celebrity gift-giving
so I was listening to the Severance podcast (great show, and fyi I am pro-weekly episode releases rather than full season drops), and Adam Scott and Ben Stiller were talking about how AS had started wearing more comfortable shoes in season 2 when his feet weren’t in shot, since being in dress shoes for all of season 1 was not fun. BS was like “oh yeah, you had those really great shoes, and you actually got them for me as a gift after I complimented them” and AS was like “yes, yes I did”.
I came across another story recently about how Dame Judy Dench had overheard Taylor Swift talking about this particular kind of British candy on the set of Cats, and the next day TS found a bunch of this candy along with a signed headshot of Judy Dench in her dressing room.
I don’t have more specific examples but I’m pretty sure they (meaning celebrities) also all send each other flowers fairly often.
on the surface this is all “gift-giving”, technically, but not in the way normal people do it. like, imagine my friend complimented my shoes and I went and bought her a totally new pair. that would be weird. and if a friend mentioned she really likes a certain type of foreign candy, it would be normal for me to buy her 1 pack, if I came across it, eventually. not 10 packs, along with a signed headshot of me, the very next day. that would not be normal.
so…they’re obviously doing this through their personal assistants. which makes me think that maybe it’s not even really the same thing as normal people gift-giving at all, it’s just a new social custom that comes into play once you’re famous enough to have a personal assistant. like if you just had to mention to your assistant that so-and-so would like XYZ thing, it makes sense to do that pretty frequently to earn some easy goodwill. it’s just funny that they talk about it in public and interviews like they’re doing normal-style gift-giving. stop trying to relate to me
fine dining à la maison
I’ve been getting into fine dining lately, conceptually. I have to admit it’s not a perfect-fit interest for me, because I’m not the most adventurous eater and I only very occasionally have “fine” dinners and I can already just tell this will fizzle out quickly. but it’s become a bit of a fixation lately regardless.
I think I like the idea of hospitality as a discipline/area of study — it’s like etiquette but in a really particular context with particular goals. I also like how, for the line cooks and servers and busboys and bartenders, working at a fine dining restaurant is a form of service to both the guests and the head chefs whose vision is being executed. I like the idea of being careful and artistic with food, and the way that it’s inherently ethereal and multi-sensory and interactive. I think if you want to do performance art that makes people happy rather than uncomfortable, you get into fine dining (unless you’re this place).
anyway, of course I wanted to try it for myself, so I thought “how hard could it be?” and I got a bunch of fine-dining restaurant cookbooks from the library (one from NoMad (which is maybe not in operation anymore? at any rate the hotel is shut down), one that’s a French Laundry/Per Se hybrid, and one called the Art of Flavor written by the head chef from Coi). Obviously it’s harder than expected, but noooot impossible. I also found this excellent blog post about how to execute your own tasting menu experience at home, which is the kind of write-up you love to see. No fluff, lots of interesting advice, and the full tasting menu listed out at the end. (though I was disappointed to find out that the blog was created as an exercise in Amazon affiliate links, which he admits in the About section.)
TBD if I attempt anything like that myself at home. I might have to wait until summer so that fresh ingredients taste good again and I can serve more courses that don’t need heat. for now I’m back in my homemade bread era.
Your comments on "odd" gift-giving practices are so funny. There have definitely been occasions where a friend of my mom would come over, my mom would present the friend with a scarf, the friend would be like "omg for meeee? what's this for?!" and my mom would be like "well the last time I saw you, you said you liked my scarf, so I got you one ;)" Quinn's parents and grandma are always giving me stuff when I pop over to their house based on things I've previously mentioned to them. I mean, I do that kind of thing too. If I'm in a store that has Zapp's Voodoo chips or Gin-Gin candies (rare tbh), I buy some for Quinn for the next time I see her, because I am aware that she likes them. If it was being offered in bulk, I don't see why getting it in bulk would be strange? Some people are into gifts, Jessica! Do you regularly give your friends and family gifts outside of Christmas and holidays? Maybe you just aren't old enough to be doing this yet? *pats your head* (Sorry, I simply had to throw in an age joke) The signed headshot is more the weird part... but I can see it as an escalation of how people send out Christmas and New Year's cards with their own faces. Idk. I think celeb gift behavior is an escalation of normal-person gift behavior due to celebs' increased incomes and personal assistants, not something totally bizarre. I'm relating to it! I find it relatable!
Omg I also love fine dining, and also more for the staff element than for the food (although the food is good too). I have a friend from college who works FOH in fine dining and it's a whole career. Also appreciate the library mention. The library near you is fucking insane. You ain't gettin THAT in Filthadelphia, that's for damn sure!!!