Entertainment
Jeff Daniels' Favorite Sandwich Is Insane And Very Delicious, I Tried It And Improved It
By Robert Scucci
| Published
Back in February, Jeff Daniels (best known for Dumb and Dumber and The Newsroom) revealed what he believes to be the best sandwich during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. During the infamous “Colbert Questionert,” Daniels laid it all out to a shocked audience after letting out a long sigh and starting with, “I’m going to go with a personal favorite.”
He then went into great detail describing the sandwich, which consists of pita bread, creamy peanut butter, cheddar sour cream Ruffles, and “your favorite barbecue sauce.” Daniels said his favorite is “Sweet Baby James,” but no such brand exists, so it’s safe to assume he meant Sweet Baby Ray’s and misspoke in the heat of the moment.
He was exacting in his instructions, explaining how only half of the pita bread gets covered with a quarter inch of creamy peanut butter, which is then topped with crushed chips. The next step is to slather the whole thing with sauce, fold it over, and go to work. Every food blogger I follow has tried the “viral sandwich,” and I usually avoid these trends because I have better things to do with my time.
Something about this mix of sweet and savory got my attention, though, so I had to make one myself and see what all the fuss was about. I also took a page from the Sandwiches of History playbook, hosted by the legendary Barry Enderwick, who reviews recipes as written but also likes to “plus them up” with extra ingredients to see if they can be improved.
So without further ado, here’s my review of the Jeff Daniels Sandwich, along with some late-night, cabinet-raiding culinary insanity.
The Jeff Daniels Sandwich
My first thought about the Jeff Daniels Sandwich is that he picked very distinct flavor profiles that could go one of two ways. Either it works perfectly, or it falls apart completely. Following his instructions, I grabbed pita bread, Ruffles, Sweet Baby Ray’s, and used the 64-ounce jar of creamy peanut butter already in my house because my kids are goblins and go through alarming amounts of it. I prefer chunky, but that’s beside the point.
While I’m not exactly a fitness guru, I do track my activity with a FitBit and try to hit around 20,000 steps and 5,000 calories burned a day. I also eat once a day because it makes tracking macros easier. Intermittent fasting keeps things simple, especially when I get reckless with late-night snacking, something I do often.
This works out nicely, because a six-inch pita, roughly three tablespoons of peanut butter, 11 cheddar and sour cream Ruffles (what they consider to be a single serving size), and two tablespoons of Sweet Baby Ray’s comes out to about 650 calories. I didn’t use a food scale, so your results may vary. For context, the Jeff Daniels Sandwich I made has roughly the same caloric content as 2.7 glazed doughnuts from Dunkin’.
It also clocks in at about 18.5 grams of protein, 73.5 grams of carbs, and five grams of dietary fiber.
As for the taste, I don’t know any other way to say it. Jeff Daniels knows what he’s doing. I have no insight into his personal life, but I imagine this sandwich came together under very specific circumstances. He name-drops Ruffles and specifies cheddar and sour cream. He calls out creamy peanut butter and Sweet Baby Ray’s as favorites. Given how messy this thing is, pita bread feels less like a preference and more like the only logical thing holding it together.
That said, this doesn’t feel like a desperation snack. Jeff Daniels is a successful actor. His pantry is probably well-stocked. The enthusiasm he shows when describing it tells me the first time he made this, he was either half asleep or operating under the influence of some late-night cravings that can only be achieved under a specific set of extra-curricular activities. I’m not saying anything definitive, but it takes one to know one.
Jeff Daniels Sandwich SCORE
The flavors are sharp, distinct, and constantly competing. My tastebuds were in shock at first. The crunch of the chips against the creamy peanut butter makes your jaw work. Then the cheddar and sour cream hits. Then the barbecue sauce takes over. Then you’re back to peanut butter. As you keep going, everything starts to come together, and suddenly it clicks. It’s an elite combination of sweet, savory, and texture. It checks every box.
I Had To “Plus It Up”
As a fan of Sandwiches of History (I trust Barry Enderwick with my life), I had to plus up the Jeff Daniels Sandwich, and I put some real thought into it. The original is built on bold, accessible flavors, so I stuck to ingredients you’d realistically have on hand. I added mini pepperonis, chopped green onions, dill pickle, and hot honey, because that’s what I had lying around.
I also buttered and grilled the pita before assembling everything to give it a crispy, warm exterior.
I’ve been a musician most of my life, but this might be the first time I’ve legitimately felt like an artist. The original Jeff Daniels Sandwich is solid. I had it after my daily run as a recovery meal, but 650 calories wasn’t going to cut it. My version came in closer to 900, so between the two, I was covered, and slightly ashamed of myself.
I’m not saying the Jeff Daniels Sandwich should be part of your daily routine. But the original version that blew up online is undeniably good. It’s filling, and it feels like you’ll need a nap when you finish it.
My variation of the Jeff Daniels Sandwich SCORE
My version, though, is one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in at least a year. Mixing hot honey with the Sweet Baby Ray’s adds a kick. The pepperoni and green onion sharpen the sweetness of the peanut butter. The pickle cuts through the blandness of the pita bread, and grilling the bread before assembly is a power move I’m still proud of.
I’ve got to hand it to you, Mr. Daniels. You created a monster, but I’ve seen the light. Thanks for sharing this and completely wrecking my diet for the next several days while I figure out what to do with the rest of this pita bread.
Entertainment
Star Trek’s Most Ambitious Villain Helped Create The Franchise’s Most Complex Hero
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
When Star Trek: Voyager first came out, the most fascinating character was the Doctor. While Robert Picardo’s performance was superb, it’s fair to say this character was mostly fascinating on a conceptual level. We had seen things like hypercompetent Starfleet captains and exotic aliens before, but what we hadn’t seen was a fully holographic chief medical officer. Voyager’s Emergency Medical Hologram seemed like the perfect embodiment of the Star Trek ethos. He’s a technological strange new world and new life, all rolled into one.
However, what casual audiences didn’t realize is that the Doctor wasn’t completely unique. Long before Picardo’s character ever sawed bones in the Delta Quadrant, Captain Picard dealt with another extraordinary hologram: Moriarty, the brilliant foe of the famous investigator Sherlock Holmes. Over on The Next Generation, Geordi LaForge accidentally created this villain as a sentient hologram when he asked the holodeck to create a challenge worthy of the android Data. Later, Star Trek: Voyager executive producer Jeri Taylor revealed that, in-universe, the holographic Doctor was created because Starfleet took advantage of the same accidental breakthrough that created Moriarty!
It all started in “Elementary, My Dear Data,” the Next Generation episode in which the titular android and Geordi LaForge recreated Sherlock Holmes’ adventures on the holodeck. Thanks to his positronic brain and his encyclopedic knowledge of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmes novels, Data is able to easily solve every mystery that is thrown at him. That’s when Geordi makes a seemingly simple request. He asks the Enterprise computer to develop a holodeck foe that could actually defeat Data, one of the smartest beings in the entire galaxy.
The computer obliges and creates a sentient version of Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’ greatest foe. Following Geordi’s instructions, the Enterprise computer included much of Data’s vast programming, which resulted in the holographic character becoming self-aware. Moriarty ended up threatening the Enterprise on two different occasions, and Picard eventually got rid of him by trapping the unknowing villain in a simulation where he thought he had left the holodeck and could explore the stars. This was meant to be a happy ending for Moriarty, but in the show’s typically bleak fashion, Star Trek: Picard later showed us a different, more hostile version of this character created by a malevolent Section 31 AI.
How A Villain Created A Hero
What does all of this have to do with Robert Picardo’s holographic Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager? Elementary, my dear reader! Very early in Voyager’s development (the show didn’t even have a name yet), executive producer Jeri Taylor was inspired by Moriarty to create a new character. As reported in A Vision of the Future-Star Trek: Voyager, Taylor wrote down notes for a holographic doctor “who, like Moriarty, has ‘awareness’ of himself as a holodeck fiction. He longs for the time when he can walk free of the Holodeck.”
A few days later, she wrote down additional notes that contain a startling bit of Star Trek lore. “The Holo-Doctor represents a new, state-of-the-art technology which has capitalized on the serendipitous incident which created Moriarty, and has programmed a holographic character which has self-awareness of his situation and limitations.” While Moriarty is name-dropped on Voyager a couple of times, the show never mentioned what Taylor’s notes seem to confirm: that Lewis Zimmerman could never have created the Emergency Medical Hologram program if not for Geordi LaForge accidentally creating Moriarty on the holodeck.
From Villain To Leading Man?
If that’s not strange enough, there was a period of time when Voyager’s producers were considering making Moriarty a mainstay character on the show. As reported in Star Trek–Where No One Has Gone Before, Taylor’s notes mentioned that “everyone agreed that was a little too broad, and we couldn’t figure out why anyone would take him along.” After dismissing the idea, they decided “that having a holographic doctor with the full consciousness of being a hologram might be fun, and we’d never done anything like that before, except for Moriarty.”
There you have it, gentle reader. Without the character of Moriarty on Star Trek: The Next Generation, we’d never have the Doctor on Voyager. In this way, Trek’s most ambitious villain helped create the franchise’s most complex hero. Thanks to Jeri Taylor’s notes, we also know that, in-universe, Lewis Zimmerman would never have been able to create the Doctor if not for Geordi accidentally creating a sentient Moriarty so Data could have fun. In retrospect, this does make Zimmerman’s arrogance that much weirder. After all, he has a lot of attitude for someone who owes his entire career to the two biggest book nerds in the galaxy!
Entertainment
Moon phase today: What the Moon will look like on April 19
After days of almost (and complete) darkness, the Moon is finally starting to reappear. We’re currently in the Waxing Crescent phase of the lunar cycle, which means each night until the Full Moon we’ll see it get more illuminated from the right side.
What is today’s Moon phase?
As of Sunday, April 19, the Moon phase is Waxing Crescent. Tonight, 5% of the moon will be lit up, according to NASA’s Daily Moon Guide.
Despite more of it now being illuminated, the percentage of surface is still too little to be able to spot any surface details. Check again tomorrow.
When is the next Full Moon?
The next Full Moon is predicted to take place on May 1, the first of two in May.
What are Moon phases?
NASA states that the Moon takes about 29.5 days to orbit Earth, during which it passes through eight distinct phases. We always see the same side of the Moon, but the amount of sunlight reflecting off it changes as it moves along its orbit, creating the familiar pattern of full, partial, and crescent shapes. We call these the lunar phases, and there are eight in total:
New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).
Mashable Light Speed
Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).
First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.
Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.
Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.
Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)
Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.
Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.
Entertainment
Ryan Gosling’s R-Rated Netflix Thriller With An MCU Budget Is Worth Its Weight In Shootouts
By Robert Scucci
| Published
After watching 2021’s Kate, the almighty algorithm threw 2022’s The Gray Man onto my radar, and I can’t say Ryan Gosling has ever disappointed me, so I figured I may as well give it a shot. He has a built-in level of charisma that lets him do his thing, and most of the time it lands. Going into the Russo brothers’ film expecting to see $200 million well spent on action sequences, with the added bonus of Gosling in the mix, I didn’t quite know how things would play out, but I had a hunch I wouldn’t feel let down.
But here’s the problem with straight-to-streaming action thrillers. Films like The Gray Man never get much time on the big screen, and they kind of need it if you want to enjoy them at the highest level. Across roughly 400 theaters, the film only brought in $454,023, which isn’t really its fault. It had a very short run across a disproportionately small number of screens, meaning it was never meant to recoup its budget this way. It’s a Netflix Original, designed to pull huge numbers on streaming.
The reason I see this as a bad thing is because this is an expensive movie. MCU expensive. Waterworld expensive. When that much money goes into blowing stuff up in spectacular fashion, I want to see it on a giant screen. Living in an apartment, I don’t have a fancy audio setup because my neighbors would murder me if I did, and my 44-inch TV is fine for most things, but less than stellar when entire city squares are getting leveled with all guns blazing.
Long story short, The Gray Man is a lot of fun, but it would be even more fun if you could watch it the way it was meant to be seen.
Let’s Not Get Bogged Down By The Details
The Gray Man also has an extremely convoluted plot. Not in a “too many twists” kind of way, but it’s a “load up the guns, spray and pray” kind of movie that would have been better served by simplicity. It’s executed well, but as side characters keep getting introduced in the second and third acts, part of me gets annoyed that I can’t fully shut my brain off because there’s always a new name or face to keep track of after the blasting has already started.
Ryan Gosling is a black ops agent known as Sierra Six, formerly Courtland Gentry. He was locked up as a minor after murdering his abusive father, and CIA officer Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) decides he’s the perfect candidate for a second chance. The deal is simple: Courtland works for him in exchange for his freedom, knowing he’ll be dealing with some very dangerous people.
Once things get rolling, Sierra Six teams up with Agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas), and the first mission we see involves assassinating a target named Dining Car (Callan Mulvey). Complications arise when the job goes sideways and Dining Car reveals he’s also part of the Sierra program before succumbing to his wounds. A flash drive gets passed off with vague instructions, and the wild goose chase begins, centering on CIA officer Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page), who sends a swarm of operatives after Six and Dani to retrieve it.
Along the way, we get more backstory on Six’s relationship with Donald and his niece Claire (Julia Butters), who Six previously worked security detail for. This obviously becomes important later because more collateral has entered the equation. The scenes between Six and Claire offer a surprisingly wholesome break from the chaos in Prague, and they’re a welcome addition.
From here on out, you pretty much know the deal. Double crosses stack on top of double crosses, things explode, and there’s so much inter-agency confusion over who’s good and who’s pulling the strings that you almost wish they’d ease up on the exposition and just keep blowing stuff up.
Solid, Pulse Pounding Action Thriller
The Gray Man’s budget absolutely shows on screen from start to finish. The action sequences are gorgeously shot (something that’s not always consistent across Netflix Originals), and at one point Sierra Six is standing on top of a moving tram, firing through the roof while tracking targets through reflections in nearby windows as the city flies past. This comes after he’s handcuffed to a railing in a town square, picking off attackers before they even get a chance to take him out.
Ana de Armas wielding a shotgun after throwing hands is also worth your time because she fully commits when the moment calls for it.
The only real issue I have is the film’s tendency to overload its premise with complexity for the sake of it. Most people don’t turn on action thrillers to do mental gymnastics. At least I don’t. I love psychological thrillers when I want things to get murky, but with action movies, I just want to sit back and watch things explode.
The convoluted plot isn’t a dealbreaker, just a nitpick. Some people enjoy sprawling shadow government conspiracies. It’s just not really my thing, so take that with a grain of salt. It’s still a great watch, just not one you can fully sink into the couch for and completely turn your brain off.
The Gray Man is a Netflix Original, and you can stream it with an active subscription.
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