Stuff I'm Loving Right Now

a slew of recommendations

At the risk of sounding like a magazine featuring ads that don’t look like ads but are in fact ads, I have some recommendations. (They’re not ads.) I’ve been wanting to do a post like this for a while because I secretly think I have impeccable taste. So. Here are the things that I can’t get enough of these days:

First up, TV…

1. Ripley: This is not the Matt Damon movie from 1999, but a miniseries that, like that movie, follows the first of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels. For some reason, knowing where it’s going makes it no less tense. During one scene, I actually squeezed my eyes shut and covered my whole face with my hands because I got so uncomfortable. The beautiful black-and-white cinematography gives the episodes a stylized noire feel, and the Talented Mr. Ripley is played by the talented Andrew Scott (remember Hot Priest from Fleabag?).

2. Baby Reindeer: We all know about this one by now, right? I think it’s the most popular thing on Netflix—a miniseries about a Scottish comedian and his relationship with his stalker. It’s a true story, and that comedian who lived it, and then wrote it, also stars in it.

3. Hacks: This might be the only feel-good, escapist show on TV these days that’s not cheesy. It’s actually very funny—the story of a 70-year-old standup comedian and her 20-something joke writer.

4. The Sopranos: I never watched The Sopranos! This is the first of two TV phenomena I missed, the second being Game of Thrones. Both live up to the hype, but you already know that. My boyfriend sat through Game of Thrones again with me so I could see it for the first time, and now he’s doing the same with The Sopranos. He wants me to believe that these re-watches constitute great sacrifice.

Books…

Three of my favorite people, and incidentally, favorite writers, have new novels and they’re brilliant.

1. The Wedding People by Alison Espach will drop July 30 and the pre-buzz includes a rave from People and a movie adaptation that’s already underway. It’s the story of an English professor who, for a reason I won’t divulge, checks herself into a luxury hotel, where she turns out to be the only guest who’s not there for a wedding. The story unfolds over two days and is hilarious, touching, and heartening, and speaks to the kinds of bonds we can only form with strangers.

With Ali in Phoenicia, New York, 2015

2. The Book of George by Kate Greathead (not out until October, but available for pre-order) starts like this: “To George’s D.A.R.E. graduation in the Cochran Gym, his father wore a suit.” If anyone can write a sentence, it’s Kate. This book’s for you if you like smart commentary on the Millennial generation, or if you loved the movie Greenberg, or if you’re interested in character development so rich, you’ll forget months later if you met the people in fiction or in real life.

With Kate, 2014. We had just told stories at The Moth. You can’t see her face, which is a shame because she’s beautiful. Look (you have to scroll down).

3. The Winner by Teddy Wayne is, dare I say, a winner (sorry). Says the review in the New York Times, “This is ‘The Graduate’ with an advanced degree.” Yes, it centers a young man who is sleeping with both a young woman and that young woman’s mother. Teddy is the king of the page-turner; you’ll read this in one gulp. Fun fact: I set Teddy up with Kate Greathead (see above) on a blind date and now they’re married with two kids—my greatest accomplishment to date.

Halloween 2009 with Teddy and our friend Elana. I was “devil with the blue dress on”—the only time in my life I attempted a sexy costume. Another year I wore one of those Batman costumes from Target with a cape and nylon abs.

And a couple of incredible novels I read recently that aren’t by authors I know:

Green Dot by Madeleine Gray: Who doesn’t love a good affair story?

Piglet by Lottie Hazell: I love any novel that makes me feel, a la The Bell Jar, as though I’m losing my mind right along with the narrator. (The Guest by Emma Cline is another great addition to that genre.)

Next up: True-crime podcasts…

Yes, I’m one of those. Yes, I know the argument against them. Yes, I kind of feel bad about it. But if it helps you hold me in higher esteem, I don’t like violent true crime, partly due to graphic descriptions of corpses. Yuck. Give me grifters and catfish and cult leaders and men with double and triple lives. Here are some of the best, and I won’t tell you anything about them because you should avoid all potential spoilers and just listen:

1. Something Was Wrong (this is the only one on the list that I’m currently listening to; the others are old, but so good)

2. Dirty John (it’s one multi-episode story)

3. Sweet Bobby (another multi-episode story)

4. Unravel, Season 4: Snowball (I tried a couple other seasons—not great—but season 4 is WILD.)

5. S Town (just…trust me)

And finally: easy, amazing recipes…

Ask anyone who knows me—not even well, just at all: I love to cook for people. Seriously, come over. I’ll make you dinner. I’ll make your casual acquaintance dinner. I love making people dinner. Some of my favorite memories are of people I love, or even just like, eating my food. But I prefer to keep it simple because I don’t generally have hours to give to meal preparation.

So here are a few easy recipes that I’ve loved recently:

1. These shrimp fajitas are perfection.

2. Perhaps my greatest discovery of the past year has been TikTok recipes. Here’s the easiest, most delicious lemon pasta:

3. If you love Indian food, but don’t like gathering 20 spices that will subsequently rot in your cupboard, try this company my friend Kate (not the Kate I wrote about above; I have lots of Kates) turned me on to. Pick your favorite Indian dishes and order the packs that correspond to them. Each pack comes with that dish’s spices measured out and ready to go, plus the recipe, so all you have to do is buy your proteins and veggies and follow the easy instructions. I made the saag paneer and it tasted like restaurant saag paneer.

   

   Some peanut noodles I make a lot

   

   And a flan I made my parents for one of their wedding anniversaries—because it was 2020 and cooking was my pandemic coping mechanism.

What are your current obsessions? Let me know in the comments.

Love,

Diana