And the Oscar goes to...

JENN McKINLAY: It’s that season, folks. Award Show Season! From January through March, we have so many award shows. It’s crazy! We have the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice, the BAFTA, the SAG, and then the mother of them all–the Oscars. 

Here's the full list: https://deadline.com/feature/awards-season-calendar-oscars-emmys-golden-globes-list-1234814076/

Honestly, I have very mixed feelings about these award shows. First, how many awards do y’all need to give yourselves? Just sayin’. Second, if I’m not nominated (LOL) why should I care? And third, oooh, look at all the sparkly people–okay, bring me the popcorn!

See? I’m conflicted. Mostly, I think film award shows are a big snooze, especially if I didn’t get a chance to see every film that was nominated. But back when I was a librarian, my friend Joe Cajero and I would open up the Vanity Fair website while we worked the reference desk the morning after an awards show and we would dish about all of the outfits – boys and girls – and we’d laugh ourselves stupid doing terrible Joan Rivers-esque commentary. Good times!

Refreshingly, the Golden Globes this year were wonderful. A perfect antidote to last year’s Oscar debacle. Heartfelt and hilarious speeches from actresses and actors who have done their time in the industry and were FINALLY recognized. I loved it! (Probably, because I saw both Everything Everywhere All At Once and White Lotus). Although, full disclosure, I didn't watch the show but caught the highlights the next day, as you do.

How about it, Reds? Do you watch award shows? 

HALLIE EPHRON: The one award program I always watch is the TONY AWARDS. I’m a huge Broadway fan and you get to see scenes and musical numbers performed by the original Broadway casts. Priceless. And in the event that I DO get to NY and sometimes it seems like need to win the lottery (SO expensive!) I know which plays are at the top of my list when I get to the front of theTKTS discount ticket line.

Otherwise I do skip the other awards. Completely. Except for looking up what Tom and Lorenzo have to say about the outfits the next day.

Jenn: Love the fashion critiques! But in my eyes, Michelle Yeoh can do no wrong.

RHYS BOWEN: I’m with Hallie about the Tony’s. I love musical theater. But the others? The hideous dresses on the red carpet? All those speeches thanking the little people? No thanks. Having said that I do watch the Oscars sometimes.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I rather guiltily confess that I love the awards shows. My daughter and I like to message gossip as we watch. Of course I've seldom seen more than one or two films, but it gives me a chance to sample what I might like to watch. After the Golden Globes (which I really enjoyed) we watched The Fablemans and Everything Everywhere All At Once and loved both. I just saw the nominations for the Baftas and they have SNUBBED Spielberg and The Fablemans! I am shocked! Although it is a very Amercian-experience film, but still!

LUCY BURDETTE: Before Covid, we liked watching the Oscars and made a big effort to see most of the best pictures, and also the shorts. (The Tropic Cinema in Key West brought these to town, and we always felt a bit like insiders.) These days we’ve only been to the movies once, so I doubt we’ll be watching anything!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I always used to watch the Tony awards and the Oscars with Youngest, and Debs talking about “message gossiping” makes me realize I should make a date with her to enjoy the shows together. They’re always so much more fun when you’re with other people, virtually or not. 

One of the things I love to do when award shows are on? Follow the Twitter stream. Pick a hashtag and stick with it - there is always so much delightful wit and snark on display. 

OMG, We need to do our own Jungle Reds Oscar group-watch livestream. 

Jenn: YES!!! That would be a hoot!

HANK PHILLIPI RYAN: Julia! We DO! I will confess that I love any kind of competition about anything. It is SO sad, and so un-self-actuallzed, and I feel very guilty about it. 

You have to remember, if you will, that I was maybe 10 when I watched my first Miss America, and back then, to a little girl  in the fifties, it was a really fun thing to watch with my mother. And actually aspirational.  I still think it’s complicated. And that’s  probably another blog. 

But awards shows for productions–again, I love competitions, as unenlightened as it seems.  I love the clothes! I really do. And I love the speeches, and I love hating when they play music to stop them. And I love watching the fake approval on the faces of the audiences (and losers.)

 I don’t believe that “winning” actually means that the thing was the best of the things,  but as someone who has won (and lost) it’s much more fun to win, and it’s actually gratifying.  I really enjoy seeing the winners be happy.. And fun to see something that you love win. Like-yeah, I knew that.

And yes,the Tonys, that’s a different deal. You get to see scenes, and that’s great. That’s totally value added.

And the Grammys are a great way of finding out what music you’re supposed to know about but don’t. And  again, like all of them, SO much fun to yell at the clothing choices!

How about you, Readers? Any award show watchers out there? Yea or nay?

Revels and Traybakes: Cooking with Celia Wakefield

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: If it's Sunday, it must be time for another delicious recipe from our own Celia Wakefield. As usual, I got to taste-test this easy-to-make dinner (and by test, I mean I had two large helpings) and you are all in for a treat. Vegetarians, I'm afraid you may have to look away from this sausage-y, bacon-y goodness, but for those of us who like a little meat now and again, oh, my, please give this a try. It pairs nicely with a bottle of red brought from my house!

 

 

 

Happy New Year to you dear Reds and Readers, it’s lovely being invited to join Julia and everyone in January when the year is still new and we can all feel hope and freedom to travel and visit each other.  

I have two goals for this year. This is opposed to resolutions, usually I don’t make them, too exhausting, or "intentions" - well I do have some of those but this is about come hell or high water I’ll be there. First, for my younger, taller grandson, Connor, who graduates High School in June like the rest of the seniors around the country. He is heading to Tulane and is thrilled. I am hoping that I might, maybe get to visit him but probably not this year. 

But the second is that I will be at NE Crime Bake and I will need lots to help etc as I have never (full disclosure) been to a mystery convention or in fact to any convention around a single topic other than business ones which are not the same, are they? I won’t need a suit will I? But will I need a costume? Or a hat? Perhaps Edith can loan me one, though I do have a big head, literally. But enough of pleasures ahead.

 

Among the yearly treats we have enjoyed is our visit to see TheRevels at Sanders Theater, Cambridge. In the past Victor and Olivia have performed in Revels when we had a Revels Group in NYC. I always worked backstage. Revels is such a huge part of our Christmas tradition that when they did a pandemic version in 2021 we got the virtual ticket and invited Julia over as she had attended a couple of the live shows pre-pan with us.

How to describe Revels if you haven’t seen it? Of course now, thanks to streaming, one can get a virtual ticket, but in the past you could attend if you lived in or near Hanover, NH, or Seattle, in Washington, D.C. or Houston, or in Santa Barbara, Boulder, Portland, Oregon, and Puget Sound. The chorus is always made up of community people who audition as well as local traditional English dance teams.  Though the theme is not necessarily English tradition, there are certain elements which are tradition too and somehow the directors manage to fit in these loved pieces and carols year after year. In fact the year, many years ago, Revels in Cambridge decided not to have the Sussex Mummers Carol to end the show. Well the audience stood and sang it anyway before they left. That’s how traditions begin and a lot of singing and dancing will drive the dark away. 

 

 

While I don’t want to witter on about what Revels has meant in the life of our family, I do want to share some of the tradition with you. January is the start, but it is a month rather devoid of fun or tradition so let me introduce you to John Langstaff, Revels founder. 

John, or rather Jack as we all knew him, was a man with more energy than 10 teenage boys. We first met him in the ’70’s at Pinewoods Camp, a traditional dance and music camp outside Plymouth, MA. It was Family Week and the camp was filled with families of all ages from the grans to the newborns. We were gathered in the large open air pavilion for the morning session when on the hill path above us came the sound of singing and an extraordinary creature appeared. Dressed in black with a tall pointed headdress and a huge circular skirt which stuck out around them and then hung to the ground. This being, the 'Obby 'Oss, hails from Cornwall, England and is part of a very old fertility rite. 

Accompanied by dancers dressed in white with red kerchiefs and hankies, everyone danced down to where we all stood singing lustily - "Unite and Unite, now let us all unite for summer is a comin’ in today.” Soon everyone was singing and Jack was leading us. I learned he decided the morning gathering needed a little something. So he had left Camp early, driven back to Cambridge to the Revels costume store and taken the ‘Obby’ costume and other items to do the Padstow May Day processional for us. What fun, what joy and glee. 

They've taken to wearing pants in our modern age.

In Padstow they gather at one of two Inns at midnight; there are two processionals which weave their way through the streets and huge crowds to celebrate the arrival of May. In times past we read that the ‘Obby had tar on the skirt of the garment. They would ‘capture’ young women by putting the skirt over their heads, where the girls found that the ‘Obby was as nature intended. This was my introduction to Jack, who wanted to share traditions with everyone.

Having bought our Revels virtual ticket and found some space on Julia’s schedule I needed easy dinner. I wasn’t thinking so much of recipes but ease was to the forefront. So I made a dinner tray bake as opposed to a dessert one. Having done some cursory research on tray bakes  the origins seem to be Irish bakes made on a cookie sheet and then cut into squares. How can I not after 53+ years know the name for American cookie sheet bakes? But during the pandemic Melissa Clark of NYT and cookbook authorship fame started write up recipes using a cookie sheet and mixing veggies and other ingredients. The term used by Food52 is sheet pan meals, I do think tray bake sounds more beguiling. I don’t know if anyone made any of Melissa’s sheet pan recipes but here is my version. I’m sorry there’s no video to give you all a laugh but nothing in this is complex. 

Making my Revels Tray Bake:

Rimmed Sheet Pan lined with foil (to save the washing up)

Sharp chefs knife and cutting board

Shallow bowl

Oven 350F

 

EV Olive Oil

Rosemary & Thyme or other mixed herbs

1 rasher Bacon per person, or more

1 or 2 Sausages each, we had Irish Bangers

1 or 2 sweet onions cut into chunks (I love sweet onions they don’t make me cry)

Peeled mixed veggies cut into chunks. No thin slices here please

I used the following veggies, but you should use whatever is in your veggie drawer - Carrots, sweet potato, fingerling potatoes, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, whole peeled garlic cloves etc. salt and pepper

Pour about 1/4 C Olive Oil into the bowl and add herbs

I used a frying pan for this as I wanted to spread the veggies around in the oil rather than having them piled up in a mixing bowl. So I only put in enough veggies to cover the bottom of the bowl at a time, then stirred them around with the olive oil and herbs. 

 

Add the rest of the veggies and mix

Add all the oiled veggies onto the baking sheet and spread out

 

Cut the sausages in half both long ways and wide and set on top of the veggies (cutting is optional)

Cover the sausages with bacon rashers

Place in heated oven

Cooking time: Set your timer for 20 minutes, then mix the tray around as much as you can do and turn over the bacon and sausages. If you want the sausages to crisp up remove the bacon on to the veggies only. Cook another 20 minutes and test if the sausage is cooked to 160F and the bacon is crisp. Keep warm or serve with a good helping of a Brit Mystery.

 

It Is I, The Shining Star of Virtue

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Thursday through Friday we had our first heavy snowfall of the season (and if you're thinking that's awfully late for southern Maine, my friends, you are correct.) I had to do some shoveling early to get the car out, but it really accumulated, so I didn't touch anything else except the stairs to the porch until Phil, my plow guy, arrived at 3pm. I had my checkbook at my side, knowing he'd show up sooner or later, and managed to hustle into my boots and trot out with his payment before he'd left. Bill taken care of, and I saved one first class stamp. (Phil is an old-fashioned businessman, as many are here in New England, and he takes payment in cash or check. I'm not sure he's heard of Venmo or Zelle or Square.)

I ducked back inside positively glowing with the sense of virtue, which got me thinking about that wonderful feeling. Now, we all know the usual sources of a virtuous glow. Saying no to that second helping of dessert. Crossing off items on our to-do list. Handing in your corrections/assignment/manuscript on time. (Sadly, for me, I must paraphrase J.M. Barrie on this: "she was looking through the window at the one joy from which she must be for ever barred.”)

But what about those lesser-known moments of shining virtue? Here are a few of mine:

1. Shoveling the snow BEFORE the temperatures drop and it becomes a hardened, lumpy mess. As soon as Phil had driven off, check in hand, the boys and I went out. While they ran up and down the drive, I shoveled my car completely free of snow, so next time I want to go, I'm going to be able to just throw it in reverse and zoom. I did this right away! No hesitation! I felt so good about it, the boys and I all got a treat when we came back inside. (Milk bones and hot cocoa, respectively.) 

 

 

2. Having my taxes ready to go by the end of January. This should be a no-brainer, since I just have to pull together my documents and make a spreadsheet of expenses for my accountant. But you would not believe how many years I've dragged my feet on this. I was better when I had kids in college - competition for that FAFSA money is fierce, and you want to be at the front of the line. Since Youngest graduated last May, I was worried I might fall back into bad habits, ie, stuffing a form to file late and a check for a completely made-up amount in an envelope and driving it to the one big city post office still open at 7pm on April 15th. 

But I'm on track to have everything done by the time I get my last tax document! If I do send my stuff off on January 31st, I will bask in the glow of my own wonderfulness. And maybe have a chocolate bar.

3. Changing light bulbs as soon as they burn out. I dunno, does this make me weird? I always keep a whole bunch of spares in my pantry, so it's, like, the one and only "home repair" I can effect competently and quickly. It feels so good when I snap the new one on.

 

 

 

 

 

4. Washing the dishes. The pots and pans and good stuff you can't put in the dishwasher, I mean. This has got to be the most ordinary household task possible, but I swear, each and every time I set the last wet glass in the drying rack, I feel like I've successfully completed a marathon. 

 

 

 

 

5. Keeping wine on hand. Since the Maine Millennial has moved into her very own, bought-with-her-money house, I've started stocking up my bar again. One of my hacks is to stop at RSVP Liquors in Portland after church and hitting up their closeout wine sale section. (First time I did this I felt a little conspicuous, but I can tell by the outfits of other shoppers I'm not the only person in town who likes their religion followed by a chaser.)

Their stock is always at least decent, so I buy marked down bottles with confidence that, at the very least, they'll be fine to serve after the good stuff has been drunk up (an appropriate biblical reference, come to think of it.) I've been entertaining small numbers of friends at home, and I love not having to think about whether I'm set for wine with the meal - and every time I head out to dinner at someone else's home with a bottle tucked under my arm, I feel the powerful glow of being a Good Guest.

How about you, dear readers? What are the unexpected actions that bring you that glow of virtue rewarded?