>Cookbooks can be fun. Cooking new things is exciting, of course, but simply reading the book can be interesting, too.
While reading the brand new Good Home Cookbook:
“Did you know that Thomas Jefferson’s cousin was the first to publish a recipe for mac & cheese?”
“Cool. I’ll add it to my Trivia file.”
“Mmm. Here’s one for goulash.”
“But do they have booyah?”
“Well, not by name, but there are several good ethnic soups. Let’s plant lots of tomatoes in the spring so I can make a good minestrone. Maybe extra beans, too.”
I like this cookbook. It has basic instructions and fancy recipes and everything in between. Of course, the trivia scattered throughout guarantees that it’ll sit on my top shlf for a long time.
Reading The Favre Family Cookbook: by the Favre family was an entirely different experience. Instead of instructions for basic midwestern recipes of my family and friends, it features “three generations of Cajun and Creole cooking from the Gulf Coast.” This is not your mama’s chili; it’s Brett Favre’s mama’s gumbo, and more.
“Honey, do you think you’d like Crawfish Bread? I wonder if it would work in my breadmaker.”
“Don’t ask me to go fishing for the main ingredient.”
“Okay. Wow, this one uses three pounds of alligator meat.”
“Alligator? Where would you buy that?”
“I know where I can buy buffalo meat. Do you suppose that would work?”
This cookbook has fascinating recipes. Some I could make (Leslie’s Potato Soup), and some, no matter how delicious, I’m sure I won’t (Rotten Bayou Alligator Broiled with Lemon Butter Sauce). Between the recipes, there are great family pictures of all three generations. I could browse this one for hours.
Cookbooks are fun. The recipes are at their hearts, but the other little details are what makes them special and keeps me reading and cooking.

>Up here in Packerland, our local TV and radio stations are full of Packer shows, both pre-taped and live. The coach has his own show, several players have their own shows, and one former-player turned sportscaster has a show that welcomes a different player as a guest every week. This show has a live audience and a house band and films in the Lambeau Field Atrium itself.
Last week I got a call about 15 minutes before showtime from Husband, who works on the crew. He asked, “What’s the next line after ‘Happy days are here again’ in the song “Happy Days are Here Again?” (Notice how he never doubted that I would know.) I sang “The skies above are clear again” and heard him relay the line to someone on the other end. “Okay,” he said. “See you later.” It seems the band wanted to sing a little of that tune as the show began because the Packers had finally won a game.
Five minutes later the phone rang again. “We need one more line to finish up the chorus of the song! Do you know it?” Well, this one escaped me. I sang “Happy days are here again, the skies above are clear again, da-da-dah-da-dah-dah-dah-da-da, Happy days are here again.” “No, no! Da-da-da isn’t good enough!” It took me all of two minutes to google the lyrics. I called him back, sang the first three lines, had him sing them back to me, and then when we were sure he had it, we hung up so he could go tell the band. This was, oh, about eight minutes before showtime.
I turned on the show and sat down with Amigo to watch. The host called out, “Here we are, in a real, true celebration of Packer Football!” The band began. “Oh, Happy Days are here again, the skies above are clear again, Da-da-dah-da-dah-dah-dah-da-da, happy days are here again!”
I nearly fell on the floor laughing. The show’s host razzed the bandleader a bit about not knowing the words, to which he replied, “Someone told me the words a few minutes ago, and then I forgot.”
Someone? Your backstage engineer is lucky enough to be married to a licensed music teacher, a woman who is willing to sing over the phone to give you what you need, and it comes down to “da-da-da” and “I forgot”?!!
All I can say is, there better be some tickets in it for me if I ever teach him lyrics at the last minute again.