What Are Snowy Days-off from School for? Watching 12 Hours of Tolkien, That's What!

The annual Landbeck Fellowship film festival and feast is upon us again. What follows is roughly the schedule of what we ate at which point of the film. The goal was to enhance the movie-watching by having food and drink which echoed the on-screen actions. This is the first year that I had substantial help (in the form of Grandma and Grandpa Landbeck) in orchestrating the food. Plus their surround sound and big TV! Thanks to my Mom and Dad!

With the beginning of the film, "ring pop" candies were distributed. The rules are simple, everyone be in charge of your own garbage, and no putting stuff down on the furniture.

Next is the celebration of Mr. Bilbo Baggins' eleventy-first birthday about twenty minutes in. The cake this year was sort of cheating; snack cakes. But easier to eat in front of the television than a real birthday cake.

50 minutes into the film, we passed around a plate of fresh, raw vegetables during Merry and Pippin's pilfering of Farmer Maggot's fields. We broke the carrots in half in salute to Merry's crash landing. Just after that, a glass of foamy apple cider while our four thirsty hobbits delight in drinking pints at The Prancing Pony. And next, oranges to throw around the room during after Pippin's complaints about needing to stop for second breakfast.

Now the next bit took some preparation. Time for the official breakfast, and someone had to scramble the eggs, crisp the bacon, and fry the sausages. Tried to have things ready to eat *just* as Frodo awakes to Pippin's cooking at Old Weathertop. This is about 70-75 minutes into the film. Your cue line here is "My to-mah-toe's burst!"

Then we cleaned up and watched the rest of the first movie. Though I walked around the room, scraping an ice cube across a zester, to make icy powder fall on everyone as Saruman tries to bring down an avalanche on the party as they make their way through the mountains.


For The Two Towers, it's time for shortbread. Early in the film, Frodo and Sam take a break and eat some Lembas bread; large cuts of Scottish shortbread make excellent Lembas bread. Please note; you can never have too much shortbread. Mmmm, flaky buttery goodness.

I saved some of the sausages from breakfast, and cut them in half. Yummy, icky finger food for when the Orcs fight amongst themselves, killing one of their own, declaring, "Meat's back on the menu, boys!"

When Merry and Pippin find and drink some of Treebeard's "mead" it's time for another glass of juice. Something exotic, golden-orange if you can. Passion fruit, or peach nectar, for example.

When Gollum complains about not being able to eat the "Nasty Hobbit Food" he finds and slurps up what looks like a long worm. The perfect spot to pass around a bowl of gummi worms.

And as Gimli feasts at Edoras, as Gollum berates Samwise for cooking the coneys into a stew, it was time for a stew of our own (we used Dinty Moore, and we were fine with it). And "Po! Tay! Toes!" too, of course. A hearty meal for the midway point of the day.

And as the movie ends, when Merry and Pippin raid Saruman's larder, we passed around a bowl of apples. No smoking, please.


The final film, in the beginning when Gollum catches, kills, and bites so grossly into a raw fish we had tuna on crackers.

By the third movie, everyone was pretty well fed, so we didn't break for food very often. As Denethor gorges himself during Faramir's futile charge, I passed out grapes and little cherry tomatoes (and napkins). And a final chance for Lembas bread near the beginning, when Gollum steals and throws it all away.

My favorite scenes are Gandalf's fight with the Balrog, and the calvary charge of the Rohirrim at Gondor. But the joy of the films watching them with family makes the whole thing wonderful. We had people coming and going all day long (wrestling practise, birthdays, what not). It's fun to do things together!