Welcome to 2023!

Was your new year's eve as exciting as mine? I watched Sam Ryder on BBC1, tucked in with an electric blanket and some crisps.

In this week's 20th Issue, we have a film and TV series review, an attempt at a new pork recipe and a lovely picture of fish and chips!

Film

If you've not yet seen it, I'm sure you will have heard of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Made available to stream on Netflix on December 23rd, the sequel to Knives Out was streamed by an estimated 35 million households in its first three days. This murder mystery film stars Daniel Craig, reprising his role as master detective Benoit Blanc as he once again attempts to solve a case with more layers than an... onion?

The story begins with four friends each being sent a puzzle box to solve, ultimately revealing an invitation from Miles Bron (played by Edward Norton), the billionaire co-founder of the technology company Alpha, who has decided to host a murder mystery game at his private island in Greece. Detective Blanc also receives an invitation and joins the group to take part in the game.

It's certainly the sort of film I'm pleased is being made. It's good fun, has a great cast, doesn't take itself too seriously, plenty of silly cameos, shot in a beautiful location and most importantly feels original. Having said that, the plot is relatively simple, at least compared to the original Knives Out tale; an hour into the film and we've seen the story play out and spend the remaining half filling in the blanks through a series of flashbacks. I don't really mind, but the pay off wasn't rewarding enough to make this a must-see.

Rating: 7/10

Dead to Me is a dark comedy television series that premiered on Netflix in 2019. The show follows the tumultuous friendship between two women, Jen (played by Christina Applegate) and Judy (played by Linda Cardellini), who meet at a grief support group. Jen is a sharp-witted, cynical real estate agent dealing with the recent loss of her husband in a hit-and-run accident, while Judy is a free-spirited, eccentric young woman with a mysterious past. The two women bond over their shared grief, but twist after turn make this ostensibly straightforward friendship, anything but.

The show is very watchable, with a good balance of lighthearted moments to break up the harrowing trauma the two leads experience. I say going through, but as the story unfolds they really do bring it on themselves. And yes, I realise if you haven't seen the show that sounds like I'm one of these awful victim-blamers. However without wanting to give too much away, the characters quickly become tangled up on the wrong side of the law, but then go on to put themselves in increasingly compromising situations as they become involved (including romantically!) with the families of their victims and the officers investigating the crimes. Any budding criminals reading this might want to consider watching the series to get tips on what NOT to do.

OK Adam.

Breathe.

I need to remember this a dark comedy and not a documentary.

The performances from Applegate and Cardellini are fantastic and although the plot is convoluted, full of coincidence and frankly completely unbelievable, the emotionally resonant storylines and relationships got to me. There's a real 'women supporting other women' vibe throughout and it was refreshing to see these two with their completely contrasting personalities and approaches to life become so wholly caring of one another.

I binge watched all three seasons over a week and a half, although by the end I was more curious to know how it played out, rather than being hooked.

Rating: 6.5/10

Food

Anyone who knows me well is familiar with my love of a yellow-sticker supermarket bargain, and what must have been months ago I bought some diced pork shoulder. This isn't something I usually cook with and so it went straight into the freezer whilst I figured out what to do with it. Fast forward to last week when I'm working my way through the 'forgotten frozens' and I found the package, took it out to defrost, resolving that this would force me to find a new recipe to try the following day.

After a little browsing I discovered a recipe on Kitchen Sanctuary for a creamy slow cooked pork casserole where I had nearly all the ingredients already at home. I followed the recipe pretty closely although didn't have mushrooms or bacon in at the time so just doubled down on the carrots and skipped the bacon lardons sprinkled on top. I also only had a sweet cider in but went with it all the same.

Only the next day when I was looking back for the recipe did I realise it's also in video format if you want to watch on the YooToob:

I absolutely loved this dish and will definitely be cooking it again. There's really very little to do and after 15 minutes of initial chopping and frying, it's just slow cooked in the oven. Two hours later you have a delicious creamy casserole where the meat and veg has softened to almost fall apart whilst simultaneously taking on all the flavour of the cider and stock. 500g of pork shoulder gave me 4-5 portions, of which I ate most with rice and one with potatoes.

My favourite local chippy is Banbury Fish Bar and it's always a solid lunch choice if we're out in the town centre, hungry and want some comfort food. Last week two of my friends came to visit between Christmas and New Year and after the menu in the pub looked a little questionable, coupled with one of the friends returning from an extended time abroad (without regular access to fish and chips!) we decided to have dinner at the fish bar.

I mean, it's fish and chips and none of you need me to tell you what that's like. Writing this blog has got me into the habit of taking photos of my food and without any other exciting post-Christmas meals out, I'm afraid this is it.

The batter on this particular piece of fish was a little thicker and more overcooked than usual, but I do love chip shop chips and these didn't disappoint.

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If you have any feedback, please get in touch and I hope to see you again for next week’s newsletter.

Thanks for reading and have a great week.

Adam