Life is short, and so I’ve realized I want more showstopper moments during dinner parties. The ones where the fireworks go off and everybody goes “oooh.” You know? It’s because I can see 50 candles looming on my birthday cake in a lot fewer years than I would like, I guess. But whatever the reasons, let’s turn it into insightful “human-created content,” here, shall we?
With showstoppers in mind…I first saw the movie Big Night in the 1990s. I loved Stanley Tucci’s performance as a guy named “Segundo.” He’s a conflicted Italian immigrant drawn to American excess in New Jersey. His older brother Primo refuses to serve meatballs with spaghetti in their restaurant. Cue the inevitable conflict over authenticity versus survival in their new milieu. Besides Primo and Segundo going at it, there are other amazing performances. Isabella Rosselini plays Segundo’s jaded mistress. She is improbable in her glamour. Minnie Driver plays his idealistic, naive young girlfriend. She, too, is the archetype of American optimism. Ian Holm plays a terrifying rival restaurant owner and businessmen. He’s fantastic. But in the end? It’s a pasta dish that steals the show…
Tucci’s older brother chooses the Timpano, which means “drum,” like a Timpani drum, for the big dish. With their restaurant failing, all hinges on the success of one “big night,” to which they invite the press. Tony Shalhoub, who plays the older brother, Primo, explains the dish to Minnie Driver in a lovely scene. Ever since I saw the film, I’ve always wanted to make a Timpano, but to be honest, I never got my stuff together. Whenever I thought of it, I thought, “this could be great!” But then life got in the way and by the time a dinner party rolled around, I could find easier options. It was easier to watch the movie.
I hate AI. It’s terrible for humanity. It’s bad for writing. It’s bad for thinking. We should have a come-to-Jesus moment about the whole thing. On the other hand… I realized last week I could rely on Meta’s new Muse AI agent to make things easier. I could have it help me bring this dish, which for 25 years has been beyond me…to its knees. So I asked it to figure out the recipe for the Timpano and order the groceries for me on Instacart. I told it how many people were coming for dinner—six adults, five kids. I said I was happy to rely on store-bought meatballs, lasagne, and hard-boiled eggs to save work. Jars of marinara sauce instead of homemade? Yes, please. I even had it choose the right dish to cook it in and help me order it from Amazon. When it came to making the dish, I was nervous about the pasta sticking to the sides. I asked Muse several paranoid questions and sought endless reassurance. It handled my jitters for me and got me over the line.
By the time Saturday rolled around the ingredients were ready and I had a step-by-step recipe. Mark Zuckerberg’s product had broken a quarter-century productivity bottleneck in my life. I was ready to go. I wish I could say that it failed. But it was a complete and utter triumph. Even my friend who came round and warned me, “it might take a few tries to get this right?” One and done, baby! One and done! Ha, ha!
What did I learn from this? That I should have made the thing earlier and moved along? Nope. I learned that you can google “elaborate dinner party dishes” and that there is a thing called a “Turducken.”
Hey, Muse…can you figure out where I can get a “ducken” from?
There are also a bunch of dishes which involve the word “flambé…”
Buona sera!
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Matt Davis is a strategic communications consultant, novelist, and obviously, a fantastic cook.
