Since Jodee and I both like cooking I invited her over for a Kitchen Witch Occult Box unboxing video. I told her we are going to have a traditional meat and potatoes comfort food dinner ~ but with a twist ~ and she's welcome to bring the potatoes!

For the menu I made BBQ Turkey Meatloaf and Steamed Broccoli, Jodee brought Scalloped Potatoes, and I made Chocolate Tiger Cookies for dessert. I've included the recipes if you are interested...

BBQ Turkey Meatloaf 

2 lb. Ground Turkey
6 oz. box of Stove Top Stuffing
1/2 cup BBQ Sauce (I used Tastefully Simple's Smoky Bacon BBQ Sauce), divided
2 large Eggs, beaten
1 cup Water

Mix all the ingredients, but BBQ only use 1/2 cup. Place foil into a 13x9 in pan and spray with nonstick coating. Shape mixture into a loaf and brush with the rest of the BBQ sauce. Bake at 325 for an hour.

Tips: I premade it the day before.

Steamed Broccoli

Buy a frozen bag of steamer broccoli and nuke it. (I know fresh broccoli is better but I had to cheat on this since I was running from work to make dinner.)

 Scalloped Potatoes

1 Tbsp Butter
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Flour
1 cup Milk
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pepper
1 Bay Leaf
1 large or 3 small Potatoes
1 cup Parmesan or Romano Cheese

Wash and thinly slice your potatoes with a mandolin or with a knife, place them into a bowl full of cold water and let them sit. Preheat your oven to °350.

In a pot, put your butter let it melt then add your flour let it absorb until it starts to smell nutty and add your milk and your spices as well as the crushed clove of garlic bring to a boil stirring. Then turn off the heat.

Butter your baking dish then start to line it with you drained potatoes, overlap then in the circular pattern and when all of them are arranged nicely take you sauce removing the garlic and the bay leaf then pour over your potatoes. (If the sauce doesn't quite cover it, add 1/4 cup of milk over it and give the dish a little shake.

Before you put your potatoes in the oven top with your cheese then place in the oven and bake for an hour. When the timer buzzes take the potatoes out an let them sit for 5 min just to let everything set! Top with green onion if you want.

Tips: You can use a teaspoon of garlic powder if you don't have fresh garlic, you can also add some dried thyme if you like as well or a little dried onion soup mix too.

Chocolate Tiger Cookies

1 1/2 cups granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup Hershey's Dutch Pressed Cocoa or Hershey's Cocoa
3 Eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 3/4 cups Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt

Powdered Sugar
40-48 Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped

Combine granulated sugar and oil in a large bowl. Add cocoa, beating until blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt, gradually add this mixture to the cocoa mixture. Mix well.

Refrigerate for at least 6 hours. I usually make the dough a day a ahead of time because it has to chill for 6 hours.

Heat oven to 350. Grease a cookie sheet. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in powdered sugar to coat. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.

Bake 13 min., remove from oven. Press Kiss into the center of each cookie. I flip them upside down so once cooled they are easier to stack. Let cool.

Now that we are full, let's unbox! Included in the Kitchen Witch Box...

*Note: Lots of kitty meows in the background and you can listen to us ramble on about hair. We also mention some of our favorite recipes including Alton Brown's Mac & Cheese (I love this Macaroni and Cheese so much that I eat it even though I'm lactose-intolerant) and Jodee's Lavender Cupcakes, she makes them with Lemon frosting.

1. Rosemary Sage Smudge Stick, you can even see the rosemary in it!

2. Black Salt.

3. Wooden Book Stand.

4. Floor Wash, smells like lemongrass.

5. Kitchen Witch Oven Mitt.

6. Mortar & Pestle. It's pretty heavy duty. I'm glad I have one. I just always used my little metal cauldron, but I feel like this will work much better.

7. Herb Packet. Rosemary, Chamomile, and Yarrow. Interested to try the yarrow out!

I like that although the things included in the box are staples every witch should have, it's a good refresher to have instructions and to restock!

You can check out my other Occult unboxing blog here:

 Samhain Occult Box

This month has flown by and I'm already getting another Pusheen Box! I have to admit when I saw the email previews of what would be included, I was not that excited, but life is all about balance, right? So there are some things in the box I think are stupid, but to counterbalance, there are some pretty PAW-some things in this box too. They exceed expectations.

Here's the unboxing video with a cameo by little Ginger Rogers at the end and Vicktor's collar bell ~ as always.

1. Silky feeling double-sided pillowcase set.

2. Snow Day Vinyl Figure.

3. Fuzzy Pusheen Slipper Socks.

4. Pusheen Ear Muffs!!!! My fav thing in the box.

5. Set of two Holiday Cards.

6. Pusheen Stencils. I guess you could use them for other things. Meh.

7. Felt Garland. I think I'm going to hang this in the bathroom at work. I have the soap dispenser and towels there too.

8. Hooded Blanket that snaps on! Wearing my new socks and Pusheen mug from Winter 2017.

I was disappointed there was no plush Pusheen. I would rather have the plush than the vinyl figures.

You can see past boxes too: Fall 2017 Pusheen Box, Winter 2017 Pusheen Box and Spring 2018 Pusheen Box, Summer 2018 Psuheen Box, Fall 2018 Pusheen Box.

I've been MIA lately because running Cats Like Us during the holidays takes up a lot of time, BUT I did have minute to squeeze in watching Martyrs (2015). I read all the hype surrounding the movie and how people can't get through viewing it in it's entirety because of all the graphic content. Hmmm, we'll see about that! I rented the disc from Netflix and popped it in. It started and I thought it was supposed to be in French and subtitled. Derp, I ended up with the American version! Netflix doesn't have Martyrs (2008), so that was a little disappointing. I continued to watch it though. From what I can tell, the stories are the same. (Side note: I did watch what I could find online of the French version. Not as gory as you would think, but gorier than this one. Maybe I'm just desensitized?)

***Warning Spoilers***

From the get-go you are sucked into a train ride of a movie. It starts with a young girl ~ Lucie ~ running away from captors, or at least that's what's hinted at by her clothes, chains, and bruises. You never see who else was with her and they are never found or shown.

She gets placed in an orphanage and becomes best friends with a girl named Anna. Anna is sympathetic to Lucie's past monsters but doesn't fully trust that it's not all in her head. They grow up together and go their separate ways until...ten years later...Lucie finds her torturers. Ironically, they look like a quaint and loving family.

Anna & Lucie at school.

Lucie is a tour de force. She storms their house shooting mom, dad, son, and daughter in a wave of blood splatter and bullets. Lucie calls Anna to show her. Anna arrives and is stunned at what she did, still questioning if Lucie is fabricating parts if her past. Anna begins to call 911, but stops because of Lucie. While cleaning up the house and bodies Anna finds a hidden basement prison where young girls are being tortured. Lucie was telling the truth the whole time!

The house is then taken over by men and one leader (?) woman that were tipped off by the unfinished 911 call. We find out that they are part of a cult that experiments on young women to cause them so much pain they transcend this mortal plane and see what's on the other side of living. They see past the pain. Some victims have a mental break. Lucie shows some signs of that. Few women can survive the trials, but the organization always felt that Lucie could physically endure the torture. They are excited to have her back.

Lucie  gets chained back up. Meanwhile they try to bury Anna alive. Little do they know she's a survivor too! She gets out and this time Anna is the one rage killing. She makes her way to Lucie in the basement, but not without getting fatally wounded. She finds Lucie who has now been partially skinned alive, drilled through, burned and is hanging on a cross like Jesus in front of all the followers that want to know more about the after life.

In the end, Lucie whispers to Anna, possibly what she has seen on the other side. (It's undecipherable to the viewer.) The priest of the cult hears it and kills himself. The cult disperses. Police finally arrive. No final girls left in this story. The end.

Overall, I thought the acting was good, the story original ~ even though it wasn't the original movie version ~ and the gore was there. I wanted to know more about the cult. Unlike the creepy basement experiments that were held in Get Out, the only explanation you get is that this group has people in it looking to find out what you see when you die. Their proof that something is seen when you die comes from looking at photographed pictures of dead people, specifically their eyes. This didn't explain enough for me. I give it 3.5 bullets out of 5. I've included the trailer for the French version at the end, I think it's helps the back story a little more, plus you can see Lucie completely skinned alive except for her face. Unsettling right?!

The eyes have it? Or do they?

Trailer for Martyrs (2015)...

Trailer for Martyrs (2008)...