Nonpareils - 12
Endless Summer isn’t just a surf documentary but a reality for all of those living the subtropics.
It’s never going to be cool here ever again and I will never get to be super basic and do Fall Shit like drink mulled wine and visit a pumpkin patch without sweating to death.
But in the meantime, here is some stuff I’ve loved recently.
Read:
The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
As someone who is fascinated by true crime - more on the ethical ramifications of that later - and loves both noir writing and Los Angeles (especially 1940’s era noir-y L.A.), I was obsessed with this book. So much so that I lugged the entire L.A. Quartet with me to St. Thomas and spent a really lovely hour reading in a hammock while listening to John Coltrane.
Immigrant Spaghetti (The Bitter Southerner) by Farhan Mustafa
My mom makes masala macaroni - a quick knock-’em-up lunch that I don’t think I ever appreciated until I became a real adult. It’s heavy on ginger, cumin and chili and nothing like anything you’d see in your typical Italian red sauce joint.
I don’t think I appreciated it growing up but as an adult who is constantly trying to marry her eastern and western heritage as an adult, it’s something that I would probably love (my version would have way more onions and garlic, though. And probably chili-oil crisped panko because my mom was trying to feed a family on a budget whereas I’m just an asshole making a mess in my kitchen).
This piece by Farhan Mustafa shows just how universe spaghetti is - how vital to immigrant culture (it’s cheap and filling) and how every culture had made it their own. It’s a great read…and now, I really want to try Jollof Spaghetti.
I’m a TV Writer on Food Stamps (The Cut) by Jeanie Bergen
In light of the SAG-AFTRA-WGA strike, this is an important read. I used to dream of being a TV writer - like, that was my big dream. The one that kind of blew up my life (more on that some other time) and I figured once you were a TV writer, you had it made. You lived in Los Angeles, you wrote for a living and you were living the dream.
Only, that math doesn’t really math. The WGA minimum for a staff writer is $5000 a week which sounds fucking lush, right? You’re clearing a cool quarter mil annually…but hold on. You’re only employed for about ten weeks and you render about 25% of that salad unto Caesar - your agent, your manager and such. So, instead of $260,000 as dreamed, you’re actually making around $37,500 in a city where a one-bedroom apartment runs $2,200 a month leaving you with about $11,000 for all of your other expenses for the rest of the year.
People deserve fair and equitable compensation - especially if their labor is netting fucking millions for CEOs and corporations. We need organized labor in this country. We need stronger unions and we need to remind the oligarchs running shit that on average, guillotines only cost around $1200 to build. Liberté, égalité, fraternité.
Spiraling in San Francisco’s Doom Loop by Elizabeth Weil (Curbed)
“Yet to live in San Francisco right now, to watch its streets, is to realize that no one will catch you if you fall.” - this is one of the saddest goddamn things I have ever read. I’ve only ever been to San Francisco once - when I was 15 and far too young to enjoy or appreciate it - but to me, it seems like a….uniquely American city in the same vein as New Orleans. We desperately need affordable housing and we need the wealthy to start paying their fair share of taxes.
The Problematic Alarm: South Asian Restaurant Tropes We Have To Avoid (Kolkata Chai Co) by Ayan Sanyal
Chai was the first thing I ever learned to make. Watching my mom and grandmother in the kitchen making seemingly endless cups for everyone, I never developed a taste for it and favored Builder’s Tea instead (PG Tips, color of a brick, sweet and served in a mug) but the smell of chai masala always brings me back to our tiny galley kitchen in Southall.
This is a thoughtful piece from the founder of Kolkata Chai Company which touches on colonialism, exoticism and appropriation.
““On their instagram profile, Bhakti Chai says “in Sanskrit, Bhakti means devotion.” Ok, but do you know how to say “eat shit” in Bengali? Gobor khao. Ahh, Brook Eddy, one day you and I are going to have a long talk about the long-term effects of colonization, appropriation and white-savior tropes.””
I know they’re focused on chai but I look forward to reading more from Sanyal. Especially his opinions on colonization, appropriation and white-savior tropes.
Watch:
Arsenal’s New Kit Video
If there is a God in His Heaven and He is benevolent, we will get an Edgar Wright directed heist movie set in Norf London featuring The Gunners.
Also, everyone is in love with William Saliba now, right…?
Listen:
Young The Giant
I caught the American Bollywood tour at Bayfront in Miami last month and it was fucking magic.
I mean, they played Aap Ki Ankhon by Kishore Kumar and Lara Mangeshkar while they were setting up the stage. Y’all. This is the music I grew up listening to and it was so fucking cool to hear it in the context of a rock show.
As a result of constantly listening to the band, Will’s new favorite song is My Body and he joyfully shout-sings the lyrics, plays air guitar and pretends everything is a microphone with the kind of lead singer energy that would make Sameer Gadhia proud.
More (half) Indian frontmen in rock, please and thank you forever.
Eat/Drink:
Spinach and Roasted Zucchini Lasagna
My sister is pregnant which is the best news ever. Will gets a new cousin and I get the role I was born for - Masi.
I am gonna spoil my nephew so much with toys, books and all the delicious comfort food his little belly desires.
When I went up to visit my sister, I made lasagna verde - cooking down spinach with garlic, onions, butter and nutmeg, pureeing it and mixing it with ricotta, roasting zucchini with olive oil and salt until they were unctious and melty and tying the whole thing together with a simple bechamel sauce because red sauce lasagnas are overrated - fight with your nonna about it.
Highly recommend making this as a cozy and comforting fall meal…should the weather ever cool down.
Chipotle Black Bean Burger at The Shack at Hull Bay in St. Thomas
My entire life is a search for a truly excellent veggie burger. When I lived in the Philly suburbs, I actually had a spreadsheet of great veggie burgers in the city (National Mechanics was fucking legit). One of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten in my life was in St. Thomas this past summer.
Shredded cabbage, avocado, pico, pickled jalapeños (which I don’t normally love because fresh jalapeños are the GOAT), American cheese and chipotle aioli on a brioche bun, this burger was spicy, flavorful and tasted even better eaten in the sunshine and washed down with a gin and coconut water cocktail.
Highly recommended if you’re in St. Thomas and venture out to the northside of the island.
The Gin and Tonic at Lost Boy Dry Goods
This is the best bar in Miami. In addition to being an Arsenal bar, they have the most chill vibe, this spicy snack mix which I could have eaten by the trough and a truly fucking excellent gin and tonic made with Ford’s Gin, Mancino Secco Vermouth, grapefruit tonic, rosemary and peppercorn.
Shout out to my buddy Adam for the recommendation!
Risotto Primarvera
Risotto is one of my favorite meals to cook. It’s a good clean-out-your-fridge meal and I find the act of cooking it very comforting - you just hang out in the kitchen and slowly stir, adding more stock until it’s right.
Last week, I made a risotto primavera with peas, corn, carrots, red onions, creamy roasted zucchini and roasted cauliflower and served it with a parsley-jalapeno-pistachio sauce.
It was lush, flavorful and I cannot wait to make it again.
It’s a neutral-toned dark matte red and literally my favorite lipstick ever. The older I get, the more I appreciate a bold red lip. False eyelashes and red lipstick will put the goddamn into people.
The Well of PBC
And finally, I am now an official contributor to Palm Beach County’s premier mental health and wellness magazine and couldn’t be happier to working for such a great publication. To read more of my work, click here.
