{Friends First with The Cooking Actress} Kayle’s Favorites

Can you believe that it is July 1 already?! Where the heck did June go? While you are scrambling around to get everything in order before the holiday later this week, I have a fun little post for you here for our “Friends First” series, brought to you by a super adorable friend of mine!

Kayle is the fun, sweet face behind The Cooking Actress. As the name of her blog would suggest, she is an actress by day, food blogger by night, living in New York City with her boyfriend and loyal taste-tester, Michael. She has primarily taught herself how to cook and has a deep and abiding love for all things chicken, cheese, and chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. She has taken my invitation to write about anything she is passionate about, so she as come up with a fun, different post for you today!

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Oh hey there! Hello! My name is Kayle, and I’m the lady behind the kinda crazy, kinda fun, super tasty blog, “The Cooking Actress”. I’m gonna make it easy for ya-I’m an actress, and I cook/bake, ta da! I live in NYC, act in film/television projects (when I can), and make crave-worthy foods for myself and my loyal boyfriend/food test subject, Michael. When Stephie asked if I wanted to participate in her Friends First series I was like “UM OF COURSE!” I love Stephie. You guys know how amazing she is. You know what else is soo sweet? She sent me the cutest Christmas card. Seriously. How cute?! She totally needs to get her skinny tush over to New York so we can become best buds in real life, pronto.

Anyway, she pretty much just said I could post about anything that would represent me.

Um….Stephie could not have made this more stressful. Then I’m all like “Ah! What represents me?! What if everyone doesn’t like me?!” so I asked her for some advice. And she mentioned something about posting some of my favorite movies or whatever. And I kinda sorta loved the idea-even though I’m one of those people who has an awful time narrowing anything down to their favorites. Nevertheless, I tried my best to give you guys my top 10 favorite movies, TV shows, sweet treats, and savory recipes. And we’ll have some talkin’ along the way. Because Kayle loves to talk. Ask anyone.

Movies

The Princess Bride

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Best. Movie. EVER. I could go on forever about how much I love this movie (or just quote the entire thing back to you)-and in fact I’ve already devoted an entire blog post/recipe to my adoration of this cult hit. “Let me e’splain…no there is too much…let me sum up”: Our hero and heroine are Westley and Buttercup, and they overcome/deal with death, torture, fighting, ROUS’, etc. etc. so that true love will prevail. I discovered the movie when I was about 14 and become obsessed (like watched it multiple times daily for approx. a month). And my passion for it has never wavered-it is equal parts action, fairytale, romance, comedy, and just quirky wonderfulness. It’s also the boyfriend’s favorite movie (he was raised on it) and we’re intending to dance to the theme at our future wedding. So yeah-epic awesomeness.

Cry-baby

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Truth time: Cry-baby is a weird movie. I know it. It’s a John Waters movie (the guy who did the original film of Hairspray) and that guy is weirdness personified. Like pretty much all John Waters projects, what we’ve got is a spoof-y film set in 1950’s Baltimore, dealing with class issues and the love story of  “juvenile delinquent/Drape” Wade, “Cry-Baby”, Walker and the square, Allison. But let’s get down to what makes this movie awesome: a young, super sexy, super bad boy, Johnny Depp. Yes ladies, that’s right. This was actually young Johnny’s first starring role in a film and it made teenaged Kayle go gaga. Then she (I) went on to become a similar (though slightly less) level of obsessed: I watched it about once a day for a couple weeks (not including the times where I just watched my favorite parts…pretty much anytime Johnny did anything I deemed swoon-worthy, which was a lot). Anyway, in spite of (or perhaps because of) it’s weirdness, I just think it’s so entertaining, and I love it.

Beauty and the Beast

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I could make a whole list out of Disney movies, but for the purposes of this post, I thought I’d just throw out one of my all time favorites (and definitely my favorite princess movie): Beauty and the Beast. I dare you to find one person who doesn’t love it-good luck, because there is NO ONE who doesn’t love it. Bookworm Belle meets an angry, and misunderstood, beast who-turns out-is a prince in disguise! (Side note: Beast is also my favorite Disney prince. Does this mean I have issues? Yeah, probably.) And let’s not forget that nearly all, normally inanimate, objects in the castle are actually alive and the formerly human servants of Beast (AKA Prince Adam). This movie totally holds up-it’s pretty to look at, the music is enchanting, we all love to hate Gaston, and it has a perfectly magical love story and happy ending. *le sigh*.

10 Things I Hate About You

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Heath Ledger at his hottest (I can’t say best because let’s be real here…he was RIDICULOUS as the joker). This movie is a quintessential teen film of the 90’s…oh except that it’s based on Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” (but with a much better ending because…well…in Shakespeare’s time it was like good for women to shut up and do as they’re told. Not so much in the 90’s.) In addition to Heath Ledger the super-awesome cast includes Julia Stiles (as “the shrew” more or less, and the lucky lady who gets to kiss Heath Ledger’s face….I swear guys I’m a happily taken lady but I fell in love with these movies back when I was single and lonely lol), Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a young’n, Gabrielle Union, David Krumholtz, and lots of other familiar faces. This movie is funny, witty, unique but doesn’t try too hard, and again: Heath Ledger (who makes stabbing a frog look attractive…seriously).

We miss you Heath 🙁

The Notebook

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This movie is one of the very few times where I will say: I prefer the movie to the book. (AND I read the book first so you can’t say I was influenced by the movie.) It’s just a fun, passionate, perfect love story. And I’m still pulling for Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams to get back together, btw.

TV

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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I was like…super late to the Buffy game. In my defense, I was fairly young when it was airing. So, it wasn’t until a few years ago that I sat down to Netflix and watched the whole thing (and Angel). Best show ever. Joss Whedon is just such a genius, his writing is amazing and his work is always so clever and funny. I fell in love with like every single character (except Faith…I hate her) and it’s really just the perfect mix of campy tongue-in-cheek and fairly genuine paranormal episodic. “In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the slayer.” There are also demons. And a vampire with a soul. Slayer and vamp with soul fall in love. Witches. “Gods”. Xander. So much goodness. I’m currently watching again, for the second time, with the boyfriend (this is his first time watching) and it just holds up guys.

Supernatural

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I like paranormal stuff, what can I say? Supernatural started out a lot scarier than now, but essentially it’s the story of 2 brothers “saving people, killing things, the family business.” Sam and Dean Winchester are “hunters”-people who know what goes bump in the night, and protect the rest of us from that stuff. They were raised that way by their father, who got into it after their mother was murdered by “something” supernatural. This show, created by Eric Kripke, was originally supposed to be a movie, but instead we got the awesomeness of the show. And because of this-the first 5 seasons were (big plot-wise) already set from the beginning. Which lets you have some amazing “a ha!” moments along the way. Plus there are just some hilarious parts. And you fall head over heels for Sam and Dean (mostly Dean, at least if you’re me), played by Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, and the supporting cast (highlights of which include the angel Castiel and their hunter buddy/father figure Bobby Singer). This is definitely Michael’s favorite show-after I told him how much he’d love it-and absolutely one of mine. Addicting, I tell ya.

Charmed

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I was particularly obsessed with Charmed in middle school, but it will always be one of my top favorites. Now, was it perfect? No. Were there many inconsistencies and incongruities within plot/storylines/continuity of story? Yes. But was it still awesome (and have one of my favorite series finales of all time)? YES. Essentially Charmed is the story of 3 sisters (Prue, Piper, and Phoebe….and then eventually Piper, Phoebe, and Paige) who, turns out, are like the most powerful witches of all time-The Charmed Ones, the Power of 3. They battle warlocks and demons and such (and sometimes fall in love with them) all while attempting to juggle normal lives and their families. You see them grow up and there are some truly awesome moments along the way. Also…I love Phoebe and Cole together and it was ended stupidly. But I just pretend that didn’t happen. That’s how I roll.

Gilmore Girls

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I love this fast-talking, always have a quip ready, mother & daughter show. I really don’t know what else to say except that it’s pure fun to watch, and I’ve seen all the episodes countless times (yay syndication!)

Once Upon A Time

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This is my newest favorite show. It combines a few of my loves-fairytales, Disney, and big, twisty television shows. The essential premise is that a whole group of fairytale characters have been cursed and now live in Storybrook, Maine-and no one has any memory of who they really are. Emma, our heroine, is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, but has no clue who her parents are (she was raised in foster care), but she’s brought into the whole thing when the child she gave up 10 years ago, Henry, finds her and brings her to Storybrook where he lives with his adoptive mother (the evil Queen, Regina). Intrigued? You should be! I’m so crazy about this show. It’s not only fun to watch but it actually takes some effort-you become a little bit of a detective, trying to connect everything together. FUN!

Sweets

Ummmm I love sweets. Cookies, especially. And chocolate. Baking is one of the most fun things in the world, to me, and you know…so is eating what I baked. I try really hard to make most things from scratch and I will tell you-it makes all the difference! Tastes much better-and really, that’s what it’s all about.

Graham Crackers

Brown Butter Chocolate-Stuffed Toffee

Browned Butter Dark Chocolate and Marshmallow Cookies

Browned Butter, Salted, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

Chocolate Decadence

Coconut Toffee Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Smores Brownies

Savory

Woman cannot live on cookies alone. We all need some savory in our lives! So, I thought I’d share some of my fave savory treats, too (including entrees, sides, apps, etc.).

Baked Cheddar and Scallion Mashed Potatoes

Cheddar Biscuits

Fluffy, Buttery Texas Roadhouse Rolls

Browned Butter Macaroni and Cheese

Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

Creamy Chicken on Biscuits

Just Chicken Pot Pie

Sicilian Enchiladas

Spinach and Brie Puff Pastries

Linguine con aglio e olio d’oliva

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Thanks, Kayle! Be sure to follow The Cooking Actress on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest so that you never miss a single delicious post.