Welcome To Big Sigh!
This Week: Savory Pancakes, Movies That Never Were & A Heartfelt Crossword
Hi! Have you sighed lately?
I know I have. I’ve let out some of the biggest sighs of my life this past year. While there was far too much to sigh about, the expansion and retraction of my lungs reminded me how lucky I am to breathe and eat and write and make woefully uncoordinated TikToks. Which is why I birthed this newsletter to share words, recipes, puzzles, tunes and more each week. A cumulative exhalation of everything I inhaled the week before, curated for your browsing ease.
This Week: Savory Pancakes, Movies That Never Were & A Heartfelt Crossword
Welcome to the first ever edition of Big Sigh, a name that was trapped in the “Possible Band Names” note in my phone for a year and a half. It was top of the list. If I could extract a shred of musical talent from the depths of my muscle memory I would start a band just to name it Big Sigh. I imagine that when we made it big (we’d make it big), questions would arise about the originality of our name considering there’s already a band named Big Thief. I’ve thought nothing of what genre of music we’d play, how I’d wear my hair, or where we’d start our European tour but I have spent hours thinking up an answer to that question: What’s in a name? Well in Big Thiefs case, it’s the word thief so there you have it, they ripped us off, Big Sigh forever, rock on, see you tonight Berlin!
Thief brings me to my next point.
The Persistence of Vision
The Thief and The Cobbler is an animated film originally conceived by animation legend Richard Williams (of Who Framed Roger Rabbit fame) in 1964. It was based on a series of short stories by Idries Shah that follow Mullah Nasruddin, a Sufi and “wise fool” as he adventures in what is now known as Turkey. It is thought to be the most ambitious animated film ever created, and yet, pretty much nobody knows about it.
Despite Williams’ intentions of an extravagant, final masterpiece to bookend his career, the film is now monickered:
“The film that never was.”
After years of production complications (the first ten minutes of footage took 14 years to complete) the film was taken from him by Warner Brothers and sold to Miramax who repackaged elements of the project as the now famous Aladdin and released a drastically simplified version of the movie in 1993. This simplified version is kinda trash and a real bummer considering this Williams guy poured his life and soul into the process.
If you, like me, love animation, it is certainly worth a watch, but be sure to watch the “Recobbled Cut” on Youtube, it’s an attempt to recreate the film as Williams’ had envisioned. There’s also a documentary on the history behind the film and the production process called The Persistence of Vision.
Williams was known to be a huge dick, but he had a team of all star animators at his beck and call meaning what remains of the movie is nothing short of stunning. I remember watching it on a loop when I was a kid. It’s kaleidoscopic at times, grotesque at others, and wildly impressive, considering how basic animation tools were back then.
Love You, Mean It
Valentine’s Day is coming up, and nothing says love more than crosswords!! Hah!!! Just kissing, I mean kidding. A slightly NYC specific love themed crossword below, for those who reside elsewhere, a quick Google Search should help you with 1 Across. Answers will be shared in next weeks newsletter (or text me).
I Want You, I Need You, Oh Baby, Oh Baby
I’ve been on a Dutch Baby kick. Fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside, contains exclusively pantry staples, easy to adorn with runny yolks, looks impressive but is toooooo easy. An excellent recipe to have in your back pocket, if someone made this for me I’d flip.
Dutch Baby
This recipe is adapted from the New York Times Cooking basic Dutch Baby recipe, it’s a great template to riff on. You can flavor your batter however you’d like, black pepper, grated parm and chives are delicious for savory pancakes, whereas cinnamon and nutmeg work beautifully for sweet babies. This has been my favorite combo as of late :)
3 Eggs, room temp
½ cup flour
½ cup milk, room temp
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch of thyme
Pinch of paprika
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
Blend eggs, flour, milk, sugar, thyme, and paprika together until smooth
Heat butter in a large skillet or baking dish, either on the stovetop or in the oven. As soon as the butter has melted, pour batter into the pan and place in the oven to bake for 20 minutes. Check on your pancake after 20 to insure it’s puffed golden brown. To achieve a crispy top, bake for an additional five minutes at 300.
Remove the babe from your oven and top it with your choice of toppings. In the picture above you see lots of grated parm, fried eggs, parsley, basil, and lemon zest.
Here are some Dutch Baby ideas I’ve been sitting on please take them:
Fig, Arugula, & Jammy Shallots
Roasted Pears, Cardamom Whip & Mint
Pear, Brie & Poppy Seed
Leeks, Spinach & Ricotta
Lox, Eggs, Onions, Capers, & Dill (Like a LEO omelette, best diner order)
Apple Butter, Fresh Apples, & Honey
Date, Pistachio, Aleppo & Honey
Prosciutto, Arugula & Parm
Thick Cut Bacon, Fried Eggs, & Chives
Blackberries, Walnut, & Ricotta
Emma’s Torch
Emma’s Torch is a seriously cool organization. Their mission is to empower refugees, asylees, and survivors of human trafficking through culinary education. They work with their students on ESL skills, culinary training, interview prep and job placement in some of the best NYC kitchens. As part of their culinary training, their students create and execute menu items at their Carroll Gardens cafe. I stopped by the other week to visit and ate this insane chicken sandwich with the most perfect creamy, lemony, dill packed slaw. If you want to support, I’d highly recommend stopping by, giving them a follow on IG, or donating directly. They’ve also been hosting virtual cooking classes with the likes of pastry queen Claire Saffitz which is another wonderful way to show them some ❤️ . TLDR; Emma’s Torch is doing it right, in a chicken sense, in an advocacy sense. We love them.
Thank you for reading, I am so grateful! See you next week 🤸♀️