Thank you... Thank you... Thank you... Thank you...
Imagine that in four-part harmony, as it's a thank you to my sister for the gift of The Cedar Rapids Harmony Hawks Presents Harmony in the Kitchen (1977).
I'm not sure the birds wearing the chefs' hats on the cover are hawks. They look more like a cross between a duck and a turkey to me, but if they can put on tiny bow ties, they can call themselves whatever they want.
The Harmony Hawks have not only a distinctive look, but also distinctive tastes. The recipes are often Midwest staples, but with their own little oddities. The Hawks like the ever-popular Tater Tot Casserole (well, Meal in a Dish here).
They prefer the version that starts with raw burger so the casserole will retain all the grease, plus the soup over the Tots so the potatoes will get soggy rather than crispy.
They like Bar-B-Que Franks, but their version of Bar-B-Que is not the "dab with Kraft Barbecue sauce" variety.
This starts with a full cup of bourbon! I guess the birds like to have a better time than Meal in a Dish led me to believe....
And to go with their franks, they might like some beans. One hallmark of the Hawks is that they like sweet beans.
As in, Baked Beans with a full cup of brown sugar and a pound of canned pineapple chunks. Or, if plain old baked beans sound a little too sedate, there's always Candied Kidney Beans.
Yep. Candied. In catsup, bacon, and a full cup of sugar...
Speaking of beans, the Hawks make Chili, but their version is even more heat-averse than the typical Midwestern version.
No chili powder or furtive dashes of Tabasco! Just Ragu spaghetti sauce with ground meat, canned beans, and some brown sugar (only a couple tablespoons, so they didn't go too crazy-sweet). You know, chili.
Well, I guess if you wanted it hot, you could always add some Real Hot Sauce.
And by "Real Hot Sauce," of course, they mean extra-hot catsup diluted with water, molasses, vinegar, Worcestershire, and a few (decidedly non-hot!) seasonings. We wouldn't want the Real Hot Sauce to be too hot, right?
Not sure how to end this one, so I'll just send you over to a video from good old SPEBSQSA (the unexplained acronym on the cover) explaining barbershop choruses. Enjoy!
I'm glad you enjoyed the book, it looked like an interesting one. So was that Italian chili? You could insult 2 cultures for the price of one. Maybe sugar helps you sing better, and spicy foods make you sing worse. Considering how bad we are at singing, we'll never know.
ReplyDeleteSo the theory is that they had to sweeten up their vocal chords? Sure, guys.
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