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Holiday Weekend: Two cheers for no holiday deep thoughts. Edith Wharton (with a stunning bonus). Four movies to stream. Glenn Gould dances! A necessary dish: Mac and Cheese.
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Published: Nov 22, 2023
Category:
Weekend
REASONS TO BE GRATEFUL
I’m not going to tell you that food purchased for use at home is 25 percent more expensive than it was in February 2020. Turkey is up 37 percent; eggs are up 43 percent. I’m not going to suggest, at your family’s Thanksgiving dinner, that you go around the table and share what you’re grateful for this year. I’m not going to tell you how to sidestep speculation about “if JFK had lived” this weekend. I’m not going to remind you that, of all your blessings, health comes first. I’m not going to share the advice of my longest-partnered friend that the secret of a successful marriage is music in the bedroom. I’m not even going to be a pedant and tell you that everything I’ve written here is praeteritio, a figure of speech in which you say something while saying you’re not going to mention it. I’m just going to feature (above) a Norman Rockwell image without a holiday turkey, and get out of the way and offer some suggestions for the long weekend.
CHECKMATE!
Chess Grandmaster Anna Muzychuk refused to play in Saudi Arabia. Her explanation:
‘In a few days, I’ll lose two world titles, one after another. Because I decided not to go to Saudi Arabia. I refuse to play by special rules, wear abaya, be accompanied by a man so I can get out of the hotel, so I don’t feel like a second-class person.
‘I will follow my principles and not compete in the fast chess and blitz world championship where in just 5 days I could have made more money than with dozens of other combined tournaments. This is all very unpleasant but the sad part is that no one seems to care. Bitter feelings, but I can’t go back.’
KURT VONNEGUT WISDOM
A November 1971 letter to his daughter: “You are dismayed at having lost a year, maybe, because school fell apart. I feel as though I’ve lost the years since ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ was published, but that’s malarky. Those years weren’t lost. They simply weren’t the way I’d planned them. Neither was the year in which Jim had to stay motionless in bed while he got over TB. Neither was the year in which Mark went crazy, then put himself together again. Those years were adventures. Planned years are not.”
ONE SERIOUS NOVEL
Lawrence Selden was infatuated with Lily Bart. He couldn’t help it. She was from a good family. She knew everyone. She was painfully beautiful. And special, yes, special: “He had a confused sense that she must have cost a great deal to make, that a great many dull and ugly people must, in some mysterious way, have been sacrificed to produce her.” What’s wrong with Lily Bart? Just three things. Her family has lost its money. She’s unmarried. And she’s 29. This can only be Edith Wharton’s “The House of Mirth.” [Don’t miss the X-rated bonus by Wharton at the bottom of the review.]
ECCENTRICS
Ruth Draper. When a companion said of a Draper performance, “Have you ever seen such acting?” George Bernard Shaw shot back: “That’s not acting, that’s life!” Meet her here.
INSPIRATION
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse has sold millions of books in England, a great many in the United States, and has 100,000 5-star reviews on Amazon, with many readers saying it’s changed their lives and they’re giving it to everyone they care about. It’s been translated into 17 languages. And now the movie has won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. [It’s on Apple TV. To watch the preview, click here.]
WHAT TO WATCH ON AMAZON PRIME
My favorites: three films by Asghar Farhadi and The Tender Bar.
NOT JUST FOR KIDS (BUT DEFINITELY FOR KIDS)
WEEKEND MUSIC: GOULD ALMOST … DANCES
In this video, Glenn Gould is practicing Bach’s Partita No.2 in C minor. Two minutes in, he gets up and walks around. You can see the energy streaming off of him. Does he almost dance?
WEEKEND POEM
Seamus Heaney, watch him read “Blackberry-Picking”
WEEKEND RECIPE
MAC AND CHEESE
Velveeta is necessary here, as it has sodium citrate, which prevents the sauce from separating in the oven
6 to 8 servings
Salt
1pound elbow macaroni
½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup all-purpose flour
6 cups whole milk
1 pound sharp or extra-sharp yellow Cheddar, coarsely grated (5¼ cups)
8 ounces Velveeta, torn into pieces
4 ounces Pecorino Romano, coarsely grated (1 cup)
½ teaspoon dry mustard powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
Pinch of ground cayenne
Freshly ground black pepper
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season generously with salt. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until just past al dente. Drain and set aside.
Return the empty pot to the stove (no need to clean it) and set over medium heat. Melt the butter and simmer, whisking occasionally, until the butter stops spurting and quiets down, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the flour and cook, whisking, until smooth like gravy, about 1 minute.
Whisk in the milk. Raise the heat to high and bring to a simmer, whisking constantly, then immediately reduce the heat to low and continue simmering until the sauce lightly coats the back of a spoon, 2 to 5 minutes. At this stage, the sauce should be smooth but relatively loose. Take the pot off the heat.
To the pot, add the Cheddar, Velveeta, Pecorino Romano, mustard powder, onion powder and cayenne, and season generously with salt and black pepper. Whisk until the cheese is melted and smooth like nacho cheese. Add the drained pasta, breaking up any clumps, and stir until evenly coated in the cheese sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Transfer to a 9-by-13-inch baking pan or dish and bake until bubbling at the edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately.
