Dinner and a movie
January 15, 2009
Not another dog movie: Wendy and Lucy skips the mainstream cheesiness
By Maddie Hall
Photo by none.
Wendy and Lucy
3.0/5.0
At a time when Marley & Me dominates box-office earnings and the Jan. 16 release of Hotel for Dogs looms on the horizon, there is little room left for films starring (or even sympathizing with) canine companions. Luckily, Wendy and Lucy, which opens Jan. 23 at the Varsity Theatre, is not just another dog movie.
“Wendy and Lucy” is also not a film most families will scramble to see; it received an R rating for language, though thematic elements might have figured more heavily into that assessment, and the film is being given a very limited release.
The title characters are a down-and-out young woman played by Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, But I’m a Cheerleader) and her golden retriever mix, Lucy, who lives with Wendy in her beat-up Honda Accord. Halfway between nowhere and Ketchikan, Alaska — the best place for fishery work, as some train-hopping, homeless, toothless men insist — Wendy finds herself stranded in Portland, Ore.
After being scolded by security for sleeping in a Walgreens parking lot, Wendy discovers that her car has broken down. After pushing the car to a public space just off the lot, she plans her next move. As she shakes the last few kibbles from a bag of dog food, Wendy assures Lucy that things will work out and tethers the dog to a pole in front of a small grocery store.
Instead, Wendy is summarily busted for shoplifting a few cans of dog food. The grinning stock boy drags her to his manager, who is reluctant to reprimand a grimy girl with a tote containing four unpurchased cans and a handful of cookies.
“If a person can’t afford dog food, they shouldn’t have a dog,” the younger employee smirks before surreptitiously calling the police. An ashamed Wendy is booked for petty theft and fined $50, a painful subtraction from her savings of $500.
What hurts Wendy more than doling out a significant portion of her resources is the realization that she’s left Lucy tied up outside all day, and when she returns to retrieve her best friend, the dog is nowhere to be found. The movie chronicles Wendy’s desperate search for her companion and the financial and emotional struggles she encounters during the journey — brushing her teeth in gas station bathrooms, borrowing cell phones, tirelessly checking local dog pounds for Lucy, and, on one very scary day, sleeping in the forest.
It is clear that “Wendy and Lucy” is an extremely low-budget flick. Many of the lines delivered by supporting (and even lead) characters sound either under-practiced or over-practiced. Do not expect stellar acting, beautiful sets or even fully believable side plots. Do gather some spare change, purchase a ticket and anticipate an artfully edited piece of indie cinema with a fresh story and a sprinkling of brilliantly framed shots.
Be warned: “Wendy and Lucy” is not a feel-good movie in the classic sense of the term. But in a time of real-life economic troubles, seeing that those in true financial ruin live on, and not so unhappily, can help put viewers’ worries back in perspective.
Reach reporter Maddie Hall at arts@dailyuw.com.
Pam’s Kitchen: Trinidad on the Ave
By Matthew Jackson
Photo by Thom Weinstein.
One of Pam's Kitchen's most popular dishes, the lamb roti is an authentic meal full of rich flavors and spices from its country of origin, Trinidad.
Photo by Thom Weinstein.
Located on the corner of Northeast 50th Street and the Ave, Pam's Kitchen offers authentic Trinidadian dishes in its comfortable and colorful environment.
5.0/5.0
The irony of walking to a restaurant that serves Trinidad and Caribbean cuisine on a cold and rainy January day is really pretty comical. Located on the corner of 50th and the Ave, Pam’s Kitchen feels like a tropical island vacation when you step in off the Seattle sidewalk.
Their Web site doesn’t cite the correct hours, so my friend Tom and I arrive 40 minutes before Pam’s Kitchen opens. The Ave has a different character this far north; the shops aren’t as small and crowded together. The restaurants also seem different — they aren’t as hyperactive and seem to relish in a more relaxed pace.
We stand on the sidewalk talking about classes until Anton Churaman, Pam’s son, lets us into the restaurant. He tells us that they’re not yet open, but if we want to sit down, we’re more than welcome to look over the menu.
Pam’s Kitchen is a fairly small street-corner restaurant. It shares an intersection with a Jack in the Box and the U-District Farmer’s Market. From the outside, it appears fairly unassuming but upstanding. Stepping inside, its originality comes more sharply into focus: warm Caribbean music and colors convey an honesty not often found in such restaurants.
We order drinks — a peanut punch for me and a mauby for Tom. The first is a milk-based chilled beverage. It turned out to be among the best drinks I’ve ever tasted, not unlike a liquid peanut-butter cookie. The mauby is made from boiled bark of the mauby tree, diluted and sweetened. After an initial shock of sweet, the drink finishes with blatant medicine bitterness — it recalls the exact flavor of a certain cough suppressant from my childhood. Other drinks offered at Pam’s include sorrel, a drink made of dried flowers like iced hibiscus tea, and pumpkin punch, a sweet, butternut squash-flavored beverage with a velvety texture. Anton brings us rum punches, one with sorrel and the other citrus; both are spicy, sweet and thick, reminiscent of holiday spiced ciders and almost cloying.
The menu, though in actuality simple, is daunting to the unfamiliar eye; the main dishes, called roti, are meat with curried potatoes and chickpeas with coleslaw, and they come with flatbread called paratha. The idea is to use this dense, flaky, buttery bread to put the meat and creamy potatoes in your mouth. Options include lamb, chicken, goat, beef and duck; we chose the lamb and found it to be rich, tender and flavorful. After the first bite, Tom said, “Yup,” paused, repeated “yup,” took another bite, and said it a third time with a nod of approval.
Pam’s Kitchen also features vegetarian roti options and a few delicious sides. We had a creamy, smooth pumpkin dish that was sweet and cooling in contrast to the spiciness of the other menu items. It paired beautifully with the potatoes and lamb.
Tom ordered the jerk chicken, which was served alongside amazing brown fried rice with peas, carrots and scallions, as well as coleslaw. The chicken had an intensely spicy flavor and was so moist it literally fell off the bone.
Anton brought us their homemade habanero sauce, with a warning not to use it too liberally. Tom put a generous smear on some paratha but didn’t find it to be overly spicy. Its heat is lingering, but the flavor is smoky, sweet and intense — the perfect complement to Pam’s Kitchen’s entrées.
Anton tells us that everything on the menu is traditional Trinidad cuisine. Most of the ingredients are imported from the island and the rest are grown locally, such as the habanero peppers. Regardless, everything served in the restaurant is made from scratch by Pam in her kitchen.
Pam’s Kitchen is going through some changes: it will soon expand its menu and introduce a full bar. As it is now, though, Pam’s Kitchen is popular. Empty when Tom and I arrived, we watched as it rapidly filled with customers over the following two hours.
Though stuffed to the gills, Tom and I couldn’t resist dessert. They offer several ice creams and a tropical cake-like dish. Their homemade ice creams are exotic: coconut, pumpkin, soursop (a tropical fruit) and — get this — Guinness. The last is actually the least enjoyable of the available flavors, but certainly worth a taste. The others are delicious.
The next time you’re looking for a great meal and a fantastic dining experience, take the time to visit Pam’s Kitchen. It’s a culinary vacation available whenever the weather gets you down.
Reach reporter Matt Jackson at arts@dailyuw.com.
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