Meat & Potatoes #13

When I first started doing a radio show three months ago, I used to imagine that I was talking to myself.  Somehow it just made it easier.  It took me a while to tell my family and friends outside of Dawson about the show, but I'm so glad I finally did.  This week I had all sorts of people tuning in from all over the place, and the telephone calls and Facebook shout-outs were so much fun.  One of my close highschool friends, Tamara, was listening in Korea!  I also thought I had a listener in Australia, but it turns out that my dear university chum Graham was listening from his hometown of Edmonton--definitely a less exotic location, but still awesome.  Other listeners were in Ottawa and on Salt Spring Island, as well as here in Dawson.

All these lucky folks got to listen to:

1. Beirut--Scenic World

2. Paul Simon--Graceland

3. Wilco--The Late Greats

4. Valery Gore--Strange Way

5. The Tragically Hip--Fireworks

6. Modest Mouse--People as Places as People

7. Angela McCluskey--It's Been Done

8. Jefferson Airplane--Today

9. Bobbie Gentry--Ode to Bille Joe

10. J.J. Cale--Cocaine

11. Cat Power--The Devil's Daughter

12. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy--Wolf Among Wolves

13. Calexico--All Systems Red

14. The White Stripes--Do

15. TV on the Radio--Poppy

16. The Hold Steady--Atlantic City

17. Final Fantasy--The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead

18. Sufjans Stevens--Casimir Pulaski Day

19. The Beta Band--Alleged

20. Human Highway--What World

21. Cake--Love You Madly

22. Scissor Sisters--Lights

23. The Juan Maclean--Dance With Me

24. The Jackson 5--ABC (Salaam Remy Krunk-a-Delic Party Mix)

25. Sister Carol East--Dread Natty Congo

26. Tom Waits--Heigh Ho

I also decided to set the record straight about shortbread.  Forget adding Skor bits.  Forget adding Earl Grey tea leaves.  And please (please for the love of all that is good in this world) no maple, and certainly no bacon.  While the shortbread shennanigans of my fellow radio hosts Ben and Brendan, the Kings of Dawson City, have been quite amusing to taste, there really isn't a shortbread recipe out there that can beat my Mom's utterly classic version.  Shortbread is merely butter and sugar held together by a bit of flour--a melt-in-your-mouth delight that needs nothing else.

Here are my mother's rather terse directions:

1 cup butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

2 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar

Add flour gradually

Knead 2 minutes

Roll to 1/2 inch

Bake 300 – 325 until light brown

My guess is that in between the rolling and baking, you're going to want to cut your shortbread out into pretty shapes, and using parchment paper on your cookie sheet would help prevent sticking.  In retrospect, I'm wishing that I had pressed Mom for a few more details.  Considering that she has made these (in great quantities) every Christmas for my entire life, the process has surely become a matter of instinct.

Happy baking and happy listening!