This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Well, Christmas is over and, I don't know about you, but my taste buds are fed up with Christmas food. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas but there is a reason why we don't cook and eat all that food every day of the year.
I am not, however, fed up with Christmas relaxation. Christmas is always a busy time for me, the cook of the house. So my relaxation is when all the festivities are over and I can snuggle up with a fire and a film and watch all the stuff I didn't get chance to over the festive period. Like the movie The Holiday. I do so enjoy this film. Yes, I know England isn't as it's always pictured and I have a problem with Cameron Diaz swigging from a bottle of wine and then driving the mini – but it is an easy and pleasurable watch. Nothing violent, the plot is not too taxing and I like the two female leads. It is, as I like my food at this time of the year, quite simple but still comforting and warm enabling me to recover and regain energy in order to plan for the year ahead.
The food I'm talking about is, of course, pasta. Kate Winslet, as the character Iris, has been hopelessly in love with a man who has been messing her around for years. She works with him at a British newspaper, so cannot get away from him, and when his engagement to another woman is announced at the newspaper's Christmas party, she has had enough.
She traipses home, to her gorgeous 'fairy tale english cottage' (which was apparently built in two weeks just for the film!) and sobs her heart out. Instead of sticking her head in the oven she puts her house on a house swapping website and meets Cameron Diaz, as Amanda Woods, in cyber space. Amanda lives in LA and is also suffering from a bad relationship. So they swap houses and swap lives for a couple of weeks. The result is romance and finally becoming their own heroine in their own lives – instead of playing the part of the 'best friend' (this will make sense once you've seen it).Iris meets Miles, who is also in a bad relationship, and to comfort each other they make and eat Christmas Fettuccine Alfredo. Amanda too is seen sitting in the cottage tucking into a plate of the comforting pasta dish, but she is alone.
You can find the recipe for Fettuccine Alfredo on the BBC website. It isn't difficult, it is mainly pasta, cream and parmesan. Not especially great for those wanting to reduce calories after Christmas. But it is perfect for winter.