Last Holiday paired with Bananas Foster

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This month's film is Last Holiday hosted by Leslie at La Cocina de Leslie.



Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah) lives in New Orleans, works in a gourmet supply shop selling and demonstrating cookware. She is a fantastic cook and makes some of the most delicious looking dishes at home, watching her favorite chef Emeril LaGasse. Then she feeds the good food to her young neighbor while she east a Lean Cuisine. In a blended storyline you can see Georgia has a crush on her coworker Sean (LL Cool J) but she is too shy to approach him.

The theme is – “life is short and you need to live a little” which is good advice for us all, right? One day at work Georgia falls and bumps her head which requires her to visit the company doctor. She receives a cat scan revealing several brain tumors. (Keep in mind the company has a used cat scan machine (improbable) and a doctor who looks like he got his license from the Sears catalog. Certainly not your typical business) She is told she has weeks to live. In one funny scene Georgia is in church, standing up front in the choir and she is obviously distracted. She starts quietly lamently,

“Why me, lord. Why Me?”

And the choir and audience take up her cry, “Why me lord?!” they holler and sing and the place is rocking as she leaves, still singing, “Why me?”

This is the beginning of Georgia’s change of heart about living frugally, about eating low calorie frozen meals, about sacrifice. She cashes out her life savings, books a trip to Europe and plans her last holiday. No expense is spared as she stays in a top rated hotel, buys expensive clothes and speaks her mind as she’s never done before.


Photo Credit

Last Holiday is a remake of a 1950 British comedy, but the “terminal patient” was a male, starring Alec Guinness. What a cool twist to make the main a female and I will say, Queen Latifah did a great job.

I’m not going to spoil the ending or some of the twists in the plotline. It was a pretty good movie and there were many food shots. So many that, I had a hard time choosing and will most likely make something else from this movie next month.

Let's have dessert first, shall we? I adapted a Bananas Foster Recipe and here it is.



Bananas Foster

Ingredients:

4 firm ripe bananas, sliced in half lengthwise
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup dark rum or good quality brandy

Preparation:

Melt butter in a heavy skillet; add the brown sugar and spices, stirring until the sugar is completely melted. Add the ripe bananas and cook until they are hot and well coated with syrup, but not mushy.

Carefully pour in the rum or brandy. With a long match or charcoal lighter, carefully light the brandy in the pan and cook until the flame dies out. I love setting food aflame! So exciting.



Doesn’t this just beg for vanilla ice cream or French vanilla pound cake? I think it does. Alas...no ice cream available .........so pound cake it is.



Don't forget to check out Leslie at La Cocina de Leslie and also Food n Flix! It's always exciting to see what other cooks were inspired to dish up.