Special Episode: Classic TV, New Music and a Side of Pasta

[0] Hi, I'm Kim Severson, a reporter on the food desk.

[1] People who listen to The Daily might remember me from our Thanksgiving venture into the history of bad ways to cook your turkey.

[2] The air friar's awesome.

[3] Okay, but seriously, can you put a turkey in an air friar?

[4] A whole turkey, no. Well, I'm back, and I have something new that I think you're going to like.

[5] Hi.

[6] Hello.

[7] Listen, we're going to make it work.

[8] It's like jazz.

[9] We've been working on a brand spanking new audio project here at the Times, and it's designed to, to help you dig into the nooks and crannies of culture you might not have explored before.

[10] Maybe listen to some new kinds of music.

[11] She's what's next.

[12] She is what's new.

[13] Put it on the bucket list.

[14] Maybe pick up a new book.

[15] I just started crying while reading to my child.

[16] Cook a new recipe.

[17] Well, what if I just dump some of the hot water over the basil?

[18] Hmm, that smells great.

[19] Well, just think differently about something you do every day.

[20] You can shake things up in an instant, which is something that I think that we forget.

[21] I'll be here for the next few Saturdays to give you a sample of what we're calling NYT shorts.

[22] These stories are short, sweet bites delivered to you direct from our critics and reporters.

[23] Hello, my name is Jason Zenneman.

[24] I'm Katie Weaver.

[25] My name is Benji Park.

[26] I'm Maya Phillips.

[27] My name is MJ Franklin.

[28] I'm Manola Dargis.

[29] You can find them on our new app, NYT Audio, which is out now.

[30] Okay, so here we go.

[31] First up, my colleague, Elizabeth Vincentele, who covers performing arts for The Times.

[32] She recently rediscovered an old childhood favorite, the television show, Colombo.

[33] I started watching Colombo with my dad.

[34] I must have been around, I want to say, 13 or 14, and we would watch TV together on weekend afternoons.

[35] My name is Colombo, my mayor.

[36] Lieutenant from the police.

[37] We both loved mysteries, and Colombo was one of our favorites.

[38] Is there another way out of this house?

[39] By water, the general's got a yacht and a slip back of the house.

[40] I see.

[41] We love watching that show, and I sometimes wonder if it's not because he was driving a French car.

[42] This isn't a department car, is it?

[43] Not, it's it mine.

[44] He drives a Peugeot, and we had a Peugeot.

[45] It had no air conditioning.

[46] and it was incredibly hot in summer and we would stick to the plastic seats.

[47] It was horribly uncomfortable.

[48] But we had the same car as Colombo, like total bond right there.

[49] Do you ever consider getting another car?

[50] I did not really think about Colombo for decades until 2020, the pandemic, and I have no idea from what murky area of my brain this came, but I felt I want to watch Colombo again.

[51] We're watching Colombo felt like such, it was like going into a warm bath.

[52] My name is Elizabeth Finchantilly.

[53] I write for the arts pages, and I love Colombo.

[54] I am not ashamed.

[55] Colombo was created in late 1960s, and it's about, a California detective who's played by Peter Falk.

[56] And Colombo has a very, some might say, formulaic structure.

[57] I like to think of it as tried and true.

[58] So it's not possible to spoil Colombo because each episode of Colombo always followed the same structure.

[59] We see the entire murder first.

[60] Jimmy!

[61] We see the whole thing.

[62] And then we see the cover -up.

[63] That's a list of some of the top men in organized crime in the West Coast.

[64] One of these men had Jim killed.

[65] But we realize as we go along that we actually are not seeing the whole thing.

[66] The murderer has usually forgotten some key details that someone is going to bring up.

[67] And that someone is Lieutenant Colombo.

[68] Who are you?

[69] My name is Colombo.

[70] I'm a lieutenant.

[71] Whose main attribute, I would say, is rumpled.

[72] It feels like everything about him is rumpled.

[73] His clothes at rumpled.

[74] His hair feels rumbled.

[75] His speech feels rumbled.

[76] Something else was in there.

[77] Oh, yeah.

[78] What do you think it was?

[79] One, two, three, four, five, six.

[80] He has this very odd slouch.

[81] He walks almost kind of hunched.

[82] Whenever I see a pretty young girl like you, doing all that smoking, I say to myself, why does she take the chance?

[83] Often he smokes a cigar.

[84] that you just know smells disgusting.

[85] You can just tell.

[86] Hey, wait a minute.

[87] Nice to go.

[88] And the classic Colombo villain is rich and or powerful, whether it's like a chess master or a chef, or there's a conductor who actually is powerful and rich.

[89] I'm fascinated by money, aren't you?

[90] Yeah, I'm fascinated by money for what it can do, that's all.

[91] Yeah, yeah.

[92] They think they can get whatever they want.

[93] And then this guy, this guy in his rumpled clothing, turns up and wrecks their beautiful plan.

[94] Some man, lieutenant, do not want to look like an unmade bed.

[95] Colombo is an unconventional detective.

[96] He is such a normie detective in many ways that it becomes completely extraordinary.

[97] This guy solves a complicated case with nothing else but his brain.

[98] that's it.

[99] It turns up at the scene of the crime, and he starts asking questions.

[100] You don't mind if I ask you a personal question, do you?

[101] No. What'd you pay for those shoes?

[102] I think about $60.

[103] I stepped into some water yesterday.

[104] I ruined mine.

[105] You don't know where I could get a pair that looks like that for around 16 or 17.

[106] And he keeps hovering around.

[107] You do whatever you have to do, and I'll just tag along, and don't you worry about it.

[108] And asking questions that don't seem to make sense.

[109] Say, what kind of nightlife do you have around here?

[110] Nightlife?

[111] No party?

[112] He was always looking like, oh, well, what about this?

[113] I'll tell you what I was curious about.

[114] Do you have a moment?

[115] What about that?

[116] Is this a copy?

[117] It just thought of one thing.

[118] You own this?

[119] But I'm not sure I understand.

[120] I don't quite follow what you're saying.

[121] Can you explain to me what's happening?

[122] You always wear a beauty market.

[123] Only this morning you don't happen on.

[124] I don't understand.

[125] Isn't it funny how people are different?

[126] Now, me, if I found my partner dead, I'd never think of opening my letters.

[127] I'm just not getting this.

[128] Can you please explain to me?

[129] Which is, of course, the greatest trap of all.

[130] It's basically a hunting show.

[131] It really is like the most laid -back hunting show ever, based entirely on talk.

[132] And at the end, big reveal, he pretty much explains to them how they did it.

[133] Colombo, what the hell are you doing?

[134] Oh, just a little phone demonstration, sir, to show how a man who's already dead can appear to be alive.

[135] The whole point of the show is not who did it, or even how they did it, because we know that.

[136] It's how he's going to get them.

[137] You know what I found out?

[138] They actually use poisons when they make cosmetics.

[139] And that's just the best feeling in the world.

[140] Very good, Lieutenant.

[141] It's very reassuring for the, the order of the world.

[142] And I get it.

[143] Not everything is for everybody.

[144] Colombo is my jam.

[145] It's a lot of people's jam.

[146] People often say, oh, the kind of poo -po -po -all comfort.

[147] It's comfort food, or it's just a sandwich.

[148] Well, this is a really good sandwich.

[149] Oh, this is delicious.

[150] I love it.

[151] Okay, a sandwich might be great to eat in front of the television, but if we're talking about nostalgic TV, We have to talk about nostalgic food, too.

[152] For me, you've got to go with a bowl of pasta.

[153] And I know just the guy to teach you how to make it.

[154] My pal, Sam, think of them as your dinner coach.

[155] Tonight you should make ham and cheese pasta with a fistful of peas.

[156] I'm Sam Sifton, an assistant managing editor of the New York Times, and the founding editor of New York Times cooking.

[157] Here's some comfort food of the first story.

[158] order.

[159] It's like you're seven years old eating this dish.

[160] And yeah, yeah, it's ham, it's cheese, it's peas, it's pasta.

[161] But together, there's a kind of alchemy that happens that delivers you to a place of immense comfort and joy.

[162] It's like a hug.

[163] A lot happens in this dish all at once.

[164] And so I think the first and most important thing is to, and I hate this.

[165] sound fancy, but is to set up what they call a mezon place.

[166] That is, get all the ingredients that you need to make the dish out on the counter in front of you.

[167] And there are not many of them.

[168] You have a box of shells.

[169] What size shells?

[170] Not too big.

[171] Large shells, not the huge ones?

[172] Not like the stuffed shells kind.

[173] The ones that are about the size of a knuckle?

[174] A little shell kind.

[175] Hold the Cuba ham kind.

[176] Shels.

[177] Ham steak.

[178] What's a ham steak?

[179] It's just a thick slice of ham.

[180] I'd never bought a ham steak before.

[181] Neither.

[182] I didn't know of the thing.

[183] You can find it at the butcher, you can find it in the case at the supermarket, and you just dice that into nice little cubes.

[184] So, you've got your shells, you got your ham, you've got your cheese.

[185] Generally, I call for like a good Swiss, but what does that really mean?

[186] You know what?

[187] Is an excellent cheese for this dish?

[188] Good old Yarlsburg, because it melts like a dream, really easy to work with.

[189] It's available in every store probably on the planet.

[190] And then your peas.

[191] And for peas, again, I'm going to sound like a fancy pants.

[192] I hate myself for this sometimes.

[193] But I think you want to go with the organic frozen peas.

[194] And I got the organic kind.

[195] Why?

[196] Because they're sweeter.

[197] Okay, so you have all your ingredients ready to go.

[198] Now it's time to cook.

[199] Set a pot of salted water on a high burner and get it up to boil.

[200] That's what you're going to use to cook your pasta.

[201] The pasta is going to take what, eight to 12 minutes.

[202] So while it's in there, you want to brown your diced ham.

[203] How to do that?

[204] Put a skillet on the stove, medium high heat, big old pat of butter.

[205] When it starts to foam, get the ham in there, spread it out over the skillet, let it brown, toss it a few times, let it brown some more, won't take forever.

[206] That's the ham.

[207] When they start hopping out of the pans, they're done.

[208] Third thing you have to do, grate that cheese.

[209] Doesn't not be pretty, right?

[210] Nope.

[211] Simple stuff doesn't need to be beautiful because it's all going to melt.

[212] This is going to be some very cheesy pasta.

[213] And finally, you have the peas.

[214] I like myself to cook them just for a few moments in the pasta water just before I'm going to drain the pasta.

[215] All right.

[216] Cheese in.

[217] Saves a pot.

[218] Doesn't get them.

[219] overcooked, and then you can take your drained pasta and peas, put it in a big bowl with the shredded cheese, add the ham.

[220] No stealing ham, mister.

[221] Mix it all around, and then look down at this creation.

[222] Look at the pink of the ham, the green vibrancy of the peas, beautiful, melting ivory color of the cheese.

[223] So much oozy cheese.

[224] And finally, those glistening shells.

[225] holding, if you're lucky, a single pea or a single piece of ham in it.

[226] Yeah, pasta.

[227] You're sitting pretty.

[228] You're like a child wrapped up in a blankie, eating delicious food.

[229] More ham?

[230] Yeah, look, there's more ham there.

[231] Try to eat the pasta, too, honey, not just a ham.

[232] And it tastes like childhood and happiness.

[233] Delicious.

[234] Okay, next up, some tunes.

[235] Every week, our brilliant music team comes through dozens of new songs, so you don't have to.

[236] Here is this week's playlist.

[237] I'm John Porellis, the chief pop music critic of the New York Times, with some new music to enjoy this weekend.

[238] We've got the latest release from a pop superstar, the return of a post -punk legend, some music to move your feet, and more.

[239] Ed Shearren has a new album out.

[240] It's called Subtract.

[241] It's produced by Aaron.

[242] Desner from the National, who's probably better known now as the co -producer of Taylor Swift's albums, Folklore, and Evermore.

[243] This track, called Borderline, is in the same introspective zone as those Swift albums, and it's about facing some dark moments and trying to move on.

[244] Last year, Shiren lost his best friend, Jamal Edwards.

[245] Edwards got Shiren onto YouTube and was crucial to getting his career started.

[246] All the way through the song, you can hear Shiren trying to pay his respects and hold on to find his balance between sorrow and survival.

[247] That's Ed Sheeran with Borderline.

[248] This next track is Paramo Verlos Piaz by Daimé Arocena.

[249] The title of the song translates as to move your feet, but the song isn't just about dancing.

[250] It's actually a song of exile.

[251] Daimé Arosena grew up in Cuba steeped in Afro -Cuban traditions, but she got away from the island four years ago.

[252] She found her way to Puerto Rico, which has its own Afro -Caribbean culture.

[253] In the lyrics to this song, Arosena bluntly denounces Cuba's dictatorship, and she urges Cubans to fight for your freedom, so the Cuba and Puerto Rico dance again.

[254] That was Daimé Arocena with Para Mover Los Pia's.

[255] Theodora Laird from London has stripped her performing name down to Fio, F -E -E -O.

[256] This new song, Iris, unfolds more like a soliloquy than a song, as if it's extrapolating from the jazziest impulses of Joni Mitchell.

[257] The lyrics are like a conversation with a long -time, far -away friend.

[258] The song is a very complex composition, bouncing off its baseline, but it feels spontaneous like anything can happen.

[259] I'm young, I can start again and get lost in shades of blue and green.

[260] That was Iris by Theo.

[261] Back in 1979, New York's Lower East Side was dirty, smelly, and threatening.

[262] But rents were cheap, and artists took advantage.

[263] There was a lot of creativity downtown.

[264] Bush Tetras formed in 1979, and they completely distilled that vibe.

[265] Tough, funky, down to earth, trusting no one.

[266] Now the two surviving founders of the band, guitarist Pat Place, and singer Cynthia Slay, have revved up Bush Tetras again with Steve Shelley from Sonic Youth on drums.

[267] This song, Things I Put Together, is scrappy and funky and self -aware.

[268] The song insists that building things is important even if they don't last.

[269] Here's Things I Put Together by Bush Tetris.

[270] Finally, let's listen to one of my all -time favorite instruments, the steel drum.

[271] It's percussive, but it can sustain melodies.

[272] If you ever have a chance to go hear a Trinidadian steel drum orchestra live, go for it.

[273] Recordings just do not capture that sonic joy.

[274] But here's an avant -garde analytical approach to the steel drum.

[275] Olaf Dreher was half of the knife, the electronic group from Sweden.

[276] He and the fellow electronic a musician Mount Sims have collaborated on an album built from realistic and electronically tweaked steel drum sounds.

[277] Hybrid Fruit is an eight -minute instrumental that holds a steady pace but keeps changing.

[278] It's minimalist and systematic, but it feels oh so human.

[279] That was Hybrid Fruit by Olaf Dreher and Mount Sims.

[280] I'm John Perelis.

[281] Thanks for listening.

[282] For more NYT shorts from my very smart colleagues at the Times, get our new audio app.

[283] It's available for free to New York Times, all access, and new subscribers.

[284] Download the app at NYTimes .com slash audio app.

[285] This episode was produced by Tina Antalini, Elisa Dudley, and Crystal Duhame.

[286] It was edited by Windy Door and engineered by Rowan Nemestow, Corey Shruppel, Daniel Farrell, and Sophia Landman.

[287] special thanks to Paula Schumann and Sam Dolnick.

[288] Thanks for listening, and I'll meet you back here Saturday.

[289] I'm certainly not as good looking as Michael Babaro, but you can't tell that on radio.