I continue to interview artists from different music backgrounds and they routinely give me little tidbits of the kinds of foods they like and some have shared a favorite recipe or two. I recently interviewed Earl Thomas, who was raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee.  His background with food consisted mostly of southern food cooked by his mama...lots of fried food.  According to Earl, his food habits have changed quite a bit, he needs to maintain a level of showmanship which requires a lot of physical prowess on stage, so he needs to eat protein rich foods to keep him going at the pace he wants.  To watch most high-performance musicians on stage - Mick Jagger comes to mind - they exert a tremendous amount of energy.  I read that it is close to 12 miles a performance, and at 65 years old, that’s impressive.  According to an interview that Mick did for the Sun,  Jo Wood, wife of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, convinced Mick Jagger to go all organic.  Jo discovered organic eating after being diagnosed with a perforated appendix, and her healthy habits have rubbed off on Jagger and others in their circle of friends.  Ex-wife Jerry Hall is reportedly on the bandwagon too, and drummer Charlie Watts ate organic during his throat cancer recovery. 

When I talked with Earl Thomas, the singer says he makes a lot of high-protein smoothies.  He’s a slim guy, so a smoothie might work just fine as an entire meal.  I actually went to his show at the Sierra Nevada Big Room, where they bring in some of the best and sometimes not-so-well-known artists who have accolades way beyond what we hear on any commercial radio station.  Thomas is one of these such artists.  

Also someone like Kenny Neal.  I hadn’t really heard of him and when I received his CDs from Blind Pig Records it took me a while to have the time to sit down and read the liner notes.  This guy’s won lots of awards in the music world. Then when I spoke to him on air, he couldn’t have been a more pleasant guy, not to mention his soulful voice and music.  He is originally from the south, Louisiana to be exact.  He said his mama cooked up a storm for all 10 or so kids, and he’s taken a few of those recipes and made them his own.  He promised to send one to me and I’ll be sure to share it.

Since blues in the kitchen always reminds me of beans and cornbread.  One of my favorites is skillet cornbread...but watch out, hot with butter is something you'll have no will power over eating the whole pan.  Put on some funky blues and get cooking.  Do you have a favorite southern recipe you cook?

 

 

When Jason’s pepper grinder broke, I told my son I would get him another.  I headed down to the local Dean & DeLuca store in SoHo, close to where Jason and Li live in New York.  When I visit them, I always visit the gourmet store, not having anything even close to the quality and variety of products in my small town of Chico, CA.  So off I went in search of a new ‘butterfly’ pepper grinder.  J says he likes to have a grinder that he can use one hand for cooking, as he can stir while grinding.

I was surprised to find there wasn’t a large selection, but this one caught my eye, as it was shiny, dispersed the right amount of pepper, and you could grind with only one hand.  I talked with the clerk about it and she said she had bought one for her boyfriend and he really liked that one.  So I picked up the package, paid for it, and brought it home to the kid’s house. 

My son has been a drummer for over 20 years, and is an excellent cook.  When he looked at the package of the pepper mill he laughed and said he liked the name of it, which I hadn’t even noticed.  It was called the Pump & Grind.  We both laughed and thought it a catchy name, then he said, “Wow, this was made by Vic Firth”.  Not knowing this name, he had to explain to me that this guy was the premier drumstick manufacturer, and now making gourmet kitchen products evidentially.  I found this kind of intriguing so I pursued trying to get Mr. Firth as a guest on my show.  After a few months, the maker of the Pump & Grind talked with me about how his company turned a corner in not just making drumsticks (over 85,000 per day) to making pepper and salt mills, rolling pins and now muddlers.  Vic said he didn’t even know what a muddler was until his ‘people’ came up with the idea.

On the Vic Firth Company website, Mario Batali spouts the virtues of the Vic Firth Rolling Pin in a video that he is demonstrating making cinnamon rolls.  If it works for Mario, I’m sure it must be a good product.  Vic said he’s gotten to know a lot of the food stars recently adding to the lists of rock stars like Anthrax, Megadeath, Tool and so many others who use his sticks.  I played a drum battle song I downloaded from iTunes  between Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa and when I asked Vic who his favorite jazz drummer was, he said Buddy Rich and that he had known all the greats at one time or another.  More than he even cared to list.

Firth started out as a timpani player for the Boston Symphony in 1952 and played until 2002.  Broke some kind of record for the longest timpanist in history.  Having been a musician is one of the reasons he says his drumming equipment is better than his competitors.  Vic also played the trumpet, as did Jason, so I wasn’t surprised to hear that the pumping lever on the grinder was fashioned after a trumpet valve.  Very clever!

I am starting to explore different musicians who have delved into the world of food, either with owning a restaurant to producing a product.  I interviewed Dwight Yoakum’s food manager about Yoakum’s Bakersfield Biscuits company--couldn’t get Dwight himself.  They sent a bunch of the products, mostly dehydrated beans and rice Mexican flavors infused in them.  Not bad for camping, not for me to use as a real meal in my kitchen.  They seemed to be fairly clean, that is not having chemicals in the food, so that was a plus.  I’d really like to interview Julian Lennon (John’s son).  He’s part owner of some restaurants in Southern California.  Wonder what’s that all about?  We’ll see, it’s sometimes difficult to reach these major stars, but it’s worth the try.

 

You don’t think of these two music genres in the same sentence, but when I went to our local theatre to see the play, Lost Highway (the story of Hank Williams) starring and directed by Loki Miller, I thought I might get one of the living Hanks for an interview.  Now Hank, Jr, is a hard guy to get in touch with but Hank 3, his son, was much more accessible, so I opted for him.

A couple of years ago, my son Jason said he hung out with Hank 3.  They were at a David Allen Coe concert on a boat in the Hudson River and drank whiskey together.  Jason is a punk rock drummer in New York, so I am familiar with this music genre.  I live in northern California, so I’m familiar with the music of choice here, country.  Not many artists cross over to both types of musical expression, as does Hank 3.

The cast members that showed up at the studio to record my show brought with them their instruments and enthusiasm.  Jeffy B plays the stand up bass and in the play he is Hoss, Hank’s Williams’ boyhood friend; Kevin Briggs plays Burhead, the electric guitarist for the Hank Williams’ band the Outlaws, and of course Loki Miller who plays Hank and the guitar in the play.   Lisa Marie showed up too and her acting part is of Audrey, HW’s wife.  I asked Loki what he did to get ready for the part and he said he ate a lot of scrambled eggs with ketchup, and TicTacs.  This was what Hank, Sr. ate a lot on the road.  The band did a short sound check then went into gear with a couple of tunes from the play---Lovesick Blues and Jambalya, then came into the studio to talk with Hank 3.

Now Hank 3 is a different sort of character.  He’s a bad boy!  Doesn’t like any type of authority, walks his own walk, talks his own talk, and he drinks a good share of whiskey.  That’s what he spouted when I mentioned that I heard he plays some Hank 1 & 2 music.  He said, “I’ll play one song.  If people expect to come hear Hank Williams Sr. or Jr., go out and buy their records,

you’re here to hear my music.  I encourage the drinking of whiskey.  I want people to forget their troubles and just have a good time”.

He doesn’t cook much he told me, but when he does it’s just chicken or fish, maybe some vegetables.  He said he liked to hunt and fish, and he sees it through, meaning he’ll eat whatever he snags.  On the road, it’s a lot of cold pizza.  His favorite ice cream?  Homemade vanilla.

Turn up the volume, I’m cooking!

It’s alway a big choice when it comes to what music to listen to while I’m cooking.  I’ve asked this of many of the musicians I’ve interviewed on my food and music radio show, and none of the musicians said they listened to their own music while rustling around the kitchen.  I listen to their music though.  

 

If a musician is creative on stage they will most likely be creative in the kitchen; that is if they delve into this other form of expression.  I personally know a couple of musicians that never set foot into the kitchen to cook and they like it that way, but that isn’t true of all. More often than not there is one member of the band that likes to cook given the chance. Then there are chefs who rock in the kitchen and probably would make great musicians, but don’t take that art up at all.  Easier for a musician to cook in the kitchen than for a chef to cook on stage playing music.

 

The show on KZFR 90.1 FM radio, first featured Chef Jason Palin.  He is a guest chef work with Studio b currently cooking up a storm in Florida.  Studio b is a creative venue that brings together the best of the best and the up and coming in the fields of photography, art, design, literature, food, and wine. Studio b. is an intermingling of all creative mediums.  I met the founder, Coleen Duffley at the Food Blog South conference recently, when she mentioned a British chef that would be making a big splash at Studio b.  You can see Chef Palin’s continuing story on http://www.gourmetgusto.co.uk.

 

Also this day brought the likes of Ray Manzarek, founding member and keyboardist for the Doors making a telephone visit on Mama Rose’s Kitchen.  Ray’s also won a place in the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, and a few other prestigious awards for his music.  I told him it use to be Sex, Drugs & Rock n’ Roll, but I’ve replaced the drugs with FOOD and that sentiment seems especially true of the more seasoned rock n’ roll veterans, like Ray.  

A lot of bands take to the road in a small van packed with their equipment and head out to parts unknown to play small venues for little or no money.  When I asked Ray about what the boys in the band ate while on tour, his answer surprised me.  He said this never happened with his newly formed band back in the ‘60s.  Their first record, Light My Fire was an instantaneous hit that six months later they were flown to New York to play a few prestigious venues and only the equipment was sent via van.  They never had to exist on p’nut butter and jelly sandwiches---they were hitting the big time and could eat wherever they wanted.  He did mention however that there was a favorite restaurant located close to UCLA in the Lucky U bar where they hung out and ate authentic Mexican food, a favorite being the Chili Rellenos and frijoles.

When I tasked what he likes to cook, Ray said he was the spontaneous, instant cook in his house.  He could easily fry up some meat or his specialty, Japanese style fish.  He said he left the soups, stews and other meat dishes up to his wife to prepare, and he indicated they could whip up a great, tasty meal together any time.  He and his wife have a year round garden at their home in Napa, and although not a wine grower nor wine maker, he did like to drink his fair share of the grape.  He went on to talk about how easy it would be to grow tomatoes if you were just a novice gardener, and that was how his gardening interest grew back in the days when living in Beverly Hills.  I suggested how you could place the plants in containers if you didn’t have the room for a real garden, and thinks the best to start with are cherry tomatoes, that and a hot pepper plant, you’ve got the makings of salsa.  “You’ll get hooked and want more”.

Ray Manzarek has collaborated with Roy Roger’s recently and their newest CD “Translucent Blues” is available now.  There is one hauntingly beautiful instrumental that I’ve been listening to over and over.  As You Leave, written by Roy Rogers, features Ray’s keyboard style and tenor sax player, George Brooks.  Most of the songs were written by Roy and arrangements by Ray.  There is that distinctive sound coming from Ray’s keyboard chords that are reminiscent of the day of the Doors but this collaboration is altogether a new world for Ray, and it’s very cool.

A couple of years ago, I had purchased 100 aprons and had my fun, colorful logo printed on them.  I did a photo shoot with my graphic designer, and we had his son, who was visiting from Australia at the time, be my model.  JD made my apron look hot!  I posted it on my website thinking I might sell a few.  That wasn’t the case however, I ended up giving them away as gifts, donating them for non-profit auction events, and wearing them in the studio kitchen when I air my radio show. 

 

They are a nice size, large enough to fit most ample bodies; have three great pockets for tools, recipes and scrunchies to keep my hair back while cooking.  An occasional pen or pencil ends up in there also, especially when jotting down recipes.  Then a friend sent me the following email, without a name attached to who is responsible for it, but I when I read it on my radio show, everyone seemed to like it, so I thought I’d post it here.

GRANDMA’S APRON

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few dresses. It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material.  But along with that, it served as a potholder for  removing hot pans from the oven. 

It’s wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.    

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.      

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold Grandma wrapped it around her arms. 

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, 

bent over the hot wood stove.   

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.  

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. 

After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. 

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.      

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. 

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. 

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

REMEMBER:   

Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.  Most of Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. 

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron.

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron - but love!

 

My mom always wore an apron when in the kitchen, so did my grandma.  Although we didn’t have chickens, I do remember hiding behind it as a shy little girl.  

 

Many years ago, a woman I know had a art show displaying her collection of antique aprons.  They were beautiful, lacy, sturdy, and some just downright frilly.  Those aprons wouldn’t serve me very well.  I’m constantly wiping my hands all over mine.

Just last week, my friend Julie brought me one of the aprons she bought while spending time in Nicaraqua.  Beautiful, red, and frilly.  I love it.

 

MUSIC & FOOD

 

On my radio show (Mama Rose’s Kitchen), I interview cookbook authors, restauranteurs, farmers, community members who have food related events, and musicians.  It’s obvious why I interview the former people but a lot of people ask me why musicians?  Well, my contention has always been that if an artist is creative on stage they will be creative in the kitchen.  That has been true of a lot of the artists I’ve interviewed.  Take Dick Dale for instance.  I interviewed him in 2004.  When I finally got a response from the email I sent him referring to the subject of my shows, he replied in four powerful words, “I cook and bake”.  I thought this was fantastic and couldn’t wait to interview him.

 

A phone call to Dick a couple of days before resulted in a friendly exchange and the interview went really well.  He talked about how, as a child, he helped cook for the family during the depression.  He remembers especially the meatloaf.  

 

Another musician’s interview I did that is most memorable to me was Paul Thorn.  A southern Mississippi raised singer, songwriter, really isn’t very adept in the kitchen, but he gave a recipe that his mother cooked for their family often --- salmon cakes.  As Paul said, “not that fresh salmon, but canned salmon with breadcrumbs, an egg and fry it in the grease of your choice”.  Not a gourmet, but his choice of what he would indulge in given the chance was ice cream with some hot chocolate drizzled all over.

In 2010 I interviewed Glenda Facemire, the make-up artist for Austin City Limits.  Glenda was a joy to talk with, and we hit it off immediately.  I didn’t interview her because she could apply make-up, but because she put together a book called, “Music in the Kitchen - Recipes From Austin City Limits Performers”.  Food and Music, my favorite subject matter.  She in turn started sending performers who have recipes in the book my way for interviews on my show.  Artists like Shelly Tucker of the Drive-by Truckers, Cindy Cashdollar, C.J. Chenier, and a few others.  All of these musicians are well entrenched in the music world opening or playing with major bands or solo around the world.  It was really a pleasure doing these interviews and it just brought me validation that music and cooking has so much in common.

During each interview, I always ask the artist what they think the similarities of music and cooking are and the answers are pretty much the same.  Cooking feeds your body, music feeds your soul...and they both feed the mind in different ways.  Thirty percent of everything you eat goes to feeding your brain, and I’ve read that we hear only 20% of what is audible.  Is it the music in between the notes that mean more?  Not sure, but sometimes it is what is left out of food that often is the better recipe.  But that is another blog for another time.

 

There are oodles of references to food in music, not only a multitude of songs about everything from apples to zucchini, but the bands playing the music have been noted to cook on stage as well.  Some musicians even use food as their identities.  Meatloaf, Eddie Spaghetti to name a couple.  All of the art world from poets, painters, writers as well as musicians have often used food as the inspiration of their work.  Still life paintings are a staple in a museum’s collection.  Shakespeare writes, “So are you to my thoughts as food to life”.  “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie” is sung around the world--and that’s amore’.  I play a lot of songs about food on my show, it just feels like the thing to do, and I listen to music while I cook; that feels like the thing to do too.  They just seem to go together.

OK, I know I’m going to get some kind of flack from animal rights organizations or people who think squirrels are really cute little animals.  I was one of those people in the past, but the squirrels in my yard have done some major damage.  My yard and garden is quite small compared to some and when my walnut tree started to bear fruit, there were three small squirrels having the time of their life chomping on the bright green fleshy hulls of the ripening walnuts and dropping them all over my patio.  Now I know it’s not good to have a patio under a walnut tree, but it is there.  The tree is probably 75-100 years old and I haven’t the heart to chop it down.  I wouldn’t have a tree to hang my Sky Chair on if I did, and that is a great place of solace for me.  

 

After the hulls are spit out in small chunks and they and the nuts have fallen on the ground, then any walnuts left, the squirrels snag to hide in places like my potted plants.  They not only dig in them to find seeds, they often hide their stash in them.  They will sometimes knock the entire pot with flowers or herbs in them over, leaving a mess.

 

I just don’t like squirrels any more, and I have been kiddingly saying I wish there were open season on the squirrel population in my town, since there seems to be an epidemic of them.  Not sure that is the word, but that is the word that comes to mind--epidemic.  In any case, there is a huge population of these critters all over town.  I mentioned this to my son, Robert, and he says we should create a squirrel-based economy to boost our town’s bottom line.  Sounds good to me.  I once tasted squirrel stew a country boy made for my family when we lived in the foothills.  This was many, many years ago, but I remember it didn’t taste that bad--I’ve tasted worse.  I guess squirrel stew could be canned, or how about squirrel jerky?  Nobody should go hungry, and I would think this might be welcomed.  

 

When doing some research about eating squirrels, I found a number of websites that all promote the eating of these varmints.  One in particular shows a skinned squirrel (not very appetizing looking), and a video of one cooking in what seems like boiling water.  There was even a New York Times article on how the British are embracing the squirrel as the next new trend of meat on the plate.  This was actually a ploy to save their red squirrel since the grey squirrel from North America has been taking over their turf.  Save a Squirrel by Eating A Squirrel was the headline of the Times article.  It also states that it is a perfect food during a depression. 

 

According to Kevin Viner, former chef-proprietor of Pennypots, the first Michelin-starred restaurant in Cornwall, England, who now runs Viners bar and restaurant at Summercourt, believes it will remain a niche market. But with a plentiful supply of meat - there are estimated to be almost five million grey squirrels in Britain - there is room for the market to expand.

 

Viner - who comes from a rural 'if you shot it, you ate it' background - said the trick was to serve squirrel fresh and not to leave it hanging like other game. 'It looks a lot like rabbit, though it is a drier meat and slightly firmer. Most of the meat comes off the rear leg. The loins are so thin they need much shorter cooking time,' he said.

'A large squirrel would be enough for one-and-a-half people. The public (English) really are being drawn to it. I think that it's because it is being perceived as a healthy meat. Southern fried squirrel is good. And tandoori style works. It is especially tasty fricasséed with Cornish cream and walnuts. But the one everyone seems to like is the Cornish squirrel pasty.' 

The grey squirrel is local, especially if it is in your own backyard.  You know what is has been eating, so the meat will be higher in nutrition than even factory farmed chickens.  They are low in fat and basically sustainable in that it didn’t have to travel 1500 miles to get to you.  My son, Robert thinks we should develop a squirrel-based economy here in Chico, Ca.  He sees canning it, making jerky out of it, hats, gloves--well you get the idea. 

I can’t kill one.  And I really don’t think I would eat one, but then again, I don’t go hungry either.  I’d just like a few less squirrels in my yard and potted plants.  I guess I try the ol’ rocks in the dirt method that my son said works too.