Ten best things ever eaten.

The ten best things I have eaten in the last few years are food from around the world and made by different cultures. 10^th place goes to when I went to France to celebrated a friend’s birthday and I went to some corner street to eat at a shabby looking diner just for because it was close by. When I ate there I looked at the menus and saw that they served mini file minions; I ordered them and was surprised course it was high quality food, looked good and tasted exceptionally delicious. 9^th place goes to a Chinese/ Japans restaurant that served traditional real ramen; it tasted awesomely delicious. 8^th place goes to the little pizza place in Italy where I had a real Italian traditional pizza with a bottom thin and crunchy and a toping that would blow your taste buds away. 7^th goes to small restaurant in England in Canterbury where I had a steak with potatoes and real British bacon. The 6^th place goes to a little American restaurant that served me the greatest shepherd’s pie I have ever had. 5^th would I think have to go to a steak sandwich I ate a long time ago in a small shop. The steak was so delicious it had a light spieses tastes to it and had a light pepper souse to it with fresh vegetables’. The 4^th place would have to go to a little restaurant in Puerto Rico where I had a pepper steak with rice that was out of this world. 3^rd place goes to little Belgium restaurant that was in a regular housing street where I ate original Belgium French fries and ate a duck in a sweat souse and a rabbit in a pepper souse. The second place goes to the Gourmet Burger Place in Oxford England where I ate a Hamburger that was not only well made in both how it was done and how it looked but also in its great taste; it tasted like a hamburger should meaty juicy and with a light hint of some spicing in the meat. Lastly there is the first place with goes to a Cuban restaurant in Miami where I had a flat pepper steak that even until now I long for. It was so good that I could stop eating it until I was done with it; to sum up its taste it was epic.

Chocolate is a movie about a mother and daughter moving into a small religious town during the season of Lent in the Catholic Church. Lent is an Old Catholic tradition which involves fasting from foods that you absolutely can’t live without, foods that you find to be the most tempting in the world. Everybody in the town goes to the same church and is basically brainwashed to give up sweets for Lent. The mother in this movie makes a very delicious chocolate and opens up a chocolate store which she also lives in as she moves into the town. Her timing isn’t the best because she opens her store in the middle of Lent. She isn’t a religious person so doesn’t care much for lent. She is seen as a bad person because of her lack of interest in the church and love of chocolate in the season of Lent. In actuality, she is a very charming lady who simply wants to share her love with the world. Being a catholic allows me to see the true power in this movie. When I give up something for Lent, I usually come across the food I gave up more than before. In the movie, the mother doesn’t force anybody to enter her store. It is the people who follow Lent because they are simply told to instead of actually wanting to give up something they love for the Lord. When they are tempted by chocolate, they can’t resist. Food is the most addicting thing and it takes a great deal of mental discipline to give up. This movie inspired me to try giving chocolate up for Lent this year. I’m not as big of a fan of chocolate as the people in this movie are, so I’m going to give up any sweet that includes chocolate… even chocolate ice-cream.

A Rough Looking Diamond Called Juanita's

I parked on the Pacific Coast Highway and was famished. I was going to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Juanita’s Taco Shop. It is not a fancy or nice restaurant. I would almost compare it to a hole in the wall. The place has barred windows and is covered in old stickers. I walked into the grimy little restaurant to see as usual a complete mess. I would not call this restaurant cozy, it is not. Many critics call small, cramped dark restaurants cozy, but Juanita’s is no such thing. It is small, cramped, grimy, and all in all gross aesthetically. I regularly eat there, so I tend to ignore the disorder of the restaurant. I didn’t even glance at the menu. I knew what I wanted to eat before I had left the beach to get lunch. I was getting a chorizo and egg burrito. I ordered it and a large horchata and still I only spent six dollars. Horchata is a traditional Spanish drink. In the US, it is almost impossible to find traditional horchata. In the US it is made with water, sugar, rice and milk. The traditional drink is very different. It is made with tiger nuts, water, sugar, and cinnamon. Juanita’s only serves the traditional drink. This is the only restaurant I have been to in the US that serves a traditional horchata. I took a sip and per usual it was astounding. Several minutes later my burrito came out in a brown paper bag. I personally like to eat in the restaurant. The food is always better fresh out of the kitchen. I saw down at one of the three tables and chowed. Their homemade chorizo was out of this world. The ratio of this Spanish sausage to egg and cheese was perfect. I could eat it every day for the rest of my life. I did not mind the excessive amount of grease or oil. The food is just that good. As I ate, I watched people wander in and out of the restaurant. Over ninety percent of the time I am the only white person that will stay to eat in the restaurant. Plenty of Hispanic and Latin families will sit down to eat, but white people will generally wait outside for their food to be cooked. It is a true sight to see. The restaurant is truly amazing. Its food is unbelievable and its atmosphere is perfect. Inside it is never packed, but there is always a stream of people coming and going. It is a must eat in San Diego.

Chocolate's Real Meaning

Director Lasse Hallstrom’s film Chocolat is filled with metaphor. The largest metaphor that Hallstrom gives is chocolate. It is a metaphor for freedom and happiness. The people in the town that give in to their primeval desire to indulge in chocolate are happy and these people are not held down by the strict codes of society. There is a drawback though. The town is controlled by a man that lives a strict pious life. He publically shuns the people that eat chocolate and denounces the chocolatier during Sunday Chapel. The characters in the movie constantly have changing opinions of chocolate, but while characters like chocolate they are consistently happier and live life in an opener way.

At the start of the film, Vianne and Anouk walk into a seemingly abandoned, small French town. The town is small, but it is in no way deserted. All of the townsfolk are attending mass at the local church. The patisserie that they rent is owned by one of the few people in the town that does not attend church. Armande and Vianne meeting is the key element involved in the metamorphosis of the town. The entire town, sparing Armande and Vianne, live pious lifestyles with strict moral and ethical standards. They separate paths while Vianne secretly renovates the patisserie into a chocolatier. Her store immediately causes a ruckus in the town. People do not know how to respond to a chocolatier opening during the Lenten season. Most people shun the shop, but overtime the pious attitude of the village erodes. People begin to forget their Lenten vows and eat chocolate. This group of people forgets the strict rules of society and grows happier. Chocolate is not happiness to these villagers, but it is an escape from the limits that the church places on them.

As the film progresses, a woman named Josephine runs away from her abusive husband Paul. She does not know where to go, but knows that Vianne is welcome and open to everyone. Vianne gives Josephine a new job and life that revolves around chocolate. This resurrection is not freedom from the church, but it is freedom from her abusive husband. Vianne and Josephine continue to live in and manage the shop together. After some amount of time progresses, Josephine’s old husband comes to her and tells her that he is a changed man. She refuses to leave with him. Chocolate has brought a new happiness to Josephine. It gave her a rebirth. It fixed her stuttering behavior. It destroyed her kleptomaniac personality.

Vianne helps another character regain happiness through chocolate also. Armande is initially an angry old woman that is upset with her life. She is not allowed to see her grandson and does not speak to her daughter. Armande visits the shop to collect rent from Vianne and has a cup of hot chocolate. She immediately starts to change. She is still unhappy with her life, but Vianne’s chocolate starts to bring her happiness. When Vianne learns of Armande’s problem with her grandson and daughter, Vianne immediately attempts to fix it. She brings Luc, Armande’s grandson, to the chocolatier to supposedly draw her portrait, but she actually set Armande and Luc up to connect. They quickly develop a relationship and spend time together at the chocolatier in secret. Caroline, Luc’s mother, eventually learns about these meetings and brings them to a halt. During Caroline’s experience at the chocolatier, Vianne learns of Armande’s diabetes along with other problems. Armande continues to go to the chocolatier because it is one of the few things that make her happy. She dies the night of her final birthday from diabetes. Chocolate may have been the reason that she died, but it also brought her a joy that she had never experienced.

Vianne helps a river rat named Roux also. He is accustomed to being shunned in towns and villages because he is a river rat, but Vianne accepts him as well all the people that came with him. She actually falls in love with him. At Armande’s birthday, Vianne merged the part of the town that indulged in chocolate and Roux’s people. She brings them together to celebrate and to indulge in chocolate. The two groups of people see that there are not that many differences between one and another. Chocolate brought peace to these people.

Through the film, chocolate is looked at as a terrible thing by many people of stature, but the people that fed their indulgence saw that it is not a terrible thing, but a great thing. Chocolate did not hurt the town, but it brought happiness and new ways of life to people.

Chocolat

Chocolat, an Oscar nominated movie directed by Lasse Hallstrom, is about a mysterious woman named Vianne Rocher and her chocolates. She moves with her daughter Anouk to a small French town to open a chocolate shop. Though many of the conservative townspeople are skeptical of Vianne’s character and chocolates, they soon begin to change because of her food. Vianne’s chocolates rekindle their relationships with one another, and bring them to harmony.

Amande Voizin was a gloomy and sullen old lady who was conflicted by her own daughter. She did not like the way her daughter Caroline Clairmont treated her son Luc. Her grouchy temper can be seen when Vianne meets Amande for the first time in her chocolate shop. As Vianne spins a dish and asks Amande what she sees in the dish, Amande answers, “I see a cranky old woman too tired to play games.” Caroline was overly protective of her son, and expected him to behave the way she wanted. This frustrated Amande because she believed this cause Luc to become a timid child while Caroline considered her mother as a bad influence to Luc. However, this conflict begins to relieve as they encounter Vianne’s chocolate. Amande opens up to people and starts to interact with them after she becomes friends with Vianne. She is also able to improve her relationship with her grandson, whom she was not able to talk to for a long time before meeting Vianne. Moreover, Luc is able to gain more confidence in himself and his special skills in drawing after Vianne encourages and compliments his skills. Luc becomes closer to Amande and they learn to understand each other much more, despite their differences. Vianne even arranges Luc to draw a portrait of Amande, which marks the starting point of concord. Amande and Caroline also accept their differences and somewhat resolve their conflict.

Vianne and her chocolates also change the life of Comte de Reynaud, the main antagonist of the movie. The Comte is a man who firmly believes in order and principles. He is also a proud man who refuses to accept the fact that his wife had left him. To this disciplined Comte, Vianne and her free ways of thinking seemed to be bad influence to the townspeople. The Comte tried to resist to this change, and the change that brought the townspeople to harmony. At the end of the movie, however, the Comte is also enticed by the pleasures of Vianne’s chocolates and accepts the change. He finally reconciles his differences with Vianne. Not only that, he begins to have feelings for Caroline Clairmont, therefore accepting the fact that his wife did leave him. “Even the Comte de Reynaud felt strangely… released. Although it would take another six months to work up the courage to ask Caroline out to dinner.” Vianne’s chocolates changed even its firmest opponent, the Comte.

The chocolates also have an effect on Vianne Rocher herself. Even the happy and light-hearted Vianne had problems with her daughter Anouk. Anouk was frustrated from the constant moving that separated her from the friends she made. Vianne was also aware of her daughter’s dilemma but believed that it was her duty to travel and share her food with other people like her ancestors did. Then Vianne meets a gypsy named Roux because of her chocolates and eventually falls in love with him. At the climax of the movie, Vianne attempts to leave the town with Anouk, but again, her chocolates and the friends she made in the town enchants her. Vianne and Anouk decide to stay in the town they love, and Vianne also develops her relationship with Roux.

The chocolates of Vianne Rocher changed the characters of the movie, and allowed them to reconcile with each other. I believe that the chocolate is a metaphor for the harmony that Vianne brings to the townspeople.

Source: Chocolat (2000) Memorble Quotes

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0241303/quotes

The movie Chocolat(2000) directed by Lasse Hallstrom is about a chocolatier named Vianne Rocher and her daughter Anouk. Vianne moves into a small town in France where everyone seems to be influenced by Comte de Reynaud, a heart-broken mayor, who manipulates the villagers through the speeches given during the church services. When the churchman finishes writing the speech, Comte revises it so that people listen to his idea of good, but as God’s will. Just as Comte is encouraging people to serve the time of Lent, which is a period of forty days for people to give up all their greed and temptations, Vianne arrives and opens a small chocolate shop. Comte considers Vianne and her daughter as intruders and makes effort to make them leave the town. Despite Comte and the villager’s hostility, Vianne endures in her business of a chocolaterie and slowly breaks down the prejudices that the town people hold with her chocolate.

When Vianne and Anouk arrive at the town, they become the only two who do not attend the church. The villagers are very harsh against these non-churchgoers as they believe that listening to the churchman’s speech and acting according to the God’s will are their duties throughout life. The first question that Comte asks Vianne is whether she attends the church or not. When the response was not what he had expected, he spreads the word about them and as a result, the mother and daughter are shunned by the town people. In other words, this means that the villagers do not accept inconformity to the society because they do not want their tradition and quiet life to be broken. Later in the movie, Anouk reproaches her mother for being different from other mothers. However, knowing that the people are being controlled by the mayor, she never chooses to go to the church or follow their tradition, but instead tries to fix people’s mind by with her chocolate. Chocolate tempts people in many ways and makes people rethink about their lives.

Vianne also notices a prejudice in the gender role. Every woman is required to get married to a man and serve them forever. Even if the husband is not treating his wife properly, women need to cook food for man and listen to him. People are very shocked when they find out that Vianne has a child without being married. Josephine Muscat was the wife of Serge Muscat. Josephine is physically beaten by her husband every day, but she does not have the courage to let other know about it because instead of helping her with the situation, people would just think she is crazy. As Josephine meets Vianne and learns to make chocolate, her life completely changes. She even finds the courage to smash Serge’s head with a pan.

People in the town are also very against the outsiders. When the pirates, the nomads who travel on boats, arrive at the bank of the rivers, Comte and the others immediately hold a meeting to discuss what to do with them. During the meeting, people only have negative opinions of them because they believe that those outsiders are a bad influence to their society. Soon, people come to a conclusion that they should make them leave on their own by boycotting. They decide not to sell anything to the drinks. When Roux brings two little girls to buy her something to drink, the owner refuses to sell the drink. Only, Vianne lets them in and serve them chocolate.

Vianne’s chocolate helps people throw people’s strong prejudice. Chocolate sparks the dried relationship between a married couple and motivates an old man to show his love towards an old woman both of which are forbidden during the time of Lent. Vianne’s chocolate slowly changes the way people live in the town. People who were invited to Vianne’s chocolate party for Armande thinks differently of the pirates and even joins the party on their ship. When one eats a chocolate, he suddenly feels an emotion that they have never felt before. Even Comte, who strictly follows the tradition and is against Vianne’s chocolaterie in the beginning, changes his mind after eating chocolate. He just could not resist them. Throughout the movie, Comte struggles because he loves Caroline Clairmont, Luc’s mother, but he could not reveal his emotion toward her. At the end of the movie, Comte asks her to a dinner during a chocolate festival, which would never have occurred without Vianne and her chocolate.

Chocolat

“Chocolat” is set in a small French village in the late 1950’s where a journeying woman, Vianne, and her young daughter, Anouk, open a chocolatier. Ironically, the shop is opened at the start of Lent, when the village people are not allowed to eat chocolate. There are a few regulars that do go to Vianne’s shop; however most of the town is opposed to even daring to enter the sinful world of chocolaty goodness. Comte de Reynaud is strongly against the opening of the chocolatier, preaching to his family and townspeople aversely of the shop. Throughout the film, certain characters, such as Armande and her grandson, and essentially the entire village, change dramatically due to Vianne’s magical chocolaty delights. The chocolate is representative of not only content and joy, but it is illustrative of new beginnings.

Armande is one of the few people in the village who does not comply with the ways of the church. Unlike her daughter, who is married to the Comte, Armande lives under her own rules and circumstances. Hence, she is a regular at the chocolatier, not caring if it’s Lent or not. Soon after the chocolatier opens and as she befriends Vianne, Armande’s life fundamentally changes. Before, she was kind of a grouch. She did not ever want help from anybody, and she did not seem to care about anybody. After her time at the chocolatier, she transforms into a caring and generally happy person. She gets to see her grandson, who sneaks around so that he can go to the chocolatier to see his grandmother (as well as to eat those delicious snacks). Armande begins to smile, laugh, and have a good time with her new friends. This joy is brought into the last months of her life all because of the chocolatier and the people she met there. The chocolate, therefore, represents her new outlook on life and the way she spent her last days.

Not only does Armande find herself through the chocolatier, but it is also a new beginning for the Comte and his family. Armande’s grandson finally rebels against his strict family by spending time at the chocolatier with his grandmother, breaking rules by eating the chocolate, and by being the free person he wants to be. He starts to draw pictures of Armande rather than dead people, and he too seems much happier. His mother also has a revelation due to the chocolatier. She sees how happy the people inside of it are, and finally conforms to being apart of it. She helps Josephine, a friend of Vianne’s, make and prepare the chocolate and to convince Vianne to stay in the village. Although she doesn’t eat the chocolate until the very end, she accepts Vianne and is a more open-minded person because of the chocolatier.

Josephine is another character whom chocolate has an effect on. Before Vianne came to town, Josephine was an abused, harmed wife. Her husband, Serge, was awful to her. She would do dishes and basically act as his slave in the back of the pub he owned. Vianne freed her of this abusive relationship with the chocolate shop. It gave Josephine liberation and the freedom to start a new life. This separation made Serge realize his behavior, and he finally went to the church to repent.

One of the last people to be changed by the chocolatier was Comte de Reynaud himself. He constantly fights off the urge to eat a sweet by doing something like putting a picture in front of a croissant at his desk. Finally he is drawn in by the chocolate and eats just about everything in the window of the shop. This scene, where his face is smeared with chocolates and he is asleep from the food coma he put himself in, represents how he is giving himself, as well as the village, to change. There was so much rigidity among the townspeople. However, with the chocolatier being accepted, the people are more joyous and free.

Overall, the chocolate liberates the village. The sweet is symbolic of a fresh start for people, giving them the chance to be independent. Even the strictest of them all give into their guilty pleasure. The leisure of doing something so simple as to eating chocolate truly allows the townspeople, especially the Comte and his family, Josephine, and Armande enjoy life. They get a second chance to change the way they approach things, especially the stiffness of the community. Even a somber old couple rejuvenates and spices up their marriage due to a special chocolate. Without it, their marriage could have been ruined. Vianne and her chocolate profoundly give opportunity to the people of the village.