Products

Weekend Butler: Something I never do (but I’m doing it). A live event (something else I never do, but I’m doing it). David Sedaris. 3 weekend movies. Julia Child’s coq au vin. An Old School song. And more.

By Jesse Kornbluth
Published: Feb 23, 2023
Category: Weekend

SUPPORTING BUTLER: You can become a patron of this site, and automatically donate any amount you please — starting with $1 — each month. The service that enables this is Patreon, and to go there, just click here. Again, thank you.

—

THIS WEEK IN BUTLER: The Death of Ivan Ilyich. The Drama of the Gifted Child. Dr. John

—

I NEVER DO THIS #1

When was the last time I read a 400+ page novel TWICE? Never! But “Trust,” by Hernan Diaz, is the best novel I’ve read this year. I’m not an outlier: It’s one of The New York Times and Washington Post top ten books of 2022 , longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, winner of the 2022 Kirkus Prize, and named one of the best books of 2022 by The New Yorker, Vogue, Time, NPR, etc. I’m going to review it, but not soon — no way to write about it without spoilers. So if you’re looking for a “next book,” consider this. [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.]

I NEVER DO THIS #2

My friend Elizabeth Howard asked me to join her on her podcast, talking about favorite books and new movies. As the Oscars are a few weeks away, I thought we’d mostly talk about movies. But there’s more: the podcast, though taped for streaming later, will be live, with an audience. I cannot fathom why: are podcasts you listen to when you’re driving or washing dishes? Equally astonishing: some mutual friends are coming. If trundling down to a studio at P & T Knitwear at 180 Orchard Street – “a 2-minute walk from Katz’s Deli — at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, 2/28 and hearing us yak and chiming in is your idea of fun, you’re invited.

DAVID SEDARIS REMEMBERS HIS PARENTS

from Tricycle: “On Parents, Connections with Strangers, and Embracing What You Have”

“My mother was a lot of fun. I would call her all the time and she was easy to hang out with. She was nice. She was funny. I got a big kick out of her and she got a big kick out of me. I think about her all the time, and I long for her. If in heaven you were reunited with your loved ones, I’d drop myself out the window right now, thinking, “I can have breakfast with my mother!” We have a terrace and we’re on the twentieth floor. There’s no way I’d survive the fall. But if there’s an afterlife and my father was going to be there, I’d be like, fuck!”

WEEKEND MOVIES

I’ve just streamed “Armageddon Time.” It cuts deep because it’s entirely believable: a white kid and his Black friend, on Long Island, in the Reagan years. Anthony Hopkins, who won the Best Actor Oscar in 2021 for “The Father,” deserved a Best Supporting Actor nomination for this.

The preview.

To stream it on Amazon Prime, click here.

EMILY THE CRIMINAL
This film is so far above big, expensive, self-important films that I almost want to say it was the best American movie I saw this year. You know Aubrey Plaza because she was in “White Lotus.” Here she’s deep in student debt, with a criminal record that makes it harder for her to get a real job that pays real money. So….
The preview.
The Times review.
The Amazon Prime video link.

SHE SAID
This time, Bernstein and Woodward are female, and Harvey Weinstein is Nixon. And this movie is as thrilling as “All the President’s Men.”
My review of the book.
The preview.
The steaming link on Amazon Prime

THE WEEKEND SONG

Country like it used to be: “That Ain’t My Truck.” Lyrics:

She’s been going out with him
She’s been going out with me
Said she’d let us know by tonight which one it would be
So I waited by the phone
But she never called me up
Had to know what was going on
So I drove by her house, and sure enough

That ain’t my truck in her drive
Man, this ain’t my day tonight
Looks like she’s in love, and I’m out of luck
That ain’t my shadow on her wall
Lord, this don’t look good at all
That’s my girl, my whole world
But that ain’t my truck

I pulled over by the curb
I’ve been sitting here all night
Wondering what it was I did so wrong that he did so right
I thought of breaking down the door
But there’s nothing left to say
That Chevy 4×4 says it all, sitting in my place

That ain’t my shadow on her wall
Lord, this don’t look good at all
That’s my girl, my whole world
But that ain’t my truck

That’s my girl, my whole world
But that ain’t my truck

THE WEEKEND POEM

Philip Larkin is best known for a poem that begins “They fuck you up, your mum and dad./ They may not mean to, but they do. / They fill you with the faults they had/ And add some extra, just for you..” Tough, nasty stuff. There was much more to him. Like this:

Mower

The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found
A hedgehog jammed up against the blades,
Killed. It had been in the long grass.

I had seen it before, and even fed it, once.
Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world
Unmendably. Burial was no help:

Next morning I got up and it did not.
The first day after a death, the new absence
Is always the same; we should be careful

Of each other, we should be kind
While there is still time.

THE WEEKEND RECIPE

from Julia Child and Simone Beck: Mastering The Art of French Cooking, Volume One

Coq au Vin
Serves 4

4 ounce chunk of bacon
20 pearl onions, peeled, or 1 large yellow onion, sliced
1 chicken, 4 lb, cut into serving pieces, or 3 lbs chicken parts, excess fat trimmed, skin on
2 garlic cloves, peeled and mashed
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups chicken stock
3 cups young, full-bodied red wine
1 bay leaf
Several fresh thyme sprigs
Several fresh parsley sprigs
1/2 lb button mushrooms, trimmed and roughly chopped
2 Tablespoons butter
½ Tablespoon tomato paste
Blanch the bacon to remove some of its saltiness. Drop the bacon into a saucepan of cold water, covered by a couple of inches. Bring to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes, drain. Rinse in cold water, pat dry with paper towels. Cut the bacon into 1 inch by 1/4 inch pieces.

Brown bacon on medium high heat in a dutch oven big enough to hold the chicken, about 5 minutes. Remove the cooked bacon, set aside. Keep the bacon fat in the pan. Add onions and chicken, skin side down. Brown the chicken well, on all sides, about 10 minutes. Halfway through the browning, add the garlic and sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. (Note: it is best to add salt while cooking, not just at the very end. It brings out the flavor of the chicken.)

Spoon off any excess fat. Add the chicken stock, wine, and herbs. Add back the bacon. Lower heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 20-30 minutes, or until chicken is tender and cooked through. Remove chicken and onions to a separate platter. Remove the bay leaves, herb sprigs, garlic, and discard.

Add mushrooms to the remaining liquid and turn the heat to high. Boil quickly and reduce the liquid by three fourths until it becomes thick and saucy. Lower the heat, stir in the butter. Return the chicken and onions to the pan to reheat and coat with sauce. Adjust seasoning. Garnish with parsley and serve.