#6: Renaissance Freaks
Death By Consumption
6/10/24 - 6/16/24
A shorter DBC than usual this week, as I‘m writing to you from the Azores (next week’s will most likely be very annoying; you’ve been warned), and I simply must get back to consuming delicious food, wine, quality time with dear friends, the majesty of the natural world, etc. etc. etc.
"Ren Faire" — on HBO/Max/whatever it's called
Cancel your plans tonight and watch this 3-part documentary series, which can be described as: Succession, but at a renaissance faire. The series follows three employees of the Texas Renaissance Faire, who are vying to take over when the owner retires. The owner, meanwhile, seems to barely care about the faire at all, because he's more focused on dating women who are 60(!) years younger. Honestly, I need to amend that earlier comparison: It's Succession, but at a renaissance faire, as if scripted by Christopher Guest. I promise you'll watch the whole thing with your mouth hanging open.
My only real complaint is that, because these people are so over the top, it can genuinely be difficult to believe that this stuff isn't scripted, which is complicated by the fact that it's produced by the Safdie brothers, whose style at times overwhelms the story. You'll have an incredibly dramatic scene that you simply can't believe they managed to capture on film, followed by a strange fake dream sequence that makes you start to wonder... if they scripted this scene, who's to say they didn't script others? Seems like a weird choice to introduce doubt in the viewer's mind that the documentary you're watching is even a real documentary, but something tells me the Safdies don't worry about that stuff. Still, though, I walked away feeling like, even if some scenes were producer-manipulated, the overall emotions and actions of the main characters were deeply real and raw, not scripted. These are just a bunch of highly egotistical people who are wrapped up in their jobs to a horrifying level, and, thankfully, feel no shame about letting us all watch them spiral. Texas remains a terrifying place.
Godzilla Minus One (2023) — on Netflix
I have to come clean: I actually watched this on June 9th, but I forgot to include it in last week's email. I will never forgive myself! Anyway, this movie was a lot of fun, like an old school Hollywood blockbuster, the kind we don't get anymore because American producers have Marvel brain worms. The story moved quickly, there was plenty of melodrama, and Godzilla was both big and scary but also kind of cute! What's not to love?
James, by Percival Everett — hardcover
I'm a long-time Percival Everett stan, so I was anxiously awaiting his latest novel, which retells "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" but from the slave Jim's perspective. Honestly, I tried to hold out to buy this in paperback because I hate buying expensive, clunky hardcovers, but I couldn't wait any longer and gave in. Penguin Random House got me again, gals!
To no surprise, I loved this book. Like everything he's written, it strikes such a delicate tone between humor and heart, brutal honesty and merciless satire. Sure, the book takes some Tarantino-esque turns away from the source material, but it always felt earned to me — Everett clearly cares intensely about both Jim and Huck as characters, and every choice he makes for them feels like he's rewriting Twain's book while also deeply honoring it. You come to the end feeling like, had he lived today and presumably not carried some of his biases with him into 2024, Mark Twain would have fucking loved this book. If you haven't read any Percival Everett before, I'm jealous of the journey you get to go on, and this would be a great first book to start with.
Ricotta gnocchi, from Pasta Every Day by Meryl Feinstein — at home
I've been a fan of the newsletter Pasta Social Club for a bit now (she has an onion ragu recipe that seems like it might be a close sibling to this incredible onion ragu I had in Milan – Jesus fucking Christ that was the most Gwyneth Paltrow-ass sentence I've ever written, sorry), so I had to buy Meryl's new cookbook. The recipes are split nearly evenly, about 50% fresh pasta varieties and 50% sauces, which you can mix and match to your heart's content (with suggested pairings). As the pandemic wore on, I became pretty efficient at making fresh pasta, but over the years I worried it had gotten a little too routine and stale, so I was hoping Meryl could shake me out of my pasta funk.
It was a busy week, so my time was limited, but Meryl promised me I could make ricotta gnocchi in 30 minutes, so I decided to go ahead. This was the first time I've ever made gnocchi in my damn life, so it took a moment to get the hang of how gently you have to treat the dough compared to other pastas, but by the end............ I freaked it. These motherfuckers were pillowy and delicate, absolutely delicious when coated with Marcella Hazan's classic tomato sauce but truly life-changing with the HOMEMADE PESTO I MADE IN A DAMN MORTAR AND PESTLE LIKE A REAL NONNA!!!! Yes, I made ricotta gnocchi PLUS marinara PLUS pesto in a mortar and pestle, all from scratch, on a Tuesday. Please clap. Nothing will be the same after this!