Need I say more?

So. We’ve been with this franchise for ten years now. We got to watch them grow up! Are you as obsessed as I am? (Of course you are.)

As it winds down, what are your:

favorite scenes/memories from the movies?
favorite quotes?
biggest disappointment?

For me, some of my favorite scenes were in The Half-Blood Prince–the scenes with Ron and Hermione dealing with their feelings for each other (or not dealing, as in the case with Won-won and Lavender *snicker*).

I also love it when Hermione says, in the first movie, “I’m going to bed before either of you come up with another idea of getting us killed. Or worse–expelled.” And then Ron says, “She needs to sort out her priorities.”

I also love in HP7pt1 where Ron says, “Always the tone of surprise,” even as he puts his arm around Hermione (this after she’s surprised that he did something right).

My two biggest disappointments were the casting of Bonnie Wright as Ginny–she never has worked for me, and still doesn’t, unfortunately–and also The Order of the Phoenix movie. It was too short and skimmed too much. The same could be said for Half-Blood Prince, but I loved that book and movie so much anyway.

Okay, your turn. Tell me!

MiniMe is going to an all-night Harry Potter movie marathon tonight and she wants to bring butterbeer. Of course–it’s the quintessential Potteresque food, and I’m excited to see if we can make up something that works.

According to a recent news article, it took the chefs at Universal Studios three years to come up with the formula they thought was the best, then in a five-item taste-test, JK Rowling picked her favorite–which was the one that is now served at the park. It really is the yummiest thing.

Of course, she’s not the only one who’s planning to bring the yummy drink, which means (because MiniMe and I are both very competitive) ours has to be the best! We have a little bit of an advantage, having been to Universal Studios’ Wizarding World of Harry Potter and sampled butterbeer ourselves. (*go for the frozen version. It’s amazing.)

There are two parts to the butterbeer. First is the beverage itself, which, as I mentioned, is much better frozen than not.

And the second part, the piece de resistance, is the foam on top. It makes it. Sooo….here’s what MiniMe and I are planning to do. Tell me what you think, okay? We have time to tweak this before tonight.

The Beer itself:

• Cream soda, and we’re going to let it go flat because….
• …we’re going to put it in the blender with ice to make it frozen/smoothie-ish
• Caramel and/or butterscotch flavoring–we’re going to try a combination of each alone, and then both together. Yum.
• Just a little bit of ice, just enough to give it a frosty feeling and make it not too thick.
• But there’s another element to the drink that I can’t quite figure out…it tastes like cookies. Can’t figure out what to put in there to give it that extra “ooomph!”

The foam (the best part!):

We’re either going to do meringue with caramel and/or butterscotch flavoring, or we’re going to try whipping up some cream, maybe with some egg whites to make it super light, and the flavoring.

The other option is to go for marshmallow creme and add flavoring to it, and then whip it up with some egg whites. Hmm.

Whatever it is, it has to be super light and fluffy, but it has to “hold” the foaminess–hence the meringue option.

Have you had butterbeer? What do you think of our ideas? Any suggestions?

We’ll let you know how it goes!