Movie-themed Pies & That Time I Was on the Set of a Christmas Movie

*sorry about the multiple posts & notifications today, I’m having some technical issues with wordpress…seems to be fixed :D*

Hi Guys!

I hope you had a lovely Valentine’s Day. How are we almost at the end of February already? Spring is less than a month away now and the start of Daylight Saving (my favourite day of the year!) is less than 2 weeks away. Yes! I am beyond excited.

Since spring is just around the corner, I figured I’d better share my holiday pies ASAP. Usually the cut off for anything-Christmas (for me, anyway) is early January. So this is probably already too late but a few folks have been asking about my holiday pies so I figured I’d better catch you all up. If you can believe it, several of my closest friends aren’t on social media (Facebook, instagram etc!??) so they have been clearly missing out. Just pretend it’s still January when you’re looking at my Christmas pies, OK?

We had a pretty cold start to winter and at one point in early January it was colder in Ottawa than the North Pole… AND Mars! (Seriously). Thankfully though, the rest of winter has been quite mild and we haven’t had much snow, either. We even got to 10 degrees recently– which is pretty sweet considering we’re usually at -20 in mid February. Not too shabby at all.

But I’d still rather be Arizona if I could choose…Just sayin’. My friend Kelsie, who lives in the sunny state, is keeping her eye out for any houses-for-sale on her street for me (just kidding–I wish!). That way I can be a taste-tester for all her wonderful creations. She is the Queen of amazing dessert combos (check out her blog, I seriously drool at every dessert she comes up with). I’m making her Irish Cream/Coffee brownies for St Patrick’s Day, I can’t wait. They look incredible! I’m pretty sure she’ll make the best neighbour EVER (hee hee!).

I love Christmas but as soon as the holidays are over, I don’t want to see anything Christmas-related until next November. You cannot make me watch Elf with you in April and Hallmark doesn’t tempt me with their “Christmas in July” series at all (yep, it’s a thing). Not gonna happen. It’s bad enough some people blog about the holidays in late February (hehe). But really… who in their right mind wants to see Christmas decorations (or snow for that matter) in the middle of July? It’s just plain wrong.

Which leads to my next story….

A few years ago I was in Vancouver driving down a scenic highway enjoying a beautiful, warm summer day (in early July) when suddenly I came across snow. LOADS of it–we’re not talking about the little pile you see at the back of a hockey rink during the summer. And this was nowhere near the mountains on the north shore of Vancouver, either (which can get some snow in the summer). This was near White Rock–close to the the BC/Washington border. This area doesn’t get that much snow even in the winter (well, they get a wee bit but it doesn’t stay long).

It looked like summer everywhere else— except for this particular street. Weird. And the houses and trees were completely covered in the white stuff. Was I hallucinating? Or was I having some sort of strange delusion?

I know some folks leave their Christmas lights up all year-long, but this was way too many lights for the summer. It looked more like a Christmas village.

Judging by the quizzical look on my friend Jorge’s face, he was seeing this too. Perhaps we’ve entered the Twilight Zone? Or mayyyyvbe we were in an X Files episode? The show was filmed in Vancouver, after all (I was a huge fan of the show and did an X-Files tour the first time I was in Vancouver! #nerdalert). But the show ended a few years earlier so this probably didn’t have much to do with the FBI or aliens.

“I’m not saying this might be aliens but….it’s aliens.” I chuckled, channeling Mulder.

It turns out we weren’t too far off. We later found out that this was a film set, but there was no Mulder or Scully to be found anywhere (unfortunately).

Intrigued (and nosy as all heck), we pulled over to the side of the road so that we could fully investigate this odd phenomenon. And we weren’t the only curious folks, either. There were several cars parked along the side of the highway and many other people walking around checking out this strange sight.

My nosy-ness came in handy. As we started walking closer to the main house, a couple of friendly guys walked over and started chatting with us. They were part of a film crew (location scouts) and we were actually standing on a movie set. Yep, they were filming a Christmas movie! Now this was exciting.

I looked pretty chilly standing beside the (fake) snow in my summer outfit, don’t I? Brrr.. Don’t worry, it looked cold but it was actually 25 degrees (which is actually fairly warm for Vancouver).

Do you guys remember a holiday movie that came out a few years ago with Danny De Vito and Mathew Broderick? It’s called ‘Deck the Halls’ (2006) and it’s about two neighbours fighting over who has the best Christmas decorations. One of them (De Vito’s character) had decorations that were ‘so bright it could be seen from outer space!!’

Yep, we were on the set of THAT movie. WOOO!

The movie also starred Kristen Davis from Sex in the City (which I’ve never actually seen—*I know, crazy) and also the very funny and talented Kristin Chenoweth. Unfortunately we didn’t get to meet any of the actors as we didn’t get that close, plus they were filming indoors at the time. But it was pretty neat to get a tour of the set and chat with some of the film crew. They were all very friendly and didn’t mind us poking around.

I couldn’t wait to see the movie when it came out at Christmas. Because any movie with De Vito and Ferris Bueller (er– I mean, Mathew Broderick) has gotta be fun, right? In the end, it wasn’t the best movie ever but it was fun and they really did a great job making it look like Christmas…in the middle of the summer.

There are loads of movies (especially Hallmark Christmas movies) and TV-shows filmed in (and around) the White Rock area. But if you’re a film buff, you probably knew that already.

My friend Jorge lives in the area so I always enjoy getting together with him when I’m in Vancouver. We actually met in Ottawa when I worked at an Irish Pub many years ago. He used to come in to do work (he was in school at the time) while enjoying a pint and we chatted a lot, especially if it wasn’t very busy in the bar. A few years later, I signed up for a Freelance Writing class and lo and behold— there he was in my class! He is a lawyer now (Labour Relations) and works in Vancouver.

If you find yourself in Vancouver and you’ve got wheels, take a drive out to White Rock (it used to be considered part of Surrey– in South Vancouver), especially if you’re heading over the border since you’ll practically drive right by it.

After our movie set tour, Jorge and I went for a bite to eat on the main street in White Rock.

White Rock also has the only cruising strip left in Canada (apparently… I do not know this from experience) 😀

It’s a pretty little town right by the water and I love that the train goes right through here, too. I’m a huge train lover so this was a treat.

The town is about 45 km south of Vancouver (close to the border) along the Semiahmoo Bay. It began as a resort area since it’s the perfect spot for swimming and boating. In the early 1900s, cottages were built along the waterfront and eventually a community developed– along with a post office, general store and a hospital. In 1957, the town separated from Surrey/Vancouver and became the City of White Rock.

And there’s a white rock here, too. Go figure!

I’ve been to White Rock a few times with my brother and niece, and my parents and I came here together when we visited Vancouver a few years ago. It’s a lovely town to spend the day (or the whole summer).

This next one brings back memories—-my Dad and Aunt Colleen having fun walking the beach. This was taken just a couple of years before my dad got sick. He was happy to finally get a chance to do some travelling and we all came out to Vancouver to visit my brother. This was one of our only road trips together. My parents weren’t big travelers at all so I’m not really sure where I got my road trip gene from. I actually think it was from my Aunt Colleen.

The old train station (now museum) is located right off main street, along the beautiful waterfront. This is also used as the main office in ‘Psych’, a crime-comedy show filmed in Vancouver from 2007 to 2013 (which I’ve only just discovered). Such a good (funny) show and it was filmed here in White Rock.

Okay, this post is much longer than I intended (oops), so let’s move on to pie!!

So….anyone else love watching Christmas movies during the holidays?

For me, it’s not Christmas without The Muppet Christmas Carol, Elf, Christmas Vacation, Die Hard (yes, it’s a Christmas movie), Gremlins (also a Christmas movie), The Santa Clause, Just Friends and While you were Sleeping. The last two aren’t classics, per se (and you may not have even heard of them), but they’re great fun holiday-themed movies and are now part of my tradition. Can you guess which of these movies I made into pies? (No cheating/scrolling). See the bottom of this post for my pies….two are from movies, the others are general holiday-themed. 

This is one of my favourite holiday movies: Elf. My pal Buddy deserves his own pie, even though it’s not made with any of the 4 main food groups (candy canes, candy corn, candy and maple syrup).

There’s nothing like a Griswold Christmas to get you in the mood for the holidays, right? Hard to believe this movie is almost 30-years-old already (it came out in 1989!). Holy cow. I love it.

Here’s my attempt at Clark getting electrocuted while he tried putting up the Christmas lights:

How about an Ugly Sweater Pie to take to your Ugly Sweater Party? Even better if you can opt for the pie instead of the sweater. hehe 😀