Ep. 115 - Amelia Nierenberg - Thoughtful Food, Food For Thought

September 18, 2020

Hi Friends,

First, if you observe the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah, I wish you a happy and healthy new year.

You’ll never make money betting on New York versus Los Angeles. Just when I finished defending New York City from the obituary writers, the West Coast inferno gets magnified and even more biblical.

I am still in California, at the end of my month-long visit with the #Exhibits ™. I am very happy to be here, to get a sense of what their lives are like, and have more than a few days to luxuriate in our relationships. And to tell you the truth, I haven’t even minded the driving. I can drive to and from the baby’s house without using GPS.

But to get back to the true issues at hand, the West Coast is burning. Until this president took office, I always had the sense that America did things right. Our brilliant founders planned for every contingency and our Constitution served us well.

It was my American privilege, and I took it for granted.

Now, by disdaining and flouting science, this president and his team (his bodyguard, his son-in-law, and other untrained and unprepared donors) are playing the most dangerous game of Russian Roulette ever. You burn if you’re blue, and if you’re red you get to join a superspreading rally instead. This is the bad dream I wake up to and go to bed to every single day.

Conversations on the East and West coasts now include, “Where can we go?” Haze from the fires has traveled to the Atlantic coast – including Palm Beach -- and beyond. Even We are all suffering, no matter where we are. This president is harming the entire planet.

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What occasionally makes me hopeful is listening to and talking with the younger generation of doers. My admiration for the Parkland survivors, Greta Thunberg, Malala, and their peers knows no bounds. My guest this week is Amelia Nierenberg, the co-writer of the New York Times’ Coronavirus Schools Briefing newsletter. A member of the first class of New York Times fellows, she wrote on the Food Desk. After graduating from Yale with a BA and MA in Intellectual History, Amelia worked for the AP in Dakar, Senegal, in their West Africa Bureau.

Please listen to the interview with Amelia Nierenberg (click in the audio player above), in the meantime, here are this week’s five things that make my life better.

Enjoying the fruits and vegetables from one’s garden. I don’t have a garden or a green thumb, but there is a nice lemon tree in the backyard of our rented house in Los Angeles. What a pleasure to hop out of the kitchen at dinner time to pull of lemon for salad dressing from that tree. What a feeling of self-sufficiency! Having a small garden is on my wishlist for my next chapter, whether it’s a terrace in New York or a cottage in California.

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2. The Citizen App. I downloaded it per my stepdaughter to learn more about what was going on in my neighborhood in New York. In Los Angeles, with countless helicopters flying overhead, and twice finding myself rerouted by blocks being blocked by police cars, I feel a little more empowered. (And it’s not polite or prudent to ask a cop who they are looking for during a stake-out.)

3. Vegan and Gluten Free bakeries. #ExhibitB must avoid gluten; #ExhibitsA&A1 are trying to skip dairy. There are many places that bake beautiful breads and pastries that they can all eat. Good for you, Los Angeles.

4. Reading. Overwhelmed by the offerings of streaming series, rerun series that I never watched, old and new movies, and yes, am I ever going to watch “Breaking Bad”? I turn to books. We are watching documentaries frequently, but many nights I read instead.

5. Science. Take it from me, a person who hated going to science class in school. Science is behind the fires, the pandemic, global warming. Ignoring science has put the planet in peril. We need a president who believes in science. (Empirically, how do you disbelieve what is provable?). Please vote early.

AMELIA NIERENBERG’S 5 THINGS:

1. Crunchy Garlic with Chile Oil from H-Mart

2. Negative Underwear's Sieve Non-Wire Bra ... first wire-less bra for big boobs that works!

3. Rapid turnaround Covid testing ... my friends and I got tested and went away to Vermont for the week. It's almost Jan 2020 over here.

4. The movie Manto, which I'd never seen before. Just a really beautiful film, and a really helpful introduction to history that I don't know anything about.

5. Spending the first half-hour or so reading and drinking tea and just letting myself wake up slowly and languidly.

MORE ABOUT AMELIA NIERENBERG

Amelia Nierenberg is a newsletter writer for The New York Times on the Coronavirus Schools Briefing.

Instagram: @amelia.nierenberg

Twitter: @AJNierenberg

Facebook: @amelia.nierenberg

Website: www.AmeliaNierenberg.com

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC https://thefieldtv.com
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

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Ep. 114 - Christopher Buckley - The Administration That Satirizes Itself

September 11, 2020

This is the first September 11th I believe I haven’t been in New York City since 2001. It’s a weird feeling. It’s just a fluke that I’m on the West Coast now. I don’t feel like I’ve bailed on New York, but I am kind of incredulous that I didn’t even realize it was the anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy this week. We have so many other tragedies to “monitor” at this moment.

Nevertheless, when one is away from home and from one’s tv pre-set to the news, it is relaxing. I hope you had a restful Labor Day wherever you were.

Since we’ve been away we’ve been asked if we would like to move to California, something that happens on most trips I make to Los Angeles. Is it because the person asking me used to live on the East Coast too and finds it contrary to want to live with cold winters and slush and crowds and subways?

There is a new take on my choosing to live in New York, and this is that since COVID had such a profound impact on New Yorkers in the Spring, some press is now calling New York City “dead and over.” It’s true that my neighbors who have summer homes outside the city have transplanted themselves to that house – for a long haul that seems so pleasant they are thinking of it as a more permanent residence. Some families just decided to return home – wherever that was – for more space at a lower price, and at an easier pace. My particular NY neighborhood has been vilified as “increasingly squalid” and “filled with junkies and sex offenders.” The exaggeration is coocoo. Life is similar to what it was, though we are never without our 70% alcohol wipes or gels. We just have to be patient.

Meanwhile, this week’s interview was done on the East Coast and feels kind of East Coast. Could be because I was chatting with writer Christopher Buckley. The son of Conservative thinker, writer, and publisher William F. Buckley, Jr. who founded The National Review, Christopher was sitting in his family house in Connecticut, in his father’s study, I believe, surrounded by.. let’s call it Buckleyana. Christopher’s new satirical novel is called Make Russia Great Again. It’s published by Simon & Schuster. If there’s one thing you can say about the Trump administration: it’s more or less satire without the humor.

First, my five things:

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1. Burgers Never Say Die. It’s a burger stand essentially, that #ExhibitB introduced me to last year. It’s the only hamburger I have dreamed of or yearned for. Fried flat, with crispy edges, pickles, and I think some kind of Russian dressing. It’s in Silverlake, and it is not worth a plane ticket, but at half an hour on a freeway? Yes, yes, yes.

2. Kismet restaurant. This terrific Middle-Eastern cuisine restaurant in West Hollywood sent out an email to their patrons (I’d eaten there once or twice on earlier visits) talking frankly about how hard it was to stay in business during the pandemic. (Los Angeles restaurants have been closed except for pickup and delivery and some outdoor tables for months.). It was a poignant letter. And we ordered dinner from Kismet, and it was good.

3. Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles. Founded in Hollywood, in 1975 by Herb Hudson, a Harlem expat, there are eight branches of this fried chicken restaurant in Southern California. This fried chicken is so good. And you know how I feel about fried chicken.

4. We did something that felt “normal” in the sense of “a fun thing we used to be able to do before the pandemic without worrying about it” this past week. We had an afternoon visit with another family in their house and back yard. Conversation! Laughs! Parents and exhibits! Fruit trees! Pastries! It was a huge highlight. Thank you to M, MJ, M, and P.

5. #ExhibitBaby

Christopher Buckley Credit-Katy Close.jpeg

Christopher Buckley's 5 Things:

1. Wife Katy

2. Air conditioning

3. Julian’s borscht soup.

4. Movie: Dr. Strangelove

5. Pear’s Soap

More About Christopher Buckley

Make Russia Great Again
By Christopher Buckley
Published by Simon & Schuster

Website: ChristopherBuckley.com

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC https://thefieldtv.com
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

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Ep. 113 - Chef Kwame Onwuachi - The Future of Eating Out

September 4, 2020

Hey Friends. I’m taping my introduction in Los Angeles, where I’ve been huddling with my Exhibits™. Without realizing it, I’ve been smiling that big ear to ear grin that I haven’t displayed or felt much in the last year.

We have rented an old Hollywood house which probably has a cool history, though so far I haven’t been able to find it’s provenance other than it was built in the 1920s. It’s Spanish and is made of stucco with stained glass windows and nice wood floors. But best of all is the yard, which allows us to be together outside. Surrounded by green and sky and sun.

My guest this week was named to the 30 Under 30 list by Forbes Magazine in 2019.. Kwame Onwuachi was also named Esquire Magazine’s Chef of the Year, and he was anointed as the James Beard Foundation’s Rising Star Chef of the Year. Kwame wrote Notes From a Young Black Chef, which was published by Knopf in 2019. He was a contestant on tv’s Top Chef in 2015. He ran several prestigious kitchens in Washington, D.C. until recently. Kwame’s story is a powerful one, and he is a charming conversationalist.

The five things that made Lisa’s life better this week:

1 Everyone of our far-flung exhibits gathered at our house this week. It took many months, some money, and a lot of effort and numerous COVID tests, but 4 of us flew out from New York, and joined with the 5 others who live here. We are all so grateful to be together. Now I know what all my friends whose kids have joined them feel like. Cooking and bartending together.

2. A morning swim. Something I cannot do in Manhattan.

3. Mexican food. It’s just so good here. And there’s so much of it.

4. Privacy. No elevators to take, and while I like seeing my neighbors and the fellows who work in the building, it’s nice to just be us. It’s nice to sequester in a house, and not stay in a hotel. This has been very nice.

5. Dinner at Ken and Lorrie’s. The best wine, the best lamb, the best apple pie. Thank you so much for inviting us.

Kwame Onwuachi’s 5 Things:

1. Family and Friends

2. Mentorship

3. Thoughtful Conversations

4. Food

5. Fashion

More About Kwame Onwuachi

My guest this week has been James Beard Award-winning chef Kwame Onwuachi and author of Notes From A Young Black Chef - A Memoir

You can follow Kwame on Instagram @chefkwameonwuachi and on Twitter and Facebook @ChefKwame.

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC https://thefieldtv.com
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

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Ep. 112 - Kurt Andersen - What about Trump?

August 28, 2020

I consider myself fortunate. Even though I have no second home to which to escape from New York City, I have a healthy family and a close relationship with them. I have had an interesting life. I am grateful, but I need to expound on something.

The death of New York is a huge topic of conversation these days, and one that I can’t help but take personally.

I was born in New York, I was raised in New York, I very deliberately decided to move back to New York to begin my life in the so-called real world. When on my first tour around the United States, I found myself defending New York, exemplifying New York – both positively and negatively. I looked forward to returning home from trips and missed the thrum of the city’s energy.

I was married in New York and very determined to raise my own family here – which I did. There were years I felt I was more loyal to my city than my city was to me. How dare I think such a thing? It wasn’t due to the tough times; it was during the fat times, when people were making so much money so fast, that they quickly and ostentatiously ate up apartment buildings – because they could. Because their bonuses were so enormous they might as well buy the apartment below theirs, or next to theirs, or above theirs, and construct mcmansions within the building.

These people brought their aggressive style to other aspects of New York. They wielded money and entitlement like sabers. They had connections that brought them what they summoned: treasured spots in coveted schools, reservations at restaurants. Mergers & acquisitions that took place in private clubs, ski resorts, Teterboro Airport, in the Hamptons, and at Art Basel. They didn’t mean to be rude; they just needed what they needed more than we did. Did they take up all the air in the room when they took cell phone calls in public rooms? Yes, but it wasn’t worth getting tangled up with them.

The New York City they devised required they devour cherished institutions, like Rizzoli and other independent bookstores, luncheonettes, Gem Spa in the East Village, and other neighborhood-defining businesses, to make way for new luxury condominiums, serving newcomers with no skin in our game, here to invest or to show off until they lost interest (emotional or financial).

The city became homogenized. Where districts had flourished for decades, now was the same StarbucksStaplesSoulCycleSephoraDuaneReadeSweetGreensFedExRiteAidLePainQuotidien…. A continuous loop that became more generic each year.

You didn’t even need to live in New York to see the exact same logos, menus, and so on.

Scruffy, variegated New York City was the real New York City. We had strikes, black outs, and our set of problems, but we had orchestras, theater companies, art galleries, and bohemians. A little opera company had a stage a few blocks from the premier punk rock venue. We had texture and flavor.

Now we’re like America only we have never liked or admired or trusted Donald Trump for longer than the rest of you. He has punished our state and will continue to if re-elected.

Until Covid-19 is arrested or cured, New York will have to go on a kind of pause, but I for one will never give up on it. And if the super rich do, so be it.

A great New Yorker, Kurt Andersen is back this week. His new book – a careful exegesis of how America became user unfriendly to the middle class and below – how the rich and the conservative ate us up – is called Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A New History, is now on the New York Times bestseller list. It is published by Random House.

First, my five things:

1. For the first time in 6 months I am with all my Exhibits™. I am cooking for them, hanging with them, and just enjoying our proximity. Cooking together. (Yes we had to leave NY to see them, and it was with a steamer-trunk full of precautions that we made the trip.). The risk on one hand, the emotional succor of being together on the other. No contest

2. Sunglass readers. Perhaps a most underrated invention. I have a pair of SEE over the counter reading glasses. I believe I bought them at the Museum of Modern Art gift store. They look good and enable me to read in the sun. (I have to be able to read in the sun too. How else am I going to relax?)

3. Oatly Full Fat milk. I’m embarrassed to crow about another Oatly product; I swear not only am I not on their payroll. I doubt they know how much I like them. The Full Fat milk, which I think is a newer product feels and tastes like half and half.

4. Green plants. We have some plants growing somewhat successfully in our apartment. I will get more. A sign of life is a great plus right now.

5. The truth. In the real world, which is based on science, there is one empirical truth. That is wearing a mask, keeping one’s distance, and obeying the laws of nature. This week the GOP is trying to persuade Americans that the 180,000 human beings who have died so far from COVID were a necessary sacrifice – just the right number for a country of our size. That is a lie.

More About Kurt Andersen

EVIL GENIUSES: The Unmaking of America - A Recent History

By Kurt Andersen

Published by Ebury Publishing a division of Penguin Random House.

Twitter: @KBAndersen

Instagram: @kurtbadnersen

Facebook: @kurtandersenbooks

Website: KurtAndersen.com

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC https://thefieldtv.com
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

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Ep. 111 - Kurt Andersen - Recording current history.

August 21, 2020

Just when life seemed most disordered and chaotic, the homemade-ish and scrappy Democratic National Convention came to the rescue. At least it rescued me.

Yes, with hiccups, and delays, and a few awkward “Am I on?” “Is this thing working?” “I didn’t hear you say ‘action’” moments (not literally), and even a moment or two of video pixilation (at least on my tv), it was real and it showed us a different kind of America from what’s been monopolizing our brains since January, 2017. And that was even before Michelle Obama’s magnificent speech.

It brought to mind Walt Whitman’s glorious, “I Hear America Singing,” which also reminded me of #education.

I Hear America Singing

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

--1860

Day 2 brought me more pride, in the stirring roll call of states. There was such investment by each state’s spokespeople, by their accents, and choices of clothes – by their landscapes, and by their histories. Seeing Matthew Shepherd’s parents announce the delegate count for Wyoming, was more surprising and moving than I would have imagined. Seeing the dignified Khizr Khan – the gold star father who had been dissed by candidate Trump — disavowing the disgusting march and murder in Charlottesville as he spoke for Virginia…. My heart is full. Maybe we can return to the essential decency that has been stomped on and shredded by the thugs and nitwits of this administration.

Kurt Andersen is my guest this week. A native Nebraskan, he’s had a remarkable career since he graduated from Harvard, involving most of America’s important media companies. A short bio includes working at Time Magazine, co-founding and editing the satire magazine SPY (where we met and worked together in the 20th century). Becoming the editor in chief of New York Magazine, the co-creator and host of Studio 360 at WNYC, and the writer of books, the giver of talks, and the soul of wit. His latest book, Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History was just published by Random House, and is a work in which he gathered evidence, conversation, and political philosophy to explain how America has lost its way.

This is part 1 of a two part conversation.

First: My Five Things

1. Patriotism. It’s not about holding the flag, wearing a pin, or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. (Do schools even teach that any more?). To me, patriotism is being a good person and caring about your neighbor. It’s coming to the defense of someone or some principle that has been wronged. Watching Colin Powell, and Marie Yovanovich, and the Carters, and Cozzie Watkins, the older woman who spoke from North Carolina this week, we saw patriotism on our screens.

2. Michelle Obama. I could have listened to her beautifully written speech and her soft but steady voice all night. I was startled by her one use of Trump’s name – she never mentions it – and her pointed repetition of his answer to all the deaths due to COVID-19, “It is what it is.”

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3. The Bidens. At long last (three and a half years have never felt so long) we have a couple and a family that have actual familial feelings and warmth. No more children profiting from dad’s job or becoming unauthorized and unapproved yesmen for their father. No more hostile appearances on the right wing media. The job belongs to the president. The Bidens have authentic reasons to have become angry and cynical. And yet they are not. Donald Trump never worked for a boss before, never endured poverty or loss. And yet he and his entitled kids wake up angry every single day. The Bidens remain humble and grateful. However they’ve accomplished this is a wonder. The respect they show one another is lovely to observe.

4. Science. Thank you, Democrats for believing in science. It’s the only way to try to get a handle on the coronavirus and on climate change. We cannot wait.

5. The Democratic ticket. It looks like America. Maybe you’re disappointed that your candidate didn’t finish first or second. But the candidates who used their time in the spotlight to advocate for what meant the most to them – whether it was Pete Buttigieg, or Andrew Yang, or Tom Steyer, or Jay Inslee – they’re all part of this effort to correct the global insult that has been Donald Trump. I couldn’t be more enthusiastic about Biden/Harris.

Kurt Andersen’s 5 Things

1. My new intraocular lenses

2. My daughters' writing and design work

3, My wife's gardens

4. Roasted salted pepitas

5. Imagining the day he's finally vanquished

More About Kurt Andersen

EVIL GENIUSES: The Unmaking of America

By Kurt Andersen

Published by Ebury Publishing a division of Penguin Random House.

Twitter: @KBAndersen

Instagram: @kurtbadnersen

Facebook: @kurtandersenbooks

Website: KurtAndersen.com

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC https://thefieldtv.com
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

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Ep. 110 - Daphne Merkin - Writing about obsessive sex and love

August 14, 2020

I took a class in early American literature in my sophomore year of college. I am cloudy on why this period interested me at the time. Cotton Mather, Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, Thoreau. Writers only an English major would want to read.

Every day as class began our professor intoned, “This world clean fails me; still I yearn.” That’s from Herman Melville’s poem, Clarel, from 1876. I think of that every single day in the chaos and misery of these solitary pandemic times. Will we get to a good old days again? Weren’t we supposed to be alerted when they were over? (And come to think of it, was it on 9/11? It took a long time, but we smiled again, saw our loved ones, even flew again, enjoyed parties, weddings, births, christenings, bar and bat mitzvahs – rites of passage that happen with or without celebrations and caterers. We bade our loved ones goodbye too, with pain and heartbreak and incredulity.)

For some it might have been Hurricane Katrina, or Hurricane Sandy, or the tsunami in Japan, or any of a number of natural disasters. Or maybe the good old days ended when children and their teachers were assassinated at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, or at the Pulse nightclub that horrible night in 2016, or when Trump was inaugurated in 2017, or at the Parkland high school on Valentine’s Day, 2018 or when the Boston Marathon finish line was bombed in 2013, or when George Floyd was killed for no reason by brutal cops a few months ago.

If you were directly affected by this heedless violence, you probably haven’t had a good old day ever since. My thoughts are with you. And thoughts aren’t enough, I know. We know.

Besides being active and trying to help those in need, the other thing I’ve found that helps is fiction. If you get involved in a compelling book, you tacitly accept the terms and goes where the author leads you. You have nothing to do but follow.

My guest this week is the novelist and essayist Daphne Merkin. Her new novel is 22 Minutes of Unconditional Love, and it gave me respite for the days I read it. We used to know one another in college and haven’t actually seen one another since then.

I loved talking to her and think you’ll enjoy her.

Lisa’s five things for this week:

1. My friend Shelley’s sour cherry pie. It was made of the end-of-season crop and it had a gorgeous lattice-patterned crust. Dennis’ roast chicken was wonderful too. Eaten in a secret garden in Soho, with distance and candles.

2. My mother’s birthday dinner. She’s 90, but looks 80. We took her out for two different dinners last week. I know this world clean fails her, but still she goes to the beauty parlor.

3. My Exhibits™. They’re all doing exciting things, making their own way in their careers. All independent and creative, and all on their own.

4. The understanding I have with my feet, that I will not be wearing high heels anytime soon. I wore sandals with heels to my mother’s second birthday dinner, and my left foot was sore for a whole day afterwards. It’s a bit of a bummer, but I accept it. I’m making it a positive.

5. Dr. Fauci! Stay safe. My friend Sylvia sent me a note saying that he is actually somewhat stressed out, and a friend of hers has sent him a thank you note for his great service to this country. I will do the same.

If you’re interested, you can write him here:

Dr. Anthony Fauci c/o
NIAID Office of Communications and Government Relations
5601 Fishers Lane, MSC 9806
Bethesda, MD 20892-9806

Daphne Merkin’s 5 Things That Make Life Better

1. Discovering a great new book
2. Lying in the sun by a pool or on the beach
3. Listening to Patty Griffin
4. That moment in writing when I’m so absorbed, I forget about the time
5. Laughing hysterically about something with my daughter that only we’d get
6. Breyer’s mint-chocolate cup ice cream

More About Daphne Merkin

22 MINUTES OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE: A NOVEL,

By Daphne Merkin

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Instagram @daphmerkin

Twitter @DaphneMerkin.

Her website is Daphne-Merkin.com

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC https://thefieldtv.com
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

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Ep. 109 - Jamie Lee Curtis and Boco Haft - "Letters From Camp" the podcast

August 7, 2020

In the last week I’ve baked an apricot pie, a dozen blueberry muffins, a blueberry loaf cake, and a brown butter pound cake. As you may have gathered, I never baked before this pandemic. A tsunami of baking is happening in my kitchen.

I like dessert, but I try to go easy on it. It’s way more skippable for me than you’d think. I don’t think I’ve had ice cream in two years.

So now I’m asking myself why I’m baking. Is it to prove I can? Is it to begin the trip on the downhill ramp of life, and become more proficient as a homemaker when my career options dry up? Is it to provide treats for my honey? Is it a futile way to lure my exhibits™ home to be nurtured at last by mommy’s kitchen?

As this blog is often a surrogate therapist, I’m going to say all of the above.

I had thought to try learning a new language during this plagued year, but the language I’m learning is of baking soda, baking powder, and cake flour vs. all-purpose flour. It’s foreign alright, but I’m beginning, bit by bit to feel more comfortable with it. One cake, that I’ve made three times has had three different outcomes. My progress is not a straight line, by any means. And like the early days of learning a language, I’m not finding it very much fun. But I will continue to plow forward to reach that point of satisfaction and ease among the pans and springforms. And like my friend Shelley, who is a fluent and wonderful baker, I will bake for others and have to resist the temptations I make.

Lisa Birnbach and her guests Jamie Lee Curtis and Boco Haft.

My guests today are givers, something I aspire to be.

You know Jamie Lee Curtis – famous from birth – her baby picture was in Life Magazine as well as Photoplay. Her parents were movie stars Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. You may have seen her in Knives Out, or the Halloween Movies, or A Fish Called Wanda, Trading Places, True Lies, and Freaky Friday, among others. She’s written a dozen children’s books, is a talented photographer, a great friend, an amazing parallel parker, and a godmother to the multitudes.

She has, as of this first week in August, opened a philanthropic shop, “My Hand in Yours,” which I’m eager to learn about.

My other guest is writer Boco Haft, who happens to be one of my exhibits. She was manager of the JV Basketball team in 9th grade, editor in chief of her high school yearbook, the head writer of the Sketchies, the sketch comedy troupe founded by actor Michael Zegen, and the head of the Skidmore College Comfest in 2015. She moved to Los Angeles to become a comedy writer. She is also one of Jamie’s godchildren.

They are here to discuss “Letters from Camp”, the new Audible original play, drama, comedy, series that they’ve co-created.

1. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/ Center for Public Safety COVID-19 newsletter.

Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

centerhealthsecurity@mail301.jh.edu

This fact-filled with no frills newsletter is now published twice a week. It is simply numbers and trends of this awful disease. This document has no politics. Just data. But it does tell you not only where the pandemic is surging, it is now telling us where it’s returning. Anyone can subscribe to this newsletter for free.

2. A fresh plum. Before biting into one, I think I know how it will taste, and yet I’m always wrong. Some are sweet at first bite and then taste tart at the end. Earlier today I ate one very slowly and mindfully. Plums are much more complex than we give them credit for.

closeup-of-orange-marigold-flowers-and-foliage-183412216-5bd3f0f046e0fb0051597033.jpg

3. Marigolds. I never appreciated the marigold until I traveled to Thailand, where they are the hardworking and beautiful flower they use in garlands, and elaborate arrangements. My grandmother had some in her garden, and I didn’t like the earthy way they smelled. Now I like them and their sassy orange color.

4. Receiving packages. Most of the time, it turns out to be something quite ordinary that I ordered online: vitamins, a wooden spoon from Williams-Sonoma, or some vinyl gloves. But I don’t care; a package is a package! Sometimes the package contains a real treat that I didn’t expect, and that’s even better!

5. Dr. Fauci. I worry about him: is he getting enough sleep? Is he stressed out by Dr. Brix? I think we’re overtaxing him. He’s 79 years old. He’s a great doctor and sometimes seems like the only grownup in the room.

Jamie Lee Curtis’s 5 Great Things About Camp:

1. Lanyards
2. Trunks
3. Bug juice
4. Camp songs-The cat came back
5. The camaraderie

Boco Haft’s 5 Great Things About Camp:

1. Campfire Songs
2. Friendship Bracelets
3. No parents
4. Color War
5. Camp Routine

Letters From Camp

An Audible Original

Starring and Co-Created by Jamie-Lee Curtis

Co-Created and Written by Boco Haft

CLICK HERE to listen.

Jamie Lee Curtis Instagram @curtisleejamie

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC https://thefieldtv.com
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

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Ep. 108 - Chef JJ Johnson - Cooking while Black. Being an American chef in 2020.

July 31, 2020

Oh wow is life strange. Now that I’m mostly indoors, when I go outside, I’m whacked by the heat. I usually love the summer, it’s my first or second favorite season. (Definitely not my third or fourth.). I have got to be careful -- as do we all -- and so, I’m essentially sitting this one out.

And yet…. More ugliness in the world, especially in the United States. More contentious hearings that force you to recognize the differences between us. Was this divide bound to emerge or should it have stayed hidden? You tell me. I am not a historian, so I don’t know. Out of the pain of Black Lives I hope we rectify our mistakes in a more serious, empathic, and permanent way. I am just sorry that so many lives have been lost, terrorized, and harmed, and that the wounds are so profound.

Lisa Birnbach and guest, Chef JJ Johnson

My guest this week, Chef JJ Johnson, of Harlem’s popular FieldTrip restaurant, and author of the James Beard award-winning cookbook, Between Harlem and Heaven, was on a straight trajectory after he graduated from the Culinary Institute of America, the country’s most prestigious cooking school. He used to drive to and from work at the Morgan Stanley executive dining room.

One night after meeting friends after work, he had one drink and hours later was on his way home, when he was cut off by a taxi. He swerved to get out of the way, and was stopped by police. They approached him and almost immediately made him get out of his car and slammed his head against the window, an approach they might not have used with a white driver. They charged JJ with assault. It was outrageous.

For those of us enjoying our white privilege, this is a commonplace occurrence. It should never be.

JJ Johnson is a good man: a wonderful chef, a community activist, a husband, a father, and a son. He is an optimist. I know you’ll enjoy hearing him today.

First, my 5 Things:

1. Last week I had the most marvelous and unexpected day with my #ExhibitC. We talked and talked, more openly than we’ve done in years. I feel we opened up a new path of candor and I have new respect for her. Nothing that happened this week comes close.

2. Getting my bills paid on time. Old school me – not a surprise to any of you – still writes checks and puts them in the mail. Do you pay your bills online? (I do pay some that way, before you mock me.). I like paying by check because in writing those checks I am mindful of what I am spending, and what some goods and services cost. I really like seeing a stack of envelopes, ready to go to the mail.

3. Nails in the time of Corona Virus. I have little hands – I can admit it – and feet, and I was never a person with gorgeous nails. Sometimes I felt self-conscious about them. But now, with no one getting their nails done, I like the way mine look. I’m sure I’ll get a manicure again some day; I doubt it will be soon. I only worry about the women who made their living off the tips they got from doing nails and other treatments for a living. (I need to think about that.)

4. No One is Unreachable these days. If they’re “on vacation” they are still home or at their other home. It’s easy to contact anyone you know.

5. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She inspires me every day. What tenacity! What determination! Let’s all keep her good health in our thoughts and prayers.

Chef JJ Johnson

CHEF JJ JOHNSON’S 5 THINGS:

1. Family

2. Real friends

3. Good partners

4. Focus

5 Being true to yourself

MORE ABOUT CHEF JJ JOHNSON

Chef JJ Johnson, owner, FieldTrip restaurant in Harlem
FieldTrip Restaurant
109 Malcolm X Blvd.
New York, NY 10026
917-639-3919
https://www.fieldtripnyc.com/

FieldTrip Restaurant
Instagram: @fieldtripharlem
Facebook: @fieldtripharlem

Between Harlem & Heaven
James Beard Award-winning cookbook
By JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls

You can follow JJ Johnson on Instagram and Twitter @chefjj and on Facebook @fieldtripharlem.
https://www.instagram.com/chefjj/
https://twitter.com/ChefJJ

https://www.facebook.com/fieldtripharlem/

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC

https://thefieldtv.com

My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

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Ep. 107 - Sheila Nevins - The Queen of Documentary Filmmaking.

July 24, 2020

It is what it is. So says the president. I’m just going to say here that he is uneducated and crude, and doesn’t care about Americans. If that offends you, I have a feeling you should leave the room, as we approach Election Day I may become downright partisan! (Just kidding. I am deeply offended by his determination to financially profit from his time in office.).

But he has existed in a hermetically sealed environment for years, even when going outside and breathing the fresh air of nature and the world in its entirety was possible. He lives in a Trump bubble – which allows him to go to his own golf courses – all the time – and Mar-a-Lago. He never enjoyed touring; he enjoyed staying at his various hotels, exposed to only a certain slice of society. But I digress.

For me, it is never what it is. Does that make sense? There’s always a deeper place to go to find out why it is, or what can be changed or how it can be amplified. (It’s one of the reasons I like reading fiction so much – character development.)

And reading I have done, once I was able to recapture my concentration, attention, and nerves. Most of you know how much I love to read. It’s the most escapist thing I can do, besides dreaming.

My guest this week is the formidable, accomplished, opinionated, and always surprising Sheila Nevins. Now the head of MTV Documentary Films, Sheila created and was president of HBO Documentary Films. She worked at HBO for most of 35 years, and produced over 1000 documentary movies, including the work of such directors as the Maysle brothers, DA Pennybacker, and Liz Garbus. In the process the documentaries won tons of awards – Oscars, Peabodys, and Emmys over the years. Sheila herself has won 31 primetime Emmy awards, more than any other person ever. Her book, a memoir which leaves you wanting to know more, is called You Don’t Look Your Age… And Other Fairy Tales.

The 5 things that made my life better this week:

1. I finally tried Lloyd’s carrot cake. I’m a lifelong New Yorker, and I’d never heard of this apparently famous confection until I met a family from Westchester. The story is that a man named Lloyd Adams started baking in his kitchen in Harlem, with a view to making people happy. In 1985 he was able to open his first bakery shop in Riverdale, in the Bronx. Lloyd died in 2007, but his bakery lives on thanks to his wife and children. There’s a branch in East Harlem, and though the business is called “Lloyd’s Carrot Cake”, they make other kinds of cakes and cupcakes as well. I’ve tasted the carrot cake. It’s very, very good. They ship nationwide!

https://www.lloydscarrotcake.com/order

2. Method’s Antibacterial Spray. I was looking for Clorox products and couldn’t find any. This sort of “fancier” line smells much better than bleach. (No, I’m not going to sip it.). Well maybe with a spritz of Aperol? NO. I KID. I do still spray my groceries and some packages when they arrive. Call me old school. And I like this stuff.

3. Blue light reading glasses. I can’t believe I didn’t mention them before. They look the same as any other pair of reading glasses but they are said to be easier on the old eyeballs than normal ones. I don’t know if they are helping me, but I don’t think they are hurting me. Lots of online retailers and opticians offer them. Try them yourself and tell me what you think. (A lot of people like Caddis brand, but my tiny head is too narrow for them, so I’m trying Eyebobs.)

4. Competence. The one thing that this endless quarantinarama has taught me is that to some extent, I am capable. I can now follow a recipe and make a tasty dinner. I can bake something edible at least half of the time. I can parallel park our car beautifully about half of my tries. And every time if I don’t feel pressured. I can clean my house and do the laundry adequately. I can reach genius almost every day on the New York Times’ Spelling Bee.

5. Dr. Fauci. He’s clearly telling us something, even sometimes by his very absence. Listen to this brave and credible doctor. He will lead us to where we have to go. And wherever you go, wear a mask, please!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUiDLcp_hIw

Sheila Nevins | Photo Credit: Brigitte Lacombe

SHEILA NEVIN’S 5 THINGS:

1. Money in the bank

2. My dog

3. The tree outside my window (realizing nature has outsmarted me)

4. Eating cake without gaining weight

5. Making people laugh / being outrageous in expressing the unexpressed - carefully, of course

MORE ABOUT SHEILA NEVINS

You Don’t Look Your Age…and Other Fairy Tales

By Sheila Nevins

You can follow Sheila on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @TheSheilaNevins

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC. My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft

https://thefieldtv.com

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Ep. 106 - Andy Slavitt - Pandemic expert, believer in science.

July 17, 2020

Guest Andy Slavitt and host, Lisa Birnbach

Isn’t it amazing how busy we are paying attention to the news? (You could say I’m riveted, but I’m not sure that even gets to it.) Watching this enterprise-- the Trump world that has replaced our usual -- one feels one has to keep their eyes on whatever is happening, lest it get worse. And yet, it still gets worse. The first federal execution in seventeen years took place this week – in Indiana, after the Supreme Court of Texas weighed in at 2:30 in the morning. Things keep churning whether we’re watching or not. I am now at a place of deep rage that is not productive or beneficial in any way. I recognize that. But this is why I’m so pleased that my guest this week is Andy Slavitt, the former Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Obama. He stated in 2015 that he wanted to prioritize the health care and its reach to the underserved population in rural and urban areas. Andy Slavitt worked on Obama’s Heroin Task Force and VP Biden’s Cancer Moonshot task force. He worked on the Affordable Care Act as well, until the final days of the Obama administration. After Trump’s inauguration, Andy Slavitt traveled around the country (often on his own dime) to explain what new administration’s repeal of the ACA would mean to regular Americans.

By this past February, 2020, Andy Slavitt was criticizing the Trump team’s preparedness for the incipient pandemic. In early March he wrote an open letter to the American governors warning them of the likely inadequacy of supplies of beds, ICU units, ventilators, and equipment due to the unstoppable spread of COVID19. Since then, Andy has been one of our country’s leading advocates for staying home, respecting the lockdown orders in place, wearing a mask to protect others from this frightening virus. He is a proponent of contact tracing.

I read his tweets and threads devotedly. They are realistic about how grim things are, but are well grounded in science, which is really the only way out of a pandemic. Science. This podcast is sponsored by Science.

The 5 Things that made my life better this week:

1. Sitting at my desk. For the moment, my desk is my happy place. First of all, it’s air conditioned the right way – I’m not in the direct line. Secondly, I am enjoying the privacy of the space. I can print recipes, read, and appear in zooms against the deep blue wall. Although you wouldn’t know from looking at it now, my desk is organized into areas – writing, receipts, bill paying, letters.

2. Frozen pastry crust. I’ve begun to bake in this pandemic, which is not something I ever did willingly before. I have easily avoided desserts for the last number of years, and now I’m baking. Am I doing it for my boyfriend, who has a sweet tooth? Maybe I’m doing it because I’m such a bad embroider, and I want so much to MAKE something. Frozen crust solves all my problems.

3. Reading offline. I know a lot of people are complaining that they cannot concentrate these days. Have you tried reading a magazine article or a short story on paper? I was recently accused of being like a 90-year-old because I don’t read e-books. Insult me all you want; when I’m reading, I’m in another place. I like paper. Sue me!

4. Throwing out dead pens. I know this is not a thing, but I’m making it a thing. I have four big jars of pens, pencils, highlighters, and markers. When a. pen, especially a good looking one seems to be out of ink, I have saved it, thinking it’ll write the next time. Consequently, I have four jars with probably 2 jars worth of working implements. What the hell? I’m about to throw them out. I actually can’t wait.

5. Dr. Fauci and Science. What is it about REAL SCIENCE that scares the president and his band of governmental looters? What is it? Is it that they’ve ignored the truth and don’t want to get caught? Is it just blind lemming-like following their king? Science will provide a way through these terrible times – through Covid, through global warming, through shortages of power, food, forests, and clean water. Listen to the scientists. Read the science stories in your newspapers. It won’t hurt.

ANDY SLAVITT’S 5 THINGS

1. A morning with nothing I have to do

2. Friends who let me have their back and have mine

3. When the dog rests his head in my lap

4. When there are people who need me and I can help without doing a lot of work

5. A great 80s pop song

MORE ABOUT ANDY SLAVITT

In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/in-the-bubble-with-andy-slavitt/id1504128553

http://www.westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/in-the-bubble-with-andy-slavitt/

You can follow Andy on Twitter and Facebook at @ASlavitt and Instagram @AndySlavitt.

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC. My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft

https://thefieldtv.com

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Lisa's Blog'n'Pod

Ep. 115 - Amelia Nierenberg - Thoughtful Food, Food For Thought

Ep. 114 - Christopher Buckley - The Administration That Satirizes Itself

Christopher Buckley's 5 Things:

More About Christopher Buckley

Ep. 113 - Chef Kwame Onwuachi - The Future of Eating Out

Kwame Onwuachi’s 5 Things:

More About Kwame Onwuachi

Ep. 112 - Kurt Andersen - What about Trump?

More About Kurt Andersen

Ep. 111 - Kurt Andersen - Recording current history.

Kurt Andersen’s 5 Things

More About Kurt Andersen

Ep. 110 - Daphne Merkin - Writing about obsessive sex and love

Lisa’s five things for this week:

Daphne Merkin’s 5 Things That Make Life Better

More About Daphne Merkin

Ep. 109 - Jamie Lee Curtis and Boco Haft - "Letters From Camp" the podcast

Jamie Lee Curtis’s 5 Great Things About Camp:

Boco Haft’s 5 Great Things About Camp:

Letters From Camp

Ep. 108 - Chef JJ Johnson - Cooking while Black. Being an American chef in 2020.

CHEF JJ JOHNSON’S 5 THINGS:

MORE ABOUT CHEF JJ JOHNSON

Ep. 107 - Sheila Nevins - The Queen of Documentary Filmmaking.

SHEILA NEVIN’S 5 THINGS:

MORE ABOUT SHEILA NEVINS

Ep. 106 - Andy Slavitt - Pandemic expert, believer in science.

ANDY SLAVITT’S 5 THINGS

MORE ABOUT ANDY SLAVITT

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