ft. ‘The Chair’ & Fluffiest Blueberry Pancakes

August 20, 2021 by Sydney Grant

Happy weekend! Raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by back-to-school commercials this week. I haven’t owned a backpack in years and yet I still have trauma. Also, it’s still technically August — let us enjoy our last weeks of summer in peace!

This week, we have ways to support Afghan refugees, as well as humanitarian efforts in Lebanon and Haiti, and blueberry pancakes that rival Jack Johnson’s. (Sorry, Jack, no one likes banana pancakes anyway. You’re still perfect though.) And of course, make sure to stop by Ben’s art show this weekend, also linked below!

However you’re planning on spending your weekend, enjoy these quarantivities!

Quarant-streams

‘The Chair’

Watch this if you’re also a Sandra Oh stan:

Put Sandra Oh in anything and I will automatically watch it. Killing Eve? Obsessed. Grey’s Anatomy? Literally inspired me to declare pre-med as my major freshman year. (Clearly, that worked out.) Oh’s newest venture is The Chair, a six-episode limited series centered around something slightly less glamorous than surgeons or assassins — an English department. As the newly appointed chair (and the first woman of color to ever serve in the position), Ji-Yoon Kim (Oh) has big plans for Pembroke. But to make any real changes, she first has to help her very white colleagues get it together, a feat that proves to be even more difficult than brain surgery at times.

Not only does she have the dean pushing her to coax some of the tenured professors towards retirement, she’s also busy handling the widowed hunk of a professor with a drinking problem, who finds himself turned into a meme after making a “Heil Hitler” gesture mid-lecture. Oh, and not to mention the child that she’s raising all on her own. Basically, Ji-Yoon has her work cut out for her. Will she rise to the challenge? Or is she one old farting white dude away from realizing that maybe this department isn’t worth saving after all? Who said a show about academics had to be boring??

Stream it via Netflix

Quarant-reads

‘Notes from the Bathroom Line: Humor, Art, and Low-Grade Panic from 150 of the Funniest Women in Comedy’ by Amy Solomon

Read this if you miss meeting a new bestie in the bar bathroom line:

From a Hemingway twist on a Star Wars story to detailed instructions on how Cecily Strong would like her funeral, Notes from the Bathroom Line is as eclectic as it is hilarious. Curated by Amy Solomon (producer of both Silicon Valley and Barry), this is a book best enjoyed in the audio format, for most passages are read by the 150 comedians who contributed them. Filled with one-liners, short stories, poems, and more, this celebration of women in comedy is perfect for road trips, doing laundry, or just simply when you need a break from life and miss the feeling of camaraderie that can only be found while chatting with strangers in a bar bathroom.

Purchase via Amazon.

Quarant-eats

Caesared Tomato Toast via Molly Baz:

Make this bc the queen of caesar salad just became the queen of caesar toast:

Caesared Tomato Toast

Makes 2

Great tomatoes are the name of the game here, and will make all the difference in the world when it comes to tomato toast. Choose ones that are firm, with a slight give, and heavy in your palm.

PRODUCE

1 large ripe heirloom tomato
1 garlic clove
1 lemon

PANTRY

½ cup mayonnaise
¾ teaspoon Dijon mustard
¾ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 oil packed anchovies
Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper
2 ½” thick slices sourdough bread
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Flaky sea salt

DAIRY

Parmigiano reggiano, for grating

1. Make the caesar mayo:

In a medium bowl, whisk together ½ cup mayonnaise, ¾ teaspoon Dijon mustard, ¾ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, the juice of half a lemon, and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
Finely grate one garlic clove into the dressing.
Finely chop 3 oil packed anchovies. Add a pinch of salt to the anchovies, and mash them to a paste using the side of your knife, until homogeneous. Stir into the mayo.
Using a microplane, finely grate about 3 tablespoons Parmigiano Reggiano into the mayo–taste, and add more as you see fit. It’s hard to measure microplaned Parm so trust your gut! Season the dressing with salt.

2. Toast the bread:

Preheat the broiler. Arrange two ½” thick slices of sourdough bread on a small rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle the top sides with olive oil. Broil, watching closely as you do so, until golden brown and crisp on one side.

3. Assemble

Slice 1 large ripe heirloom tomato into ⅓” thick slices.
Slather some of the caesar mayo onto each piece of bread. Shingle the tomato slice on top. Season the tomatoes with flaky salt and lots of black pepper. Squeeze the juice of the remaining half of the lemon over top.
Finish with more finely grated parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.

Fluffiest Blueberry Pancakes via Pinch of Yum:

Bake these bc I know I’ve been neglecting breakfast recipes: