Oct 21st-Apples, Dizzy Gillespie, Kane Brown, Old Dominion, Carrie Fisher, Manfred Mann, Alfred Nobel

0:19 Hello, I am Jeff, and welcome to History and Factoids About Today. Now, today is October the 24th, first. So that means holiday season's coming pretty quick, and so is winter. So that means it's time to start cooking at home. Well, some of you are saying, well, how? We don't know how. All we do is order out. Well, I brought in a superstar who can actually help us out here. Yeah, she even wrote it all down for us. We have directions and everything. Courtney, why don't you introduce yourself? Hi, I'm happy to be here. My name's Courtney Hill, and I am the author of Homemade, the American Family Cookbook. And she's in Missouri too, for all you Bronco fans. Okay. So I'm assuming you probably started cooking as a little girl with your mom or grandma or somebody.

1:02 Yes. Yes, I did. Most of the recipes in the book are from my mom and my grandma. And then some are from my own design. I do have a degree in family and consumer sciences education. So home ec. So I have plenty of years of experience doing that. And I decided to stay home with my kids when they were born. I have twins. And so I was like, you know what? I need to kind of feed this teaching outlet that I love. And so I started a cooking blog. And then in 2020, I turned it into a cookbook. And it's great American. So it's just everything that Americans like, right? Yes. Yeah. It's kind of a catch-all. You'll see some other cultures in there, but mainly it's good homemade American cooking.

1:45 Is there one recipe in there that you just, your favorite, or is it kind of like your kids, but you like them all? My favorite's probably the fried chicken and the cherry pie. You can't get any more American than that, thank you. I know, right? So do you, a lot of people probably don't realize there's a difference between cooking and baking too. That's true. That's true. Cooking, I say, is more of a science. And I'm sorry, baking is more of a science and cooking is more of an art because with cooking, you can throw this in, take that out, you know, whatever. But with baking, you kind of have to be precise and have the right measurements and the right temperatures and all that. Kind of stuff. You know, I think especially nowadays, it all actually started during the pandemic and everything, but people just forgot how good a home-cooked meal actually tastes compared to takeout or delivery or even going to a restaurant.

2:36 That home-cooked meal is always special. Oh, I totally agree. There's only a couple restaurants that we like to go to. Otherwise, my kids say, it's like, your food is better. And it's like, yeah, it's better when it's made at home. And it doesn't have to take all day. You don't have to be a professional cook. A lot of these recipes are 30 minutes or less. And they're just very easy, very doable to start cooking at home. And you know what's in it. Yes, exactly. No preservatives, nothing like that. Just good, simple ingredients, things that you can pronounce. And things that, you know, your grandparents have been eating for years and just good food. Well, it's evolved a lot too. I mean, I'm older, so I remember like my grandma and stuff, her food was so good, but it was because it was like full of Crisco and stuff. I'm sure you don't get that way.

3:22 Yeah. I mean, I didn't say it was healthy. I just said it was good. All right. Well, this is something I'm sure you cooked a lot with. Apples were meant to taste just dandy. Apples were meant for us to eat. After you try them, there's just no denying that apples can make the most tasty treat. Today is National Apple Day. Apples, they evolved around 10,000 years ago, the kind that we eat. That was over in China. Now, the only apples that are native to North America are those little crab apples that you really can't eat. Now there are tons of apples all across North America. They are really healthy for you. So you can go crazy today and celebrate. But if you have a date, you might want to know that apples do cause gas. So they will make you fart. So what are your favorite apple dishes to cook?

4:15 Applesauce and apple pie. Is your apple pie better than your cherry pie? I, well, it. Depends on what you like. I prefer cherries. So to me, the cherry's better. But if you prefer apples, you're going to like that apple pie. Yeah, I'm a cherry guy too, but I don't know. Apple pie, that's even more American, actually. I know. I know. Think of Johnny Appleseed over here. Exactly. I mean, somebody had to get those apples over here, didn't they? Exactly. You know, there was really a Johnny Appleseed. Yes, I think I knew that. I feel like I did know that. Yeah, except he didn't go around planting trees. He actually went around and planted orchards. And then he would, like, get with local farmers. And he would plant an orchard.

4:57 Then he would leave. And then a couple years later, he'd come back. And him and that farmer would sell the trees. That's how they actually populated the northern part of the United States anyway. Okay, before we get all these people, what is your biggest disaster that you've had in the kitchen that you'll admit to? Oh, man. Okay, one time. I was going to reach for, I can't even remember what it was, but I accidentally grabbed vanilla and it was in like a savory dish and it, yeah, totally ruined, totally ruined the whole thing. So you're teaching your kids how to cook? Yes. Yes, I am. They're 13 or 14 now. And I try to get them in the kitchen about once a week, but you know, schedules get busy and stuff, but I do want them to have just basic skills so that they can cook when they leave the house.

5:46 You know, I was thinking too, everybody says that these kids, their attention spans are too small and all that kind of stuff. They can't follow directions. Well, make them cook and eat what they cook. And I'm sure they'll start following those directions pretty good. Exactly. Yes. And there's a lot of math in cooking people don't think about, but there is. Yeah. I mean, teaspoon, tablespoon, all that kind of stuff. Yes. Yes. So now that you've experienced, do you kind of free will a little bit and Do you feel pretty confident? Well, you know, I'll just add a little cinnamon or a little nutmeg or maybe a little extra butter or something. Yes, yes, I do. When you know the basics, you can figure out where you can fudge a little bit and where you need to be strict. And that's what's kind of nice about knowing the science behind the baking.

6:31 And with the cooking, it's like total preference. If you like this, if you don't like that. Okay, let's see what happened in October 21st in entertainment. Let's go back to 1973. way before you. Top album was, top album was Goat Head Soup by the Rolling Stones. The Stones had the number one song with Angie. George Jones and Tammy Wynette, they had their number one country song with We're Gonna Hold On.

7:17 We're gonna hold on to each other. Life can be rough. Sometimes it's kind. A real good life is hard to find. The number one selling book was The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart. The top movie was The Way We Were. It takes place during World War II. Barbara Streisand and Robert Redford, they find out that physical attraction just isn't enough to cover for fundamental social beliefs. Now, I've looked at some of the pictures on all your promotional stuff.

8:01 You did an awesome job making them all vintage. Then I found out you were cheating, though. You had a little help. What? You had a little help. Only on a couple. My husband took most of the photos and he is a professional and he knows lighting and he made, so every photo in the book is real. No, I was just saying that. I was kind of like, man, she not only can cook, she can take pictures. And I was like, oh, she's married into that. So you guys actually have a photo studio out there in Kansas City, right? Yes. Yes. 8183 Productions. And my husband does mainly tabletop. product photography and his specialty is food, which is awesome because I said, Hey, I want to do a cookbook.

8:45 So let's say, um, a 25 year old woman, her and her husband, they just got married and she's really never cooked or anything. Any advice on just how you can get started? I would say just try. I mean, nowadays, everything is on YouTube, which is amazing. So even if you didn't grow up taking a home ec class in school or learning from your parents, you can type anything into YouTube and it will pop up and show you what to do. And just know that, you know, it's okay to make mistakes. It's okay to throw something out if it turned bad, but then you learn something from it. And I think my biggest piece of advice would be to make it work for your lifestyle. Okay, so people starting out, what's the... Maybe the one or the two. Every kitchen has to have. What do you have to have for sure?

9:33 Like tools? Yeah. Well, definitely like a good set of pots and pans. And probably a Pyrex casserole dish would probably be my two things that you absolutely have to have. Is there anything that everybody has that nobody ever uses? Oh. Yeah. I use a lot of my things. I don't know. I don't know the answer. To that one. Okay. I'm just kind of curious because I came in and helped my parents out and I was looking at all this stuff and I was like, man, why would I ever use this? And I don't even know what it is. Maybe a salad spinner. I have never used one of those.

10:16 You know what I did use and it actually worked. Was it a little thing you put hard-boiled eggs in and you spin it? It takes the shell off? Yeah. That kind of surprised me because normally I take half the egg with my shell. There you go. Is there a hint you can do to get your hard-boiled eggs to actually shell easy? The thing I have learned is that you start with a hot water. So boil the water first, then put the eggs in. I usually steam mine for like 12 to 14 minutes and then immediately put them in ice water. And so far, that's worked pretty well for me. So that's what I'm doing wrong. You put the eggs in after the water's boiling. Yes. Okay, that's going to be my thing. I'm going to have to try that.

10:57 Give that a try. You know, trying to eat healthy and everything. Yeah. All right, let's see what happened in history on October the 21st. 335, Roman Emperor Constantine the Great. He told all the Jews they could no longer circumcise their Christian slaves. Oh, wait a second. Okay, Jews, you can no longer circumcise anybody who's a non-Jewish slave. In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan, he rounded the Cape of Virginius. It's at the tip of South America. Now, they became the first Europeans to sail into the Pacific Ocean. Because if you think they come the other way, they only go into the Indian Ocean. So they were the first in the Pacific. And now that's straight. It's called the Strait of Magellan. You a Kansas City Royal fan?

11:39 Yes, for the most part. We don't really have a baseball team. And we have the Rockies, but they don't really count. Yeah. See, in baseball, the first World Series, it wasn't played until 1903. But in 1887, baseball decided they needed a world championship, even though nobody in the world played it but the United States. But that's okay. So Detroit and Baltimore, they went at it. Detroit won eight games to three in the best of 15-game series. So technically, if anybody asks, Detroit is the first baseball world champions. 1917, in World War I, the first American troops were sent over to fight on the front lines. They joined the French in northeastern France or so. In 1966 in South Wales, a town called Aberfan. Now, it's a coal mining town. I'm sure you've seen pictures of all these mining towns that had that big pile of spoils, you know, where all the dirt that they can't do anything with. Well, this one was sitting right above the town, actually. It came crashing down in Avalanche today.

12:31 Took out farms, houses, a school. 116 kids and 28 adults were killed. 2012, Katerina Takawitha. She was canonized a saint. Yeah, she's the first. Native American that was actually canonized a saint. She was from up in Canada. Pretty interesting story. She was a pretty nice lady. She was a Mohawk. And as a kid, even though nobody in her family was Christian or Catholic, she had a calling and she moved over to it. In 2019, near Abu Dhabi, scientists announced that they had found the world's oldest pearl. They dated back 8,000 years. I have no idea how you date a pearl. I guess like you would her sister, Opal.

13:12 Stop! Okay, now with Halloween coming up, I think that you might want to sit this out. You have a little tonsillectomy going there. But what would be your favorite thing to cook for Halloween? I make this really fun brain jello. It's just a jello mold that looks like a brain. But then I get rambutans and peel those and they look like eyeballs. And it's pretty fun. The kids like that. That sounds really cool. Yeah. The jello I've ever eaten, you can't give those to kids. Okay. So then holidays are coming up. And so your book would be perfect to help people get ready for the holiday season.

13:55 Yes. And it's pretty concise and easy. They don't have to. How many ingredients do you typically need for just like a regular dish? Oh, I mean, I'd say some of them, it's like three or four others. They're a little more complicated, but most of these can take you well under 30 minutes to, to make. And there's some, is that include prep time? Yes. So that's pretty damn good. Yeah. I mean, people think cooking takes all day and it really doesn't. And that's kind of my passion is to, to introduce cooking and, as a way of life, you know, that you can just really fit it into your schedule.

14:35 And I kind of joke and say, I'd like to be the Bob Ross of cooking because you watch his show and you're like, oh, I can do that. I want them to look at my book and say, oh, I can do that. That's weird. I'm going to have to, because I've been trying to just for health reasons. And I'm like, that's why I brought up the hard boiled eggs, you know, those hard boiled eggs supposed to be good. And so I'm just like, man, what? I can't, how can I not cook a hard boiled egg? How hard can that be? But I guess if you don't know, throw it in after the water is boiling, then those are the little things you kind of need a pro for, don't you? Exactly. You ready for some birthdays? Yeah.

15:24 Alfred Nobel, he was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1833. He was a big-time chemist, inventor. He held 355 patents. Biggest one was dynamite. He figured out how to harness nitroglycerin in 1867. Now, he invented it for the mining industry, but it didn't take long at all before all the countries knew how to use it as a weapon. Now, Alfred, he made a lot of money off it. Then he got a conscience. He realized that his whole legacy was creating something that caused massive amounts of death. So when he died, he left most of his fortune in creating the Nobel Prizes. He died in 1896 from a stroke, 63 years old, never had time to marry. Now, since you went to school and you know all this technical stuff, how come sometimes cooking temperatures vary, 350 versus 400 versus 450 and that kind of thing?

16:14 Well, it's basically what you're cooking or baking, how long it has to bake for. And so if you have certain ingredients that like in baking are having a kind of a reaction, you have to have a certain temperature. With cooking, I think people say, you know, 350 is kind of a base. But if you want something crispier or you're roasting something, you're going to want that to be higher. And pizza, of course, I always put it like the highest. Some of those. ovens they show on TV and they're like 800 degrees. Okay. Maybe not that hot, but. Well, these are the ones with the domes and all that kind of stuff. Yes. You know, I still remember when I was a little kid, I'm sure that it's not like this anymore, but I remember my grandma chasing me around the house because she was cooking a cake and I slammed the door and the cake fell.

17:04 Oh yeah. So I'm assuming cakes don't fall anymore. I mean, technically you're not supposed to open the door on a cake because it can fall. But I think with, you know, our boxed cakes mixes, it's a little more stable. So do you, would you cheat and use a box mix or would you go off scratch? I cheat a little. I mean, you have to, if you're working this into your daily life, you know, you don't have to do everything exactly from scratch. Use what's available to you. But I do always make my own frosting. I feel like that's the most important part anyway. That's kind of everybody remembers the most anyway. Exactly. You have a pretty big jazz scene back there in Kansas City.

17:46 Oh, yeah. You kind of grew up on. Jazz, huh? Yeah, Kansas City did for sure. We've got 18th and Vine. We've got the Jazz Museum. I've been to the Green Lady Lounge, which is really cool. It's very vintage looking. Oh, cool. Well, big band leader, trumpet player, singer Dizzy Gillespie is born in Cheraw, South Carolina in 1917. He's really famous for having those big puffy cheeks. Possibly the greatest trumpet player of our time, especially when it comes to jazz. Now, he was integral when it comes to the creation of both scat and bebop music. Now, Dizzy, he was a band leader from 1937 to 1992. Yeah, married back in 1940, and him and his wife, they didn't have any kids, so Dizzy decided to have one on the side, I guess. He died from pancreatic cancer in 1993 at 75 years old. Performed right up until he died. Yeah, even through all the pancreatic cancer treatments and everything. You ever watch old reruns?

18:55 Yes. Like really old, like the Honeymooners? I'm kind of more of a Dick Van Dyke fan, but yeah. Actress Joyce Randolph. She was born in Detroit in 1924. She played Trixie on the TV show, The Honeymooners. She was married to Art Carney on the show. Get this. Everybody knows who The Honeymooners are, basically, though, even if you didn't watch them. They were only on the air one year, 39 episodes. Then Jackie Gleason had other stuff to do, so they just stopped doing the show. But it's still one of the most famous TV shows of all time. But Joyce, she got really typecast from it. She really couldn't do anything after that. Everybody couldn't picture her as anything but Trixie. She got married in 1955. Her husband died in 1997. They had one son. She died in 2024 at 99 years old. Another rerun here.

19:41 30 years before Tom Cruise started making Mission Impossible movies, Mission Impossible was a huge hit on TV. It starred Peter Graves. Peter was born in Minneapolis in 1926. Now, he was born Peter Arness, but he used the word Graves because he didn't want to be compared to his brother, who was James Arness, who played Marshall Dillon on the Gunsmoke series. Peter, he starred in Mission Impossible from 1967 to 73. He was in over 70 movies, but sadly, with all that work, he's probably best known for being the pilot in those airplane movies. Got married in 1950 and they had three kids. Peter, he died from a heart attack four days before his 84th birthday in 2010.

20:36 That was Manfred Mann. But Paul Jones was singing there. See, he sang for Manfred Mann. Now, the guy Manfred Mann, he was actually born Manfred Lubowitz in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1940. That makes him 86 today. But he changed his name to Manfred Mann, and then he started the band in 1964. Do I Diddy, Sha La La, The Mighty Quinn. There were some hits. Then they broke up in 1969. He tried to get it back together, but due to legal reasons, he had to become the Manfred Mann Earth Band. They started that in 1971. Now, they're still there. Now, their song Blinded by the Light, it's the biggest hit he ever had. It's the only song he sang lead on. Yeah, normally he'd just hang out in the back and play guitar by the drummer and that can save some backup, just like Jay Giles used to do. But, yep, they're still on tour if you want to go check out Man for Man Earth Band.

21:23 He had two children from his first wife and one child from his second wife. So, do you like watching cooking shows like Rachel Ray and those competitive ones and all that kind of stuff? Yeah. Do you have any favorites? Pioneer Woman's probably my favorite. The competitive ones, they get a little too much drama for me. So I kind of like the pure ones. Yeah, I can't watch those competitive ones. It's like, I'm seriously, two fat guys staring at each other about they're going to kick each other's butt and then whips makes. And then someone turns their oven off and all hell breaks loose. Would you ever go on one? I would go on a regular show, but probably not the competitive. I just, I think it would be too stressful.

22:07 Would you do something like Guy's Grocery Games or something like that? Yeah, that might be pretty fun. Act as Carrie Fisher. She was born in Burbank, California in 1956. Her parents were famous, singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds. Carrie was 21 years old when she started playing Princess Leia in Star Wars. Other than Star Wars, she was in the Blues Brothers, Man with One Red Shoe, Hen and Her Sisters. She wrote a novel. It was called Postcards from the Edge. Best-selling book. They turned it into a movie. Hit movie. Turns out they wouldn't let her act in the movie. She married singer Paul Simon for one year. She had a daughter from a boyfriend. In 2016, she was on a commercial airplane flight. Yeah, she had a heart attack. Died right there and there. Couldn't bring her back. Her heart was gone from all the years of drug abuse.

22:48 60 years old. They bring it on over. Stringing them along. Any longer, girl, is just wasting press time. Girl, you know I can't wait. Rip it. Off just like a band-aid. The way you look at me, girl, you can't pretend. I know you ain't in love with him, break up with him. That's Matthew Ramsey. He sings lead for the country band Old Dominion. 49 today. He was born in Buchanan, Virginia. Now, he was a very, very, very successful songwriter out of Nashville, but he wanted to sing. So he formed Old Dominion in 2007. Some of their number one songs are Written in the Sand, Hotel Key, one-man band, break up with him.

23:32 Now he is married to Sarah, and they have two daughters. Are you a country music fan? No, sadly, I'm sorry. I'm more of an oldies fan. Like oldies, oldies, or like 80s oldies? No, like 50s, 60s, 70s oldies. Oh, that's cool. Okay, so we're talking about cooking, and we're trying to get people to go back into the kitchen, don't order out, just go to the store, buy your groceries. Safety. If you haven't cooked, there are some simple safety rules you have to know, correct? So they don't get sick. Yes, that's true. And like the main one, you don't mix chicken with anything. Right. Broad chicken. Yes. And when you're doing a cutting board, you always wash it before you ever go to your second dish, correct?

24:17 Correct. That's cross-contamination and you want to avoid that. And you want to make sure that it's cooked thoroughly. So you don't get anything pretty much if you're cooking it. That's true. Yes. Ground beef, especially anything ground, you want to make sure it's well done. Well, I guess except sushi. That's true. Do you like cooking fish? I do. Any dish in particular? Fried, good old fish fry. My son loves to fish. And so we like crappie down here. And I think that's probably my favorite fish dish. Robbie's pretty good. I know my walleye too. That can be pretty good. That's a little north for us. We went to Minnesota one time and I got to try it and I thought it was very good.

25:03 Just the regular grocery store here. They actually sell this almond crusted flounder. And the way they do it, you would think, you know, as a grocery store, that's actually really damn good. I'm not a real big fish person. Four or five minutes out of downtown. That's country singer Kane Brown. He's 33. He's born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He got discovered posting just cover songs on Facebook. And in 2017, he became the first singer in history to have the same song that was on five different Billboard charts. Yeah, all at the same time. It's called What Ifs. Well, he sang with Lauren Alana, and you're saying, well, why didn't she get a name for it? Well, it was on his album. So yeah, Lauren, she just didn't get credit for it. He does. Now, some of his number one country songs are Famous Friends, One Mississippi, Like I Love Country Music, Thank God. That was with his wife. Kane, he's getting ready to go on tour next year. Him and his wife, they got married in 2018, and they have two daughters and one son All right. So what haven't we covered yet that you want to let people, future cooks or people who want to get back into cooking or people who, you know what, I want to learn something new.

26:28 Yeah. You can check out my website, cookhomemade.net. And that's, there's a link to my original blog on there. That's got a lot of videos and just kind of step-by-step simple recipes. recipes. I know a lot of blogs out there have tons of ads and it's really annoying to try to get to the recipe, but mine are pretty straightforward. You know, you've got the ingredients, the directions. I mean, I come from a teaching background, so I really try to keep it simple and take it all the way back to the beginning, thinking, you know, nothing, and then try to teach you all the steps. Let's go. And we'll put that link on the show notes for today. So that'd make you easy. And then book is the easiest form just to grab it off of Amazon. There's actually only one copy left on Amazon. So let's see who can get that first. Otherwise you can order it from my website.

27:12 Okay. So you definitely want to go check out our website for the blog and so you can order the book. Okay. Our quote of the day. It comes from, well, you know who Jack Kerouac is? Yes. He died today, 1969, only 47 years old. He said, Jack said, offer people what they secretly want and they will immediately become panic stricken. You agree? That's interesting. I've never heard of that. So people don't really want what they want? Is that what he was saying? I think he's saying that they'll freak out if they actually get what they want. Oh. You know, it's kind of like, well, man, I want that. Oh, man, how does he know I want that? Yeah. I don't know. He's kind of a deep dude. I guess you can debate him for an hour probably.

27:57 All right. Well, thank you very much, Courtney. You've been great. We learned a lot. I hope a lot of people come out and buy your book and start cooking. Thank you for having me. It was a blast. All right. Now I have a country and we have a country and around the station. It's called country and around radio. And you might not like it, but Amanda in South Dakota, she wants to hear Kirstie Krause's song. Got to do. You guys have an awesome day and we'll talk tomorrow. I've had enough living other people's lives. Feeling small like I. Never even tried. I hear this calling, calling me to where I need to be. My only choice is to just stand and lean.

28:44 Then there's crazy birds coming over me. Where I need to be You gotta do, baby, what you gotta do Work for me, honey, man. I work for you You play to win when you're not afraid to lose Cause you gotta do, baby, what you gotta do You gotta do, baby, what you gotta do. It's for you. To decide I'm not looking to give you advice This is your one ticket on this rollercoaster ride.

29:31 I'll make it wild Hold. On tight On your truth. And you'll be alright This is your one Take it all this Rollercoaster rider. Well, what for me, honey, man, I'm up for you. You fade away when. You're not afraid to lose. Cause you gotta do, baby, what you gotta do.