I’m going on the Squaeler, what should I bring?
Many years ago my family used to go picnic at Olive Park at the end of Miegs Field. We would have the ‘go to’ picnic fare…a couple of buckets of the Colonel’s chicken with all the fixens. We would then walk Burnham harbor and go to Soldier Field to take in the then yearly all-star game played between the Super bowl champs and the college stars coming into the NFL. As we would walk the harbor we would marvel at the boats/yachts and dream and name our boat that we surely would have in Burnham someday. Well I don’t know for sure about all the visualization stuff you hear about, but we did end up with a killer boat in the harbor and have learned a few things along the way as far as what foods are great on the boat, and what to avoid.
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You may think from the headline this post will blast corn.  Let me be clear, high fructose corn syrup sucks.  There I said it. I come from a family that loves conspiracy theories almost more than believing the Cubs can win a world series…almost.  I, however, am not one in the “everything is a conspiracy” camp.  HFCS gained prominence in our food chain for one reason; it is cheap compared to sugar.  No conspiracy to make people fat and unhealthy.  This is changing because people have been voting with their wallets.  The same is true for GMO’s, artificial dyes, preservatives, antibiotics ect.  If you want change, change your spending habits.
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In the MangiaTV kitchen, like many other places, we have evolved our own set of vocabulary terms over the years.  Some of them have been reconstituted from pit jargon, some of them come from our own family backgrounds, but all of them add to the energy and fun when the MangiaTV crew gets together.  We encourage all you Mangia Maniacs out there to incorporate our lingo in your get togethers, and please share your go to phrases with us…. we are always looking for creative linguistics to convey a thought, or a process, or a flavor!
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Three things your kid needs to know how to cook B4 moving out.
I recently read a Washington Post article “6 things every kid should know how to cook before leaving home” on the same subject and wanted to put a MangiaTV spin on what your kid needs to know how to cook before moving out.  Let me begin by saying the post article said as 18 year olds move out on their own… and I was like “what century are you speaking of?”  As economists are pointing out the increase in home creations is due in large part to kids moving out of their parents basements after taking refuge there since the financial collapse of 2008.  Most homes in America resemble Italian immigrant homes of the turn of the century…not that century…the one before… with kids living at home till near 30.  As we reluctantly see the kids go (LMFAO) and start new domiciles of their own, it is important they have some basic cooking skills.
The MangiaTV top 3 are:
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Uncle ‘Merica’s 4th of July Do’s and Don’ts
Uncle Merica here writing this guest post for my friends at MangiaTV.  I want to tell you a few of my thoughts about the 4th of July celebrations.  Firstly remember, the 4th is a Birthday party! You better have some cake.  It’s a celebration of the birth of our country.  That hard fought birth was for three reasons as far as I’m concerned.
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     As summer kicks in, and we all look for more ways to recharge after winter, I thought I’d take the time to talk about what it is to ‘Be Happy’.  I figured since I didn’t do a Father’s Day vamp this can serve well here, too.  After all, some major advice seeking from Dads has long been on the subject of attaining happiness.
It also goes well with the MangiaTV mission which down to its core is simply Being Happy.  Finding happiness has a great deal to do with how you approach this journey called life.
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Well it’s that time of year…when the endless possibilities lay out in front of you stretching to the September horizon.  School is out for the summer.  The kids are so excited and you…well you’re happy too…right.  Now is the time to plan for some great family get togethers and at MangiaTV we have two must do parties for this summer.
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      One of my absolute favorite things to get on the BBQ most any time of year is shrimp with the Mangia Shrimp Mojo spice.  These are so great and do well as an appetizer or as a main dish with slaw and rice.  The Shrimp Mojo Rub/spice is the blend used at The Shrimp Walk Restaurant for decades.  It was a best seller there, and is crowd favorite now.
There are a few things that you must do to make sure the shrimp meet MangiaTV standards when preparing.  I have come up with my top three things to make your shrimp live up to the Mangia standard:
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Music/Recipe Creation and the MangiaTV theme song
Recently I had the pleasure to talk with my good friend Dean about music creation and the similarities of the process to recipe creation.  In both cases the creator brings his life’s compilation of experiences to the task.  As Jacque Fresco says, “no one invented anything”.  That is, all creation comes as a one off from a pursuit of something else.  The light bulb moment is seeing something on the periphery when perusing something else.  It’s like keeping your eye on the ball is not the key, its being aware of the ‘light bulb’ idea on the side as you, “keep your eye on the ball”.
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