Middle-Aged (Hot) Lady Lunch
Plus: Books, Barbenheimer and Beveraginos
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Happy Friday! A quick warning before we dive in: the following content may cause immediate cravings for tomatoes, cheese, and cocktails…
🍸🍴Drinking & Eating
As I don’t need to tell anyone, the sizzling temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere are not conducive to cooking. But help is here! For those of us not lazing around on a Mediterranean beach, Alison Roman came to the rescue with a foolproof plan for Apero Hour, no European vacation needed. Quick note: Alison is adamant this is NOT a Girl Dinner. More on that in a sec.
Apero Hour is for pre-dinner grazing and schmoozing, so you may also still enjoy a full evening meal afterward, but, it must be said (by me, not Alison Roman) that if you cannot deal with a full dinner due to the aforementioned heat, you could assemble snacks, have a drink, and become part of a TikTok trend by calling it Girl Dinner.
Those kids on TikTok love to give names to everyday activities, and I’m here for it. For example, when I ate cheese, crackers, nuts, olives, and grapes while watching the men’s final at Wimbledon on TV last Sunday, I named it Middle-Aged Lady Lunch. I have a feeling it’s going to be the next big thing.
Back to Apero Hour: Alison includes the recipe for a Paper Plane cocktail, but if you’d like something else to drink during your *insert title of meal-like event,* here’s a wonderful chart by Julia Turshen.
OK, so now you’ve got the hang of Girl Dinner, here’s something new for you: Tomato Girl Summer, which this piece appears to be taking seriously, or at least seriously enough to try to sell clothing to match “the aesthetic.”
Separately, everyone wants to smell like a tomato.
Personally, I’m all about eating tomatoes, like in this sandwich I made for another Middle-Aged (Hot) Lady Lunch this week: lots of mayo, lightly toasted bread, black pepper, Maldon salt, some arugula…chef’s kiss!
Of all the Antipasto Girl Summer options, I identify (for now, at least) as a Cracked Pepper Girl. Which part of a cheese plate are you?
And, finally, (and seriously) on the topic of food, I loved this interview with Hetty McKinnon, whose latest cookbook, Tenderheart, contains both recipes and an homage to her father.
Her passion for vegetables is contagious: she even assigns them personalities:
I love broccoli because it’s a people pleaser, a peacemaker, in our home. When I cook with it, everyone eats it. I love the ease of broccoli. Peas (frozen, of course!) are like reliable friends who always have your back when you need them. Carrots are like the best supporting actors that are the backbone of a movie, making others look good, but are rarely given the chance to shine.
🐱👓What I’m Reading
I’m currently reading Outlive by Peter Attia, who became a doctor, then a McKinsey consultant, then returned to medicine to focus on longevity and specific strategies to improve quality of life, or healthspan. I’m only partway through, but Attia’s writing is engaging, and his concept of a personalized, proactive approach appeals to me.
I’ve also been dipping into both Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead (New England / WASP wedding weekend shenanigans) and Saturday by Ian McEwan (one surprising day in the life of a London neurosurgeon and his family); they’re both oldies but goodies.
If you’re looking for something new to read, the other books on my radar are the Murderbot series (sci-fi thrillers - not my usual genre, but apparently excellent); Social Engagement (wedding-themed novel), Meet Me At The Lake (summer-themed romance novel), and Banyan Moon (fictional family saga about three generations of Vietnamese-American women).
In other reading, I can’t stop thinking about the provocative “permission” granted by psychologist Adam Mastroianni’s latest newsletter: that regular people should just go ahead and “do” science. Mastroianni argues that while humans have many problems that urgently need to be solved “Most of the professional science we produce right now is bad” and that every one of us “…can make knowledge the same way you would make music in your basement: just because you like doing it.”
His suggestions for what a non-professional scientist can do:
Screw around on projects that might be a total waste of time, just for fun.
Write a paper that’s like “Hey here’s a weird thing I found and I have no idea why it happens”
Research stuff that’s bizarre or unpopular or disconnected from any existing literature.
Write a paper that’s like “Hey my hypothesis was totally wrong, what’s up with that”
Work on super long-term projects that only bear fruit after decades of work
📺What I’m Watching
I went to the movie theater this week and had a lovely time consuming a very large container of popcorn for dinner (Middle-Aged Hot Lady Movie Dinner?) while watching Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Harrison Ford trade witty barbs and perform thrilling stunts in Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny. While it’s fairly standard action-movie fare, the film is mostly set in 1960s NYC which is fun, and I appreciated that at 81 (!!) Harrison Ford was not given a preposterously young love interest, as so often happens in blockbusters.
I am looking forward to seeing both the new Barbie film, which apparently has a feminist vibe; and Oppenheimer, the true story of the development of the atomic bomb; at the theater, hopefully, next week. I doubt I’ll do the full Barbenheimer and see them back-to-back, but it’s a thing!
Meanwhile, at home, I’m anxiously awaiting weekly installments of The Crowded Room and Hijack. Both leave me wanting more!
🛝Random Amusements
I loved this piece about how Barbie affords her “dream” lifestyle. I hadn’t been paying close attention, but it turns out that “She’s been working since she burst on the scene in 1959, and has since held dozens of jobs, including dentist, astronaut (four years before Neil Armstrong did in 1969), journalist, beekeeper, scuba diver, architect, travel agent, Pizza Hut cashier, and paleontologist. She’s also long harbored political aspirations: In 1992, she ran for president, and has run in every election cycle since.”
The Golden Bachelor seems like it’s an SNL skit, but it’s not. Coming this fall: Gerry, 71, looking for true love on your TV screen. I bet he’d like a Middle-Aged Hot Lady Lunch…
Also in the category of “Not An SNL Skit:” the Finnish Hobby Horse Championships, 2023. Those are some serious hurdles.
For fans of “Africa” by Toto: the lyrics reimagined as a short story by Ernest Hemingway: “She was a damned nice woman. It would take a lot to drag him away from her. It was unlikely that a hundred men or more could ever do such a thing. The air, now thick and moist, seemed to carry rain again. He blessed the rains of Africa.”
And I couldn’t resist pulling the fabulous “Beveragino” clip out of Alison Roman’s newsletter because it’s just so good, I didn’t want you to miss it!
Have a lovely weekend! 🌞 Amelia
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I'm watching Hijack now!