Crostini with Gorgonzola, Caramelized Onions and Fig jam
exactly as instructed

Giardiniera with White Beans
I just left out the ham, because I wasn’t about to serve two pork products in one meal, but if you made this with ham it would probably be a pretty nice main course.

Cuban-style pulled-pork sandwiches
I used this Cuban pulled-pork tacos recipe for the “ropa vieja” -style pork. I used about one-and-a-half times the meat called for in the recipe, but I doubled all the ingredients in the mojo sauce, because I didn’t have the 8 hours to marinate the meat and I needed to compensate. So I marinated for like 2 hours, and then instead of removing all the sauce I left about 1/3 in and cooked the pork in that. While it was cooking I boiled the remaining 2/3rds of the mojo and then dressed the pork again at the very end after I had pulled it. I don’t know if it would’ve tasted differently if it had marinated longer and cooked without sauce. That tamarind/orange juice/salt combo is gold.

Oh but so then instead of making stupid tacos we put the pork on ciabatta slices with swiss cheese and pickled jalapenos. The pickled jalapenos and cheese were my attempt to recreate a Cuban sandwich I had in Seattle. Swiss cheese because I have this vague idea that Cubans like to put Swiss on sandwiches?

Clem Snide covers Journey

I’mma try this a different way, Oliver.

Bob Dylan wrote and recorded “I’ll Keep It With Mine” in 1965. Like all Bob Dylan songs except “I Want You” and “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” it gives you the rickets if you listen to it.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Nico recorded her ageless robot version in 1967 for “Chelsea Girls.” Like all Nico covers, this is now the “iconic” version of the song among those of us who are young and pathologically hip, due to her peripheral involvement in the Velvet Underground and also the fact that she is a pretty dead lady who brushed her teeth with heroin, probably, and had a small but iconic role in La Dolce Vita.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles recorded a version in the early 80’s that is the Nico version except Susanna Hoffs is singing it. Here is how you can tell if someone is basing their cover on the Nico version: they will pronounce the word “spirit” with a German accent. This version is really good, though, if you don’t mind admitting you have feelings and are not cool.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Marianne Faithfull recorded a version in 1987 that is obviously based on the Bob Dylan version instead of the Nico version, for which she receives props. And by being Marianne Faithfull and singing the song like she is the subject of an ancient terrorist training video you somehow found in the VHS section of the Salvation Army and someone is holding a machine gun to her head just outside the frame, she makes the Bob Dylan version retroactively cooler.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Bettie Serveert recorded a version in the 90s for the movie “I Shot Andy Warhol,” which I’ve probably referenced before because the entire soundtrack is covers and also because my frames of reference narrow with every passing year. INTERESTINGLY, this is the first version of this song I ever heard.
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Dean & Britta just recorded a version of this song for the album of songs they released as a soundtrack to Andy Warhol’s screen tests. It sounds like Britta Philips’ voice is being heavily and unnecessarily autotuned in this song, maybe because it’s technically a remix? But a remix of what? Is the non-remix version lost to time?
[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Do you want these songs? They are here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?c27iu7darkdcf6z

Do you want a Boehnus? Here is the Fairport Convention covering I’ll Keep It With Mine, and sounding like stupid hippies:

Panang Tofu Curry: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Panang-Tofu-Curry-351275 I cooked the sauce the night before and added the tofu and veggies the night we ate.

Coconut Milk Sticky Rice with Mangoes: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Coconut-Milk-Sticky-Rice-with-Mangoes-233842

The rice itself is called glutenous rice or sweet rice. I picked a bag that was labeled Thai Sticky Rice. Worked out fine. I soaked the rice over night and then cooked it the next day. There are detailed instructions on how to steam the rice, I say forget that and just microwave it. I put the rice in a big bowl and covered it with water. I zapped in on high for 3 minutes at a time, stirring in between and it ended up taking about 12-15 minutes. It was super easy.

All of the other recipes are from a fantastic cookbook called The Asian Grandmothers Cookbook. I think you will all agree with me when I say that the wings especially were the bomb.

As for where to get the weird Asian ingredients, I got nearly everything that the Ranch 99 Market in Daly City. I found the rest at Duc Loi.

Supposedly based on the murder of Billy Lyons by Stagger Lee Shelton, Stagger Lee (Stack O’ Lee / Stagolee / Stackerlee) is probably one of the most covered songs of the 20th century.

One of the earliest recordings of the song, and my all-time favorite of all time, is the Mississippi John Hurt version (Stack O’ Lee) recorded in 1928, which is also one of the most straightforward tellings of the story, and contains the basic skeleton of all subsequent versions. While subsequent versions turn Stagger Lee into either an anti-authoritarian hero or some kind of archetype of black masculinity (or both), John Hurt’s version focuses on the senselessness of the killing and Lee Shelton’s immorality.

Lloyd Price performed one of the most recognizable versions of the song. I don’t know where this recording is from:

Ike and Tina Turner basically performing the Lloyd Price version:

A whiteboy version of the song performed by Jerry Reed in 1975:

A rambling and dirty RL Burnside performance of Stagger Lee, which is the obvious inspiration for the version Samuel L. Jackson performs in Black Snake Moan:

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have a version from Murder Ballads that is also pretty dirty and focuses much more on Stagger Lee as an anti-hero, adding some bullshit about fighting over a woman. A good rendition of this song needs to make more of the fact that the killing was pointlessly based on one man knocking another’s hat off.

The Clash song, Wrong ‘Em Boyo (off of London Calling) is actually a cover by a Jamaican band called The Rulers, which is itself a variation of the Stagger Lee song.

Xiu Xiu’s Apistat Commander is one of those songs that you never actually listened to for like two years because it takes so long to kick in that you always instinctually skip it, and then one day you’re standing at an intersection and you’re too lazy to fish out your iPod and press forward so you listen to the whole song for the first time, maybe with the volume a little too high, and you realize finally that the song contains this perfect moment where, like, the sun suddenly bursts out of a cloudy sky but only for 30 seconds before there’s like this terrible, Hepatitis-infected rainstorm that lasts for the rest of your life.

Apistat Commander, covered by Sunset Rubdown. This is what the song would sound like if it were a really good rock song made by a band that didn’t print t-shirts with the phrase “Fun is for assholes” on them.

Apistat Commander, covered by something called “Parts & Labor.” I don’t know anything about this band, but if their normal songs sound like this they are probably not very good.

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Wood Smoked Tri-Tip with Sicilian Herb Sauce
I did the thing from the comments: make double the sauce and marinate the meat in it too

Carrot Salad with Harissa, Feta, and Mint

Arugula, Potato and Green Bean Salad, with a Creamy Walnut Dressing

and of course, Strawberry Yum Yum
notes: my Mom always uses Dream Whip for the instant whipped topping, and it is not clear in the recipe, but you make the Dream Whip according to the package instructions before folding it in.  I’ve never tried to make it with just regular sweetened whip cream, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. It would just make it less lactard friendly.
Oh, and missing from the scanned original (this is my mom’s recipe card) is the back side which says:  “Top with remaining crumbs.  Freeze.  Serve frozen (melts fast).”

I was happy with this meal.

Here’s Palin Haiku #1, boehners, entitled “Late Breaking Update!”  Enjoy:

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