Category: News

I watched Pig on VOD this week (you can read Vince Mancini’s review here) and found it to be a decadent feast for the senses. It was also a damn good (though very dark) food movie. I’m no Vince, but if you want my opinion, I feel like you should definitely watch it yourself this weekend wherever you stream your movies.

It might have caused me to miss some narrative threads, but while watching this film about a man’s obsession with a truffle hog all I could think was, “Wow, I really want to eat truffles. Like… right now.” Thankfully, it’s black truffle season in Europe and I can get some prime bulbs from Italy pretty easily. (There are some perks to living in Germany, to be sure.)

My craving brought me back to one of my favorite pasta recipes of all time: Tagliatelle al Tartufo. The primarily Roman dish is one I always, always eat multiple times whenever I’m in Rome (assuming I’m there during the right season, that is). That late summer harvest of black truffles feels light and earthy while still reminding you that a colder, darker fall is not far away.

For my recipe, I’m sticking close to a recipe I learned during a pasta-making course in Bologna. It’s fresh, buttery, and full of layered black truffle goodness. It’s also fast. You make this in the time it takes to cook the fresh pasta, so around five minutes flat.

In short, it’s the perfect dish to make before you sit down to stream Pig this weekend.

Tagliatelle al Tartufo

Ingredients:

• 1-lb. fresh tagliatelle
• 2 black truffles
• 2-oz. unsalted, high-quality butter
• 1-oz. Grana Padano cheese plus more for serving
• Sea Salt
• Black Pepper

This is enough to feed four easily, or six if you’re doing courses. I’m using a fresh black truffle from Northern Italy. It’s not terribly expensive but it’s not cheap either.

The rest is dead simple: Great Italian butter, fresh pasta, 20-month-old Grana Padano cheese (you can sub good parm if needed), and salt and freshly cracked black pepper. That’s really it.

What You’ll Need:

• Large pasta pot
• Sautee pan
• Fine grater
• Truffle shaver
• Tongs

Method:

• Bring a large pasta pot of water to a boil with a large punch of salt.
• Bring the sautee pan up to heat.
• Add the pasta to the water and use the tongs to stir. Cook for two to three minutes.
• In the meantime, melt the butter in the pan until it just starts to bubble.
• Grate one, small black truffle directly into the butter. Kill the heat and toss the truffles in the butter. Add a large pinch of salt.
• Use the tongs to bring the pasta from the water directly into the pan.
• Add the cheese and start to toss the pasta in the butter to create a silky sauce. Add in small spoonfuls of pasta water to keep the sauce light and creamy.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Roll the pasta into a waiting bowl.
• Hit the pasta with a little more cheese and pepper.
• Shave 1/2 of a black truffle over the pasta.
• Serve immediately.

Bottom Line:

The beauty of this dish is how light it is. The butter and pasta water create this thin yet just-creamy-enough pasta sauce that’s a delicious delivery mechanism for the butter-warmed truffle. The cheese is just salty enough to help add a little savoriness to the otherwise very earthy and soft truffle flavors.

The pasta has a nice bite (it is fresh after all). But the truffles are what make this dish truly pop. There’s this light touch of soft moss next to an almost sweet earthiness that really marries well to the butter. The deep umami goes beyond just “fungi” and digs into a warm forest floor where you can taste the pine needles and moss in every breath you take.

The best part of this, though, is how easy it is to make. Once your water is boiling, it’s five minutes from pan to plate. It’s also adaptable. I’ve had versions in Naples that included anchovy. Some summery versions outside of Rome have roasted artichoke hearts. Versions further north will really amp up the butter and cheese base to the point of a proper cream sauce. I had a version in South Tirol once that had a medley of forest foraged mushrooms in the sauce along with the truffle. Which was amazing, obviously.

So, please take this recipe as a jumping-off point for your own al Tartufo journey. Becasue, let’s face it, truffles in pasta are one of life’s great pleasures and certainly one that you should have in your pasta arsenal. Especially if you’re watching Pig tonight.

Simple champagne cocktails definitely deserve to be part of your late-summer vibe. One of the best representations of this genre of light, warm-weather drinks is Champagne iced tea. It’s super easy to make, delicious, and will be your next go-to for outdoor parties, brunches, or just lazy weekends.

There are two things you need for this. One is a demi-sec or sweeter sparkling wine. Veuve Cliquot created their Rich line specifically for making these sorts of drinks where you add in a spice, botanical, citrus, fruit or, in this case, tea to make the juice pop in the glass. The second thing you really need is a good, loose-leaf Earl Grey tea. Opening a teabag won’t work here. Spend a little more and get good tea for this recipe.

Beyond that, you just need some ice, a tea steeper, and a big ol’ wine glass. It’s that easy — so let’s dive in!

Champagne Iced Tea

Ingredients:

• 4-oz. Veuve Cliquot Rich
• 1 tbsp. loose leaf Earl Grey Tea
• Ice

You really need to specifically use Veuve Cliquot Rich for this. That expression, from the famed French Maison, is specifically designed to be poured over ice with a single extra ingredient as an accompaniment. In fact, this recipe is straight from Veuve’s own recommendations for this bottle.

The wine in the bottle is a bottle of classic champagne with a base of 45 percent Pinot Noir, 40 percent Meunier, and 15 percent Chardonnay juice, with a small dose of sugar to drive the taste away from dry towards sweet. You can grab a bottle here for $70.

As for Earl Grey, I like to use Windsor-Castle Earl Grey. It’s a very floral yet creamy and bitter black tea. It really works with the creaminess of the Veuve while pairing nicely with the citrus, fruits, and woodier edges.

What You’ll Need:

• Large champagne bulb, Spanish gin-n-tonic glass, or Burgundy wine glass
• Fine mesh tea strainer

Method:

• Fill the glass about 2/3 with ice.
• Add the loose leaf tea to the strainer.
• Pour the ice-cold champagne over the tea in two pours. Pour about two ounces of champagne and let it run through fully before pouring the rest through. A few small tea leaves will make it through the mesh strainer, that’s okay.
• Serve.

Bottom Line:

This is almost unbelievably refreshing. There’s a beautiful sweetness and very fragrant tea vibe that just pops with the fizz, yeast, and fruit of the champers.

Since this sparkling wine is built to be turned into an icy summer sipper, it really shines with the ice cubes and a single additional flavor profile. What’s really interesting is that the tea remains floral only on the nose while bringing a serious black tea bitterness on the palate with a smooth creaminess and touch of vanilla, grapefruit, and summer fields of wildflowers in full bloom.

I really can’t understate how crushable this drink is. Just try it while the sun is still out.

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As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

This article originally appeared on 09.18.15

What happens to airplanes after they’re no longer fit to roam the skies?

Decommissioned planes are often stripped and sold for parts, with the remains finding a new home in what is sometimes referred to as an “airplane boneyard” or “graveyard.” Around the world, these graveyards exist; they’re made up of large, empty lots and tons of scrap metal.

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An abandoned 747 rests in a Bangkok lot. Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images.

Photojournalist Taylor Weidman recently stopped by a graveyard in Bangkok, Thailand.

In the city’s Ramkhamhaeng neighborhood sits a lot peppered with parts from jets and commercial liners. What’s most interesting, however, aren’t the planes, but rather the people who live among the wreckage.

This man exits through the back of one of the plane shells. Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images.

This is the interior of what was a Boeing 747. Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images.

Life in the graveyard is about as bare-bones as it gets.

The three families living in the lot seem to get by with little more than the shelter created by the hull of a 747, mats, and makeshift curtains. For money, several collect recycling, and as the International Business Times reports, “they occasionally supplement their income by charging tourists and photographers 100 Baht (about £1.80 or $2.77) to look around their homes.”

This woman sits underneath a photo of Thailand’s king. Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images.

Living on just a few dollars a day, the planes contain comfort that wouldn’t be found elsewhere. Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images.

Weidman’s photos shine a light on the luxuries we so often take for granted in life; namely, the ability to travel.

Seeing vehicles once used to jet people around the world for business, pleasure, and everything in between used in a much more fundamental way — as the basic shelters needed for survival — is its own form of forced perspective. It also highlights the creativity of those living in the lot; being able to transform airplanes into places to call home is no small feat.

The three families have some small comforts, like sheets, clothes, and the occasional small appliance. Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images.

This man rests in one of the partitioned rooms, listening to the radio. Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images.

Most of all, Weidman’s photos tell a story about the importance of empathy.

The families in the Ramkhamhaeng lot are human, just like you and me. Like all of us, they’re doing their best to survive.

A lot resident collects recycling outside one of the residences. Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images.

This young boy plays outside one of the planes, hiding from his grandmother. Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images.

This stunning collection of photos brings just a brief glimpse of what it’s like to step into their shoes; something we should all strive to do more often.

Women inspect watches for possible resale value. Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images.

This man is bringing buckets of water back to his family on a hot day. Photo by Taylor Weidman/Getty Images.

Single malt Scotch whisky is a two-sided coin. On one side are the value bottles that don’t taste like value bottles at all. I’m talking ten to twelve-year-old whiskies from some of the most well-regarded distilleries in Scotland. The other side is comprised of the big money bottles. While these long-aged single malts can start around $200, they can fetch thousands of dollars (especially on the aftermarket).

But where is the true cut-off in terms of flavor and value? Are $200 bottles really that much better than, say, a very solid $60 bottle? I’m not so sure. I believe that the differences in flavor and aroma are often so slight that the average (even not-so-average) whisky drinker can’t completely discern the differences.

To put this little theory to the test, I’m once again embarking on a blind taste test. This time around, I took four $200 (and beyond) bottles and paired them with four bottles in the $60 range.

Part 1: The Taste

Since there’s a big price difference, there should be a huge difference in the rankings, right? Not necessarily, as this is based solely on my senses of smell and taste. Just because one single malt is over $200 and another is $55 doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll be able to discern the quality difference. We’re not talking bottom-shelf swill and $1,000 bottles here.

Our lineup is as follows:

$200 bottles

• The Dalmore 18
• The Balvenie Portwood 21
• Glendronach Allardice 18
• Glenmorangie Signet

$60 bottles

• Craigellachie 13
• Aberlour 12
• Glenfiddich 14
• Glen Scotia Double Cask

Let the blind tasting commence!

Taste 1:

Tasting Notes:

The nose is a mixture of spice and sweetness with candied orange peels, toffee, cinnamon, and vanilla beans taking center stage. Sipping this single malt reveals hints of raisins, citrus zest, berries, and sweet sherry — with just a hint of spicy pepper at the finish.

From my notes: “What an insanely luscious opener.”

Taste 2:

Tasting Notes:

When I nosed this whisky, I found aromas of vanilla beans, candied apples, a teensy bit of stone fruit, and just a hint of smoke. The palate is crazy complex. I noticed dried cherries, raisins, sweet caramel-like malts, brown sugar, and a gentle smoky finish.

This isn’t smoky like an Islay malt. The smoke is more like a compliment to the other flavors.

Taste 3:

Tasting Notes:

First, I was struck by the nose of caramel apples, candied orange peels, and a nice hit of wood char. The palate is loaded with flavors of caramelized sugar, sweet cinnamon, wood char, and slight spices. It all ends with a nice sweet, spicy finish.

The only problem with this whisky is that it’s a little sweeter and woody than I’d prefer a single malt to be.

Taste 4:

Tasting Notes:

One sniff and I was totally aware that this was a sherry aged (at least sherry rested) whisky. The fruity, sherry flavor almost knocked me to the ground. There’s also butterscotch and vanilla in there, attempting to sneak through. Sipping it was more of the same. On top of the prevalent sherry, there were also hints of dried fruits, toffee, and ripe berries.

Overall, a little sweet for my liking.

Taste 5:

Tasting Notes:

The nose is littered with scents like salted caramel, candied apples, vanilla beans, and dried fruits. On the palate, I found hints of chocolate fudge, dried cherries, fresh berries, and more vanilla. The finish is sweet, mellow, and memorable.

Taste 6:

Tasting Notes:

There’s a surprising amount of chocolate aroma on the nose. This is followed by dried fruits, toffee, and subtle spices. Sipping this whisky, I found notes of candied orange peel, chocolate fudge, brown sugar, maple syrup, and a gentle, nutty sweetness throughout.

Taste 7:

Tasting Notes:

Complex aromas of dried cherries, raisins, vanilla, and buttercream frosting are found on the nose. When I took the first sip, I found a symphony of maple candy, butterscotch, brown butter, dried fruits, and a pleasant hit of sweetness and wood char at the very end.

Taste 8:

Tasting Notes:

The nose was a bit abrasive for my liking. There was a hint of smoked bacon, a bit of caramel, and dried fruits. The palate was nutty and was highlighted with caramel apple flavors, but that was about it. The finish was hot, spicy, and a little much for my palate.

Part 2: The Ranking

I love partaking in blind taste tests, especially when they involve single malt whisky. The flavor profiles, depending on the regions and type of aging, can be so vastly different. There are bound to be exciting lower-priced bottles that find their way higher up in the rankings than their prices dictate.

Are you as excited as me? Keep reading to see how they stacked up.

8) Craigellachie 13 (Taste 8)

ABV: 40%
Average Price: $60

The Story:

For years, Craigellachie was simply used as one of the whiskies in the Dewar’s blend. First released as a single malt in 2014, it’s referred to as the “bad boy of Speyside” because of its bold, aggressive, rich, slightly smoky flavor.

Bottom Line:

This was a fairly aggressive whisky, to say the least. It was spicier than I’m used to but not completely unpleasant. Just not as mellow as I’d prefer.

7) GlenDronach Allardice 18 (Taste 4)

ABV: 46%
Average Price: $190

The Story:

Named for GlenDronach’s founder James Allardice, this 18-year-old whisky was aged totally in Oloroso sherry casks. It’s known for its fruity, sweet, sherry-centric, mellow, almost dessert-like flavor.

Bottom Line:

There’s “mellow and smooth with a nice sweetness” and then there’s cloyingly sweet borderline dessert whisky. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great whisky. I’m just only going to drink it paired with sticky toffee pudding or some chocolate.

6) Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Barrel Reserve (Taste 3)

ABV: 43%
Average Price: $59.99

The Story:

This single malt was created as a gateway between Scotch and bourbon drinkers. It’s a little bit of Scotland and a little bit of Kentucky in one tasty little package. This 14-year-old single malt is aged exclusively in ex-bourbon barrels before being finished in new, charred American oak barrels from a cooperage in Kentucky.

Bottom Line:

While many single malts are known for their flavors of vanilla, citrus, and toffee, this whisky relies a lot more on the charred wood flavor usually found in an American bourbon.

That char was… fine. But I didn’t love it.

5) Aberlour 12 Double Cask (Taste 7)

ABV: 40%
Average Price: $63

The Story:

There’s a reason that bartenders are in love with Aberlour 12 Double Cask. It’s because the folks at Aberlour turned the flavor up to eleven by maturing this whisky in both oak barrels as well as sherry casks. The result is a well-rounded, slightly sweet, rich whisky.

Bottom Line:

This is a really well-balanced whisky. There’s a nice fruity sweetness throughout that makes me think there was some sherry finishing, but also a nice rich, caramel-malty flavor.

4) The Balvenie 21 PortWood Finish (Taste 2)

ABV: 47.6%
Average Price: $240

The Story:

This is the flagship whisky in The Balvenie’s Port Wood series. It was aged for 21 years in oak barrels before finishing in 30-year-old port pipes. It’s well-known for its mix of sweetness, richness, and slight smoky flavor.

Bottom Line:

This is the kind of whisky I’d want to drink after a heavy meal. It ticks all of my whisky boxes. It’s sweet, rich, and subtly smoky.

3) Glenmorangie Signet (Taste 6)

ABV: 46%
Average Price: $230

The Story:

This award-winning single malt was crafted from a blend of two very different whiskies. The first was made using single estate Cadboll malt and the second was made using malted chocolate barely. It was aged in American oak barrels. While there’s no age statement, it’s believed that the whiskies included are some of Glenmorangie’s rarest and oldest.

Bottom Line:

This is a truly unique whisky. It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly makes it so special. Perhaps it’s the chocolate, caramel, and citrus elements. Or perhaps it’s the fact that it’s so incredibly smooth and sippable.

2) Glen Scotia Double Cask (Taste 5)

ABV: 46%
Average Price: $56

The Story:

At one point, Campbeltown was home to more than thirty distilleries. There are a lot fewer these days with the likes of Springbank and Glen Scotia leading the way. This memorable single malt from the latter was aged in both first-fill bourbon casks as well as Pedro Ximénez sherry butts.

Bottom Line:

The is a very well-balanced single malt whisky. There’s a great caramel backbone that is complemented by a nice fruitiness. A great after-hours sipper and, obviously, an incredible value buy.

1) The Dalmore 18 (Taste 1)

ABV: 43%
Average Price: $240

The Story:

Few Scotch brands conjure luxury more than The Dalmore. Even the bottle looks fancier than its counterparts. Its 18-year-old expression is first matured for fourteen years in American oak casks before being transferred to Matusalem sherry butts for three years prior to spending one more year in another sherry cask.

Bottom Line:

While I enjoyed every dram on this list (to some degree). None were as memorable and decadent as this one. It’s clear that this whisky spent a great deal of time in sherry casks because it’s sweet, fruity, and amazingly mellow. But it’s also obvious due to the vanilla and chocolate flavors that it didn’t spend its whole life in sherry. Overall, an amazing pour.

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As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

The United States will go for its fourth consecutive men’s basketball gold medal late on Friday evening. Despite a rocky start — both to their exhibition slate in the lead-up to the Olympics and the tournament in Tokyo — Team USA managed to get to the gold medal game after taking down Australia earlier this week.

Their tallest test yet, however, stands between themselves and a gold. While France is not the highest-ranked team that the Americans have played in this tournament, they have had the United States’ number in recent years. The French knocked out the Americans in the quarterfinals of the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2019 and handed them a loss in their first group play game at the Tokyo Olympics. Between Rudy Gobert’s size, Nic Batum’s general Nic Batum-ness, a battle-tested backcourt with Evan Fournier and Nando de Colo, and a bench with NBA-caliber talent, France both matches up well against the United States and are not afraid of the three-time defending champions.

But from Team USA’s perspective, plenty has changed since these two teams met at the start of the Games. The Americans have gotten better and better as the tournament has gone on, knocking off longtime international foe Spain and Australia in the quarterfinals and semifinals. If the United States’ collection of offensive maestros are able to knock down shots, it’s hard to see the French getting a gold medal. But of course, they’ve managed to prevent Team USA from doing this before, so they have warranted optimism in their ability to get the job done.

TIP TIME: Friday, August 6, 10:30 p.m. ET
STREAM: NBCOlympics.com
TV CHANNEL: NBC

What does Ted Cruz like to do in his free time, besides flee the country during a historic storm and butcher the voices of The Simpsons? Say the word “chutzpah,” apparently.

The Daily Show compiled a supercut of the Texas senator massacring the Yiddish word for arrogance. “You know, there’s a Yiddish word, ‘chutzpah,’ and Joe Biden is embodying chutzpah,” Cruz says in one clip, practically firing spit all over the camera, while in another, recorded while speaking at the National Religious Broadcasters Annual Convention, he exclaims, “There is more than a little chutzpah in that.” What is he referring to? I’m not sure. And honestly, I’m OK with that. Anyway, the supercut ends with a clip from the season six episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, “The Bar Mitzvah,” where Larry David repeatedly tells someone to “shut the f*ck up.” The Daily Show was directing the message at Cruz, who felt compelled to respond on Twitter.

“@Trevornoah is a putz,” he tweeted, continuing their feud. It’s only a matter of time before Seth Rogen weighs in, but until then, everyone else was happy to fill in. “Wow Ted u really got him great comeback,” one reply to the senator’s tweet reads, but my favorite response is, “Gey strashe di gens, Rafael.”

It’s a good insult in any language.

(Via Raw Story)

Discovering your passion can be life changing. For Chef Benoit Angulo, his passion was unlocked while growing up in Venezuela when he learned to make arepas. Arepas are like a cross between a tortilla, a pancake, and sandwich bread and are very common in northern South America. Despite his young age, Benoit quickly became the designated expert for family and friends when it came to making the dish.

“It’s just what I grew up with. Arepas are a big part of Venezuelan culture,” Benoit says. “There is definitely a comfort food aspect to it.”

Benoit can track his love for cooking from those early moments. Although his passion ultimately led him away from his home country to establish a culinary career in the US, his cooking remains rooted in the traditions learned in the kitchens of friends and family, even as he innovates new flavors and combinations.

Over the past 10 years, Benoit and his business partner and wife Rachel Angulo have turned comfort food into a full-blown business, operating two successful food trucks in New Orleans and Chicago by the name of La Cocinita, which translates to “The Little Kitchen” in Spanish. In those rolling kitchens, Benoit has expertly combined his formal culinary skills with the traditional practices he picked up as a curious kid in Caracas, introducing the two cities to the world of arepas, patacones, tacos, and quesadillas Venezuelan-style.

“A lot of people come and just want the tacos they know and love,” Rachel tells me. “It’s the people that try something new, or try the arepas, that get hooked and want to come back.”

Starting a food truck, with its freedom to experiment and fewer barriers to entry, feels like an obvious play for a young chef trying to make a name for himself in the modern American culinary scene. However, Benoit makes it clear that the roots of their choice of business model run deeper.

“Growing up in Caracas, there are different little alleys and corners in every neighborhood designated as ‘the hunger street’ — ‘calle de hambre.’ Essentially, it’s a place where you go for a quick lunch in-between shifts or a place to go after a night out with your friends and a few drinks,” he says. “I felt like New Orleans was kind of lacking that aspect.”

The idea of bringing ‘hunger street’ a little closer to New Orleans came to Benoit after a late night of drinks on the town with Rachel.

“A big part of ‘calle del hambre’ is what they call ‘areperas,’ which are essentially arepa joints that have every arepa you can imagine, baked, fried, made over coals,” Benoit says. “My spiel when I pitched to Rachel when we were hungry after a few drinks was simply, ‘Do you want to open up a food truck?’ I was just thinking about wanting an arepa before bed, and that’s how it came about.”

But as simple a story as that sounds, Benoit and Rachel were immediately hit with roadblocks when they set out to turn La Cocinita into a reality. During the process of outfitting and modifying their food truck, they learned that there were no available permits for a new food truck in New Orleans and wouldn’t be for years. Couple that with some archaic rules about where and when food trucks could and couldn’t operate and Benoit and Rachel were in for a test of their own fighting spirit. They didn’t let that challenge stop them from realizing their dream, though. Instead, they worked with the local government to reform outdated and limiting laws — giving La Cocinita and other businesses in the community a chance to flourish.

Fast forward 10 years later and La Cocinita is now a staple of the New Orleans and Chicago street food scene, meeting the demands of foodies while expanding on the idea of a classic arepa.

“It’s not a classic Venezuelan Arepera. It’s something that’s influenced by our market. A classic arepa is arepa, shredded cheese, and butter… but being here, we made the decision to stuff our ingredients inside. It’s the same way I learned how to make them back home. Here in Chicago, we have actual Venezuelan moms making your empanadas and arepas, we have a Venezuelan heavy kitchen so that brings a lot of traditional influence, but with a modern twist,” says Benoit.

Like countless other restaurants and food trucks, Benoit and Rachel faced an existential threat to their business in March 2020 when COVID-19 hit. With her background in social work and a passion for helping others just as strong as Benoit’s passion for cooking, Rachel made sure that La Cocinita continued to serve the community. Waiting for the storm to pass just wasn’t an option.

“We had a team that wanted to work and food in the kitchen so it was kind of a no-brainer to start collecting donations for meals that we were discounting and serving to frontline workers,” says Rachel, who had previously worked in ICUs and quickly thought about the risk of burnout for doctors and nurses.

“We figured comfort food would bring a ray of sunshine to their days.”

The pandemic gave Benoit and Rachel a lot of time to think about what the evolution of their “little kitchen” looks like. Unsurprisingly Benoit is still exploring ways to push his culinary style to meet the demands of tomorrow. While the pandemic was hard on business, it helped Benoit and Rachel develop a future-focused game plan.

“We definitely have some ideas that were probably influenced by the pandemic,” Benoit says. “We’ve been talking about plant-based local sourcing type stuff, changing our menu in a way where we are a little more sustainable and more locally driven. One of those big things about the pandemic was revealing supply chain issues. That’s one of the many ideas we have for what La Cocinita will look like, but that’s the one I think about the most — how we’ll change and how we can have a more positive impact.”

Whatever La Cocinita’s future looks like, Rachel and Benoit’s efforts show that it’ll be one forged from passion and a fighting spirit.

Hello, sun seekers, and welcome back to NBA Summer Vacation Watch! It’s been too long. While this brief and beautiful respite is always the high-point of the NBA cycle, we’ve never needed SVW more than right now, as we find ourselves in such an uncertain, gloom and doom time.

And if you are a new beach freak, then allow me to welcome you to your ultimate all-inclusive! NBA SVW is concerned, above all else, with delivering the summer vacation destinations of some of your favorite and tallest people in the world, in the very short window they have to literally and figuratively dip their toes in tropical waters, walk on the beach, go fishing a lot, and drink the wine they make and the tequila they brand-partner with in (relative) abandon. This is a positive space, and vacations are, as always, rated completely arbitrarily but to the highest degree of discernment based on my years of expertise on this simultaneous carefree and stringently serious beat.

So please, new and returning guests, crack a cold bev of your choice and sit back, relax, and scroll through these vacations.

Serge Ibaka

Starting strong here because there is no other way to do it. Here we have Serge Ibaka — aka Ma Fuzzy Man, aka Mr. Avec Classe, aka Original Thirst Trap Man — doing what we love to see in summer by staying hydrated while staying partially submerged in a pool. Can you multi-task any better than this when the weather gets hot and your only uniform requirement for the day becomes a bucket hat and, I want to say, two tight pairs of shorts? No, you can’t. Weaker men have tried and failed horribly.

Rating: May Serge use that new Ballmer money to install a water feature in his pool, amen.

Deandre Ayton

Western Conference champion Deandre Ayton returned home to the Bahamas just in time for his birthday and a beautiful parade in his honor. He didn’t stay suuuper long, because as we all know the relentless grind comes for everything, even summer vacation, but please just take in how wide a smile he had while he was delivered the homecoming of a champ. That’s the kind of thing you keep with you long after you’ve come home and unpacked, like sand you later find in your suitcase.

Rating: Let’s get some IG developers on here so we can ban people from commenting things like “Bro if you develop a shot from the 3 you will be so cold” on a person’s vacation photos.

Buddy Hield

Previous readers of this esteemed column will know that Buddy Hield is a regular as much as he has vacation in his blood, not just being from the Bahamas but also because pictures of him “working out” on the beach have made it into past SVWs, because he somehow makes maximum exertion look easy and carefree. But here we have a rare glimpse into Hield at play on vacation in Turks and Caicos, paddle boarding around some ancient shipwrecks, casually climbing up and jumping off those wrecks into the sea, then reclining on said paddle board.

Rating: All in a day’s (off) work.

Kyle Lowry

Dude, I can’t tell you how happy I am for Kyle Lowry, who rode around for a while this summer on the front of a boat in the Strait of Gibraltar, after chilling in Spain, before signing a contract to match the circumference of his great rear assets that will take him to a place he can golf and ride on boats to his heart’s content, while remaining a pest on an All-NBA Pest team. But this is about summer, so, KLOE, even the whims of the sea.

Rating: Summer forever. Kyle Lowry forever.

Myles Turner

Turner took us on a rugged turn (ha ha) away from the beach, briefly, for a dudes camping trip up to Flathead Lake in Missoula, Montana. Hard to say what he enjoyed most: the vistas, the rugged backcountry, wearing matching camo coveralls with his guys, or doing handstands out in the lake — but the best part is you don’t have to decide!

Rating: Dudes, getting back to nature, rock.

Pascal Siakam

Spicy P is a big “I’m spending my summer reclining on a boat” guy, and really there’s no better person for the task. Once you’ve got the location (boat) and activity (reclining) planned out, the rest of vacation becomes a breeze, toggling between matching your probably custom bucket hat to your shorts and figuring out the best places to spend the day leaning back, sideways, and sort of flopping casually over. Maybe you’re asking, “But did he leave the marina?”

Rating: And I’m here to ask you, does it matter?

Ben Simmons

A lot has been swirling around Simmons this offseason, like whether or not he’ll be back with the Sixers and whether he or the Sixers want that, but not much has been swirling around him in terms of what matters, like where is he and is he on vacation? Well, this could very well be his beautiful home, but a swirling summer sunset that’s a cross between cotton candy and a resort drink melting down at the side of the pool at least gives me hope that the man is taking some time to just gently sigh and be like, “This is alright.” The kind of swirling we’re here for.

Rating: Here’s hoping a grill is being fired up just out of frame.

Paul Millsap

Let it not be said that here at SVW we do not not recognize some summers, or parts of some summers, must be spent catering to the whims of children to ensure that they too have a memorable one in that all too brief window before back-to-school. Millsap appears to have taken his kids to golf camp, actually led them there, and they appear to be pretty excited about it. Millsap is sort of a maverick in that you never know what his downtime will be spent perfecting (magic, somersaults, etc.), and it’s nice to see that runs in the family.

Rating: But still, I would love to see some new tricks from Millsap, the only respectable magician on earth.

CJ McCollum

McCollum hiked up a mountain with two of his strength and performance coaches so you know this was a hike with a lot of “friendly pointers.” Jk, maybe it was chill, but I’m not sure there’s ever been a chill hike? At some point you get hungry, thirsty, tired, too hot, but when CJ got to the top to enjoy the view, he looks almost zen, so perhaps bringing your medical staff with you is the way to go.

Rating: Is this the new glamping?

Bogdan Bogdanovic

Bogdan also did a boat cruise and chill day, his was on Piva Lake, a gorgeous looking reservoir in Montenegro. While this capture might make it look like he was deadly serious about boating, he also, at one point, dipped his hand down over the side of the boat in that classic move where you feel totally in the moment while an easy listening ballad plays indoor head. For Bogdanovic it was likely something Serbian, but I’ve no doubt it bangs.

Rating: Turquoise waters are off to a great start this summer.

Jordan Clarkson

It’s Jordan Clarkson time … to lie on the floor of an art gallery and contemplate life, or maybe, because it’s summer, just think about where to go to eat something nice after this.

Rating: But what IS summer? And how does one even watch it?

Tyrese Maxey

In the cutest offseason crossover thus far, Tyrese Maxey threw out the first pitch at a Phillies game and because I don’t respect baseball, his pitching form seems perfect, if not avant garde to me.

Rating: The only time baseball has ever been good, for a second.

Mo Bamba

Mo rules because he’s giving us exactly what we all want and he’s not being coy about it — a big damn dump of summer vacation photos to revel in. We got parrots, we got fishing AND a self-depreciative joke, we got a little monkey, we have Mo’s dog dressed like a cute granny and with a cup stuck on its face, we have Mo’s agent getting fake mad that Mo is having such a good time being OOO, we have Mo on a boat, in the studio, Mo doing jokes, we have it all. A meaningful gift when this most precious and carefree time is at a premium.

Rating: Bamba’s Summer Dumps could be a SVW training camp.

Maxi Kleber

Kleber went to Amsterdam and did three things everyone who visits Amsterdam should do: eat fries, ride a bicycle, look at the canals. People pretend basic is a bad thing, but let’s face it, basic on vacation is just sort of like “having a regular day somewhere else,” which, whatever, is pretty nice.

Rating: Fries before reply guys telling you to add a three point shot, right Maxi?

Boban Marjanović

I really can’t wait until more American players decide to finally take Boban, Jokic, Bogdanovic, and more up on their probably long-extended offers to come spend a couple weeks in Serbia for the summer, where everyone is always chilling in the sun, on a pristine and less-traveled lake, eating some nice food, hanging out in the country, or being treated very nicely by extended family and friends.

Rating: Let’s make this a global vacation league, too.

Dewayne Dedmon

Dedmon went to Niagara Falls (American side) with his family and had a nice time.

Rating: That’s it! Close your eyes and I promise you can feel the mist on your face off the strength and wholesomeness of this photo alone.

Reggie Bullock

Reggie looked entirely at ease on the back of a boat that seems to just be RIPPING, and that’s why they pay him the big and meaningful bucks. Cool composure no matter the velocity.

Rating: He doesn’t even have a sporty string for his sunglasses!

The Olympics!

The U.S. men’s basketball team has appeared to have gotten itself together after a shaky start, and maybe it’s due to JaVale McGee finally figuring out what kind of fruit he’s being served, or this powerful Olympian vegan diet of Rice Krispies and avocado toast. Other Olympic highlights included a really excited Rudy Gobert in the tunnel with other French athletes, waiting to burst forth in the opening ceremonies, and Patty Mills’ cute set-up in his room.

Paul Pierce’s Place

If you’re new, you’re probably wondering why there’s a section dedicated to Paul Pierce, and if you’re a return reader, you’re also probably still wondering that. Well, I won’t try to convince you, only continue to share without shame the summer exploits of a legend, that really look the same as his year-round activities. That’s the Truth and I hope you can handle it.

The premise of John And The Hole (out now in theaters and on VOD) sounded deliciously disturbing — a cross between a Saw movie and Home Alone — with a 13-year-old living on his own after deciding to hold his family captive in a hole that he finds in the woods. I expected madness, I expected violence, and to come away disturbed. And when I saw the kid (Charlie Shotwell) looking like Baby Buffalo Bill while staring down at his family in the eponymous hole, it seemed like the film was going to meet those expectations. It did not.

In the film, an official Cannes 2020 selection, Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Ehle, and Taissa Farmiga do good work with what they’re given as John’s offending parents and older sibling, but the nature of their offense is intentionally hazy. Mom and Dad are seemingly stuck in a cycle of exhaustion and routine, not inattentive but also not the kind to push too deeply when their son is clearly dazed at the dinner table. Big Sis is living her own life while still pulling focus. And then there’s John, navigating the wilderness (literally and figuratively) with a lot of questions about what comes next for him with adulthood and the kind of under the surface sociopathic tendencies that make it clear why the family doesn’t have any pets.

When John goes off to play with his new top-of-the-line drone and discovers the eponymous hole, his first thought is to talk it over with the fam, but they condescend. His second thought is to drug them and put them in the hole — an act of unlikely physical strength that isn’t explained. This is a pattern, with Oscar-winner Nicolás Giacobone (co-writer of Birdman) writing himself out of rough spots with no real concern for the reality of the situation. Like when cops come to the door and then seemingly shrug their shoulders and give up on a report of a teenager living alone and acting suspiciously. The tension feels manufactured and John seems to be untouchable, which contributes to everything feeling childproofed.

Speaking of manufactured, there’s an out-of-left-field side story here involving an entirely different set of characters that briefly pop up in a couple of places to make you question what you’re seeing with John and his family. It’s worthless art film bedazzlement that’s supposed to impress but it just feels like something they forgot to cut. I’m all for leaving threads untied, but they should contribute something to the finished product besides confusion.

John And The Hole, which is helmed by visual artist and first-time director Pascual Sisto, is at its best when its sights and sounds are pushed to the forefront. Some of the story shortfalls are covered by moody, dark visuals that represent the forest at night, a synth-laden score, the muted colors of John’s antiseptic upper-class life, and jarring sound effects (a tennis ball machine, a leaf blower) that shatter the mundanity. Some.

One place presented with less visual flex than you would think happens to be the most important one: the hole. Rather than maximize the claustrophobia of the situation, each of the three characters seems to have just enough space to avoid being literally piled on top of each other with many scenes happening during daylight. Listen, I don’t want to spend a weekend there. They adequately sell it as a frightening place to be, but it just doesn’t feel as extreme, uncomfortable, and nightmarish as it could have. As a result, while the stir-craziness, anger, and degradation of the situation are explored lightly, it’s not enough to make you feel anything beyond baseline empathy for these characters as they bicker and blame when they should be ceaselessly screaming their heads off and viciously turning on each other. Or maybe that’s just me reflecting my own experience with loved ones during a pandemic lockdown that has felt, at times, like being trapped in a bunker. Har har, ugh.

I get it! The point is to make this hit under the breastplate by making John seem like a normal, quiet kid whose family doesn’t seem like a cabal of abusive monsters that would obviously inspire his malicious and troubling actions. That means it could happen to anyone (within close proximity to ground holes), which would be more off-putting if you were led to feel a tug of relatability or recognition with this family.

Even John skips away without you feeling much for him — he doesn’t intimidate or fascinate. Like everything else here, he just is. Shotwell isn’t to blame, he’s a clearly talented young actor. It’s just that, like everyone else, he isn’t given enough of a meal. Shouldn’t a kid in this situation show a more diverse palette of emotions? Some joy when literally joy-riding? A splurge beyond a bigger TV with access to his parents’ near million dollar bank account? The strict adherence to schedule and John’s limited imagination when it comes to playing an adult make this feel like a slow burn whose fire goes out in the middle. Which means the dish is undercooked. And then everyone feels sick. Metaphors.

I know I’m breaking a rule reviewing the movie that this isn’t as much as I’m reviewing the one that it is, but it’s hard to not get mad at this for wasting a pretty cool mishmash of ideas to instead present as a not-so-thrilling thriller and subtle social satire without much to clearly say. And when it gets to its end, it’s hard to not be mad for a perceived waste of time.

Mike White’s White Lotus is a show that takes a different route in its effort to call out the evils of opulence and the dissociative head traps that the rich can fall into, but it was on my mind when I watched this. To be honest, the first few episodes White Lotus bored the hell out of me, but when you realize in the middle where it’s going and what it’s trying to say about the subtly monstrous acts that selfishness and a lack of self-awareness can spark (and how it’s its own epidemic), its existence is justified and more fully enjoyed.

In a totally different way, Ilana Glazer and John Lee’s False Positive is another social satire with something to say; something it’s screaming throughout before adding a prodigious, disturbing, surprising exclamation point at the end. Each of those distinct projects makes it a point to make you remember them, at least. But John And The Hole just doesn’t, preferring to go up to the edge of being thought of as provocative before settling for the quickly fading legacy of something stylized but ultimately hollow.

‘John And The Hole’ is out in theaters and on VOD