BuzzSugar

I Like Food: Munchies from Musicians

BuzzSugar — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 06:58:45 PDT

In my mind, rock music and yummy food truly are two great tastes that taste great together. So Kara Zuaro is a girl after my own heart: She's compiled a book of recipes from rockers including the Hold Steady, the Decemberists, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, My Morning Jacket, and the Mountain Goats called I Like Food, Food Tastes Good.

Now, I tend to associate rock show food more with "hey, is that pizza place still open?" than with elaborate gourmet delicacies, so I'm excited to see that Camera Obscura apparently has a way with veggie paella and the Drive-By Truckers make a mean banana pudding. On the other end of the scale, there's Strung Out's Rock 'n' Ramen (two ramen flavors, not one) and this, um, recipe from freak-folker Devendra Banhart:

RIGHT ON!!!!!!
here is my favorite recipe for:
AFRICANAS RICAS!
you shall require!
many bananas!
a box of graham crackers!!!
two eggs!!!
SOUR CREAM!!
HONEY!

Those of you in New York can check out one of the book's release parties scheduled throughout the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, head over to YumSugar to see Grizzly Bear's recipe for pecan pie.

Source

It's a Fact - Indie Rock Hearts Food Too

YumSugar — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 06:58:31 PDT

I guess it's official, indie rock and food do go hand in hand.

Last month I told you about Dinner With the Band (a webshow featuring Sam Mason and touring indie bands) and now I'm telling you about a new book called I Like Food, Food Tastes Good by food writer Kara Zuaro. The book, which comes out today (and has got me and my gal BuzzSugar all excited), is a compilation of recipes from over 100 indie raaawwwk bands, including: Belle & Sebastian, Devendra Banhart, Interpol, The Mountain Goats, The Decemberists, They Might Be Giants and (my current favorite experimental folk quartet) Grizzly Bear (with a killer sounding pecan pie - recipe after the jump).

The best part is that Zuaro has left the recipes as the artists submitted them (I hear that Banhart's is exactly what you expect). Plus, the NYC release parties sound like they'd be a blast to check out too.

For those of us that can't make the release party, we'll have to make do with making the recipes on our own. To get started, have a look at Grizzly Bear's Pecan Pie,

Grizzly Bear Pecan Pie by Ed’s Droste’s Mom
From I Like Food, Food Tastes Good

Like heavily sedated woodland sprites, the three members of Grizzly Bear play forest folk that is as magical as it is mellow. In their spare compositions, breathy vocals and subtle electronic squeaks melt between clarinet tones and wind chimes. It’s fitting that lead singer Ed Droste submitted this simple and homey dessert, which turns out to be far greater than the sum of its parts.

1 cup dark brown sugar
1 stick of butter
1 cup corn syrup (look for the Karo brand-it has a blue label)
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 bag of pecans
1 prepared pie shell (or graham-cracker crust)
Vanilla ice cream (optional)

1) Take dark brown sugar and stick of butter and melt in saucepan.
2) Take off heat and add syrup.
3) In a bowl, mix eggs with mixer or whisk, if need be.
4) Add eggs and vanilla to cooled butter mixture.
5) Pour into prepared pie shell and put pecans on top.
6) Bake in preheated 350° oven until center is not all gooey-about 45 minutes.

Vague instructions I know, but that is what my mom said, and every time I make it, it is so good. I get my mom to make it every time I come home. Haha. So yum. Needs vanilla ice cream on top.

Makes one pie.

Print recipe with images | without images

Source: Time Out New York

How to Curb Salt - but Not Flavor - in Your Cooking

Susannah Chen — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:39:05 PDT

By now you're probably familiar with MyPlate, the government's new food pyramid replacement; in case you hadn't heard, based on the updated guidelines, Americans are consuming far more sodium than they should. And new research suggests that overconsumption of salt affects cognitive function. High blood pressure, water retention, and stupidity? That's too much to bear. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to cut down on salt in the kitchen without impacting the deliciousness of your dinner. See a few easy steps, when you keep reading.

How Not to Destroy Your Marriage

The Good Men Project — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:30:42 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Today, Mark Tyrrell offers eight relationship tools to make your marriage work.

"All marriages are happy. It's the living together afterward that causes all the trouble." - Raymond Hull

So how do you make your marriage work? Or do you just blindly hope it'll take care of itself?

Think of a hot, successful date with someone you’re attracted to. You have fun, great conversation and more sexual chemistry than a warehouse full of pheromones. You don’t have to “work at” the date because it’s self sustaining. It runs as smoothly as the gliding hand of a classical guitar maestro and you can’t wait for another rendition.

Teenage Dating in a Twilight-Hunger Games World

But marriage, or any long term relationship; well that’s a whole other caboodle.

If we’re not careful, marriage can deteriorate into little more than a torturous assault course; littered with routine boredoms, frustrations and resentments. Couple all that with external pressures and sometimes marriage feels not worth the effort. But there are major benefits to being hitched or committed, other than just a beneficial tax regime.

Healthy marriage; healthy people.

Being happily married bestows heaps of health benefits. You might be forgiven for thinking that if you’re married you don’t live longer it just seems like it but, no, a good marriage really can help you clock up more years (1) and married people are happier (2) even though they don’t always look it from the outside.

But when marriage doesn’t work it can feel being manacled to a maniac, marooned with a misogynist or nailed to a nag. And I don’t care what the studies say, that’s not healthy. You may hear couples say stuff like: “We are making our marriage work!” but how do we do this?

Making it work.

We pay lip service to “working on the marriage” but what is the work we need to do? Marriage vows such as “to love and to cherish” and “forsaking all others, for better or for worse” don’t really tell us how to make it work, although they give us a clue.

Fortunately a ton of research has been done on what to do and not do to make your marriage, or any intimate relationship work. Follow the guidelines here to become “good at marriage."

Tip one: Be romantic but keep it real.

We are all (force?) fed romance in movies and novels. The handsome man gets the beautiful woman. But what I wonder is what happens after our romantic couple ride off into the sunset together? What do they do exactly? Bicker? Moan at one another? Start to ignore each other?

After all that romance, our beautiful couple is bound to have massive expectations of their life together. But when rose tinted expectations clash with day to reality, watch out!

Romance is vital in any relationship. Always seeing the best in your partner helps to keep things intimate and love should be expressed. But if you have been raised on Mills and Boon Romance novels or feel-good movies, then your own romantic expectations can work against the sustainability of your long term relationship.

When day to day life fails to live up to the giddy, heady lust-filled days of the pre-settled down romance people can become angry, even blame one another: “This wasn’t what I signed up for." They find it hard to take the rough with the smooth because they never really figured there would be any rough.

Expectations not diluted with at least a dash of realism can be a royal road to relationship ruin. Your partner may be an angel, but they have feet of clay. You must learn to love those feet or at least accept them a bit!

Get the rest after the jump!

Easy Ways to Get More From Your Food Budget

LearnVest — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:15:48 PDT

Go the extra mile with your food budget with these tips from LearnVest.

For years, many people - my husband, mom, sister and even my son - told me to stop wasting so much food.

Throwing away half a piece of chicken here or a handful of grapes there never seemed like such a big deal to me. If I was full or no longer in the mood for that particular food, then I had no problem tossing it.

That is, until I experienced a bad case of sticker shock during a recent trip to the supermarket. The cost of bread, eggs, fish - basically everything I was purchasing - had increased. And, according to the USDA, we can expect prices to rise even higher this year.

As I forked over my money and left with only a handful of bags, I realized just how important it is for me to pay more attention to what I spend on food . . . and to confront how much of it I shove down the garbage disposal.

Unfortunately, I'm not the only one with wasteful ways. In 2010, 33 million tons of food was thrown away, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Obviously, wasted food means wasted money, but figuring out how to make your grocery budget go further can be a challenge.

To keep more food in your fridge (and more money in your pocket), try these expert tips.

1. Ward Against Freezer Burn

Those large bags or packages of frozen veggies or meat come in handy when you have a large family, but "each time you open a bag of frozen food, air gets in and will cause freezer burn within two to three weeks," says consumer saving expert Andrea Woroch. Freezer burn will dry out the meat and make it less tasty. Woroch suggests going small.

Read on for more.

Avery Island, Part Deux: Boils, Bottles, Bloodies & Boudin

OnSugar Blog — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:45:45 PDT

If you're itching for a culinary adventure, there's no need to leave your home! Escape to Avery Island for a crawfish feast with Food Orleans.

This was my lunch. I ate it all.

Avery Island is a gorgeous place; it's surrounded by a long lace of bayous, has plenty of wildlife roaming around freely (deer, bears, raccoons, alligators), and houses the beautiful Jungle Gardens and Bird Sanctuary. You can spend a full day there soaking up the splendor, especially if you pack in a trip to the Tabasco factory.

We had a lovely, long ride down the bayou to the McIlhenny family's trapper's camp, just so we could get in some air boat rides (FUN!) and a little of this:

My favorite lunch in the world! These fellas were HUGE.

I'm only partly responsible for this amount of crawfish carnage. Let's just say that my tablemate, Cecil, is one fast picker.

Earlier that day, we had a tasting of all seven flavors of Tabasco sauce, led by CEO and Chairman of the Board Paul McIlhenny. His chief flavor developer, Charlie Chang, who has worked for the McIlhennys for over 30 years, was also present at the tasting. It was fascinating listening to the two describe how certain flavors were inspired, or how they were refined to become what they are today. I have to say, my new favorite hot sauce is Tabasco Habanero. It's Jamaican inspired and has a lot of fruit flavor to it, plus it packs a slow, intense heat that hits you at the end. For the tasting, we had saltine crackers and softened butter to help us tolerate the high amounts of heat in some of the sauces. I discovered that a saltine cracker spread with butter and topped with a little Habanero sauce is extremely delicious--like eating a wicked little butter cookie. I'm in love.

For more on this tasty adventure, plus a Tabasco-inspired mixology lesson, keep reading!

Femmephobia: "Girls Are Gross" Writ Large

The Good Men Project — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 02:00:00 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Ozy Frantz explains the difference between fear and hatred of women, and the more common fear and hatred of anything feminine.

When I was a freshman in high school, I and my friends were Cool Chicks.

We weren't like those other girls, the ones who were passive and weak and giggled and watched romantic comedies and thought about their hair and makeup. Those girls were stupid and frivolous and vapid, and we made fun of them. No, we were Cool. We liked fantasy novels and action movies and anime! We laughed at "that's what she said" jokes and "make me a sandwich" humor and South Park quotes! We fake-fought with each other and laughed off pain and never cried! We were just like the guys in every way!

Around this time, I was also beginning to really get into feminism. I was proud of myself. I defied convention and gender roles. My adoption of male gender norms wholesale was truly a feminist act. After all, all the stuff girls did was stupid, and the stuff boys did was fun, and -

. . . hey, wait a minute.

Do Men Have ‘Mommy Issues'?

Julia Serano, in Whipping Girl (which is, in my opinion, a book that should be read by everyone interested in gender issues) discusses the concept of "femmephobia" in our society. Femmephobia is the devaluation, fear and hatred of the feminine: of softness, nurturance, dependence, emotions, passivity, sensitivity, grace, innocence and the color pink.

To a large degree, our culture has replaced the fear and hatred of women, with the fear and hatred of things commonly associated with women. I think this is . . . not so much progress, actually.

Read the rest of the story below.

A Guide to Wedding Festivities

Katie Sweeney — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:19:28 PDT

When a couple decides to get married, they aren't just signing up to host a wedding, they are also committing themselves to a lot of parties that happen along the way. An engagement party, shower, and bachelorette are all commonly associated with weddings. But with so many parties, it's hard to keep them all straight! That's why I've created this handy guide that explains everything you need to know - from the proper time to host a shower to the first person to toast at the wedding. Read on for all the details.

Hit the Health Food Store With These Earth-Friendly Tips

Jenny Sugar — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 13:59:48 PDT

Buying groceries from the local Whole Foods or other health food store (like January Jones did last weekend) often means you're doing your body good. Once you're there, the choices you make may also do good for the planet. Follow these earth-friendly tips on your next grocery shopping trip.

Choose an eco-friendly mode of transportation: Reduce smog-causing pollutants by walking, biking, carpooling, or taking a bus to the store. Getting there by foot or two wheels is also good exercise, so it's a double bonus.
Shop with reusable bags: Just think about all the waste created from using disposable grocery bags. Do your part by bringing reusable bags for groceries and produce. Not only are you doing good for Mother Earth, canvas bags have sturdy handles, which make them easier to carry, and their durability makes them less likely to burst open, which means no wasted food. If you forget your bags, always choose paper bags over plastic.

Keep reading for more eco-friendly ways to hit up your health food store.

The Lucky One's Taylor Schilling Talks Love Scenes With Zac Efron: "Not a Bad Day to Come to Work"

Shannon Vestal — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:56:22 PDT

Zac Efron's The Lucky One costar Taylor Schilling is the lucky one, indeed - the actress plays his love interest in the drama, and when I visited the set of the film, I got to chat with her and a few other reporters about her dreamy leading man. Schilling also joked about shooting their love scenes, and gave us some insight into her character Beth.

Is it tough shooting the love scenes with Zac?
Taylor Schilling: I mean, I don't know. I don't think so. I wonder what he’ll say. . . [it's] not a bad day to come to work and do that. But you know, it’s not as exciting as you would think it is either; it’s a day that’s very technical when you have to do that in front of a camera.

What were your expectations of Zac?
TS: The thing is, honestly, I didn't know much of anything about Zac before I got this because I'd never seen those High School Musical movies - which at this point, I can't wait to see them when we're done shooting because I'm excited to see what he did before. But I did not really have much of an expectation about him. I knew that he's incredibly famous, but in terms of his work as an actor, I didn't really know. So I really got to know Zac when I tested for this film with him and he was just such an incredibly charming, down-to-earth guy - for me, coming in and having never done a studio film before - he made me so comfortable at that test, and he was so generous and so wonderful, and was also so interested in the work. He was so engaged in the scenes and was so good. So good. So talented. It's just been wonderful to work with someone I really feel has my back as a scene partner. There's some really vulnerable stuff in this movie, and I feel like I could trust Zac with anything I got. He's a special guy, a good guy.

To find out what else Schilling talked about, just keep reading.