Aging Gracefully with a Little Metal and a Lot of Food
Sailing takes me away to where I'm going
Welcome back! I decided to slap together something quick (it will not be short, it never is with me) before we get to the serious business of year end lists. Hope y’all dig it.
Watch the Dockumentary
This is what watching a single documentary, or “dockumentary” as HBO would prefer you call it, will do to a man. Despite being a youthful 31, and only possessing a smattering of gray plus one skunk streak sliding across the left hand side of my curls, I have entered fatherhood. No, not literally (yet), but spiritually. I am in possession of two vinyl copies of Steely Dan albums.
These acquisitions were spurred on by watching Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary on HBO. Part of the Music Box series, a co-production with The Ringer, this breezy music doc covers the history of Yacht Rock. At first, I put it on as a way to pass the time in an ironic fashion (I will never escape hipster allegations, they are factual) and quickly fell in love with how the interviewees exuded a “you guys remember when we were famous for five years? That was crazy” sort of attitude.
While the “aw, shucks” of it all was alluring for a time, that’s not what compelled me to run out and buy records. It was, obviously, the music itself. The song that really cut through the noise though was not one of the Steely Dan masterworks. No, it was Christopher Cross’s “Sailing.” The song itself is… it’s fucking magnificent. This may seem like overly strong praise for a Grammy-winning pop-rock song. I assure you it is not. Though I will admit that the song, with its world-shattering chorus, wistful verses, and shimmering instrumentals, extends beyond itself for me. It proposes a world where a song like it could be awarded, could be popular, could serve in place of, well, all the shit I don’t like very much.
From that point, I was hooked. For the past several days I have spent all my free time listening to Cross, Steely Dan, and The Doobie Brothers. I don’t think I’ll stop. Frankly, I see no reason to. Tell me when pop music becomes this soothingly aspirational again. Tell me when it gets this funky. Maybe then I’ll care. Until then, I’ll be spinning Aja since I finally fixed my record player. It was never broken by the way, I just needed to adjust the counterweight.
Some Music of Value
Very short version of this today, saving all my actual thoughts for the album list. I’ll get it to y’all before the end of the year I promise.
Metal Stuff
Non-Metal Stuff
Baking the Fallen
I’ve been doing a ton of baking and cooking for the holiday season and have had some decidedly mixed results. Luckily, mixed results are more fun than all successes or all failures. So here’s a quick rundown of everything new(ish) that I’ve cooked and baked:
Isaac Toups Chicken and Sausage Gumbo
Source: Isaac Toups
Thoughts: This is my go-to gumbo recipe. Truly nothing is better than gumbo (or etouffee, or jambalaya, or pastalaya… really any Cajun/Low Country food) in winter. I make a few modifications to this recipe. Namely, I season the chicken thighs with classic Cajun seasoning, I skim some of the fat off the top (only because I use an extremely fatty andouille from a local butcher), and I season the gumbo in the pot with hot sauce. If you follow the recipe alone, it’ll be great, but slightly bland. My recommendation is to use this recipe, then taste and season a few times in the last hour to get your preferred flavor. I have not made his cornbread, but I’m sure it’s pretty good.
Pear Chestnut Cake
Source: Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz
Thoughts: I love this book, but this recipe was not it. Now, before you write it off completely, I will note that I baked this two days before I ate it (it was for Thanksgiving) so that definitely affected the final tasting. Over the two days, the pear juices leached into the upper part of the cake and turned it gluey. That texture combined with the earthiness of the chestnut made for a pretty unpleasant experience. It was easy to put together though (a mandoline helps with the thin sliced pears if you don’t have immaculate knife skills), and I’m going to try it again. When I do, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Maple Walnut Buns
Source: Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz
Thoughts: This recipe suffered from the same issues as the pear chestnut cake, but I’m more confident in its bones. Making it two days in advance led to it being a bit stiff and the maple sauce transitioned from a glaze to a firm caramel that made it hard to chew. To be totally clear, the book recommends eating them the day of or the day after, I just couldn’t make that happen with Thanksgiving travel logistics at play. The flavors worked very well, even if the texture wasn’t all there. I will be making this again.
Croissant Breakfast Casserole
Source: The Action Cookbook Newsletter
Thoughts: This simple, crowd-pleasing breakfast casserole is one of the best things I’ve made all year. I made one small modification to the original recipe, switching out raspberry jam for strawberry (it’s what I had, and what I prefer). The original would also be excellent. What really wins me over here is the malleability of the recipe. As long as you keep together the core of stale croissants plus a sugar, egg, cream and vanilla binding goo, you can essentially slap anything between the layers. Next up for me, nutella, peanut butter, and bananas. Also, check out Action Cookbook’s newsletter, he’s been a great advocate of my newsletter and it’s well past time I sent some of you his direction. His writing is also excellent, entertaining, and filled with inventive recipes and cocktails.
Pork Char Siu
Source: Jow Jow Cooks (Tik Tok - Please follow or at least check him out if you use the app, he’s so nice and posts amazing recipes)
Thoughts: I mostly hate Tik Tok because it steals away my life, but that’s true of all social media. The saving grace of Tik Tok is that I get recipes and cooking tips. As a fan of East Asian cooking (yes, I’m aware that is an impossibly broad category, do not @ me) I was immediately drawn in by the promise of an easy pork dish that I already had all the ingredients for. The final product was solid, if a little fatty for my tastes, and my friends also enjoyed it. Big ups to the creator of the recipe and video, who responded to my comment and my follow up after making the recipe. Also, if you don’t have shaoxing wine, you can substitute sherry.
Caramel Corn
Source: Family Recipe
Thoughts: My mom has made this recipe for my entire life, and it has always been my favorite Christmas treat. I love it so much that when I moved out, she gifted me the air popper so that I could make it on my own. It’s easy to make, makes a lot of popcorn, and is great to gift to people. My favorite thing about the recipe is that the caramel turns out crispy and extra buttery, so it’s a good balance between the classic movie theater taste and the sweetness of caramel, rather than the overly sticky-sweet caramel corn you can buy at a store. I’m not gonna post the recipe here (what can I say, it’s fun to keep some things secret) but if you really want it you can text me or comment here and I’ll send it to you.
Peppermint Bark
Source: Delish
Thoughts: Super easy, super good. I love peppermint, I love chocolate, so of course this was good. It’s kind of hard to mess up peppermint bark, so you can go wherever you’d like for your recipe, but based on my personal experience this is the easiest one that yields the best results. Just don’t be silly like me and forget to add the peppermint extract to the first batch of chocolate. I added it on top of the melted chocolate once it was on the parchment paper and it was fine but unevenly distributed.
Star Bread
Source: Preppy Kitchen
Thoughts: First off, I saw this on Tik Tok before I saw it on the Christmas Great British Baking Show. It was super easy to make, and seemed to really impress my friends. I cannot speak to the taste personally, as I handed it off almost as soon as I baked it, but the glowing reviews from my friends tell me it’s worth making twice. If you have an upcoming holiday gathering and about 2.5 hours on your hands, make this to blow your friend’s minds.
Random Restaurant Recommendation
If any of you live in or near Atlanta, go to Bon Ton. This Vietnamense-Cajun fusion restaurant is charming, cheap(ish), and so so so delicious. I went here with my buddy Matt when he was in town to go to a Falcons v. Chargers game and we had a blast. We shared the chicken appetizer and some oysters, then individually ordered a blackened catfish bowl (me) and a shrimp etouffee. Both were bomb. The rich heavy spices that make up the bulk of Cajun cuisine play wonderfully with Vietnamese spices and fresh pickled veggies. Our waitress also delivered the interaction of the night when she warned me that the cocktail I ordered was all liquor, I’m sure others have had adverse reactions to it, I did not.
Alright y’all, that’ll do it for this edition of the letter. Merry Christmas, happy holidays, etcetera etcetera. Next time I write you it’ll be for the best of 2024 list. Hopefully I can get through all the albums I need to in time!