Products |
Weekend Butler: Watching the eclipse. A POW camp: “We’re all Jews here.” Song: “I’ll never smoke weed with Willie again!” Thrilling sports movie. And… carrots!
By
Published: Apr 03, 2024
Category:
Weekend
SUPPORTING BUTLER: Head Butler no longer gets a commission on your Amazon purchases. So the only way you can contribute to Head Butler’s bottom line is to 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. Thank you.
THIS WEEK IN BUTLER: The Little Prince. Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante. They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933- 1945.
THE IMAGE (ON THE SITE, NOT ON THE NEWSLETTER): a Tom Fels cyanotype, at Christe’s New York. There is no negative in a cyanotype; each image is unique, an unmanipulated record of an organic world. The Boston Globe: “This evokes the touch and movement of a friendly breeze.”
IN A GERMAN PRISONER OF WAR CAMP: “WE ARE ALL JEWS HERE”
Roddie Edmonds was a Master Sergeant in the United States Army. In late 1944, Edmonds was captured in the Battle of the Bulge and held at a German POW camp. In January 1945, the Nazis ordered all Jewish-American POWs to step forward. Edmonds, the highest-ranking noncommissioned officer at the camp, ordered all 1,000 US soldiers to step forward, regardless of their religion. A German commander demanded that Edmonds identify the Jewish soldiers. Edmonds replied, “We are all Jews here.” The commander threatened to shoot him if he did not comply. Edmonds refused, saying, “If you shoot, you’ll have to shoot us all.” The commander backed down. Edmonds’ actions are credited with saving the lives of 200 Jewish soldiers. In 2015, he was posthumously named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem and was the first American soldier to receive the honor.
WEEKEND MUSIC
“I’ll Never Smoke Dope with Willie Again.”
HOW TO WATCH THE ECLIPSE
from the Harvard Gazette: Miss it on April 8, you’ll wait 20 years for the next one.
The shadow of the moon will blot out the sun — a total eclipse. It will extend from Mexico’s Pacific Coast across North America, touching 15 states from Texas to Maine and pulling itself all the way to the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
It is never safe to look directly at the sun without proper eclipse glasses or filters, unless you are in the path of totality and in the brief moments of totality. Then, and only then, can you safely look at the sun without protection. It will never be safe to look at the sun without your eclipse glasses. It is also not okay to point a telescope, binoculars, or a camera at the sun without proper filters.
LITERARY FILMS TO STREAM IN APRIL
You’ll want reading glasses and a snifter of brandy. Click here.
SPORTS MOVIE.
Forget baseball. THIS is thrilling.
WEEKEND RECIPE
from Five Ways to Cook Asparagus (and Other Recipes): The Art and Practice of Making Dinner
Carrots Roasted with Herbs
Serves 2 to 4
If you serve these carrots to guests as hors d’oeuvres, you will get the empty plate right back. Roasted carrots love being a solo performer—people will pay attention to the taste. They are, as well, a wonderful side dish to any main course. Use early carrots, if you can get them.
1 pound carrots
Sea salt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
Pinch of Aleppo pepper (pul biber) or cayenne
6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme
Flaky sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Cut the carrots into 4- to 6-inch (10- to 15-cm) lengths and halve them lengthwise. Toss the carrots, a good pinch of sea salt, and the olive oil in a stainless-steel bowl. Add the Aleppo pepper. Turn out the carrots into a roasting pan and toss half the thyme on top.
Roast for 10 minutes, then give the pan a good shake so the carrots roll about. Ten minutes later, turn the oven temperature down to 300 degrees and shake the pan again. Bake for 10 minutes more (for a total of 30 minutes), until the carrots are a little blackened and softened.
Pull them out of the oven and lay them willy-nilly on a white dinner plate, with a little extra olive oil, some cracked black pepper, the rest of the thyme, and a visible scattering of flaky sea salt.
