It’s Friday. Looking for something to switch up your weekend, or to give you an excuse to relax a little? That’s what the Weekend Reset is for. Each week we’ll pull together five things to get your weekend started. Could be something to read or watch, something to eat or listen to, or even something to do. Enjoy the weekend fellas.
Read: Can’t Even
In Can’t Even, Anne Peterson expands upon her widely-shared BuzzFeed article, How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation. Peterson digs deep into the psychology of millennials, and how the world millennials were raised in, the societal values millennials grew up with, and the expectations of prior generations have pushed millennials into perpetual debt and burnout. A fascinating, sociological look at a generational crisis, there is a LOT here I, as a millennial, related to.
MAKE: Risotto
Risotto is delicious — and yet intimidating. For whatever reason, it’s something I love ordering at restaurants, but I’ve always been hesitant to make it, afraid I’d somehow mess it up. At least — I used to be afraid of making it, until I tried this mushroom risotto recipe from Serious Eats. The result was one of the best things I’ve ever made — and thanks to my Instant Pot, it required very little work. (For those of you not yet on the Instant Pot bandwagon, there are directions to adapt it to stovetop cooking, too.) Make sure to use a variety of fresh, interesting mushrooms — boring white mushrooms ain’t gonna cut it for this guy. And per the directions, I highly recommend adding in the dried porcinis, if you can find them. The result will be one of the most satisfying meals you’ve ever cooked. Photo by Stefan Schauberger on Unsplash.
LISTEN: DMX – Exodus
Tragically, we lost DMX, one of the hip hop world’s greats, back in April. Exodus, his final, postumous release and first album in almost a decade, features a host of incredible guests, including Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, and Bono. X had been hard at work on the album right up until his untimely death, and so there’s an unfinished quality to the music; it’s a unique, live-feeling tribute to the man, his art, and his talent.
WATCH: Sweet Tooth
The comedy Sweet Tooth was described by one critic as “Cormac McCarthy meets Bambi,” and it’s a pretty apt description: set in a world in which a pandemic has turned most newborns into half-animal/half-human hybrids, this is a story that somehow manages to bring a warmth and a tenderness to the post-apocalyptic genre. Sweet Tooth is the perfect show for this moment: even in its bleakness, it’s relentlessly optimistic. Out today on Netflix.
PLAY: Lawn Games
Thanks to vaccination and warmer weather, many of us are able to emerge from our mancaves and reenter polite society. One nice, safe way of spending a nice weekend afternoon with friends? Getting together for some outdoor lawn games. Bocce is the gold standard, Croquet is a close second, but recently Kubb, a combination of bowling and horseshoes, has soared in popularity. This would be a great weekend to mix up some good cocktails, invite a few friends over, and enjoy a few hours of tossing stuff and smacking stuff and knocking stuff over. Photo by Braedon McLeod on Unsplash.
About the author: Michael Robin is an LA-based television writer and tutoring company co-Founder. When he’s not working away on his latest pilot script, you can find him scuba diving, hosting Shabbat dinners, or goofing off with his goldendoodle, Biggie Lebowski.