Music Friday: "Istanbul (not Constantinople)" & "Minimum Wage"

The other day one of my FB friends opined that Flood by They Might Be Giants is one of the best albums ever. I'm not going that far, but it is a fun album. 

Here's a couple of songs from the album that I haven't featured before. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Loaded Cauliflower Bake

This is a recipe I modified slightly from a recipe from Food Network, a TV station that rarely airs real cooking shows anymore. They don't have the cooking shows like they used to. It's all about food competition shows and all that crap. 

Anyway, here's what I made for supper last night. 

Ingredients
2 heads of cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 package of center cut bacon
1 package of cream cheese (brought to room temperature)
2 cups of shredded cheddar (I used a mixture of sharp and mild)
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
4 green onions, finely chopped
Sour cream
Salt and pepper

Process
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Using a sheet pain with a wire rack, lay out the bacon and bake for however long it takes for the bacon to be crisp. As that is baking, cut up the cauliflower, add salt and pepper, and place into a large casserole dish.

Take the bacon out and remove it to cool. Using a soup spoon, ladle the bacon grease into the cauliflower. Place the dish into the oven and roast the cauliflower for roughly 25 minutes. 

Cut up the room temperature cream cheese into a large bowl and add 1 cup of the cheddar and minced garlic. Mix this as thoroughly as possible. Once the cauliflower is roasted, dollop the cream cheese/cheddar mixture throughout the cauliflower and top the mixture with the remaining cup of cheddar. 

Bake it for approximately 10 more minutes and top with the bacon and green onions. Add spoonfuls of sour cream evenly throughout the casserole dish. Place back into the oven for a couple of minutes and then bring it back out and serve. 

Music Friday: "East West"

This long, jammy instrumental song is probably my favorite tune from the new release by the band The Third Mind. 

Check it out. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Slow Cooker Tikka Masala Chicken

For those who belong to the Aldi Nerd community on Facebook, this one's for you. 

Ingredients
3-4 large chicken breasts, fat trimmed and cut into cubes
2 red bell peppers, chopped moderately finely
Half of yellow onion, chopped finely
1 jar of Aldi brand Tikka Masala simmer sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Smidge of cayenne pepper

Process
Chop up the onions and peppers and place them into a large slow cooker. Chop up the chicken and add it atop the onions and peppers. Douse the top with the simmer sauce and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over rice or riced cauliflower. 

Since I've never had Tikka Masala before, I don't know how the jarred sauce compares to the real thing, but I enjoyed it. From my reckoning, I felt the dish needed a good bit of freshly cracked black pepper and some cayenne, so I added those.  

Music Friday: "Time Spent in Los Angeles" & "Fire Away"

Yesterday I was listening to some Dawes when doing some work. 

I don't think I've ever featured these songs from Nothing Is Wrong.

Random Notes from a Crank

I've been trying to catch up on my magazine reading, and the December issue of The Atlantic is quite good, an issue that is chocked full of interesting reads. 

I've thought about reading Tara Westover's memoir, Educated, and her short interview titled "Left Behind" in print is titled "The Places Where the Recession Never Ended" online and is quite illuminating. Since I live in a rural part of the Midwest, I tend to agree with a number of the contentions at the end of the interview, such as these areas tend to be the harbinger of the "old economy" and that the opioid epidemic is hitting rural areas hard. 

As pundits and well-seasoned writers are wont to do when examining the Republican Party, "How America Ends" looks at how the GOP under Moscow Don is targeting a shrinking demographic and how the party might be prone to doing all sorts of heinous crap to keep their hold and sustain their perception as "real Americans." 

Here are some factoids from the last two versions of the Harper's Index:

• Percentage of Uber riders who never tip: 60
• Who always tip: 1
• Estimated number of people who could go unaccounted for in the 2020 census because of an "increased climate of fear": 4,000,000
• Average effective tax rate, as a percentage of income, paid by the richest 400 households in the United States in 2018: 23
• By the poorest half of American households: 24
• Percentage by which owning a dog lowers one's risk of death: 24
• Percentage of American men who say they would not feel "very comfortable" with a woman as president: 51
• Of American women who say so: 41
• Percentage of Americans aged 13 to 38 who would be willing to post sponsored content to their social-media accounts: 86
• Number of pending patent applications for variations of the phrase "OK, Boomer": 6

In the online version of The Atlantic, Cohen penned a good piece about Romney's speech about voting yes for conviction: "In the Long Run, Romney Wins." I think he's right. He was the only GOP with guts to do what's right. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Green Lentil, Roasted Pepper, and Spinach Soup

I adapted this recipe from the most recent issue of Milk Street Magazine. 

Ingredients
1/2 a yellow onion, diced
1 and a half tablespoons of ground cumin
1 and a half tablespoons of smoked paprika 
1 teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper
3 bay leaves
1 and a half cups of dried green lentils
1 jar of roasted bell peppers, drained and chopped finely
2 cartons (32 oz. each) of chicken stock
1 bag of baby spinach (6-8 oz)
Salt and pepper to taste

Process
Coat a large Dutch oven with olive oil over medium-high heat. Sweat down the diced onions for 5-8 minutes. Add the cumin, paprika, pepper, and bay leaves and cook briefly for about a minute. Add in the lentils, roasted pepper, and the stock. Adjust the heat to high until it boils. 

Reduce the heat to low and cover. Stir occasionally. It'll take approximately 35 minutes for the lentils to soften. Once that time has elapsed, take out the bay leaves and add in the spinach to wilt it. Salt and pepper to taste. 

With the combo of smoked paprika and cumin coupled with the roasted peppers, the soup has a smoky flavor that I enjoy. 

Music Friday: "In Hiding"

I'm late with my Music Friday post. I got back from Chicago on Friday night, and then I forgot to post yesterday. 

With the weather the way it is around these parts, flurries of snow yesterday and then rain today, this song sums up the mood of the weekend. It's the kind of weather that makes one want to hole in his or her house and just chill. 

Musing of the Moment: Iowa Caucus ~ Regrets

One of my biggest regrets is that I never got to participate in the Iowa Caucus. I lived my growing years in Waterloo, Iowa and then moved to Missouri to go to school at Truman State University. When I moved to Kirksville, I registered as a voter in Missouri. And the first presidential election I voted in was in 1992. 

Since I follow politics fairly closely, I've been fascinated ty the Iowa Caucus. When my parents were still alive, they caucused initially for Richardson and then moved to Obama's camp at their caucus site when Richardson didn't have enough people. 

To all the good people caucusing in Iowa today, thank you. 

And I am jealous. 

Musing of the Moment: "Let's go Harlots"

I was with a colleague for lunch the other day, and over the course of the meal, she mentioned that a town in West Virginia that she lived near named itself after the local prostitute. 

This fact got me thinking...

If that town has a high school, what is its mascot?

The Whores

The Harlots

Call Boys/Girls

I can see it now: cheerleaders yelling, "Let's Go Whores." Or some fans yelling from the stand, "Play some defense, Harlots." 

Music Friday: "Thoughts and Prayers"

The Drive-By Truckers came out with a new album today, The Unraveling. 

I've only listened to it once so far, but this song (and its video) is the star of the opus right now. It's self-explanatory. 

Fumbling Toward Culinary Talent: Keto (Porcine) Salmon Patties

When I was a kid, my mom made salmon patties on a fairly regular basis. It's a foodstuff of modest origins: canned salmon. 

I hadn't made salmon patties in ages, so I went for the most part off the recipe on the can, but I made some minor modifications, the main being substituting crushed pork rinds for bread crumbs. 

In the future, garnishing the patties with some freshly chopped cilantro seems in order. When Mrs. Nasty ate her patty, she slathered on guacamole, and she said it tasted great. 

Ingredients

1 can of salmon

1/2 cup of crushed pork rinds

1/2 cup of diced yellow onion, sweated down

1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of lemon zest

1-2 beaten eggs

Salt and pepper to taste

Process

Because I hate raw onions, I sweated down the onions with some rosemary-infused olive oil. As they were cooking, one can crush the pork rinds and set them aside. Then I drained the salmon and picked out any nasty bits. 

Dump the salmon, onions, and pork rinds into a large bowl and then add the eggs. Add salt and pepper.

In a medium-high skillet, coat with neutral oil and cook until both sides are golden brown and delicious.

Musing of the Moment: Biden and Who at VP?

The Washington Post's recent article, "Biden and Sanders Are Breaking Away from the Pack of Candidates...," shows that Biden seems to be pulling away from the rest of the field if we can trust recent polls and the upcoming primaries in subsequent states after Iowa and New Hampshire. 

I will readily admit that Biden is not my favorite candidate, but I sure in hell will vote for him for President over the idiocy and corruption of Moscow Don. I cannot understand any Bernie supporter who would sit out the election because whatever candidate chosen does not have the requisite ideological purity. 

In fact, of the candidates, I like Warren, Klobuchar, Bloomberg, Steyer, Biden, and Buttigieg probably in that order. But I'm looking toward the general election. For me, the main decision is going to come down to who will be the Vice Presidential candidate. 

As for candidates for VP, I'm thinking Kamala Harris or Corey Booker. Warren would work too.

Music Friday: "Smooth Sailing"

I am anticipating a handful of new albums to come out this year (Pearl Jam, Isbell, Drive-By Truckers), but I am wondering if it's about time for a new album from Queens of the Stone Age. 

And that moves me to sharing this song performed on Austin City Limits. 

I need to keep watching that show. Because we moved to Hulu, that's a show I don't access to via the TV. But I suspect I could just watch the performances on their website though. 

Music Friday: "Grown"

Jason Isbell deservedly gets a lot of attention for his more recent albums, but one of my favorite songs of his comes from his first solo album. 

I identify with it because I remember the feeling of lusting after an older girl when I was a young boy. I secretly pined for the older girl who lived across the street from me. I would sit in a pin oak tree (I was a tree climber as a boy) and fantasize about her. 

As the lyrics (full lyrics below) state, "I learned how to lust."




"Grown"

Last night I heard the sirens' song,
and I followed it in the ditch.
Oh baby, I'm just carrying on, 
far be it for me to bitch.

Last night I heard the distant hum
of another damn hurricane.
Oh, Sunnie tell me where you've gone.
Are you still dancing to 'Purple rain'?

You took my little hand.
You took me to your room.
You taught me how to want something.
I learned how to move.

Oh, oh, you made me feel so grown.

Last year I heard your momma had
a little trouble with the thin red line.
I always knew that you could
understand and not undermine.

You took me to your room.
I let my eyes adjust.
You taught me how to want something.
I learned how to lust. 

Oh, oh, you made me feel so grown.

Oh, oh, you made me feel so grown.

All them years ago
you took a nervous little kid,
and you taught me how to slow it down just a little bit

Oh, oh, you made me feel so grown.
Oh, oh, you made me feel so grown.
Oh, oh, oh, oh you made me feel so grown.
Oh, oh, oh you made me feel so grown.