hour before the procedure. Now I have heard all kinds of stories from my friends about weird things they say or did while on the drugs, but I was pretty normal. The only issues I had was when I walked. I kept bending my knees lower than I needed to, like a monkey. Or Tarzan.

When we got in the office and I paid and answered some questions, they could tell I was walking funny. and they made me sit down. Not too long after they made me move from the waiting room to another room,until it was time for surgery. I guess I was too loud on my comments of the Frankenfish, they were showing on TV. All I said was that I wouldn’t call it after Frankenstein as that story didn’t end well.

Afterwards they went over the rules I’d have to follow following the surgery was  and took me into the room where they were going to operate on my mouth. Now as I was to have all four removed I had opted for anesthesia. So they hooked me up to all these machines, monitoring my heart and blood pressure. Now another side effect for me with the drugs was that I started acting like a little kid. I was like Josh Baskin from Big.

I was all what’s that for? Why are you doing that? And on and on. I really annoyed the technician.

Then they got ready to put the IV in. Now I HATE needles, so I was freaking out the whole time screaming (internally).

I tried taking some deep breaths and then knocked out.

I then woke up in another room in a gurney the operation over

They took me home in which I immediately knocked out.

Now when I became fully awake, boy did my mouth hurt. In fact a lot of ways its like having your period in your mouth. You are intensely sore, you are bleeding a lot and have to change out these pads. And you are in sooo much pain all you want is medication.

The only good thing was that my cat stayed by my side. Thank you Ginger.

Now a lot of people say they get chipmunk size swelling, but mine wasn’t too bad. I pretty much looked like Michael Corleone after he got punched in the face.

The worst thing about getting my wisdom teeth out now is that I’ll be missing out on Thanksgiving. Oh, well. At least I’ll still be able to have pie!