taco tuesday wednesday thursday, skunk vs. gopher, "Bull"

Hello my favorite people. 

Where did that month go?? 

It’s May, but it’s like... it could be August? It’s already hot in LA.

I’m still going to the farmer’s market every Sunday. I’ve been buying too much produce. I bring bags of arugula and snap peas to the neighbors across the way, who return the favor by sneak-texting “Oops, special delivery” and leaving pints of ice cream outside our gate. (Angelenos, take note: Magpies is open for pickup.)

I’m cutting my own bangs, with, I’d say, C+ results.

I wrote a pilot script I’m pretty happy with.

I did a thousand-piece Salvador Dalí puzzle, mostly without looking at the box.

Shot this skunk vs. gopher video in our side yard.

The up-the-stairs neighbors’ cat, Vinnie, sometimes stops by to visit. I keep trying to explain that I’d really like to pet him but I can’t. A tiny self-isolation heartbreak. R was down with a stomach thing two weeks ago. No cough, no fever, but he was exhausted. Could’ve been food poisoning? Could’ve been Covid? So we’re being extra vigilant.

I’m not going on as many walks as would feel good. Not doing much yoga. Doing a so-so job of staying off my phone. 

I’m finally reading How to Do Nothing.

*****
 
This month in movies: Annie Silverstein’s feature debut, Bull, explores an unlikely friendship between an aging black cowboy and a 14-year-old white girl going through some shit. Shot in small-town Texas, in and around the community that inspired the story, it’s really so beautifully done. Annie manages to capture a kind of inspired chaos, brushing away her own footprints of research and prep and careful work with actors (both professional and non). If you didn’t know better, you’d think you were watching a doc. R and I sat in stunned silence as the credits rolled, listening to the sound of the crickets.

This month on HBO (Europe): Beforeigners is a six-part Norwegian series about time-travel refugees that mysteriously start popping up in Oslo. If this premise makes you think, “meh...” press on! I was dubious, too, but the show hooked me in the first two minutes. The female protagonist is a former warrior “of Norse descent” (the term “Viking” is not PC in this world), and the first “beforeigner” to graduate from the police academy. She’s a token hire, who finds she must battle the bureaucracy and sexism and racism of the police department as she brings her ancient skills to bear in a murder investigation. It’s dark and funny and it’s really getting at something. Several things, maybe.

This month on PBS: We’ve been watching one episode of A Chef’s Life nearly every night with dinner. I’m learning more than I ever wanted/needed to know about Southern cooking, but also just basics about cooking, period.

This month in tacos: We splurged and put in a big order with BS Taqueria (the taco joint offshoot of Broken Spanish), which Ray Garcia reopened temporarily, offering taco kits for pre-order and pickup on Tuesdays only. We got tacos for four: asada, carnitas, eggplant, and chorizo + papas (potato), plus a side of mushrooms + garlic, extra tortillas, a dozen tamales, and an order of the “rice and beans,” comprised of toasted wild rice, garbanzos, butter beans, cotija, and fresno chiles. This last was the breakout star. When I was assembling our first round of tacos—we ate tacos for three days, you guys—I mistook the rice and beans for crispy potatoes, and put them on the chorizo taco, which was an inspired accident. That day the chorizo was my favorite. On day two, when I sprinkled crispy rice and beans on the carnitas, I was like, “Man, maybe these are my favorite?” I think you get the drift. The drift is, the tacos are excellent, especially the meaty ones, you should def order if Ray gives you another chance. And be sure get the rice and beans!!! Get three portions of the rice and beans. After hunting down photos of the chorizo + papas taco, I’m convinced they neglected to pack the potatoes in our order, but I can’t even be mad. Oh because, also, I almost forgot, they threw in a bag of blue corn chips—made fresh from their own tortillas—that were maybe the best tortilla chips I’ve ever had.

Was that overkill? Slowly losing my mind over here.

xoxo,
Laramie

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