Hi friends!

How are you?? I am doing great, because yesterday, I got to be on set for the filming of the second “season” of Confession Hole, a project I have absolutely adored working on. I wish I could tell you the name of the comedy legend who was there today and the absolutely insane, filthy confession they shared, but you’re just going to have to wait and see. Suffice it to say, it was very hard for all of us not in front of the camera to keep from laughing and ruining the shot.

I’m also great because of Bad Bunny. I tried to watch as little as I could of the Super Bowl game this year while still seeing all of the Bad Bunny halftime show, and I think I succeeded! And guess what, I LOVED it!!! My Spanish is very limited (I’m working on it on Duolingo, okay??), but I think joy is a universal language. And besides, not everything has to be catered toward white people, for fuck’s sake! Benito said it was going to be a party, and he threw one hell of a party! An iconic taco place in my neighborhood, Villa’s Tacos, was there, and I just felt so proud and happy! I love California! Maybe I even love America, too, when everyone is included.

For me, it was a bright spot of hope for what the future could be in a time when the future feels so very dark and doomed. We HAVE to be able to imagine a better world, and I saw a bit of that on Sunday night.

I only saw a couple Super Bowl ads, and I wasn’t impressed. It’s depressing to me how much gambling feels like it’s getting pushed down our throats lately. People are struggling to afford groceries, and these companies want you to piss your money away betting on random shit?

This is actually a topic I’ve changed my mind on fairly recently. In 2022, there was a proposition on the ballot to legalize sports betting in California, and I was in the small minority of people (17.72%) who voted in favor of it. I figured, I’m not going to be doing it, but people have been betting on sports forever, and it would bring in money to the state that was earmarked as resources for unhoused people. That felt like a net positive. But I’ve noticed in the past year how much betting on anything and everything has been getting shoved in our faces, and it grosses me out. I watched the Golden Globes a few weeks ago, and they were sponsored by some kind of betting platform that was giving periodic updates throughout the show on the odds of different bets. I’m not trying to be a nun, but gambling can be a serious addiction for some people! At least, when it was relegated to casinos and horse tracks, it wasn’t as accessible as it is now, on everyone’s phone.

I think what bothers me about it is that it feels like these corporations are preying on people’s desperation and taking even more money from people who don’t really have it. It’s just… it’s never enough money for the ultra wealthy, is it? I’ll never understand it. I’m just happy to make enough money that I can put all my bills on auto-pay! When that finally happened, it was like, hoo-wee, I am living large! These rich old fucks do truly evil things to extract more and more money from the poor, knowing they’re not even going to live long enough to spend it. What is the point?? Maybe money itself is an addiction, I don’t know.

Sorry, rant over. Of course, when it comes to gambling, people can do whatever they want. Hell, I’m in an Oscars pool. I just don’t know that there should be so much advertising for gambling platforms. Maybe it should be like cigarettes and tobacco, you know? At some point, we all agreed that advertising those things should be limited. Maybe gambling should be next.

Alright, enough from the temperance committee! Let’s get into some things:

- A few weeks ago, Ross and I went to a UCLA gymnastics meet here in L.A. and got to see Jordan Chiles do a perfect 10 (!!) floor routine. We went because we were invited by a friend of mine who is a huge gymnastics fan who flew in from NYC. I love when people fly places to do things like that, don’t you? Go see a concert or go to an event? So fabulous! Viva la vida! Anyway, it was super fun, and until my friend invited us, I honestly didn’t even realize that you could do that? Just go casually watch Olympic gymnasts do their thing? So maybe, go do that, if you’re able to!

- Speaking of the Olympics… I have sadly watched very little of them this year, something I seriously need to correct! I think it’s just harder to get into the Olympics when you don’t have cable and you can’t just throw them on. I have Peacock, but to go and select a specific sport or highlight I want to watch feels too pre-determined, or something. When I was a kid, you would just turn on the TV and watch whatever random sport was on, and you liked it! (OK grandma let’s get you to bed.)

Of course, I have seen the story regarding the Norwegian biathlete who won the bronze and then confessed to cheating on his girlfriend and begged her to take him back. I hate it!! This fucking loser (okay I know he’s technically a winner but he sucks lol) not only couldn’t keep his dick in his pants for a mere THREE MONTHS, but then he had to add to his ex’s humiliation by announcing his infidelity to the whole world! On top of that, you know that now tons of strangers are going to be pressuring this poor woman to take him back, because he cried on TV and seems really sorry or whatever. Bullshit. I’m fucking furious on her behalf!! It’s giving me Robin Thicke Paula vibes. Very performative, manipulative groveling. Also, he’s a biathlete, and should this man really have access to a gun? Seems pretty unstable, idk.

- Cooking. Sometimes I see a new recipe that is so intriguing, I just have to make it. Recently, that was the spicy carrot rigatoni from Hailee Catalano’s new cookbook that Bon Appetit posted (you can also find the recipe on her site, in case you hit a BA paywall). It promised a glossy carrot-infused sauce inspired by vodka sauce, and how could I not?

Well, I’m not quite sure where I went wrong, but my sauce didn’t turn out smooth and glossy. It was tasty, but it was also clear that the base for the sauce was carrot puree. Maybe I shouldn’t have used the food processor, or should have used it longer? Maybe I should have peeled the carrots? Maybe I didn’t cook the carrots long enough? I don’t know, but I would be willing to try again!

I also made grilled cheese and tomato soup recently. I bought the ingredients to make it because it was supposed to rain, but then it didn’t, so I just made it on a random warm and sunny day instead. That’s L.A. for ya, baby!! For my grilled cheeses, I use sourdough, a mix of hand-shredded sharp yellow cheddar and gruyere, and a fuckton of butter. For the tomato soup, I loosely followed Ina Garten’s recipe. My secret ingredient for killer tomato soup is to add a couple tablespoons of tomato paste right after you finish the aromatics so you get that good, concentrated tomato flavor.

Finally, on Super Bowl Sunday, I made this buffalo chicken chili in my slow cooker. It was delicious! Almost like a creamy, buffalo version of tortilla soup? I really liked the poblanos in it. The only problem is that that recipe made an enormous quantity of soup, and Ross has been away on a business trip all week, so it’s just me here eating it. I’ve hardly made a dent, to be honest. I feel for those of you who live alone and like to cook. Sometimes it’s tricky to scale down a recipe, or you just don’t think of it until afterwards, when your fridge is overflowing with leftovers.

- The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, season 15 (Bravo, Peacock). Listen, I watch every season of this show, but it’s been in a slump for a whiiiile. I think they need to seriously refresh the cast. Right now, I’m mostly watching for Jennifer Tilly and Rachel Zoe, and Dorit’s rage. I also like Boz, but I don’t understand why she’s putting her life at risk to have another kid at age 49 to keep a man??? Like, please correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s what it very much seems like is happening.

And Kyle, woof. I’ve always said that Kyle’s biggest fault is that she’s too loyal to the wrong people. I really wish that someone would sit her down and say, “Do you understand that you are never going to hang out with PK again? But you are on a show every week with Dorit.” The way she constantly defends this man who, in my opinion, has always been an asshole, is just so gross. It also makes me sad whenever Midlife Crisis Mau is on the show, with his huge white veneers and newfound DJ hobby. Like, OF COURSE he’s opening an office in Saudi Arabia. 

Oh my god, and can we talk about Amanda Frances? You know it’s bad when the other Housewives are saying you seem self-involved. I mean, my god. And her desire to not be confronted at a dinner party is laughable. Lady, do you know what show you’re on? I’m actually really curious about her book and her “business,” which seems very scammy. How can you fill a whole book writing about money without getting into any practical advice? Honestly, it’s kind of impressive to me.

I’m surprised at how much I’ve been enjoying Rachel Zoe on this show. I never watched her previous reality shows, but of course I was familiar with her work with celebrities back in her heyday, and I remember the rumors about her putting her clients on Adderall to become ultra skinny. I guess I kind of expected her to be a snob, but she actually seems really cool and accomplished and relatively grounded. It is insane that at lunch, she ordered a salad with no dressing, though. Look. People should eat whatever they want, but have you ever eaten a dry salad before? It’s terrible! You need a unifying element to meld all the components together!

- Summer House, season 10 (Bravo, Peacock). Watching Kyle and Amanda’s marriage fall apart makes me sad, even though it was probably inevitable. It always bums me out on these shows when you see a couple get to the point where neither one can say something to the other person without them taking it the wrong way. It felt like they were doing better last year, no? Not saying it’s 100% one-sided, because who knows, but Kyle certainly made his choices!! I’m not even going to age-shame him for deciding to be a DJ in his 40s, hell, Meredith Marks is having the time of her life in her 50s! But her kids are grown, and I doubt she’s passing out at fans’ apartments and staying out until 6:30 AM. Kyle’s wife has been begging him to settle down for years because that’s what she needs in order for them to have kids, and instead of doing that, he completely ramped up his party lifestyle. Like Carl said, “Why are you doing a gig at Penn State on a Thursday?” (Brutal.)

It’s kind of a perfect case study of why you shouldn’t marry people expecting them to change, right? I firmly believe that there’s no one right way to live, but I also kind of think… if you want to travel 49 weeks out of the year, and stay out until four and six A.M. partying multiple nights a week, including weeknights… maybe marriage and kids aren’t for you?? Idk. I’m not saying all married people need to spend Sundays at church and be in bed by nine every night, but if you want these other people in your life (a committed partner, children), I think you need to make a little room for them. You know?

As for the rest of the cast, I miss Paige terribly, I’m concerned about West and Ciara getting back together, and you know I am loving this skateboarder who has anxiety!! Because I also have anxiety, and I wish I could skateboard! It also feels like there’s a new lightness to Carl this season that’s promising, although I’m a little nervous that his whole personality is going to be running now. That happens, you know.

- Mala Class. Last weekend, Ross and I had dinner at this lovely szechuan restaurant in our neighborhood that we’ve been meaning to check out since they opened in 2024. We got the mushroom fries, the szechuan salad, the dan dan noodles, and the garlic sauce shrimp. Everything was delicious! It actually was less spicy than I expected. We could have used a little more heat, actually, but one thing I’ve learned the hard way is that you don’t go to an Asian restaurant you’ve never been to before and ask them to make their food spicier. Ross still loves to tell the story of the time I did that at a Thai place and could barely eat my meal. I was very humbled, suffice it to say. Anyway, check out Mala Class! It’s small, and they don’t take reservations, so I would recommend going early, or getting takeout, as a lot of people seemed to do.

Alright folks, that’s it from me!

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Until next time—I’m going to rewatch Bad Bunny’s halftime show again. 🥰

Love,

Liz

XOXO