Forget Ringing- Now They're Playing Videos

by Maddi Frick


I went out for lunch today, a pizza and salad buffet.  The restaurant was particularly busy, surprising us because we thought the insane construction in Grand Rapids would have deterred people.  I sat down after dodging my way through the buffet line (impatiently waiting behind a woman cherry-picking certain pieces lettuce from the salad bin).  


Ready to delve into my waiting crust pieces, I was disturbed by the sound of a cellphone.  It wasn't ringing, but was displaying a video to its owner.  And it didn't stop.  The restaurant was loud, so the phone's owner had turned up the volume to a jaw-clenching level to make it audible.  I know I'm particularly annoyed with noise pollution- just ask my parents about eating potato chips while I'm in the house.  However, I can imagine I wasn't the only one aghast as the phone's owner played the 30-second clip for the second time so her dining companion could watch.  


At one point, someone's cell phone actually rang at a different booth.  I felt no annoyance at the beeping sound.  Can you imagine?  It's 2012 and I'm not concerned with an interrupting cell phone ring as the early 2000's had predicted- because the cell phones can do things far worse now.  People with no phone etiquette can subject the rest of us to their personal choice of YouTube video, but only the audio bit.

The Only Stuffing Recipe You'll Ever Need

By Jennifer Poenix

Last Saturday on Between You and Me, I called in and talked about my favorite part of Thanksgiving: Stuffing. Not just any stuffing, but this recipe:

Crock Pot Stuffing

1 c. butter or margarine
2 c. chopped onion
2 c. chopped celery
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
1 4 oz. jar mushroom slices
12-13 c. unseasoned bread croutons (I find these in the bakery section of the grocery store.)
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. thyme
1 1/2 tsp. sage
1/2 tsp. pepper
3-4 c. chicken broth
2 beaten eggs

Layer in order given in crock pot. Cook on HIGH for 45 minutes, and then on LOW for 4-6 hours. Stir a few times while cooking. You can also add more croutons as it cooks down, and you may need to add more broth as well.

You'll never eat Stove Top again!

Award Winning Food

By Jennifer Poenix

One week from today is going to be a great day at KAXE. I can feel it!

It will be Day 3 of KAXE's "Stay Warm" Fundraiser, but it is also Hot Dish Challenge Day!! We're hoping to get some fine folks to bring in their favorite hot dishes (or casseroles, if you're not from these parts) at lunchtime to share with KAXE's staff and volunteers. Of course, you are welcome to stay and eat and help pass judgment on other hot dishes.

But wait! There's more! We're also having:

• a chili challenge on Friday, February 27
• a hot dessert challenge on Monday, March 2
• a hot and spicy challenge on Wednesday, March 4, and
  
• a soup challenge on Friday, March 6 (the last day of the fundraiser)

All participants are sure to win an award. Please contact KAXE if you are interested in making food for any of the challenges.

Also, there are still ample opportunities to answer phones during the fundraiser. Let us know if you can help.

Thank you!

Programmed to Eat

By Jennifer Poenix

There's usually a staff meeting at KAXE every Thursday morning. We didn't have one this morning because Maggie Montgomery had to go out of town for a meeting.

Most of the staff doesn't mind missing a meeting, but we do mind missing out on treats. Each week, it is somebody's responsibility to bring treats for the staff meeting. Sometimes we have normal things like bagels or cookies. Last week we had french fries and gravy (thanks Doug!). If there is no meeting, there are no treats.

Well, last night I had a dream about cinnamon rolls. I was spreading icing on them and they looked so delicious. When I woke up, I couldn't stop thinking about them. I even mentioned them in my facebook status. Doug MacRostie saw this and said that since I mentioned them, he wanted them too. So, I went to the store and bought two tubes of rolls with icing. Fifteen minutes later, they were ours to eat.

Some Thursday morning traditions just can't be broken.

This blog is about food...

By Jennifer Poenix

So, here I am, talking about food again.

I have a sign-up sheet at my desk for anyone who feels like bringing food during our fall fundraiser, which is coming up October 20-31. Right now, it's blank because I just put it up.

Fundraisers are a great time at KAXE and one of the reasons is the food. Most days around 11AM, various staff members peer over me to look at the sign-up sheet, wondering who is bringing lunch. Of course, KAXE's staff is very capable of eating on their own both during a fundraiser and when it's not a fundraiser. However, it's so nice to know that there is food waiting in the kitchen when everybody has been busy gonging in pledges and adding up totals. There's a good feeling that goes on when we all get together and eat when it's fundraiser time. If you bring food, you get to be part of that. Even if you don't bring food, you are welcome to drop by and eat with us.

I know that a lot of folks don't live near enough to drop by or bring food. That's fine. We understand completely. We hope you feel like you're part of things by listening to KAXE.

If you are able to bring food, that would be great! It doesn't have to be fancy. We aren't too hard to please (just remember to provide a meatless alternative if you're bringing a meal). It can be homemade, from a take-out place, or even snacks. Really, any kind of food that shows up here will be greatly appreciated!

We are also in need of folks to answer the phone to take pledges. The times we need people most include early mornings, evenings, and the weekend (October 25 and 26), especially during Green Cheese from 7-9PM on Saturday.

If you can help with either food or phones, please contact me by either email: jennifer@kaxe.org or phone 218-326-1234 or 800-662-5799.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

What's a Dinner-Rama???

It’s a dinner--of any type--at your house or a community center.

Give your dinner a good name and invite some guests. On November 15th you and your friends sit down (or…maybe you float in a hot tub—that’s entirely up to you!) for a fabulous meal.

You can all play a special, all-nature version of Green Cheese trivia on KAXE, then pass the hat for phenology. You can call sometime during the Green Cheese program to tell us about your meal and report the fundraising total for your Dinner-Rama.

Then we celebrate…HOORAY!

You can cook the dinner yourself, you can plan a Dinner-Rama with another friend, or it could be a potluck. That's up to you. It’s fun!

About 6 years ago KAXE members held Dinner-Ramas to raise funds for KAXE’s new building. Here are some of the themes from the 2002 event:

Breakfast Bash Dinner-Rama
Roadkill Chili Hillbilly Dinner-Rama
KAXE Soup Kitchen
“Gypsies, Tramps at Steve’s” Czechoslovakian Dinner-Rama
Authentic Local Slow Meal Dinner-Rama
Hot Tubs and Martinis Dinner-Rama
Sauna, Suds, Soup, Salad
Guthrie Community Center Potluck Dinner-Rama
Greek Gourmet Club
Known Only Locally “Thanksgiving for KAXE” Dinner-Rama
Soup, Sourdough, Salad, Suds and Sparkly Dinner-Rama
Hibbing's Famous Sons and Daughters Italian Dinner-Rama
East Indian Dinner-Rama
Dinner-Rama at the Screaming Pines
Polka Palace Dinner-Rama
Brainerd Area DNR Employees’ Fish and Game Dinner-Rama
Hot fudge ice cream brownie-Ramas

On November 15th, 91.7 KAXE is holding this Dinner-Rama to celebrate and support the 25th Anniversary of the Phenology program. We’re raising $25,000 to help KAXE’s phenology activities—teaching phenology in 12 classrooms across our region, building the rain garden and martin house at KAXE, helping pay travel so John Latimer can speak to more community groups, and buying phenology promotional materials.

We believe it is good for our children to spend time outdoors observing nature. We also believe that all the people who comprise the phenology network--who participate in and contribute their observations to the Phenology Show--are providing a great service to all of us. What better way to celebrate the 25th anniversary than to do something to keep the Phenology Network strong?

If you can help by hosting a dinner, or if you’d like to find a dinner to attend, please call us: 218/326-1234

Sustaining Phenology

By Stephanie Rose

Phenology n. The scientific study of periodic biological phenomena, such as flowering, breeding, and migration, in relation to climatic conditions.

On Tuesday night, folks at KAXE kicked off a year-long celebration of the Phenology [that’s the study of biological and rhythmic events of nature as they relate to climate] Show’s 25th Anniversary. Lots of very nice people came to enjoy snacks, an enormous cake, and a live Phenology Plus show at 6:00, hosted by John Latimer and lots of his friends. “Time flies,” said Latimer. “It feels like I’ve only been doing this for 18 or 19 years!”

Some highlights of the evening for me included hugs from young Zane Poenix, watching volunteer DJ the DJ distribute name tags to our guests [the catch: most people didn’t use their actual names], Connie Vincent’s delicious [hot, hot, hot!] pistachio-habanero wraps

Publish Post

, and, of course, visiting with lots of Phenology fans the whole time. Phenology has touched lots and lots of lives over its 25 years.

To help sustain and advance the Phenology program in honor of its 25th anniversary, we’re trying to raise $25,000. The funds we raise will go toward KAXE’s purple martin house and rain garden, supplies for Phenology’s 12 classrooms, and help with more outreach programs. If KAXE’s Phenology has touched your life, we hope you’ll consider contributing to the Phenology Fund. $25, $250, $1,000 or any amount that you choose would be lots of help, and really appreciated by many, many people. There are pledge forms here, or you can call to find out more.

We’ll help keep Phenology near the front of your mind by having more celebrations all through this year. And don’t miss The Phenology Show Tuesday mornings starting at 6:50 and Phenology Plus Tuesday evenings at 6:00.

Pancakes in a can?!

By Stephanie Rose



We recently started sort of a tradition, now that we have a kitchen at KAXE: Pancakes and sausage [usually pronounced chottch-idge] and vegetarian alternatives on Friday mornings around 9:30. Everyone's welcome to join us, of course!



When we started the tradition, John Bauer always made the pancakes. Jennifer Poenix and I were allowed to pour the juice, make the coffee, and occasionally, if we were very careful, get the local eggs out of the fridge. Gradually, though, after lots of careful observation, Jennifer's been granted more pancake authority. She can even make the pancakes without John's supervision now! I, on the other hand, haven't quite attained her level of pancake authority. But I'm fine. I'm great at getting the eggs out of the fridge.



Still, imagine my delight when I discovered, at the supermarket, Batter Blast: All-organic pancake mix -- already mixed, that is -- in an aerosal can [similar to a Redi-Wipp can]! I bought two cans of mix, plus chottchidge and vegetarian alternatives, and I waited for Friday morning with my fingers steepled.



So. This morning. Pancake time. No one was going to put Stephanie in the corner. I plugged in the griddle and started cooking chottchidge. I got the can of batter our of the fridge. No eggs. No mess. No mixing bowls. I even -- rather magnanimously, I thought -- allowed Jennifer to squirt the first batch of pancakes! When she flipped them, they were beautiful. Perfectly golden-brown.



So. Five minutes later. Pancakes were a gloppy mess. The coffee pot had stopped mid-brew. The griddle wasn't even hot. The Rev Dave was wringing his hands from lack of coffee. Train wreck in progress! Luckily, I realized that the breaker had tripped. So I reset it, and we were back in business. I squirted the next batch of pancakes. Five minutes later. Another gloppy mess. John Bauer moaned, "I'm sorry, but these pancakes are terrible!" He was done. Shut down. Not even extra chottchidge could change his mind.



I reset the circuit breaker again, and Jennifer moved the griddle to a new outlet, but it was too late. The magic was gone, and there wasn't any more batter-in-a-can. Half of KAXE's staff went pancake-less. It wasn't easy. Scott Hall tried to comfort me, but I've learned my lesson. Pancakes don't come in a can. And I'm content with my jobbies: Get the eggs out of the fridge and pour the juice.

Got Zucchini?

By Jennifer Poenix

It's harvest time in northern Minnesota! Is your garden overflowing with produce?

I decided to plant zucchini this year. I had purchased it a few times at last year's farmers' market and really liked it. I had never really eaten much of it before except when my mom would make a chocolate zucchini cake when I was a girl. My mom never gardened, but usually ended up with a few zucchini every summer from someone, so she would make cake.

I have made three of these cakes so far this summer, and thought I'd share the recipe with anyone who finds themselves with an abundance of the green stuff:

Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Mix Together:
1/2 c. margarine or butter

1/2 c. oil

1 3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. buttermilk OR 1/2 c. milk plus 1/2 Tbsp vinegar

In a separate bowl, sift together:

2 1/2 c. flour

1/4 c. cocoa

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Add to batter. Then add 2 cups grated zucchini. Pour into greased, floured pan (I use a 9 x 13). Sprinkle 1 or 2 cups of chocolate chips on the top and bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.


Do you have any favorite zucchini recipes?

Recipe for Vinegar Pie

Thanks to our good friend Karen and cooks.com, here's a recipe for one of the pies we talked about last week on Between You and Me.

-----------
VINEGAR PIE
-----------

1 c. sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
2 tbsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. flour
1 c. water
Lump butter
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1 baked pie shell

Combine sugar and flour. Add eggs, vinegar and water. Cook
until smooth. Remove from heat and add small lump of
butter. Cool. Pour in 8 inch baked pie shell.

Have you ever EATEN vinegar pie? Did you like it? Tune in this Saturday for Between You and Me - we're talking about INTUITION!