The Aeronauts (2019)

First off, this movie is VERY tense, or at least it was for me.  So do not watchit late in the evening, because your heart will be racing all the way through to the end.
The film opens with Amelia (Felicity Jones), who is a noted balloon pilot, and James (Eddie Redmayne), a scientist desperate to prove his theories about the weather, take off on their mid-19th century vertical adventure in front of a large crowd to much fanfare.  In flashbacks,  we learn more about their tenuous relationship beyond pilot and scientist: how she lost her husband in a ballooning accident and how James had been laughed at by his colleagues for his outlandish ideas. As time goes on, James decides to prove his findings and hires a still-grieving Amelia to lead the journey—a generous offer she’s hesitant to accept because she struggles with PTSD and flashbacks related to when she lost her spouse. Back in the present ascent of their balloon, Amelia and James face many more dangers and setbacks as they shatter the height record and put their lives at risk for science.   Perfect viewing for a pandemic.

Night Boat to Tangiers by Kevin Barry

This book was long listed for the Booker Prize and it certainly fits that bill.  In fact it has a lot of the characteristics of books that make it to the short list as well.  The author said in an interview that the novel was inspired by his many trips to Spain during the coldest months of the year. He was fascinated by the ferry port city of Algeciras, where life is gritty.   One trip took the author across the Strait of Gibraltar to Tangier. He stayed at the Hotel El Muniria, where William S. Burroughs famously wrote “Naked Lunch".  That fact should be kept in mind when reading this book, as there is the drug and drink fueled memories of love, sex, and infidelity that run through that book.
Charlie Redmond and Maurice Hearne, the book's main characters, are Cork drug dealers, former big-time suppliers and users. Now into their 50s, their black money is squandered; they have done and could still do terrible things.  They are in fact hoping that life is not finished with them, but worry that they are being left behind.  While they wait for Dilly, Charlie's daughter, and while they wait they converse about their long relationship with each other.  By the end you understand perfectly why Dilly is not going to come back to Charlie and why.  Odd in it's cadence but well written.

Oatmeal Maple Bread

The premise of Bread Toast Crumbs is that you bake the loaves in two small round pyrex bowls.
So each loaf is a managable size, even for a household of one.

• 1 C (114g) rolled oats
• 1/4 C (80g) Maple Syrup
• 1 C (225g) Boiling Water
• 1 C (225g) Room Temperature Water
• 3 1/4 C (288g) AP flour
• 2 tsp Kosher Salt
• 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• Softened Butter

• In a small bowl, combine the rolled oats, boiling water and maple syrup. Let stand for 10 minutes to hydrate the oats. Add room temperature water and stir to combine. 
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, and instant yeast. Add the oat mixture. Using a rubber spatula and eventually your hands, mix and knead until the liquid is absorbed and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or a plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until the dough has double in bulk. (see tip in notes if your kitchen is cool) 
• Set oven rack in the center of oven and preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Grease 2 one quart oven proof bowls with butter- be generous here. Using two forks, deflate the dough by releasing it from the sides of the bowl and pulling it towards the center. Rotate the bowl quarter turns as you deflate, turning the mass into a rough ball. It doesn't have to be perfect. 
• Using your two forks, and working from the center out, separate the dough into two equal pieces. use the forks to lift each half of dough into a prepared bowl. If the dough is too sticky, wet your hands with water and scoop each piece up and transfer each half to a bowl. Do not cover the bowls unless the bowls are in a drafty area. Otherwise set the bowls in a warm space (see tip below if your kitchen is cool) while the oven is pre-heating for 10-20 minutes, until the top of the dough just crowns the rims of the bowls. Sprits the dough with a few sprays water and sprinkle just a little bit of oats on the top of each loaf (about 1 tsp each). 
• Transfer the bowls to the oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until golden all around. Remove the bowls from the oven and turn the loaves out onto cooling racks. If the loaves look pale, return them to their bowls and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Turn the bread out to cool for 15 minutes before cutting.

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

Jumanji 3, like it's predecessors,  combines fantasy action and adventure with some comedy, a touch of romance, and real-life lessons about courage, friendship, and empathy—all with the help of some low-key race and gender fluidity. 
At the end of the last film, the four high school students who has gotten magically pulled into an old-school video game console and found themselves turned into archetypal adventurers, were so happy to get home that they smashed the game. But apparently the movie made enough money that a sequel was desirable, and so the game became operational again, and this time the now-college-age kids are joined by a couple of geriatric friends.
Since they beat a level of the game in the last movie, they are on the next level (get it), which is harder, but then again they have more experience.  It is surprisingly enjoyable to watch, although to be clear, I have an unexplained weakness for Dwayne Johnson, so there is that.

Sheltering in Place

 My spouse and are both health care workers and so for us it has been a rhythm of work then home then back to work.  He is an ICU physician so he will remain at work until he is sick while there is a chance that that I will transition to home only. 
So we feel in the heart of it.  At work there are furious preparations amidst a nation wide PPE and mask shortage.  This is unconscionable and the poor federal response to this will likely reverberate for months if not years.  There is nothing to say other than Republicans have blood on their hands already and we are at the very front end of this battle.  While they are worried about bailing out corporations they blanch at the cost of ventilators.  Any non-billionaire who thinks they give one scintilla about the worker needs their head examined.  And I am a professional.

The upside is that there are a lot of silver linings to being at home.  Yes, I have become an unrecognizable germaphobe.  When was the last time I chloroxed down my home and work space?  Washed my hands 30 times a day?  Never would be the answer.  But I have also returned to cooking in a big way.  I did not realize that I had strayed so far from making all my own food, but I had, and the food in my house is much better when I participate in making it.  Yes, we should explore safe ways to keep our local restaurants that are offering pick up service, but for the first two weeks we have been making do with delivered groceries and our own devices.

The Best Banana Bread

This recipe, from Midwest Made, is at least one of the best.  This will be my go to recipe in the future.

• 1 3/4 cups (400g) mashed, very ripe bananas (I used 3 1/2 bananas)
• 3/4 cup plus 2 T (196g) firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (112g) vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup (75g) well-shaken buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1 T dark rum, optional (I omitted it)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups plus 2 T (272g) unbleached all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 3 T (38g) granulated sugar, for sprinkling

1. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 325 degrees, preferably on convection.
2. Spray a 9×5-inch with nonstick cooking spray and line it with parchment paper with a couple of inches of overhang on the long sides. Lightly coat the parchment with nonstick cooking spray.
3. In a large bowl, stir together the mashed bananas, brown sugar, oil, buttermilk, eggs, rum (if using), and vanilla.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and fold until just blended.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
7. Place the granulated sugar in a small bowl.
8. Using your fingertips, sprinkle water over the top of the sugar. Work the water into the sugar, pinching it together, until it begins to resemble snow. (It should barely hold together when it is pinched together.) To add additional water, sprinkle water over the top using the opposite (clean) hand.
9. Sprinkle the dampened sugar over the batter, aiming to get it clumped up together in spots.
10. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes in a standard loaf pan.
11. Let cool for 20 minutes in the pan, then use the parchment paper to lift the loaf out of the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

The Happy Prince (2018)

Let's just say that this in not aptly named.  The prince is not even remotely happy, at least as the end of his life unfolds.
This is the tale of Oscar Wilde, told not at his peak of influence, but rather at the nadir of his life.
In 1885 he wrote in a letter to his friend James Whistler, stating that to be great is to be misunderstood.  Wilde may or may not have known how tragically true those words would be a mere decade later. After his highly publicized trial in 1895, Wilde was convicted of "gross indecency" for his flamboyant affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, a fellow member of the elite, and sentenced to two years' hard labor.  He badly miscalculated how poorly the affair would be received by both the public at large and his boyfriend's father, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry.  I am sure there was a lot of material for another story underlying that, but in any case most of Wilde's friends deserted him. Upon his release in 1897, his health ruined, he went into exile in France and died three years later, nearly friendless and destitute. He was only 46 years old. A sad ending to a gifted writer's life.

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

I love this author.  The first book I read, Bel Canto, which garnered a lot of praise but I did not much like.  I worked beyond that, read The Magician's Assistant, and earlier work, and loved it.  The rest is history.
I loved this book.  It is a tale oft told, where the father remarries a younger woman, and unlike his first wife, who married him when he was poor, this woman is definitely attracted as much to his house and his money as to he himself.  She more or less shuns his children when he is alive, something he would have noticed if he wasn't so focused on staying away from wife number two.  In any case, his sudden death changes their lives.
The book loops around in classic Patchett fashion to close quite a few circles.  It has a perspective on love and loss, anger and forgiveness, family and connections, all of it believable and warm to behold.  It is not so much a tragedy as a family journey, with all the elements of what that entails.  Maybe my favorite of her books.

Japanesish Asian Tuna Noodle Salad

We are home all the time now.  Even though we are working, because in a pandemic healthcare workers do not stay home, but because we are doing absolutely nothing else, and everything is closed, we are cooking all of our food for the first time in quite a while.
This is an easy and delicious riff on a classic combination.  We did a quick in and out at our favorite Asian store, and they had plenty of rice and noodles, something the grocery down the block sorely lacked.  And, as per usual, it was practically empty.

• ¼ cup cut dried wakame seaweed
• 8 ounces dried udon noodles (or whatever noodles you have on hand)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons furikake or sesame seeds
• 10 to 12 ounces tuna in oil, drained
• 2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced

For the Dressing:

• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sweet miso

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high, and set the wakame in a small bowl. Once the water comes to a boil, ladle or pour enough over the wakame to cover it by 2 inches; let the wakame soak for 10 minutes. Transfer the wakame to a colander to drain and cool; set aside.
2. While the wakame soaks, cook the noodles according to the package instructions.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the dressing: In a measuring cup or bowl, whisk to combine the sesame oil, canola oil, rice wine vinegar, mirin, soy sauce and miso; set aside.
4. In a small skillet, lightly toast the sesame seeds, if using, over medium-low heat until fragrant; set aside.
5. Drain the cooked noodles in the colander, then transfer to a wide, shallow serving bowl. Add the wakame and about 3/4 of the dressing, and toss to coat. Divide the noodles among 4 bowls. Top each portion with tuna, drizzle with the remaining dressing, then sprinkle with the scallions and furikake or sesame seeds. Serve hot, cold or anywhere in between.

Zombieland 2: Double Tap (2019)

I have very mixed feelings about sequels in general.  Forzen 2 left me cold, but I adored Toy Story 4.  It made me want to go back and watch all the Toy Story ouevre, something that had not happened previously.  My spouse was eager to see this and since we are sheltering in place (more or less--we are both health care workers and so we have more of a work-home routine with groceries delivered in), this seemed like a light option.
I did not expect to like the first Zombieland movie.  I am not much into this sort of film in general, but I surprised myself by really enjoying it.  There was a balance between funny and gory, and it hit all the right notes for me.  It was a movie that sealed my love of Woody Harrison.
The sequel was the opposite.  The cast is larger, the carnage is gnarlier and the comedy is even more meta than before. But while individual moments and action sequences might be amusing, the endeavor as a whole feels like a tepid retread. Callbacks to running gags from the first “Zombieland” result in little more than sporadic chuckles, and the characters at the center of this new adventure haven’t developed in ways that are meaningful or compelling.  It was a rerun, not terrible, but covering no new ground, but leaving a lot more bodies.