Movie night, but make it classy

We've developed a bit of a recurring weekly event here at The Monhegan House this summer. With the help (and by help I mean full-fledged planning and coordination) of Mark, our very own conoissuer of all things French and elegant, we've successfully put together two movie nights thus far. Like most social activities on Monhegan Island, there is of course a catch to these group film viewings: French films only and fancy wine and cheese.

For the last two movie nights, we've been watching J'etaime Paris, a vibrant compilation of romantic shorts. The movie itself is an interesting one, full of the abstract, the classic, and the sad in regard to individual story plots. I don't think any of us know much about film theory or proper critique vocabulary, but we chuckle together at the obviously funny scenes and offer "I liked that one"s and "I'm not sure how I feel about that"s after each story.

The most important part of movie night is of course the pre-show festivities which involve Édith Piaf and carefully decorated plates of cheese, baguette, dried fruit, jams, mustards, and cured meats plus a couple bottles of wine (naturally served in staff-room coffee mugs––stemmed glasses are so last year anyway, am I right?). As we're located on a secluded island which lacks all things local dairy and meat, I'm sure you're wondering where we get all of these curated treats? Cue Mark, the truck driver.

Over the past few weeks, I've learned several things about Mark and have subsequently deemed him my favorite islander. He's originally from Pittsburgh (surprising for some reason), has four sisters, is an uncle, spent a large chunk of his life as a professional ballet dancer in Texas, has traveled the world, drinks Founders beer, speaks French quite well for an American, and had some seemingly transformative experiences in San Francisco in the 90s. He also averages about 12 punny jokes a day and likes to draw self-deprecating contrasts between my 21-year-old youthfulness and his"old age." As stated in a previous blog, this is Mark's third season on the island, which automatically gives him seniority and maintains his position as boss' favorite. He's also perhaps the most famous person on Monhegan in general. Each morning he wakes up earlier than me to lug guest bags, mow the lawn, tend the garden, and whatever else needs improvement and maintenance around the inn. In the evening however, Mark is constantly dashing away to fulfill his social calendar from one dinner with friends to the next. Seeing as his job requires him to frequent the docks and deliver shipments in his truck to various businesses in town––he's made quite a few friends.

And those friends come with perks.

Every day Mark gets to take free chocolate bars and coffee from the Black Duck in return for small deliveries, and he's even got a sweet deal with the captain of one of the ferries who now brings him fresh baguettes from the mainland. While the cheese is typically ordered by Mark himself from the Portland Cheese Shop, Holden (Susan's husband and other co-owner of the inn) just ordered him a huge array of fancy cheeses from some farm in Waldoboro. In true Mark fashion, he also finessed a scenario with Susan and Holden in which he gets to buy some of our sample-section wines from The Novelty for incredibly reduced prices in return for feedback on flavor notes.

So at the last movie night, we broke out three of Holden's gifted cheeses: a soft yet salty Jig, a two month-aged Cascadilla Bleau, and an intimidating chunk of aged goat. We start the course with a small pour of a red, this one happened to be a 2014 Malbec from France (shocker). After everyone's mugs are doled out, Mark insists on each person making eye contact as we clink glasses with one another before taking our first swigs. After naming everything on the platter, we decide on the specific order to consume the cheeses in. We always begin with the mildest and finish with the strongest to avoid spoiling our taste buds. Once we've tried the cheeses and given our verbal reviews (which are always glowing, I mean it's free expensive cheese after all), we start in with combinations of crackers, apples, toppings, and cheese to create "the perfect bite." My perfect bite last time was a slice of apple with Jig and fig jam atop it to satisfy the sweet and saltiness I often crave.

Then we essentially just talk about everything from town gossip to countries we wish we lived in and lifestyles we wish we could afford. Finally, we break out either a white or a rosé to accompany our squares of chocolate and massive dates before eventually putting on the movie. Mark has a battery-powered projector which is perfect for our outdoor deck and has given us some ideas for movie nights at different locations (there's talk of playing 'The Lighthouse' at the actual lighthouse, in which case I will of course need to devote an entire blog once again to said function).

It's strange to go from being a covid-isolated college-student with loads of free daytime, to a full-time housekeeper with a newfound passion for in-person interactions because I have traded all TV watching for actual conversation. At home, it started to feel like Love Island and the latest releases from Amazon Prime were my main hobbies. But I couldn't watch a show even if I wanted to here, streaming is much too hard for our spotty wifi and I actually love it. It doesn't matter which film is playing on movie night because it feels so comforting to watch anything with good people in and of itself.

Movie night is certainly reminding me of the way I always want to have meals and navigate social gatherings: slow and appreciative, and always alongside good wine and cheese.