Friday Flames | 4.26.24
A weekly synopsis of what we figured out about setting aside expectations, making matzoh crack for Passover, and brewing alcohol in your GI tract.
We got married a ridiculously long time ago: 25 years ago this week, as it happens. Before Napster, before The Phantom Menace, before Brandi Chastain's sports bra. It was the 1900s, when people did Tae Bo and used HandSpring PDAs. Calvin Coolidge was president, probably.
At this point there’s little reason to rehash the ancient past like this anymore. We’ve already talked it out and blogged it out and freed ourselves to laugh about our huge mistake, celebrate the kids who came from it, and feel genuinely happy when the other finds a partner who really curls their toes.
When we noticed that the anniversary fell on a Wednesday, however, we thought it made sense to devote an episode to revisit what we remember, misremember, and hope to eventually forget about April 24, 1999. The results are very personal and kind of embarrassing, but it’ll all be worth it if another couple listens to it and recognizes they’re marrying for the same dumb reasons we did.
Also: In response to recent episodes in which Mike is depicted as a quibbling physics purist, he offers this clarification: “While it’s true that I enjoy some movies with lots of violence, like Kill Bill Vol. 1 and The Matrix, my favorite movies are The Princess Bride and The Usual Suspects. And, while dubious science in movies can make my eyes roll, I didn’t mind The Fifth Element as much as all that. It was just all-around ludicrous to the point of silliness. I mean, it’s not like I worried about realism in Star Wars!”
Embers in the News
Here are some of the links that peeked through the noisy news cycle this week:
Saved by a pig and a robot Remember that guy who got the first pig kidney transplant? This week, a woman got that plus a mechanical heart pump!
Can you hear me now? The next time Verizon drops your call, remember that NASA just reconnected with Voyager 1, which is currently 15 billion miles away.
Extreme homebrewing If you’re arrested for DUI, you can beat the rap if you can prove that your body makes its own alcohol. (See also: Auto-Brewery Syndrome)
Common decency’s least favorite cookie It is our considered opinion that all Sour Patch Oreos should be gathered up and catapulted into the Sun.
This week on the podcast
You can’t have a great relationship with your ex until they’re your ex.
Currently reading
Magda is finishing up This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel for a book club. Family dramas aren't her usual type of book, but she's enjoying the writing in this one a lot.
Doug ran a book-club discussion about Siddhartha that delved into fate, love, arrogance, selflessness, nirvana, calculus, golf, standardized testing, and LSD. He also read this profile of “Ripley” author (and notorious oddball misanthrope) Patricia Highsmith and is trying to process all the shit being flung back and forth about NPR.
Currently watching
Doug watched the new Ripley series and then re-watched The Talented Mr. Ripley for contrast. The monochrome cinematography and glacial pace are mesmerizing, but you can’t improve on Jude Law and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Special shout-outs to Maurizio Lombardi as Inspector Ravini and the series’ true hero, Lucio the cat.
Magda and Mike have been outside more since the weather has turned more springlike and haven't watched as much TV as usual. But this weekend may include a re-viewing of The Princess Bride, now that Magda knows how much Mike loves it.
Currently cooking
The week’s highlight was the Passover seder with saffron chicken, brisket, Magda's roasted cabbage with onion lemon sauce, her mother-in-law’s transcendent matzoh ball soup, and her stepmother-in-law's chocolate torte. Later she ad-libbed a very successful turkey cottage pie; if you’re interested, she’ll post the recipe in the Facebook group. Tonight Magda will make chocolate matzoh toffee for her book club.
Doug made this chicken, spinach, and ricotta pithivier, just because someone decided to take a savory pie, score the top to make it look like a flattened merry-go-round, and give it a French name. You can fill your pastry with basically anything, as long as you’ve wrung the moisture out of it to avoid a soggy bottom.
Next on the podcast
Next Wednesday is May Day, so will our discussion revolve around Bryn Mawr’s annual celebration? Unsolved air disasters? Internatonal workers’ rights? At this point, your guess is as good as ours.
Thanks for reading, and we hear you, JT.
Magda and Doug