White Trash Art

Things you can't un-see

Elvis Diptych

fat Elvis, skinny Elvis

 acrylic on wood, 16x20" each

White Trash Cooking Contest

I proposed a cooking competition to my fellow New Obsessives and a few noteable others, and was not disappointed with the response! Celebutante chef Gordon Ramsey was slated to judge, but he texted me that he was indisposed.

"Gordo" means "fat ass" in Spanish. Anyhoo:

Sherry DiscgolfGeek, founder of The White Trash Recipe Exchange, answered a few questions about her cooking repertoire and also shared a delicious recipe:

WTP:What is your favorite junk food product?
SD:Pork Skins with Chili and Limon, I can't live with out them.

WTP:Do you prefer salty or sugary snacks?
SD:Salty

WTP:If you had to choose between a box of fruit leather or a crate of Twinkies to sustain you during a month long period of forced isolation with only one food source, what would you choose and why?
SD:Twinkies, The perfect comfort food when alone, surgery, sponge cake, whip creamy, And a awesome way to get out of a murder sentence if your Dan White, the Guy who killed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and County Supervisor Harvey Milk!

Contest Entry No. 1: Sheri's sublime recipe for trailer park goodness:
      Spam Frittata
      1/2 can of Spam diced
      1/2 medium sweet onion diced
      salt
      pepper
      dry or fresh oregano
      dry or fresh thyme
      dry or fresh basil
      4 eggs (beaten)
      3-4 slices provolone

Preheat oven to 350˚F
Lightly grease a 9-inch pie tin or skillet.
Mix together spam, onion, oregano, thyme, basil and egg. Season with a tiny pinch of salt and pepper. Pour the mixture into a skillet or pie tin.
Bake for 40 min. 5 min before taking it out, place the provolone slices on top.

Contest Entry No. 2: Gary Farrelly crafted this exquisite Banana Pineapple Ice Cream Claw:

Contest Entry No.3: The lovely Sophie Iremonger created a masterpiece of carnage: Foot Loaf

In honor of the Fuhrer's wedding to the lovely Tara Tonini last month, I contributed this Moon Pie Tower with Grandma's pills and spent shell vases. (This honorary entry is not eligible for voting)

I leave it up to the readership of The New Obsessive to choose the favorite, via the comment section of the page, with the winning contribution to be awarded via United States Postal Service, if they do not go out of business prior to end of voting which is SEPTEMBER 1st, 2011.

Schocking Abs, The GOP, and White Trash: Together At Last

I went to a Republican dinner to see Illinois congressman Aaron Schock speak last night... and guess what? He was signing autographs in front of: an original White Trash Peg mural at Capponi's restaurant in Toluca, Il! When my old man told me he got me a ticket to the event, I just thought, "Hoo hah free chicken dinner!" I never dreamed I'd be rubbing elbows with a Men's Health cover model.

Hi Res New Obsessive issue 012

Cheers

The New Obsessive Issue 12: Yuletide In Hell Edition

Going to post this here til Ed. In Chief Gary Carl gets situated for the holidays and can put it up on The New Obsessive Blog; He spent 5days in a French airport under military guard waiting for a flight during blizzards!! Talk about Yuletide in Hell...

Multimedia supplements to Issue 12 include:

Creative Conference Winter 2010 Pyro Display

and

"Cabin Fever"

Old Fashioned French Creams and Creme Filberts

I love to make candy at Christmas time. I love to make complicated, ridiculously elaborate recipes. I've been on a quest to find recipes for these two candies since I saw them advertized in Vermont Country Store catalog for fifteen to twenty-five bucks a box. The French Cremes (Merriments) recipe was pretty easy to find - but looked daunting. Twenty minutes of hand beating hardening sugar candy did not sound like fun to me. I pressed on and decided I would use my trusty kitchenaid mixer and flat beater to do the grunt work. Long story short: they came out great. They only contain sugar, water, coloring and flavoring - very cheap to make. I used small candy molds, but if you work quickly you can roll them and slice them into disks (you need to work fairly fast because the longer the "dough" cooled, the more fragile it was to work with) They are pretty yummy, too. They are -of course- really sweet: slightly grainy and they melt when you put them in your mouth.

I had no luck finding the Mothballs recipe. The only I found was for a cookie that was similar to the candy. The description says the nuts are panned in hot sugar until the sugar coats each nut. The descriptions I read of the coating makes it sound as if the fondant around the nut is strikingly similar to the French Cream candy. My theory is that plain French Cream fondant shaped around a hazelnut will be very similar to the Moth Ball candy.

Old Fashioned French Creams

• 4 c. granulated sugar
• 1 c. water
• few drops food coloring (optional)
• few drops mint extract or other candy flavoring extract (optional)

In a large saucepan (candy will bubble up to five times it's original size when cooking) cook sugar and water over medium heat. Stir occasionally until it starts to boil, then reduce heat slightly and allow to boil with minimal stirring for about ten minutes. After about 7 or 8 minutes, start dripping some of the sugar into a glass of very cold water. If it strings and holds together in the bottom of the glass in a soft little blob, it's ready (if it strings and cracks like a lollipop - you probably cooked it too long). I also did the spoon rubbing test from this recipe, and that worked too.

Remove from the heat and stir in coloring. Place in stand mixer with paddle attachment and start it off on low (unless you want a shower of white hot sugar syrup). Increase speed slightly after a minute or two, and it should go from clear to opaque. Increase a little more after the candy goes opaque and soon it will crystalize and get like dough. Add your flavoring. Mix until it is able to be picked up without burning yourself and press it into candy molds, or roll into logs and slice. You need to work fairly fast, but I messed with it for about 15minutes before it became too brittle to shape. I guess you can re-heat it to work it more, but I didn't try that.

 

Cookin With D Stars Project #1 & #2

#1 Hal Linden, ink and acrylic about 1.5x2"

#2 Ron Jeremy: , ink and acrylic about 1.5x2"

Randy Eatin Grapes

Randy asked me to do this for him like, 2 years ago or something. Here you go buddy.

oil on canvas, 16x24"

Absinthe and Pop Rock Icebox Cookies

I got another wild hair to invent a really complicated and messed up recipe again. Much better than you think.

Happy Halloween!

1 vanilla bean, sliced lenthwise
2 tbsp Bay (Bai) Thoy (Pandan) extract, from Philipino, Vietnamese or Thai grocery store
2 tbsp absinthe
1 green tea bag

Heat liquids in small container for 10-15 sec in microwave.
Steep vanilla bean and tea bag in liquid while you prepare the dough.
Strain 1/4 cup of green maraschino cherries from their liquid and chop them finely. Reserve liquid.

2 sticks (1 cup) softened butter
1 c granulated sugar
1/4 c brown sugar

Cream in mixer bowl til fluffy. Add:

1 egg

Incorporate well. Strain tea bag and vanilla bean from absinthe mixture. Add liquid to dough. Also add:

1/4 c green maraschino cherry liquid and 1/4 c chopped cherries

Mix in until just incorporated:
1/2 c finely chopped Brazil nuts (chop in a cuisinart)
1 tsp baking soda
3 1/4 c sifted all purpose flour

Spread onto parchment paper or plastic wrap and (optional) add blue colored sugar for decoration. Shape into a log (however large you would like your cookie), covering dough with paper or plastic. Chill for at least 4 hours. Unwrap and slice into 1/4 in. slices. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 8-10 min, or until edges start to brown.

If desired, make a batch of royal icing and dredge the rims in Pop Rocks.

Henri and Oscar would approve.
Green fairies. Green fairies.