Monday, November 6, 2017

Travel by Mini Bar Plus Candy-Bourbon Pairings #FoodNFlix

For November's Food'N'FlixAmy at Amy's Cooking Adventures hosts as we watch Planes, Trains, and Automobiles*. Here's her invitation.

On the Screen
I know I've seen the movie before, but it's been awhile. A long while. I was tickled to watch it again through a foodie lens this time. I started to watch it one afternoon, but when Jake walked in, he said he'd never watched it and wanted me to start it again. Done.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, a 1987 film from John Hughes, is humorous - no doubt - but there are moments in the film that are truly heart-wrenching. The basic story is a Murphy's Law tale. As Neal Page (played by Steve Martin) tries to travel from New York home to Chicago, everything that can possibly go wrong does.

Neal encounters Del Griffith (played by John Candy) who is a shower curtain ring salesman armed with an endless supply of jokes and pointless anecdotes. I won't give too much away, but they spend the night in a sleazy the same bed. They set their rental car on fire. And on and on and on.

This buddy comedy could easily have descended into the absurb, but Planes, Trains, and Automobiles manages to mingle comedy with drama and imbue the characters with unexpected depth and authenticity. It's a cinematic treat that delivers a great deal in terms of laughter and a feeling of the holiday spirit.

Travel by Mini Bar

There wasn't a whole lot of food in this movie. I mean, there is some. But it's not a foodie movie per se. Neal's family is eating spaghetti and meatballs when he calls to tell him he is delayed. You see Neal and Del in a few diner situations, but their food is never the focus. Neal does dream about cherry pie and a roasted turkey near the end of the film, but I was inspired to post by the scene in the motel where they are drinking bottles from the mini bar and tearing into a bunch of candy and junk food.

How's your drink?
Go for another one?
Where you been?
You been to Italy?
You had amaretto?
I have amaretto, and this is a gin.
Is there a tequila there?
Ahem. A little Mexican trip.
Here you go. Coming up.
Is this a good combo or what?
No, probably not.
Me, I'm going back to, uh, Jamaica.
Jamaica, man.
Go to Jamaica. Have some rum, man.
Dig it.

Candy-Bourbon Pairings

So, I was inspired by our leftover Halloween candy and some booze. I found a few articles about pairing Halloween candy with different alcohols. People suggested: Snickers + Scotch, Reese's + Whiskey, Twizzlers + Gin, Sour Patch Kids + Tequila. I even had Jake bring back some of the Halloween candy he had taken to work.

In the end, we liked everything with bourbon! Both the Butterfinger and Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cup went really well with the bourbon my sister-in-law brought the last time she came to visit. She knows what I like.

I'm looking forward to seeing where the Food'N'Flix crew goes with this movie. And, if you'd like to join the fun, you still have three weeks to watch and be inspired.



  1. are right about the food aspect...I'm still trying to figure out what to make for this one.

  2. Eek! I didn't mean to choose such a tough movie! You are amazingly creative, though! I LOVE the idea of bourbon & candy pairings! genius!

  3. Bourbon or gin go with everything. - Kimberly (coffee and casseroles)

  4. This is so much fun, and so perfectly inspired by P,T,A! And now, oddly, I feel the need to try a Butterfinger alongside a glass of Bourbon. ;)

  5. Bourbon is my drink of choice - it would totally go well with chocolate and caramel and the like! Very fun take on the movie!


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