The Silver Lining: Volume 16
Musings on living the good life: food, culture, art, and products designed to inspire. Top picks from me to you, every Thursday.
Wow — Week 16 — crazy to think we’ve been at it for 4 months straight now.
We’re so grateful for the community we’re starting to build with TSL. Special thanks to our early readers who have helped get the word out and keep coming back each week.
I hope you all continue to stay well and keep your spirits up. On to sweet 16!
Top Tracks
It’s a real treat to do the music research component of TSL each week. If you’re grooving to any particular Top Track, shoot me a note or DM. I love hearing what’s resonating.
First up this week is a delightful cut titled “Saudade Vem Correndo” from the 1963 Bossa Nova album Jazz Samba Encore!
Stan Getz and Luis Bonfá collaborated on this grooving album with standards from Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim as well as originals from Bonfá himself. The beautiful vocals you hear on this track come from Bonfá’s wife, Maria Toledo. I recommend checking out all 11 tracks on the album. Perfect for morning productivity + weekend breakfast prep over your first few cups of Joe.
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One of my favorite tracks ever is “At the River” from Groove Armada, the London based dance duo comprised of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay.
The track first came out back in 1997, and helped get them on the map. Over 20 years later they’re still at it — having released the dancey Get Out on the Dancefloor single just last month.
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This soulful “6’s to 9’s” track comes from Big Wild, a dance/electronic artist whose given name is Jackson Stell. It’s off his 2019 album Superdream, where he took the helm as primary lyricist, singer, and songwriter for the first time in his career.
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One final blast from the past — the Bee Gees “Nights On Broadway” from 1975:
The bass on this is hard to not fall in love with. Cleaning this house this weekend? Making cocktails Saturday evening? Find the perfect moment this week to blast this track on max volume to fully appreciate it.
One pop culture note — given the success of musical bio-pics like Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody last year, Bradley Cooper is in talks to star in the Bee Gees biopic as frontman Barry Gibb. The film will no doubt feature The Bee Gees’ 1977 record Saturday Night Fever, which is still the bestselling soundtrack album in history.
Artist Date
An unfortunate casualty of the COVID-19 crisis has been the cancelation of the world’s premiere film festivals. Celebrated festivals like Cannes and Berlin abroad, and Sundance and Tribeca here at home are all on pause.
Which made the announcement of the We Are One: A Global Film Festival so inspiring to see:
Check out the FAQ for the particulars:
We Are One: A Global Film Festival is a free 10-day online festival, exclusively on YouTube, born out of the idea that the film community can come together in times of crises - both in celebration of films and in support by providing much needed relief for COVID-19 efforts.
The 10-day online festival is from May 29 - June 7 at www.youtube.com/weareone. Each film or program will have a first screening at a scheduled time but don’t worry if you miss it! Many of the films will be available on VOD to watch at your leisure through the course of the festival.
Barefoot Contessa Bootcamp
The NY Times Cooking section is one of my trusted sources of recipe inspiration, and their game on social is equally on point. This week they highlighted recipes from 12 Restaurants America Loves, and a few caught my eye I’ll be trying this weekend:
First, the House Salad from Canlis in Seattle:
One of the things I miss about eating at restaurants, particularly the higher-end steakhouse varietal, is the starter salad before the main. There’s something very nostalgic about your server arriving with the salad, in a chilled bowl of course, asking if you’d like fresh ground pepper to accompany it.
This house salad caught my eye with its unique Middle Eastern twist — heaps of chopped mint and oregano are mixed in with the greens to accompany the caesar-forward dressing. Feel free to sub the bacon out for a veggie-friendly iteration.
For something sweet, the Cinnamon Crunch Banana Bread from Oakland’s Bakesale Betty:
This one is a blast from my past — we were spoiled rotten by this spot in Temescal when it opened back in 2005, a year before I stepped foot on campus at UC Berkeley. Fellow foodies would join me as we flocked down Telegraph Ave to pick up their delicious fried chicken sandwiches and baked goods for desert.
I’ve seen a huge uptick in Banana Bread baking in Quarantine, but never a take with cinnamon-sugar and honey topping for a caramelized take on the classic.
Be sure to browse through the remaining 10, which include Tagliatelle from Evan Funke’s wildly popular Felix in Venice and Takeout-Style Sesame Noodles from Hwa Yuan in Manhattan’s Chinatown.
I look forward to comparing notes with you on these in the coming days!
Table for 2
Burmese, Please!
Living in the Bay Area for nearly a decade helped to refine my palate while simultaneously exposing me the best ethnic food concentrated in one area. One particular cuisine that shines bright in the SF was Burmese, cooked by immigrant entrepreneurs from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). Eater SF explains:
Burmese immigrants made their way to America in two waves: first in the 1960s, after the military took over the government, then again in the late ’80s and early ’90s, after the national uprising in 1988. One of the places where these early immigrants settled and created communities was the Bay Area, which at one point was home to the largest Burmese population in America. As a result, the Bay also houses one of the highest concentrations of restaurants serving deeply delicious and complex Burmese cuisine.
Moving back to LA a few years ago, I noticed a bit of a void in the Burmese scene here at home. Enter Burmese Please, a hit vendor at Smorgasburg LA, who has since moved to a once-a-month takeout operation during lockdown.
Here’s the skinny: Follow them on social, and once they post their menu for that month, DM them to reserve your order. They’ll usually post the menu 5-6 days before the pickup date with all the logistical details.
I’m so ready for my Tea Leaf salad fix come June!
Social Action
I came across this article from the LA Times that helps answer a question I’ve been asking a lot lately: How to decide where to donate?
There are some helpful tips and tricks in here, including doing homework on target organizations to see what each actually does in the community. They advocate reading through a group’s annual report, which should include information on their impact and scope.
This week, we’re supporting We Are One’s charitable partner — the United Nations Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund:
The United Nations Foundation brings together the ideas, people, and resources the United Nations needs to drive global progress and tackle urgent problems.
The World Health Organization is leading and coordinating the global effort, supporting countries to prevent, detect, and respond to COVID-19. The COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund gives individuals, companies, and philanthropies the ability to directly support their efforts to combat the pandemic.
I hope you’ll consider joining me in donating the UNF or a cause close to your heart.
Social Starlette(s)
All I can say is wow — click through to check out this whole thread:
What number would you pick?
Meditative:
Let’s call her Strawberry Cheesecake:
And finally, wait for the feline….
That’s it for Volume 16. New issues of The Silver Lining drop weekly on Thursdays.
Comments, questions, tips?
Send a letter to the editor –– Scott Silver:
scott@thesilverlining.la / @thesilverlining.la