American Madness

From Super Soldier we move to Super Spy:

Yesterday was the birthday of one of America’s top female spies, she would have been 95. Monday marked the three year anniversary of her passing.

In 1941, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Julia McWilliams attempted to join the Navy, but was turned down because of her height (at 6′2″, she was deemed to tall). Following her rejection from the Navy she joined the US Office of Strategic Services (the agency that, essentially, gave birth to the CIA).

During her time at the OSS Julia McWilliams worked in DC as a file clerk (she also helped develop a shark repellent), Sri Lanka and China, where she received the Emblem of Meritorious Civilian Service as head of the Registry of the OSS Secretariat. While in the OSS she also met her husband Paul Child, they married in 1946 and moved to France in 1948.

We are all the more fortunate for their move to France, as Julia Child describes her first meal in Rouen as a Culinary revelation. 3 short years later, after attending Le Cordon Bleu cooking school and studying under some master chefs, Child and two of her friends were teaching cooking classes out of their kitchens and working on a French cook book for Americans. Unfortunately it took 10 years before the book got published, but, once it did, she was a hit.

As we all know, Julia Child became a cooking icon, possibly one of the first celebrity chefs, with a plethora of books, cooking shows, magazine articles and guest appearances, almost everybody knows who Julia Child is. Oh yeah, and in 1981 she founded the American Institute of Wine and Food, you know, in her spare time.

There is a new(-ish) website around now called I’m Cooked.
It is the type of site where folks who watch the Food Network and feel that they could make better cooking shows then Sandra Lee (and really, who can’t) can come and post their videos of cooking in the kitchen.

Like YouTube or Funny or Die it is all based on user submitted content, but they have some “shows” like A Coupla Fat Guys Cooking, but what really puts the site over the top, like any other website is the celebrity endorsement.

Funny Or Die has Will Ferrell, You Tube has every presidential candidate that you have ever heard of (and some you probably haven’t heard of. I’m Cooked has Christopher Walken. He prepares a chicken with roast pears. Now come on, who doesn’t want to make chicken like Christopher Walken?

Greetings to all American Madness readers. I’m Alexei, guest blogger from refriedscreens.com.

When I was a kid, I loved crossovers. For the uninitiated, a crossover would feature characters from different worlds coming together from time to time, like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? with Daffy Duck and Donald Duck in the same scene, Nintendo’s Super Smash Brothers with Mario and Link, or the Muhammad Ali vs Superman Fight of the Century. Those crossovers were contentious, but American Madness and Refried Screens crossovers are all about love.

In this inaugural crossover, I’d like to draw your attention to Egg Fu.

Egg fu is a ginormous Communist egg created by Chinese sleeper agents to take down America and Wonder Woman.

DC Comics reinterpreted our favorite Communist instrument of terror, Egg Fu, for the 21st Century. They gave him a shave and a language coach.

Old Fu:New Fu:
After checking out the changes, I realized Egg Fu’s true calling:

A featured ingredient on a reality cooking show.
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Okay, I am off to a slow start today, but I have a bunch of stuff I want to post. Let’s see what I am able to get to this afternoon and hope that not too much is left for tomorrow and I can start fresh then.

Let’s begin with Amazon.com. A great website as far as I am concerned, unlike CitySearch I am not going to bash Amazon today. Instead I am going to comment on some of the… “odder” postings I have found there recently. Part of it is related to the items themselves, the other part is the great comments that these items have received.

First up we have the JL421 Badonkadonk land Cruiser/Tank by NAO. You look at the first picture and think that it has got to be something straight out of Star Wars, maybe a toy or something, until you see the $19,999.95 price tag. Continue reading and you find out it is an actual vehicle you can purchase (not for actual road use) customized to your specification and all. Start reading the comments and you get a bunch of humor “Finally, a tank you can trust” says that one of the only negatives is that the tank shows up on radar. “Limited armament options, AC not trustworthy…” complains that the plastic package it comes in is difficult to open. Some real laughs there.

Then on the “Customers who viewed this item also viewed” section of the page I found a link to Fresh Whole Rabbit. You guessed it, they are actually selling frozen rabbits on Amazon. Interesting in its own way to begin with, but check out the pictures posted for the rabbit first, clearly a couple customers have a bit of a sense of humor about this one as well. But again the comedy is truly in the comments. User joeytonz complains that “The only problem is, I’m done with it. Why can’t I sell my own fresh whole rabbit in the “used” section? Seems unfair to me for Amazon to have a monopoly on cold, naked, dead rabbits.” maus”maus” talks about the dinner party where they served this to “Sir Elmer Fudd, Wille E. Coyote” and a group of other bunny loving folks.

If you are in need of a laugh you’ve got to check these pages out.

Isn’t it nice when things just fall into place? So, I have this recipe, I can’t take credit for it unfortunately, but it is a great recipe, especially on hot summer days like today. Unfortunately I couldn’t really think of a decent post to go with it besides “This is a great recipe.”

Then today I get an email from New York Magazine (written by Faran Alexis Krentcil*) for these molds.

Anyway, the recipe is for making frozen Rhubarb Yogurt with Raspberry Syrup Pops. Personally, I like to make them in Push-Up Pop form, but these molds will work just as well. The recipe can be found here. They make an excellent treat and are pretty simple to make. Though remember they are frozen pops- think ahead, make them today so you can enjoy them tomorrow. Oh, also, with this recipe I recommend reading it straight through before starting, personally I cut back a bit on the sugar in both the rhubarb and the yogurt, it gives the frozen pop a nice tangy flavor.

*Same writer from the Snoopy Sno-Cone maker incident
P.S.- Faran, I don’t recommend trying to make Frozen Daiquiri’s in spaceship form. Due to rum’s low freezing point you are just going to get slush, no frozen spaceships, well, unless you leave the rum out, but really what is the point then?

No, I mean it, literally, I was just cooking.

I finally remembered, while making one of my new recipes to take a few pictures while cooking and to write it down.

So tonight I present you with Monkfish Tacos

After the jump you’ll find the recipe as well as more pictures (more…)

Articles like this one from Reuters tend to get me a bit flustered and frustrated, I have already deleted my initial rant and started over to try and focus my issues.

The article is about men who do food shopping and how they essentially can not handle the intricacies of a supermarket. Well, I am a man who does supermarket shopping and I have no problem with a supermarket.

I guess my biggest problem with this article, and more so with the research, is how much is left out and the implications that are being made based on the vague research. (more…)

Some folks out there may have been aware that last week was the Congressional Food Stamp Challenge where congress men & women ate for a week on a food stamp budget (in NY that is $28 a week). You can read about some of their experiences here.

Think you could do it? What would you eat? Where would your money go to?
I am considering giving it a try, see how far I could get on $28 a week (or $4 a day), unfortunately I really like to eat, but it does make you think about the poverty levels and how much the government really is “helping.”

Something to consider. Anyone up for trying this out with me in order to gain a deeper understanding of what the government considers to be passable?

I am still laughing at this one so I don’t even know where to start. So, apparently a police officer in Michigan stole some confiscated marijuana, baked some brownies and then freaked out and called 911.

Besides the news woman actually cracking up on air, the best line in the video is “And I think we’re dead. Time is going by really really really really slow.”

Check out the video here

On a more serious note: Why the fuck was the officer allowed to resign with no charges brought against him? Not only was he in possession of drugs, as well as using drugs, he also is a thief who stole police evidence. Seriously, time to bust this guy. Well, that or legalize it.

On a lighter note, I think my job has killed me because time here seems to be moving really really really really slow.

Did I mention one of the anchors actually snorts?

(Thanks for the tip Taina)

As I’ve mentioned before I cook. There is an article from todays NY Times called “A No-Frills Kitchen Still Cooks.” It is about how setting up a kitchen does not have to cost an arm and a leg and can be done pretty well for under $300.
Now, I really like my kitchen, and my knives alone probably cost about $300 (but they are really pretty), on the other hand there are a number of items in my kitchen that I have purchased on the cheap. This guide is pretty good and Mark Bittman suggests shopping at Bowery Restaurant Supply on Delancy St., which is one of my favorites.
Bittman’s guide is pretty good and I have few complaints about it and I’ll list them after the jump (more…)