fulfilling the stereotype -- Asian food and Mary Queen of Scots

So ... my Christmas.

Christmas Eve dinner was at Benihana.  I think by now everyone knows how I feel about teppanyaki.  Set me down near the hibachi, let me watch the chef prepare my meal, hand me a pair of chopsticks, and I will gleefully dine on steak, shrimp, fried rice...

Christmas Day found me with another pair of chopsticks in my hand, enjoying  the pu pu platter, Grand Marnier shrimp, Szechuan beef and chicken with candied walnuts at Orchid.

And of course there was a movie: Mary Queen of Scots.

My college major was history, with a concentration in the history of Europe.  I was especially fascinated by English history from the War of the Roses through the Elizabethan era.    I wrote a term paper on Mary of Scotland once.  That was many years ago and I've forgotten a lot of what I learned in my research, but  my knowledge of Mary of Scotland and Elizabeth of England is much more detailed than the average movie viewer.

(What piqued my interest in the Queen of Scots, interestingly enough, was a 1971 movie starring Vanessa Redgrave as Mary and Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth. I probably saw it on TV when I was in high school.)

I could write a history lesson here, what the movie emphasizes, what it omits, where the producer took liberties...but I am not going to do that.  Because what I saw yesterday was a beautiful drama about two queens, cousins and "frenemies", and the very personal relationships that each had, a movie which kept me entertained and involved.  If you like historical drama, it's definitely worth seeing.

All in all, not a bad way to spend the holiday.

But I will say...New Year's Eve will NOT involve chopsticks ...