Friday Faves: 11/1: Dinner at home, Hot Sauce, Pinegrove, and Pammy's

Best Activity:

Celebrating a big birthday: This past Saturday we celebrated my mom’s birthday. It was a big one and we decided to do something different. We had a chef come to my mom’s house and cook dinner for nine of us. It was an insane five-course meal, soup, salad, app, entree, and dessert. Usually when the whole family gets together my mom is cooking us dinner, no matter how many times we ask, “What can bring?” “Can we pick something up on the way over?” The answer is always, “No, I think we’re all set.”

It was worth every penny to watch my mom just get to hang out on Saturday with the rest of us, watching college football, talking, joking around. Usually she’s in the kitchen whipping up something delicious.

If you’re ever looking for a break from the “let’s go out for a nice dinner” routine for birthdays or special occasions, I can’t recommend hiring a chef enough. We used Bistro-at-Home. Chef Ryan is a magician in the kitchen. He brought everything he needed (pots, pans, silverware, dish ware, cutlery… every. thing.). When he left, the kitchen was spotless. Our overstuffed bellies were the only evidence of his visit. Ryan had an assistant who delivered each course to us, so it really was like we were eating in a restaurant.

Best Watch:

Hot Ones: This Youtube show has been around for a while (200 episodes!). The concept is simple: hot sauce, wings, questions, and celebrities. Sean Evans is the mastermind of this show. Over the course of 25 minutes, Sean and the celebrity eat 10 wings (the wings are of their choosing… vegans are welcome…). Each wing is dapped with hot sauce, each wing gets a little bit hotter. While it’s entertaining watching people struggle through ridiculously hot sauces, the questions Sean asks are superb. They’re thoughtful and catch the celebrity off-guard, particularly as the hot sauce heats up. It’s like a truth serum. The Paul Rudd episode was my first introduction to the show… so watch it below if you’d like… beware, it’s a deep rabbit hole…

The Witch: I’ve decided the more people I watch a scary movie with, the less scary it is. On Saturday, four of us watched The Witch, a New England Folktale about a family banished from their village. They moved to the edge of the woods which are haunted by a witch. The movie is set in the Salem Witch Trial era, it’s beautifully shot, it scratched the Halloween itch we all had. My brother and his girlfriend were watching it for the second time, and they said they enjoyed it more the second time around.

Best Listen:

Ryen Russillo’s Monday Podcast: If you’re an NFL fan, this is an excellent, honest, and interesting weekly review of the weekend’s game. Former NFL player Chris Long joins Ryen. Long is open and shares great stories every week about his life in the NFL. The two guys have been friends for a while, so their chemistry is great.

Skylight by Pinegrove: Pinegrove is a band I forgot about for a while. They returned to my radar this week when Phoebe Bridges’ album ended and Spotify started playing whatever the heck it wanted. The song “Rings” is what caught my attention. If you’re looking for a solid, low-key band that writes interesting songs with a leader singer who has a distinct voice, then these guys are for you.

Best Read:

Kyrie, KD, and the Nets Culture: I am thoroughly enjoying the start of the Brooklyn Nets season. Kyrie Irving is scoring a bunch of points and the Nets are allowing even more, leading to a 1-3 start. It’s magical and this ESPN article came out four months earlier than I expected. Kyrie was always gonna be weird, but he blasted through that first date/honeymoon phase to stealing-your-email-password crazy real fast.

Best Eat:

Everything Ryan Cyr cooked for my mom’s birthday: Golly, this was delicious. Here’s what we had on our menu (which was selected from a myriad of choices on his fall/winter menus):

Hard Cider Pumpkin Bisque (10/10), Wedge Salad (7.5/10), Scallops with risotto (8.5/10), Filet mignon (13/10) OR herb encrusted chicken (9.5/10), and tangerine creme brulee (9/10).

Bolognese at Pammy’s: My sister is working in Boston this week. She’s allowed to expense her food. So we went to Pammy’s in Cambridge, which is an incredible restaurant. We sat at the bar because you can’t go to Pammy’s on a whim, you have to plan weeks in advance and make a reservation, even on a Tuesday. Their menu is small and rotates weekly. Some items are staples, the “Lumache” is one of them. It’s a bolognese that includes a hint of Gochujang, adding a bit of spice. The bar scene at Pammy’s is great, the bartenders are very nice, they whip up delicious cocktails. Tiff got some crazy fall spice type old fashioned.

After Saturday and Tuesday, I might have gained 10 pounds… it’s a good thing I’m running a marathon in 10 days…

Best Drink:

Homemade Grapefruit Shandy: Buying beers for a group of people is tough. I went super basic and bought a Sam Adams mixer: Octoberfest, a sour beer, and Sam ‘76. We added some grapefruit juice to the Sam Adams sour to make a little shandy. It was really good, and an excellent brunch drink if you aren’t a bloody mary or mimosa person.

Best Plugs:

Read my Atomic Habits Book Club post here.

Read “The Unintended Quiet of Playing a Vinyl Record” here.

Read my quick thoughts on the Celtics-Bucks game from Wednesday night here.

Listen to Both Long and I talk about Arsenal’s captainship problem and the power dynamics in English football clubs on Spotify here. Or on apple podcasts here. Please follow, subscribe, rate, and review!