Wisconsin is supposed to make a girl feel bratty. Bratwursty, that is.

Problem is, I’ve made bratwurst before. And thanks to my ham, I have… well, I have a lot of ham in the house. Adding to the supply of pork and pork products seemed imprudent.

My solution was to meld the idea of bratwurst with apples and onions and the concept of Jefferson’s Virginia ham pasta. So we have ham, pasta, apples, onions, cranberries (a Wisconsin product!), and a sort of au jus.

I think I found piano-driven alternative rockers The Picture Perfect (Bandcamp) via Reverbnation’s local-chart feature. This is indie summer jam material, right on target for 2012′s young feel even though the latest album is a year old. It would seem that Reverbnation shares Paste’s ability to empty my wallet. Shall we find out why?
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Some of us are just hams at heart.

In trying to find a dish for Virginia, I dithered over numerous varieties of chicken. Then I suddenly remembered that I couldn’t remember having ever baked a ham before, and if I couldn’t remember baking a ham, then even if I had baked a ham, it wouldn’t count.

An authentic Smithfield ham isn’t something one can readily obtain in Phoenix… but a ham’s a ham for all that. Especially when it’s accompanied by a nice corn meal biscuit, in the spirit of Southern hot breads for future sandwiches.

To accompany hamming it up, I went a-Googling, through the fields of corn, and decided to start a three-band set with dark electronica band Dead Fame (Reverbnation), who are roughly what would happen if Joy Division had collaborated with The Cure. Preheat the oven to 350 and let’s ham it up. Read the rest of this entry »

You know that dream where Zac Maloy and B.o.B. rent a swamp-front Creole cottage in Louisiana, stock up on beer, and invite you over to listen to them write songs together? And then you’re clapping out the beat while they’re in the kitchen, making jambalaya?

Two words: Steel Bill (official site). Yes, confessional, guitar-focused, faintly punk-y, grunge-y hip-hop with some veers into world beat. Let’s make jambalaya and take a listen. Read the rest of this entry »

This is pork on the verge of a volcanic explosion.

One iconic dish for Illinois is Chicken Vesuvius, which I’ve been intending to make for over a week, except that suddenly chicken is a thought that makes me sicken. So I bought a ham slice and a package of hot Italian sausage — decisions that also turn this dish from a two-hour project to a fairly quick dinner.

Since the theme today is clearly “unexpected delights,” I skipped the Boston Phoenix’s first choice for Illinois and went with its second choice, Yawn (Bandcamp). As is so often the case lately, I can’t figure out the lyrics and nobody seems inclined to tell. But the production makes me smile. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t let how that taco is seemingly lit by a divine radiance fool you. This was a daring experiment that turned out pleasantly flavored but not quite as expected.

“Not quite as expected” calls for Prince covers. Before moving to Arizona, I’d spent years in Minneapolis, where Prince looms large on the music scene. Let’s think about this. Minneapolis: World Capital of Polite Restraint and Earnestness. Minneapolis’ Major Musical Legacy: an androgynous dude who sings about sex in terms that are downright slippery.

Don’t even think about inserting a lewd taco joke! I mean it. But while we’re thinking “slippery”… Read the rest of this entry »

In my third year of thinking about it, I finally made it to major league baseball spring training — which gives me something in common with some of the dudes on the field.

Having, in a moment of over-excitement, mistaken the first Monday of spring training for the Monday holiday the prior week, I found myself at an afternoon game way out at Surprise Stadium. Surprise Stadium is in the northwestern suburb of Surprise, as in “Surprise! You’re halfway to the California border by now!”

The stadium itself is aggressively charming in the manner of Playmobil playsets, so that one is overcome with happy feelings and urges to collect the whole set. Also, because it is the joint home of the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals, its concessions include a battling barbecue stand (though its internal strife was not obvious to the casual observer). On the pulled pork above, the sauce to the right is Texas-style and the sauce to the left is Kansas City-style. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not pulling your leg. I’m pulling your pork.

Damn, that sounded lewd.

This process is going to culminate in a Cuban sandwich, which is one of the finest inventions in culinary history, right up there with chocolate, pesto, and the livelier vodka cocktails.

The occasion calls for a musician with a Miami connection. As it happens, Iron & Wine (Myspace) just dropped an album. Rumor has it that this one is more “pop” than prior albums, and since my existing hesitation about this act (it’s essentially one heavily bearded dude, Samuel Beam) was that I could have stood for its music to be a tad livelier, this seemed the moment to take the plunge on Kiss Each Other Clean (in support of which Beam is now touring Denmark). So if he can resist going all Followill about his lost rock cred, we may have something interesting here. Read the rest of this entry »

Braising pork in Spanish wine somehow resulted in a flavor combo I can only describe as German-Chinese fusion.

This incident can be retrieved only by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (listen) whose lead singer, Karen O, is Korean-Polish. It’s been 18 months since the band’s last album, It’s the Blitz!, but this just means Amazon is more likely to put it on sale, right? Also, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs give a good workout to make up for those there noodles. Read the rest of this entry »