New Theme: NEWSFLASH!
Posted by: sardouka on: February 8, 2010
This week, I am going to focus on the death of the news. I really want news – as it is right now we are given up to the second information about inane subjects 24/7 (which would explain the popularity of Jon and Kate)… I want that news to die out VERY quickly. I used to have cable, but I went cable-news free about a year ago and I love it, and now pity all of those who get their news from 24 hour news outlets.
Like many people my age, I get a lot of my news online, and from the Daily Show. Go ahead, laugh if you please. I can hear the cackling of some out of touch Baby-Boomer, “Oh those silly youths who miss out on the REAL NEWS because they watch all of that FAKE NEWS. ” I will let you in on a little secret: The only way I can watch the Daily Show is if I have a working understanding of what is going on in the news. The jokes on that show are very context heavy, and if you don’t have all of your facts straight then you will miss out on a well-worded and wry look at the world around us. I’ll proclaim my love for the show in a later post, but for now, entertain yourself with this:
Holiday Reminiscing
Posted by: sardouka on: January 17, 2010
After a long holiday (well, at least long for the U of M. I am convinced that the Grinch creates our academic calendar), I am back. Sorry to have kept you waiting. I was busy trying to shake the remnants of the Minnesoootah accent that I picked up on holiday. I am still trying to stop the intermittent “you knows” from punctuating my sentences. Thus far, it has been a failure, you know (darn it!).
While I was away I did a lot of cooking and I have developed a new obsession with an amazing cooking blog called “the Kitchn” (I did not misspell that, I have a fondness for the letter “e” and would never ignore him unless it was necessary). I have already experimented with several of their recipes, including one for peanut butter popcorn, which is quite good.
Try it! Be the envy of your friends at parties and the reason your dentist can finally buy that second condo.
I’m out! *dramatically fumbles with microphone and throws it on the ground*
Italian Comfort
Posted by: sardouka on: December 10, 2009
- In: Food
- 3 Comments
The Italian/Polish side of my family (my mother’s side) all lived on the East Coast. Some of them have migrated around the country, but the roots of that family are still firmly set along the East Coast. This creates an interesting dialect split in my household, because my dad has the “Minnesota nice” accent, while my mom has the “East Coast” accent, so I have a strange “mutt” accent in which I struggle over words such as “toast” and “orange” (anything with a pronounced “o”), but it works.
I have no horror stories about Italian food. Everything about it is delicious and heavily seasoned. I have always admired the Italian ability to coax such amazing flavor from humble ingredients like tomatoes and pasta. According to my grandmother, who lived in a household of 20 Italian immigrant family members, Italian food is not about getting the best ingredients but about a lot of people with little money, throwing something together to remind them of home. Pizza and spaghetti and meatballs aren’t Italian dishes, they are Italian-American dishes. American immigrant food is a combination of necessity, poverty, and the homeland; but now we laud those very dishes as being fine cuisine. And rightly so, because they are delicious. A lot of restaurants poorly employ the flavoring power of garlic, and use its power for evil, but my grandma knew how to use it for good. Here is her recipe for meatballs. I guarantee they are the best meatballs on the planet.
Italian Meatballs
I can't think of a non- dirty caption for this picture.
Makes 70
4 lbs. ground beef
1/2 pound of ground pork
3 eggs
1/2 can of bread crumbs
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
2TB salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2TB parsley
5 cloves of crushed garlic
1/4-1/2 cup of milk
8 slices of bread (dry out in 250 degree oven for about 10 minutes then chop in blender)
mix well (has to have the right consistency)
roll into meatballs
fry in olive oil turning until all sides are brown -about 20 minutes
From what I know, few people fry meatballs in olive oil. My grandmother once recounted to me a friend of hers who cooked the meatballs raw in tomato sauce, which she thought was absolutely disgusting and a form of meatball sacrilege (and I agree). My grandma’s name was Nancy, and she always smelled like a combination of garlic and listerine (which is the only thing that covers the smell of garlic… sort of). When I was younger, my family would visit her in her apartment. We could always tell which door was hers without looking at the number because it was covered in decorations. She went all-out for Halloween, as her door was covered in pumpkins, ghosts, and scarecrow-related decor. She often wore orange, because she believed that was Sinatra’s favorite color. She would always buy the best Italian deli meat and get me and my sister a cream soda (which was AWESOME), and we would listen to old records of Sinatra while we talked, ate great food, and admired the decor of her apartment (again, orange, but with splashes of leopard prints).
Now that my grandma is gone, I miss her a lot, but I love Italian food because it reminds me of her. Every time I make meatballs, go to an Italian deli, or smell listerine I think of her, and I am happy that I have those memories.
Minnesota Comfort
Posted by: sardouka on: December 8, 2009
A large portion of the state of Minnesota is filled with Norwegians. I don’t know why. Perhaps the chilly climate and occasional appearance of polar bears reminds them of their homeland. A significant portion of my family is nestled in Minnesota, and there are two dishes there which cover the spectrum of my childhood experiences with Norwegian food. I will give you the bad news first.
Hotdish.
Do you know what “hotdish” is? Me neither. It is a Minnesota mystery, wrapped in a conundrum, covered in cheese, and baked for 2 hours in an oven. Basically, impoverished Minnesotan farmers created a dish which could hypothetically feed many people at church events by throwing together whatever leftovers they had and baking them. It usually consists of potatoes, ground beef, corn, hopelessness, and sadness. I can never tell what is in it, and it is a cardinal sin to ask what those greenish lumps are and why they are growling at you because those are green beans. Evil, unhappy green beans. I had a lot of exposure to “hotdish” as a child and whenever I refused to eat it (because of my attraction to foods which hold a recognizable shape) I was incessantly harassed and accused of having a gustatory disability. It is still a point of contention in my family that I audibly hiss at the sight of don’t like “hot dish.” My response is this: the indescript name damns it to a pretty low circle of culinary hell. Would you eat something if it was called, “burnt stuff”? Nope. Why? Because there is no description of the “stuff.” The stuff could be monkey brains or eyeballs. And that would still be a step up from hotdish.
Wild Rice Soup
hooray for good food!
Here is the recipe (courtesy of my mother, who got it from my grandma, who got it from my great grandma):
1/2 cup of cooked chicken
3T. butter
3T flour
1/2 medium onion diced
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups of milk
1 box of wild rice cooked
Melt butter in pot. Saute onion until tender crisp, stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Add chicken broth and milk. Stir frequently with whisk to prevent milk from scalding. Bring to a gentle boil and stir until thickens. Add wild rice and chicken till heated through.
this is just the general recipe. you may have to adjust the liquid to the consistency you like.
I always make a double batch of this.
You know a recipe is great when it does not mention the time, everything is just done by “feeling.” This probably sounds silly, but those recipes in my mother’s, grandmother’s, and great grandmother’s handwriting will always be something that I treasure. This isn’t just some food from a cookbook, it is a family’s experience, which makes it invaluable to me.
Wild rice soup is a Christmas Eve tradition in my family. We’re strange (obviously), but we have a tradition where we open our presents on Christmas Eve. To some this may seem like sacrilege, but it is a tradition in our home, and since my dad is a pastor, I think we’re safe. So every year on Christmas Eve Day (this is a real term in my household, which is said without a hint of irony) my grandma or mom makes wild rice soup to have before we open presents. This dish has so many memories, and also reminds me of my impatience on Christmas Eve. I always thought that the faster I finished my soup, the faster I could obliterate that wrapping paper and finally see the gifts I had been waiting for for what seemed like forever.
That is the culinary history of the Norwegian side of my family (my dad’s side). Soon, I will bring you the Italian side, and show you a recipe for meatballs that will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. For realsies.
New Theme: Food
Posted by: sardouka on: December 6, 2009
- In: Food
- Leave a Comment
I have previously declared my love for food, but allow me to explain: food is an important aspect of my heritage. There are memories tied to certain dishes or to the preparation of some meals. Homemade chocolate chip cookies meant mom was getting ready for Christmas company. Peanut butter cookies meant dad was craving something sweet and wanted to show off his cooking skills. Celery and onions in a saucepan meant mom was making stuffing for Thanksgiving. Meatballs were reserved for special occasions, as was wild rice soup. Pancakes meant dad had to make dinner and did not want to call for pizza.Waffles were for Christmas morning.
so true
It makes me sad that homemade food is not a big part of everyday life for most people. I understand that it is often time-consuming, but I feel like people compromise their taste buds (something Cosi takes advantage of…jerks) and a part of themselves when they don’t at least try to cook every once in a while. I have also found that recipes are the one thing that a family can always connect to their heritage. I might not look like anything but a member of a small, fierce, albino tribe in England, but I am actually Norwegian, Prussian, Irish, Italian, and Polish. The recipes I know represent some small parts of my family and the food my ancestors made for important events in their lives. I don’t know any other interesting rituals, but the culinary history I am aware of connects me to the people I love every time I prepare that meal.
So, this week, I will share some really amazing food (which is not difficult to prepare) and some interesting bits about myself. And although I am Norwegian, I will not be making lutefisk, because I don’t want to kill anyone. I know that some people believe the dish was invented by the Vikings in an early attempt to weaponize food. Those crafty Vikings.
Favorite Movies
Posted by: sardouka on: December 5, 2009
After all of that depressing stuff about the sad state of the film industry and the strange standards film critics have, allow me to brighten your day and share some of my favorites. I am not saying that these are the best movies ever, since everyone has different expectations for a film. These particular movies are important to me and they convey ideas that are either ignored or overlooked. As a side note, they all have great soundtracks, which is a particularly important aspect to me. Oh, and they both happen to be animated.
Here we go:
2. Fantasia 2000
You know what I like in a movie? Wonder. It’s a difficult emotion to capture in adults, especially since we think we know and understand everything. When you are a child, wonder is an easy emotion to experience. Think back to what it was like the first time you saw snow, or when you saw a Christmas tree, or when you tried birthday cake. When you are small, everything is new and wondrous, which is why I love Fantasia. They take some well-known classical music and set it to some fairly common plot lines, but the images they use are fantastic and beautiful. Every time I see it, I find it to be positively breathtaking.
1. Persepolis
Want to learn something about Iran? We all know about the radical, evil, and intolerant politics of the president and the fact that he does not believe homosexuals exist in Iran, but what do you know about the Iranian people and their struggles for freedom and autonomy? Until I read the graphic novel Persepolis and saw this movie, I didn’t know anything. The artist for this film, Marjane Satrapi, is phenomenal. Her art is beautiful and understated yet expressive. She may not encompass everything there is to know about the Iranian Revolution, but I think she does a great job of capturing a largely unknown perspective. The only film critic who did not adore this movie was Anthony Lane, but that must be because he couldn’t see it properly through his monocle, and he despises life because it’s just so cliché.
I hope you take time to watch one of these movies. They are inspirational, unique, innovative, and wonderful. Everyone needs a little more wonderful in their life.
Treatise on Horror Films
Posted by: sardouka on: December 3, 2009
- In: Movies
- 2 Comments
This is a more serious post that I have been pondering about for a while. I’m not trying to be preachy, and I am not saying that ALL horror films fall under this category… just most of them.
If you are unaware, I think a lot of horror films are awful. They scrape the bottom of the barrel of human experience. People who make these movies turn human suffering into money, and as if that’s not bad enough, there is a broad audience for this deplorable fare. I will never understand the appeal of these movies. They never offer any message worth knowing, and they certainly don’t convey their trite messages with any innovation.
I don’t understand why people like a lot of things they do… like why people romanticize the 70’s, why people listen to music that glorifies violence against women (hint: it starts with an “R” and rhymes with “crap”), or why global warming is “the cause” of this generation. I feel for the polar bears and glaciers, I truly do. Polar bears are adorable, but aren’t there more important things for people to be worried about? Like the child sex-slave trade maybe? Or the blight of education in many places around the world? Or the imminent zombie take-over… anything like that.
Sorry, back to awful movies. I have asked people why they like horror movies. Some say they are funny, some say they are deep, and some say they make you value your life. Well, if you need to see another human being’s suffering in order to value your own life, why don’t you just turn on the news. That should take care of that need forever. That mental condition is called sadism, by the way.
I feel like horror movies are representative of a big problem in our society: we don’t pay attention to what we fill our minds with. People don’t pay attention to the lyrics of many popular songs, for example, and people don’t see the effects of horror films. We live in a society that condemns torture and tries to preserve the habitat of minnows, but then makes six Saw movies, the latest of which grossed $53,000,000! That is completely insane.
These movies don’t say anything interesting, they just tap into instinctual fears and then leave it at that. They try to shock and disturb viewers, but never move past that surface level. There is no artistry in most of these films, they are just trash. This is not something confined to horror films, but also books and TV shows that dwell on the same subject. Do we need more hideous and scary crap in this world? Don’t we have enough to worry about and be afraid of without people going even further and showing how “creative” we can be with evil?
Sorry to be so serious, but I think this is something we should really evaluate about ourselves.
Disney Princesses
Posted by: sardouka on: December 1, 2009
- In: Movies
- 3 Comments
I grew up on Disney movies and I think they are fabulous. I know that the big thing nowadays is to hate everything about your childhood because those memories were sponsored by corporate greed. You know, like how the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers discriminated against foam monsters and Reading Rainbow was a platform to brainwash children into liking reading. The horror.
Disney is often accused of promoting female stereotypes with their characters because they make women believe that if they don’t fit into a certain mold, nobody will ever love them and they will never find true love. The people who say this should do a little research, because the idea of art conveying a certain standard of what women should look like is nothing new. In every Greek myth, it is the most beautiful women who fall in love with gods and have other interesting adventures. It makes no mention of their intellect or amazing conversational skills. Paris didn’t pick Helen because she had a great personality, he picked her because she was attractive. If critics have a bone to pick with anyone, they can start with whomever wrote those myths. Those awful, misogynistic Greeks.
I will admit that the first few Disney princesses were really shallow. They were all incredibly boring while still conveying weird messages. Snow White taught girls its okay to wander into the woods and stay with 7 strange men while eating fruit given to you by a stranger. Cinderella taught girls that the right pair of shoes will help you find your man (and shoe companies everywhere rejoiced for shoe marketing targeted at young girls). Sleeping Beauty taught us to never learn to spin…ever.
Later princesses were quite fascinating. My personal favorite has to be Belle. Belle taught girls that they could read books AND enjoy them. She also taught girls that just because a guy is attractive does not mean you should date them. It does mean that they probably know how pretty they are and will forever be jerks about it. That is some very practical dating advice. She taught women to have standards with men and enforce them. It is a surprisingly refreshing message which I think more women should pay attention to. If Belle could make the Beast eat oatmeal with a spoon, then maybe you could lay down the law with your guy.
There are other amazing princesses which I might be forgetting. I do remember Mulan, who is an amazing character. Disney put forth a beautiful story with a great message. A girl takes on the role of a soldier on behalf of her father, showing that a woman can fight for her country just as well as a man. Honestly, I don’t know what else people could ask for. Disney has no responsibility to create a timely message for girls, they’re a company, and their job is to make money (legally, unless they become too big to fail). If they wanted to, they could make more movies like Snow White (and seriously upset apple farmers), but they choose to make movies which largely have good messages for girls. Like the “problem” with video games, if parents take issue with the messages of a company, guess who can filter it? THEY CAN.
I feel like I should start a parenting blog entitled “Stop being an idiot.”
New Theme: Movies
Posted by: sardouka on: November 28, 2009
I love seeing a good movie, but I am extremely picky. Movies are an experience that lasts for a long time, so if the movie is terrible, you will be scarred for life with nothing but years of therapy to help get images of sparkly vampires or a teen-turned-football player-turned-singing moron out of your head. Sorry Zac, we are NOT all in this together. Get a haircut and go back to football pal, your singing sucks.
why don't any of these kids have acne? IT'S UNNATURAL
I don’t really get the critics reviews of some movies. The New York Times and the New Yorker hate any movie that is happy or innocent because it is “simple,” which leads me to believe that those newspapers heavily recruit from the U of M English and Philosophy departments. I like movies with happy endings where good characters triumph over evil. Why? Because I don’t hate my life enough to love depressing crap, which is probably why the NYT would never hire me. I feel like people who make movies that are overly bleak are just doing it because they know that’s the “artsy” thing to do nowadays. When a technique is overused, it loses its impact. This is why sequels (or prequels) are usually awful. Star Wars fans can attest to this problem.
Here is to a fun week filled with those crazy, talking, moving pictures. IN COLOR.
Violence in Video games
Posted by: sardouka on: November 25, 2009
Hooray for another controversial topic!
I don’t know why the world is obsessed with playing the blame game with everything. Every generation, some idiot does something appallingly violent and stupid, and then some person in the media connects it to the latest form of entertainment. First it was fire, because some moronic cave man burnt down the habitat of some surly sabretooth tigers, and one thing led to another and everybody died. Then the prehistoric PETA placed the blame for the destruction of the species squarely on fire, and we have the beginning of the global warming theory and raw veganism. All it takes is one idiot doing something stupid with something new, and then the whole technology is condemned.
There is a great amount of violence in video games. A lot of the violence is stupid, disgusting, and meaningless. However, the same thing could be said for the vast majority of the violence depicted in movies, books, and songs. Violence is something that interests people, and is a cheap ploy for “artists” who don’t have anything else to say. Why do video games get a more terrible rap than those other forms of entertainment? Is it because you are forced partake in it? If you don’t want to see the violence or partake in it THEN DON’T BUY THE GAME.
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