Jason Mesnick — Blog — Stay At Home Husband

Best Activity:

Holiday Party: This weekend, we hosted a holiday party. It’s become a bit of a tradition at this point. We hmm and haw over the date starting around Halloween, wanting to pick the one that will be best for the most people. Some years we’ve had small groups of 7 or 8 and other years, like this one, we have about 20 people crammed into our apartment.

Over the years, we’ve streamlined the prep for the party. Food is easier, we’ve dialed in the booze purchasing so we’re not left with a year supply of beer the next morning.

This year’s party had some new additions, either people that we’ve befriended in the last year or folks that could finally attend. Much like a wedding, it’s always gratifying to have people from various parts of our lives come together and get along. We had a Yankee Swap this year with the theme of “hometown” which could be interpreted in different ways. We all gathered around, opened, and exchanged gifts. The theme was clever (and, naturally, Tiff’s idea), but the unintended consequence was it offered everyone a chance to explain their gift and where they’re from. It was a great excuse to have everyone in the same room for 30 minutes to hang out, joke around, and learn about each other.

Best Read:

Decade in Pictures (and some words…): Some stunning stuff in here to remind us all of the good and bad of the last decade. NYTimes.com

What the Digital Revolution Really Did To Us: From Joseph Bernstein at BuzzFeed… sadly, the toothpaste is out of the tube… “Comparing the coming changes to the Enlightenment, Katz lauded an ‘interactivity’ that ‘could bring a new kind of community, new ways of holding political conversations’ — ‘a media and political culture in which people could amass factual material, voice their perspectives, confront other points of view, and discuss issues in a rational way.’ Such a sensible, iterative American public life contained, Katz wrote, “the … tantalizing … possibility that technology could fuse with politics to create a more civil society.”

Best Watch:

Collateral: A British four part mini-series that zooms around London following the murder of a pizza delivery man. The murder sparks inquiries about drug deals, immigration, and honesty. We’re two episodes in and it’s very good, you know, like every British TV show. Is it the accents? The storytelling? The cityscapes? Outside of the modern Sherlock series, this is the first British show we’ve watched that is set in London, usually we’re out in the countryside or an industrial town. Find it on Netflix.

Bachelor on Netflix: Last week, Jason Mesnick’s season of the Bachelor was dropped on Netflix without any marketing. The season aired in 2009, and if you like the series this show is a great reminder of what it was like before the Instagram/influencer angle swept through the contestants. If you don’t know how the season ended, it’s amazing. It’s also a much smaller time commitment. Fewer shows (I’m on episode 5 and there are five women left) and no commercials.

Best Listen:

Reading Adventure: I have been in the final phases of working on a massive writing project. The “Reading Adventure” playlist on Spotify has been superb to listen to. It’s a list of instrumental songs from epic TV shows and movies. You can find it on Spotify’s “focus” channel. Put it on and it will make doing the laundry feel like your hero’s journey

Best Eat:

Ritz Peanut Butter Cookies: Tiff makes these, and they were a hit at our holiday party. She makes ritz peanut butter sandwiches and then dips them in melted white chocolate (milk chocolate would work, too, I’d imagine). My friend Eliot said they tasted like a homemade Butterfinger.

Cannoli Dip: This Wegman’s pre-made dessert was insane. Basically it’s all the good parts of a cannoli without the challenge of eating a tube of cheese. This ricotta dip was served with cannoli chips (the shell of a cannoli). The cannoli “chips” were delicious on their own and stayed good for a few days after that they went well with hot chocolate later in the week. Add this to your shopping list.

Masoor Dal: This red lentil dish was incredibly simple to make and fed us for two nights this week, with enough left over for a lunch portion. While I love sweet potato, chopping it into small pieces is always a bit of a pain. But that’s the only chopping you’re doing aside from an onion. We had it with some white rice I dug out of the back of the cabinet and some naan I bought at the store (I’m not a bread maker…).

Best Drink:

Gingerbread Coffee from Trader Joe’s: The season is running out, but this flavored, affordable, coffee is one of the best I’ve had. It doesn’t smack you in the face with gingerbread; I dare you to throw in a little maple syrup or, if you’re feeling feisty, some eggnog. I’d imagine this flavor will be replaced with the January/February blend of “I hate the winter" very soon.

Best Plugs:

The Random Division: Tiff kicked me off the pod for the week in favor of Lindsay so they could talk about musicals and theater of the last decade (I would have been a horrible cohost on this one…) It’s a great listen; even if you’re not a big musicals person you’ll learn something and definitely see the crossover between theater, television, movies, literature (Moby Dick: The Musical is coming….) and (duh) music. Listen on iTunes (subscribe, rate, review!) or Spotify.

The Imperfect Game: In the fifth installment of our Past and Present series, Both and I talk about Sheffield Wednesday. This one has everything, match-fixing, crosstown rivals, stadium tragedies, and modern-day financial shenanigans. iTunes (subscribe, rate, review!) and Spotify.