Unusual: Funny Music Video of How Americans Sound to Foreigners

From Denny: This is so funny, mainly because the lampooning Italians have us accurately nailed to the wall. If you have ever wondered what Americans sound like to others who speak different languages you will laugh at this. An Italian singer decided to write a song with nothing but gibberish to sound like it was intelligible English. Of course, the funniest thing of all is that often today's music sounds unintelligible to us as well! :) But hey, pop music is really all about the beat that makes you want to dance and have fun! ("That's my story and I'm sticking to it!" as the saying goes in America...) I guess Americans can remind themselves of the other saying: "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery." Anyway, you look at it, this little musical spoof is great fun!




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This Weeks Editorial Cartoons 16 Jan 2010

From Denny: Since I changed this blog to a smaller template to accommodate the cool visually interesting background - and most blog backgrounds are configured to only fit this smaller template - now these wonderful editorial cartoons are too large to fit for proper viewing.

Every Saturday you can find editorial cartoons over at The Social Poets and I'll keep a link on the sidebar for your convenience if you forget.

So, I'm referring you to the original flagship blog that spun off this blog and a gazillion others, The Social Poets:

Haiti Earthquake - Editorial Cartoons 16 Jan 2010

This cartoon is about the late night show dilemma of two competing shows getting their time slots switched when Leno's show did not do well in an earlier time slot competing against prime time shows. To the right is the rest of the cartoon that actually makes it so funny because "the wheels are coming off" of Jay Leno's vehicle. Much funnier on a wider format template over at The Social Poets...

See Cartoons by Cartoon by Dave Granlund - Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com - Email this Cartoon

The Social Poets: Haiti Earthquake - Editorial Cartoons 16 Jan 2010

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Paula Deens Shrimp Gumbo Casserole

From Denny: Here's an unusual but easy recipe I ran across the other day from Food Network star Paula Deen who lives in Savannah, Georgia. I've seen and cooked a lot of different styles of gumbo but never have I seen anyone choose to put a cornbread topping on it like a Shepard's Pie, very clever, and so easy! Just think, she found a way to skip the step of baking a pan of cornbread by throwing it on top of the stew. Talk about a one dish meal. The winter is the perfect time for this easy crowd pleaser and time saver dish!

From: Paula Deen, Paula's Home Cooking @ Food Network

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 45 min

Level: Easy

Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients

Gumbo:

1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped celery
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
1 1/2 teaspoons House Seasoning, recipe follows
1 cup chicken or fish stock
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
10-ounce package frozen cut okra
2 cups shrimp, cleaned, peeled, and deveined

Topping:

1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup milk
12-ounce package corn muffin mix

Directions

In an iron skillet, saute onion and celery in oil. Add bay leaves, thyme, lemon-pepper seasoning and House Seasoning. Pour in stock and add tomatoes and okra. Cover pot and gently simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in shrimp.

To prepare the topping, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix together egg and milk, add to muffin mix, and combine until just well-blended. Drop by tablespoonfuls on top of hot shrimp mixture, leaving the center uncovered. Bake 15 to 20 minutes.

*** Paula's Cook's Note: This Southern dish usually is prepared and served in an iron skillet, but may be cooked in a frying pan with an oven-proof handle.

*** Denny's Cook's Note: If you do use an iron skillet, make sure it is well seasoned as tomatoes have acid that can compromise that seasoning layer, putting pits in it, leaching a little too much of that iron taste into the food. After you do use an iron skillet with tomatoes or lemon acid in a dish, make sure to season it again just to make sure the pan is well sealed.

Paula's House Seasoning:

1 cup salt

1/4 cup black pepper

1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

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Most Popular Web Recipe: Double Chocolate Cake

From Denny: This is one popular chocolate cake recipe! Over 1,000 reviews on Epicurious.com. It's rare to get up to 100 reviews for any recipe let alone this many. Tanya Steele of Epicurious shows us how easy it is to make this old-fashioned confection. This gorgeous decadent cake would be perfect for Valentine's Day too. Your friends and guests would be so impressed, begging you for the recipe! :)

Another odd thing about this recipe is that the cake layers take far longer to bake in the oven than the usual 25 to 35 minutes. These layers bake at a much lower temperature and for far longer, up to an hour or so. Putting the cake together for the oven and to spread the ganache icing takes only a few minutes.

This recipe was first published in Gourmet magazine and is now the most popular recipe over at Epicurious.com.

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Double Chocolate Layer Cake

From: Epicurious.com

Serves: 12 to 14

Chef Ed Kasky used Callebaut semisweet chocolate for the cake and Guittard French-vanilla chocolate for the frosting, but any fine-quality semisweet chocolate will produce a wonderful result in either.

INGREDIENTS

For cake layers

• 3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
• 1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla

For ganache frosting
• 1 pound fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

Special equipment

• Two 10- by 2-inch round cake pans

DIRECTIONS

Make cake layers:

Preheat oven to 300° F and grease pans. Line bottoms with rounds of wax paper and grease paper.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well. Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

Make frosting:

Finely chop chocolate. In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.

Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency). Spread frosting between cake layers and over top and sides. Cake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days. Bring cake to room temperature before serving.

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Funny Music Video of How Americans Sound to Foreigners

From Denny: This is so funny, mainly because the lampooning Italians have us accurately nailed to the wall. If you have ever wondered what Americans sound like to others who speak different languages you will laugh at this. An Italian singer decided to write a song with nothing but gibberish to sound like it was intelligible English. Of course, the funniest thing of all is that often today's music sounds unintelligible to us as well! :) But hey, pop music is really all about the beat that makes you want to dance and have fun! ("That's my story and I'm sticking to it!" as the saying goes in America...) I guess Americans can remind themselves of the other saying: "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery." Anyway, you look at it, this little musical spoof is great fun!




*** THANKS for visiting, come back often and please subscribe in a reader or by email!