Three recs, baking edition

A chilling investigative podcast, a nostalgic film, a heartwarming TV series

I was procrastinating a couple weeks ago and so I baked a cake.

This was unusual for me – I’m not really a baker. I mean, I’m decent at baking. After a summer during college in which I decided to learn to cook three things well, I make a mean pie (sweet, not savory, thanks). And I can follow a recipe, which, as far as I’m concerned, is the only skill you really need as a layman baker. But I’m not the sort of person to just whip up a batch of cookies on a casual Wednesday or pop a tray of brownies in the oven just because I feel like it.

Part of it was the Grand Marnier’s fault. It was the same recipe I’d made for Christmas dessert, and I’d decided to make it then before realizing that we were out of citrus liqueurs. So I sent my husband out to acquire a bottle and he came back guffawing at how expensive it was. (He is, I should note, largely a beer and wine drinker.) This left me feeling mildly guilty about only using a quarter of a cup of it, knowing the rest would likely sit there indefinitely, taunting me from across the room. When its cries reached a fever pitch, what was I supposed to do?

Part of it was January’s fault. If you know me, you know I am the poster child for SAD. Which is why it’s ridiculous that I’ve spent almost the entirety of my adult life living in cold northern places with dark, cold, wet winters. I don’t understand how we’re expected to function in a month that seems designed to make us miserable. We should be hibernating right now, not, you know, doing things. If I have to do things, they might as well include sugar and be delicious.

And the last part of it was my screenplay’s fault. It’s a story that landed in my head several years ago and has refused to let me go. The characters knock around in my brain at all hours, demanding to be let out. It’s also, unlike my last few projects, exceptionally difficult to get right. And so, when I found myself in the middle of a weeklong attempt to solve an apparently impossible structural problem, the correct answer seemed to be to… Run away from it and bake a cake.

Look, I know writing isn’t all about what’s on the page. My preferred method of solving story problems is a long walk, ideally with someone who will let me talk at them. If the weather’s too shit for that, a long, hot shower is also acceptable. But I’d tried both of those. I’d even de-scaled my electric kettle for the first time ever! None of it worked.

So, instead, I forgot all about the stupid story and its stupid characters and focused on cups and teaspoons and flour and Grand Marnier.

And you know what? Right around the time I put the cake in the oven and started to wash the dishes, I realized I had an answer to my impossible structural problem. An hour later, I also had a cake. Which is really annoying, because now I’m going think that every time I can’t figure out a story, the solution is to bake a cake. And that means I’m going to need to get more Grand Marnier.

Anyway, if you’d like to make the cake, it’s Maialino’s olive oil cake, which I lived off of when I worked there in my early 20s and rediscovered thanks to one of my bffs’ newsletters. (She also makes gorgeous bespoke flower arrangements, for those of you in NYC thinking about Valentine’s Day gifts or maybe even with a wedding coming up.)

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After last issue, a bunch of you pointed out that I didn’t link the Scott Frank New Yorker profile by Patrick Radden Keefe*. To be honest, I meant to. So here you go, if you’ve not read it! And also, can we talk about how one of the great living investigative journalists was like, sure, I’ll write a profile of a screenwriter? I, for one, am grateful, if amused.

*Btw if you, like me, are a Patrick Radden Keefe fan, I recced something of his a while back.

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Rec 1
The Retrievals (pod)

Thanks to the several of you who recommended this 5-ep NYT/Serial Productions pod when it came out over the summer. I finally got around to listening to it – in other words, I remembered it existed at a moment when I felt like I was in a psychological space to handle it – and then I binged it in a day. Thank you, 1.5x speed.

For those who missed its release, The Retrievals is a long-form investigative podcast about a fertility clinic at Yale where a number of women went through IVF egg retrieval procedures without anesthesia or any pain medication. Apparently because one of the nurses was stealing the fentanyl and replacing it with saline.

So, yeah, content warning. I cried probably once each episode. It’s not an easy listen, but it is a really compelling one. Journalist Susan Burton does an incredible job of giving the women a platform to tell the stories of their pain – stories that, even now, are diminished and downplayed – while also getting into the thorny ethics of it all and weaving a narrative that you don’t want to look away from. She digs into questions of blame and responsibility in ways I found particularly compelling. Is this a personal failure or a systemic one? Sort of both? How do we as a society hold people accountable for their actions while also acknowledging that they, too, have been failed? Does the purposeful ignoring of the pain of someone right in front of you make you an irredeemable monster?

And then there are the questions of womanhood and motherhood, which are of course intertwined with these issues. The nurse in question is a mother herself. The women she hurt were putting themselves through trauma in order to become mothers. Every sacrifice – including excruciating pain and lasting trauma – seems worth it as long as they can become mothers. Even now, many find their pain as women minimized and dismissed because they’re now mothers. Whose lives matter, and why?

Like all good long-form journalism, this story is so much more than the sum of its parts.

Where: Wherever you listen to podcasts.

Rec 2
The Holdovers (movie)

I know this came out a while ago in the US, is probably nearing the end of its UK run, and is already winning all kinds of awards, but I only just saw it, so here we are.

Paul Giamatti is perfect as a grumpy, misanthropic classics/ancient history teacher at a fancy New England boys’ boarding school in 1970. He’s furious to be assigned to chaperone the kids who aren’t going home for the Christmas holidays and he’s determined to make their lives equally miserable. A held-back junior named Angus is also going through some shit and, despite their deep antipathy for one another, the two misfits reluctantly start to find kindred spirits in one another. They’re joined by the always-excellent Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who just won a Golden Globe (among other awards) for her performance as the school’s head cook and a grieving mother who just lost her son in Vietnam – a place none of these rich kids will ever have to go.

In fact, the underlying threat of Vietnam one of my favorite things about the film (in addition to the humor, rich character portrayals, incredible set design, etc). While the Vietnam War and its myriad shames are still a part of American culture, it’s rapidly receding into the background behind even more wars and even more abandoned veterans. Writer David Hemingson and director Alexander Payne do an excellent job of weaving the war into the film – much as I imagine it was a constant in most Americans’ lives at the time – so that it effectively counterbalances the interpersonal drama and comedy, giving it all a larger significance.

At this risk of sounding like one of Those Assholes, this is the kind of film studios don’t make anymore. Honestly, it’s almost surprising it got made right now, and that it’s doing so well; I would have expected it to have come out 20-30 years ago. It’s funny and heartfelt, sincere and unpretentious, narratively simple and emotionally nuanced. It’s just straight-up good storytelling, done so well that more than a few people I’ve spoken to have said they expect to rewatch it for years to come. Hemingson and Payne are expert and experienced storytellers, and they prove it, but I know I’m not alone in saying I hope that the movie’s success inspires financiers and studios to take risks on more films of this ilk from less established filmmakers.

Where: I think it’s still in cinemas, thanks to its awards attention! Or you can pay to rent it on a streamer.

Rec 3
Julia (TV)

You know those shows that make you feel warm and fuzzy? That make you feel like maybe the world isn’t such a bad place? That we’re all just muddling along and doing our best and making mistakes and it’s going too be okay?

Right, so: Julia Child. Played with warmth and humor by the excellent Sarah Lancashire (British icon of Happy Valley and the classic soap Coronation Street). Supported by an insanely excellent cast that includes Bebe Neuworth, David Hyde Pierce, Isabella Rossellini, Judith Light, James Cromwell, and a bunch of younger actors that you’ll recognize and/or look forward to seeing more of.

This isn’t Julia learning to cook. This is Julia back in the US, middle-aged, feeling at a bit of a loss as she tries too figure out what comes next. And what she lands on is a cooking show (at a time when no one made cooking shows) on public television (aka no budget), hosted by a quirky, menopausal woman who doesn’t exactly look like what the 1960s (or tbh the 2020s) consider camera-ready. By sheer force of will and with the help of a close-knit group of friends/found family, she brings it into existence. But of course, it’s really about the friends she (and we) make along the way, and how everyone grows and changes.

Not unlike The Holdovers, I’m honestly kind of surprised this got made? It’s just so nice! From the moment I started watching it a few weeks ago (sorry to everyone who’s been gushing about this for the last few years!), it’s been my happy place. The only way I’m surviving the January blues. It’s funny and heartwarming, no one is evil and everyone is human, and you’d better bet there are some incredible food shots. It’s kind of old-school television – really good drama made by people who know what they’re doing and aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. And as much as I enjoy innovation, I also love a classic.

Full disclosure: I’ve never much cared about Julia Child. I know, blasphemy from an American francophile and former food writer. But watching this show has made me interested in her to the extent that I’ve even watched an episode of The French Chef (thanks, YouTube) and, to my surprise, I learned something. I might even watch more!

And now, the bad news: This series just got cancelled after two seasons. I’m so bummed. This does mean you don’t have that much to catch up on – just two 8-ep seasons. I’m secretly hoping that, if enough of us evangelize, it’ll get picked up by another network/streamer. So, get watching, guys!

Where: HBO/Max (US), Sky/Now (UK)

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That’s all for this week! What are you reading/watching/listening to that I should be aware of? Drop me a line (or comment) to let me know if you check out any of my recs and what you think.

Please spread the word and I’ll see you in a couple weeks.

xo
Kate

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