Tuesday, April 26, 2011

I'm not having a heart attack; I'm just ticked off

I've found a couple of TV ads really annoying lately. Actually, one is merely annoying; the other is both annoying and kind of scary.

First, has the pharmaceutical and medical industries' campaign to get people to take aspirin at the first sign of a heart attack really been so successful that people no longer know aspirin is a PAIN RELIEVER?

Is the American public really that ignorant?

Or are the Bayer ads, as I hope, patronizing and elitist?

Seriously, folks. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning. Aspirin, the wonder drug. ASPIRIN.

OK, now the scary one:

Guy is out camping with his shiny new giant pickup truck. He's relaxing in nature, campfire going, and there are nature sounds ... like a cricket (or maybe it's a peeper). So he goes to his big shiny truck (while the voiceover says "For the outdoorsman who goes to extremes ...") and gets out his bow and arrow. And Shoots. The. Cricket.

WTF?

The man is camping. Outdoors. In nature. And he kills ... nature.

What does this say about (a) the truck company (Dodge Ram) and (b) the advertising firm's view of the target audience, and, by implication, of the natural inclinations of men? Did some ad executive really go to a Dodge executive with "Trust me, this will really sell trucks"?

The only consolation is that after a moment of silence, a frog starts in. (On the other hand, I figure Mr. Extreme Outdoorsman will just fire off another arrow, and another, and another, until he runs out or nature shuts up and leaves him to his desolate, soundless void.)

OK, now that I've purged my ticked-off-ness, let's do a recipe.

We had 11 people from five households at Easter dinner, so there was a good assortment of food. There was a ham, applesauce, mashed potatoes, green beans and stuffing. Since I don't eat pork, I roasted a turkey breast and made (awesome) gravy. And there was this dish that I've wanted to try for a long time but never made, because one of my family members hates corn:

Southern Spoon Bread

1 (15-1/4 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained

1 (14-3/4 oz) can creamed corn

1 (8-oz) pkg Jiffy corn muffin mix

1 cup sour cream

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted

1 to 1-1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (or other cheese)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In large bowl, stir together all ingredients. Pour into greased 9" x 13" casserole dish.

Bake 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and top with cheese. Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes.

Let stand 5 minutes, then serve warm.


Credit has to go to Doug Gruse of The Post-Star. I saw the recipe in Doug's column in the paper the day after my sister mentioned someone was bringing this, so I was pretty excited. And it did not disappoint.

Creamy, chewy, sweet, buttery, cheesy goodness.

O. M. G.

I have found side-dish nirvana.