Miscellaneous Topics
In this episode, Marianne and I are dispensing with the usual “big topic” format and talking about a bunch of random crap, from Tumblr’s capacity for social justice organizing to whether Taco Bell is evil. Do enjoy.
Links:
Domino Dollhouse Birthday Bash Dress
Beth Ditto’s upcoming memoir
Taco Bell’s beef woes
Fuck Yeah Ordinary Muslim Guy
Shatner of The Mount
Plus London
The Gold and the Beautiful
The music heard in this episode is by Revolution Void.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 at 11:04 pm and is filed under Podcasts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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February 2nd, 2011 at 11:02 am
When I saw that you two had posted a new Fatcast episode, I had to physically restrain myself from wrapping my arms around my work computer and giving the monitor a big smooch. I can’t wait to go home and listen to it.
It is like Christmas up in here, up in here.
February 2nd, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Lesley…you are not the only person who hates Sandra Bullock. I will totally join you in that lonely, maligned little boat.
(Apologies for the content-free comment, but seriously…she gives me the heebee-jeebees, and always has.)
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:05 pm
I would love a clothing swap in Texas. I would go to wherever it was. Do you know who mentioned it so I can make sure I follow their blog?
February 2nd, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Lesley, I am in that lonely, maligned boat too. I highly, highly dislike Sandra Bullock as well. There is something about her that cause me to recoil.
Also, grits are the shit. Fancy polenta be damned, y’all. There is nothing better than grits fried on a griddle and smothered with butter and syrup.
February 2nd, 2011 at 3:58 pm
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Chubble Bubble, Domino Dollhouse and The W.Y.F.C, Living 400lbs. Living 400lbs said: Listening to Two Whole Cakes podcast: http://fatcast.twowholecakes.com/?p=84 […]
February 3rd, 2011 at 12:37 am
I’ve heard that there are “poor people vegetables” in Europe. Stuff like turnips and rutabagas, and things that nobody even eats anymore here because they fell out of favor like salsify and purslane. I guess if you force people to survive off of a specific thing during a famine or war, they sometimes hate it so much their children hate it too.. Ask someone from Sweden and a second generation immigrant to Minnesota about lutefisk sometime, you’ll get some widely varying opinions on its edibility.
February 3rd, 2011 at 9:33 am
I am probably really late in asking about this but I just rediscovered that my iPod plays podcasts: Is it possible to subscribe to this with iTunes?
Thanks.
February 3rd, 2011 at 1:14 pm
If you think steel cut oats taste great, try roasting them first! Take one cup of steel cut oats and spread on a cookie sheet. Roast at 350 until your kitchen and surrounding areas smell delectable. Pour oats into blender and blend until you have a half and half mixture of oats to almost an oat flour type stuff. Put in a bowl with one cup filtered water and a couple tablespoons of whey or lemon juice and leave overnight.
The next morning add another cup or two of water and cook it up in a pot. It’ll take about 15 minutes to cook through and get hot (it’s already soft and ready from pre-soaking!) Add your favorite toppings and enjoy!
Also Polenta was Italian po folks food. It came to my family when they came to the US at the turn of the 20th Century. You used it as a base for a pizza like dish or fried it in patties with sauce and cheese for a sandwich. I don’t know how it became Alice Waters snooty food. It was always Italian soul food to me. Italian comfort food and soul food have a lot in common. My grandmother was always remarking about this.
February 4th, 2011 at 9:05 am
I read about the hamburger that supposedly doesn’t decompose, too, and was really skeptical. So was someone at Serious Eats, so he investigated and did some experiments (using McDonald’s hamburgers and homemade ones for comparison). He came to the conclusion that it doesn’t mold “because its small size and relatively large surface area help it to lose moisture very fast. Without moisture, there’s no mold or bacterial growth. Of course, that the meat is pretty much sterile to begin with due to the high cooking temperature helps things along as well.”
http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/11/the-burger-lab-revisiting-the-myth-of-the-12-year-old-burger-testing-results.html
February 8th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
Okay, so I hesitate to even bring this up because I really like you guys and I really like the podcasts and I do not want to come across as a jerk.
I was surprised by the classist tone I heard around the conversation about Taco Bell (um, the tone that existed only until it was mentioned that “other people” were being classist about the topic). One example (and the strongest, I think) is when Lesley joked that Taco Bell meat was transported in “garbage bags.” I literally cringed when you said that, even though I know that you were being sarcastic. But that did feel pretty judgmental to me and I was surprised by it, and especially surprised when the conversation continued on and it was mentioned that “other” people were being classist about this topic. Am I missing something (I ask this genuinely)? Because joking that food is so worthless that it must be transported in garbage bags sounds judgmental to me.
February 10th, 2011 at 6:35 am
I’m an American in Portugal and all the typical American fast food exists here (minus Taco Bell, sobsob).
Meals and the preparation of meals and the consumption of meals (and wine and espresso and deserts) is such an important part of the culture down here in southern Europe. I don’t know if dining style reflects the overall pace of life, or the other way around, but it is an absolute pleasure to eat here. Lunch is sacrosanct even during the work week. This is true across the class spectrum. It is like being in a zen garden to walk through the streets at lunchtime and hear forks and wine glasses clinking from apartments above.
Fast food is not exactly demonized, but first, I don’t think it is actually considered “food” so much as a snack (the word for junk food is “comida plastica”–plastic food, I think that says a lot). Second, it is definitely seen as something that only teenagers and kids eat, and something that mostly only teenagers and kids would ever willingly choose to eat…I think in part because they are not thought of as mature enough to appreciate that, when you are at McDonalds or KFC or whatever, you are not only missing out on way better food (imo, fresh fish, 500 varieties of sausage, first press olive oil, bread baked 10 minutes ago ain’t got nuthin on a Big Mac), but also on the 95% of non-eating stuff that makes mealtime so fabulous.
That is is important to honor that one hour of the day when you sit down and do something good for yourself.
The American in me still sometimes thinks, “Yeah, that’s all well and good at holiday time, but during the work week, you just need to put the closest, most economical, fastest edible item in your belly and get on with your day.” That is an obscene thought to most people here.
Perhaps that explains why America is the richest place in the entire universe and I now earn roughly the same as when I was a cashier at McDonalds in 1995, but there you have it.
February 10th, 2011 at 8:04 am
@Lesley Re:Taco Bell transported in garbage bags
I think it was more about that unless you’ve worked at a specific fast food restaurant, the general public has absolutely no clue how the place is run. It’s not public information, and usually neither are the ingredients, unless someone investigates and something like this comes up.
That, and people have been known to transport large amounts of stolen cash in large black garbage bags. That could also be the reference, though not necessarily a conscious one.
February 11th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
@alicia: Ah, okay. Thanks for the alternative point of view!
February 11th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
I’m also really curious what y’all have heard about a clothing swap in Texas. Details please 🙂
February 13th, 2011 at 7:25 am
The likelyhood of being attacked by wolves here in Norway is so small it’s almost nothing. The likelyhood of heaing Creed on the other hand … I don’t know which you think is worse;)
@Sarah It depends how you measure it, but if you measure a country’s wealth by GDP, which is the way I’ve been taught as most correct, USA is not the richest place in the entire universe by a good margin.
March 15th, 2011 at 12:01 am
I enjoyed this podcast but I want to hear you discuss being fat in the office! The looks, expectations, having cream on noodles for lunch. – because it is more than just walking away from the conversation. Bringing in body politics can be tricky at work and for some places it almost seems advantageous to be disparaging against your body because it makes people uncomfortable and can alienate bosses/ coworkers.
Regardless, looking forward to the next podcast!O
March 31st, 2011 at 11:23 am
so where does one go to get this Tumblr toolbar???