Pfeffernusse.

It must be whispered in a sort of enticing coo.

Also to be whispered enticingly: band recommendations. I have a mutual follow on Twitter with an account that purports to be former Survivor front man Jimi Jamison (track-by-track of Never Too Late), though I suspect — due to its sudden burst of recommendations for Croatian post-punk bands and the like — that it’s actually a fan account. But anybody who remembers back to my World Cup fusion recipes in summer 2010 will realize that I need the occasional Croatian post-punk band. So I have no serious problem here with being fooled or exploited, as long as the bands keep coming. (And if it’s really Jamison, he has an amazingly diverse network of musical pals.)

The recipe for these cookies bears a vague resemblance to Kitchen Riffs’ pfeffernusse. Don’t rush to preheat the oven. Instead, set a stick of butter out to soften while checking out Australian hard rock band Ragdoll (official site, Youtube or buy Here Today EP from CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon).

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There is an etiquette for posting possum recipes on the interwebs. Step 1: post recipe. Step 2: giggle and gasp about how OMG, people actually eat possum. Step 3: do not cook a possum.

Possum’s basically a fatty game meat, prepared essentially the same way as bear, only it’s a lot easier to get the drop on a possum. (Possum in a can is an obvious gag.)

I’m not going to cook a possum, as even the Ultraluxe Kroger has not gone so far as to carry possum; and if it did, possum would cost $13.99/lb. Capitalist Running Dog Safeway, on the other hand, had pork loin roasts marked down to $2.99/lb, making it inevitable that for Tennessee I’d be pulling somebody’s pork.

Much more worthy of gasps is Nashville songwriter Larry Weiss (Twitter, official site, Reverbnation), whom I encountered on Twitter when I was babbling about rhinestones. Larry Weiss wrote the iconic song “Rhinestone Cowboy.” He continues to be a working and prolific songwriter. We’re going to see what he’s been up to. But first, let’s set the oven to 200 degrees and revisit the classic. Read the rest of this entry »

A post on Serious Eats about Totino’s pizza rolls–which I devoured as a child but loathe as an adult–led to the burning question of whether it’s possible to make a less artificial version at home.

Burning questions imply disco infernos… well, in my defense of current hippity hoppity CHR hits, I’d argued that disco was worse. But I recall very little of disco other than an occasional random exclamation of “do the hustle!” Ignorance not being precisely bliss, I checked out Disco Savvy’s list of the best disco songs of all time to see what cream rose to the top. Here I learned four things. First: Barry Manilow, who is roughly my parents’ age, can still do the hustle (in a red velvet sequined blazer, no less): Read the rest of this entry »