Since the minute she read my list, my friend Meagan has been begging me to watch Mary Poppins with her, so we decided to invite her sister Katie and make a night of it, also checking off learning a new meal and making it for friends.
For dinner, we settled on lemon chicken piccata, creamy garlic mashed potatoes, green beans and rolls, and fresh blackberry lemonade. For dessert, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cupcakes.
We went to my parents’ house, donned our apron and chef coat and got our Betty Crocker on. After a (long) while, the table was set and dinner was served. Everything turned out great! There were a few tweaks I’d make here and there, but overall, I think Emeril would have been proud.
The only problem: we spent so long making dinner and dessert that we ran out of time to watch the movie (plus I accidentally left the movie at my apartment, but that’s a minor detail). I have a strict policy that I will not start a movie after 8:30, because I will fall asleep during it. I have a hard enough time not falling asleep during a movie in the middle of the day. I also have a strict two-hour time limit.
So instead, we decided to start having Way Back Wednesdays, and each Wednesday night we’ll watch an old movie.
As it should, the first Way Back Wednesday featured Mary Poppins, which I had managed to grow up without watching. (I’m really not that in to movies; I’d much rather watch TV.) (I hadn’t watched Wizard of Oz until I was 22.)
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with Mary Poppins. I wasn’t sure it would live up to its hype, but I actually enjoyed it. It was a reasonable length, it had a good story, and I didn’t fall asleep — it passed my test. I’m not going to go around quoting it or singing the songs, but I would watch it again.
We’ve only had a couple of Way Back Wednesdays so far, and the second movie we watched was an old favorite, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (RIP Gene). But the other movies on the list include: Psycho, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Jaws, Casablanca, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (the week of the election) and the Halloween series in October. I’m looking forward to this tradition.
Tanner Ward 