the musical fruit: movement #21.

the musical fruit: movement #21.
song: "zombie," the cranberries
fruit: cranberries

a lot of irish music makes me want to smash a fiddle, but ireland's produced its fair share of musicians over the years. u2 is definitely the biggest of them all, but there are a handful of other notable ones out there, from indie acts like my bloody valentine, ash or the divine comedy to older acts like thin lizzy & the pogues. people seem to enjoy snow patrol quite a bit. back in the 90s, there was the pope pic tearing shenanigans of sinead o'connor & there was the cranberries, who rose to prominence on the back of their 1993 single "linger," off their debut album, everybody else is doing it, so why can't we? it came out when i was a senior in high school & believe me, i got a lot of comedy mileage out of reworking the lyrics so it became a song about farts.

their follow up album, no need to argue, features the only song by the cranberries that i can actually stand--"zombie." it's a protest song & whereas most of their songs are totally wussy & the only thing cool about them is lead singer dolores o'riordan's accent, "zombie" is a total rocker. it starts off all slow like but builds into a rocking chorus where she's saying "zom-bay" over & over again & heavy guitars chug along. the video has a bunch of dirty kids in it, which is sort of cool. it all added up to the song reaching #1 on the billboard modern rock charts, which, for comparison, is a title currently held by muse. after a few more albums, o'riordan went solo, but come november 12th, the cranberries are back together & heading out on the road for their first full tour since 2002. they're in nyc the day after my bday, but it's totally sold out. looks like a lot of people still like the taste of the cranberries.

as a fruit, cranberries are pretty cool, but you usually have to do something to them before you eat them like mash them into a sauce or put them in a juice or dry them out or something. i found this box of dried cranberries on the wall next to me whilst waiting in line at the times sq walgreens, so i decided to go the dried route & wait until thanksgiving for the sauced kind. $1? hellz yeah. i can swing that. i'm not sure what's up with the box looking all trapezoid warped in the photo though. in real life, that box has a lot more right angles to it. when i opened the box, it sort of looked like i had a box full of red beetles, but they're moist & sweetened & actually pretty tasty, especially considering that they're the walgreens store brand.

i don't want to get bogged down in the details, but there are a lot of reasons to like cranberries. for starters, cranberry sauce rules. then there's the cool way that they're harvested. rather than just picking them off the vines, cranberry growers flood the cranberry beds & scoop up the fruit. in juice form, cranberries go well with pretty much any other fruit. they have antioxidants & whatnot, so if you're looking to beat a drug test, cranberry juice is your best friend. they're a huge thing in massachusetts, especially on cape cod, where the cape cod cranberry growers' association oversees over 300 cranberry growers. good stuff. in closing, this thanksgiving, i urge you to get totally sauced in honor of the cranberry.

pumpktoberfest #9 - ghost in the machine.

pumpktoberfest #9 - ghost in the machine.
film: poltergeist
beer: smuttynose pumpkin ale



growing up, my parents wouldn't let me see films with anything higher than a PG rating, meaning that i missed out on a lot of cool films. at the same time, until 1984, there was no PG-13 rating, so there were a number of PG films put out that probably should have been rated R. one such film was steven spielberg's poltergeist, which was originally rated R, but was then re-rated to PG even though it's clearly way too scary for a PG rating. um, a swimming pool full of skeletons is PG? a boy-eating killer tree is PG? as it was, i only got to see the broadcast television version & at 9-10 years old, even that version gave me the willies. i sort of still believe in ghosts, but at the time, i REALLY believed in ghosts. casper, one-eyed willie, jesus, all of em.

the film centers on the freelings, a family whose little girl carol anne starts talking to ghosts through the tv. she was only a few years younger than me, so when i first saw it, i was all "maybe i shouldn't sit so close to the TV when i'm watching cartoons." long story short--the ghosts are trapped between dimensions & think carol anne can help them get out but there's a beast who's using carol anne to distract the ghosts & keep them there. eventually she gets sucked into the other dimension & they have to call in a freaky spiritual medium lady to get her back. after a bunch of crazy ghost shit happens & they bring her back, the beast makes a last ditch attempt to kick ass, but totally gets ghosted. why'd all this happen? get this shit. they built the house on an ancient indian burial ground. i can see bulldozing wetlands for more condos, but you have to draw the line somewhere. whooping cranes can fly someplace else. dead people can't. if i was those ghosts, i would've sucked that lil girl into the tv too.

i don't mean to sound bitter, but the freelings sort of had it coming to them. oh! speaking of bitter, i had a smuttynose pumpkin ale tonight. smuttynose brews out of portsmouth, NH & since i'm from NH, i've tried most of their beers. overall, they put out solid beers, but with the exception of their spring hanami ale, none of them really stick out as memorable in my mind. this one's one of their seasonal beers & according to their website, it's their "homage to the craft and heritage of america’s brewers" because colonial folks apparently used to put squash & whatnot in their beers. we new englanders love paying homage to colonial folks.

like the rest of their beers, the pumpkin ale doesn't really knock my specially-crocheted pumpktoberfest socks off. it has an orange color to it, so you'd think there's some pumpkin in there, but i can't taste any at all. it's apparently made with pumpkin puree & spices, but to be honest, i can't taste the spices either. i only notice them in the smell. i guess that means that as a pumpkin beer, it's a FAIL. as an IPA though, it's a well-done beer. too bad i'm not really a fan of bitter ass IPAs. sorry smuttynose, but your pumpkin ale sort of gave me heartburn. is that any way to treat a fellow new hampshirite? i think not. thanks for the beer, but that's totally not pumpktoberfestian of you, yo.

nosh nook #156 - monday, october 19, 2009

peanut producers thriving after safety scare (link)
10.18.09 - msnbc - from a.p.

at the beginning of this year, because of a salmonella outbreak that eventually killed nine people, the FDA started announcing recall after recall of peanut products. peanut butter? tainted. crackers & peanut butter? tainted. that crunchy peanut candy bar? also tainted. taint taint taint. as a result of the salmonella scare, the peanut industry went into a serious tailspin, as a frightened public avoided peanut products & sales dropped. the peanut industry's PR people tried to counter the effects of the outbreak, but were initially unsuccessful. the peanut-buying public was just too frightened.

despite all the trouble the peanut industry was having, at the moment, things are actually looking pretty good for them. according to msnbc's article from the a.p., "food makers processed more peanuts over the past year than nearly any other time on record." salmonella be damned! according to the department of agriculture's figures, the amount of "peanuts used for peanut butter set an all-time record at 1.1 billion pounds." the peanut industry's a bit surprised by the good news. after the outbreak was announced, they had a crappy january & february, but by march, things were pretty much back to normal. overall, it's an abnormally fast comeback.

stanley fletcher isn't so surprised & he's a "peanut economist" at UGA, so he knows peanuts. "there's an old adage in the industry that you can almost track the economy by consumption of peanut butter. it's basically the cheapest source of protein." it could have something to do with that, but it also could have something to do with the fact that, once their fears subsided, everybody who panicked & tossed out their peanut butter eventually had to go get more peanut butter. anyway, you don't have to worry about the peanut farmer anymore. they may never put another of their kind in the white house, but americans are basically addicted to peanut butter & need the cheap protein to survive, so they'll be just fine. don't waste your tears on them. waste them on that chick from the hills instead.

#133 - ninety.

i'm pretty lucky in that of my four grandparents, three are still alive & kicking. my mom's mom passed away a few years back, but her dad turned ninety last weekend. he's always been the liveliest of my grandparents. he grew up in brooklyn, worked the same job for years, raised three kids & was active in both his church & community. he's the kind of guy who gives you a extra firm handshake when he sees you because he sees the humor in giving an extra firm handshake. he has a place in a retirement community now & whenever we visit him & go to the dining room for a meal, pretty much everyone there is his best friend. he has jokes for all. during one visit a couple years ago, we were standing in the dining room entrance waiting to be seated, so i checked out a bulletin board featuring pics from the community halloween party. my grandfather was in a few. he had gone as a vampire in drag that year.

my parents hosted a gathering last sunday in celebration of his ninetieth, so i spent the weekend at their place up in good ol windham, NH. it's always interesting to be home & see how my parents respond to the stressful task of satisfying a houseful of guests. in addition to the six of us in the immediate family, they were hosting fifteen other relatives, so it was one of the biggest gatherings they've hosted in at least a decade. luckily, nowadays they have three semi-responsible, somewhat helpful adult kids (hell yeah i'll prep the deli platter!) & a level-headed teenager, which means they don't have to do everything, so i think that eases a little bit of the stress for them.

for me, the gathering was an opportunity to catch up with a few relatives i hadn't talked to in ages. there were my two cousins, one of whom i haven't seen since the clinton administration & who is now all adult & married & living in pamplona & shit. as two of the four people eating bean burgers, we totally bonded. four of my mom's cousins were there as well. i remembered them from when i was a kid & they were teenagers, so it was interesting to see how they all turned out. one of them lives in alaska & worked on the pipeline until she was laid off. another has two adopted girls, one of who noted that "the jonas brothers' music sounds stupid." yeah, little girl. a third was wicked excited when i said i helped with nickelback's website. i can't remember much about the fourth, but she was nice.

i also learned that back in the day, my aunt (a baker chef who is my mom's younger sister & the pamplona cousin's mom) had baked a cake for president ford. somebody made a comment about it as she cut my grandfather's birthday cake, a white cake with white frosting & fresh raspberries on top that she had prepared. auntie definitely has baking skillz. as everyone got a piece & stood around consuming it & chatting, i couldn't help but feel a wee bit wistful. my mom had organized a successful gathering for twenty some people, my dad got to give tours of the yard & his gardening & my grandpa got to be with three generations of his family on his ninetieth birthday. the best part? on the way out, my grandpa & i promised to do it again in ten years.

#133 - ninety.
snack: pumpkin whoopie pie
drink: manchester brewing the devil's rooster märzen



on saturday, my dad picked my brother, his girlfriend & i up in boston & after dropping the bro & girlfriend off at various locations, my father & i drove around the greater windham area for a bit. i'd informed him about my quest to try tons of pumpkin beers, so first, he took me to the drink shoppe in hudson to see what they had in stock. after i had dawdled around in there for a little while, we tried to hit up a sandwich place he likes. unfortunately, when we arrived, they were closed. turns out they'd closed just three minutes earlier. sorry bout the dawdling, dad. he was still hungry for a sandwich, so we headed back to windham & stopped at the kitchen at windham junction, a cutesy lil small town place just down the street from the parents' home. i smoked a cig whilst sitting at the picnic table in the picture on their website!

my dad & i stood at the counter whilst he waited for his food & chatted up the woman behind the counter. at one point, he looked into the glass case next to the counter & noticed a tray of treats. once he determined that they were pumpkin whoopie pies, he looked at me, the professional snacker & decided to get two. then he tried talking to the woman behind the counter about my blog, leading to me having to explain this here blog to her. she seemed quite confused about the whole thing.

when we got home, i tried one of the whoopie pies & WHOOPIE was it tasty. it was crazy sugary sweet, so i had to take my time with it, but it had cream cheese frosting on the inside & cakelike outsides dusted with powdered sugar & DOGGAM! i'd also picked up a piece of chocolate cake, but my my dad, figuring i wanted both of the whoopie pies for blogging purposes, ended up eating that chocolate cake instead of his whoopie pie...so i got to eat two of them last weekend. since those whoopie pies were damn good but are now hundreds of miles away up in NH, i'm seriously considering making some of my own. so many baking ideas, so little time!

i did find some pumpkin beers at the drink shoppe, but they were for another time, so i also picked up a bottle of manchester brewing the devil's rooster märzen. they had a rack of manchester brewing beers, all with nifty labels like the pentagram/rooster one on the devil's rooster märzen. satanic! they had one beer there called the "conspiracy theory oatmeal stout," featuring a guy whispering "did you hear about building 7?" into another dude's ear on the front of the label & another with soviet-style font & imagery (the koncord kombat ale). the second beer's named in honor of the city that's home to manchester brewing & all the communists in the state, NH's capital city of concord.

whenever i'm having a beer at my parents' house, i benefit from the chilled mugs they keep in the freezer. nobody in the house drinks beer, so i'm not sure why they have them, but i digress. i'm not a fan of the frosty mugs, but if i take one out for a bit before using it, it warms up enough to not ruin the taste. since the devil's rooster comes in a 22 oz bottle, i grabbed the biggest mug available & poured me a tall, semi-frosty one. it's an orange/amber beer with a brown sugar/toffee sort of taste. definitely something to crow about. devilishly good. i'm hoping that i'll get to try a few more of their beers next time i'm in NH. maybe the one with the dominatrix "naughty nancy" cartoon character on the label, although that one apparently "makes you say 'whip me, beat me, make me write bad checks,'" so i may have to opt for another one. i'm 95% sure my parents wouldn't appreciate that sort of behavior under their roof.

pumpktoberfest #8 - coming home to roost.

pumpktoberfest #8 - coming home to roost.
film: the birds
beer: blue moon harvest moon ale



when animals attack! killer animals have played a major role in the history of the horror film, from cujo & jaws to the mosquito & the piranha. king kong was the original. if you believe that giant lizards are an animal species, godzilla is technically one. have you heard about the birds? oh. i thought everyone had heard. it's a hitchcock film & it totally has killer animals. in it, a san fran socialite (tippi hedren) runs into a man at a bird shop & even though she's never met him before, she decides to drive all the way up the coast to a small town (bodega bay) so she can play a prank on him by bringing him two lovebirds. because she does this, the local birds start tweaking (tweetking?) out & attacking the residents of the town.

when you take a good look at it, the film's pretty ridiculous. whereas most hitchcock films feature characters driven to do things as a result of their dramatic circumstances, the characters in the birds (including the birds) have little to no stated motive for anything they do. this is one of the major issues critics have with the film. if you can get beyond this fact, it's a good film. i like it. my favorite scene is when tippi's at the town diner hiding out from the birds & the gathered town residents are discussing their bird problem. there's a bible-quoting drunk, an snooty-sounding ornithologist who gets cut off every time she tries to dispel bird knowledge & a frantic woman whose kids are worried that the birds will eat them. eventually, the birds attack a guy filling up his gas tank outside the diner & gasoline spills all over the place. from inside, the townsfolk watch as another guy drives up, gets out of his car & lights a cigar, causing a super-awesome explosion. it's the perfect mix of hitchcock's comments on society & hilarious bird-induced violence.

the time for seeing a harvest moon may have passed a few days back, but the time for drinking a blue moon harvest moon ale is totally right now! get to it! please note that if you are reading this in december & you're all "i really want to try that!" you're out of luck. the time is no longer now. you missed the boat. seasons change, so you'll have to settle for their full moon winter ale instead. that's how it works with blue moon. they put out a different beer for every season. there's the full moon for the winter, the rising moon in the spring, the honey moon for the summer & the harvest for autumn. that means that harvest gets to be their beer for two major holidays--thanksgiving & pumpktoberfest. lucky beer.

the harvest ale's made with a few of your standard pumpkin ale spices--allspice, nutmeg & clove. they provide most of the flavor. according to the label, there's also "vine-ripened pumpkin" in there, but i'll be damned if i noticed it. it's not crappy or anything, but the flavor's even less dramatic than that of a regular blue moon. basically, the best thing about the beer is the fact that it's a twist off. the website suggests pairing it with sweet potatoes, beef or turkey. i suggest pairing it with another pumpkin beer. it also goes well with killer birds, but that's pretty much all because of the killer birds.