It is not often that I talked about something other than books on this blog, so I thought it might be fun to share other things that I loved in 2017!
Podcasts
2017 was the year that I discovered my love for podcasts. Admittedly, the majority of what I listen to are bookish podcasts but there are a few non bookish gems that I want to talk about!
Sporkful
The catchphrase for this podcast really says it all- “It’s not for foodies, it’s for eaters.” This is a more recent discovery but I have listened to so many episodes now! Each episode centers on food but they are all so original. My favourite episode aired on the release day of star Wars: The Last Jedi. Dan Pashman, the host, and his guest talk about their favourite food moments in Star Wars and he has a woman on the show who has made a career out of making Star Wars inspired food! If you have any interest in food at all then I think you are going to like this podcast!
Casefile: True Crime
I found this podcast after listening to Serial because I was on the hunt for something similar. I dare say that I might actually prefer Casefile! I do not know why I have a fascination with true crime, but I know that I am not the only one. There are a lot of gripping, puzzling and horrifying episodes, but the one that stands out to me is Case 18: The North Hollywood Shootout. The way the story is told makes you feel like you were there. My heart was racing!
*I am pretty new to podcast so I would love to hear all of your recommendations!
Movies
La la Land
I saw this movie with a large group of people and there were very mixed opinions on it. I know that this movie is not for everyone, but it was definitely for me! Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are two of my favourite actors, and I love watching their chemistry. La La Land was so charming, the music was catchy, and I have watched in several times since it came out! I even own the pop figures for it, and they are so adorable!
Wonder Woman
I can confidently say that Wonder Woman is now my favourite superhero movie! Gal Gadot was incredible, Chris Pine was adorable, and I loved the female empowerment. It was awesome to learn more about her character and to see her try to navigate the real world.
Dunkirk
This is one of those movies that does not have a lot of dialogue, and it doesn’t need it. I knew nothing about Dunkirk going in so I learned quite a bit. This movie ended up being a lot more moving than I was expecting. If you are skeptical about Harry Styles acting (like I was) let me tell you that there is no need to be! I thought he was quite good!
Television
Broadchurch
I was browsing Netflix, looking for anew show to watch, and stumbled upon Broadchurch. It is one of the best crime dramas that I have watched. A young boy is murdered in a small town, and the show focuses on the impact that this has on everyone in the town. It stars David Tennant, who was the tenth doctor, and Olivia Colman, who will be playing Queen Elizabeth II in the future seasons of The Crown.
The Big Family Cooking Showdown
I am constantly looking for shows that are similar to The Great British Bake Off, so when I found The Big Family Cooking Showdown on Netflix I was thrilled! It is a competition show, where families get to show off their family recipes. It is really fun and charming! It is definitely a similar vibe to The Great British Bake Off.
Music
Kesha
I was never a huge Kesha fan until I heard her newest album- Rainbow. The entire album is excellent, and full of female empowerment. My favourite songs are Praying and Woman. She is such a bad ass and I am so impressed with the way she overcame what happened to her.
Goo Goo Dolls
This summer I came across my old ipod from high school. Of course I had to plug it in and reminisce on all of the music that I used to listen to. There were quite a few embarrassing songs on there (Jesse McCarthy anyone?) but I did rediscover some old favourites. I used to be obsessed with the Goo Goo Dolls and that is where I am at again. I adore every single one of their songs! If I had to chose one favourite it would have to be Sympathy.
Recipes
Lasagna Roll Ups
This has been my go to recipe the last few months. They are relatively easy to make, extremely customizable, and always a big hit!
Stuffed Mushroom Casserole
If you are a fan mushroom caps than you are going to love this recipe! It is so easy to make and absolutely delicious! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Easily one of my favourite recipes!
That is it! Please let me know if you found this at all interesting because I was thinking about sharing posts like this more often in 2018. I have so much more that I could have shared but I did not want to make this post too long!
I would love to know what your favourite non bookish things were in 2017!
I absolutely with you on the films!
I loved La La Land when I seen it at the cinema (got the DVD for Christmas!) and Wonder Woman and Dunkirk featured in my Top 3 films of 2017. 🙂
Glad to see you love Broadchurch- the first series is the best, and the next 2 series are still decent.
All such stellar movies! I haven’t watched the 3rd series yet but I want to get to it soon.
this is such a great post! i love hearing about people’s favorite things – especially outside of books!!
Lasagne roll ups sound amazing!
They are awesome!
Could you share the lasagna roll up recipe please? I know my two teenagers would love them!
If you click on “lasagna roll ups” it should link you to the recipe! If not google lasagna roll ups cookingclassy! I hope they love them!
It’s a great post idea and would love more of these posts! Casefile sounds good, never heard of it! I think I’m probably the last one but still haven’t seen Lalaland 😱
Yay I am glad you enjoyed it! I think I might do something like this every month! Case file is definitely worth the listen! Watch La La Land!!!!
I loved La La Land, but I didn’t realise there were pops for it! They’re so cute! I’m jealous of people who can listen to podcasts – I’ve tried, but the only time I can listen to them is when I’m walking. If I need to concentrate on something else then I don’t take anything in.
This is a great idea for a post btw!
I didn’t know there were pops either! My friend gave them to me for Christmas! I have just started getting in to podcasts! I am hoping that this will lead to me be able to listen to audiobook!
I started getting into podcasts too this year. The only one I really listen to is Anna Faris’s podcast, which is really good, but I really need to find some other ones! I’ll have to check out those two, I think I’ve heard of the True Crime one!
I didn’t even know she had a podcast! Definitely checking that out!
I’m obsessed with podcasts… I made a post about it if you’re interested in reading what I’m listening to: https://meghanmblogs.wordpress.com/2016/10/25/lets-talk-about-podcasts/
YES! I love Kesha’s song Woman it’s soooo good and so freaking catchy!!! You and me both went down a music rabbit hole… for a month I was obsessed with Matchbox Twenty, I have no idea why, but lord those songs are so good!
Awesome. Definitely going to check out your podcasts recommendations!
Kesha is awesome! Ah I used to love Matchbox Twenty!
1. I am totally gonna start listening to The Sporkful. 2. Wonder Woman is one of the best things to come out of 2017. 3. Kesha is queen 👑
I hope you enjoy Sporkful!!! Ahh Wonder Woman and Kesha 😍
Oooh girl, if you’re looking for more podcasts, you have GOT to check out audio dramas! My favorites are The Bright Sessions, RABBITS, and EOS 10. But just search #AudioDramaSundays on Twitter and you’ll find dozens more!
Ohhh that sounds like fun!! Thanks!
Love this post! I agree completely about ‘Wonder Woman’. Definitely my favourite film of 2017.
It was epic!
I loved Wonder Woman! Gal Gadot and Chris Pine are my favourite 🙈🙈
They were so adorable. Loved their banter!
Hi Kristen! Love that you shared some of your non bookish favourites in this post 🙂
I loved La La Land as well and i had the soundtrack on loop for the longest time haha! It was such a sweet and heartwarming movie although the ending was bittersweet. I also loved Wonder Woman 🙂
Wishing you a wonderful 2018!
The La La Land soundtrack is excellent. I was so impressed the Ryan Gosling learnt how to play the piano for the role! Happy new year to you Sophie!
Oh I didn’t realized he learned piano for that movie (I assumed he always knew how to play haha 🙂 )
I really love Broadchurch 👍 scenery of small town is very beautiful. Lasagna and casserole look very tasty 😋
It was definitely a beautiful setting. I wonder where it was filmed. They are both so yummy!
I TOTALLY agree with all of your movie choices. The only one I haven’t seen this year is Dunkirk. I ADORE Christopher Nolan’s work, but I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet. I really hope to do that sometime in the near future. Inception was my favorite movie and I’m hoping that this could be a possible contender to top it! Good post. 2017 was great, let’s make 2018 even greater!
Dunkirk is fantastic. I love Inception as well! They are very different movies but equally as good in my opinion!
Hi Kristen! I LOVE that you shared your non bookish favorites in this post!! I LOVED these movies too and look forward to more in 2018. I need to check out Broadchurch! I’ve seen it floating around netflix but haven’t taken the leap yet…
Yay! I am so glad people enjoy posts like this. Broadchurch is definitely worth watching!
I’ve been meaning to get into podcasts but I haven’t had the time to check some of them out yet! And there’s also SO MANY of them that I don’t know where to start or which platform to use to listen to them!
I watched La La Land a few days ago and I loved it even more than the first time around! I have a much deeper appreciation for the songs and the character dynamics! And oh my gosh!!!!!! I didn’t know that La La Land Funko dolls existed—I will HAVE to get my hands on them!!!!!!
And Dunkirk was one of my favourite movies of 2017 and I think Harry Styles did a brilliant job in this! I got my dad the DVD so he can appreciate the greatness that is this movie!
There are so many podcast! I am just getting in to it myself and it is overwhelming.
Right? Are the pop figures adorable? I didn’t know about them until a friend gave them to me for Christmas!
Dunkirk is so fantastic! Harry Styles was actually great. I hope to see him in more roles in the future.
Oh this is such a great post, Kristin, I love getting to know other people’s favorites besides books 🙂 These lasagna seems amazing, it makes me so hungry now, haha. I haven’t seen La La Land just yet, I feel like I am the only one left haha. I will watch it someday, you are making me impatient to 😀
Thank you! You have to watch La La Land!!! I hope you love it as much as I do!
oh, i loooooooved “la la land”. i watched it pretty late last year but i LOVED it!! 🙂 those funkooos <3
and the "goo goo dolls" are amazing!
loved this post! 🙂
Thank you. I am so tempted to watch La La Land some time this week. It’s so good!
I love that you always like the goo goo dolls. So much nostalgia!
it’s really good! i didn’t know what to expect and i was blown away! great, now i am also in the mood to rewatch haha!
OMG! I just started listening to Serial today and am so hooked.
I’ve always heard peeps talking about it, but I was like eh, whatever. Now I know it’s great.
Have you watched Making a Murderer?? If you like Serial I think you will like that documentary as well. So intense!
I haven’t, but I’ll check it out when I can. Thanks for the rec.
I just started getting into podcasts in the last year too! Case File remains my strong fave as well. Another good one is Sword and Scale – kind of similar with a single story in each ep. I also loved S-town and Up and Vanished. For something a bit different to all the grisly true crime stories, I listen to Ear Hustle, made by inmates in a jail about their stories.
I could go on and on 😆 hope you like one or two of these.
Ohh thanks for this! I am going to check them all out. I am so intrigued by Ear Hustle. That sounds so interesting!