3 Things: Smitten Kitchen, Tommy McNamara, and Li Ziqi

Hey there,

I hope you're having a good holiday weekend and staying safe and healthy! One of the classic holiday traditions is having semi-uncomfortable political conversations with distant relatives. But since we were all virtual this year, I missed out on almost all of that. Instead, I mostly debated about pigeons. Why are they everywhere? How did they get there? Are there cities without any pigeons? Why have I never lived in any? Is someone bringing pigeons with them on an airplane or boat, like a Johnny Appleseed but for birds?

I welcome your thoughts on this hot-button issue. In the meantime, here's this week's list.

This week’s list

GREAT:
Since college, I've enjoyed cooking and learning new recipes and techniques. I've come a long way from when my college roommate and I tried to make one of his mom's recipes, for Persian fesanjan. It called for using a rolling pin to break walnuts into smaller pieces, but we didn't have a rolling pin. So she'd added, "you could also put them in a Ziplock bag and smash them with a boot." That became our favorite recipe to cook. Several times a month we'd be hammering away with a boot on the kitchen counter. I have since upgraded my kitchen supplies (I now own a rolling pin AND a boot!) but I still get intimidated when it comes to baking desserts since everything has to be so precise. But for Thanksgiving, I made Smitten Kitchen's rugelach, which were shockingly easy, very delicious, and felt festive without being an overwhelming amount for just two people. I also loved this interview with Smitten Kitchen herself, Deb Perelman, about sharing credit and being one of the few remaining pieces of a friendlier, less corporate internet. Deb Perelman is Thankful for Tacos


FUNNY:
When I think of the live comedy shows where I've laughed the hardest, there are handful that immediately come to mind. They were all in small, dark, crowded theaters and, almost always, something was going wrong technically. In 2018, I was crying tears of laughter at Tommy McNamara's holiday comedy concert because his mic stand kept falling down so he was having to bend almost all the way over to sing his parody lyrics while playing keyboard. Tommy made it part of the show and committed hard. When you combine that with his "covers" where he sang a famous song and semi-randomly added Christmas lyrics, it got me going in a way that very little else has. Here's a video of him covering 4 Non Blondes. Tommy's annual holiday concert couldn't happen at Union Hall this year, so he released an album of Christmas tunes instead. I'm so grateful for the new soundtrack to my December. I Think I'm Starting To Like Christmas by Tommy McNamara


INTERESTING:
Recently, I have been on a relaxation kick of watching YouTube nature videos. A calm corner of the internet where nothing much happens and you can let your brain take a break. My friend Greg Hochmuth recommended this series by a woman in rural China, Li Ziqi, where she plants vegetables, watches them grow, harvests them, and then cooks a meal. It's incredible. Also, her grandma makes occasional appearances and she's frequently wearing elaborate hats. Here's a good recent one: The Life of Taro. For more background on Li Ziqi and her surreal videos, Tejal Rao has a report: The Reclusive Food Celebrity Li Ziqi Is My Quarantine Queen 


That's it for this week. Thanks for reading! If you're enjoying these emails, please forward to a friend or spread the word. If someone forwarded you this email but you're not yet on the list, you can subscribe here.

Stay safe out there,
Chris

3 Things: Michael Twitty, Zach Zimmerman, and the Nameless Hiker

Hey there!

First, an update on my quest to become friends with Mighty Mo. (For those who missed last week's email, Maureen, "Mighty Mo," is the 99-year-old Hall of Fame swimmer who is a regular at our local outdoor public pool.) Mollie and I saw Maureen on Thursday morning and told her we'd read the newspaper profile of her and that she was a legend. Maureen smiled, flattered, but waved us away, "Rumors, rumors, rumors." Then she told us that she uses the ladder to get in the pool. "I'm a Ladder Day Swimmer." We laughed and I said, "You're one of the Ladder Day Saints!" She shook her head. "No, no. Not a saint, just a swimmer!" 

I will keep you posted on future updates as they come in.

This week’s list

GREAT:
As we head into Thanksgiving week, especially this very strange and different Thanksgiving week, it's only natural to be thinking about food and tradition. I've been reading about where these traditions and dishes came from and realizing how little I know. But the reasons we eat foods like sweet potatoes or bake with cornmeal come from complicated human histories. Michael Twitty, a food historian, wrote a book exploring these questions. He also gave a great talk on history and culinary justice. This Thanksgiving, as a lot of us are trying to figure out how to approximate a regular year, it could be a good opportunity to try and recreate a lost family recipe.


FUNNY:
I love when a comedian nails a hyperspecific element of a cultural touchstone and blows it out of the water. This piece, by Zach Zimmerman, made me laugh so much. It's really, really good.  First Lines of Rejected "Modern Love" Essays


INTERESTING:
"The man on the trail went by “Mostly Harmless." He was friendly and said he worked in tech. After he died in his tent, no one could figure out who he was." This mystery, written up by Nicholas Thompson, the editor-in-chief of WIRED, has really stuck in my brain. How is it possible that no one can figure out who this person is? And what happened to him? A Nameless Hiker and the Case the Internet Can’t Crack


That's it for this week. Thanks for reading! If you're enjoying these emails, please forward to a friend or spread the word. If someone forwarded you this email but you're not yet on the list, you can subscribe here.

Heroically eating a family size amount of stuffing all by myself,
Chris

3 Things: Sonic IDs, Liana Finck, and Noah Hutton

Hey there,

Happy Saturday and Happy Diwali to those who celebrate! 

For the past few months, my wife and I have been taking advantage of LA's public outdoor pools. There's a small one near our house that's heated and open year round. This is the big perk of living in Southern California! It almost makes up for the part of the year when ash rains down from the sky. Anyway, this pool is completely outdoors and you have to reserve a lane to swim, so there's only about 5 or 6 people in the pool at a time and everyone has their own lane. It feels pretty safe. We've been going three or four times a week at the same time in the morning, so now we recognize and say hi to the other regulars.

One of those regulars is an older woman named Maureen. She's a real character, who's always winking and flirting with the lifeguards, complimenting people on their strokes, and doing pull-ups off the pool starting blocks. I love it. I thought Maureen was just a charming celebrity in our little community pool. But Mollie discovered that she's actually a legend worldwide. Maureen is 99-years-old, has set 28 world records, and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame! What's even more amazing is she only started swimming at the age of 65. Apparently she's known in the swim world as "Mighty Mo," which I love. She's also a social worker who got a masters from the University of Chicago and gives art tours in the LA Metro. All that and she's throwing winks around? Mo is my new hero.

My goal is to become best friends with her. I will keep you updated.

Upcoming Events

LIVESTREAMS
- Wednesday, November 18th at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET
HIDDEN EXPERT. I’m hosting the third edition of this storytelling series for LabX and the National Academy of Sciences. More info here.

PODCASTS
- Truth at Midnight with Robin Truth
I was a guest on the latest episode of my friend Sam Weiner's podcast where he plays the host of a supernatural call-in show. Every episode is short and very funny. On my episode, "Full Moon Were-Raccoon," I played a man worried his neighbor was turning into a terrible beast to dig up his vegetable garden. Link

This week's list

GREAT:
I love Atlantic Public Media's Sonic IDs. While I'm almost never actually on Cape Cod to hear them live on public radio, I search them out online. Each thirty second clip is a ticket straight to a very particular piece of New England. They're just perfect. Here's a guy from Cataumet describing what it takes to be a true fish cook. Or Joe from Hyannis talking about his regrets while stuck in traffic. Or Genevieve, a retired farmer, on her love for candlepin bowling. Last one, because I can't resist: Richard, who lost his wig while waterskiing.


FUNNY:
Liana Finck is a great cartoonist and graphic novelist. She also seems like such a fun person to hang out with. I love watching her and New Yorker humor editor Emma Allen break down her cartoons and discuss what makes them funny. Watching Liana do impressions of her characters' facial expressions really made me laugh. Liana Finck Demonstrates How to Draw Feelings


INTERESTING:
Noah Hutton has spent more than a decade following a multimillion-dollar scientific project attempting to build a computer simulation of a human brain. Is it a breakthrough that will change the way we understand consciousness or a colossal waste of money? I'm a big fan of Noah's work as a director and he's done a great job of making some of the biggest debates and questions in contemporary neuroscience feel like a thriller. IN SILICO is available to stream online for the next week only. You can also watch the trailer here.


That's it for this week. Thanks for reading! If you're enjoying these emails, please forward to a friend or spread the word. If someone forwarded you this email but you're not yet on the list, you can subscribe here.

Stay safe,
Chris