Weather ~ Picture of the Day ~ Sophia Loren History ~ Seafood-Stuffed Fish Fillets ~ National English Toffee Day

 

 

Good 34º morning. 

Yesterday we topped at 47º.

 

 

Picture of the Day😀

 

 

Interesting about Sophia Loren............

 

Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone OMRI (Italian); born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren, is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest stars of classical Hollywood cinema and is one of the last surviving major stars from the era. Loren is also the only remaining living person to appear on AFI's list of the 50 greatest stars of American film history, positioned 21st.

 

Encouraged to enroll in acting lessons after entering a beauty pageant, Loren began her film career at age sixteen in 1950. She appeared in several bit parts and minor roles in the early part of the decade, until her five-picture contract with Paramount in 1956 launched her international career. Her film appearances around this time include The Pride and the Passion, Houseboat, and It Started in Naples. During the 1950s, she starred in films as a sexually emancipated persona and was one of the best known sex symbols of the time.

 

Loren's performance as Cesira in the film Two Women (1961) directed by Vittorio De Sica won her the Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the first actor to win an Oscar for a non-English-language performance. She holds the record for having earned seven David di Donatello Awards for Best Actress: Two Women; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963); Marriage Italian Style (1964, for which she was nominated for a second Oscar); Sunflower (1970); The Voyage (1974); A Special Day (1977) and The Life Ahead (2020). She has won five special Golden Globes (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award), a BAFTA Award, a Laurel Award, a Grammy Award, the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1991, she received the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievements.

 

At the start of the 1980s, Loren chose to make rarer film appearances. Since then, she has appeared in films such as Prêt-à-porter (1994), Grumpier Old Men (1995), Nine (2009), and The Life Ahead (2020).

 

In June 1996, Loren was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (OMRI).

 

Family and childhood

Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone was born on September 20, 1934, in the Clinica Regina Margherita in Rome, Italy, the daughter of Romilda Villani (1910–1991) and Riccardo Scicolone Murillo (1907–1976). Her mother was a piano teacher and aspiring actress, her father a failed engineer who worked temporarily for the national railway Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane. Loren claimed in her autobiography that he was of noble descent, by virtue of which she is entitled to call herself "Viscountess of Pozzuoli, Lady of Caserta, a title given by the House of Hohenstaufen, Marchioness of Licata Scicolone Murillo".

 

Loren's father refused to marry her mother, leaving her without financial support. Loren met with her father three times, at age five, age seventeen and in 1976 at his deathbed, stating that she forgave him but had never forgotten his abandonment of her mother. Loren's parents had another child together, her sister Maria, in 1938. Scicolone did not want to formally recognise Maria as his daughter. When Loren became successful, she paid her father in order to have her sister Maria take the Scicolone last name. Loren has two younger paternal half-brothers, Giuliano and Giuseppe. Romilda, Sofia, and Maria lived with Loren's grandmother in Pozzuoli, near Naples.

 

Loren became an international film star following her five-picture contract with Paramount Pictures in 1958. Among her films at this time were Desire Under the Elms with Anthony Perkins, based upon the Eugene O'Neill play; Houseboat, a romantic comedy co-starring Cary Grant; and George Cukor's Heller in Pink Tights, in which she appeared as a blonde for the first time.

 In 1960, Loren starred in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women, a stark, gritty story of a mother who is trying to protect her 12-year-old daughter in war-torn Italy. The two end up gang-raped inside a church as they travel back to their home city following cessation of bombings there. Originally cast as the daughter, Loren fought against type and was eventually cast as the mother (actress Eleonora Brown would portray the daughter). Loren's performance earned her many awards, including the Cannes Film Festival's best performance prize, and an Academy Award for Best Actress, the first major Academy Award for a non-English-language performance or to an Italian actress. She won 22 international awards for Two Women. The film was extremely well received by critics and a huge commercial success. Though proud of this accomplishment, Loren did not show up to this award, citing fear of fainting at the award ceremony. Nevertheless, Cary Grant telephoned her in Rome the next day to inform her of the Oscar award. During the 1960s, Loren was one of the most popular actresses in the world, and continued to make films in the United States and Europe, starring with prominent leading men. In 1961 and 1964, her career reached its pinnacle when she received $1 million to appear in El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire. In 1965, she received a second Academy Award nomination for her performance in Marriage Italian-Style opposite Marcello Mastroianni.

 

Among Loren's best-known films of this period are Samuel Bronston's epic production of El Cid with Charlton Heston, The Millionairess (1960) with Peter Sellers, It Started in Naples (1960) with Clark Gable, Vittorio De Sica's triptych Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963) with Marcello Mastroianni, Peter Ustinov's Lady L (1965) with Paul Newman, Arabesque (1966) with Gregory Peck, and Charlie Chaplin's final film, A Countess from Hong Kong (1967) with Marlon Brando.

 

Loren received four Golden Globe Awards between 1964 and 1977 as "World Film Favorite – Female".

 

 

^{If you want to read a lot more, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_Loren}

 

 

From Mr. Food

 

 

Don't forget to stop at the market fish counter and pick up your favorite white-fleshed fish to make these awesome stuffed fish rollups. Our Seafood-Stuffed Fish Fillets taste restaurant-fancy, but they're a cinch to make!

 

• 1/2 pound imitation crabmeat, flaked
• 1/2 cup Italian-flavored bread crumbs
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 white fish fillets, such as flounder or cod (about 1-1/2 pounds)
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

 

 

1. Preheat oven to 375º. Coat a 9- x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
    
2. In a medium bowl, combine the crabmeat, bread crumbs, celery, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, and pepper; mix well.
    
3. Place fish fillets on a flat surface. Spread crabmeat mixture over each  fillet, dividing evenly, and roll up jelly-roll style. Place seam side down in prepared baking dish. Drizzle with melted butter and sprinkle with paprika.
    
4. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve immediately.
   
   

 

***Feel free to use real crab meat in your stuffed fish roll-ups, if you prefer. We use imitation crab meat to keep this dish budget-friendly.

 

 

Historically this date.......

1780 – An earthquake of estimated magnitude 7.7 hits the city of Tabriz, Iran, killing about 80,000 people and causing major damage..............wow, 80,000!!!

1835 – The United States national debt is 0 for the only time.

1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.

2011 – An attempted assassination of Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and subsequent shooting in Casas Adobes, Arizona at a Safeway grocery store kills six people and wounds 13, including Giffords.

 

 

And births this date include....

1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress and entertainer (d. 1970)

 

 

 

1912 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (d. 1992) 

 

1923 – Larry Storch, American actor (d. 2022)

... a Hollywood phenom... married to same woman 43 years (til her death)

 

 

1926 – Soupy Sales, American comedian (d. 2009)

 

1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer (d. 1977)

... here in a picture with my late friend Seal Beach Judy in 1971, and Judy's baby girl Kim...... 

1942 – Yvette Mimieux, American actress (d.2022)

 

 

1947 – David Bowie, English musician (d.2016) 

 

 

 

All I know. Nuff said. Have a good Monday. Ciao.

xo Sue Mom Bobo

On January 8th, National English Toffee Day celebrates a favored confection that’s been enjoyed across the country for generations.

In the United States, English toffee is a popular variant of the original toffee. A butter confection topped with almonds, it’s made by caramelizing white sugar with butter and can be both hardened or chewy.  The Heath bar is a type of candy bar made with an English toffee core.

However, the British make toffee with only brown sugar, not white. And while they typically do not add nuts, they will add a layer off chocolate. Don’t hesitate to try dark, milk or white chocolate with English toffee. All varieties add a different texture and flavor.

Both the American and British versions are enjoyed all year long, though. 

HOW TO OBSERVE

Gather up your ingredients. Making toffee can be both challenging and rewarding. It’s also a beautiful candy with delicious textures. Share it with the office or family members. We’ve even provided several recipes for you to try.

Visit your favorite bakery or candy shop to pick up an order of English toffee freshly made. Yes, some places still make it fresh.

 

Classic English Toffee

Frozen English Toffee Cake

Toffee Bars