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Weekend Butler: The week’s insights (Both Sides Now/Fast & Steady). The Zucchini solution. Drink coffee for your health. A 128-page novel. The right song for the season. And more.
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Published: Jul 28, 2022
Category:
Weekend
BOTH SIDES NOW/FAST AND STEADY
When my daughter was very young, vacation meant hotels with pools — and pool games. A favorite was “Tortoise and Hare.” I was the Hare. I’d race across the pool for an early lead. Then I’d stop, dramatically drink a pint of pretend vodka … and fall asleep, waking up when Helen was about to win. I’d swim like mad, touching the side of the pool a second after she did. Once, I told her the moral of the fable: “Slow and steady wins the race.” This child of the 21st century didn’t buy that. “No,” she said. “Fast and steady win.”
And so it does. We may feel that nothing is happening — the icecaps melt and nothing is done to stop that, outrageous heat afflicts us and we bitch about inflation, and is Merrick Garland doing anything? — but that’s because Internet time has damaged our sense of real time. Consider Joni Mitchell, who was the Good News story of the week when she made an unannounced appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. It was her first full-length live set since 2000, and her first public appearance since her 2015 brain aneurysm. She had to rediscover her singing voice and relearn how to play the guitar — it took some courage, even with Brandi Carlisle at her side, just to step on stage.
The moral generally drawn from her four-star performance is that Mitchell is both aged and eternally young, that she literally embodies the title of “Both Sides Now,” the song she wrote when she was 23. Yes, sure, but that’s missing something: Joni Mitchell’s set at Newport was a political act. An independent woman, who forged a genius career with the help and hindrance of men, and who now, in her late 70s, was home free. She’s a candle, held high. To watch her sing “Both Sides Now” at Newport, click here. For my appreciation of “Blue,” click here.
As for Fast and Steady, I live it every day. My morning begins with walking and running in a park a few blocks away. I love the routine: the fist bump with the guy who sits outside the corner deli, a cheery “Good morning” to the always unhappy school crossing card, a wave to the sous-chef at Rao’s, who is always outside chatting with a woman walking her dog, and then it’s onto the track. The leaves by the edges of the track were green last week. This week they’re brown and curled. And it’s still July! Talk about a wake-up call!
I haven’t seen the water this summer. My daughter hasn’t either. I have a lot to write before Labor Day. But… time! Faster than I’d like. But, equally, a call to disciplined action. Next week, I think, don’t blink if you see us at the Greenwich beach.
A BUTLER FAVORITE IS ON THE LONG LIST FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
The 128-page novel, “Small Things Like These,” is by Claire Keegan. And did I say: 128 pages. For my review, click here.
REGULAR COFFEE DRINKERS HAD LOWER CHANCE OF DYING IN 7-YEAR PERIOD
from the Washington Post:
People who drink a moderate amount of coffee — up to 3½ cups a day — might have a better chance at a longer life span, even if their coffee is lightly sweetened with sugar. For about seven years, the researchers tracked the coffee consumption and health of 171,616 participants, who were an average of nearly 56 years old and were free of cancer and cardiovascular disease when the study started. They found that those who regularly drank 1½ to 3½ cups of coffee a day, whether plain or sweetened with about a teaspoon of sugar, were up to 30 percent less likely to die in that time frame from any cause, including cancer and cardiovascular disease, than were those who did not drink coffee.
THE SOLUTION TO ALL THOSE ZUCCHINI
from Vegetable Harvest: Vegetables at the Center of the Plate, by Patricia Wells
Zucchini Coins in Tomato Sauce
One of the quickest garden-to-table recipes.
Serves 4
TOMATO SAUCE
Takes minutes, tastes as if you labored for hours. Just use the ripest, most flavorful tomatoes you can find.
Makes 5 cups
1 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
3 pounds tomatoes, rinsed, cored and quartered (do NOT peel)
1 TBS coarse sea salt
Several celery leaves
Several fresh or dried bay leaves
1 head of plump, moist garlic cloves, separated and peeled
Hot pepper flakes to taste (optional)
In a large, heavy-duty saucepan, combine all the ingredients. Cook, uncovered, over moderate heat, stirring constantly until the tomatoes collapse and are cooking in their own juices. After 15 minutes, taste for seasoning. Remove and discard celery leaves and bay leaves.
Puree sauce in a food mill or electric blender. Store, covered, in the refrigerator for a week, or in the freezer for 6 months.
ZUCCHINI
2 cups chunky fresh tomato sauce
1 lb small zucchini, rinsed, trimmed, cut into thin rounds
Fine sea salt
¼ cup freshly grated Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese for garnish
In a small saucepan, heat the tomato sauce over moderate heat. Add the zucchini and cook for just a few minutes. The vegetable should remain crisp and tender. Serve as a side vegetable, as a pasta sauce, or with polenta, garnished with a touch of grated cheese.
POEM OF THE WEEK
from Bertolt Brecht, Selected Poems
Traveling in a comfortable car
Down a rainy road in the country
We saw a ragged fellow at nightfall
Signal to us for a ride, with a low bow.
We had a roof and we had room and we drove on
And we heard me say, in a grumpy voice: No,
we can’t take anyone with us.
We had gone on a long way, perhaps a day’s march
When suddenly I was shocked by this voice of mine
This behavior of mine and this
Whole world.
THIS WEEK’S MOST RELEVANT SONG
It’s “Unconditional I (Lookout Kid),” from Arcade Fire
For the extremely amusing video, click here.
Lookout kid, trust your heart
You don’t have to play the part they wrote for you
Just be true
There are things that you could do
That no one else on earth could ever do
But I can’t teach you, I can’t teach it to you
Lookout kid, trust your mind
But you can’t trust it everytime
You know it plays tricks on you
And it don’t give a damn if you are happy or you’re sad
But if you’ve lost it, don’t feel bad
‘Cause it’s alright to be sad
Lookout kid, trust your body
You can dance, and you can shake
Things will break, you make mistakes
You lose your friends, again and again
‘Cause nothing is ever perfect
No one’s perfect
Let me say it again, no one’s perfect
It ain’t hard to rock n’ roll
You know how to move your hips
And you know God is cool with it
But some people want the rock without the roll
But we all know, there’s no God without soul
A lifetime of skinned knees
And heartbreak comes so easily
But a life without you
Would be boring for someone like me
And if you feel it, it’s fine
I give you everything that’s mine
I give you my heart and my precious time
It’s unconditional
It’s unconditional
No matter what you do
It’s unconditional
The song is a letter of advice to kids — a last letter from Win Butler, who’s leaving the band, and a kind of summary of this major band’s very welcome seriousness. Look where the lyrics travel. They start with “Trust your heart.” They give you a guided tour of mistakes and betrayals, and then at the end:
a lifetime of skinned knees
And heartbreak comes so easily
But a life without you
Would be boring for someone like me
And if you feel it, it’s fine
I give you everything that’s mine
I give you my heart and my precious time
Years spent bumping into one wrong person, then another, and no matter how much joy you give and get, there’s a cost. No matter: “trust your heart.” This is the coolest thing about the song: the singer is an optimist. And courageous. Her answer means everything. But for right now, it matters more that he asks. He has my total admiration.
