The Weekend Reset: Cars, Fantasy, and Pie

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.

 

MAKE: “Pumpkin” Pie

With Thanksgiving coming up in less than a week, now is a great time to get ahead on the Turkey Day baking. And while I do love a warm slice of apple pie served with vanilla ice cream, if forced to choose, I’ve always been a pumpkin pie man. Or I was, until last year, when I discovered Stella Parks’ recipe for “pumpkin” pie — a recipe that has no pumpkin in it at all. Instead, she uses roasted butternut squash, and homemade sweetened condensed milk. Sacrilege, you say? Maybe. But never has sacrilege tasted so good. Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash. 

 

WATCH: The Wheel of Time

Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time is one of the most lauded and loved fantasy series ever written, full of rich worldbuilding and incredible character work. It’s taken a long time, but finally, Amazon Prime’s TV adaptation of these classic novels launches today — and it looks fantastic. Of course, there are already the expected comparisons to Game of Thrones — but while GOT could be brutally grim, The Wheel of Time is much more optimistic in tone. The first three episodes are streaming now on Amazon Prime.

 

PLAY: Forza Horizon 5

I’m really bad at racing games. Every year I think: this will be the year I beat my brother and cousins in Mario Kart at our annual holiday tournament. And every year I am wrong. So by all accounts, Forza Horizon should not be for me. And yet I love this game. With nine different difficulty levels accommodating even the most wildly incompetent virtual racecar drivers (aka: me), and featuring graphics and gameplay so good you can almost feel the wind whipping past your face as you drive through the vast desert and lush jungle of Mexico, this is not just the best racing game to come out this year, it’s one of the best games of 2021, period. Out now on PC, Xbox, and Xbox Gamepass.

 

LISTEN: Red (Taylor’s Version)

I must confess: I’m a latecomer to the Swiftverse. Of course, it’s impossible to exist in contemporary society without knowing the hits. But the albums, the deep cuts? I hadn’t really gone there. Yet thanks to 2020’s masterful folklore and evermore, I started dipping my toes into her catalog, and loving what I found. This rerecording of Red, perhaps Swift’s most lauded album, is wonderous, full of pop melody and indelible Swiftian storytelling. It takes what was already a classic and deepens it, providing new shades through bonus material and slight tweaks to the mix. If you liked her 2020 albums, well worth a listen.

 

SIT: By a fire…

…with a book. Or blanket. Or maybe a warm beverage? Thanksgiving week, in my mind, officially marks the start of hygge season, that time of year full of quiet evenings of cozying up on the couch while a pot of stew or beans simmers on the stove. A great read in hand. A board game on the table. This weekend, try turning off the devices, and having an analog night in. You’ll be surprised at how relaxing it can be. Photo by St©phane Juban on Unsplash.