i firmly believe in serendipity. i wasn’t sure whether i was using the term correctly and looked it up and before i knew it, i was looking at serendipitous values in chemistry which led me to the invention of silly putty, penicillin,lsd and a buttload of other amazing things discovered by accident when looking for something else entirely. i was at the library looking up how to start a food co-op and they(the library) had an exhibit of 30 years of denton music. i knew everybody! there is an old schwantz lefantz album with jim smith-original owner of jim’s diner-on the cover. jim is the reason i got into cooking-i was a terrible cashier. so then i go to the stacks and my book isn’t there but kenny shropsin’s book is. he was in that movie called “i like killing flies” about his restaurant in new york. i was so excited that i ran to check it out but some a-hole had a hold on it so i had to drool over it right there. which brings me to my point. he had a recipe for what he called callaloo and it looked so good that i formed my menu around it. when i started looking for another recipe for it online, it’s not calalloo. its pepperpot. but i want it to be callaloo and thats what i shall call it.

tonight:

• callaloo jamaican meat pies or blackeyed pea pies(thats a fun combo of words to say)
  
• coconut pudding(this is also a fib)

i have only been to new orleans twice but i have some memories -especially food memories that i can’t shake. the first time, i was lucky enough to be given the grand tour with a native. my friend’s mother was the quintessential n.o woman. she could cuss like the blue blazes and then turn around and serve you tea and scones with the best of ‘em. so she took me to all the must-sees and then the ones that they keep for themselves. mandinas was the most memorable. smoky old bar,grouchy old men in black bistro aprons,probably 10 tables with no apparent system of who got to sit at one. except us. when we walked in, the waters parted and we were ushered to a seat and i could have sworn i saw one of the old men smile at tommie’s mom. our starter was asparagus with parmesan and lemon. we were all excited. damn! when they set down the dish the asparagus was canned!!!! we all looked at each other smugly. canned asparagus! one bite, though and i forgot. every bite got better. good parmesan, good olive oil, fresh lemon juice and good canned asparagus. i’ve been a fan ever since.

tonight

• uncanned asparagus,grilled and served with lemon parmesan and olive oil
• and oh yeah garlic chicken etoufee or eggplant etoufee 
• mocha cake

i am actually glad that last week’s email did not make it out. it was a whiner. wah-i hate vday-wah-i washed my cell phone. it was weird because we were getting fios installed and i had been-ahem-researching some scrabble and writing right up until i pressed the send. man, i punched that sucker a dozen times to no avail. so i went back to “researching” and finally realized i couldn’t. it didn’t dawn on me that my internets was off for another hour. because i had washed my phone, i knew no one’s phone number to call but dan’s. dan is no dinosaur but he does have issues with modern technology like cc and bcc in email. but we got through it and we are still together and he did a very nice job.
so this week, i just figured out what to do about 20 minutes ago. here it is

• korean pancake
• eggrolls
• soy potatoes 
• orange delight

i found the recipe for lemon delight and it looked delightful but all i had was orange.

mount cheesemore

i am so busy deep frying bacon that my super-hero typing skills have returned. you are probably saying”get over the bacon-we have” and actually i have but i have 2 more bacon-y things i need to do. 1) the bacon explosion-which is a woven mat of bacon wrapped around sausage that has a filling of fried bacon. 2) i just forgot. the bacon explosion blew my thoughts out. and my superpower typing is much faster than my brain. my actual new passion is blue cheese. i wanted to start a cheese club called the cheeses of nazareth (thanks to wally for the name) but its much harder than it sounds. nobody wants to ship a bunch of cheeses to a bunch of nobodies. i must have called a dozen cheese companies who just didn’t care about me. anyway, back to blue cheese-our favorite is a goat’s blue called humboldt’s fog outta california. it is gooey and stinky and as i found out through leaving it in my car overnight, it is best at room temperature or warmer. kroger actually has a really decent selection of blues-today i got a danish blue and a castello that are both quite nice. it ain’t no central market but hey who is? the point of my blue cheese saga is that i saw a restaurant menu that had a bacon and blue cheese soup! heaven. i have been playing with it all day and the funny thing is that my friend esther was just telling me about a cranberry soup she made and i thought i want to make that too! for the vegetarians. somehow, the cranberries talked me into letting them visit the blue cheese and well, we are having a cranberry and blue cheese soup-no bacon for the vegetarians.

tonight:

• blue cheese,cranberry and bacon soup(mariel,i made one just for you without blue cheese)
• peppers stuffed with wild rice and artichokes
• fresh pineapple upside down cake

(btw – he’s drinking a beer available at Dan’s.  for $1.  on sundays.)

yesterday reaffirmed my faith in the government. it wasn’t just because we gorged ourselves on mac n cheese,smothered pork chops,turnip greens and 2 pieces each of sweet potato pecan pie. i honestly did not believe that cheney was going to leave peacefully. i think the wheelchair thing was just a ruse-they had to sedate him and strap him to that thing to keep him from declaring himself king forever. as exhilarating as participating in the election process was, the inauguration ceremony topped any experience that i’ve had standing up. i feel hope for the future, even in the face of economic doom. it seems as though graciousness is going to wriggle its way back into the forefront, too. michelle gave laura a parting gift! people quit shoving when asked to! aretha’s hat! it was an all-around wonderful experience that i was happy to share on television. seeing the rainbow of faces and tears of relief,all gathered together to welcome change was amazing. i hereby declare that i will donate time to the needy,think less of myself and more of others, all thanks to obama-my president.
tonight

• broccoli cheese soup
• shredded beef or shredded brussell sprouts
• strawberry blueberry gallette

my first good deed of the year is giving out my secret cornbread recipe
this is not for sissies or vegetarians(no, i am not calling you sissies)
pammy’s kick ass cornbread
preheat the oven to 425 and put a 9 by 9 pan in there
1 c flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 T sugar
1 t. salt
sift together and add
1 c. cornmeal
1/2 c toasted garlic
then combine together
2 c buttermilk
2 eggs
4 T bacon drippings
stir the liquid into the dry and add
1/2 can chipotles,chopped
1/4 c crisp bacon
pour into preheated greased pan and bake for 25-30 minutes

HOOLI​GANSH​IP:​ ADVEN​TURE
Hooli​gansh​ip (​Peter​ Burr and Chris​tophe​r Doulg​eri)​,​ 2006 (6 min.)

In this anima​ted short​,​ band pract​ice is inter​rupte​d by “Dona​ld
Trump​et”,​ who tells​ the music​ians about​ some of his probl​ems.
These​ probl​ems inclu​de pizza​,​ hot dogs,​ soft serve​ ice cream​,
and more.

Hooli​gansh​ip is the North​west’​s answe​r to the visua​l cultu​re of
Fort Thund​er,​ Force​field​,​ Paper​ Rad, and Dear Raind​rop.​ Using
music​,​ anima​tion,​ insta​llati​on,​ and perfo​rmanc​e,​ the duo
“reve​l in a hypno​tic abund​ance of digit​al infor​matio​n”.

LORD of the UNIVE​RSE
TVTV (Top Value​ Telev​ision​)​,​ 1974 (60 min.)

He was the 16-​year-​old Guru Mahar​aj Ji and, as the Mille​nnium
appro​ached​,​ he promi​sed to levit​ate the Houst​on Astro​dome.​ It
was the early​ Seven​ties and anyth​ing was possi​ble so thous​ands
flock​ed to his gathe​ring.​ Follo​w him from his mansi​on in New York
to the limou​sines​ in Houst​on,​ liste​n to his follo​wers and watch
the spect​acle unfol​d just as the gueri​lla docum​entar​y colle​ctive
TVTV did in this long out of print​ Alfre​d I. DuPon​t award​ winni
ng docum​entar​y.

“If this guy is God, then this is the God the Unite​d State​s of Ameri
ca deser​ves.​” – Abbie​ Hoffm​an

NINA SIMON​E LIVE
VARA/​GRANA​DA,​ 1965/​1968 (60 min.)

Featu​ring perfo​rmanc​es in Holla​nd on Decem​ber 25, 1965 and on
Engla​nd’s Grana​da TV on Septe​mber 14, 1968.

Songs​ inclu​de.​.​.​ Brown​ Baby,​ Four Women​,​ The Balla​d of Holli
s Brown​,​ Tomor​row is My Turn/​Image​s,​ Go Limp,​ Missi​ssipp​i
Godda​m,​ Go To Hell,​ Ain’t​ Got No/I Got Life,​ Backl​ash Blues​,​ I
Put a Spell​ on You, Don’t​ Let Me Be Misun​derst​ood,​ Why? (The King
of Love is Dead)​.

don’t worry-he’s not dead. its just that people keep telling me i need to see the movie marley and i feel like the movie is a tamed down version of our life together. dan and i found tokio in-surprise! tokio,texas, which is west of west which is northwest of waco which is funny, too. he was the only one of the litter we could catch so we thought this was a good sign. for the first few days, he calmly slept on while we worked. the perfect dog, we thought. he did have a small shoe obsession. this became a large one on one of our walks to the twu campus. i had the unfortunate habit of letting him off the leash after a cursory glance around. i missed the yoga circle. the yoga circle with their shoes laying outside of the circle. the first theft was ignored cuz these folks were blissin’. the second caused a little stir but the third made them realize that he was dropping them into the pond before coming for another.not to mention my voice can be piercing when panicked. there is nothing worse than being screamed at by 12 yogites awakened by berkenstock mania. actually, being screamed at by the electric wheelchair guy was not that much fun either. tokio also has a thing about tinny,whining motors, too. the model airplane guy was not happy,nor the lady with whiny yapping dog or that fella who walks around town with the big book bag. his scream is surprisingly girly. oh yeah and the petco santa really hates tokio. i wish my picture could have been santa chasing tokio instead of glaring at him. but he is my curse and i bear it with a grin. its much funnier after it happens.
tonight
chopped salad
chilaquiles-like king ranch casserole but much much better
flourless chocolate cake

i couldn’t help it. dan and i went to the wonderland of all grocery stores-hmart. it denfinitely needs a new name like funmart or beststoreinworld. the lovely mariel,baby ray and handsome dwayne turned us on to this place so i knew it had to be good.  it is an asian market but that doesn’t give it its due. everything you can think of and a lot more is there. first, we committed gluttony at the food court with these hot rock bowls of rice that come out so hot that they cook a raw egg and your chosen ingredients. then i lusted after many of their sashimi platters .from there, i envied all the stuff i couldn’t possibly cook before it went bad. i still greedily bought more than i can reasonably cook in time. then we went home and slothed around the house for the rest of the day. ok- i may have committed one more because i proudly took a picture of the chicken joy counter.tha said it was a good day because i had no wrath at all. you can look it up at hmart.com.
tonight we are having
oriental scotch eggs
veggie sambar
cardamom holiday cookies

so far there are no plans to show anything on sunday.

don’t let that stop you from stopping by and having a drink with Mary!

PIZZA PIZZA DADDY-O
Bess Lomax Howes, 1967 (18 min.)

Filmed by anthropologist Bess Lomax Howes (daughter of musicologist John Lomax, and sister of Alan), PIZZA PIZZA DADDY-O looks at continuity and change in girls’ playground games at a Los Angeles school in 1967. The players are a dozen African American fourth-grade girls (9 – 10 years old).

Songs and games performed include: My Boyfriend Gave Me a Box, Mighty, Mighty Devil, My Mother Died, This-A-Way Batman, and Pizza Pizza Daddy-O.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2YodFqZ7nQ

The Monument of Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder
Allie Light and Irving Saraf, 1983 (29 min.)At age 71, Chief Thunder lives in the Nevada desert with his young wife and small children in The Monument, a concrete and stone house he built and decorated with powerful forms and arches. His sculptures, “spirits of the living,” portray Indian heroes, family, and friends. He created the monument when a voice spoke in a dream. The film captures the tragedy of his life, his painful isolation, the beauty of his work, and his creative process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC4ycOy0n5k

KRAUTROCK 101
Various, 1970-1971 (60 min.)A collection of early psych and prog rock from Germany in the 1970s.

Featuring: Amon Duul II, CAN, Xhol Caravan, Kraftwerk, Lucifer’s Friend, Ton Schiene Scherben, Frumpy, Guru Guru, Emergency, Joy Unlimited, Kin Ping Meh, and more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5DpOdf-_yM