In a previous article, I wrote about how 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' inspired me to change who I was, be more social and outgoing, and find my true self. But that was not the only thing that shaped me into becoming who I am today, as 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' as well as Aziz Ansari's 'Master of None'.
We will start with Courtesan Au Chocolat from 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'.
Unfortunately, I do not have the highest of baking pedigree and I could not get these to work despite my best efforts. The dough balls came out flat and even though I remade the dough multiple times, I have yet to succeed. But that did not stop me from putting 2 of the flats together with the chocolate crem freshe on the inside and covered in icing to make a delightful, albeit entirely unhealthy, sandwich.
Overall, it was a fun experience but it did not yield anything other than a messy kitchen and copious amounts of unused Icing and Creme Fresh. I still appreciated making it as I connect deeply with the movie and love it. While I was slightly disappointed I could not correctly complete the recipe, it was a good experience for sure.
Now for a recipe that I actually successfully completed: Clementine Cake from 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'.
'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' was a movie that moved me very deeply. It made me realize that I needed to change how I was acting and portraying myself as in order to become who I truly was. I connect a bit with Walter himself and Ben Stiller portrayed him perfectly.
Here is the recipe I used for it. I used Mandarin Oranges instead of clementines because HEB did not have any clementines and it turned out just as good. I also used the clementine juice for the icing instead of the milk as they do in the movie, this made for a tastier icing, but not quite a faithful representation.
Binging with Babish: Clementine Cake from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty youtu.be
Whilst I slightly overcooked the cake, it still tasted incredible and I look forward to making it again. It is a delightful and tasty cake. It also meant a lot to me to remake the cake, which was prominently featured, from a movie that was so impactful for me.
Finally, I recreated the Pasta Carbonara from 'Master of None'.
'Master of None' is the personal project of Aziz Ansari, a comedian who became popular through 'Parks and Rec'. The show is basically a look into his life, his triumphs, failures, friends, family, and love. In season 1, he finds love, and they date and everything seems to be going well until it isn't. She decides to move to Japan to follow her dreams, so he chooses to follow his dreams as well, but follows his heart to Italy instead to pursue his love for pasta.
'Master of None' showed me that you have to pursue your dreams or what you love to attain it and that nothing will just magically happen.
Here is my recreation:
Fun fact: I learned from Reddit that using dry pasta is much better than using egg-based pasta noodles as I used.
Here is the recipe I (mostly) followed.
Binging with Babish: Master of None Carbonara youtu.be
Making these foods was fun and tasty and I look forward to cooking more food based on the silver screen and beyond.
