Heart Eyes, Vol. 25: KCRW, The Theology of The Good Place, and Mexican Red Lentil Stew
Happy Friday! And maybe more importantly, happy Opening Ceremonies! I have to say, last week's Super Bowl really just reminded me that the true bounty is yet to come: I love the Olympics, particularly the winter ones. (I don't ski or skate or do anything that involves frozen water and gravity, really, but I do enjoy sports where people go fast and wipe out dramatically. Am I terrible?) I hope you'll join me for two weeks of not sleeping, careful spoiler avoidance, and suddenly caring deeply about sports and people I currently know nothing about. In the meantime, here are some other things you might enjoy:
What To Listen To: Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW
There's a part of me, the optimistic part, that hopes never to stop acquiring new music. Music is amazing! People's brains, and their endless capacity for putting sounds together, are incredible! Plus, I have a theory that many of us get stuck on the music of our teens or twenties and never really move on, which seems kind of sad. Do I want the Shins to be the peak of my musical taste? (I mean, yes. But also no.)
The rest of me—and also anyone who's ever been to my house—realizes that my inner optimist is ridiculous. This particular ship sailed long ago, right around the time my good home radio station got bad, Josh Schwartz stopped spoon-feeding me new songs through his TV shows, and I failed to make the leap to paid streaming services. It's fine; I was never much into Top 40 anyway, and I could (and probably will) happily spend a lifetime with my mid-2000s jangly-guitar power pop, my close-harmonizing ladies of Americana, and the Hamilton cast recording.
There is one exception here, truly the only thing that keeps me from losing touch with new music altogether. That exception is KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. KCRW, the NPR station out of Santa Monica, broadcasts a mix of NPR content and their own proprietary shows, including music shows; Morning Becomes Eclectic airs and streams every weekday from nine to noon, and it's just what it sounds like: a mix of music styles, new and old, songs I know and songs I don't. Sometimes they have bands on to play live; I usually don't know them, but then immediately hear about them again somewhere hip. The people who run the show know more about music than I would honestly even care to, and I'm so happy to let them take care of my casual musical education—even if I don't love every single set they've ever played (that's the "eclectic" part), I've found lots of much-loved music through them, almost all of which I would definitely not have heard otherwise. I listen at work (it's surprisingly focus-inducing), I listen while I cook, I listen anytime I want to hear music I didn't choose in 2007. If you're looking for some new music, or just something cool to listen to, you might like Morning Becomes Eclectic.
I stream Morning Becomes Eclectic online, either live (between 9 and noon on weekdays) or archived on the MBE site; I also sometimes listen to Eclectic 24, their 24-hour music channel.
What To Read: Laura Turner on the Theology of The Good Place
The second season of The Good Place ended last week—but you probably know that. This is the first show in a long time that everyone I know seems to be watching and obsessing over; it's in the air (and on Twitter and on Facebook and in church and on every podcast) right now, and all the better! If you've finished the season—and only if you've finished the season, or don't blame me for your inevitable spoiling—you'll want to read this piece from Laura Turner on the complex theology and cultural position of the show. It's both fascinating—I personally have tried and mostly failed to think some of these things through, and she does a beautiful job of putting them all in one place—and a delightful opportunity to think more deeply about the structure of the show and some of my favorite moments from it. It made me feel very happy, and also like I might go back and watch the entire series over again. Like right now.
(The Good Place airs on NBC, and if you're not already watching, this long break between seasons is a great time to catch up. The first season is streaming on Netflix, and the second will join it eventually, though you can watch it now on the NBC app with a cable login. It is weird and hilarious and thoughtful and great.)
Also, you'll want to see this: Which Parks and Rec characters would be admitted to the Good Place?
What To Cook: Mexican Red Lentil Stew
I'm at T minus ten days for my upcoming kitchen remodel, and with the dawning realization that every single kitchen item and ingredient I own will need to go somewhere else in my apartment has come a purpose-filled pantry cleanout...by way of lunch. I had a whole pound of soba noodles in there! I'd been holding out on myself! Another quality find: a little over two cups of red lentils, the little pinky-orange ones that fall apart as they cook. I love red lentils, and I knew what I had to do: clear my menu for a giant pot of the more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts Budget Bytes Mexican Red Lentil Stew.
We haven't talked much about Budget Bytes here, but it's an amazing resource for mostly simple, mostly healthy, mostly inexpensive recipes. This particular recipe may not sound like much, but it's one of my all-time favorites: smoky from the cumin and fire-roasted tomatoes, tart from the lime juice, and spicy from the many shakes of hot sauce. I like it with bread for dipping or a hardboiled egg for extra protein (or both), and last week I ate eight full servings of it without a single regret. I would probably make more, if I weren't so busy eating a pound of soba noodles. If you rummage around in your cabinets and also find some forgotten lentils, maybe you also need some spicy soup.