Stay ConnectedFanfare is a fortnightly culture review podcast with fashion journalist Monica Ainley de La Villardière and cookbook author and Greenhouse co-founder Emma Knight. In every episode we discuss the books, movies, shows, and etceteras that are inspiring us, troubling us, or just getting us talking.
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Copyright: © Emma Knight & Monica Ainley
Find yourself a velvet cape and an ornate set of binoculars, because for this episode’s imaginary dinner party, Alexander Neef, the Director of the Paris Opera and a recent recipient of one of France’s highest artistic honours, has summoned the supremely creative and surprisingly hilarious spirit of music’s original starboy: Wolfgang Amadeus (there are other names but we will spare you) Mozart. Born in 1756 in Salzburg, Mozart composed over 800 works spanning virtually every genre of his time before his untimely death at 35 (!). He was considered a prodigy from childhood, playing the harpsichord magnificently at the ripe old age of 4, writing his first song at age 5, and performing for royals around Europe (to great acclaim and many majestic hugs and kisses) by age 6. His teacher, throughout childhood, was his father Leopold, who was, by all accounts, the ultimate showbiz dad. Bring your magic flute (no recorders allowed; sorry) and join us for a musical feast.
Show Notes:
Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com
Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV
Emma Knight @emmalknight
Alexander Neef @aneef_opera
Casual Dinner with Mozart Playlist by The Queen of the Knight
The biography we mention: Mozart: The Reign of Love by Jan Swafford
A deep dive (too deep?) into Mozart and scatology
Did Mozart *love* liver with dumplings? Did he not?! An exploration.
The schnitzel of which I speak is from Eating Out Loud by Eden Grinsphan and you can find the recipe here (ignore the sandwich and slaw parts; to be served with egg noodles for Mozart).
When you’re next in Toronto and in the mood for dessert: Go to Nadège and Roselle
All this cake is making me thirsty! → Drinkgreenhouse.com Use promo code: FANFARE25 for 25% off on your first order. (If you’re in Toronto + area, use the same code for 25% off of the whole menu at Greenhouse.ca.)
Thank you! See you in two weeks.
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Today on Fanfare we are joined by one of the world’s most accomplished astronauts, Colonel Chris Hadfield, to host an imaginary dinner party in SPACE complete with theme, strict dress code, a chocolate wall, and some pretty astonishing views. It’s a good time to learn to eat without a plate (or gravity), because earlier this week, NASA’s Artemis 1 mission reached the moon with the most powerful space rocket in history. While the Orion capsule was unmanned, if we want to be aboard the next one, we’d better start training. Hadfield has spent a total of 166 days in space (we counted), beginning in 1995 when he first left Earth aboard the space shuttle Atlantis. On his second mission in 2001, he became the first Canadian ever to float freely in space, and in December 2012 he left the planet a third time and spent about five months as Commander of the International Space Station. From the ISS, he documented life in space for those of us on this planet, and recorded an entire album from up there, including his famous and moving rendition of David Bowie’s Space Oddity. On top of being a fighter pilot, engineer, astronaut, musician, and professor, Hadfield has written several books, including a bestselling memoir, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth (2013), a children’s book, and a cold war moon mission thriller, the Apollo Murders (2021). Pack yourself a (literal) capsule wardrobe and join us–this episode is a blast.
Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com
Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV
Emma Knight @emmalknight
Col. Chris Hadfield on Twitter @Cmdr_Hadfield
Spacey tracks by DJ Monique: Dinner in Space with Chris Hadfield Playlist on Spotify
Chris Hadfield’s books:
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth (2013)
The Darkest Dark (2018), a children’s books Emma’s kids love
The Apollo Murders (2021)
Greenhouse rocket fuel!
Use promo code: FANFARE25 for 25% off on your first order!
If you’re in Toronto + area, use the same code for 25% off of the whole menu at Greenhouse.ca
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Eve Babitz, who immortalized L.A.’s louche ‘60s and ‘70s in books like Eve’s Hollywood and Sex and Rage: Advice to Young Ladies Eager for a Good Time, has been described as “the original artsy ‘it’ girl” (in LA Magazsine), as a “groupie-adventuress” (by herself, repeatedly) as a “dowager groupie” (scathingly, by Joan Didion’s husband John Gregory Dunn), and as “L.A.’s secret genius” (by the writer who is arguably responsible for her late-life renaissance, Lili Anolik, of Once Upon a Time at Bennington College fame). But who was she?? In this episode, L.A.-based writer and editor Alessandra Codhina helps us understand why Eve Babitz has been adopted as an unlikely feminist hero by Gen Z and Millennial it girls, what it is about Los Angeles that makes east coasters so hot under the collar, and whether the city of angels is, in fact, a “wasteland” (spoiler: it is not).
Show Notes
Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com
Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV
Emma Knight @emmalknight
Katharine Fish, HiddenLight Productions
Dinner with Eve Babitz Playlist on Spotify
Books:
By Eve Babitz:
Eve’s Hollywood (1974)
Slow Days, Fast Company (1977)
Sex and Rage: Advice to Young Ladies Eager for a Good Time (1979)
L.A. Woman (1982)
Black Swans: Stories (1993)
Hollywood’s Eve (2019) by Lili Anolik
Articles:
“1970s Literary ‘It’ Girl Eve Babitz Is Having a Renaissance—at 76 by Merle Ginsberg” in LA Magazine
“My Favorite Year: In Los Angeles with Eve Babitz in 1971” by Dan Wakefield in LA Review of Books
“Joan Didion and Eve Babitz Shared an Unlikely, Uneasy Friendship—One That Shaped Their Worlds and Work Forever” by Lili Anolik for Vanity Fair
Extra Extras:
Someone found the Taquito Place!!
Eve Babitz’s Guide to LA, Curbed Los Angeles
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If your tastes run to Great Kates, you’ll want to listen in on this fictive feast. Katharine Hepburn, icon of the Fashion, Feminist, and Film varieties, has been summoned by Katharine Fish, Development Executive at Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s production company, HiddenLight, to help us understand how a strong-minded, highly-schooled, in-charge sort of woman––a wearer of pantsuits!–born in 1907 managed to go from “box office poison” in the late ‘30s to Hollywood gold until her death in 2003. Alongside our theories, we’ll be serving up American Sportswear at its best, lovingly dissected classic movies, Hollywood gossip, and waffles, as well as brownies from Hepburn’s own recipe. Katharine II is a close friend, so you can also expect Monica’s university hairstyles to come up. Trousers are optional, as always, but for this episode, a nice roomy pair might be just the ticket.
Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com
Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV
Emma Knight @emmalknight
Katharine Fish, HiddenLight Productions
Dinner with Katharine Hepburn Playlist on Spotify
Movies in Order of Mention:
Woman of the Year (1942)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
The Philadelphia Story (1940, originally a play by Philip Barry)
The African Queen (1951)
Adam’s Rib (1949)
Books We Mention:
Deborah Levy’s Living Autobiography trilogy: Things I Don’t Want to Know, The Cost of Living, Real Estate
Fashion Inspo:
Dick Cavett Interview (1973)
Food Inspo:
And/or pancakes <—this recipe from Mark Bittman at NYTimes is similar to the one I make most often, but —> Lemon Ricotta Pancakes this one from Bon Appétit (Rick Martinez) is incredible if you are feeling fancy. So fluffy. I don’t usually bother with the blueberry-lemon compote and put the lemon juice and zest in the pancake batter instead, but to each her own!).
Half a cantoloupe, à la Adam’s Rib (/as they do in France!)
Soft-boiled eggs (boil water, gently lower eggs in, turn off burner but put lid back on pot, let stand for 3-4 min, then run under cold water and serve in an egg cup) with toast soldiers (buttered toast cut into slivers for dipping).
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Motherhood, you’ve been on our minds, to misquote Bob Dylan… so it’s only fitting that in this week’s episode Monica and Emma are joined by Jessamine Chan, the author of the New York Times Bestselling début novel The School for Good Mothers (2022). Together we cook up a not-at-all-dystopian (believe it or not) imaginary dinner party for one of our literary heroes, Kazuo Ishiguro. The 2017 Nobel Laureate for Literature (there will be champagne), Sir Ishiguro’s brilliant and wide-ranging oeuvre includes The Remains of the Day (1989, winner of the Booker Prize), Never Let Me Go (2005), and most recently, Klara and the Sun (2021). From Chicago (Jessamine), Paris (Monica), and Toronto (Emma), we plan a Notting Hill soirée that, if not quite up to Darlington Hall standards, will certainly end on a memorable note.
Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com
Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV
Emma Knight @emmalknight
Jessamine Chan @jessamine.chan
Dinner with Ishiguro 
playlist on Spotify by DJ Monica DLV
Books we mention:
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
The oeuvre of Kazuo Ishiguro, including The Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go and Klara and the Sun
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
Movies we mention:
The Remains of the Day (1993), a Merchant Ivory Production, costumes (crucially) designed by Jenny Beavan and John Bright
Never Let Me Go (2010), directed by Mark Romanek, costumes by Rachel Fleming and Steven Noble
What’s cooking:
Emma’s Scottish Oatcakes recipe is in The Greenhouse Cookbook and sadly not on the inter webs, but here’s another from Healthy Little Foodies
Ditto Emma’s miso-glazed eggplant recipe (nasu dengaku), but here is a similar one from Pickled Plum
Hasselback butternut squash with maple and Fresno chilies via Bon Appetit
Gomae, aka blanched spinach with toasted sesame seeds and sesame dressing from Just One Cookbook
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No one panic, but do frost the grapes on your hat because a somewhat exacting guest by the name of Pussy Jones – A.K.A. Edith Wharton – is coming to dinner. Summoned by Lauren Collins, the author of When in French: Love in a Second Languageand a staff writer for The New Yorker, Edith Wharton is coming all the way from the Gilded Age – so the least Emma could do was meet Monica and Lauren in Paris for a live recording near Wharton’s apartment on Rue Varenne. The New York “aristocrat” and author of The House of Mirth (1905), The Age of Innocence (1920, for which she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer for Literature in 1921), Wharton pulled no punches in her chronicling of her country’s fin-de-siècle elites. She moved to France in 1907 and stayed until her death in 1937; so it’s only fitting that this is where we will host a fantastical dinner party in her honour, complete with cold champagne, burning questions, and a certain amount of hilarity.
Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com
Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV
Emma Knight @emmalknight
Lauren Collins @laurenzcollins
Lauren is the author of When in French: Love in a Second Languageand a staff writer for The New Yorker
Dinner with Edith Wharton playlist on Spotify by DJ Monica DLV
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Aaand we’re back for a shiny new season of fantasy dinner parties, dress codes, recipes and cultural icons – in-person and imaginary. To kick off Season Two, we are joined by filmmaker Nathalie Biancheri, the Italian-born, London-based writer and director of the conversation-starting 2021 drama Wolf, starring Lily-Rose Depp. Nathalie’s imaginary dinner guest is none other than the great Werner Herzog in all his dead-pan, anti-capitalist, prolific filmmaking glory. There may or may not be boiled shoes on the menu.
Show Notes:
Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com
Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV
Emma Knight @emmalknight
Nathalie Biancheri @natbiancheri | IMDb
MOVIES:
Wolf (2021), written and directed by Nathalie Biancheri
Watch it on Prime Video
Watch the trailer
Premiered @TIFF
Watch Nathalie and Lily-Rose Depp talking about Wolf
Nocturnal (2019), Nathalie’s first feature
We mostly talk about:
Grizzly Man (2005)
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Into the Abyss (2011)
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (Short 1980) by Les Blank
THE ORIGINS PODCAST INTERVIEW W/ WERNER HERZOG:
Werner Herzog The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss
BOOKS:
Conquest of the Useless: Reflections on the Making of Fitzcarraldo by Werner Herzog
FOOD:
Spaghetti Carbonara NYTimes Cooking by Ian Fisher
“Because America may have contributed to its creation, carbonara is Exhibit A in the back-and-forth between Italy and the United States when it comes to food.” Noted!!
How to cook a chicken on the BBQ by Dan Mikesell
SHORT STORY:
For Esmé with Love and Squalor by J.D. Salinger
PLAYLIST:
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We missed you! And so we have hosted a surprise imaginary dinner party to tide us over until we meet again for season two. In this episode we sit down in a crumbling Hollywood mansion with essayist, journalist, author, playwright, and all-around cool customer Joan Didion to talk migraines, disguises, self respect, reporting on one’s own grief, John Wayne, and much else. Joining us for the whole Corvette ride, from parsley chopping through to a final bourbon, is British Vogue Contributing Editor, digital consultant, friend, and fellow Didion enthusiast Ellie Pithers. Pack your almonds and notebooks and come on over!
Thanks for listening! Send us your thoughts, feelings, reactions and ideas: fanfarefanmail@gmail.com
Our Dinner with Joan Didion playlist is here.
Mentioned reading & watching:
"On Self Respect" first published in Vogue, 1961.
"Slouching Towards Bethlehem" by Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem 1967.
"John Wayne: A Love Song" by Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem 1967.
"In Bed" by Joan Didion, The White Album 1979.
"The Autumn of Joan Didion" by Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic, January/ February 2012.
"The Elitist Allure of Joan Didion" by Meghan Daum, The Atlantic, September 2015.
Follow:
& Read her writing here.
If you loved the episode, don't forget to rate & review!
See you next time!
M&E
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He’s been our man for some time (well, one of them), so it only made sense that for our season finale, we would dream up an imaginary dinner party for Leonard Cohen. With a Montreal-and-Hydra inspired menu and some rags, feathers, and pinstripes (maybe a Famous Blue Raincoat, why not), we plan a soirée that you won’t want to miss. We have the honour and pleasure of sitting down for a glass of Chateau Latour and a hot banana pepper with Denise Donlon, a friend and colleague of the late Cohen’s. As a host, producer, and record executive, including in her role as former President of Sony Music Canada, the author of Fearless as Possible (Under the Circumstances) worked closely with Leonard over many years. If all goes well, and with Denise’s help, we’ll stay up talking all night, and the famously thoughtful Leonard will make us a plate of scrambled eggs in the morning...
Show notes:
Leonard Cohen playlist
I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen, by Sylvie Simmons (The biography Emma mentions repeatedly and quotes from)
Former Vogue UK Editor in Chief Alexandra Shulman on Leonard Cohen: Suzanne was the Ideal of the Age
Pinstripe suits (the Italian brand Monica mentions): Giuliva Heritage
Htipiti (roasted red pepper + feta dip) recipe
Cooking with Akis Petretzikis
Denise Donlon’s memoir, Fearless as Possible (Under the Circumstances)
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love — documentary
Thank you so much for listening, friends. We’d love to hear from you: fanfarefanmail@gmail.com.
Thank you to our producers Joel Grove and Matt Bentley-Viney.
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Episode Description: In this episode, it’s Emma’s turn to get schooled… about fashion. First, a survey of Monica’s industry friends yields many creative answers to the question, “What are you going to wear in 2022?” Next, Monica provides Emma, who has been in lockdown since 1900 or so, with a simple, durable formula for applying actual clothing (and not just to the top half of oneself, Zoom style) and liking it. Then, all the way from São Paulo, Brazil, we are joined by Iza Dezon, a specialist in forecasting trends, who shares her top three macro trends for 2022 and tells us what they mean for a changing fashion industry AND for those of us who are really just trying to remember to wear bottoms. (Spoiler alert: We may not have to.)
Show Notes:
Write to us at fanfarefanmail@gmail.com.
Monica Ainley DLV @monicaainleyDLV
Emma Knight @emmalknight
Iza Dezon @izadezon, @dezon____ ®
Shows and articles we mention (and where we think you can find them, as of writing):
Monica’s fashion tips + fave brands:
Bourienne shirts
Uniqlo shirts
Goldsign denim
AGOLDE denim, sister brand
Vintage websites:
Our guest, Trend Forecaster Iza Dezon joining us from São Paulo:
Stella McCartney on the cover of Wired UK
OSKLEN Brazilian green luxury brand
Thank you to our producers Joel Grove and Matt Bentley-Viney.
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